Ferment

"It may look as if nothing at all is happening (...). Yet, deep underground, at this very moment, nutrients are being gathered, the groundwork for future ebullience and dynamism is being laid down, another summer is very slowly collecting its strength". A Therapeutic Journey by Alain de Botton. Photo and sustainable natural living creation by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) December, 2025.

December

 Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) December 2025.

December

"You mix your metaphors, and a seed becomes a lantern glowing, or a flashlight, or a firefly hatching". Rebecca Solnit (2025). No Straight Road Takes You There. Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) December 2025.

December

Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) December 2025.

December

While creating another set of plants for a colleague at work, I was thinking about how true beauty is CO₂ negative and how sustainability is an easy practice if one uses, reuses, transforms, and shares what one has.

For the container, I reused the bottom part of a household disinfectant, giving it a second life instead of discarding it and buying a new container made from fossil fuels (i.e., plastic). Then, I looked around my small garden for available candidate plants that could thrive in that container and, hopefully, cooperate to lead a good life under the new conditions. After finding the trio, I placed them in their new container using my simple gardening tools powered by human energy. The soil was in short supply (as worms in the vermicompost regulate their work according to the heat). Used about 3 liters of commercial potting soil, which comes with an undisclosed carbon footprint. 

Creating with what is available around us is not only a good sustainability practice but also a way of multiplying beauty that goes on living and capturing carbon dioxide. Hence, real beauty is CO₂ negative.

Photo of a different and beautiful Nature creation. Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) December, 2025.

December

After seeing the video of Mark Rothko murals at Tate Modern, one of the artists mentioned in the book A Therapeutic Journey by Alain de Botton, sharing photo with a reminder of the other side of nothingness. Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) December, 2025.