Page 53 - Dark Matter:Women Witnessing Issue2

vernal pools, ephemeral pools that are home to tadpoles, insect larvae and a host of invertebrates that

live nowhere else. Ninety-­‐seven percent of the vernal pools in San Diego have been destroyed by

urban development. It is estimated that at least a third of the micro-­‐crustacean species in California

vernal pools have yet to be identified.

Sketchbook page from Carmel Mountain memorial

When a truck drove through a vernal pool that my daughter and I visit frequently, destroying the

contour of the pool and crushing the inhabitants, we were both outraged and heartbroken. As Aldo

Leopold observes, “We can only grieve for what we know.”14 When we develop a relationship with a

place, loss becomes palpable. Ecological degradation is no longer a myriad of statistics or abstract

facts.

14
Aldo Leopold, Sand County Almanac, quoted in Douglas Burton-­‐Christie, “The Gift of Tears: Morning and the Work of
Ecological Restoration,” Worldviews 15 (2011) pp 29-­‐46.

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