The Earth, my garden

I like to think of the Earth as my garden, my big garden. I think we gardeners agree that the Earth is our inspiration. We try to emulate in the little bit of land around our homes the beauty and peace we have seen and loved on a large scale on our planet. The woodlands, the mountain valleys, the open tundra vistas: this is Real Gardening, something to look up to. The xeriscaping in the deserts must be seen to be believed! Waterfalls, tidal pools, marshes, lakes, rivers, oceans, now these are water features! A rainforest, a coral reef, a South Sea island — each is a beautiful garden.

Here in Canada, our ‘head gardener’ staggered home from Nairobi toting a burden of booby prizes and fossil awards. Turns out that in Canada we’re not such good gardeners after all. Turns out we don’t know the first thing about taking care of a planet. Embarrassing! I thought for sure the dogs on Parliament Hill would tear her to shreds. She was saved though, by the quick thinking of her boss. He grabbed a stick called ‘Quebec Nation,’ threw it hard, shouted “Fetch!� and they zoomed off after it, as though personally hand-trained by Pavlov himself.

Oh we love a diversion all right! Sports, politics, almost anything will do. Too bad our distractions can’t divert calamity as smartly as they divert our attention from the essential. Think about the people of New Orleans who had all the time in the world to make sure their levees would keep them safe. But nobody got around to taking action and then it was too late. I’m guessing, as the floodwaters rose, that few were talking football, or decrying same-sex marriage.

And now the jury is in — our planet, our garden, the flora and the fauna (including our own species) is in danger — grave, life-threatening danger. And how do we react? We cast about for more diversion. Are we in denial, or are we in denial?

Imagine someone came over to your place and dumped a skip full of toxic garbage all over your garden. You’d be outside in two seconds throwing a major hysterical fit. You’d call the police, the city, a cleaning company, your insurance, your MP. “Help! My goldfish are dead! My children are at risk! This can’t be happening!� You might want to move away but what if you couldn’t? You would take action yourself, and demand that the authorities take action. You’d try to get back your garden. You’d almost certainly defer discussing your Canadian identity or your stand on the seal hunt until the crisis was resolved.

So what’s the difference, really? The world, from upper atmosphere to deepest ocean, is laced with our contaminants. Fish are dying. Animals are going extinct. We are getting sick. Climate change has begun. We can’t move away. In all truth, the earth really is our garden. Can we understand this? How deeply? Can we elect leaders who are not in denial; who are prepared to take action? Are we ready to elect them now? Can we take our head out of the sand and do our part? Can we save our skins before we finally get ourselves kicked out of the garden once and for all?