Blog Action Day - A Changing Climate

As a long-term nature observer and gardener, there are many signs of climate change. The most striking are extreme weather patterns. Predicted by a number of climate change models, variability in rainfall and temperatures may be the most telling indicators. In my part of the world, we've seen warmer winters (in night-time lows), drought and deluge (definitely yes), and drier summers (certainly in the recent decade of drought).

Is this 'normal'?

Maybe, but it seems to indicate that increasingly, human-induced inputs are affecting global climatic patterns in unprecedented ways.

I'm glad to lend a voice to Blog Action Day efforts to promote awareness on this issue.

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A global perspective

My blog isn't about politics or economics, it's about my garden, and natural gardening, and things I observe and feel passionately about. But I also like to reflect on what's important to me and what I'm thinking about. We live in a global community, without a doubt.

My gardening companion and I love exploring the natural world wherever we're able to visit, and there are many wonderful places on our planet. We've been fortunate to visit remarkable places over the decades that we've been able to travel.

So we felt a distinct affinity to an essay by Pico Iyer published in this week's Time magazine. Iyer is a wonderful (travel) writer, as is Paul Theroux, but his graceful reflection on what it means for America to turn outward, rather than inward, with our election of a new president, is something that we can celebrate.

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Global gardening

an array of vegetables and fish, Vientiane, Laos

I bumbled onto a cool device called Feedjit visiting a fellow blogger's site (thanks, Beverly!) It tracks where people who are reading your blog are located.

Muang Sing market, northern Laos (near the Chinese border)

I enjoy making blog posts (for myself) because it helps me keep track of what I've noticed in my own garden (or the botanical garden where I work) and what I'm currently thinking about in terms of gardening and nature, worrying about our current drought, and what I'm needing to plant next in the vegetable garden or the meadow, etc.

Otavalo market, Ecuador

But as someone who loves to explore distant parts of the world (my gardening companion shares this enthusiasm and he takes the travel photos), I'm delighted to hear from someone in Japan, Malaysia, or the Philippines (in addition to anywhere in North or South America or Europe or Africa or Australia or elsewhere in Asia).

sugarcane and buyers, BacHa market, northern Vietnam

It's humbling to realize that someone in Egypt somehow stumbled onto to a post that I made -- it makes being part of the global community so much more real. We all depend on plants for sustenance -- and the connections and understanding and ease of obtaining those things differs.

My gardening companion and I have been fortunate enough to poke around markets, natural areas, and gardens in a number of places -- the markets and home gardens provide inspiration and encouragement about growing a diversity of other vegetables, but more importantly, help us get a better sense of the interplay between food, culture, and the resources and work that it takes to grow an abundance and diversity of food.

Bulati market, Tanzania, Crater Highlands

breakfast at the market, Otavalo, Ecuador

selling peas, Otavalo, Ecuador

squash and edible gourds, Mysore, India

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