Forest Stories Episode One Hundred Forty Three 109 Degree Heating Index
The worst drought in the south since 2008. The land is so hard that it's reminding me of the sandstone of Montana. My worries sit within the soil, what's going on with the roots of all living things? How can we as humans learn from this natural behavior?
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-view-from-the-writing-instrument--1023245/support.
Speaker 1: Hey, when it comes to podcast listening, are you like me?
I mean, it's like television surfing. You're like all over
the place looking for that one thing that you can
add to your moment of now. Be it four stories,
be it rock star stories, talking with a chef, whatever
you're looking for. That's what arrow.net is all about. A-R-R-O-E.net.
The searching is over. It's all in one place. Enjoy
the exploration. Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation.
Welcome to Four Stories.
Speaker 2: A series of short-winded adventures within a collection of skyscraping
trees stuck feet first in Georgia clay right here in Carolina.
It's been a huge part of my daily journey for
over 33 years. I am the poet in the forest,
a children's series written and recorded in the 1990s. It's
grown into multiple podcasts that now reach around the world,
and none of it would be possible without this forest
right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina. At the base
of Heartbreak Hill sits a sign that reads, RAINBOW FOREST. Well,
it's time you get to meet what's inspired several generations.
Long before the paved paths decorated with colorful homes colonized
around this beautiful lake, slow-moving stream, flatland swamps, and array
of natural animals, there were families and business owners who
are said to have raced into this area for the
beauty of the land, wild roses, migratory birds, and wild grapevines.
Those before me either forgot to write about it or
it's buried somewhere inside their family tree. Hey, thanks for
being a part of the conversation. Welcome back to the forest.
Speaker 1: The heating index today is said to be 109 degrees,
which is so different compared to 109 when I grew
up in the state of Montana because it's a dry
heat area. You still get burned. You still don't do
your alcohol as heavy as you think you should because
that 109 degrees, no matter where you are, is going
to be scalding to the touch. But 109 degrees as
a heating index in this forest, the first thing I'm
worried about are the roots of the trees. It's already
the worst drought that we've had since 2008. And now
this is really going to be sucking up whatever moisture
is in that soil. Now, one of the things that
I ran into yesterday while doing an episode of a
podcast that I call The Resurrection, I went into the
soil to bring something to the sunlight. And the one
thing that I quickly took note of was how hard
the ground really is. In fact, in all of my
writing and on that podcast, I compared it to the
sandstone of the Palisades of the Yellowstone in Billings, Montana,
which are the rims. It's so hard, the soil, a
temperature at 109 degrees for a heating index, you can't
help but wonder, what's really going on down under? What
is happening to the roots of these trees? And shall
we expect to have more fall to the floor? That's
what happens. And when it comes to nature, she's got
a way. of coming in and vacuuming the floor. Is
it going to stay 109 degrees just one day? The
summer has just started. This is the new normal. High temperatures,
very little rain. And it does scare me just a
tight bit. Before the days of being called back home,
the transition, do you find yourself wondering how many of
these trees will still exist. Because I've been to those
Montana mountaintops where it's a different season and a different
tundra all the way around the mountain. Not everybody gets
the moisture. Not everybody gets the sunshine. What you've got
is bare ground. 109 today, the heating index. What is
this the start of? Welcome to our new normal. Thanks
for being a part of the conversation.