David Orr’s article Love it or Lose it, made some agreeable points but others that had me scratching my head. Like Orr, I am dumbfounded by people who say that they dislike nature. Even so, I think the example of Woody Allen’s quote was taken out of context. It’s obvious that Allen as a pale, city dwelling old man, isn’t comfortable out of the air conditioning and probably gets sunburned easily too. I took this personally because I love nature and exploring it in person. I also love my air conditioning! Another point that Orr was that civilization has to have a phobia of nature to separate itself from the wilderness. This too seems to be little thought out. When our ancestors were first building their villages, separating themselves was necessary for survival. They had to keep out wild animals that could kill. Today we do the same thing when dangerous animals find their way to residential areas. Besides these questionable positions the author takes, I can agree that today to many people do not interact with nature and develop fears because they don’t understand how it works. I grew up in a neighborhood that was adjacent to a wooded area and as kids we would all go exploring and played many games in those woods. As a result I think we all became accustomed to areas like that and developed a fondness for the great outdoors. How do we teach inner city kids to love wildlife? I think maybe the only way is to completely restructure the way we build our cities.
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