online: 15 april 2010 modified: 15 april 2010 15 april 2010 on a sunny afternoon
collective intelligence
...once out of the cold north east wind that has persisted for weeks (interspersed with a few days of warm westerly wind) i immediately experience the warmth of late spring, or even of early summer... on this dry ground...
...but today volcanic ash from Iceland is spreading (at 20,000 feet) over the uk and other parts of north west europe... i set out to fetch essential foods thinking that i might not be able to go out if the ash spreads to ground level (as it is harmful to anyone with a respitory disorder)... but once outdoors i could not resist a walk in the woods... and here i am on a seat beneath a large beech tree from which i see nettles, brambles, elders, chestnuts and other kinds of vegetation already out, or at last coming forth, into this sunny but still wintry atmosphere...
...yesterday i came acrosss a lawn of dandelion flowers that, after opening fully in warm west wind, had closed in daylight in this cold wind from the north... as if it was already night...
...despite the surprise or inconvenience to many of us on suddenly finding all uk airports closed because volcanic ash (which can cause a jet engine to stop in midair) i cannot help enjoying this emergency, as i enjoyed the collective excitement of world war 2... for such occasions bring alive our collective intelligence... and with it the ability of nature (or human nature) so called, to rise to all eventualities...
...i can't detect any sign of volcanic ash in the upper atmosphere... or in my nose, throat and lungs... but a volcanic ash forecast that i found on the web* says that the pollution is likely to remain at 20,000 feet and is unlikely to affect people on the ground... (but surely it will eventually descend somewhere - being composed of solid particles of sand, glass, and other such substances)...
...but to what degree can we believe these predictions... someone reminded me today of the deliberate under-reporting of dangeros effluent of the nuclear power station disaster at Chernobyl (and other under-reportings of ill-effects of technology e.g. the Three Mile Island disaster and the denials of the incidence of cancers around nuclear power stations in north Wales and Cumberland)...
...back now to awareness of this recently-mown field (of what were tall wild plants) i see only nettles as the first to reappear after what to me (and to these plants) was harmful destruction... the taming of a necessary or benevolent wildness...
...but i don't wish to write protests... preferring to find or await words more connective... or inspiring...
...and now, as get up to go, i look round to see whoever it is that is speaking behind me... i see two or three young men climbing and talking in a large chestnut tree... enjoying a kind of sport (or play-in-nature) that i assume is rare now...but i may be wrong... for i've several times heard and seen people who occasionally inhabit some of the larger trees in this forest...
Parliament Hill:
...i see no sign of volcanic ash in the vast panorama of the city... the air between here and the distant city towers is exceptionally clear today... but i do see a large grey cloud above the city and the low hills beyond...
...on the way back i looked up at the blue sky... and yes, i see strange-looking clouds... plumes or streaks of shapeless mist resembling vapour trails but more diffuse and broader... could these be volcanic ash or am i seeing what the news-item leads me to expect... or to invent?
...and i sudddenly notice the absence of aircraft noise... in this first-ever closing of all uk airports...
*a volcanic ash-forecasting website... click the list on the left for an amazing array of collecive services (besides volcanic ash forecasing)... i much like and respect this timely evolution, or meta-evoution, of such activities... 'the collective intelligence of human nature' perhaps?...
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