The desert is not just B&W
We are all familiar with the Hollywood spaghetti western tough guy. Inevitably, a loner, rough around the edges, possessing but few words, suspicious of outsiders and easily riled when it comes to threats and perceived slights. While this caricature is thankfully relegated largely to late night cable TV, I must confess that from time to time, I feel myself slipping into those boots. I bristle when I hear people who have only a passing familiarity with the desert, state with absolute conviction, that:
“The desert looks the same to me everywhere – the only colors are brown or black - it is always god-awful hot!”
In short, the desert is BORING!
Does this even matter? Couldn’t this just be another case of Tomato - Tomaato? As you might guess, I don’t share that sentiment. I sit squarely in the camp that fears that humanity is lounging in the club car on the express line that may have already, and without notice, passed the last shunt before ecological disaster. While I do take some solace from those who believe it is still possible to brake this runaway train and find a differnt track, I fear they are like tumbleweeds scattered across a desert of apathy and nimbyism.
So, how does this relate to a view of the desert as just a B&W tableau? Simply stated, I believe that B&W images, to many people in these modern times, are viewed as boring. They are not a literal reflection of what our eyes see and therefore, are easily are ignored or overlooked. In other words, the subject matter is not worthy of attention. The desert reality is however much, much different. Changing one’s perspective by narrowing focus to a more closely cropped view, reveals a desert that is rich with a full palate of color. Try zooming in on a budding tree on a dry grassy hillside, or look down on a tiny flower blooming on a pincushion cactus. The colors are simply astonishing.
The desert is the ecological canary in the coal mine, writ large. Dropping water tables from over use and under conservation and rising temperatures are stressing the environment. The population of the ubiquitous saguaro cactus appears to be on a downward trajectory. Other more mobile species move upslope on the sky islands, until they find they have ‘summited’ and there is nowhere left to go. All the while, people with their B&W blinders on see no cause for concern, or don’t see an imperative for action in their neighborhood. I suggest a change of perspective that reveals that world of color might just trigger the paradigm shift that will lead to meaningful action to repair the environment.
In the Gallery section for this blog, I am not posting any remarkable wall art photos, but rather easily found images of color that may be waiting to be discovered at your feet. How can you feel that such beauty is anything other than a call to action?