In 1974, in the book Turtle Island, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry the following year, Gary Snyder, an American poet and environmentalist wrote, "Nature is not a place to visit. It is home." Known as the Poet Laureate of deep ecology, he also wrote, "Nature is orderly. That which appears to be chaotic in nature is only a more complex kind of order."
I have always felt a special connection to nature in one form or another. In the song from Disney's "Pocahontas," there is a line that says, "You think you own whatever land you land on. The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim. But I know every rock and tree and creature has a life, has a spirit, has a name. And we are all connected to each other in a circle, in a hoop that never ends."
I cannot help but think about this every time I am outdoors for any length of time on one of the trails near my house, especially when I come upon a blue, green, white, or yellow bag full of dog waste left along the trail by some uncaring person who does not have the courtesy to carry it off the trail with them when they leave.
Okay. I do understand that dog waste carries bacteria and there are signs all over the place telling people using the trail to pick up after their pets, but those bags will never - at least in my lifetime - disappear on their own, Even the green "biodegradable" bags will stay around for at least a decade. I have seen some of those bags tossed off the trail into a tree. Makes just as much sense to carry a shovel and brush it off the trail without a bag or dig a small hole and bury it than to have that bag at the top of a tree that, in about 20 years, will tower high over the trail with that bag still clinging to its branches.
I go to the grocery store and, because of Covid-19, the employees refuse to put groceries in my reusable cloth bags I have brought in an effort to do my part and, when I request the much more environmentally-friendly paper bags, I get a stare like I just asked them to donate a kidney, along with the cold response, "We are currently out of paper bags and have no idea when we will get more."
I once had a college professor praising Styrofoam because it could keep cold drinks cold and hot drinks hot, as he sipped coffee out of a fresh Styrofoam cup every morning of class. Yet, those same cups he praised over 30 years ago are still sitting in a landfill where they will remain long after this century is a distant memory, left for some future archaeologist to ponder. The town I live in has recently restated its tree-hugging status, which I appreciate, because it means they are named as a tree city, all showing an effort to protect nature. Those reading these musings of mine over the past few months will recognize that I love nature in an almost obsessive, albeit Thoreau-like way. I believe we need to protect the Earth for the generations that will come after us. It is the only home we have, after all. If you have ever paid more to buy something labeled "organic", looked for a "recycled" or Forest Stewardship Council label on a paper product, purchased something on behalf of open spaces, or paid a fee to visit a state park or national park, you know something about which I am talking. You also know what it means to express an appreciation for nature in monetary terms.
Does that mean that you "put a price-tag on nature", that you think nature's worth is the extra dollar you paid for an organic avocado? Of course not. By taking these actions, you did not define what nature is worth in any sweeping, lasting way. But you did show that you value the earth, its ecosystems and the ability of those systems to provide food, shelter and recreation. It is often referred to by conservationists as "Natural Capital."
To those who are skeptical, those words seem to suggest that we are reducing nature to a puppet of capitalism. In reality, this model seeks to correct capitalism's myopia and expand its view. This concept is not about money. It is about the idea that nature, if taken care of properly, produces a stream of benefits for current and future generations. And it is about taking care of nature to avoid robbing future generations of those benefits.
This way of thinking seeks to shine a light on the benefits nature provides to people and use that understanding to guide decisions that affect Earth's land, water and biodiversity. Benefits so vast it is impossible to even name them all. Things that connect us to place, strengthen our culture and make life possible and worthwhile.
Talking about and sometimes trying to quantify the benefits nature provides to people does not diminish or place limits on those benefits. Nor does it suggest that benefits to humans are the only benefits that matter.
Many of us intuitively recognize that we depend on nature as the source of our well-being. It is a beautiful idea but is also vague.
Some worry about valuing nature in monetary terms, because any estimate of its value is necessarily an underestimate.
Americans appear to have a mixed relationship with the outdoors. On one hand, most people say nature is one of their most enjoyable interests. But, on the other hand, they do not spend much time outdoors.
One of my favorite early American writers, Henry David Thoreau, who understood the importance of our connection to nature, went to the woods near Walden Pond to learn what they had to teach him. I, too, do that frequently, to see what nature can teach me. I commune with squirrels, birds, deer and trees to listen to their voice and, as the song at the beginning of this post says, learn to paint with all the colors of the wind.
Thoreau also said, "This curious world we inhabit is more wonderful than convenient, more beautiful than useful it is more to be admired and enjoyed than used." Pretty well sums it all up, in my opinion. Because, as he said, "In wildness is the preservation of the world."
Together, we are the biosphere. Care for nature is care for ourselves and care for ourselves promotes care for nature. Jane Goodall, beloved for her extraordinary work with chimpanzees, recognizes that the best way to care for chimpanzees is to make sure the people sharing forests with them do not have to choose between feeding their children and degrading habitat. Even though she focuses on a single species, Goodall knows that we need to address the whole ecosystem.
We are all in this together.
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