Wandering off into the woods today, just thinking about how the field is dry, the grass dormant, the soil is dry, and the forest is lush and green, the second story greener still, the soil moist. Same ground, different biotic mix of plants, animals, fungi, protists, etc. I can see now what they were getting at in that Link TV film on comparing the productivity of the forest to the field. According to their interviewees, the forest beats the field for food production hands down. Theirs was chestnuts and beech canopy in England, here it's northern pin oaks and red pines, white oaks in the open. But for producing more food per hectare or acre, I can see it now. The trees are like jars with flip-top lids, taking in water when it rains, shutting the lids when it's hot and dry, and shading the forest floor keeping it cool and moist. Waxy leaves with stomates that shut in hot dry air, photosynthesis halts in intense direct sun - the wax seals in moisture; grass and cryptobiotic soil wh/ lichens and moss doesn't in the field. Grass gives up a lot of moisture. C3 vs. C4 pathway for photosynthesis, C3 grass, C4 for herbs and trees - C4 is better for our climate. All the mychorrhizal symbioses at work in the forest, feeding the root hairs of plants, supplying minerals and moisture, protecting them when it dries, all that in a harmony of sorts, the secret cooperative strategy for survival which coexists with selection of the fittest, like a layering of systems, timed and coordinated, changing dynamically and intricately woven into the tapestry of life. And a lot more thoughts than I can put here, deeper and broader than the scope of a paragraph.

But then I think of the indigenous rubber tappers, Brasil nut collectors, sustainable foresters, shade grown coffee and cocoa, and how that simply makes sense, to preserve the biodiversity and retain a culture the nurtures human values for life itself, the shared appreciation of all life for it's own sake, a million gems each irreplaceable and interwoven. Feed the world we must do, but finding better ways to do it is the answer. Cropping sustainable water conserving nut brushes and trees may hold the answer in the dryer temperate areas, desalinated water using solar power in the dry horn of Africa for irrigation, put the food where it's needed, deeper values, common values, better understanding. The whole is worth more than the sum of the parts.

^ Due to how stupidly tired I am from being up this late, I'm finding that really confusing. :herpderp:

 

Honestly, I have no idea why I'm awake and on my computer at 2:20 am. I need to go to bed. Now.