The Gardener Of Multan
A few days ago, there was an announcement that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) had become the first province in Pakistan to have officially designed & submitted a plan to fulfil its obligations in accordance with the Paris Agreement. That, along with the intense heat wave in the country that seems to wax & wane as suddenly as a rip tide, got me thinking about how essential greenery is to human life & comfort.
But everybody knows that the Johnny Appleseed approach only looks good on paper. Greenery isn't simply about picking a random seed & burying it in the nearest patch of soft earth. Plants & trees need to be carefully selected & then even more carefully nurtured by skilled & experienced professionals. Doing otherwise generally results in the Islamabad Paper Mulberry Blunder.
Whenever the subject of greenery comes up, I am always reminded of a gardener who looked after the lawns & gardens in one of the Army units in Multan. It was a while ago, when my father was serving in the Army & was posted there, so (sadly) I don't remember his name. But the professional quality of his work was nothing short of outstanding! He turned an ugly, barren patch of mud into a horticultural wonder, complete with fruit trees, lush grass & some of the most beautiful & fragrant flowers I have ever been fortunate enough to experience (yes, experience; nature in its purest form is not just seen or heard or smelt, but experienced). The funds allocated for trained workers & quality supplies were limited (to say the least), but...there are no words to describe the joy that his work inspired in the heart of anyone who truly saw the beauty he had striven night & day to bring about, in an otherwise essentially crude & harsh environment. I hope with all my heart that he was rewarded with the monetary compensation & professional recognition that his work merited - in a timely manner - & that he got to experience the joy that he gave the many people who admired the fruits (& flowers) of his labor.
His work brought an additional advantage (aside from keeping the weather in the surrounding area several degrees cooler than other parts of the city): If & when a freak sandstorm or a swarm of locusts from parts unknown decided to sweep into town, every green thing in the city was a mess...except for his gardens. Without even being aware of it, that gardener was at the forefront of combating the negative effects of climate change.
But, the most important point is that if, after familiarizing himself with all the peculiarities of the climate, soil & water of Multan, that gentleman had suddenly been told to go off to, say, Quetta, would the value of his expertise have been recognizable or usable? Probably not. Because gardening, like any other profession has areas of specialization that depend on 3 main factors: climate zones (3), soil types (3) & water qualities (2); in effect, there are approximately 20 different "branches" of gardening specialization; which means that the first & most effective application of the mission outlined in the Paris Agreement is for all UN member states to employ professional gardeners (at least the government-employed ones) in the places they know best - in other words, their home towns. Given below, is a break-down of the most important points in the fields of climate, soil & water (courtesy Wikipedia):
Climate Zones
Earth has 3 main climate zones: Tropical, Temperate & Polar.
A TROPICAL CLIMATE is a climate typically found within the tropics, while a few locations outside the Tropics are considered to have a tropical climate. In the Koppen climate classification it is a non-arid climate in which all twelve months have mean temperatures of at least 18*C (64*F). Unlike the subtropics, where there are significant variations in day length & temperature to various degrees, with season, tropical temperature remains relatively constant throughout the year & seasonal variations are dominated by precipitation.
In geography, TEMPERATE OR TEPID LATITUDES of Earth lie between the tropics & the polar regions. The temperatures in these regions are generally relatively moderate, rather than extremely hot or cold, & the changes between summer & winter are also usually moderate. However, in certain areas, such as Asia & central North America, the variations between summer & winter can be extreme because these areas are far away from the sea, causing them to have a continental climate. In regions traditionally considered tropical, localities at high altitudes (e.g. parts of the Andes) may have a temperate climate.
The POLAR CLIMATE regions are characterized by a lack of warm summers. Every month in a polar climate has an average temperature of less than 10*C (50*F). Regions with polar climate cover more than 20% of the Earth. The sun shines for long hours in the summer, & for many fewer hours in the winter. A polar climate results in treeless tundra, glaciers, or a permanent or semi-permanent layer of ice. It has cool summers & very cold winters.
Soil Types
All soils are composed of a mixture of clay, silt & sand.
CLAY minerals are hydrous aluminum phyllosilicates, sometimes with variable amounts of iron, magnesium, alkali metals, alkaline earths, & other cations found on or near some planetary surfaces. Clay minerals form in the presence of water & have been important to life, & many theories of abiogenesis involve them. They have been useful to humans since ancient times in agriculture & manufacturing.
SILT is granular material of a size somewhere between sand & clay, whose mineral origin is quartz & feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as sediment mixed in suspension with water (also known as a suspended load) in a body of water such as a river. It may also exist as soil deposited at the bottom of a water body. Silt has a moderate specific area with a typically non-sticky, plastic feel. Silt usually has a floury feel when dry, & a slippery feel when wet. Silt can be visually observed with a hand lens.
SAND is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock & mineral particles. It is defined by size, being finer than gravel & coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of soil or soil type; i.e. a soil containing more than 85% sand-sized particles (by mass). The composition of sand varies, depending on the local rock sources & conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings & non-tropical coastal settings is silica (silicon dioxide, or SiO2), usually in the form of quartz. The second most common type of sand is calcium carbonate, for example aragonite, which has mostly been created, over the past half billion years, by various forms of life, like coral & shellfish. It is, for example, the primary form of sand apparent in areas where reefs have dominated the ecosystem for millions of years like the Caribbean.
Water Qualities
There are 2 types of water: hard & soft.
HARD WATER is water that has high mineral content (in contrast with "soft water"). Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone & chalk which are largely made up of calcium & magnesium carbonates.
SOFT WATER is surface water that contains low concentrations of ions & in particular is low in ions of calcium & magnesium. Soft water naturally occurs where rainfall & the drainage basin of rivers are formed of hard, impervious & calcium poor rocks.
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