I have been thinking alot about my responsibility to the natual world and my participation, as a human, in its destruction. I watch the birds coming to our water feature with their beaks open panting from the heat The swallows trying so hard to raise 2 batches if young underneath the sweltering eaves of our porch, break my heart. Their perserverence is amazing.
Many of us think similarly, and it can be emotionally intense when you look around with clear eyes. The thing that always gives me hope is my experience of the resilience of nature, and the belief that it will endure even if we do not. Thanks as always for reading and engaging 🙏
That purple butterfly is a hair pin photographed on the street! Sorry I didn't make that explicit—the similarity to the very real swallowtail was interesting to explore and test. Thank you 🙏
Fantastic piece of writing: shocking, heartbreaking, informative, a witness to the transition we all face. I do hope your book will be available in the U.K.? Best of luck with these final stages.
Thank you, Lynne! I hope the book will bring be back to the U.K.—it's been a while, and English nature writing has been a tremendous influence on the project.
I think about, and read about, the emergence of agriculture and the state a lot, not to see where we went wrong but to see what we could get back to, without mass extinction. We'll need farming. Less ranching. Cities will have to exist, termite mounds of human construction, with more trees, bikes, walking, and fewer cars. A future some loathe more than the destruction towards which we are headed.
Those kinds of speculations seem really important to me. And I think you are absolutely right that we will need more and better agriculture, and cities that are both more vertically urban and more wild and green. Ben Wilson's new book Urban Jungle is interesting on the latter points. My interrogation of the origins of agriculture (and pastoralism) is not to deny those certainties, but to examine some of the design flaws that have led to our alienated relationship with the natural world, each other, and ourselves, flaws that are at the root of most of our social and economic inequities. Thanks for reading!
Thanks so much for your work! We were honored to host the full chrysalis of a black swallowtail here in our kitchen, as the caterpillar must have arrived with a small pot of parsley I'd bought for the windowsill. When he munched through that pot, I bought him some dill until it he morphed. When he crawled out (why does the morphing always happens while we're asleep?), we invited our granddaughter over to watch him take off into the backyard. What is the purple-winged called?
I have been thinking alot about my responsibility to the natual world and my participation, as a human, in its destruction. I watch the birds coming to our water feature with their beaks open panting from the heat The swallows trying so hard to raise 2 batches if young underneath the sweltering eaves of our porch, break my heart. Their perserverence is amazing.
Many of us think similarly, and it can be emotionally intense when you look around with clear eyes. The thing that always gives me hope is my experience of the resilience of nature, and the belief that it will endure even if we do not. Thanks as always for reading and engaging 🙏
that butterfly! I've never seen anything like it. (the purple one)
Our spaces are filled with predators and pollinators (and small prey)
I was not sure it was real.
yes I am trying (and so far, failing) to id it - very unusual ....
That purple butterfly is a hair pin photographed on the street! Sorry I didn't make that explicit—the similarity to the very real swallowtail was interesting to explore and test. Thank you 🙏
And btw, Sue P, I wasn't even sure whether that purple butterfly was real or artificial when I first saw—and again when I looked at the photo...
Can’t wait to see the new book.
Thanks, Diana!
Interesting timing, to open and read this and then to open the Guardian and discover two stories about fire ants, written because they're now in Europe. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/11/red-fire-ant-colonies-sicily-italy-europe-spread-study
The second one: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/11/at-home-with-the-red-fire-ant-and-its-many-potent-relatives
Wow 🐜
Fantastic piece of writing: shocking, heartbreaking, informative, a witness to the transition we all face. I do hope your book will be available in the U.K.? Best of luck with these final stages.
Thank you, Lynne! I hope the book will bring be back to the U.K.—it's been a while, and English nature writing has been a tremendous influence on the project.
I think about, and read about, the emergence of agriculture and the state a lot, not to see where we went wrong but to see what we could get back to, without mass extinction. We'll need farming. Less ranching. Cities will have to exist, termite mounds of human construction, with more trees, bikes, walking, and fewer cars. A future some loathe more than the destruction towards which we are headed.
Those kinds of speculations seem really important to me. And I think you are absolutely right that we will need more and better agriculture, and cities that are both more vertically urban and more wild and green. Ben Wilson's new book Urban Jungle is interesting on the latter points. My interrogation of the origins of agriculture (and pastoralism) is not to deny those certainties, but to examine some of the design flaws that have led to our alienated relationship with the natural world, each other, and ourselves, flaws that are at the root of most of our social and economic inequities. Thanks for reading!
I'm looking forward to your book.
Thanks so much for your work! We were honored to host the full chrysalis of a black swallowtail here in our kitchen, as the caterpillar must have arrived with a small pot of parsley I'd bought for the windowsill. When he munched through that pot, I bought him some dill until it he morphed. When he crawled out (why does the morphing always happens while we're asleep?), we invited our granddaughter over to watch him take off into the backyard. What is the purple-winged called?
That's amazing! And impressive 🦋. Thank you!
I get so much from your work. Thank you.
Thank you, Susan! That means so much to me, especially from you.
Thank you for writing.
Thank you for reading!
Love the title.
Thanks, Agi!