Wooden day
Few days ago I was invited for interview with my probable-to-be future supervisor. Professor Westoby together with invitation email has sent to me a scientific article (“Safety and efficiency conflicts in hydraulic architecture: scaling from tissues to trees “by J.S. Sperry, F.C. Meinzer & K. McCulloh) and suggested me to join a journal club where wise academic heads discuss the given topic. Why not? – I said to myself. It might me a good experience too. After first reading I didn’t get a thing. I decided to visit Macquarie University Library very next day.
This was my strange morning. There was no one to hug to and no one to talk to. On the way to library I was probably looking like please-say-a-word-to-me : ) and so it happened. Just before entering the stairs to Epping station a girl wearing a green T-shirt asked me something. Of course I stopped and started to ask back the questions. She was a member of Wilderness Society. Her name was Clementine, studying law at the moment, her boyfriend is Russian and soon she goes to Sweden. I became a member of this society of course. It would be a shame for me (graduate from environmental protection) to refuse. She has never been to Poland but now she knows that Polish language differs significantly from Russian language (“hello” doesn’t go like “priviet” but it goes like “cześć”). There was no option to choose for me on how to pay a membership fee, she took my account and BSB number and they will take it themselves = 20$ per month : ). Since I am still unemployed and my account is of saving type I will soon have to resign from it probably. Anyway, I think I should be happy I contributed to save Tasmanian big trees, which are at the moment doomed to become a printing paper. Guy with Power called Peter Garrett has approved recently the construction of the pulp mill (zakład celulozowy) in Northern Tasmania.
And booom: “…First, we should stop wittering (przynudzanie) about ecosystems being fragile…”- this line comes from the article “Constructive ecology” published by M. Westoby in 1984 : ) . Out of curiosity I grabbed also a publication of my professor. I expected again something in heavy academic style but he surprised me fully. I like him already for courage to simplify the things. It was joy to read it. We are not in danger as different groups of ecologists and politicians like to shout about. We just have to learn to act wisely. We should learn to use the forest not to cut it all down to the rock. If we explode a big bomb in the crowded shopping centre we might start to look at a human population as a very fragile one too.
So, before they closed the library I have enriched today my vocabulary in a lot of new words: )
- conductance ( przewodność)
- sap (sok roślinny)
- torus – margo pit (I don’t know how it is in Polish :)
- tracheids (tracheidy)
- xylem (ksylem)
At the end of the day I let my brain rest and I hit the long way home along the Great North Walk in Lane Cove National Park. Look at those trees growing literally on the rocks. Are they that weak?
This was my strange morning. There was no one to hug to and no one to talk to. On the way to library I was probably looking like please-say-a-word-to-me : ) and so it happened. Just before entering the stairs to Epping station a girl wearing a green T-shirt asked me something. Of course I stopped and started to ask back the questions. She was a member of Wilderness Society. Her name was Clementine, studying law at the moment, her boyfriend is Russian and soon she goes to Sweden. I became a member of this society of course. It would be a shame for me (graduate from environmental protection) to refuse. She has never been to Poland but now she knows that Polish language differs significantly from Russian language (“hello” doesn’t go like “priviet” but it goes like “cześć”). There was no option to choose for me on how to pay a membership fee, she took my account and BSB number and they will take it themselves = 20$ per month : ). Since I am still unemployed and my account is of saving type I will soon have to resign from it probably. Anyway, I think I should be happy I contributed to save Tasmanian big trees, which are at the moment doomed to become a printing paper. Guy with Power called Peter Garrett has approved recently the construction of the pulp mill (zakład celulozowy) in Northern Tasmania.
And booom: “…First, we should stop wittering (przynudzanie) about ecosystems being fragile…”- this line comes from the article “Constructive ecology” published by M. Westoby in 1984 : ) . Out of curiosity I grabbed also a publication of my professor. I expected again something in heavy academic style but he surprised me fully. I like him already for courage to simplify the things. It was joy to read it. We are not in danger as different groups of ecologists and politicians like to shout about. We just have to learn to act wisely. We should learn to use the forest not to cut it all down to the rock. If we explode a big bomb in the crowded shopping centre we might start to look at a human population as a very fragile one too.
So, before they closed the library I have enriched today my vocabulary in a lot of new words: )
- conductance ( przewodność)
- sap (sok roślinny)
- torus – margo pit (I don’t know how it is in Polish :)
- tracheids (tracheidy)
- xylem (ksylem)
At the end of the day I let my brain rest and I hit the long way home along the Great North Walk in Lane Cove National Park. Look at those trees growing literally on the rocks. Are they that weak?
It was wonderful "woodful" day.
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