| The information age has landed with a head | | | | happened on my doorstep that really caught my |
| bursting thump. In fact it has not only | | | | attention. |
| landed; it has planted roots and made a firm | | | | |
| home for itself within our society. On a | | | | My local African potatoes are only a |
| daily basis we have the opportunity engorge | | | | reflection of a much wider problem. |
| ourselves with new information - magazine | | | | "Approximately 20-30 percent of plant and |
| articles, blogs, pod casts and e-books. And | | | | animal species assessed so far are likely to |
| yet as we revel in this golden age of | | | | be at greater risk of extinction if increases |
| information, we manage to casually face our | | | | in global average temperature exceed 1.5 to |
| biggest ever challenge as a species, and note | | | | 2.5 Celsius" . Water supply and drought are |
| it down on a virtual to do list for the | | | | not the only problems, some species of plants |
| future - "global warming, fix next week". | | | | and animals are temperature sensitive for |
| | | | reproduction. With the onset of global |
| Just this evening while discussing the topic, | | | | temperatures; botanical gardens around the |
| my six year old daughter dropped her | | | | world have noted that plants around the world |
| shoulders rolled her eyes and moaned "not | | | | are booming ahead of their normal schedule . |
| that again!" Too much information can be as | | | | |
| bad as too little, as we run the risk of | | | | We are reminded that global warming was |
| desensitization setting it. What's more, | | | | created by factors such as industry, traffic |
| information without experience to help us | | | | and agricultural practices to name a few, |
| internalize it does little good. Experience | | | | however when we follow the road to the |
| enables us to assign an emotion to the new | | | | source, these contributors come down to one |
| information; this is what makes it | | | | place -the place you call home. The quandary |
| meaningful. | | | | with global warming is the name itself. It |
| | | | evokes a sense of "globalness" or if you |
| This being the case, I am not here to | | | | prefer, a sense of bigness that is hard to |
| overload you with facts about global warming, | | | | equate with the day to day hustle and bustle |
| there are multitudes of pages about it on the | | | | of the family home, its hard to absorb it, |
| net and the "almost" US president Al Gore has | | | | and say, "It's my problem". You may wish to |
| adequately illustrated the threat of global | | | | test this yourself; what is the first image |
| warming in his award winning film, The | | | | that enters your head when you hear the term |
| Inconvenient Truth. My interests are more to | | | | "global warming"? |
| do with the effects of global warming on | | | | |
| plants and more specifically the plants that | | | | With the home in mind let's avoid the |
| live within my direct human experience. | | | | multitude of tips available to reduce global |
| | | | warming and consider what experiences we can |
| How will the increase in average global | | | | have that will help us to internalize this |
| temperature affect the plants live around | | | | mass of information and make it real. |
| you? The question was sparked by the | | | | Experiencing means processing our world |
| unprecedented dry summer we have just | | | | though our five senses, perhaps it's the time |
| experienced in Johannesburg. After a season | | | | you take to brush your teeth while leaving |
| of unrelenting heat, punctuated only by two | | | | the tap running and saying a sad farewell to |
| meager rainfalls, Johannesburg's surrounding | | | | those water drops that not even your |
| grasslands turned from green to brown and | | | | grandchildren will gain any benefit from. |
| then shortly after to black as the inevitable | | | | Perhaps its taking a walk through your local |
| veld fires started. These savannah areas are | | | | botanical garden as if it was the last time |
| rich in medicinal plants including the hardy | | | | you could do it, or perhaps it's as simple as |
| African Potato, Artemisia and a host of | | | | taking the time to notice what it feels like |
| golden savanna land grasses. While these | | | | for your body to experience thirst. The fact |
| areas often burn in winter, the unseasonable | | | | remains that until information about global |
| fires arrived at the wrong time during the | | | | warming becomes real and experiential to each |
| plants' growth cycle. Consequently some | | | | and every person, we can expect a good few |
| plants were badly damaged, while many did not | | | | very dry summers to come. |
| survive at all. It was this experience that | | | | |