Heroes Not Zombies

There’s an Etruscan word, saeculum, that describes the span of time lived by the oldest person present, sometimes calculated to be about a hundred years. In a looser sense, the word means the expanse of time during which something is in living memory. Every event has its saeculum, and then its sunset when the last person who fought in the Spanish Civil War or the last person who saw the last passenger pigeon is gone.

Orwell’s Roses. Rebecca Solnit

From time to time I muse about what it is to be a person, and whether or not that uniqueness of an individual is bound to the presence of their physical body. It seems clear to me that it’s not. Great artists continue to have an impact on others and on the world through their art, long after they are gone. Great musicians and composers too. Great writers, thinkers, inventors, also. But even within a family, a loved one has never completely gone…..maybe not ever, but at least not until there are no more stories told about them, no more memories lodged in the minds of the living, no more of their creative works still in existence, whether that be a poem, a song, a garden, or a something made by their own hands.

I’m sure that what it is to be a person, a unique, individual, is not bound to the presence of a physical body, nor is it limited to the short span of life that any of us are likely to experience.

I read this recently –

Residents of Jersey have been recommended bloodletting to reduce high concentrations of “forever chemicals” in their blood after tests showed some islanders have levels that can lead to health problems.

I thought, “What? Bloodletting? Good job we didn’t get rid of all the leeches!” Then I read a bit more and discovered the leeches involved in this story aren’t the kind that suck your blood.

Private drinking water supplies in Jersey were polluted by the use of firefighting foams containing PFAS at the island’s airport, which were manufactured by the US multinational 3M.

So, the proposed solution from the Jersey government was to offer repeated blood letting to reduce the levels in residents’ bodies. It’s going to cost several thousand pounds a year to do this. Will the company responsible for the pollution pay? Well, it turns out that back in 2005, 3M secured an agreement with the States Assembly (after a behind-closed-doors debate), resulting in 3M giving the government of the day £2.6m, which went towards cleaning up the contaminated training ground and building a new rig on the site. In exchange for the money, the government agreed to “forever release, acquit, discharge, and covenant not to sue 3M or any 3M entity in relation to any and all Airport claims.”

What?

The details of the agreement are pretty shocking, the government agreed to –

“not take any action or other steps […] to procure, permit, promote, suggest, support or induce any company or other persons to make any claim or bring any proceedings against 3M or any 3M entities in relation to the supply to Jersey Airport and/or Jersey Airport’s Fire Service of any Firefighting Foam, the environmental, health, or safety effects of any Firefighting Foam or any substances in Firefighting Foam, or the presence or possible presence of any Firefighting Foam or any substances in Firefighting Foam in surface water, groundwater, or public water supply at or in the vicinity of Jersey Airport or Jersey Airport Fireground. They and all or any of their Government Committees shall use their reasonable best endeavours to provide information to 3M or any 3M Entity that might assist them in defending claims made or proceedings brought by any third party or parties in Jersey relating to the supply to Jersey Airport and/or Jersey Airport’s Fire Service of any Firefighting, the environmental, health, or safety effects of any Firefighting Foam in surface water, groundwater, or public water supply at or in the vicinity of Jersey Airport or Jersey Airport Fireground save that upon providing Information to 3M or any 3M Entity the States of Jersey and all or any of their Government Committees can at their entire discretion provide the same information to the other party or parties to the claim or proceeding. For the avoidance of doubt, this obligation to use reasonable best endeavours to provide information also means ensuring that the personnel and agents of the States of Jersey and their Government Committees with information in their possession make themselves available to 3M or 3M Entity, save that in the case of individuals in their possession who are not employees of the States of Jersey, the States of Jersey may discharge this obligation by using their reasonable best endeavours to encourage such individuals to make themselves available.”

This seems an example of how wealthy individuals and corporations can use their wealth as power – to secure protection against criminal or civic suits, and to never have to pay for the pollution and/or harms they cause.

Hardly a day goes by without my seeing some story or other which involves a “Non disclosure agreement”, or some other such procedure which involves money paid to avoid Public scrutiny and responsibility, and, in many cases, to avoid being held to account for harmful or careless behaviour. Corporations and wealthy individuals are able to buy themselves a variety of “justice” which is never available to ordinary citizens.

It’s time to reform corporate, and contract, law to stop these individuals from escaping their responsibilities, and to hold them to account in the exact same way that a non-wealthy citizen would be held to account. How is it just or fair to allow the rich, whether individuals, companies or institutions, to buy themselves a different variety of justice?

I got a Christmas present of a bird feeder with integrated solar powered camera. It was a bit fiddly to get going, but I persevered and am glad I did. It connects to an app on your phone where you can either watch live what the camera can see, or you can scroll back through the events where motion triggered a short video and capture some stills from there.

So far the blue tits and robins are the commonest visitors, and I’ve been able too see many short clips of them.

I really enjoy my encounters with the birds in my garden. Yesterday I mentioned how another app I have on my phone recognises birdsongs and told me that there were seven different species all singing at the same time.

So, these are two technologies I never knew existed, and probably, actually didn’t exist until pretty recently, which are enhancing my daily life.

How about you? Have you been discovering any technologies which make an every day a better day?

I got a lemon tree for my birthday last June and it took a while, but, in the autumn I enjoyed two lovely, large, juicy lemons which it produced. Like so much in the garden the lemon tree has been pretty dormant throughout the winter. I’ve lifted inside for a day or two during the days where the frost has been most severe (although I don’t think we’ve had less than minus four centigrade), but brought it back outside again to get maximum sunlight as soon as possible.

Today I see there is a little bud. Do you see it? In fact, there are two, close to each other. I know I had some kind of fantasy of a lemon tree laden with lemons all year round, but, hey, sometimes scarcity and having to wait just adds to the sense that you’re having something special, when, eventually the fruit matures.

This little bud gives me hope. I’m never very sure about a lot of the plants in the garden over winter. The fig tree and the walnut tree I planted are reduced to little sticks for the season, but, last year, once Spring came, they produced green leaves and started to grow again.

It might not seem like much, but, psychologically, in the midst of a lot of global news which can be rather dispiriting and demoralising, I find it really helps to be able to stumble across something like this and feel the sensation of hope and brighter future starting to stir in my heart.

I am really a fan of courtyards and cloisters. I love the churches or monasteries which have a garden in the middle. Sometimes I’ve wandered around a church or cathedral and found it quite oppressive, then I’ve noticed the sunlight shining through an open door and I step out into the courtyard with its arches and covered walkways. It feels delightful and appealing.

I do enjoy the Japanese aesthetic of asymmetry but I find the symmetry of these arches around courtyards like these especially engaging.

Riads in Morocco also have this design of an inner courtyard and I like them just as much.

Is it that they are comfortable in the heat of the sun? Or is it that they somehow compel you to wander along the passageways viewing the garden, which often contains a central fountain, from every angle?

They feel safe. They feel secret. And they feel sacred.

I’m sure that was the intention of the builders.