Wit's End: Labor Day

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Labor Day

Sophie came up from Philly with friends to go for a sail with Alice and Dennis.

I made a picnic - grilled lamb marinated in garlic, rosemary and red wine; baby lettuces topped with roasted beets with goat cheese and pistachio nuts; a tart with heirloom tomatoes, piave cheese, anchovies and oil-cured calamata olives; a salad of fresh lima beans, shucked sweet corn, and colorful peppers with dill in a meyer lemon vinaigrette; and green lentils with garbanzos, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and tarragon, in a pomegranate balsamic dressing.

Thanks Alice for taking us out on your boat!

And a special thank you to our skipper for another lovely afternoon!

Going shopping at the grocery store is an activity that fills me with dread and anxiety. I put off going and when I can't avoid it I have to quell the urge to buy everything in sight. Even though the shelves of the opulent Wegman's are full, the produce section bursting with almost pornographically lush fruits and vegetables, with all manner of fresh herbs and 20 kinds of potatos, and aisle after aisle with ingredients for any cuisine imported from all over the world, in my mind I see the day when the complacent shoppers become frantic and ransack the stores and topple delivery trucks because food in America is scarce.

Food and water are already scarce in many parts of the world. When climate change effects overwhelm our agriculture, no one will be able to protect themselves from the fearsome consequences.

This is not fall color! It is too early. Leaves change from green, to gold, scarlet, and russet in autumn - without the blackened holes - in response to lower temperatures, and we're not even close to that. These leaves show unmistakable signs of being poisoned by toxic gasses in the atmosphere, and they are everywhere to be found. But most people, if they notice at all, will no doubt think it is fall folliage.

Our habit of burning fossil fuels and biofuels is destroying vegetation, and we will either stop it because we are smart or it will stop because we are dead.

Ozone and PAN's are dangerous pollutants that cause asthma, emphysema, and cancer.

If the leaves are showing such distress, what do you suppose is going on in our bodies?

Here is an interesting response. Quite a few species the past month have had growth spurts, but the new leaves are already exhibiting the lack of chlorophyll, while the older leaves are ravaged with scorching, and are an ominous dark hue.