"This is a story of a wet December day when there dawned a new hope. On the 19th December a group of intrepid local volunteers gathered together to heed the call for a new beginning. This was not done from an armchair on the internet but in the old -fashioned way. We worked in the wet and mud to plant 200 trees and shrubs on the land adjoining Curry Woods. Why would a group of otherwise sane people do this?
I like to think of this planet on which we are so fortunate to live in the same way as described by the great James Lovelock, he of the Gaia theory. This described the way in which the combined living mass on the planet operates as an indivisible system. If one bit is damaged the whole system has to react to repair the damage. As life is defined by science as the ability to breathe, then the planet as a whole is a giant lung and always has been since life (as we know it Jim) evolved. Breathing involves the taking in of oxygen and the use of its oxidative powers to drive all other reactions in the body using the energy produced, with the release of water and carbon dioxide. This has happened for at least 3 billion years - that’s a lot of oxygen. Where did it all come from? Well, youknow the answer, don’t you? Take a moment to hold a green leaf in your hand (don’t pick it if you can avoid doing so), and think about what it’s doing. In front of you it is performing such complex chemical reactions that we humans cannot master and reproduce them; in the biggest and noisiest chemical factories we cannot do one hundredth of that which the leaf you are holding in your hand is doing. That leaf represents the reason you are here and are alive. Only green plants can take carbon dioxide and water from the environment and use the sun’s radiative energy to make them into molecules we can eat and, most importantly, also produce oxygen. Not just some oxygen but all the oxygen. All the oxygen for the last 3 billion years. That’s why the group of villagers were out that Saturday in the mud and rain to plant 200 trees. (By the by, your lungs are made of millions of alveoli and they are where gas exchange occurs.)
We were planning more planting in January and were particularly looking forward to a group of children from the school, led by teacher Emily Langford, coming to plant with us. It is so important to get their generation involved and we are very sad that the lock down has prevented it for the time being. However, individuals or families can still plant - we have another 200 trees waiting to be planted."
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This is an extract from the monthly edition of Curry Rivel News which is normally delivered by hand to all residents but because of the lock down can only be seen on the Community Web site. Link here
https://www.curryrivel.org.uk
More news soon!
