Stopping to Ponder for a Moment...

Had wanted to do up another post on the merits of obscene volume rubber riding when after adding the pic below I recalled  something else entirely while snapping this. Anyway summarizing up what the pros and cons of a fatbike for tropical riding can come after next week's race.

From the lichen studded bark where UFA (yup the Moonlander's new name but again more on that in the next post) was leaned upon I now see a tree. A

".. if not what else would that be dumbass. That last OTB into a rock knocked some bits loose from an already empty skull?"

Gotta ignore that other voice in my head sometimes...

Back to the stream and the tree, quite sure drinking from the clear water running through those river sand that acts as a filter would carry little risk.

Alright, alright.. Ecology 101.. memories of benthic zoology and words like platyhelminthes made me think twice....  Nevertheless it's still water that passed through countless trees like the one here. Flowing and collecting more brother and sister molecules of dihydrogen monoxide, culminating into one of the 17 reservoirs on this tiny little island.

"Di-hydrogen monoxide!  OK WTF is that dude. come on scratch my neurons... go ahead, amaze me with your geeky knowledge?"

For those of you who never snucked back after school to blow up the chemistry lab, dihydrogen oxide = H2O. Yes! WATER and I wager a bet no more than a handful knows its other IUPAC nomenclature, oxidane either.

Nuff' chemistry today. Maybe it was all the sourish-pungent ester from fermented durians along the trails that triggered an eco-emo moment in me as I stared at the lush green lichen and suddenly spiralling into another dimension.  Looking up, no, it wasn't even anything majestic or unique. Just another tree, like thousand others in this unique little area... the central catchment of primary forest smack in the middle of a metropolitan city with one of the highest population density in the world, >7000 person/ sq km.

A small little island where property price and cost of living has escalated so much in the last 20 years, I don't find Tokyo expensive anymore...

"How much is that tree worth?"...

...this time the voice wasn't my obnoxious alter ego

Yes how much is that tree worth? In the face of the property pricing that's gone through the roof and developers eying every square inch of land available, this is all prime area. Already the fringes has been built to the hilt, many condos around here trying to blend in with some eco theme.

Bullflippingshit if ya ask me! Its all marketing and flipping for all the juicy fat its worth once built.... If  people are that fucking eco conscious-- they wouldn't be building anything near here at all. But the biggest factor in letting all these development take place has first to come from the powers that be...

Reckon I could go on about the merit of a tree and how many molecules of oxygen it produces yadda yadda but you can get all touchy feely and go read up at Treehugger or similar sites.

Before you start wailing for the forests and all the imminent destruction and chant the typical  city-dwelling-guilty-greenie mantra about how forests are important in producing all the oxygen that would otherwise leave us gasping till blue in the face, fact is 3/4 of all the oxygen being produce comes from the sea. Yes, those oxygen factories are mostly from algae.

... "... the value of a tree can only be measured once it goes through a lumber mill eh. Told ya so"

Shaddup..!

No, it lies in being a part of a much larger system that contributes to the biodiversity which can never be replicated in some sanitized park spotting orderly rows of intentionally planted trees.

No, those would hardly matter in terms of being part of contributing to the hydrology which in the mostly concrete environment there are in.. are merely useless decor staring at flash floods that are becoming more common these days, exacerbated no doubt by the pace of recent years development.

In fact those planted trees often need to be artificially irrigated by fuel consuming water trucks and human intervention in pruning to keep them "looking good" A naturally growing lichen covered trunk like the one here that manage to survive in spite of being in some development parcel would more likely than not face being chopped down eventually for being unsightly in some expensive city landscape.

No, those purposely planted trees would not have root system like the ones here firmly anchoring on the banks and help to keep the natural soil in place, providing much crevices and cover that's  teeming with other lifeforms that makes up the forest's diversity.

Yes, that includes those ever-present-5-pm Aedes albopictus making their presence felt as I was still transfixed and staring... 

  *snap*   

Time to haul ass and finish up the lap and get home for dinner...