The Elephant in the Room

Listening to yet another doom and gloom global warming story on the radio, reading another story of what's to come in the newspaper and today driving midday in horrible traffic, I wondered, once again, with extreme frustration, why nobody ever says there are just too darn many people and that is the cause of many of our present and future troubles.  Whatever happened to ZPG (Zero Population Growth) of the 60's  and population biologist Paul Ehrlich?  It was such a thoughtful argument:  no one should have more children than two - replacements for yourself.  It was shut down by the argument that liberal white people (the one's putting forth the idea) were asking for voluntary genocide of the minorities and ZPG disappeared.  Over-population is the elephant in the room.   Animals and plants, all living things, reproduce extravagantly.  But in nature, there are always checks and balances.  For example, wolves reproduce in good years with lots of food increasing their population until they reduce the population of their prey - say deer.  Then with so many wolves, there are not enough deer to go around for the wolves.  Then the wolf population dies back, starving and reproducing less.  But humans have wiped out any predators, so our population just keeps on increasing.  Modern medicine has improved health until people are living longer and longer.  Machismo, Catholicism, fundamentalistic religions,  poverty, lack of education ---all these and more birth rates high.  As a biologist, I know eventually nature will limit our human population in dire ways.  What has happened to the sense of responsibility for the earth?  There are too many people and that is a main underlying cause of many of our problems.

Trudy the Corpse Flower

A true phenomenon occurred at the U.C. Botanical Garden over the weekend.  We drove by on Sunday morning on the way to church and were surprised to see a long line at the gate, overflowing cars in the parking lot and many people walking the half mile down the hill from overflow parking.  We had no idea what was going on.  In the 35 years we've lived here, there's been nothing like this.  At 6 pm we drove by the Garden again (it's on our main route home) and saw it was still crowded.  Botanical Gardens don't attract a lot of people.  Then it hit me,  it was a flower-Trudy the Corpse flower - people were going to see.  I'd seen a story on TV about it.  Nicknamed Trudy, the flower is a Titan Arum and blooms only every few years.  It is the world's largest flower and one of the stinkiest.  It emits a horrible order like rotten meat only for a few hours, to attract pollinators and blooms quickly, in just a day or two.  By the the time we saw it on Monday morning, the 3-4 foot flower was fading and had no odor.  While Trudy is wonderful, so is every flower of the great variety that have evolved over millions of years. What thrilled me about this event was that so many people cared about seeing a flower.  How wonderful!  And if that wasn't enough I finally got a call yesterday that I am needed to volunteer at the Garden. I am thrilled to begin working in the propagation department.  I love being in peaceful and beautiful Botanical Garden.

Recognizing Racism

There's a lot of talk about racism being alive and well these days.  It's like white folks have had a painful extended course in self-awareness and sensitivity training. And so of course, I wonder about my own racism.  I have never had an African-American friend, nevertheless I don't want to think I'm a racist.  I've lived and worked in integrated neighborhoods and I've taught many black students in my teaching days.  In my life, I have tried my best to treat all people equally with respect and dignity.  A recent experience gave me pause.  Some of us from the Edgewood Church met for lunch in Davenport, Iowa our way to South Dakota.  Bob and the two women ordered bowls of chili.  The two other men ordered sandwiches.  The chili arrived first, then the white man got a side of fruit he'd ordered.  The African-American man had nothing served to him.  He began to get agitated, saying he was hungry too.  Where was his food?  After another five minutes the two sandwiches appeared but the African-American man didn't eat much of his and soon left the table.  I didn't think much about it.  But when I was told why, I felt really badly.  Jerry thought his food was held back because he was African-American.  That thought never occured to me.  I realized how hard it was for Jerry and all African-Americans to always have to be on alert.  How easy it would have been for the waitress to just give him a word and say his food would be right up.  I have never experienced being treated badly because of my race and so I see how my consciousness and sensitivity needed to be raised.  I could have said something to support him but I was clueless.  I felt hit hard by my own recognition of my ignorance and lack of empathy.  But now I know and have another example of my own white privilege.

Walking on water

Sitting with my feet in a cool pond on this hot hot day, I watched some water skeeters.  It amazes me how they whiz about the surface on the water.  Photos of them in my biology text show, what I cannot see with my naked eyes, that their wide feet with delicate tiny pads make tiny dimples on the water not breaking the surface.   It's understandable, they don't break the hydrogen bonds.  Their feet distribute miniscule weight not breaking the surface tension of the water.  I've been thinking about miracles today.  The Bible tells us Jesus performed miracles.  It's hard  for this ex-science teacher to know what to do with miracles that go against the way we understand this world works.  People sink if they try to walk on water.  We can't walk on water.  The hydrogen bonds can't hold together with so much weight.  I do not read the Bible literally.   I never have.  I never will.  Bishop John Shelby Spong says in his book on the Gospel of John that if Christians don't stop reading the Bible literally, Christianity is going to die out sooner rather than later.  Hooray for his bold statement!

