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Nature Illusion Shattered
Nature Center Illusion Shattered, or was that Delusion?
Date: 10/8/2005 11:48:44 PM ( 19 y ) ... viewed 1842 times I've been crying since Friday morning when I found out that the Nature Center I frequent uses Monsanto's Roundup, a powerful herbicide, to kill weeds along the trail and god-knows-where-else in the park. I know that Roundup is an herbicide used frequently by parks all over the country for just this purpose (it's even used by the Forestry Service in State and National Parks!), but I always believed, until Friday, that my beloved Nature Center was exempt.
Maybe I wanted to believe this because I live in the suburban wasteland of Southern California, and the Long Beach El Dorado Park Nature Center is only 10 minutes from my house. It is an oasis of calm and serenity in an otherwise urban/suburban/crowded/noisy/traffic-congested environment. Maybe I wanted to believe this because the Nature Center is unique. It's a part of the vast El Dorado Park system under the auspices of the City of Long Beach. The Nature Center is actually a man-made 102 acre oasis complete with two lakes, founded in the 1950's. In the 50 years of its existence, "nature" has taken over, at least partially, in this environment. I have had many sitings of wild animals that I would never have had in a "regular" city park: coyotes, hawks, falcons, rabbits, turtles, snakes, gophers, herons, osprey, ducks, egrets, and numerous other waterfowl whose names I do not know, in addition to close encounters with grasshoppers, bees, "bumbles", butterflies, ladybugs, beetles, "stink" bugs, lizards, and all other manner of creepy crawlies. And not to exclude the myriad trees and plants, some I'm familiar with, such as oak, palo verde, manzanita, eucalyptus, sage, and some whose names I can only guess at, not to mention all manner of flowering shrubs and native grasses.
Maybe I wanted to believe this because I have been walking at the Nature Center since childhood. I've taken my own children there. I've led Cub Scouts on adventures there. My 12 year old daughter still enjoys walking the trails with me; while I tend to barrel along the trail at a quick walk, she stops and looks at everything, finding even the common squirrels fascinating. Through her eyes, I remember to slow down and pay attention more closely. And I never tire of observing the very little ones, the newly-walking toddlers, who watch with rounded eyes the turtles sunning themselves or the lizards scooting off into the brush when startled.
Maybe I wanted to believe this because for months now I've felt the Nature Center to be a sort of "sacred space" for me. I have had many spiritual epiphanies here, both simple and profound, written poetry, talked to Great Mother, taken naps and had dreams, and most importantly started my process of healing my broken connection to Mother Earth by growing "energetic roots" from the soles of my bare feet into Her body, just by walking barefoot on those dirt trails and observing nature, and feeling part of Her.
I know now, in retrospect, I was being rather naive. Last year I asked a naturalist at the Nature Center what they were doing to protect the wild birds that nest there from West Nile Virus. She assured me they were not spraying pesticide, but had loaded up the ponds with mosquito-larvae eating fish. "Oh, we don't use anything like that here at the Nature Center!" she said, referring to pesticides. I just assumed that they didn't use anything toxic there. I see volunteers and employees of the Center clearing brush and pruning bushes and shrubs by hand, and I figured that was the way they took care of the trails, too. Wrong.
I don't even know if the Nature Center employees know about the Roundup. The park maintenance people are a separate department, and they usually come on Mondays when the park is closed and the Center employees are gone. Never did I imagine that their maintenance included using herbicides! I wouldn't have even known about it except that a park maintenance person was using the Roundup on a Friday when the park was open instead of on a Monday. What is so damn ironic about it is that the Center naturalists have a program called "Simple Saturdays" where they teach the public about ways to lessen our impact on the environment. They even had one Saturday dedicated to teaching about non-toxic household cleaning solutions (right up my alley!). To find out that the "Simple Saturdays" are followed by the "Toxic Mondays" has been just too, too much!
I find myself wishing that I had never found out about the Roundup, so that I could have kept my illusion, or delusion. Now that I do know, I can't put my head back in the sand. I'm going to see what I can do to get herbicides and pesticides banned from the Nature Center and less toxic alternatives put into place --like pulling weeds by hand!
I plan on following through with my letter of protest to the director of Long Beach Park, Recreation and Marine. I've thought of printing up some fliers, printed with soy ink on recycled paper, of course, letting people know about the hazards of Roundup and asking them to protest its use at the Nature Center, and passing the fliers out to people as they enter or leave the park. I may even call upon the Long Beach Sierra Club, of which I have been an inactive member, to see if they can help me.
For me, the Nature Center was my "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge", my sacred site, my sanctuary. I know, in my heart of hearts, despite whatever action that I take, the Nature Center will never be the same for me again.
Liora Leah
Broken Hearted: http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=309&i=180
I am heart-broken to find that my Beloved Nature Center is using Roundup, a potent herbicide, to kill weeds. Can Mother Earth forgive us? Can we forgive ourselves?
Herbicide: Drink Up! http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=309&i=181
The Superintendent of Maintenance at the Nature Center told me that the herbicide they use to kill weeds, Monsanto's Roundup, is "safe enough to drink"!
Well, looky here! http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=309&i=183
I've been writing about what action I'm going to take to try and get Roundup banned from use at the Nature Center. Think I just found myself some Nature Center allies!
This writing from my other blog, Spirit Speaks, addresses my thoughts about what positive action I might take to remedy the situation at the Nature Center, where I go to re-connect with Great Mother Earth. I asked my Guides and Great Mother for some input: They told me to come from a place of Love & Integrity: http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=356&i=54
Herbicide, Round 6! http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=309&i=188
Since I wrote the original blog about the El Dorado Nature Center and the use of the herbicide Roundup, I've found out some new information: The herbicide used at the Nature Center does not contain surfactant, the inert "detergent" additive that is known to cause environmental devastation.
Volunteers Needed! http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=309&i=190 I sent an e-mail out to my physician-friend regarding the use of herbicide at the El Dorado Nature Center. I have posted her response below. She believes that the Center's use of herbicide, without the detergent additive that causes so much environmental devastation, is a step in the right direction, but more community volunteers are needed.
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