Ground Truthing

[This scene in Naples is from thegaviotacoast.com]

This morning I read the following excerpt, written by Penny Harrison, editor of the anthology Open Spaces, Voices from the Northwest:

In earth sciences, the term "ground truthing" is used as a shorthand for the process of  ensuring the accuracy of data collected at a distance (e.g. by remote sensing, aerial photography, satellite imagery, etc.), and the tentative conclusions based on that data by gathering actual data from the ground that may confirm, complement or dispute those conclusions. In the vernacular, ground truthing has come to mean a process by which we observe things up close and test objectively what we call reality. As such, it not only applies to science, but can also be used to test our assumptions, beliefs, judgments, and the trajectories of our lives.

....As historian William Cronon tells us in his essay on "The Uses of Environmental History", there is ample evidence that "the natural world exists quite apart from what we believe about it, that it powerfully affects the course of human history, and that if our beliefs diverge too far from its realities, we will eventually suffer as much as it will."

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When I was a girl,

the world felt

young and free.

I walked

on earth

that felt firm

beneath

my feet,

so I could trust it

would always

be there

to carry me.

But now

the planet

bucks and heaves

and splits,

stirred up by forces

hidden from

our view,

as corporate interests

desecrate

and manipulate

the land,

 money, power and greed

the only language

that they

understand.

.

In summer,

I walked  the piney

forest slopes,

down to

the apple orchards

I thought

would always be,

but now a city of condos

covers the land,

no more

the blossoms

far as I could see.

I thought

there would always be

an earth

that felt like home,

that there were enough trees

that we all could

always breathe,

but now aerial views show

barren slopes

stripped bare;

of future generations

big business

does not care.

Back then

we dreamed a dream

of a  better world

but somehow

that dream

has gone 

so far astray,

and we are

slowly waking

to the nightmare,

the fearful harvest

that is ours to reap

today.

How much more time

do we think we have

to turn the tide?

The truth, so scary,

our instinct is

to hide.

The world

will play out

the scene that we

have set

and,

after collapse

or cataclysm,

and a millenia

of relearning

the ancient wisdom

modern man

forgets,

perhaps

one day

that better world

can be ours

to nurture

yet.