Biofilm and the Aura of Place.
After being admitted to the City Hospital, the water Main Broke, we had a day of bottle Water, I was feverish, sweating, trembling and Parched.
After being released and back in My Home
The Mayor ,of the place of My Ancestors makes National News by declaring the City Water Supply unsafe for Drinking ,Washing or anything. The Source from the Lake was infested by a Algae Bloom.
My Mother and Family made it through the Multiday Event on bottle Water.
Although referred to as an algae bloom, The Toxic presence in the water was not an overgrowth of a simple plant, but something Older, Simpler and Smaller.
Lacking a clearly defined Cell wall and organized Nucleus, Cyanobacteria are older than dirt.
They are possibly the creatures who began the process of Climate Change, paving the way for the Green Photosynthesizing Breathing Life. They are colonial Beings, Mothers of the Vegetable world, the Carbon Cycle, and Possibly Fossil Fuel .
I saw some NOAA satellite shots from 2011 to present .
As the river drains into the bay the Super colony forms as soon as it is warm enough.
It appears and masses as a scum or slime on the surface of things , at a certain critical Population density it can change it’s form and organize in Macroscopic structures. often filamentous it often partners with a Fungus to form Lichens outside of the water, It has a desire for Sun and adhesion it is Social but not as motile as larger phytoplankton or zooplankton it is not comfortable adrift in liquidity and will attempt to fix itself in place.They establish a Habitat or seek out a Home.
Extra cellular polymeric substances are what holds these individual lives together part of the thread of connection. the worm holes of the Micro World. They are thoroughfares interspecies intersections They are the Out of Body- Extra Self Awareness of Microscopic animals and plants, an active interaction with Surroundings that is not centrally individually directed yet sensitive to perceived territorial toiletries, An implied Differentiated sense of Self and Other, Friend and Foe .
Community as a trail or path.Tracks of growth,Group Identity a sense of Self preservation and Will.An active director or collective decider or Survival Instinct is playing out every second in Simple Life that will Die in a few days,or go dormant for how long?.some passive monitoring for the right conditions for their Life Force to activate.Part of a Survival Strategy to optimize opportunity by multi million year old Germs, less sophisticated or complicated than mildew with an appetite for place.
They are Time Travelers.Shape changers.all around Us.Transformers, they are currently being genetically modified showing the greatest potential for Biofuel of anything we’ve learned to grow.
Between the root and the soil the plant has to Know and search for the Nutrients it will absorb and avoid.
This shopping takes place outside of the flesh of the plant. A judgment, or intelligent response, a Taste and Thirst.
A process of excreted enzymes and responsive Digestion, Distant touch , Field sensitivity, psychic powers and perhaps the exchange of microbial information.
A Pre synaptic sense or awareness or Auto Inducer is found beyond the Bodies of individuals and colonies of plant or animal ,
We are born with the ability to tune into the language of locale, to listen in, watch and learn. to adapt our behavior, all of Nature does.
The Glass City Has a River full of Agricultural runoff and suspended detritus, this spins around in the glacial puddle that is the shallowest of the Great Lakes, looking much like a cloud by satellite, A colony of Microscopic Life Forms that is many square miles across , there are fears that it may grow so large that it Hives off and spreads to effect other water supplies in other States and Nations.
I suspect that the local crop has shifted the last decade from Corn as Feed to Corn as Fuel,requiring extra Nutritional Supplements that have been washed away from their Field during increasingly heavy storms over such a flat place.
I have long taken note of the passage of the weather in conversations with my Mother,
Most often the winds pass over her and head in the general direction of Me and My Mountain home in a day. The Weather connects us,
The movement of Water suspended in the Air, and the particles snatched up by the wind , the clouds and mist and dew,
How it Looks, Feels, Smells,Tastes, and Sounds like
The Energy released in its’ passing,Its’ temperament and character.
Precipitation events are part of Life, that is why we have shelters, thankful for our roofs.
We can and will weather many Storms, but Access to Drinking Water is secondary only to respiration, Breath,,as a Vital necessity for Life large and small.
I am reminded of the quote of Vincent Van Gogh’
“ Exaggerate the essential and leave the obvious vague.”
I think I see why ,
the Bird King’
sends his champion,
away from the battle’
in the burning Hostel,
to fetch him a Drink.
