Balloon and Cone

This morning I am busy preparing ceviche and gazpacho for a poolside luncheon at the Frenchtown farm, where a baby horse arrived last Monday. (Pictures later!) So all I have time to do now is publish a couple of flowers. That little wasp on the balloon flower is very aggressive and stings without any provocation.

Jimmy Carter

I have never understood the vitriol that was heaped upon him, from the time when I voted in my first election, for him, to now.

It seems the times are catching up to his vision, with a book out on his famous mislabeled "malaise" speech, and articles and posts galore.

He always seemed to me smart, decent, sincere, dedicated, and even visionary.

Compare that to...lying, torturing, deceiving, philandering, moronic, illiterate, bigoted....anyway.

Was it somehow Carter's fault that stupid, fat, selfish, greedy Americans didn't want to hear about conserving, planning, sacrificing, and hard work? For their children and grandchildren?

Another Analogy!

Three charming daughters often claimed they couldn't possibly be expected to wash the dishes because they objected to the way in which I asked/demanded they do them.

To which I would reply, it has nothing to do with how I ask you, and everything to do with you JUST DON'T WANT TO DO THE DISHES.

Similarly, although considerably more serious, Americans made it abundantly clear they favored greed, borrowing, consuming, and short-term immediate pleasure when they voted in brain-dead droves for Ronald Reagan, a senile idiot who promised them "mourning in America", because contrary to what these apologists now claim, that Jimmy Carter didn't ask them nicely enough, or "inspire" them enough, or compel them with enough "leadership" whatever the fuck that means...actually, they JUST DIDN'T WANT TO DO THE DISHES.

Oh, but Iran Contra hostages! Hennnnhhh...

Here are a few of my favorite comments to a post about Jimmy Carter on Daily Kos:

"I would like to see Carter rehabilitated (10+ / 0-)
Partly because he's still standing strong, and partly because he earned a lot more respect as President, than he's currently given. He was sensitive, thoughtful, and compassionate, all traits that made him easy targets for post-pubescent bullies who never quite left the schoolyard.

Carter was one of the great ones (15+ / 0-)
Until the conservatives launched the War on Reason.

It is my hope that the last 30 years will be seen by history as a modern Dark Age.

Great diary, thanks for bringing Jimmy Carter to my attention. After reading the short extract of the speech yesterday it was interesting to note that many of the things Carter was discussing 30 years ago have even more relevance to today. Its a pity that Americas greatest leaders can be torn down so easily by an unfriendly press.

I would like to see McGovern (4+ / 0-) rehabilitated. Because he is a hero and would have been a far better President than that vile criminal scum who ended the lives of tens of thousands of Americans and millions of Asians.

Our current healthcare system is simple. Don't get sick.

"In June or July of 1981, on the bleakest day of my professional life, they descended on the Solar Energy Research Institute, fired about half of our staff and all of our contractors, including two people who went on to win Nobel prizes in other fields, and reduced our $130 million budget by $100 million," recalls Denis Hayes, the founder of Earth Day, who had been hired by Carter to spearhead the solar initiative.

Reagan and Congress stopped aggressively pushing new auto efficiency standards, acceding to Detroit's desire to leave them at Carter-era levels. They let the solar tax benefit expire, and the nascent solar industry went belly- up."

The High and Mighty Will Fall Hard

This report from Oxfam is not for the squeamish. Set aside some time to read it, if you are interested - it is a straightforward analysis and has excellent photographs, and interviews.. It is a detailed discussion about how climate change will impose deadly impacts on the poorest of the world - at first.

Of course, the poor will suffer sooner and more:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/climate_change/downloads/bp130_suffering_science.pdf

But eventually, the chickens will come home to roost for the wealthy, although many of them don't seem to be aware of that fact.



While out on a drive to run errands, I was stymied by a sign reading, "Bridge Out". Drats. It was quickest at that point to take a circuitous detour down a little country lane, actually one of the few roads remaining unpaved hereabouts, beloved by equestrians, walkers, and bicyclists. This detour, a familiar route for me, guided me past a property that was for the length of time she raised family, the home of Jackie Mars Vogel - who happens to be the fourth richest woman in America in 2008 (according to Forbes).

Candy!

