Nature Connection: And The Beat Goes On

 Sonny and Cher wrote and sang “The Beat Goes On” in 1967, back when I was a newly minted teen, and when I looked up the lyrics recently, I was surprised to see they could easily be applied to today. Just replace a few of the time-specific words and well, here we are, going on and on and on.

 Nature rarely misses or skips a beat. She’s both reliable and unpredictable, but even her unpredictability is reliable. Take spring, for example. Here on Cape Cod, spring is perhaps more of a hopeful state of mind than the sweet reality seen and experienced over the bridges. Blame it on the ocean, but really, isn’t it worth living by the ocean in spite of the surliness of ocean delayed springs?

 In spite of our wacky weather that fluctuates between winter and spring for most of March and even April, nature keeps plugging along. The birds sing in spite of night temperatures still hovering around freezing, and the spotted salamanders and wood frogs are making their nightly forays to their favorite vernal pools on the soggiest, foggiest of nights.

 Trees and shrubs are budding, bulbs are either beginning to bloom or pushing their leaves up through the earth, and perennial flowers are preparing to be the first guests at the garden party.

 Don’t be too quick to clean up the gardens quite yet, and please say no to leaf blowers. Fire the landscapers that insist on them. There are better, less damaging ways to keep your landscape clean. Leaf blowers not only pollute your air, they remove topsoil as well as leaves. They kill the beneficial insects you want and have no respect for bird nests, rabbit nests or even box turtle nests. 

 Then the soil needs to be replaced, artificially colored and chemically treated toxic mulch is laid down, and well, hopefully you get the picture. I hear people say their homeowners’ associations and other groups insist on these horrific practices, but you get to join the boards, write the letters, and show up to change things. If not you, who? This can be applied to more than leaf blowers right now as well.

 Like many of you I am enjoying the blooming that has begun. I’m also enjoying watching the nuthatches and woodpeckers court. Some days I wish the rabbits would go elsewhere to consummate their matches, but they are oblivious to my wishes. The squirrels are frisky, and the neighborhood possum continues to visit during the night. Soon there may be baby possums.

 No matter what is going on in our human world, nature continues to move forward. Listen closely and you’ll hear the beat going on, the beat of the waves coming in and out, the beat of the worms breaking through the newly thawed ground, the beat of seeds expanding and preparing to burst forth into life.

 Every creature has a heartbeat, a pulse of some kind. More and more we are learning that plants and trees have their own beats, their own ways of communicating and protecting themselves and each other. We could learn a lot by studying the ways mycelium, the filaments of fungi that spread and intertwine underground, support that which stands above the dirt line.

 As different as we may seem on the outside, we share a common history of biology with every other living thing. We may think we are unique with our spaceships and manufactured medicines, but like the grubs and polliwogs we are but a tiny part of the great big world. We act like we run the place, but that’s not really true. We do have a part to play as humans, and we also have many important choices to make right now.

 We can either support those who believe in science and use it to make the lives of all better or we can support those who are throwing up a golden calf of money to cloud the better judgement of the masses. For those who have read the Bible, that should be a clear reference. If not, look it up. It’s a story told in different ways in different cultures and religions, but in the end, the relentless seeking of money over humanity or nature is not only frowned upon but reviled as the work of evil, not good. And yet, here we are, with a leader who doesn’t care about the very things we all need to stay alive.

 These are difficult days, but the beat does go on, with us or without us. Take a walk outdoors as spring comes into focus. Everything fits in perfectly with everything else. The cycle of life is something every living thing experiences. Some are short, some are long, but all depend on others in the greater web of life. Take away a crucial part of that and the web collapses. This is what causes extinctions. Those who forget we are animals are doomed to forget their own reliance on nature. Perhaps they’d like to try and survive without water, food and shelter. If we keep on this dangerous track of ignoring our responsibility of environmental stewardship, they will soon find out how difficult if not impossible that will be. 

 The beat goes on. It’s up to us whether we listen.