Environmental Literature and the Ethos It Creates

By Fauzia Aminah Rasheed 

There are many similarities that can be drawn between literature that has been written about nature and man’s place in relation to it. These similarities are found mostly in the circumstances that the writers find themselves in, and many times these circumstances are ones that the writer has placed amongst himself or herself. 

Henry David Thoreau and his writing of the book Walden is a perfect example of this. While writing his book Walden, Thoreau deliberately placed himself into the most unadulterated form of nature, a cabin on the side of Walden Pond, in order to reflect on the everyday actions people accept as a wholesome life. This idea of ‘solitude’ and the need for man to be alone is a very masculine ideal and a theme that has been constant throughout American history.

In the first chapter Walden details his experience in watching men saw down a pine tree for its lumber. His recount of this experience is included as a way for readers to identify and understand this idea of man vs. nature and how commonplace it is in our society. Personifying this tree by giving it many human like characteristics (noble, majestic, ‘as if tired of standing it embraced the earth with joy) and describing the men who are cutting down the tree “like beavers or insects gnawing at the truck of this noble tree” it helps draw a distinction between the importance of the two entities. Although it places nature in a positive light it remains to be anthropocentric view because the focus remains on Thoreau finding his identity. 

Wendell Berry and his essay “The Making of A Marginal Farm” is similar to Thoreau and his book Walden when it comes to certain ideals in terms of living off the land and engaging directly with it. In summary, Berry speaks of using only what is needed, nothing more and nothing less, which relates back to Thoreau and his desire to understand why society places so much importance on materialistic things. 

While reading Bill McKibben’s End of Nature I noticed that many of these same concepts are also there, but rather than focusing solely on how humans should go about interacting with nature, McKibben focuses on why we should stop. Very much the same subject, but different stances are taken by Berry and by McKibben. The writing of these pieces are very similar in the sense that much of it reads as a recount of experiences and what each author has gathered from them. This specific technique of writing is why I believe many of the environmental writings after Thoreau continued to gain a significant amount of popularity. Readers were able to understand the stance Thoreau and Berry took when reflecting on society and how it functions because both were functioning members of society who deliberately decided to take the paths they did. 

Much of Chapter Three in Communicating Nature focused on beliefs, values, attitudes and opinions and why they are importance when it comes to figuring out one’s stance on the environmental issues we face today. Beliefs being defined as the assumptions by which we live our lives and understand things, help to explain why environmental writing such as Thoreau and Walden was so successful. Their work was able to help people develop beliefs, or a way they should consider living life, because the first hand accounts allowed for an understanding that was deeper then just stating how things should be. A combination of both positive beliefs and values I feel as a significant part of the dramatic increase in environmental concern during the 1960’s. 

Hypothetically if a person was introduced solely to the movie about Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring or A Fierce Green Fire rather than Thoreau or Berry’s pieces of work, I believe that their attitude on the subject would be the same but the specific beliefs themselves would vary greatly. In A Fierce Green Fire the information was laid out to you as exactly that, information. The format in which the movie was set up was affective in breaking down the topic which is beneficial in understanding the information, but less so in the overall ethos that it creates. A Fierce Green Fire was incredibly affective when it comes to delivering information to the viewer, specifically in a chronological order, which helps with retention. But the viewer could easily finish this movie, be fully informed of environmental concerns, and their beliefs (the assumptions by which they live their lives) could very easily stay the same. Although much of it is dependent on the individual, the method of using first hand accounts to help connect with the reader in a way that doesn’t rely simply on information helps to create a connection with the points being made and the individuals lives. 

Environmental literature sets the foundation for much of the progress we have made to this day in regards to environmental concern. The first person narrative used by Thoreau and Berry is successful in drawing the reader in and showing them the importance of stepping back, and reevaluating both society and their specific lives in relation to nature. In the blog post Reflecting on Henry David Thoreau and His Legacy, written by a member of Cooley Dickenson Healthcare, he explains his experiences of his father reading Thoreau to him as a child. Stating that to this day, the readings continue to resonate with him and has “propelled” him into the woods seeking “solitude, peace and something more.” Being able to change the beliefs of a group of people, lifestyle change will likely occur soon after.