Reflections 14th March

Mycelium. Image: Christian Schekhuber

Connections were on my mind last week, and they still are this week. Not only does it seem that we are myopic in terms of what is connected to what and how, sometimes we are wilfully blind. We tend to value what we can measure, and ignore what we cannot, because there is no "proof". We override our intuition, our emotions and senses.

When you're next out walking, consider that underneath your feet are mycelium networks that may spread for large areas of tens, or even hundreds of hectares and are quite possibly thousands of years old. They connect all living things and moderate exchanges of water and nutrients and provide channels of communication. We know as yet very little about them, and some think that these networks have an intelligence of their own. When we destroy them through intensive agriculture and building, we diminish the capability of the soil and plants to thrive.

It doesn't take a huge leap of imagination to consider our own human "myc…