Saturation and catastrophizing

Two weeks ago we had record rainfall and subsequent flooding. Saturated soils were unable to retain all the water and it began it's downhill run into the tributaries and rivers. What had been a dry winter turned into a soggy one. Just when people were worrying (and creating catastrophic predictions) about dry wells, empty reservoirs, shriveled crops, burned up lawns, and massive wildland fires consuming the forests... all those concerns were washed away and sent into the Pacific via the Willamette and Columbia Rivers.

Walking through our gently sloped meadow it was easy to see water flowing downhill. The creek was high, but never came close to exceeding it's banks. The clay soil here absorbs a lot of water but when the saturation point is reached all the spaces between clay particlers are filled and the only thing left to do is for the water to pool or run downhill. Less than a mile from us people have sandy soils and the water percolates much easier (they also have a lot of problem finding water for wells) and it too began to pool. Eventually that water has to go somewhere- to the streams, rivers, roadways, basements, farms, and onto the city streets. A rainfall like this clogs up natural and constructed drainage systems. It is such an anomaly that the system isn't used to dealing with it.

It seems to me the human organism isn't too different. When we eat too much sugar or drink too much caffeine our systems are overloaded and can't get rid of it quick enough. Our nerves are over-charged and one way we discharge it is by "the shakes" or some other physical activity. This is also true of our psychological system. When our inner world is emotionally overwhelmed there isn't enough room to take in anymore. Our higher order thinking skills are hijacked by our survival instincts. In a way we become super-saturated and our systems rigidify. Our natural fluidity becomes more static and, if held in that state for too long, we get stuck. We either need to remove ourselves from the things that are saturating our system or to find something else to counteract it. Water, food, humor, sleep, comedy, or positive friends help.

The road shown above  is the one with the lowest water and my sole access to home.

Around here, if you drive a truck into deep clay and then let it sit until August, you won't get it out until the rainy season.

Our planet is the ultimate closed system. There is no other viable place to put the waste from 7 billion people. In 1968 I remember Jacques Cousteau saying that it is already too late to save the planet- that enough damage had already been done. I don't know if he is right or not, but I do know that we've successfully turned around some major environmental problems by recognizing that there is a problem and applying our ingenuity- and be willing to sacrifice some of the extravagances of our lives. Will we be willing to do that for the sake of others? Will we be able to adopt an attitude of service, kindness, and generosity to such a degree that we saturate the world with it? I know we have the capacity to do it.  

Patterns and Meaning

Aristotle observed that "nature abhors a vacuum." So do people. When things don't make sense, we make meaning of them even if it is erroneous. We go to great lengths to have patterns mean something; to create order. In general, we don't like disorder, chaos, and meaninglessness. Even people who say they like change mean that they like the change that they want.

So, what does it have to do with Aisling? Well, there are these undulations on the land. There is one that runs diagonally across the meadow. It doesn't follow the fall line of the slope and wouldn't be part of a disappeared waterway. I thought for a long time that it was a place where someone placed a waterline to gather water from the creek. Then one day our neighbor suggested that it is was the remnant of an old logging road. It makes complete sense. Truth or not, it does make sense.

There was another line than ran perpendicular to that line that could have been the remnants of a waterway. However, with the snow yesterday, it revealed itself.  In the photo, it runs from the lower right corner to the upper middle. A little bit of snow reveals that a road used go right through this section of the land. What type of vehicle? Horses? What stories could we recreate out of just this one little image? This isn't one of those great mysteries of the universe or about human existence, but it does help to understand this little piece of land that we occupy.

One of the amazing facts about humans is that we are meaning makers. It is incredible that someone can have just a few details and then make sense out of apparent randomness. Sometimes this doesn't serve us too well when we are quick to jump to a conclusion based on what we think should be true. One root of our environmental challenges is that we have a preference to act rather than reflect; to choose/judge rather than wait and see. The lands that we occupy need more of our reflection than action. The conundrum is that the means of production demand us to operate at a speed that doesn't afford a lot of time for reflection. I don't think there is a resolution to this, it is a balance that must be found even if it seems ineffectual. The need to make sense translates into preferring a world that aligns with our sensibilities. We are nearing 7 billion people on this planet and there are 7 billion ways of making sense of it and 7 billion solutions for dealing with the problems. It is amazing that we've lasted as long as we have.