Ecological Caprice

 I drew a triangle before my eyes. The daughter who learned about graphics from math class these days asked me what I was drawing. I said that this is the cyclic process of water in nature. I said that I continued to draw with my hands in the air: a drop of water is steamed by the sun or wind. Dry, become steam, rise to the sky, become clouds, then become rain, snow and hail, and fall on the ground, converge into a river, rush to the sea, evaporate, fall, flow, and repeat again and again, continuously...

Yes, a triangle is a vivid picture of water circulating in nature. But for such a simple triangle, how long does it take for a small drop of water to complete this cycle? I didn’t have time to tell her about the Indian Ocean monsoon and the meeting of the hot and cold air currents to form precipitation. The water droplets flowed into large rivers after landing, and moved to several countries before they were injected into the Pacific Ocean. They were evaporated into water vapor and rose to the sky before waiting for the next year’s monsoon. The arrival of the rain, a sudden heavy rain fell, dripping and heartily.

It seems that at this time of year, we are anxiously waiting for the rain. There was no rain after the autumn last year. We spent a dry winter in anxiety, followed by a dull spring. Until now, the long-awaited rain has finally fallen. The dark sky was hanging very low, and the rumble of thunder reminded me of many beautiful imaginations left in my brain when I was a child: Is there another pile of boulders pushed around by the thunder gods and electric mothers in the heaven?

To this day, I have always liked to use a beautiful imagination to interpret nature, which not only adds to the mystery of the story, but also gives us more spiritual awe of the world.

A sharp thunderstorm poured the ground fresh and the air became very humid, but we couldn’t wait to come to a lake on the edge of the city, but from a distance we saw the bare lakeshore covered with yellow moss, like withered yellow in the fall season. Thatch in the mountains. It is conceivable that the temperature rises in summer, and the crisis of water eutrophication will become the biggest. But today's eager rain did not provide much water for it, so the water of a lake is still on the verge of crisis.

This situation often worries me. Some people say that the hometown of water is the sea. From the moment it evaporates and rises into the air, it has been looking forward to its final return all the time. It turns into clouds at high altitudes, then falls into rain, merges into ditches and rivers, and rushes towards the sea in the hometown day and night. But with evaporation, interception and various ways of utilization along the way, how much water can eventually reach the sea smoothly? Or even if the water droplet has gone through thousands of hours to reach the sea, what kind of painful memories will it have on its journey?

Yes, contaminated water is like sickness, it seems that there is only death, otherwise the nightmare will never go away. This kind of meditation makes me even hope that every drop of rain falling from the sky should not flow, even if it falls on the rocks on the top of the mountain, on the leaves, among the bushes, in the grass, on the flower stamens, or on small animals. On her fur, it quickly evaporates with the breeze or warm sunlight, yearning for a new life, repeating the short but holy life cycle forever.

Water is the source of life. It not only nurtures life, gives birth to all things, nurtures all things, but also cleanses all things and nourishes all things. No matter when and where, our human need for water is extremely urgent. But our return to water is always so cruel. When the water is polluted to drink, have we ever thought that there is an ecology under the water that depends on it, a chain that can survive and continue with it?

2

It has been drought year after year, so over the years, I have often seemed to be neurotic and have been paying attention to this little drop of water. One day, when I came to a village surrounded by several mountains, I found from a distance that a pond at the entrance of the village was a beautiful scenery. The mountains melted and the water was surging, and Xiaoying, a local friend who acted as a driver, also enthusiastically told me about the ancient myths about the pond water. I couldn't help stopping him, but when we got out of the car and took a closer look, we saw cyanobacteria blooms on the surface of the water, and the stench of water in the breeze was disgusting. There was no water supply for several months, making it a veritable smelly pond.

I immediately felt an inexplicable pain on the tip of my heart. If a piece of paper is contaminated, we will always tear it off without hesitation; but if a river, a pond, or a lake is contaminated, it may fall into an abyss that cannot be restored, and it is listed in people’s aesthetic dictionaries. Was completely removed.

I remember that Leopold once said in the "Sand Country Yearbook": "If we don't know something well, then when it disappears, we won't feel pain. The reason why we feel sad for something , Because we know too much about it and can’t bear to lose it.” But for the rivers and lakes around us, even a small well, we don’t just know it. To be precise, it’s a place of mantle, swaddling, yes. Mother's broad mind, how can we sit back and watch her die or go away?

Moreover, have we ever thought about the Taihu Lake, Dianchi Lake, Huaihe River, or other polluted rivers and lakes, who brought so many disasters to them? There is no doubt that it is all of us, human beings.

