Dreaming the World

A bright, warm late summer morning, less hot and humid than recent days. We’ve managed to make it through the morning without air conditioning on the first floor! The electrician, who is working in the basement, reports that he is cool and comfortable.

Across the street roses are still blooming. In yards and margins throughout the neighborhood flower gardens are taking on a decidedly August look. We’ve had plenty of rain so they remain lush, but now yellows are beginning to dominate and fall wildflowers are coming into bloom.

Friday we went to check on the osprey on the beach in Dartmouth. Last year was challenging for our local osprey but this year has been dreadful. The word that keeps coming up to describe the season is “devastating”. While there are plenty of fish, the osprey cannot get to them. Perhaps the warming waters are forcing the fish to stay well below the surface. Whatever the reason, many chicks are starving and many pairs have apparently abandoned their nests.

We could not stay long at the beach, but it seemed to us that not all is well with our long time pair. The nest was relatively quiet and the adults were gone for long periods of time, suggesting the yhad to travel to fish. One hung around, clearly fishing but not catching anything. Obviously, fishing is not good.

Last August there were disturbingly few fledglings in the sky over the bay, and this year promises many fewer still. These osprey, and others who nest nearby, are family to us, and their plight is enormously upsetting. We bounce between rage, fear, and grief, occasionally stopping briefly at hope. This is a human caused catastrophe, and while local conservation organizations are seeking solutions, the pressures on our local breeding populations are only growing.

We live in a historical moment in which many people have very little contact with the natural world, and thus are not aware of the harm being done. Much like the 1950’s, those in power simply don’t care as long as they are profiting from the destruction.

As in any perilous time, we find ourselves wondering how to live in what often seems an immense vacuum of knowing, empathy, or consideration for the future. I wonder how much the promise of machine-brain merger, and a sort of subsequent immortality free from environmental concerns or embodied relationships, contributes to this emerging nightmare.