Publisher’s Notebook

• The Nature Connection •

ANNE SOBLE

Every generation of every culture on this planet has lore about the curative powers of nature. Perhaps because the human species likely originated under the stars on the open soils of the grassy plains of Africa, the notion of being part of a boundless natural world is hard-wired into our DNA.
Although powerful social, economic and technological forces conspire to keep more and more humans indoors and tethered to machines, this should only be one aspect of who we are. We belong outdoors in the unpredictable and unstructured natural world. The well-being of the species will be increasingly imperiled, if we don’t appreciate the role that contact with nature plays in our health and our happiness.
The outdoors has been in the forefront of Malibu’s community consciousness for the last several months in what might appear to be two disparate debates, although they are not. Reflecting their role in the origin and the perpetuation of the species, women have been key participants in both of these local debates.
These women may not acknowledge their commonality, and some might even object to the association (wrongly, I would contend), but the self-described “Malibu moms” fighting for Trancas Canyon Park and las madres and las abuelas of inner city recreation groups seeking expanded use of Malibu’s public parklands are fighting for the same cause.
Watching the Malibu City Council meetings and last week’s California Coastal Commission hearing, one is struck by the fact that even when these women are speaking different languages, they often use the very same words and gestures. And they most certainly share the same passionate desire to create access to the outdoors for their progeny.
When Trancas Canyon Park is completed in whatever its final form and some Malibu campgrounds are open to public use, wherever and whenever that will be, the children on whose behalf these battles are being waged will ultimately enjoy the public access that has been created. Visitors will find their way up Trancas to picnic and play fútbol, and Malibuites from the canyons may be able to camp overlooking the water’s edge. Even if there are language barriers between their parents, all of the children intuitively will speak the universal language of nature.
Perhaps the acrimony and the litigiousness that now prevail in the community will be superseded by the joy and wonder to be experienced in these special places, when we are in close contact with the earth and our eyes are tilted toward the sky. The fate of future generations depends on nurturing this physical connectivity with the planet as a way to find respite from the turmoil that wracks our world.