Speaking with Nature

May 11, 2015
These essays originate in very different ecosystems—Ingerman’s insights hail from the New Mexico deserts, while Roberts’ experiences come from her time in Washington State’s Hoh Rainforest—but the earthy, spiritual, and feminine language they speak is the same. In a series of personal, intuitive writings on different animals, from snowy owls to banana slugs, the authors bring decades of immersion in nature traditions to bear on challenges stemming from of our changing climate. They do this by looking deeply inward and also far afield, alternating between quiet meditations on specific elements in their immediate environments and cultural forays ranging from the Amazon to Siberia. Hyperlocal observations of something as seemingly simple as a blackberry plant give way to considerations of cultures all over the globe. Even when the topics turn quite esoteric (Star Beings and the Hidden Folk, for instance), the writers’ experiences give these passages added weight. When they use energy work to change the acidity of a body of water, and document the changes, even the most skeptical reader will have to look twice at their message.