Saturday Photo: Burning Bush, or Antidote to a Burning World?

Our neighbors' burning bush trees are in full colour this week.  They are modest looking bushes for most of the year, but they turn a glorious red, come fall.

There have been moments these past few weeks when it has seemed to me that the world is on the brink of bursting into flames.  Not the nuclear war that haunted my dreams 40 or 50 years ago, but one where climate change, cupidity and stupidity seem to have brought out the worst in most leaders and many ordinary folk.

There is a connection between this lovely plant and the difficult state of the world: vegetation.  Plant, plant, plant: that would seem to be an answer to many problems from desertification to sweltering cities to rising CO2 levels.  Not the complete answer, to be sure, but a partial one.  And in this imperfect world, that's something.

Of course, it appears there's a caveat to be noted where burning bush trees are concerned.  In milder climates that ours, they can can become invasive, and in Massachusetts and New Hampshire they're actually banned.  Probably the lesson here is: we have to think about what we're doing and where we're going, even when we're pointed in the right direction.