A bright early autumn day, sunlight spiling across the field and through the trees. It was chilly this morning and has warmed up some now. We may have a little rain tomorrow. Out on the marshes the grasses have turned a mix of early season green, beige, and brown.
Our neighbour who owns the field adjacent us had a couple of trees cut at the edge of the field yesterday. The sound of trees being felled and shredded filled the air all day, a painful sound that we could not easily escape. One, a lovely old maple, will be especially missed. We fretted that he would take even more trees but for now the carnage seems to have ended. The arborists left behind yards of sawdust and what seems like a massive stack of trunks.
Jennie was out in the yard early this morning, watering stressed trees. This evening she will likely water the trees on the other side of the house. Not every tree is stressed, but those that are will need extended care. Drought stress is accumulative and, for trees that are acclimatized to the North Atlantic coastal biome, year following year of seasonal drought and extreme heat are acute stressors. We shall see what happens.
Speaking of climate change, denial has been a topic of family discussion this morning, as our family’s lived experience challenges our culture’s denial of accelerating ecosystem disruption. We are reminded that denial is a human thing; as T.S. Eliot noted, people “can’t stand very much reality”. Paradoxically, denial helps us survive but also threatens our survival. Sometimes we humans take denial to great lengths, are then suddenly forced to awaken to a harsh reality, then returned to a state of general denial. Its a grand cycle.
How do you manage life in a culture of denial? How do you balance the need to know and the need to not know?
Please share your thoughts and join the conversation!