On my recent spring break trip to Malaysia this past March, I had an incredibly enchanting experience in the non-human world when my group took a break from navigating metropolitan Kuala Lumpur to visit the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM). Though we had initially anticipated going on the Canopy Walkway over the treetops, the site was under construction and we instead began hiking in a forest, led by the fearless Professor Heng. We came upon a small pool of water at the base of a rock-type waterfall that led to a larger waterfall. Clearly, I do not know the official names of any of these formations. We all ended up taking off our shoes and wading knee-deep in the water for over an hour. Our already small group slowly scattered and we all began to walk around and explore the various rocks, leaves, and tall trees in our immediate surroundings. We had spent the busy week exploring Malaysia’s more urban settings, and before that we had all been in DC, so we were a bit awestruck to be standing in the middle of a nature preserve.

We shouldn’t have to travel all the way to Malaysia to explore a natural environment, and we don’t. Sometimes we preoccupy ourselves with what we feel we need (technology and “civilization” immediately come to mind), and it’s easy for us to ignore “nature” when we spend most of our time in urban settings. In campaigns that converge on saving the dolphin, or the panda, or whatever charismatic animal will capture our attention, we can be reminded that our “civilization” is entwined with nature, but only when we feel particularly connected. On the same trip to Malaysia, I encountered mini-rainforests in a shopping mall and in the airport. It was incredibly disconcerting to see signs in a mall that said in vertical succession “Restrooms → Food Court → Rainforest ←.” Clearly we recognize the human/nature relationship, but how do we even begin to “save” it? How can we choose what to save, and what does this really look like? We as humans have been able to destroy entire ecosystems around us with few ramifications, at least ones that are obvious to us, and still many we have been able to largely ignore. When our water source is in jeopardy or when our favorite animal is placed on the endangered species list we might be motivated to act, but this motivation needs to extend to our natural environment as a whole, because none of these elements exist independently. As Meyer mentions we need an “ethical transformation” that establishes “moral linkages” between humans and nature, but this will not take place until we all have experiences that can truly influence our appreciation and respect for these surroundings (77-78).