I
was browsing in an Ashland, Ore. used bookstore a few weeks ago when a title
caught my eye: “Consciousness Explained” by Daniel Dennett. Well, I thought,
it’s about time somebody explained what’s going on in my head (if, indeed, my
head is where “it” goes on). I read through a sampling and found it challenging
but well-presented, so I took it home. For a few days I structured a
four-course bedtime reading meal, with the Funny Times political comics for an
appetizer, “My Weeds: A Gardener’s Botany” by Sara Stein for the salad,
Dennett’s book for a meaty main course and some Eknath
Easwaran for the spiritual sendoff to sleep.
A little too much bookage, it turned out ... Stein
won, and Dennett will have to wait. Stein’s exploration of the lowly weed is
proving to be no less of a mind blow than I expected from Dennett’s book, with
scientifically precise gardener-relevant story-telling on topics like plant
taxonomy, adaptation and evolution ... even “weed wisdom.” Stein’s not
suggesting plants think the way humans do, or communicate on some mystical
wavelength. Rather, she describes the mechanisms by which roots can “steer”
around obstacles, vines can find and climb vertical objects, and a section of
hoe-truncated bind-weed stem can recognize its position, growing down roots
from the lower end and sending up a leafy stem from the upper end.
Statolith organelles in cells can determine up and
down and trigger differential root cell growth. In addition, when the bindweed
vine touches the cornstalk, the cells on the touching side send signals along
the protoplasmic strands that connect through the pores of cells, giving instruction
to slow their growth, while the non-touching side cells get chemical messages
to grow faster. This uneven growth causes the vine to turn toward the stalk as
it grows skyward.
The growth and development of a city like Petaluma is no less interesting than
that of a weed. Much can be revealed by looking at it as carefully as a
botanist considers a plant. This morning my wife and I were talking about the
future of the Golden Eagle Shopping Center. We are hopeful that it will be
transformed into a river-facing, mixed-use development with a generous public
plaza, similar to Windsor or Healdsburg. The property is owned by Basin Street.
They have expressed an interest in pursuing the remodel, but they face
constraints just as a plant is constrained by its environment. The remodel
requires money, like plants need energy. Some would come from their equity,
from loans and from city redevelopment funds (the roots), but would have to be
replenished by profits and taxes (sunlight and soil).
What combination of conditions will grow a redeveloped Golden Eagle? Basin
Street has said they are not in a hurry to do the project, and claimed that
problems with the city review process on the Theatre District makes them
reluctant to start a new project. Is the city putting too much red tape on
Basin Street, reducing the energy Basin Street can put into the project while
yielding nothing of value for the public? Or is the city simply looking after
the interests of present and future Petaluma residents, making sure that the
design of buildings and infrastructure that will last a century or more does
not sacrifice public good in order to increase the profits Basin Street
harvests and removes from the site?
These questions can’t easily be answered without close-up, unbiased analysis.
What exactly did the city require that Basin Street took objection too? How did
it affect the project, and what did it cost Basin Street? How much money did
Basin Street earn or lose? Are developers cycling part of their profits back
into the political system, supporting City Council candidates who will demand
less community benefit from developers, thus enabling higher future profits,
continuing a cycle? But more importantly, what could be done differently for
Golden Eagle that would support both the city’s and
the landowner/ developer’s separate and common interests? If we can get the
players in this drama to communicate as well as the cells of a plant, we might
grow something truly wonderful.