Are we doing the right thing?

It has been raining a lot here lately. And the flowers in this pot were almost suffocating from oxygen deficiency as the soil was saturated with water. So we used an old umbrella as a "rain shelter". It was a practical quick fix. Was it a good solution?

There were perhaps two other possibilities: 1. stopping the rain or 2. improve the drainage. Of those alternatives the first is perhaps a bit megalomaniac and would have enormous consequences on all other things. But the second alternative is quite feasible. It is actually a better solution than the umbrella (but not at all as fun to make a picture of).

When thinking about this I remember a story of an Indian ruler that was annoyed over that the ground was uneven and hurting his feet. He ordered that the earth be covered by skins to make it smooth and nice to walk. One of his advisors modestly suggested that the problem could perhaps be dealt with by cutting pieces of skin and fit to the feet of the people, i.e. making sandals.

Seeing the actions taken agains climate change or other challenges in the world, I sometimes wonder if we really take the right measures, or if we put umbrellas over our flower pots or cover the earth with skins?