Maximum Yield Australia/New Zealand May/June 2020 | Page 12

It’s at times like these we
should re-evaluate our
relationship with the natural
world and adjust our behaviour
to be more harmonious rather
than damaging.”
from the
EDITOR
TG Toby Gorman
10
Maximum Yield
I
f there is one virtue gardening instills in
people, it is patience. There is no instant
gratification, no immediate results, and
sometimes what you get out of it is far less
than what you put into it.
I’ve always found avid gardeners travel
through life at a different pace than a lot of
other people. Gardeners are people who will
sit through an entire sunset, will walk instead
of drive if they can, and have a comforting
level-headedness and easy-going nature
about them. They are quietly confident.
You don’t hear much about gardeners in the
news. This world that is bent on breakneck
production, rapid growth, consumerism, social
chaos, choking traffic, and unabated pollution
whizzes right past the world of gardening. It
has no time for a slow, steady pace.
But maybe it will. In these trying days of
COVID-19, we’re getting a glimpse of what
life could be like if we all slowed down a
little bit and took a deep breath. In China,
with factories closed, something amazing
happened in just a few weeks. Satellite
images showed how quickly blue skies
and fresh, clean air moved into the largest
cities, previously known for choking toxic
smog. In fact, around the globe, Mother Nature
moved quickly to begin repairs. With people
staying home, carbon emissions have dropped
as much as 25 per cent in some places. We’ve
been given signs over the past few years to
cool our jets, so to speak. Devastating fires
in Australia, Europe, western Canada, and
the US, similarly devastating floods, a loss of
biodiversity, and other signs all indicate we
may have gone too far.
It’s at times like these we should re-evaluate
our relationship with the natural world and
adjust our behaviour to be more harmonious
rather than damaging. If we choose not to,
the challenges we face now could pale in
comparison to what comes next. Cancelled
flights, suspended sports seasons, and stock
market plunges are not what we need to be
focusing on. We need to be focusing on what
we can do to improve our place in this world,
and, if you ask me, following the example set
by how gardeners travel through this world
may be a step in the right direction.