I just "finished" Robin Wall Kimmerer Book *Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses(2003) . Not only did I saw the cover on Pinterest over and over again but also a different localized version in my local library so then I knew I should borrow it. I finished it not really because I skipped some chapters and read it a bit out of order. It also took me forever like almost all essay written to finish reading. BUT it's a great book that inspired the whole theme of this blog ;)

Attention

The main point I wanted to talk about Attention that this book taught me (not a biology person) and one snipped that I saw myself, my culture and the end of our world in.

So what do I mean with attention? This book is all about moss, it's different species and how the live intertwined with the larger forest, the clouds and sadly only a little with us humans. Moss as a plant is everywhere and while she acknowledges that the lush green fields are only in nature (and very fragile in it) they also exist in the city.

Human approach to nature

But us humans have a very different approach to what is deemed nature. The first time I got told / noticed it was in this Only yesterday (by studio ghibli) clip that reflects that not everything is green can be deemed Mother Nature.

The reason I even read the book was because of Jenney Odell's latest book about time. She cited the story from Robin Wall Kimmerer about a wealthy man thinking time is money but has to realize or rather the giant team that actually build his house and was ordered to transplant a thousand year old moss field that money is not time. They must soon realize that the transplanted moss does not like its move and that it will not survive there.

The part that I really wanted to talk about besides all this is roughly at page 130 where she talks about moss in surrounding eve no our city lives. And how having moss in your neighborhood and especially on trees is mostly a very concrete sign that the biological life surrounding you is healthy. But having moss between the pavement or on your roof is seen as uncivilized (all the other baggage like poor, unorganized, not caring...) but that it has a bunch of advantages for cooling the roof and having more birds chirping is complete casted aside in favor of conquering nature. As only a house devoid of moss and an proper 5cm (or whatever that is in inches) English Lawn. It's classist while destroying our surroundings and therefore the climate as a whole.

try it out and reflect what you carry with you

When my partner brought home a piece of moss I was flabbergasted as I too saw moss as something to get rid of and not the fascinating plant it actually is. It's a weed and therefore not worthy to be catered to (in the form of a spray bottle to keep it moisturized). I am happy that they and long time after this book taught me that everything has its own value for itself, the ecosystem and sometimes if we let it for us humans as well.

Best regards Mossy xoxo