|
|
|
I have great faith in a seed...
|
|
|
|
|
Written by Sarah Steely
|
|
Monday, 11 February 2008
|
 Though I do not believe
that a plant will spring up
where no seed has been,
I have great faith in a seed.
Convince me that you have a seed there,
and I am prepared to expect wonders.
~Henry David Thoreau
When people hear the name Thoreau they think of the author of Walden
and Civil Disobedience, a Transcendentalist writer whose works are
loaded with metaphor and higher thought. How many people would
associate him with the more scientific and methodical works of Darwin
or other naturalists? There is a whole other side to Thoreau than the
metaphysical, outspoken, oft times ambiguous man whose works have
influenced not only American scholars but nature writers, poets, and
naturalists.
Many people do not realized the amount of work and research Thoreau
conducted throughout his life, much of it done after Walden was
published. Among these works are a 354 page manuscript entitled The
Dispersion of Seeds, a 631 page one on Wild Fruits, 3000 pages of notes
on natural history and Native Americans, essays such as “Walking,” “Autumnal Tints,” “Wild Apples,” “The Succession of Forest Trees,”
“Moonlight,” and more than 700 pages on natural phenomena around
Concord. Some of his later naturalistic manuscripts were not published until 125 years after his death.
You might be wondering at this point how this pertains to The Shire and its mission. I wanted to point out that even back in the 1840s and 1850s individuals such as Thoreau were striving to live self sufficiently and sustainably (even though that term didn't exist) and contemplating the issues that we struggle with today. For example, the last seventy pages of The Dispersion of Seeds is about forest
ecology and the succession of different trees. Thoreau goes into a history
of the woodlands around Concord and details his observations over the
years of how the forests grow back after being burnt or cleared for
pasture or timber. He also details how the forests spread and human
interaction with the woods and ends the book by saying that “forest
wardens should be appointed by the town—overseers of poor husbandmen.” I have heard suggested that this was Thoreau’s call
for better forest management and this is his proposal for how it should
be done. I agree with that point, although I cannot help but wonder
about Thoreau’s tone as well. He has just finished describing the poor
management of a woodlot in the area and how greediness  has led to the
destruction of this man’s land by removing the natural succession of
trees. Thoreau seems to be saddened by this and he says about this
man: “He needs to have a guardian placed over him. Let us purchase a
mass for his soul.” While I cannot pin down exactly what his
tone is, it does not seem entirely serious. The Dispersion of Seeds is an amazing book. I was astonished at how
much observation and research went into its creation along with the
fact that Thoreau not only documents forest ecology and succession but
calls for better management of the local forests. His poetical writing
style made the book a delightful read.
Transcendentalism “insisted on strengthening the relation between human beings and nature” (Thoreau 1993). Thoreau is a prime example of how there can be a marriage between poetry and science, a marriage that not only strengthens that relationship but also teaches. Thoreau shows the “Humboldtian spiral from love of nature’s beauty to knowledge of nature’s processes, knowledge which enhances love and leads to the desire to educate and enlighten others: from the self alone in nature to a social ecology in which the ethical self does not center and command, but decenters, negotiates, constructs, and defends alliances…” (Schneider 2000).
Thoreau had a great love for Nature and the environment. This is reflected
throughout his writings, but especially with the detail and attention
he gives the entire treatment on seed dispersal and forest ecology.
His works have influenced many writers and scientists alike throughout
the years. Many claim that the entire genre of nature writing, which is
an exclusively American concept, stems from Thoreau. I cannot help but
wonder what Thoreau would think of all the literature that exists today
regarding humans and our interactions and observations with/of nature.
I am going to conclude this article with an extract from one of my
favorite Barbara Kingsolver essays entitled “A Fist in the Eye of
God.” It is about the (then) current political debate over genetically
modified crops and our dwindling seed banks. Thoreau spent a good
portion of his life documenting the processes that plants go through to
reproduce and spread; I wonder how he would respond to the questions
presented by Kingsolver.
 Huge political question marks surround these issues: What will it
mean for a handful of agribusinesses to control the world’s
ever-narrowing seed banks? What about the chemical dependencies
they’re creating for farmers in developing countries, where government
deals multinational corporations are inducing them to grow these
engineered crops? What about the business of patenting and owning
genes? Can there be any good in this for the flat-out concern of people
trying to feed themselves? Does it seem safe, with the world now
being what it is, to give up self-sustaining food systems in favor of
dependency on the global marketplace? And finally, would you trust a
guy in a suit who’s never given away a nickel in his life, but who now
tells you he’s made you some free Magic Wheat? Most people know by now
that corporations can do only what’s best for their quarterly bottom
line. And anyone who still believes governments ultimately do what’s
best for their people should be advised that the great crop geneticist
Nikolai Vavilov died in a Soviet prison camp…
…There was once a time when Thoreau wrote, “I have great faith in a
seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to
expect wonders.” By the power vested in everything living, let us keep
to that faith. I’m a scientist who thinks it wise to enter the doors
of creation not with a lion tamer’s whip and chair, but with the
reverence humankind has traditionally summoned for entering places of
worship: a temple, a mosque, or a cathedral. A sacred grove, as
ancient as time. (Kingsolver 2002)
References
Kingsolver, Barbara. Small Wonder: Essays. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., 2002.
Schneider, Richard J., ed. Thoreau’s Sense of Place: Essays in American Environmental Writing. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2000.
Thoreau, Henry D. Faith in a Seed: The Dispersion of Seeds and Other Late Natural History Writings. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1993.
|
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 19 March 2008 )
|
|
|
