Eco Alley
Living Green with Connie Pumphrey
What’s in your backyard?
I was raised to believe that every living thing inhabits Earth for a reason. Scavengers like ants, roaches, mice and buzzards eat garbage and animal carcasses that would otherwise pile up to rot and decay; worms, spiders and birds thin out the bugs; snakes and foxes eat mice, moles & voles to contain their populations. In a perfect environment, nature is designed to balance itself so no species overpopulates or gains control. Homo sapiens, however, threw a wrench into this perfect world. We want our surroundings free of the reminders of nature’s sometimes unpleasant and often predatory way of controlling itself. It’s much like we feel about war; have at it but not in our back yards.
Hubby and I have a small parcel of land that is curiously balanced. Our raccoons, muskrats, foxes, squirrels, turtles, rabbits, hundreds of birds, and occasional snakes reproduce, then move on, keeping each other in check. No creature overpopulates and the tiny things that crawl about perform their tasks without too much damage. We view the nature show regularly without trying to change the plot or characters.
The white tail deer is the exception to survival’s fittest rule because its predators (grizzly bears, wolves, mountain lions, coyotes & man) have either been eliminated or we no longer hunt for our protein dinner. If we hadn’t killed off the deer’s predators, nature might be in perfect balance. On the other hand, some intervention means that grizzly bears aren’t showing up in our mud room competing with raccoons for chicken remains and the coyote hasn’t carried off our beloved cat (who would no doubt think he could take him).
Nature and our environment will nevertheless come back at us every time we make a stupid decision. The better plan is to respect nature’s laws even if they are inconvenient or make us cringe. I point to the slug as proof that some things in nature are beyond our comprehension even though there must be a purpose for its existence.
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