Mike,<\/p>\n
For the last few years I’ve been noticing changes in the freeway sound barriers in Maryland. They seem to be gathering foliage at a much faster rate than they used to. Can this be a harbinger of climate change? Botanists say that Kudzu and Creeping Charlie and some other vines are growing 2 or 3 times as fast as they used to because of increased CO2 in the air. (This has been proven by growing the vines in sealed greenhouses under controlled conditions with varied CO2 concentrations.)<\/p>\n
But here in the mid-Atlantic, the advance of Kudzu and its cousins is not an unmitigated curse. The sound barriers on the highway to Annapolis and on the Washington Beltway look quite nice with all the greenery draped over them. And in late October and early November, their autumn colors are quite fetching. For quite a while I’ve been trying to get some photos of the better examples of colorful freeway foliage. It’s difficult to find a time of day when you can stand in a freeway and shoot a picture of the walls. But yesterday, early Sunday morning, I had some good luck getting shots.<\/p>\n
Freeway Art<\/a><\/p>\n The walls where you can see these organic murals are in downtown Bowie, where the city fathers just last year erected some sound barriers around Annapolis Road. On the back side of these walls, the homeowners must have some colorful scenes much like these, but I haven’t climbed over to look.<\/p>\n The wild colorations of these vines must not even exist further south like South Carolina and Florida, where autumn is just a later part of summer, and perhaps the same vines don’t even inhabit New England, where fall colors are best. But as time wears on, and CO2 increases, Maryland may become part of the deep south, and the fall colors of freeway walls will disappear. New Jersey, then New York will get the vines and the colors. And inevitably, I think, New England will be invaded too. Then will the maples fade away?<\/p>\n -rakkity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mike, For the last few years I’ve been noticing changes in the freeway sound barriers in Maryland. They seem to be gathering foliage at a much faster rate than they used to. Can this be a harbinger of climate change? … Continue reading