Driving past those pastures, stables, indoor riding ring, and caretaker cottages reminded me of the conceit that it will be other people, poor people, who live far away, whose lives will be drastically altered as climate change inexorably goes forward. This is hubris of the most self-destructive, and idiotic sort.

So in light of the Oxfam report I was curious to see as I drove past this quiet and well tended sanctuary whether it would reflect a relative insulation from climate chaos that the ultra wealthy conservatives seem to believe they will enjoy - I say that since they are doing exactly ZERO to promote necessary government action to avert the worst catastrophe. Quite the contrary, they are attacking Obama and any efforts to convert to clean renewable energy (no wonder - where are the obscene profits in that?).

So I stopped and took some pictures to illustrate that perhaps such a grand estate will be immune from tree decline as a result of climate change that I see everywhere else. Was that a success?
Judge for yourself!

There are paddocks on the other side of the road, this is Hunt Country, after all.

And a pond, with inquisitive geese.


The privileged won't be able to shield themselves behind privet hedges when they look as bedraggled as this.


A beautiful house surrounded by a whole lot of sad trees.




A closer look at the orchard reveals sick leaves and stunted apples.


Heading home, this episode inspired me to compare the condition of her property with some other famous locals, who ought to be interested to know that money and influence are not going to spare them or their families, and particularly their children, from dreadful consequences directly attributable to the effects of anthropogenic global warming.
Thus, I next swung by the home of Steve Forbes, failed Presidential contender who inherited the various executive positions at Forbes Magazine. The trees there were in sorry shape, as well. At the rate they are dropping foliage, there won't be much left to shield this mogul's home from any random passer-by.




Next, I ventured past the home of another well-known Republican, Governor Christie Whitman, former head of the EPA who assured everyone, for some inscrutable reason, that the air around the World Trade Centers after 9/11 was safe. She has since made some laudatory attempts to address climate change, but not very forcefully. Now that she's spent quite a bit of time with her family, can't she start looking at the lovely estate she inherited from her parents, the Todds, bastions of Republicanism, and recognize what a few camera clicks reveal?





This is only here because I liked the tractor.

Click on these because it's hard to see when it's small that rows of pines are bare of any needles around the pond.


The last property to visit for this examination was formerly owned by John DeLorean, before he went down in flames thanks to cocaine and other vices. Donald Trump scooped it up and destroyed perfectly good fox hunting terrain in order to construct an outlandish golf course. Swathes of trees were laid waste, and who knows how many wild critters lost their habitat and died. Giant earthmoving equipment re-sculpted the land, spewing lethal carbon in vast quantities.
The former stables now serve as the poolhouse.

The original mansion was just a boring big brick rectangle devoid of any architectural merit. Trump plastered on an extension for banquet facilities thus finalizing an epic aesthetic fail.


Now, I suppose these golfers who scurry over artificial hill and dale on their golf carts are rather prone to imagine they are out in nature, swatting their little balls, taking in the views, doing something healthy.
And I suppose they are as oblivious as everyone else to the plight of the native trees that escaped the construction carnage, as well as those ornamentals since planted.







Unless you are attuned to the symptoms of decline, these beeches don't look so bad when taken as a whole.

But a close up of the leaves tells the real story.

Wouldn't it be nice if these rich and powerful Republicans got realistic about climate chaos and started promoting ways for us to get off dirty energy, and urged their colleagues and fellow conservatives - like that son of a bitch Inhofe - to stop being the party of NO and obstructing all efforts to pass legislation - in order to protect everyone's children including their own? How about the Donald makes a genuinely real reality show, on the stupid teevee, about what is truly at risk - and Steve Forbes prints articles in his magazine about the horrendous costs of NOT radically cutting back on CO2 emissions, and the dastardly influence of the coal, gas, and oil industry lobbyists who are subverting the democratic process with their millions of campaign donations?

That should be a crime, by the way.

