Chattels - so many worldly goods on view

This aerial photo by drone camera soon after a recent tornado in Missouri in May 2019 shows the contents of self-storage closets that people rent for long-term or short periods when they have no time or space for possessions that are not urgently needed, but which still hold value; either the money kind or the meaningful kind.

overflying the roofless storage rooms filled with excess material wealth

The image inserted here is a low-resolution screenshot used here for editorial purpose, so to respect the maker's copyright, the online original image in full-detail can be seen at https://www.flickr.com/photos/10thavenue/47962462416/


The business model for self-storage services dates back maybe 2 generations, around the time that divorce procedures were simplified, instances of separation and divorce went up, households multiplied as single families became two separate addresses that need to be equipped and maintained, stigma lessened, and the society continued to change as old way were undermined and new ways developed with sometimes good and sometimes bad results to the social fabric and to individual lives. The need for material goods to fill the ex-spouse's living environment expanded around the same time that cheap (of price and sometimes of build-quality) products came into mass markets and distribution at the retail, mail-order, and now online channels. Meanwhile, the expanding national population through natural increase and through immigration has had the natural consequence of there being more and more estate sales at time of death. All those material traces of other lives, on top of the stream of imported goods, leads to excess property with various routes to final disposition of these many things: sometimes shunted away from landfill by going to charity shops (donation), to neighborhood or individual house yard/garage/rummage sales, gifted to friends and relatives for sentimental reasons or in case of need (when new or used-retail prices are out of reach), recycled (scrap metal collectors) or left at curbside with "free" written helpfully on a nearby sign. But many people simply defer the final decision about pieces of portable property like the chattels in the storage spaces of this photo. By locking them up and paying a monthly rental fee, the things can still be retrieved but are temporarily 'out of sight and out of mind.'

Renters of storage units have many reasons to use the small, medium, and large spaces. There are sometimes stories of a person living in a kind of way in the shelter of the lockable space, although probably that violates the terms of the agreement due to liability and unsanitary aspects of living without plumbing. Having a remote location allows digital and paper backup to one's things, either near or distant from one's daily circuit of movement. At times a person is between household moves or indeed has no home and must depend on friends or relatives for a roof, and so the pieces of one's earlier residential or office world go into storage. Businesses may use the space as an extension to the office premises for storage of inventory or supplies. Estate executors may clear out a residence for sale, but hold onto the chattels for later disposition. Doubtless there may be nefarious uses of storage closets, too. And owners who no longer pay rent can be forfeited of their claim and entrepreneurs then are allowed to bid sight unseen on the contents, hoping to find valuable property to resell.

All in all this photo by drone camera shows a fully-occupied collection of rent-paying spaces. Looking from room to room, each one seems to be mostly filled. Although there are many reasons why personal or business goods end up in a storage unit for short or long periods, the changing economy and fragmenting social fabric (relying on self, not friends or family), as well as the demographic segments subdividing and scattering all contribute to the booming business in temporary use of locked spaces for rent. The idea of being deeply and firmly rooted to a place and time for one's whole life is hard to imagine in 2019: uprooted is one way to describe it, "free" is another. No matter how you interpret the social landscape, though, the roofless storage closets in the photo point to prominent facts of our times; characterized not only by the rise of extreme weather with increasing frequency that extends to places seldom touched during earlier centuries, but also the rise of social disruption, accelerated by the Internet assumption that "information wants to be free," not anchored to experts and controlled by gatekeepers. Without roots and without roofs, life seems grimmer than other times. Let the old structures for knowledge, expertise, authority, and accountability be eroded and with it also dissolves the social relationships and reliability that held a person in place, for good and for bad, along with his or her worldly possessions.

More visitors come to see, smell, and record flowers and trees

click for full-size view: panorama, early April 2019 expansion of botanical gardens

With months still to go before completion of the enlarged visitor center and programming areas the Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park continues to draw visitors from the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan and surroundings, as well as the wider state and Midwest region. Informational signage near the ticket counter tells of the current facilities' capacity being overrun, thus the need to accommodate the rising numbers at present and projecting into the future: more parking, more food and gift buying spaces, and toilets enough for everybody.

At a time when portable electronic devices tied into the Internet seem to distract and dissipate the focused activities of children through the elderly, it is heartening to see that some people make an effort to visit and admire the seasonal changes on display in the indoor and outdoor spaces around this piece of ground. There are signs of small increases in public attention and concern about human-caused loss of habitat, the rise in extreme weather events, and the responsibility borne be individuals and governing authorities. Both local and national authorities can curb or incentivize organizations and private companies to reduce the harm caused by their operating practices of sourcing, consuming, producing, distributing, and disposing of unused materials, heat, light, and waste.

The relationships that people develop and sustain with their physical environment and the spaces they inhabit in warm seasons and cold have changed over the generations and in direct consequence of available gear for dressing, getting around, and communicating over long distances. Each time people gain more control, power, and insulation from the physical facts of their surroundings, their own biological facts, and the habits of thinking that follow from the new normal, one consequence is less frequent and shallower connection to the natural world. Projecting this trend a few more decades into the future, it is possible to imagine more and more people who rarely get muddy shoes, are wet from rain, are chilled by falling temperatures, or who are bit by a mosquito or fly. What those future people know of non-human lives and cycles then comes not from direct experience, but is mediated by screens and on-demand reading, hearing, or viewing. Occasional black-outs, accidents, or deliberate expeditions "off the grid" will lead some people, sometimes to encounter places and events with relatively little human interference or administration.

The wide photo, above, stitched from two frames is a record of the new and expanded visitor entrance and related wider facilities to hold larger groups and bigger numbers of attendees. As work wraps up in the months ahead and traces of construction are tidied up, future visitors may come to believe the new, larger layout has always been at that scale. But returning to this photo is one way to remember the dynamic scale of human engagement with the many plants and animals inhabiting these grounds.