How far away can we get from nature? How far can we disconnect from it without getting seriously hurt? I notice that more and more, mankind has lost contact with Mother Earth, even though we live on her, live from her, and eat her food. We depend on her and yet, we think we can do without her. How crazy!
Our homeowner association, on which I am a board member, recently planned an upgrade of our surrounding property. The town I live in, Kuesnacht, a suburb of Zurich, has decided to lay out our yards more eco-friendly. In this context, the town offered a free evaluation of private gardens to see what could be done to make them more valuable for nature and its inhabitants like birds, insects, and amphibians.
I took the opportunity to engage an expert to check our yard. The result showed that our property was already on the right track and could of course be upgraded by adding flowers to the flower meadow lawn instead of a clean-cut “golf lawn.” The biologist stated that it would be especially valuable to upgrade our yard because it borders a nature reserve. That way it would enlarge the natural area. Our board presented this idea at the yearly assembly hoping it would be accepted. However, the outcry of one lady surprised us.
She said, “I am allergic to grass. I cannot open the windows anymore nor use my balcony. And my kids are becoming allergic, too. I absolutely do not want any more nature in our yard.”
A long discussion among the homeowners followed. The lady kept arguing, “Sometimes my kids go barefoot and play on the playground. There are bees buzzing around and my kids can be stung. I do not want any more flowers or whatsoever in the yard!”
The board’s president finally suggested that we tour the garden with the expert gardener. He could explain exactly what would be changed. That way the lady would have the opportunity to tell him exactly what she was allergic to before any changes were made. This satisfied her for the time being. She moved in a couple of years ago and was familiar with the yard and the nearby nature reserve. She must have had allergies before she moved here. We wondered why she chose this residence as her home in the first place.
The next spring we toured the yard with the gardener. He assured the lady that there would not be any more grasses and just the little flowers would grow in the lawn, which were there before anyway. Well, time will tell whether the subject of “eco-friendly” will remain on the association’s agenda, or not.
With all understanding for being a victim of hay fever and that sort of thing, the incident made me wonder how far can we part from nature? How far can we get
out of balance? Are we not part of nature ourselves? Metaphorically speaking, it seems that we want to use nature, eat the honey but don’t want the bees.
I think it’s time to renature ourselves, to realize that we truly belong to nature, and to learn to integrate ourselves within it. We have to learn that living with nature also means accepting our fellow beings (all species) and seeing the important part they play in keeping the earth balanced. This way we all stay alive. The choice is ours.