3

My friend told me that before the 1990s, the villagers had been eating the water in this pond, working at sunrise and returning at sunset. When I came back from the field in the evening, I went to the pond with my shirtless back to wash away my stinky sweat, and then picked two buckets of water from the heart of the pond. I still washed vegetables and cooked food, and cooked soup and kimchi. And at that time, it seemed that the village had never heard of anyone getting stones, nor had they heard of any strange disease. But gradually, the upstream water source was directly developed by many manufacturers into mineral water plants, and then power stations were built. At the same time, many residential water pipes were connected to homes. There was no water source for such a large pond, and it soon became Of course, drinking directly from a stinky pond has become history. By now, people have long been familiar with the various stone diseases in the village.

My friend also said that in the past, the villagers often went to the ponds to fish for aquatic plants to raise livestock, or dig pond mud as fertilizer and apply them directly to the fields. The crops were so good. But now, there are fewer and fewer fields in the village, and no one is scared of those plants that grow wild in ponds anymore.

As if to confirm his words, the thick reefs are scattered around the pond, and the top is covered with a thick layer of yellow moss. If the color is not a bit worrying, this scene is really reminiscent of the cartoon painting. Beautiful girl under the sea. But now it gives people a shocking fear, and what I am worried about is that these sphagnum moss that could purify water have become the culprit of pollution.

It seemed that it was confirming my guess. Then I saw many artificially salvaged yellow moss piled into small piles on the shore, and the color had already turned black, which was enough to imitate those reefs to be fake. There are traces of burnt nearby. In the past, it was supposed to be a good fertilizing material, but now it can only be dried over time and becomes garbage. With the advent of modern civilization, it seems that what we lose is not only the traditional way of life, but also the usefulness of many treasures.

But there seem to be many such examples around us. I don't know when will we be able to make environmental protection and ecology complement each other and be mutually beneficial?

4

I decided to visit a small island in the lake. To go to the island, I had to take a boat for a while. Facing the morning sun and slight breeze, the island in the heart of the lake reflected by the sparkling waves seemed to be plated with a layer of gold. I can't help thinking of the vastness of this water, colorless and tasteless, what color you give it, what color it gives you, what taste it gives you, and of course what taste you give it back! If you just throw waste water, garbage, residues, waste and various pollutants into the water, then of course it will only return you with blue algae and inferior water quality that cannot be used.

Without water, life cannot exist at all. We rely on water, whether drinking, washing, breeding, irrigation, shipping, transportation, industrial production, including power generation, cleaning, cooling, etc., all do not need water, and it is clean water, but all of this is almost insatiable Almost all that is collected and returned to the water is pollution and waste.

5

The special karst landforms have led to the scarcity of flat land on the island, and more importantly, the scarcity of water. An old grandma walking by the lake told me that there is water in the rock caves on the island, enough for all the villagers to drink. While walking, I also noticed the running water pipeline from the woods on the island and the stone hills behind the house, connecting all the houses. She also told me that in order to protect the lake, the island now has a sewage pipe network that runs through the entire village. After centralized collection and storage, it is transported to the dock on the opposite bank by ship, and then transported to the sewage treatment plant by vehicle.

Later, I drank boiling water in the Sanxing Temple in the center of the island village. The old man at the door told me that the boiling water was boiled with water from the cave. At this moment, I sighed the magic of good fortune. Being born into such a lake and such a small island in the lake is indeed a natural creation. But he seemed to be a little worried to tell me that tap water costs three yuan a cubic meter, but electricity bills are only 30 cents. So some villagers are greedy and dig wells privately at home. When the power is turned on, the water will flow continuously, which can drain the entire lake. , Especially those newly built inns, the water consumption is even more frightening. I don't know if this will last, whether it will affect the ecology of the lake, and whether the water in the cave will dry up one day.

It seems that only the locals who have lived here for generations have such profound concerns about their homeland. Not only do you own the green water and green mountains, but you should also think about what you want to leave for our children and grandchildren.

6

Many wetland parks have been built around the city. We will also visit when we find a suitable time. It was an ancient village and a small commercial town, a wetland surrounded by gentle clear streams, clean water, clean ponds, and lush green grasses. The wetland park of hundreds of acres has long been turned into a tree-lined wetland with reeds and grasses. The summer resort with lotus flowers makes me really can't believe my eyes. Because in the early years, the water quality of this river once deteriorated and it was inaudible. Later, it was replaced with a wetland, which actually changed its appearance.

The mobile phone Baidu said: Wetlands, forests, and oceans are called the “three major ecosystems” of the earth, enjoying various titles such as “kidney of the earth”, “cradle of life” and “special gene bank”. Embankment, tourism and leisure, retaining nutrients, providing habitat for wild animals, education and scientific research and other functions.

This small wetland park, only ten years after its completion, has been a gathering of gulls and birds, and there is endless vitality hidden in the reed grass river beach. The Hot and Cold Festival is a hotbed for many rare birds to live through the winter, and it is also the best place to relax and visit for nearby residents.

