Oh the joy of greenery in such a concrete environment. I was delighted to stumble across this wonderful 'Green wall' plant installation on the side of the Edgware road tube station. An initiative by Transport for London to improve air quality in the city.
Luscious layers of plants with contrasting textures, colours... long grasses next to chunky leaved plants. A beautiful and enlightening image in such a chaotic area that is Edgware road, right next to the Marylebone flyover!
As I got closer, there was a man with some weird piece of machinery, what seemed to look like he was hoovering the greenery. They were actually doing just that, but it was in order to collect insect samples from the plants.
By chance there was a lovely lady from the University of Staffordshire there, talking to a man who seemed to be some sort of animal rights activist and was arguing that it was unfair to collect the bugs and was asking the lady who was an insectologer whether it was morally right to take the insects and that they should be sedated (what a ridiculous suggestion!)... alas, I disagreed and I said that this was benefiting the city environment and the insects that were being collected were only being used towards the overall well being of nature in the country - the little martyrs they are! She explained that its necessary to see what type of insects are thriving in these types of polluted levels. Considering that so many of natures creatures are being threatened due to modern societies unstoppable growth I think its hugely important. Alls I can hope is that one day, all the sky scrapers in London will be covered in plants! What a wonderful image that would be! We can only dream........
John Martin - Fall of Babylon
