by Michael Pollan
reviewed by Caroline Pufalt
This summer many Missouri Sierrans are enjoying their gardening duties and pleasures. Whether we have just a few flowers or beds of perennials, annuals, and a diverse vegetable garden, we relish our opportunity to dig in and try to manage our little corner of nature. In the process I'm sure more than a few of us ponder the relationship between our enjoyment of gardening and our love of the wilds.
Whether or not one is inclined to wax philosophical about gardening, Second Nature by Michael Pollan will entertain, inform, and challenge. Pollan writes of his experience restoring and creating a garden in his Connecticut farm. Along the way he offers some practical gardening advice but mostly discusses the historical and cultural history of the garden in America and how that relates to our overall relation to nature.
Many of Pollan's stories are funny as well as instructive, such as his philosophical and physical battle with a resident woodchuck. That ends in a sort of truce. He also describes his father's resentment of neighborhood pressure to make their family's yard more presentable.That ends in his father mowing his initials in the high front yard grass. Despite his father's lack of enthusiasm for yardwork, Pollan becomes an avid and thoughtful gardener.
His book is full of wonderful insights. Some readers may blush along with the roses as he describes the obviously sexual innuendoes in rose nomenclature and history of cultivation. I was especially fascinated by the chapter on weeds in which Pollan explains that weeds in a sense developed along with humans and thus thrive in disturbed areas. Many of our weed species are not native. Pre settlement America provided poor habitat for weed species due to the minimal impact of native settlement and agriculture.
But what will engage most Sierrans about Pollan's book is his discussion of the dichotomy between what he calls the wilderness ethic and what he thinks we need in order to be responsible conservationists in today's world. Pollan urges us to view ourselves as part of nature and not hesitate to intervene in "nature” when we need to. He does urge caution and respect for what evolution has wrought thus far. He thinks the all or nothing approach in the wilderness ethic is outdated or at least does not correctly apply to many contemporary choices. He does, however, see values in wilderness areas.
Pollan's ideas are thought provoking and many readers may see the similarity with the more recent writings of William Cronan. Cronan has received praise and criticism in many environmental journals due to his criticism of the wilderness ethic.
Personally I think Pollan and Cronan both overreact to the shortcomings of the wilderness ethic. It is not, after all, meant to be a guide for every conservation decision. I also think Pollan is very off base when he suggests that there is no such thing as an ecosystem and is himself trying to impose an all or nothing template on nature in that case. But these disagreements only made the book more engaging. If you are at all interested in gardening,I highly recommend this book. Even if you have never lifted a spade or pulled a weed, Second Nature still has much to offer.