the persistence of green!

starting 11:35 a.m.

i'm forever amazed at the persistence of green growing things. there are sci-fi future tales of broken down cities, and they're usually described as being forlorn and desolate places. i don't think that would happen. i think they'd end up covered in green!

think about how much time and effort people can put into "managing" their property to keep out the green things. they scrape out the cracks in the sidewalk and their driveways and other paved areas (if they don't drown them in chemicals instead).

have you seen ivy take over a house? it'll cover a building in its entirety, including windows and doors. i've seen the same thing beginning to happen to the sound-break walls at the sides of the highway.

have you seen a road in disuse? the cracks that form in the asphalt start to grow green things, which in turn make the cracks bigger and bigger green things start to grow!

i ride the elevated number 7 train everyday through queens, and looking out at the rooftops, i could imagine them turning green. there's one that already looks like marshland. it collects standing water (poorly designed or maintained drainage there), and there must be enough "dirt" there to support the fairly lush marsh grass that's growing on it. no one set out to turn that one into a green roof (though i really admire people who do have planned green roofs... like the silvercup building in lic), and the green is just taking over. i can imagine how easy it would be to turn so many of the flat roofs in the city into growing-places. just a bit of dirt... many plants aren't really that picky. there's generally something that will grow in whatever conditions are available. it's people who try to keep things from becoming green.

i feel rather hopeful about it. if the world ends, it'll just return to its green self :)