“When humans arrive on the scene, ‘caring’ is present by any conceivable standard. So once there was no caring; now ‘caring’ is dominant on Earth …. ”

Holmes Ralston, III  (From his essay, Care on Earth: generating informed concern)

You might object to the use of ‘caring’ in our quote from Holmes Ralston. You must agree that humans care, care deeply about many things, and that we are part of life’s continuum on our planet. Extending this phenomenon backward in biological history  — preceding human origins — seems a hard stretch for some, yet easy for me. I am willing to make a crazy assertion: those new aspens and shrubs pictured in my two images in a palpable sense are concerned about their existence, are reaching toward the future, striving toward light and life. They are motivated to search far and wide and underground for water and specific nutrients, so their concern really is “informed,” as Ralston’s subtitle implies. They lack brains and probably emotions as we know them, but they do take an interest in their own survival, are capable of placing value on their lives (caring) in a way that is difficult for us to fathom.