Mosquitoes abound. L. sent me a news story last night about the influx of new strains of mosquitoes into my own home state. Mosquitoes are responsible for more human death than any other animal species killing more than one million people each year (link). That's death. Many times that are made ill by mosquitos bites from over 2,500 species. It's not really the mosquito, though, but what it transmits--blood borne diseases. Microbes. Parasites. The works.
Mosquitoes abound in my neighborhood. An evening on the deck requires repellents. I try not to use them. I try to cover up. But the sort of clothing I wear is not really good protection, and I am usually bitten through my clothing. I got bitten pretty well yesterday while working in the yard. We now have mosquitoes that love the daylight. We have mosquitoes that prefer to live inside the house. The little fuckers are everywhere--and they are dangerous.
So. . . we talk about pesticides. The city used to have mosquito trucks drive through the neighborhoods at night spraying. . . god knows what. The online neighborhood watch letter is now often filled with questions about what happened to the mosquito trucks. They seemed to have vanished in the past few years.
DDT was banned long ago. I am sure whatever Monsanto products they might use now to fight mosquito infestations are dangerous, too. But I am also pretty sure they don't kill 1,000,000 people every year.
I know, I know. . . bird eggs, reproductive cycles, etc. I just don't want to get Zika because I went outside.
But mosquitoes are only the introduction here. With everyone now thinking of the terrifying zoonotic pandemics that are just around the corner, there is another, scarier thing that people aren't talking about so much.
Have you noticed the scarcity of oranges and grapefruit this year? In Florida, orange production has declined by 75%, grapefruit production by 80%. The cause? A bacteria from China (link). Bacteria, fungi, and viruses attack plants as well as animals. Growing ecological stress from global warming, deforestation, and ever expanding development to house the world's rapidly expanding human populations make agricultural pandemics evermore likely. Drought is only one reason for declining agroproduction. Diseases, even in otherwise healthy farm environments, become more prevalent and problematic each year.
And so, as world food anxiety grows, so does Monsanto and the other chemical giants. In lieu of addressing the problem, we rely more heavily on things that are toxic to the health of both humans and the ecosystem.
Be afraid, people. Be very, very afraid.
Well, there is that. Meanwhile, I just sprayed my yard with weed killer. It is much easier than pulling weeds. I don't have to be in the right to criticize. I'm ready for the mosquito trucks to come back around, too. For you see, I believe that the individual can't fix the problem. O.K. So you use a lot of water. You shower, wash clothes, leave the faucet on while you brush your teeth, flush toilets, and water your lawn. If you are an average American, you use about 100 gallons of water every day. Not the household, but each member. Every day. Horrible, right? That water, however, is usually treated and put back into the ecosystem in some fashion. Industrial use, however, accounts by far for the most hazardous water pollution. You can begin to cut down on your shower time and pee outside, and you can wear your clothes more times before you wash them, but the water crisis will remain. And the amount of chemicals used in agriculture--forget about it. When they quit building golf courses, I'll quit spraying my lawn once a year.
I think I lost my way here. While I was writing, a raccoon ran across my deck toward the bowl I use to feed the feral cat. The cat was watching the raccoon, and I had to go out and scare it off. Suburban raccoons are a major spreader of diseases including rabies. My tenant had to go through the series of rabies shots recently. The raccoon needs to go.
Well, that's today's cheery message. I have bigger problems than global warming and habitat destruction to solve. Life is personal, after all, even for Gandhi and Sister Theresa. I don't relish looking for the flaws in the lives of human icons, but somehow knowing the dirt on them seems to make me feel better. I mean, I don't want to shoulder all the guilt.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely spot on. "Rolex are for douches."
You know, my favorite clients were the old wealthy - who once you showed some interest - a little knowledge - some travel stories - those you had to really work hard to find out where all that "good stuff," came from as they, with no fan fair, handed you a Patek and said something like, "it was my Father's. Does it have any value?"
Oh. They definitely KNEW it had value. Maybe not the exact. It was a test of your trustworthiness, I think. I always felt honored to be able to be in the presence of such lovely things that had been cherished back in time to hard working people. It's amazing how something invented or discovered can be of value through so many, many years. I did sales for one of the DuPonts. I've told the stories here before.
The Douches?
I'd show up for a call, the V.P. or President or C.E.O. or C.I.O. or whatever tech, financial, mortgage - their new brand new house furnished like every other Douche they hung around with. Nothing with any particular character - douchey books by jump the shark authors - nothing other than what their "Decorator" told them to buy. And then I would have to hear how much they spent on it.
Oh. I couldn't shut those pie holes up. "I got this Rolex when I was on vacation in Aspen skiing. I bought my wife a cool Louis. You wouldn't believe who was staying at the same place as us...we had the kids in ski school with Kate Hudson's kids."
Their shit wasn't worth shit. Most of it would never be worth much because they bought trendy stupid shit.
Oh. That was a tangent. I am just home from a Traditional Irish Boiled Dinner. It was delicious. Ma cooks it every year. She proclaimed this evening upon my arrival, "This is the Last Corned Beef Dinner cooked by me. I will not do this again."
Maybe at 89 almost 90 you can start saying that shit. But I will be shocked if she doesn't say it again next year - at this age - I'm just glad I get to spend time with her. She cracks me up when I don't want to pummel her.
The light was good enough when I got home from the Gulag to take the doges for a walk. We did the little bog. It was freezing. But it was good because things were mostly all the same - the Red Tail Hawk that lives there greeted us when we got half way round. There was a dead martin - not sure how it died - was a pretty thing - its fur like mink. I found a huge owl pellet. It was dry enough for me to open it. There were the TINIEST little leg bones - a mole or vole some type of tiny rodent. Had I had something to carry it in - I would have loved to have had them. I might have bleached them and set them under a cloche for a bit. Look at them from time to time.
Spring will come. There were also huge deer prints. Soon when I walk, the peepers will be loud. I've sent those recordings around these parts prolly.
I wonder if I am going to get the yelling warning that I've talked too much. I have more to say. Let's see.
ReplyDeleteOh. Look.
Anyway, you shouldn't use chemicals to kill weeds. That broke my heart a little.
What kind of weeds? Where? I can give you alternative solutions.
Did I ever tell you I once raised worms? In my basement. For my new garden which needed all the help it could get.
Well I did. I raised them in a huge tupperware tub. They made babies. It was cool. And put them in my garden.
Worms are really good for gardens. And the earth.
I saw some other things today that made me happy. But I'm talking too much.
Okies. x
Oh, my. . . you may have insulted Q.
ReplyDeleteAnd I used weed killer. I wasn't aware of the Save the Weeds movement. Save the Weed, sure, but I'm not growing any of that.