In the cultural circle around me, many artists love their own fixed small world. For example, photography. Many people regard this wetland as their most important creative landmark. I have seen this area under their lens countless times. The many beautiful sceneries of the wetland: sunsets on rivers, clouds of sky, flying birds, shoal of reed grass, clear water and blue sky, lotus leaves... Spring, summer, autumn and winter, all seasons, wetland landscapes are constantly competing for gold in various art circles Silver, or appear in some kind of authoritative newspaper. There are many painters and writer friends who enter and exit this wetland park. Singers will hang their voices under the forest, and some composers will often come here to find materials and inspiration.

On the plateau, such wetlands are widely scattered. But I think that it is not only a place where insects, fish, birds and beasts live, but also the food and clothing parents of the residents. However, in the past few decades, many such wetlands have been invaded at different times. We asked for food, farmland, fish and shrimps from the wetlands. As a result, many reckless developments caused many rivers and lakes to lose their most important ecological barriers.

Now that we know the importance of wetlands, we have invested heavily to protect and restore wetlands. However, in order to develop the economy, there are still many large and small lakes or wetlands around the city that have been directly swallowed and converted into resorts or high-end hotels. People don’t understand, since the wetland is so important, why do we restore the wetland while engulfing the wetland, and stage a paradoxical farce?

7

Yunnan is mountainous, so the early rural areas have always had mixed agriculture and animal husbandry. Raising horses and donkeys is used for pack transportation in the mountains, while raising cattle for farming and milking, and raising chickens, ducks and five poultry to supplement meat. In the countryside at that time, it seemed that all six animals and five poultry were in line with this simple landscape. They were not squeamish, tolerant of rough feeding, and harvested their crops. The straw and chaff left in the fields were their food, and the fine farmers would harvest them. When you come back to store it, you have to do everything possible to save it evenly, and save it until the cold and dry winter or the rainy season when you can’t go out. In the normal season, the thatch, wild fern, wormwood, and various broad leaves in the corners of the fields all over the mountains become tougher and fatter after the fall, and they are cut back home by the villagers on their horses. Put another layer of floor mats to the bottom of the livestock pen, which can be used as forage grass and keep the pen dry. It can withstand the trampling of livestock and the soaking of manure water. The season has accumulated a thick layer at the bottom of the circle, and after the harvest is completed, it is applied to the ground, and it appears to be full of fertility.

At that time, in the eyes of the villagers, chemical fertilizer was an absolute luxury, or even if the price was cheap, it was not the first choice of farmers. When the planting season comes, the circle can no longer contain it. Only when a circle of dung grass is applied to the field as soon as possible, the yard becomes clean, and people's hearts become solid.

And this process of digging the bottom of the enclosure is called "dung excavation" by us. Depending on the livestock being raised, the silo manure can also be divided into sheep dung, cow dung, horse dung, chicken dung, etc. It has to be pulled to the side of the road with great pains, and baskets have to be carried back to the fields and applied to the ground. Pulling the dung and backing the dung to administer the dung, and even paying for the dung, every time you have to toss for several days, it is dirty and tired, and it will bring back a bad smell in the end. But people never get tired of it, and think that only in this way can the fertility of the thin fields be regained, and they will feel at ease when they plant crops. "A crop and a flower depend on dung for the house." "Fatty is a treasure of the farm, and crops do not grow well if there is no fertilizer." "Infants must be raised on milk, and crops must grow on fertilizer."...For thousands of years, these farming sayings have been people's deep minds. Ecological ethics handed down from generation to generation.

I was studying abroad a few years ago, but I often encountered farm tractors on the way home, loaded with a large cart of fertilizer, and built into a city wall, usually running back and forth in several dams. At that time, cow raising became popular in villages in the countryside of my hometown, and dairy cows became a major agricultural and sideline industry for farmers to increase their income. But later it was said that cow dung was destroying water quality and cattle raising was banned. Later, in order to improve the living environment of rural residences, the wind of changing toilets and stables quickly blew up in the rural areas, and more straw and forage were abandoned in the corners of the fields, or were burnt at every turn. A few days ago, my hometown caused trouble because of the ban on garlic planting, saying that too much fertilizer was used for garlic planting, which caused serious agricultural non-point source pollution and affected water quality. Due to the high cost of investment, the farmers certainly quit, and the turmoil is frequently seen in various media. At this time, some people thought of reapplying farmyard manure and advocating pollution-free planting, but now our rural areas have long been unable to find so many captive fertilizers.

In the final analysis, raising cattle and growing garlic is an interlocking ecological chain. No matter which link is cut, it will trigger a series of cascading reactions. The so-called ecological agriculture, in fact, still requires us to slow down and seek mutual adaptation with the ecological environment, rather than rudely cutting off a certain link.

