Trees Cut Down, Their Civilisation Comes To An End

Thomas H. Maugh II has written an article entitled “Peru’s Nazca culture was brought down with its trees” in the L.A. Times (online) highlighting research which concludes that the decimation of the huarango tree, a massive relative of the mesquite living 1000 years and with roots reaching 180 feet (55 meters) deep used for firewood or housing, is largely responsible for the devastating effects of flooding brought on by El Nino in approximately 500 CE, the results of which left the Nazca with little or no agriculture.

The Nazca are known, of course, for their immense line drawings, found in Peru and fully visible only from the air.

One can say that this may be a rather literal manifestation of “you reap what you sow”, wherein one reaps truly nothing at all, given that, quite simply, nothing may be sown. (Nothing is truly invisible.)

Environmental, social and cultural disasters are, as we know, nothing new.

nothingisinvisible@live.fr