Nature Close at Hand

Sun, 07/02/2017 - 2:00pm by Lucy S

“If we come to love nature not only when it is rare and beautiful, but also when it is commonplace and even annoying, I believe it will heal the great wound of our species; our self-imposed isolation from the rest of life, our loneliness for nature.”

You might be aware that squirrels eat acorns, but did you know that they usually only eat the top half, or why? Have you ever noticed how many pigeons have injured or malformed feet? Do you find yourself crossing the street to avoid the pungent odor release by some ginkgo trees? These are just a few of the questions Grist senior writer Nathanael Johnson was trying to answer as he roamed the streets of San Francisco with his young daughter. Johnson grew tired of answering her “that?” questions with basic answers so he decided to look more closely at the natural world that exists in every city. He shares what he found with humor and wisdom in Unseen city: the majesty of pigeons, the discreet charm of snails & other wonders of the urban wilderness.

Johnson divides the book into the subjects of his discovery; pigeon, weeds, squirrel, bird language, ginkgo, turkey vulture, ant, crow, and snail. In each of these areas, he shares his observations, the impetus for his particular investigations, and what he learned through reading and in conversation with experts.

Johnson brings a sense of wonder to his encounters and shares with us what it feels like to slow down and to really investigate the natural world outside the door. Through this close lens, he is able to satisfy his curiosity about pigeons’ misshapen feet, to forage for edible plants, to learn why only the top halves of acorns are eaten, to better understand the language of birds, to know why it is that ginkgo trees smell so rotten, to revile less the turkey vulture, to be amazed at the organization of an ant, to wonder at the intelligence and wit of a crow, and to decelerate to a snail’s pace. Johnson reminds us that because these creatures have adapted so well to living in human environments, we might not notice them. We “tend to think of nature and civilization as being irreconcilably opposed: Civilization’s gain is nature’s loss. But in fact, cities have become a prime habitat for speciation, hybridization, and, in short, rebirth.”

“We honor least the nature that is closest to us,” Johnson rightly observes. Reading this book is a good first step towards changing that.

Read alikes include The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey, The Soul of An Octopus: a surprising exploration into the wonder of consciousness by Sy Montgomery, and Superdove : how the pigeon took Manhattan-- and the world by Courtney Humphries.