FROM THE ROCKING CHAIR

Summertime Blues and New Traditions

By Laura Worth and Robert Bornn

We love living in Burton.   It’s beautiful and its been exciting to walk on the beach, appreciating life’s abundance of myriads of seabirds, fish, and invertebrates.    

But there are a few things about Island living that don’t make sense to us.   And maybe they’re provocative questions for all of us on Vashon.   The context is what kind of world do we want?   locally?   globally?

For example, can someone explain why it’s important to so intensively manicure lawns?   Now that summer is near, lawns are being plowed under and re-seeded.   It took three men two days to do that job on one lawn we know of.   And each of those workers was spewing carbon and other emissions from gas-powered equipment the whole time.   …think global warming.

And now, with eerie regularity -- even when it’s raining, timing devices turn the sprinklers on every day and night.    You’d think Burton had an unlimited water supply the way some   lawns are watered with those big sprinklers that mainly spray water into the air.   …think drip irrigation.

From all this surface water runoff much of the lawn fertilizer along with failed septic system effluent ends up in Quartermaster Harbor.   It causes large increases of nitrogen which supports ever-increasing algae blooms.   Later in the summer when it decomposes, it uses up the dissolved oxygen and causes “dead zones.”    …think Hood Canal.  

Planting drought-resistant and native plants would help solve the problem.   …think less lawn and more permaculture.

And let’s question the need for those noisy leaf blowers.   What purpose is served by blowing leaves ritualistically from one end of the yard to the other with a gas-powered blower?    The effect is blowing dust and spores into the air, further degrading air quality.   …think allergies and asthma.

Another “Breathe Better” option is to consider healthy paddling and sailing instead of motoring for summer recreation.  

And what about yard waste and brush fires?   We can compost, recycle, and build safe “eco-brush piles” – not next to dwellings, but providing plenty of habitat for wild life.

We need new traditions for beauty and fun that allow us to re-connect our relationship to nature, with less emphasis on domination and more emphasis on harmony.   As a community, let’s redefine beauty and fun in ways that let us survive as a species and feel pride as the agile dancers in life that we are.   …think positive psychology and happiness.

Robert Bornn is a Vashon systems designer of authentically green homes and an artist
www.bornn.com and 463-4284.  

They are founders of BuildingCircles Organization ( www.buildingcircles.org), designing affordable and sustainable, nature-integrated homes for independent living.