Take an Avatar walk
2010 February 4
by Ken Moore
Flora Columnist
Several days ago, I went to see Avatar, and have to say that a recent assessment of the movie by Carol Kaesuk Yoon in the New York Times resonated with me.
Rather than taking issue with possible scientific inaccuracies or questioning implausible notions,
Yoon appreciated the director for engaging the entire viewing world with compelling images of “kinds of wonderfully shocking similarities and dissimilarities among living things that have largely been the prerogative of biologists – especially those known as taxonomists, who order and name the living things on Earth.†She concludes: “Maybe Avatar is what we need to bring our inner taxonomist back to life, to get us to really see.â€
I moved through the day reflecting on that notion of reawakening the taxonomist in each of us “to really see.†It was in that context that local musician, songwriter and keen woods-walker Tim Stambaugh and I engaged each other over afternoon coffee at Johnny’s on West Main Street.
Referring to the recent Flora ice flowers story, Tim wanted to share his image of an ice-trapped sweet gum ball he discovered while exploring a frozen-swamp forest floor. To my inquiry, “Where did you find that?†Tim described a woods path along Price Creek that borders a small cypress swamp forest in the shallows of University Lake.
That sweet gum ball made me think of the fantastic plant images of Avatar’s other world. Viewing Avatar made me want to visit a tropical rain forest, so that I could see fantastic Avatar-like plants here on Earth.
Tim was animated in describing the changing seasonal wonders of the woods path where he discovered the locked-in-ice sweet gum ball. I asked to see more images of his woods path. Tim’s close-to-the-ground perspective of the forest floor in summer is now implanted in my head. The awesomeness of that view makes me realize that I don’t need to travel to a tropical rain forest to have Avatar-like experiences. As Yoon suggests, we merely need “to tap into our inner taxonomist to really see.â€
I challenge us all to explore our local woods with new energy, taking time to really see. Take an Avatar walk.
Carrboro’s Adams Tract is so close to town that one would not expect to have an Avatar experience. But you can. Stand quietly in that stately pine forest and contemplate how the trees are all connected and related to other living components. Further along the trail, stop and consider those giant oaks and hickories and maples; ponder how the skyward mingling limbs are descriptive of interactions. Settle yourself on the ground for a few minutes at the edge of one of those patches of evergreen ferns. What is their role on the forest floor and how many other different plants can you find with them? Down along Bolin Creek, sit with lichen and moss-covered boulders with wildflowers and tree seedlings clinging to crevices.
All around, look up and down and “take in the heart-stopping wonder of really seeing the living world.â€
Email Ken Moore at flora@carrborocitizen.com.
Find previous Ken Moore Citizen columns at The Annotated Flora.
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