Seduced to the Natural World
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We need nature writing. We need it now more than ever: need to be seduced into the natural world: need to savor what remains or take direction toward finding new landscapes and experiences. We need to manage the grief we feel when we lose a place and its wildlife—or be ready for the grief to come.
Barbara Kingsolver nails that one. “The final stages of grief. Dellarobia felt an entirely new form of panic as she watched her son love nature so expectantly, wondering if he might be racing toward a future like some complicated sand castle that was crumbling under the tide. She didn’t know how scientists bore such knowledge. People had to manage terrible truths.” (From Flight Behavior)
My first exposure to nature writing probably came from Blueberries for Sal:
“On the other side of Blueberry Hill, Little Bear came with his mother to eat blueberries. ‘Little Bear,’ she said, ‘eat lots of berries and grow big and fat. We must store up food for the long, cold winter.’”
But the first time I was literally immersed and awed by it, was reading John Wesley Powell’s original journals of his Colorado River (The Exploration of the Colorado River and its Canyons) while I spent twenty days rafting and hiking that river. I wrapped his journal . . .