GreenSpace: Knowing more about plants and wildlife will do a world of good

Here's a novel idea for making the world a greener place: Have everyone get up close and personal with 50 local species.

Could it be that simple? A matter of making friends with a few frogs and flowers, butterflies and birds?

Kenn Kaufman has been pondering this since 2007, when the nationally known birder, naturalist, and author said in an interview that doing so would "profoundly change each person's sense of values, each person's sense of responsibility to the ecosystems that support all of our fellow creatures."

The interview appeared in a national birding magazine. And he surely raised eyebrows among the pros who pride themselves on being able to identify hundreds of species when he said, "we really don't need any more people who can identify third-winter Thayer's gulls."



Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/health_science/weekly/20100712_GreenSpace__GreenSpace__Knowing_more_about_plants_and_wildlife_will_do_a_world_of_good.html#ixzz0tV35Ysgs

Since I retired, I have, for the first time in my life, had the time to grow plants and observe the animals in my garden. What a thrill.

I have learned how life destroys itself, renews itself, dies, is born, how the earth, the soil needs nurturing, needs sun but also rain, needs cold but also heat, how large plants shade smaller plants, how plants turn toward, yearn for the sun, how predators camouflage themselves, how all living beings defend themselves against their enemies.

I have also learned how destructive a plant or animal can be when it invades or begins to propagate itself in an environment in which it is not native. Parrots have very few natural predators in our area. Parrots somehow escaped from their owners some years ago because we have flocks of them. They maraud out neighborhoods. Dozens of them swarm on a tree and eat every edible piece of small fruit within their reach. They are loud, disruptive, like an invading army.

The parrots are wonderful in their proper environment, but they do not belong in our area. We live in a desert. They belong in a forest where there is a plentiful food supply for them. Their hunger drives them to aggressive behavior.

I have learned so much about life, death, anger, fear from my garden. Just watch plants and animals. You won't need to read philosophy. All wisdom is present in nature.