Bad plants, good plants, and a healing crescent moon.

Today was our trip from Mendocino to Mill Valley. We harvested some eucalyptus before leaving the Mendocino area, and hung it around the ceiling of our car to decorate our ride! Although it smells great, eucalyptus is an invasive weed, wreaking havoc on various US wildernesses. Eucalyptus depletes groundwater needed for indigenous plants, takes over and changes habitats, thus vastly reducing habitat for many plants and animals, and can carry deadly spores. It seems to be everywhere in california, in the towns, in the parks, and in conservation areas, but thankfully it is not able to withstand our winters, and has not taken over up here, yet. But wait! ArborGen has now received federal permission to introduce vast quantities of its genetically modified eucalypti (designed to withstand cold climate) across the US south, in an "experiment". It seems taking over one latitude with invasive, destructive weeds isn't enough. There have been a few petitions out in an attempt to stop this insanity. Sign if you care: http://www.globaljusticeecology.org/petition.php

And here is one wilderness that is now threatened by the Eucalyptus:

Look up. Under, behind, around, and sometimes even above those Sequoias are Eucalyptus. Everywhere.

We drove south to Mill Valley, arriving just in time to see the moon reach its full-sickle brightness, and to take a post-car-sickness walk under its light. It's hard to see ecological devastation anywhere, especially in treasures like the redwood forests, but somehow the timlessness of the moon is reassuring. When humans are gone, and redwoods, and even ArborGen, the moon will look down on this place, crawling with some unfathomable assortment of super-hardy plants and animals, and keep on shining. We try to let the sadness we witness be a lesson but not a downer. Tomorrow we're going to try to find human love in San Francisco.

(I like my camera.)