8

After reading "China on the Treetops" by the writer Liang Heng, I always remember some of his remarks about ancient trees: "The world lives longer than humans, and the only living life that lives with humans is trees. It is. It can survive ten or twenty times more than human beings. Its annual rings are silently helping mankind to record history. Even if it dies and is buried in the ground to silicify into stone and jade, it is still using various natural information such as carbon 14 for us. The wind and clouds of that era remain."

So every time I travel, I often pay attention to those old trees. I remember once when I came to a remote lakeside village. Two big green trees stood in the middle of the village like a big umbrella, covering the sky and the sun. Only when I looked up could I see the full picture of these two big trees. But in the face of these two long-standing old trees, I am willing to maintain this state of looking up in awe. The trunk is sturdy, the spring branches are new, and the leaves are like clusters. Because the surroundings are wide and unobstructed, if you don’t see it in person, you certainly can’t imagine its sturdiness and majesty-surrounded by two large stone steps, far away It seems to give people a sense of sacredness, and some of the old branches are particularly conspicuous.

I expected that the age of the two trees must be quite long, but I could go around the tree, but I saw the sign on the tree stating: 180 years. I was a little disappointed, but I quickly understood that the big green tree belongs to the banyan tree category and grows extremely fast. In other words, it does not take two centuries for us to leave such a heavy green legacy for future generations. The village is not big, and I will be able to walk the village back and forth soon, so it is not difficult to find that the greatest wealth of the village is these two big trees. On both sides of the village street, there are many inns and snack shops bearing the signs of ancient trees. It not only creates a special coolness for the village and storefronts, but also records the ancient depths of history. Many tourists are fighting here. Take pictures and linger.

In the long flow of history, we have too many legacy left by our ancestors, including such ancient trees that record a profound history, and now even become our largest capital for rural tourism. But we seem to be accustomed to such unrestrained requests, taking the blessings, gifts, and gifts of our ancestors and nature as a kind of righteousness and righteousness, but we have ever wondered whether we should also give it to future generations. Leave some blessings? For example, plant two trees on the spot!

9

I saw a red eucalyptus tree on the way of a trip, right at the entrance of a village. It was lush and leafy, and the shadows of the trees drew us to get off the car and stop and watch under the tree.

As an exotic tree species, the planting history of eucalyptus in Yunnan is only a hundred years old, so I believe its age will not be too long. What surprised me was its sturdiness and size. Not long ago, I read an article about eucalyptus in the "China Green Times", calling it "the tallest tree in the world and the longest surviving tree". In Australia, it is also an important landscape tree and greening tree. "Without the protection of eucalyptus, the desert may be much larger than it is now, and animals such as koalas, kangaroos, and emu may no longer exist." Therefore, in this country, eucalyptus is even regarded as the "national tree" and "the tree of poets", becoming the spiritual and cultural symbol of this country.

The article also pointed out that in the current China, "timber is the third largest import item after chips and oil", and China is "the world's second largest consumer of timber and the largest importer of timber." The rapid growth of eucalyptus makes it the most important alternative forest to solve the huge timber gap in my country. “The growth of standing trees in one hectare of eucalyptus forest in the south is roughly equivalent to ten hectares of ordinary forest in the north, or roughly equivalent to one hundred hectares. The natural forest of Daxinganling". As a result, eucalyptus "changed China's forestry process, changed China's timber supply pattern, and changed the rural economic structure of southern China..."

But for a long time, the eucalyptus tree has not been seen. For example, the eucalyptus tree in front of me, even though it is tall and beautiful and beautiful in shape, is not regarded as a landscape tree by the villagers like the big green tree mentioned above. , Cover with thick stone edging, make protection signs and so on. There are even many people who think that eucalyptus is poisonous and is the chief culprit in causing water depletion, serious soil erosion, and causing forest pests and diseases. However, as of today, a large number of research results still fail to provide scientific evidence that eucalyptus is poisonous. Nowadays, Chinese people will never stop laying wooden floorboards during decoration because of the shortage of wood, and will not delay the demolition of an old house because the service life of an old house is not reached, nor will it be too expensive for the South-to-North Water Transfer Project. Drink less water, less water. But the ancient eucalyptus tree in front of you has grown into a unique landscape in the long flow of years, and will even become a symbol of the village, the homesickness in the hearts of travellers.

From this, I thought that any kind of thing actually has its meaning and value. The key is how we can turn disadvantages into advantages. For example, in view of some growth characteristics of eucalyptus planting, such as large water consumption and damage to soil fertility, we can plant them as described in the article. Among them, "land" not only refers to the soil, but also refers to the location; "tree" not only refers to the improved species, but also refers to the diameter level; "efficiency" not only refers to the efficiency, but also refers to the effect. Excessive and flooding turn harms into advantages.

By analogy, any person, thing, or thing must make the best use of their talents and things, so as to truly realize their value. The ecological environment on which we live may gradually become harmonious.