Transcript:

Heres a program from our archives.Many of us acknowledge a need to establish some kind of relationship with the natural world. In a moment, some thoughts on how to begin. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.Ambience, BirdsNelson: I think it's really important that we not think of a connection with nature necessarily involving wilderness or wild places. It's much more important that we explore and recognize our connection to nature right at home, wherever it is we live, whether it's in the city or in the suburbs or in some kind of rural farmland. The critical thing is that we realize that we are 100% dependent upon and connected to the natural world.Author and anthropologist Richard Nelson.Nelson: One of the important things that I learned from living with Eskimo and Indian people in Alaska, has to do with the importance of home, of choosing a place and considering that your home and rooting yourself there. We can start in literally our own backyard to look at what lives there, to get some sense for the plants and animals who are there. Then the other thing is to think about our food and where it comes from and to recognize that we are completely connected to the land through our sources of food, that our bodies are made out of the earth from somewhere. I think if we pay attention to the wild things that live around us, the nature that coexists with us wherever we live, and to the fact that our food and air and water make us a part of the earth, we're going to have a much better sense of nature in ourselves than we will if we travel to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons or the Everglades.This archival program is part of our thirtieth anniversary celebration. If you want hear more, check out our podcast.