Book Review: "Nature and Existence"   by Walt McLaughlin

Woodthrush Books, 2010.

Review by Martin Murie

There are several themes in this slim, but excellent, book. The leading lesson is that we know we have conquered Nature, but we haven’t. Nature does not care about any one species.

"Wise enough to realize how unwise we are- - that’s where we are today. Our species has arrived at a critical juncture where we know better than to think we know it all. We have reached a point where it’s clear that we either check our population and our endless appetite for simplistic solutions or suffer the consequences. Mother Nature isn’t all that impressed by our technological prowess, and she has never been one to go easy on a delinquent species."

I am reminded of a chain and lawn mower repair man in far north New York state who told me, after the ferocious ice storm that cut power lines across the North Country, including southern Quebec and Ontario, "Mother Nature is in charge."

So, direct experience is our teacher, and Walt repeats again and again that we don’t know Nature all that well.

He quotes Gary Snyder: "Nature is not a place to visit. It is home." Emerson and Thoreau knew this truism, as did many other people who lived with and within nature.There is no getting around it. "The wild" is our salvation, once we take the time to live in wilderness for a while. We will become acquainted with more than scenery and wild animals and brief epiphanies. If we pay close attention, we will become impressed with Nature’s Way, not favoring any one species. We can’t tame the wild; nature has its own ways--tsunamis, hurricanes, ice storms, volcanic irruptions, paying no attention to the welfare of our "technologic advances." Technology will destroy the earth, our home. Technology is not a permanent solution to our plight.

Now that most of us know, the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is due to deliberate evading of legal regulations. The fines for such evasion are simply the "cost of doing business." They are not nearly enough to cause huge corporations, like BP or Exxon-Mobil to pause in their destruction of our home. Yes, technology is destroying the wilderness, but by bit, accelerating in the crises we face right now. We can’t exist without acknowledging the "wild" inside us and in the remaining wildernesses.

Walt closes with a reference to his experience in the Alaskan wild.

"When I was alone in the Alaskan bush, I enjoyed a moment in which I felt perfectly at ease. A small campfire turned smokeless at my feet, the river nearby flowed past incessantly, bald eagles screamed nearby, and I was at peace with the world. All around me a mist gathered in forested mountains. In the distance the sun reflected off glaciers older than civilization. . . , I live in it, try to make sense of it, marvel at its wonder and beauty. To be human is to be an integral part of nature. No matter what we do or how deep into space we venture, we’ll be okay as long as we keep this in mind."

There is much more in this book than I have been able to express. It is a brief summary of human endeavor since the Neanderthals perished, leaving US as the only hominid with a huge brain. We desperately need to be critical of our dependence on technology to get us out of the mess we are now in. The wild in us and outside of us is a reminder. We and all the species of this earth are an integral part of the complexities of nature.

The address of the publisher is:
Wood Thrush Books
85 Aldis Street
St. Albans, Vermont 05478

Price: $10.00