Speaking of re-wilding, of a curious sort, yesterday I visited a Superfund site in Texas City, Texas and came across a coyote scat (or was it a ghost wolf?) at one of its chainlink fence gates. The Motco site was one of the most notorious of the 1980s, they cleaned out what they could over the last decades, and capped, or contained with slurry walls, that which remained. It, and a couple of nearby similar sites, are covered with grasslands now, restricted from development, but traversable up top, if an animal or bird can get through the portal of the gate, or over or around the fence. Rerouting of highways and ramps to I-45, to serve a new LNG facility, have been routed around the site, so as not to disturb it. It’s a tragedy that site is there, and its open space is dwarfed by the vast petrochemical complexes that extend up the coast to Houston, Baytown, Beaumont, and southern Louisiana, but it was a small hopeful sign to see that the animals were still there and had found it.
Congratulations on your book tour. Sounds as if you are welcome in lots of places to talk about the book. Just wanted to note, I think that in this essay you meant "palate-cleansing" rather than "pallet-cleansing." Unless, of course, you meant that you were cleansing "a portable platform for handling, storing, or moving materials and packages (as in warehouses, factories, or vehicles)." : )
I look forward to reading your book. I enjoy reading about your urban wildlife adventures, hither and yon.
The digital-virtual superintelligence species we have created are, of course, human centric, and have humankind's hunger to consume the Earth and all that's in it. Do not make the mistake of hoping this specie will rewild any part of it. Superintelligence will, as Iowa demonstrates, more rapidly burn the Earth to a cinder for the next million years. Not that the Earth will care; it will regenerate life once again and flourish. How ironic that homo sapiens built the tools and devices to destroy ourselves and, temporarily, all other life forms in less than 50,000 years.
Speaking of re-wilding, of a curious sort, yesterday I visited a Superfund site in Texas City, Texas and came across a coyote scat (or was it a ghost wolf?) at one of its chainlink fence gates. The Motco site was one of the most notorious of the 1980s, they cleaned out what they could over the last decades, and capped, or contained with slurry walls, that which remained. It, and a couple of nearby similar sites, are covered with grasslands now, restricted from development, but traversable up top, if an animal or bird can get through the portal of the gate, or over or around the fence. Rerouting of highways and ramps to I-45, to serve a new LNG facility, have been routed around the site, so as not to disturb it. It’s a tragedy that site is there, and its open space is dwarfed by the vast petrochemical complexes that extend up the coast to Houston, Baytown, Beaumont, and southern Louisiana, but it was a small hopeful sign to see that the animals were still there and had found it.
That’s amazing, Diana, I’d love to go check it out sometime 🐺— Houston seems like it’s full of such places.
Congratulations on your book tour. Sounds as if you are welcome in lots of places to talk about the book. Just wanted to note, I think that in this essay you meant "palate-cleansing" rather than "pallet-cleansing." Unless, of course, you meant that you were cleansing "a portable platform for handling, storing, or moving materials and packages (as in warehouses, factories, or vehicles)." : )
I look forward to reading your book. I enjoy reading about your urban wildlife adventures, hither and yon.
Ha! That’s what I get for writing these so insanely early—will fix (though I kind of like the idea of pallet cleansers 😎)
The digital-virtual superintelligence species we have created are, of course, human centric, and have humankind's hunger to consume the Earth and all that's in it. Do not make the mistake of hoping this specie will rewild any part of it. Superintelligence will, as Iowa demonstrates, more rapidly burn the Earth to a cinder for the next million years. Not that the Earth will care; it will regenerate life once again and flourish. How ironic that homo sapiens built the tools and devices to destroy ourselves and, temporarily, all other life forms in less than 50,000 years.
I agree on all points, I’m afraid. Thanks as always for reading and connecting 🙏🌽
Had no idea you were from Iowa! I grew up in Knoxville. Fun to read this journey through Des Moines :)
Amazing! Thank you 🙏🌽💚