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The natural world always behaves like this. It attempts, in its own way, to overcome every obstacle put in its path. Organisms of all kinds make the best they can of every situation.
What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.
Click to enlarge
Fancy a swim? No, I don’t either.
As with the last two Image of the day posts, this is once again from the River Great Ouse. Rubbish of all kinds gets into the river by a variety of routes. Sometimes people may just chuck stuff in – empty cans, plastic wrappers, paper bags. More often, perhaps, they leave items on the grass or the path, the wind blows, and voila! More flotsam.
But there’s not just human junk here, there are a lot of feathers too, mostly swan feathers though there might be goose and duck feathers as well. And there are leaves carelessly discarded by the trees in the park. However, the situation is not as bad as it seems; the photo was taken in a little corner where the river current doesn’t reach, a stagnant space where, if things move at all, they go around in lazy circles. There’s also some kind of floating weed here, thriving amongst the trash.
The natural world always behaves like this. It attempts, in its own way, to overcome every obstacle put in its path. Organisms of all kinds make the best they can of every situation. Often, the impact of floating waste is negative, but sometimes there may be exceptions.
On a much larger scale
I expect readers are aware of the massed floating zones of plastic at the centres of our oceans, the so-called Pacific garbage patch is the best known example although there are others. Some organisms have adopted these patches as suitable places to settle and there are now thriving colonies of algae, fish, and more. Attempts to collect the plastic for removal may need to be reconsidered and the situation is still under investigation.
Humans individually and collectively
It’s tempting to assume that my individual action has little effect. And there’s some truth in that – If I throw away a plastic sandwich wrapper as I walk in the countryside (having a quick look around first to see if anyone’s watching, of course), it’s easy to assume it doesn’t matter. But if I do it it every day that will be 365 plastic sandwich wrappers lying in the countryside. And if a thousand other people do the same thing that’s a third of a million wrappers. Suddenly the problem seems greater than I first imagined!
Collectively we are doing an enormous amount of damage. We need collective actions to make things better. This is happening, and we can all contribute, individually and collectively. If I act to improve things a little, and do it often, I will make a real difference. Or a local group removing litter from public spaces can make a larger difference much more quickly.
Somehow, collectively, we need to change from causing more damage to thinking things through and acting more responsibly. If we can’t or won’t, things will go from really bad (where we are now) to far, far worse (a place we definitely don’t want to be). Yet there’s still time, if not to put everything right, at least to reduce the harm very significantly.
It’s not only about rubbish
There are many things we can do to help the world cope better. Some of the links below offer good practical suggestions. Thinking about what we eat, how we use water, reducing energy consumption (and many other actions) can help the planet.
If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!
Downtime is recuperative. It gives us time to just be, time to think, contemplate, dream. And when we return to the business of the day, perhaps we’ll do it with renewed vigour and purpose.
What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.
Click to enlarge
I took this photo in 2012 when we lived in St Neots. It shows one of the bridges across the River Great Ouse in Bedford, much of the area around the river is parkland. It’s a wonderful breathing space in the heart of the hustle and bustle of the town and a relaxing stroll at lunchtime is always good in the middle of a busy day. There are places to eat and drink, or you can bring your own food and find a place to sit on the grass or choose a bench by the water. Lovely.
Downtime is important in our lives, it’s not good to be busy all the time. So whether it’s a week’s holiday, or even two; or a day off; or just 30 minutes in the middle of the day in the sunshine – downtime is recuperative. It gives us time to just be, time to think, contemplate, dream. And when we return to the busy business of the day, perhaps we’ll do it with renewed vigour and purpose.
And there’s something else in this photo.
Crossing a bridge
It’s impossible to miss the man crossing the footbridge. He looks purposeful, yet relaxed. The placid beauty of his surroundings would make it easy to feel relaxed. He’s crossing from one side to the other and I think he knows where he’s going.
Now I’m going to say something that some will accept and others will reject. But please reject it slowly if that’s your response. Read to the end and then reject it if that’s your decision. The man on the bridge is like a person following Jesus. That’s a bridge I have crossed in my own life. We’re all free to choose, but before walking away (if that’s your choice) please consider that even if you don’t believe all of his claims, Jesus is worth your attention because of his philosophy. He chose kindness, love and generosity over the prickly hatred and meanness that we so often see in our world. Jesus is worth hearing for his non-spiritual views, quite apart from anything else. Take a look. I did. My story is here on Journeys of heart and mind.
If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!
If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!
What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.
Click to enlarge
This is the same river as the previous post, the River Great Ouse. That previous image captured a view from St Neots in Cambridgeshire; this one is from further upstream in Bedford.
The swans you see here are doing what swans do. They pair for life, but they also congregate in larger social groups (known as a bevy). When a swan dies and leaves a lonely partner, the remaining swan will often bond with a new mate.
In this sense swans are very like humans; we usually form lasting male/female pairs and in the same way, if one partner dies, the other will often (sooner or later) find a new partner. But there is a significant difference: swans act on instinct. We do too, but in humans there are additional layers. I can think of at least two – culture and reasoning.
Culture
Human culture is habitual behaviour; it may differ greatly from population to population. It’s easy to find differences between a Western wedding, an Indian wedding, an Afghan wedding, and a Japanese wedding. We could easily extend that list. There are also differences (though more subtle) between a French wedding, a US wedding, and a Polish wedding. And there will be still other differences between Anglican, Catholic, Baptist and Pentecostal weddings. Swans have nothing remotely like this, in fact they don’t have weddings at all. All of the foregoing is cultural; it’s a human layer overlying the instinctive animal processes of bonding, producing offspring and helping them grow safely to adulthood. There’s some evidence for elements of culture in certain birds, and some primates, and in some whales and dolphins – but well below the levels seen in human populations.
Reasoning
This is another layer but again, it’s mostly limited to human populations. It’s reasoning that enables us to have governments, science, technology of almost unlimited variety from farming and construction to ships, railways, aircraft and computers. Reasoning involves observation, drawing conclusions, finding ways of persuading others, differentiating between what works and what does not, making choices, and planning ahead. Again, you can see glimmerings of reasoning in some birds, some mammals, and in the octopus.
Faith
Faith seems to have no place whatsoever for swans, chimps, or any other creature on the planet. Faith draws on elements of both culture and reasoning, yet it’s not defined by either and is not dependent on either. It’s unique to humans. You’ll find quite lot on this website concerning faith one way or another; I won’t write about it further here, but I’ll leave a few suggested links below.
Conclusion
From observing a group of elegant birds on a river, we have thought about things that groups of people and groups of animals have in common, and how our abilities rise to at least two higher planes above the level attained by almost all other animals.
If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!
Journeys of Heart and Mind 