Planting wildflowers along the highway, covering the middle and sides with colour, possibly fragrance, and something that does not need to be mowed, sounds like a great idea. I thought so too. Until I thought more about it.

Wildflowers will attract more insects, small animals and bigger animals to the busiest roads which will not be good for their continued health. Between animals becoming roadkill and people trying not to hit them, it could be dangerous for both.

Seeds from some will create havoc when they blow around. Others cause allergies for people which will be distracting for drivers.

Also, just because they do not need to be mowed, does not mean there is no maintenance at all. People would have to go along a lot of highway to keep plants from growing into the road ways. That would not be free: gas, wages, vehicles and maintenance of vehicles, equipment... Probably other things I haven't thought of yet.

You may think all that unused land could even grow something useful, harvestable even. Herbs could work better than wildflowers. But, still have some of the same issues.

Any plants chosen to grow this way would need to be hardy, drought resistant, grow over spring, summer, and fall (not be dormant and leave bare ground for most of the year - which would give space for all those so called weeds to re-seed and not look pretty), not grow very tall or spread too much. This is probably one reason plants we call weeds are left to grow along the highways.

I love the idea, but it isn't as simple as it seems.

I remember reading about this project when it was a new idea. I thought it sounded like a smart solution. I guess others didn't, but there are always going to be people who don't agree (sometimes they turn out to be right). But, until it is given a try, no one really knows if it will work. There are unpredictable factors, especially with wild animals and changes to technology as far as vehicles too.

I'm glad its working and especially nice for it to be here in Canada.

Since the 1980s, the Canadian government has allotted more than $400 million to upgrade and twin the four-lane highway, with a quarter of the budget set aside for projects that would reduce wildlife collisions, a growing concern. Parks Canada decided they would use part of that money to fence the entire highway — roughly 180 kilometres — and construct several dozen wildlife crossing structures in hopes of lowering the mortality rate.

In November, Parks Canada marked the 20th anniversary of the completion of the first wildlife overpass in Banff National Park. ... the six overpasses and 38 underpasses that criss-cross the Trans-Canada are today considered a worldwide conservation success story, reducing wildlife collisions by 80 per cent. Delegations from around the world now visit Banff to learn more about their crossing structures in hopes of building similar systems in their home countries, where new roads are cutting through wilderness areas at unprecedented rates.

Roads don’t only imperil wildlife through vehicle collisions; they can fragment habitat and cut off critical migration routes for species. It’s estimated that 25 million kilometres of new road will be built by 2050, the majority in developing countries who have never before had to confront the impact of highways on biodiversity.

Clevenger now has 17 years-worth of data proving the efficacy of the crossings. Among large carnivores, mortality rates are 50 to 100 per cent lower along sections of the highway where overpasses and underpasses exist. In those same sections, mortality rates for elk are almost zero, compared to 100 elk-vehicle collisions per year in the mid-1990s. Clevenger’s research has shown that 11 species of large mammals in Banff have used the structures more than 200,000 times, including unexpected species such as red fox, hoary marmot, boreal toads, wolverines, lynx, garter snakes and beavers.

Black bears and mountain lions prefer to use these shadowy, damp tunnels, says Michel, whereas grizzlies and ungulates prefer the open sightlines offered by the overpasses.

... away from passing motorists’ eyes, lies a grassy oasis. Against the odds, pine trees and wildflowers have taken root here, giving the overpass a fringe of greenery. On the edges, wire fencing provides safe passage for roaming animals.

In 2010, Parks Canada joined forces with CP Rail on a $1 million, five-year joint study to figure out why animals, mainly grizzlies, were dying on the railroad in unprecedented numbers. Their research revealed that a number of factors were drawing animals into the rail corridor, from increased vegetation to an inability to detect oncoming trains, with bears often running toward them, instead of away.

Paraphrased from Canadian Geographic - As Banff’s famed wildlife overpasses turn 20, the world looks to Canada for conservation inspiration

Everyone and everything in your life is some kind of responsibility. Remembering birthdays, maintaining friendships, dusting, carefully placing so they don't fall off shelves... endless.

I dream, day dream, of being in the world after everyone else is gone. Maybe a virus that didn't affect me. Maybe they all just left in a spaceship. The how or why isn't too important. Just the alone. By myself in the world.

I'd also like endless time, without a lot of aging. I could find myself a place at the top of a high building. I imagine it has a balcony with curtains billowing on the breeze from the lake, maybe the ocean. Inside I have everything I need. Would I get tired of too much time? Possibly. It would be very quiet without people.

Things still need to be taken care of. But, more temporarily than people. Things don't have the same expectations, or needs.

If I could find a way to keep the electricity on, that would be good. Not likely, but good. Even without electric power I could still do most of the things I'd want to do. Reading in the daylight. But, I would miss the Internet, looking for whatever idea comes into my head. Its so easy to find something about anything on the Internet.

I'm not sure what else I'd really want to do, alone like that. If I could also be slim I'd try on clothes. Probably get out my sewing machine and learn to use it instead of hand sewing everything, and then design and make my own clothes. I've always got ideas for clothing designs.

Lots of things I'd like to write too. But, would it be the same with no one else to read any of it? I could write and write and write without caring what anyone would think. Some how that feels just too open ended.

Anyway, that's enough day dreaming for today. Someone once said I wouldn't really like being entirely alone like that. Maybe. We all depend on each other in so many ways, like having someone keep the electricity on. But, its a lot of responsibility. For me. Others don't seem to feel it at all and just go on as if they were already alone in the world.

I found an explanation about spontaneous human combustion which makes some sense.

Most deaths thought to be caused by spontaneous human combustion can be attributed to the "wick effect", whereby a person’s body fat acts like candle wax, causing a person to burn in an intensely hot but extremely well contained fireball. Strangely, all that is left in most cases is the lower part of the victims legs, which contain little fat, and their feet, which are usually found to be still wearing slippers. This would seem to explain how homes are sometimes left undamaged after a victim’s body has been burned to cinders along with their favorite armchair. However, whilst the "wick effect" explains the way in which a human body might burn it offers no explanation for the cause of the fire.

Quoted from Weird Worm