If their own trees don't convince them that no one will be safe from climate chaos, maybe they should read this:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/06/22/failed_states_index_the_last_straw

The Definitive Proof

I have been a regular visitor to this arboretum for (I'm sorry to date myself by saying), about 30 years. This land and the neighboring property were owned by two landscape architects around the turn of the (last) century, and when they died, they bequeathed these estates, Willowwood and the adjacent Bamboo Brook, to the county as parks. While they lived there, the formal gardens were installed with stone walls, walks, delightful bridges and stepped ponds, statuary and gates and trellises. Many, many exotic and indigenous trees and shrubs were planted throughout the surrounding acres. I have spent countless happy hours wandering the trails, alone, or with children and friends, often picnicking, and always taking home inspiration for my own gardens. There is such variety that from week to week from late winter to fall it was possible to continuously see new blossoms, hitherto never encountered elsewhere. I have been truly fortunate to live so close to this horticultural treasure.

When I first discovered these retreats they had been practically forgotten, and neglected. Hardly any visitors were to be seen there, and it was generally deserted. More recently, various individuals and groups have undertaken refurbishment and there are more people although, still, it is very peaceful. Americans seem to prefer amusement parks, boardwalks and movies to communing with nature. Or even worse, motorcycles and powerboats.

Here are some of the flowers from the ever-changing panoply, and remember a click on a photo will miraculously enlarge the detail:




These asclepias are wild in the surrounding meadows, and they attract butterflies.

Once, youngest daughter found several monarch chrysalides and brought them home to hatch. When they emerge they can't fly right away, so they clung to her dress.

Here are some views of this little corner of paradise.






One of the most appealing aspects of the house was its boxwood hedges, which are now severely distressed.


This beautiful stone barn is covered in ivy that was hard hit this past winter.



It is frequently frustrating to me that the vast majority of people are oblivious to the climate change occurring around them, never mind the awful consequences that will result. Significant Other, who must regularly listen to me bemoan this state of affairs, is of the opinion that very few will make the connection between climate change and tree demise as long as there is one shriveled, yellowed, pockmarked, pathetic leaf dangling limply on a branch.

In stubborn defiance of this prediction that dooms us to at least another year or perhaps two before people wake up to their unimaginable waste, over-consumption, pollution, and outrageously profligate baby-making, I decided to go to my nearest local arboretum, for irrefutable evidence.

Of course it was readily obtainable, but will anybody look, or care? Don't answer that!

What follows for the most part, are pictures of a tree from a distance, which may to the uninitiated look fine because there are still leaves attached to branches, immediately preceding a view of what those leaves actually look like, close up. But first here are two willows, the park's namesake.


One of the earliest pleasures in the season are the witchhazels, which don't have a showy bloom but do possess a wonderful light scent.

The leaves are blighted.

The bark is covered with fungus.


Another species of renown at this park are the many varieties of lilac. Every spring the Board of Trustees hosts a "Lilac Party" to raise funds. The lilacs are especially susceptible to the extremes of climate change. This lilac of the olive family is labled as a New Jersey Champion tree.



The leaves of this Persian Ironwood are completely yellowed.


This is a Wild Service Tree


Flowering Dogwood, like the lilacs, are in peril.


Another NJ Champion tree, this magnificent dawn redwood has a thinning crown. My children used to love climbing over the enormous rounded "knuckles" of its roots.


This is a Hedge Maple.


Here is a giant hickory losing its leaves.



A yellow lily, for relief!

A crepe myrtle.



A common lilac.


This is a China Fir - deciduous and coniferous trees alike are both victims of climate change.


A Chinese Elm.


A variety of crabapple.


This tree is called a Bird Cherry.


An Allegheny Plum.


These flowers are blooming next to a Scotch Laburnum bush whose leaves are yellow.



For the most part I have pictures of the Latin name if anyone is interested.

The label on this conifer was illegible, but it is an excellent example of a formerly beautifully proportioned specimen, that is now shrinking.

This is the view from the inside looking out, where the number of bare branches is clearly visible.

This is an example of oozing sap, which I have observed in deciduous trees this past year as well. I can't say for sure but it wouldn't surprise me if it isn't because it isn't cold enough for trees to go dormant in winter, and so the occasional dip into the teens freezes the running sap, which then bursts through the park and oozes out in copious amounts.


This bunny thought I was crazy.



So is this variety of species and age enough to convince any doubters that the trees are uniformly in decline with very little time left before they simply add fuel to wildfires?

Here is a story which should inspire everyone to stop using plastic unless absolutely necessary:

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-garbage-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html

copy this link for a video on the topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLrVCI4N67M