Nature is good. Let’s have more of it

I love nature and want more of it.

There you go. That’s the whole article.

If you live in Haliburton County, maybe you love nature, too. Natural beauty is what attracts most of us here in the first place, even if it’s the community that makes us long-term Highlanders.

We justify our inherent love of nature with gloomy data and serious arguments that are meant to persuade us that loving nature is “important”. We talk about pollinator decline and carbon sequestration, healthy lakes and climate change.

All these are things worth getting upset about, but none is more important than the fact nature is good and we want more of it.

Want some “research” about this? The Biophilia Hypothesis says humans have an innate love of life and living systems. We have an inborn tendency to seek connection with other living beings. It’s just evolution doing what evolution does.

Children already know this. It’s why, if given the chance, they love watching ants and finding frogs. It’s also why we tell our friends about the Monarchs on our milkweeds or the Barred Owl in the snowy hemlocks.

I’d go even further. We love nature because we are nature, not separate from it. We want more of what we are.

What more nature means

But what does this mean in practice? What are its implications around our homes and cottages?
Having more nature means accepting nature is messy. Not the weedy chaos of abandonment but the inherent messiness of fallen leaves and “dead” seedheads. It means plants that pop up where you didn’t expect them because they’ve found somewhere they’ll be happy.

Nature doesn’t follow humanity’s cultural rules. So if you want more nature, you have to be OK with that. (You rebel!)

It also means patience. Nature doesn’t suddenly appear perfect, like in an HGTV show or a magazine spread. Plants take time to establish, to get to know the place, and to form the relationships that create an ecological community. The result you’re wanting happens three years down the road, not on installation day.

So if you want more nature, you have to be willing to wait and appreciate watching the landscape as it establishes.

You have to see differently. A lawn is easy to read: either it’s mowed and free of dandelions or it’s not. An ecological planting requires a more nuanced seeing. Is that plant dead or naturally dormant? What’s shown up that wasn’t there before?

There’s a feedback loop going on here: the more you notice, the more you notice. And the more you notice, the more interesting it becomes. Now it’s not just Monarchs you tell your friends about.

There are choices to be made. Not every plant serves nature equally. The plant that looks pretty to you might be useless to Highlander bees. Native plants, on the other hand, have evolved alongside the rest of nature here. If you want more nature, you want more native plants and fewer exotic ones. You want less lawn and more natural shorelines.

Having more nature means tolerating some discomfort. Your neighbours might not understand. The first year might look rough and patchy. You might not know the names of what you’ve planted so you’ve got a learning curve ahead of you.

But the discomfort is only temporary. What you get instead is a landscape that looks, sounds and smells alive. It means something new every week. It means more nature.

Because here’s the thing. I love nature and want more of it. I’m willing to bet you do, too.