March 23

The Catchfly (Sweet William) seeds germinated today, only two days after I planted them. And they emerged abundantly, as there are over a dozen tiny green seedlings in the cell. I am amazed at this really, that it would spring forth so readily and in such numbers and from what was such a tiny seed – no larger than the period at an end of a sentence, and strikingly coal black. It is a wonder that that such vitality emerges from what seems so opposite.

I read in the paper this morning that scientists are continuing to research the possibility of long-distance space travel, with the potential to colonize Mars or even beyond. Of course, this was the stuff of Buck Rogers years ago, but now it seems that technology has started to catch up with the once fantastical.

Of the rationales for pursuing this, a lesser one highlighted is that through colonization, humans will have a means to continue existing, in the event that we so devalue or deplete Earth’s habitable conditions. I am thinking about this as I look into my seedling cell, where a tiny and verdant green forest has sprung up from seemingly nothing.

The scientists also hope that long-distance travel may be feasible to exoplanets that have been identified, particularly those candidates from among the hundreds that have similar characteristics to Earth (distance from a star, certain spectral emissions, etc.) which would then favor habitable life. Perhaps even more, that life already exists in these distant islands in the void of space.

And there’s the connection. Out there, somewhere in the seeming inertness of space are assuredly seedlings. Given that humans are apparently destined to ruin those here on Earth, we are compelled to find more elsewhere.