Man is everywhere a disturbing agent. Wherever he plants his foot, the harmonies of nature are turned


to discord. The proportions and accommodations that ensured the stability of existing arrangements are overthrown. Of all organic beings, man alone is to be regarded as essentially a destructive power.


~George Perkins Marsh, Man and Nature (1864)


Natural Intelligence A growing number of scientists say that research about our place in nature has sparked fresh thinking about our role and devastated quaint notions about our species’ superiority. “Single-celled slime molds solve mazes. Brainless plants make correct decisions and bees with brains the size of pinheads handle abstract concepts,” points out Anthro- pologist Jeremy Narby, author of the groundbreaking book Intelligence in Nature.


At a national conference of Bi-


oneers, an organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and San Francisco that gathers nature-minded social and scientific innovators, Narby said: “We are nearly identical to many animals. Many behaviors once thought to be exclusively human are shared by other


Nature has an unbelievable capacity for healing.


~David Miller, 10 Lessons from Nature to Inspire Our Everyday Lives


species. The zone of the specifically human, as determined by science, has been shrinking.” We haven’t lost the ability to tap that primal animal inside, even if most of us are more likely to “venture into the forest” by watching a movie or playing video games. We may feel cut off from our instincts, but studies show time in the woods can do wonders to restore the keenness of our senses to connect with the subtle changes in natural habitat, the movements of other species and the changing seasons. The rise of human civilizations may have taken “survival of the fit- test” in new directions, often decidedly tamer ones, but experts ranging from scientific researchers to lifestyle analysts say humankind is still hardwired by our more primitive past. Despite the inge- nious ways we’ve devised to exploit other life forms, capitalize on Earth’s resources and protect ourselves from nature’s sometimes terrifying power, our fate remains linked to natural laws and limits, from nurturing our body’s im- mune system to resolving planet-sized problems like climate change.


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‘Aha!’ Reads


10 Lessons from Nature to Inspire Our Everyday Lives by David Miller, Tinyurl.com/10InspiringLessons FromNature


9 Amazing Lessons from Nature to Inspire Your Everyday Life by Annie Hauser, Tinyurl.com/9InspiringLessons FromNature


Intelligence in Nature by Jeremy Narby


Life Lessons from Nature by Elvis Newman


Cathedrals of the Spirit by T. C. McLuhan


Your Brain on Nature by Eva Selhub


“‘Nature’ is our natural environ- ment,” according to Selhub. We don’t have to move to the country to recon- nect, she says. “Even spending 20 minutes a day outside has an effect.” Houseplants, nature photos and aro- matherapy Earth scents can also help indoor environments better reflect our own nature.


The wealth of research and com- mon sense wisdom is aptly summed up by celebrated author Wendell Berry in The Long-Legged House. “We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it’ll be possible to live by the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that re- quires we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it.”


Christine MacDonald is a freelance journalist in Washington, D.C., whose specialties include health and science. Visit ChristineMacDonald.info.


True-Life


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