 We have to look historically, culturally and mythologically to figure out what walking on water in the Bible could mean.  It could be like a Zen koan, something to puzzle over, with no answer.  I think about all the amazing things humans have done around water.  We've created boats of all shapes and sizes.  We water-ski on water.  We scuba dive in water.   We've taken water and moved it over and through mountains.  But we don't walk on water.  Puzzling over the Bible I usually find something new and wonderful to ponder, some new insight, some new puzzle.  Maybe that is the point:  to wonder and practice not taking anything for granted.  Water skeeters are amazing and fun to watch on a hot summer day.  They can walk on water!  I can't.  Life is wonderful!

Clutter and Spaciousness

Perhaps the best thing from our time at the cottage on Lake Michigan is a book Bob bought at the Book Nook in Montague.  It is a book about de-cluttering one's life.  It outlined a method for throwing away things, category by category, creating open space in your house, on your desk, in your closet, wherever there is too much stuff.  It spoke to Bob as he read it carefully and thoughtfully.  I am thrilled and looking forward to watching and even participating in the purges of my own.  Clutter creates busy-ness and contributes to one feeling anxious, oppressed and tired.  Who needs that?  Getting rid of clutter frees one's mind and spirit.  Our house in Michigan is relatively clutter free and everyone feels it is a very peaceful place.  Now we are staying for a couple of weeks in a house that in addition to being clutter free and also very large and spacious.  I am so attracted to the spaciousness of this place. This beautiful place has lots of open space both inside the house and outside.  I feel better here.  I feel as though I can breathe more deeply and I am peaceful.  The open space encourages my spirit to soar.  As I sit here in the quiet morning light, I wonder about my inner landscape.  How is it affected by what I see around me?   What things can I do to expand my inner space and release my spirit?  I know negative thoughts clutter and contract my inner space.  I want to choose thoughts that encourage my spirit to expand.  I want to remove the clutter in my mind.  Here I am reminded of the good effect of spaciousness on my spirit.   Here I am free to be peaceful.  Here I am peaceful.  Here I am free.

Women's World Cup

Bob and I walked to the local Buffalo Wild Wings last night for dinner and to watch the final game of the Women's World Cup: the US against Japan on their multitude of giant TVs.  Watching these soccer games, I've been astounded at the power, strength, beauty and grace of the women.  As a team, they play together so well.  How about those first three goals in 15 minutes by Carli Lloyd.  Wow!   For me, to see such strong athletic women makes me teary.  I am so proud of them.  When I was young, girls could only aspire to be cheerleaders or maybe on the Drill Team.  There were no competitive sports for girls and of course not for women.  I bought the message that girls weren't able to do those things.  In my 20's it made me very happy to hike and backpack with Bob because there I became strong physically and capable.  When Title IX came along, everything changed.  And now the whole world is watching women's sports and girls are encouraged to be strong and go as far as they can and want in sports.  Hooray!

Change

My old dad used to like to say "Nothing's permanent but change."  That things change is a given in life, but not one that I always like or even am aware of.  Who knew the water level in Lake Michigan has changed, risen 28 inches over the last two years, essentially wiping out the beach in front of the cottage we've rented for many years?   My favorite activity was to take long walks on the beach and hunt for treasures: rocks, fossils, feathers, worn driftwood.  Now the beach is a narrow couple of feet band of sand, at best, with the water splashing up against a 5 foot cliff of sand and dune grass.  Things change.  We celebrated both of our birthdays up there.  Yesterday was my birthday and we went to the local 4th of July parade in Montague.  It had veterans;  all the emergency vehicles for several counties flashing their lights, honking their horns and roaring their sirens;  cars full of politicians; cars and trucks from the service organizations;  churches on flatbeds;  merchants in trucks; and children, lots of children in wagons, a boy on a bike with the tires decorated with red, white and blue crepe paper and just walking along.  It seemed anyone who wanted to be could be in the parade.  It was an extravaganza the likes of which is found only in small towns in America.  Everyone watching was waving little American flags and smiling as the loud rock music filled all the air space and we celebrated our country and our freedom.  At night I watched the Capitol Fourth on TV.  Looking at the enormous crowds on the Washington DC Mall, listening to the patriotic music and seeing the larger than life monuments lit up by fireworks, I could not get visions of the Rez out of my head.  Now I am no longer innocent.  Now I know the dark side of us, the Europeans, conquering this land.  I saw the incredible poverty, heard the stories of broken treaties and learned about despairing teenagers crushed by abuse, bullying and poverty who hanged themselves.  I learned about Lakota history and spirituality.  I am changed and I didn't even know it had happened.