Biophilia/Biophobia

Almost that Spring evening light over the Beaver Pond. 

"Our annual melt is the wild, messy, glorious loosening of everything tight.  It is gravity's ecstasy, as water seeks its own level on every level, and the noise of water running fills day and night.  Down Ragged Mountain the streams rush, cutting through ice and snow, peeling away Winter's cold layers: rush, trickle, rush.  Busy water moves all day and all night, never tired, cutting away the corrupt detritus of Winter; fingers of bare earth extend down the hillsides; south sides of trees extend bare patches, farther every day; root-pattern rivulets, melting, gather downhill to form brief streams; dirt roads slog and driveways turn swamps.

Then it dries; last snow melts; trees bud green; soft air turns. Who can believe in Winter now?"

Donald Hall, Seasons at Eagle Pond

What a specific and glorious depiction of thaw.  It reminds me of the consistency and longevity of the seasons - how they smell, look and feel for us.

In my Theory of Adventure class the other day, we were discussing Biophilia (what?). This is a theory that holds that people have innate responses to nature.  There are nine of them:

Naturalistic - You can benefit from nature mentally, emotionally, physically
Dominionistic - You like to be challenged by nature and overcome it
Utilitarian - You use nature's resources
Negativistic - You are afraid of nature or don't like it
Symbolic - You resonate with spirit animals and symbols from nature
Humanistic - You have a relationship with nature
Moralistic - You feel we all have a responsibility to care for nature because we all belong to it
Aesthetic - You think nature is beautiful and benefit from flowing water, bubbling brooks
Scientific - You study nature in order to use processes to human life

It was easy to talk about how great it is to be Naturalistic and Moralistic about nature.  We even took tests which showed as a class that this is where we stood: Moralistic, Naturalistic, Humanistic and Aesthetic were somewhere around the top while Dominionistic, Utilitarian, Negativistic and Symbolic sank to the bottom.

We talked about other cultures that may identify these bottom values.  People who use the land all the time, are aware of the natural elements (and fearful of them), and work to have dominion over their land.  Farmers and people living in "developing" areas that depend on the natural resources around them and hope for good weather may share these responses.  We talked about fisherman who are famous for superstitions about the sea.  They hold to certain rituals in order to be successful, in a symbolic way.  But the conversation also shifted to how often these kinds of people do care about the land.  What I thought about in my own head was, "Probably better than we do."  People who live in it know how it can be; they are tied to it in a way that we forget.

As Outdoor Education students, we pride ourselves on cutting edge gear to deal with the outdoors, buy stoves so we can "leave no trace" in the wilderness, or invest in water-resistant tarps and tents for nastier elements.  Our sleeping bags can keep us warm in freezing temperatures and our backpacks are gorgeous.  These items all come from nature somewhere down the line - even Gortex - and we own so many of them.  They're probably from Taiwan.

We are so removed from so many things.  Many of us are removed from nature enough so that we can choose when we want to be in it and when we don't.  The moment the heat or the electricity go off in the winter, then we are brought a little closer to the reality of resources.

It's okay to live in houses that are warm and pride ourselves on technological advances.  But let's not forget how long it took us to get there and why we did - through generations of humans.  I believe that the presence of healthy fear can mean there's a space for growth.  I think if we're honest, we'll find how deeply terrified and awed we are of our ever-changing natural world.

I wonder how we can keep that fear alive.