….and we destroy!
It has always been like this: we destroy what we do not know
In recent years, the Government of Canada has publicly asked forgiveness from what are now called the First Nations, that is, the populations of Native Americans, who were of different ethnic groups, with their histories, traditions, knowledge. Their extermination caused not only atrocious human losses and nefarious losses of civilization, but also the loss of the knowledge they had arrived at. So for a few years now, an active research has begun on their cooking recipes and on the formulas of medicines. It seems that some medicines could cure tumors, others were used for prevention. I have no news that the United States government has done so too.
bty bty
We contemporary men, however, continue to destroy: algae, the under wood, trees, while many forms of life, plants and animals, are extinguished, interrupting the circle of ecosystems in many points.
By now we all travel, read, sometimes listen. But, do we really learn?
I didn’t know anything about the Cryptobiotic.
I saw it for the first and only time in Arizona – a land of immense reserves still called “Indian” – in January 2020 – when Covid 19 had not yet been declared a pandemic and it was possible to travel.
Our guide has two names, one “official” as a US citizen, the other “of the soul” as a descendant of a tribe – or First Nation – Cherochee, Crystal Starweaver .
As a “native” she showed us and explained the great respect her ancestors had for Nature and its cycles. She showed us the cryptobiotic and explained its function. It is so important that, at least in national parks, the cryptobiotic patches have been fenced off in the hope that they will not be trampled. Because a single kick can cause its destruction.
The cryptobiotic at our feet is something you don’t notice: dry and gray, you almost don’t see it. It was enough to water it and what immediately happened before our eyes seemed like magic: it became green and turgid. It looked like a fast video and it was reality.
What is the cryptobiotic? It is a biological crust.
The biological crusts of the soil are composed of fungi, lichens, cyanobacteria, and algae in varying proportions. These organisms live in intimate association in the highest few millimeters of the soil surface and are the biological basis for the formation of soil crusts.
Biological crusts form in the open spaces between plants.
The total recovery of the covered layer and its complete composition, after a disturbing action (a tread for example) occurs more quickly in humid environments and more slowly in dry environments (up to 3800 years).
The biological crusts of the soil contribute to the carbon cycle through the respiration and photosynthesis of microorganisms in the crust that are active only when they are wet.
Biological crusts also make biological contributions to the nitrogen cycle. It has been shown that nitrogen fixed by the crusts penetrates the surrounding substrate and can be absorbed by plants, bacteria and fungi.
All this mechanism gives life to the entire terrestrial eco-system.
I wonder if we in Italy also step on what we don’t know is important. I wonder, for example, if the mosses – the ones we like to collect for the nativity scene – and the lichens – those on the rocks on which we lie in the sun on spring days – have any important functions that we don’t give importance to. I wonder what the divers (at least “certain” divers) can do, the anchors of the boats, the knives of the unleashed limpets collectors, all those individuals who continue to do actions that, without knowing it, are harmful.
I wonder how many things we destroy without knowing it and without knowing them.