This land we have lived on for the last ten years has made us who we are. It has cultivated in me an appreciation for nature and all that it instills in us that I never had before. You see, growing up, my natural habitat can be described perfectly in the words of Barbara Kingsolver, “the natural habitat of our species, then, officially is steel, pavement, streetlights, architecture and enterprise”
I grew up in an suburb outside of Charleston, SC where development and expansion is and was first priority. My parents lived a fast paced life and I did not know what nature was besides the local county park where we went a few times on a school field trip.
But back in 2014 I inherited this land where we live now. I remember periodically coming out here as a child and roasting marshmallows and hotdogs by the fire with my grandfather. This land isn’t much but it is filled with nature, memories and opportunity to grow as a human. My children ride dirt bikes, scooters, and walk through the woods. We all have developed a love for being outside where the air feels lighter and cleaner than if we drive 30 minutes into the city.
In her essay Kingsolver states that “People will need wild places. Whether or not they think they do, they do.” And I will be one of the first to stay that this is absolutely true. Why? Because I used to say that if I had it my way I would live in the heart of New York City, where there are skyscrapers, bustling people and shops, and so much city that you could never see it all. I used to say that this is what dreams were made of. That was until I saw how my children flourished in nature. And also until I saw how I benefitted from nature as well. When I saw how being outside among the trees and trails that you can find out here benefitted my mental health and calmed my anxiety, that was when I became a believer that nature is fundamental to human existence and health. I am also exploring the idea of beginning to homestead as well because I am learning a lot from my neighbor that grows the majority of her family’s food and all of their egg supply.
Not only do we need to experience and be in nature in order realize how important we are as human beings, but to also remember how important conservation and preservation. I feel that in the hustle and bustle of life, we can easily forget that the most simple things are the ones that matter, because they are the ones that keep us here and alive on the Earth. With over half of humans living in urban areas (Kingsolver, page 2) it is so easy to forget that we breathe in what trees breathe out and that the more we develop and build the less natural resources we have.
Williams states that, “story bypasses rhetoric and pierces the heart. Story offers a wash of images and emotion that returns us to our highest and deepest selves, where we remember what it means to be human.” That is what our home in the country has done for me. It reminded me that grounding yourself in nature is part of what it means to be human. And that is so much of my story, the evolution of changing where I saw my biggest opportunity for growth as a person. I used to see it as the human centered advancement in the city life, but now I see growth in breathing fresh air and meditating in my backyard surrounded by my cats chasing each other. Because humans were in nature long before we were in cities and skyscrapers. I believe growing a connection with nature will not only connect us to the earth but will connect us as the human race. It will enable us to see that we are more alike than we are different.
Williams states that the hope of bedrock democracy is “standing our ground in places we love, together” My home functions as a part of bedrock democracy because I am here in a place I love with the people I love. And I intend to continue to cultivate my family here, teaching my children that nature is not just here for us, but more importantly we are here for it. That everything comes from the earth and if we continue on the path we are on, by not taking care of it, we will return to it much quicker than we anticipate. That the earth will do much more for us, than we could ever do for it and therefore we must devote ourselves to caring for it.
Hi Brooke,
Thank you for sharing your and your family’s connection to nature. It is wonderful that your children can grow up with that connection to the land. I think that you make a very valid point that sometimes we do not even realize how much we need interaction with nature. I am curious to see how people’s connections to living in close relation to nature changes now that there has been such a switch to remote work as a result of the pandemic. Especially for white-collar jobs, more and more people with economic stability are choosing to move away from large city centers.
Personally, I would also love to do this. I do not feel that I have enough exposure to the natural world and would love to have more chances to refocus through activities such as hiking or gardening. However, I also wonder how this would impact communities and the environment on a large scale. More and more people moving to the countryside or doing small scale farming puts more land in direct contact with human intervention. I think of the neighborhood my grandmother lives in which is in the countryside (about 45 minutes from San Francisco). When she first moved there (almost 60 years ago), there were very few houses around, and the area was wild with beautiful oak trees. As more and more people were priced out of San Francisco, the surrounding countryside was also built up. This creates more single family houses with access to nature, but also less total natural area. I think we may see a similar impact with more people choosing to live farther in nature while they work remotely.
It is a difficult balance between connecting to nature and also not harming nature because of development when we look at the issue on a large scale. I appreciated the mention of urban farms in the articles on Black women homesteaders, but I wonder what other accommodations we could make to interact with nature while minimizing the environmental harm. You seem to have a long connection to the land you are now living on. Do you have any suggestions for how people could do similar things on a large scale?