Unseen things I care about

OK, strictly speaking, blue tits are seen. As are long-tailed tits.

And Tane, even when he's kind of hiding.

Or flying away.

But, here we are, starting with some that I care about because I like them and then some that I care about because they are dangerous:

• microbes in soil - and in fact all the little living and non-living things that give earth this thin layer of potential.

• plankton in the sea - the same story for them.

• all the chemicals and micro-organisms given to the atmosphere by trees, which change weather.

• creatures who are normally hidden from sight - worms and moles and badgers and bats and owls.

• the unconscious processes that make saliva flow, sleep happen, answers to cryptic crossword puzzles arise and so on.

• the sense of togetherness or connection or shared attention.

• extinct beings.

• toxins polluting soil, sea and air.

• the sense of disgust or separation or prejudice.

• landfills, mines, slaughterhouses, sweatshops, battery cages - all the parts of our rich societies that are hidden from us so that we don't go up in arms about them.

• spy satellites and military drones.

Now some unseen things I don't care about one way or the other:

• angels, fairies, elves, gods etc.

• distant galaxies.

• black holes.

• those tiny particles - bosens? quarks? whatever. All of them.

• genes.

• reputation.

This is quite an interesting exercise, I think.