Description
Book SynopsisWhat do fishing with an otter, sitting atop a mountain at dawn with eighty Taiwanese backpackers, and driving home from Aldo Leopold's Shack have to say about the evolution of a personal environmental philosophy?
Essays to My Daughter on Our Relationship With the Natural World provides a series of reflections by an environmental educator about lessons learned from time spent in nature. Originally conceived as personal letters to the author's daughter, this collection presents ethical questions outdoor enthusiasts regularly face as they work and play in the natural world.
The essays in this book explore environmentalism in a modern-day context, with topics including sustainability education, the current relevance of environmental writers from the past, and the uncertainty of what is meant by words like "naturalist," "solitude," and "wilderness." There is no attempt to direct readers to any particular environmental philosophy. Instead, Simpson encourages readers to articulate their own perspective based on personal experiences in nature. Though Essays to My Daughter is written by a father to his daughter, the insights within the volume-and the questions they provoke-are valuable to all members of the next generation as they grapple with their own relationship to the natural world.
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Introduction: Personal Philosophy and Individual Experiences
- Part I: The Pond and the Shack
- 1 The Good Oak Redux
- 2 Drowning Out All Our Muskrats
- 3 Wild Apples
- 4 Still Fishing
- 5 A Person's Leisure Time
- 6 Book Purge
- Part II: Sketches Here and There
- 7 Wisconsin East: A Small Square of Red
- 8 California With a Touch of Maine: Tide Pools East and West
- 9 Minnesota: Night of the Quintze
- 10 Iowa: The Birds of Iowa
- 11 Taiwan: Ascent of Jade Mountain
- 12 A Return to Taiwan: Old and American
- 13 Ontario: Goodbye, Deadbroke Island
- 14 Wisconsin West: Mark Twain on the Mekong
- 15 Wisconsin West: What About the Other Kids?
- 16 Three Outsdoorsmen and a Philosopher
- Part III: Continuums
- 17 The Preservationist and the Conservationist
- 18 The Wanderer and the Adventurer
- 19 The Homecomer and the Sojourner
- 20 The Romantic and the Scientist
- 21 The Restorer
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- About the Author
