natural connections

"Most things in nature can only be understood and appreciated if we take a closer look..."


Words spoken/written from two thoughtful people echo in my conscious. Directors of two institutes I've come to admire over the years, The Mountain Institute (where Lily and I worked summer 2008) and The Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont (where I visited this past weekend) have shared their observations lately:

From my perspective, the biggest change I see there is a general softening of the American populace. There is ever more interest in shorter, residential programs and less interest in the challenges and adventures of field based programming. I imagine this ebs and flows and is somewhat cyclical, but nonetheless, there it is. For the schools that recognize the importance of facing real challenges and being immersed in the natural world rather than viewing it from the car window or through the pages of a book we [The Mountain Institute] continue to offer the real thing....

I was with dozens of teachers from many states this weekend in the Smokies at Tremont. Although this was the most beautiful winter landscape I've seen, there were very few of us sneaking away to explore the trails between seminars. As I ran across fresh virgin snow, I reflected on the subject matter of the next title on my reading cue...