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27 februari 2019 | Ingen har kommenterat än
I boken The tent har Margaret Atwood ett kapitel kallat Three novels I won’t write soon. Det innehåller tre utkast, varav det första heter Worm Zero.
In this novel all the worms die. That would include the nematodes. (…) Quite soon – because the earthworms are now defunct, and that’s important – the soil is no longer circulating in the usual fashion. Worm dung is no longer extruded at the surface, wormholes no longer allow rain to penetrate. Valuable nutrients remain sealed in layers of subsoil. Formerly productive fields turn to granite. Crops become stunted and then won’t grow at all. Famine gets going.
Who shall we follow in the course of this doleful story? I vote for Chris and Amanda. They flee to their summer cottage, as civic order breaks down in the once-thriving town where they live and people start eating their cats and goldfish and the dried ornamental sunflowers in their dining-room floral arrangements.
Last scene: Amanda is trying to poke holes in the flint-hard soil with a knitting needle. Chris comes out of the house. He has a cup containing the last scrapings of decaf instant coffee. ”At least we’re together.” says Amanda.
Our should I have Chris yell. ”Where are you, fucking worms, when we need you most?”
Citerat med anledningen av nyheten att daggmaskarna håller på att försvinna:
Farmers fight to save Britain’s disappearing earthworms – Song thrush and soil fertility under threat from decline of surface-dwelling worms (Guardian, 26 feb 2019).
Mer från The tent: The makorin has malfunctioned (Blind Höna, 18 juni 2006).
Bild: Dan Brekke/Flickr under CC-license.
Kategori: Böcker, Döden, Ekologi, Ekonomi, media och samhälle, Framtiden
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