LOOKING BOTH WAYS
By Jean Thomas
A new year starts this week. It’s an artificial thing invented by people, of course. The urge is there to compare what we had in the past to the unknown future. But we spend our whole life comparing and weighing one choice against another. Politics has recently taken the spotlight with its ferocity, but every day we compare choices and weigh options. It seems that every time I consider a garden chore, I’m torn between opposing forces. Having spent the last couple of years working as an interviewer on a podcast about all things Nature in the Hudson Valley (https://ccecolumbiagreene.org/gardening/nature-calls-conversations-from-the-hudson-valley), I have talked to experts on nearly everything to do with my home and gardens and few acres of wood lot. Before my co-host and I record our interviews, we research as thoroughly as we can. We have access to highly respected authorities and educators, and enlightening conversations with passionate innovators and conservationists. Interestingly, we discovered that not all experts agreed on all things. We understand this is pretty much because of the definition of scientific inquiry, which is: Observe, ask questions, run tests and experiments , and propose conclusions. Each of our experts has followed the scientific path. Or,rather, a scientific path. Ours is a big, complicated world and there can be many correct answers. And these answers may not always match one another. Here are a few examples. We are hearing a barrage of warnings to stop raking leaves off the grass or cutting down dead trees in our woods. We are told we must keep such litter intact so as to allow a complete life cycle for native and beneficial life forms, usually insects. We are also being told, sometimes from the same source, the best practices for maintaining a beautiful lawn and productive garden. The aim here is to prevent “bad” insect and disease incursions by cleaning up all that litter. What’s a gardener to do? We are told that only native plants should be encouraged around our homes, and that invasive plants must be removed mercilessly. We hear the gospel of shunning pesticides to the extent that we use no toxin lest we pollute the earth. Others tell us to fight fiercely to knock out the invaders, whether they are plant or creature, at any cost, chemical or otherwise. Tim and I disagree about several practices, but with civility. Every school of thought has its rationale, usually scientific. We tend to disagree on philosophical grounds. One of us is an avid proponent of restoring native plants and creatures to their places of origin. The other questions whether it is possible, given that the original site may have already been altered beyond repair. We agree that Climate Change has begun. We disagree about what the starting point may have been, and about the pace it is taking, and about whether we should restore an environment that will be forever changing. If this sounds like the conversations at your house, I think our podcast is succeeding. What we have learned is this: The more we learn the more we want to know. Therefore, scientific results, if done correctly, must keep changing as we learn more. So, it seems contradictory, but each of our experts is correct… according to his or her research, even though another expert has found opposite results. As the ultimate deciders, we, the gardeners and citizens, have the daunting chore of deciding what to do. Use this mantra: “Pick your battles.” This is what Tim and I and all the experts have done. Listen to the experts, even the ones you think must be wildly misguided. Then choose your own actions. If I refuse to give up my imported perennial beds and Tim installs a wildflower meadow in the place of his, neither of us is wrong, really. If I choose to use judicious application of pesticide to save a hemlock and Tim hand picks egg masses from his orchard, neither of us is wrong. If you have a cherished panel of pristine bluegrass in front of your house, don’t act all superior to the guy down the street whose yard might look unkempt to you. Pick your battle… and learn why others pick theirs. There may be a middle ground, and I suspect we all want to be the good guy. Let’s give it a try. Maybe a neighborhood barbeque and a chat.
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