Universo Catariniano

É incrível como há data marcada para tudo. E com a devida campanha publicitária, correspondente exploração comercial e concordante euforia consumista. Até para Amar...

Pois em protesto contra a piroseira dos peluchinhos fofinhos, da roupinha interior, das rosinhas, dos chupa-chupas, das canequinhas, das caixinhas de bombons, dos postalinhos melosos e etecetera e tal, tudo cheio dos irritantes coraçõezinhos palpitantes e vermelho brilhante...

VIVA O VERDE NATURAL!

Heart in Voh (1990), Arthus-Bertrand Yann

Heart in Voh, New Caledonia (French Overseas Territory) (20°57' S, 164°41' E)
A mangrove swamp is a semi-aquatic forest common to muddy tropical coastlines with fluctuating tides. Made up of halophytes (plants that can grow in a saline environment), with a predominance of mangroves, these swamps cover almost one-quarter of tropical coasts and a total of some 56,000 square miles (15 million hectares) worldwide. This represents only half of their original extent, because these fragile swamps are continually shrinking due to the overexploitation of resources, agricultural and urban expansion, the creation of shrimp farms, and pollution. The mangrove nonetheless remains as indispensable to sea fauna and to the equilibrium of the shoreline as it is to the local economy. New Caledonia, a group of Pacific islands covering 7,000 square miles (18,575 km2), has 80 square miles (200 km2) of a fairly low (25 to 33 feet, or 8 to 10 m) but very dense mangrove swamp, primarily on the west coast of the largest island, Grande Terre. At certain spots in the interior that are not reached by seawater except at high tides, vegetation gives way to bare, oversalted stretches called "tannes", such as this one near the town of Voh, where nature has carved this clearing in the form of a heart.

Heart in Voh (2002), Arthus-Bertrand Yann

Heart in Voh in 2002, New Caledonia, France (20°57' S, 164°41' E)
No, this clearing wasn’t carved by man. Nature is the originator of this traced heart in the mangrove, near Voh, on the west coast of Grande Terre island. The mangroves were formed by trees adapted to the brackish-water tides. In these forests, surfaces of bare ground ("tannes") appear, in which the forms spring up by chance. It’s in the more elevated areas, hence less often flooded, where salt is concentrated by evaporation, causing the death of the mangroves. It’s this phenomenon that is at the beginning of the heart of Voh. Flying over the heart in 2002 reveals its evolution since the 1990 shot. The vegetation grew back into the inside of the heart, where the salt got rid of almost 10 acres (4 ha) of it after a drop in the salinity caused by a change in the tidal flood conditions. The light patch in the foliage is a result of the blast of air from the second helicopter’s blades. If the salinity continues to drop, the mangrove will close up completely within the heart. If the salinization comes back, the heart will rebuild itself. Nature will decide. But perhaps it must return?