“A recent NASA study has determined the top 10 plants for reducing indoor air pollution.…Dr. B. C. Wolverton rated these plants for removing chemical vapors, ease of growth, resistance to insect problems, and transpiration (the amount of water they expire into the air).…Dr.…Wolverton, researcher and author of How to Grow Fresh Air — 50 Houseplants that Purify Your Home or Office (1997, Penguin paperback, $15.95), conducted plant studies for NASA that determined that plants can clean pollutants in homes, offices, factories and retail outlets.…”

https://community.ecoseed.org/_The-Top-10-Plants-for-Removing-Indoor-Toxins/blog/1823757/29468.html

Each that we lose takes part of us,

A crescent still abides,

Which like the moon, some turbid night,

Is summoned by the tides.

— Emily Dickinson

Alan Weisman recently wrote the book, The World Without Us. Last week he gave a talk as part of the Seminars About Long-term Thinking put on by The Long Now Foundation. Stewart Brand summarized the talk in a brief piece titled Humanity’s impact, nature’s resilience, closing paragraph of which was:

“Weisman’s message is one of reconciliation. Wherever humanity backs its impact off even a little, nature comes swarming back. From the new part-wolf coyotes taking up residence in New England to the rare and exquisite red-crowned cranes prospering in Korea’s Demilitarized Zone, accomodating nature always rewards humans.”

https://longnow.org/seminars/02010/feb/24/world-without-us-world-us/

The hills, which are golden in summer, are a lush green this time of year. Shot yesterday on the way to Nicasio from Olema.

We’ve had 3 years of dry winters, but this year the pattern has changed. We have these big zones of low pressure blowing in from across the ocean, not being blocked by high pressure, and it’s been raining bountifully. I’m in heaven. During dry years I fret sub-consciously about the dryness of soil and plant life. But now, there’s a joyousness in the hills. The plants they are lovin this! Creeks are rushing. The air is perfumed with energy. Yesterday I ran on a cold windy afternoon along the coast to an old ranch where there are a couple of lovely ponds with tules and water lilies, where for a few months in springtime I can slip into the pure green water and glide around.