Our nest

In Stephanie Donaldson's prologue to The Elements of organic Gardening, by HRH The Prince of Whales, she says "an organic gardener's focus is on the soil, while a conventional gardener's focus is on the plant".
Similar to using the word "smog" instead of "pollution", "conventional" in this context is a polite way of saying "short sighted". We're no longer so naive as to think that what we are doing to the planet is not affecting our health and we've got to stop wondering why our roses have no fragrance, if we've killed all the organisms in our gardens.
As Marjorie Harris wrote recently in Gardening Life, "we've done a fine job of fouling our own nest". She writes of ways to deal with our climate change, the first of which is to face the realities of it; the increase in storms (frequency and force), droughts and flooding, and bugs and disease which, as with our own mammalian viruses and diseases, have been strengthened by our chemical use
(stronger bugs = fewer predators).
The good news is that Nature is an amazing force - that's why there is a plant growing in the middle of our paved driveway! We just need to stop working against it and become part of the solution.
Stuff spinning around in my head (for today, at least) ...
1) Zeriscaping
2) Biodiversity
3) Indigenous, drought resistant perennials
4) Our rain barrels and push mower
5) Non-grass lawn (clover, thyme, periwinkle, moss)
6) Break up the sidewalk leading to our front door
7) Pruning the dead bits from our trees before the next storm