Garden Song

"Grain for grain, sun and rain
Find my way in nature's chain
Till my body and my brain
Tell the music of the land."

- Garden Song by David Mallett

All waste is food...

"All waste is food, and everybody winds up reincarnated inside somebody else".
- Janine Benyus, Biomimicry

Greenbuild Recap: Mannahatta & the Mtigwakki

Greenbuild 2010 started today in Chicago and I attended a seminar featuring my former employers, Bill Browning and Chris Garvin of Terrapin Bright Green, as well as James Patchett from the Conservation Design Form and Eric Sanderson of the Wildlife Conservation Society.  I can objectively say that it was a fascinating panel centered around Mr. Sanderson's book Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York. One of the main reasons I applied to the Biomimicry program was to learn more about ecology, so Mr. Sanderson's career as a landscape ecologist is very interesting to me. 

The thesis of "Mannahatta" centers around the reconstruction of Manhattan ecology to when it was first discovered by settlers.  Based on research, Mr. Sanderson layers the native ecological systems and the current grid of concrete and steel in order to discuss the habitat needs of previous and current occupants.  Food, water, shelter, and reproductive resources create a habitat be it for humans or other animals.  He also discusses the need for meaning in our existence and how that makes a habitat a home.

Mr. Browning applied this information to a project he worked on where a building was unknowingly built over an indigenous stream in Manhattan over seventy years ago, so massive sump pumps were employed over the building's lifespan to remove this ground water to the storm sewers.  By recognizing the native ecological footprint of the site, the owners can now use this information to make use of this clean, cool water to replace existing potable and non-potable uses, saving money and resources. 

Mr. Patchett gave a stirring account of the habitats that native plants cultivated when they were indigenous to the area but now that humans have "broken the botanical law" by polluting these habitats, they are no longer able to thrive.  In particular, he spoke of the rhizosphere, the 6' or so below the surface where roots hold water in native landscapes, that has been destroyed by development and advocates for responsible land management.  He believes strongly that "water is everything" and restoring the water cycle to its previous balance it is the key to ecological restoration. 

My favorite quote from the session:

"When we try to pick out anything by itself we find that it is bound fast, by a thousand invisible cords that cannot be broken, to everything in the Universe."  - John Muir

a quote for fall

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf's a flower."
- Albert Camus

A Devotional

"as a drop of water is part of the ocean,
so am i a part of the earth, my mother.
she created me, she nurtures me,
and she will receive me when i die.
in gratitude i honor her at this time."
- Starhawk

Quote: "Isn't growth for the sake of growth the philosophy of cancer?"

- John Langerak, Chester, ME as quoted in Scientific American, August 2010

Quote: "have they no grandchildren?"

Excerpt from Tom Friedman's Op Ed in the NYT today:

"The last word goes to the contrarian hedge fund manager Jeremy Grantham, who in his July letter to investors, noted: 'Conspiracy theorists claim to believe that global warming is a carefully constructed hoax driven by scientists desperate for ... what? Being needled by nonscientific newspaper reports, by blogs and by right-wing politicians and think tanks? I have a much simpler but plausible 'conspiracy theory': the fossil energy companies, driven by the need to protect hundreds of billions of dollars of profits, encourage obfuscation of the inconvenient scientific results. I, for one, admire them for their P.R. skills, while wondering, as always: "Have they no grandchildren?"