Northern Wild

At Athabasca Falls in the Canadian Rockies, September 2012

I’ve recently read a wonderfully written book of contemporary Canadian nature writing called Northern Wild.  The editor, David R. Boyd, an environmental lawyer, chose essays from twenty authors for the collection.  The writers all share a love and knowledge of land, water, sky and wildlife.  Because we are in a time of intense destruction of nature, their stories are both ones of beauty and of loss.  Many are poetic, others are humourous.

At Athabasca Falls, Alberta, September 2012

One of the amazing things that stands out that I learned from this book was in the essay by Wade Davis.  In it, he speaks of the Inuit and how they navigate on cloudy days in the arctic.  They study the reflections of the ice on the undersides of low clouds.   From these reflections, they can tell where open water appears, where sea ice is, where ground is covered, or not, by snow.  Imagine such attunement to one’s surroundings.  Now that I think of it, in one form or another, many of the essays speak to moments of such attunement, calling on us to be attentive to and nurture our connection to nature.

Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan, 2011

This book is out of print, but I borrowed it from my library and then found a copy online that I’ve since purchased.  It’s the kind of book that asks to be reread.

Wilcox Pass Trail, Sept. 2012

Wilcox Pass Trail, Canadian Rockies, Sept. 2012