Jackson's "Consulting the Genius of the Place" is a must read. I give it 9 acorns out of 10.
After being introduce in 2012 to the
books and essays of Wendell Berry, I picked up a new book by his good friend Wes Jackson of The
Land Institute. Titled "Consulting the Genius of the Place," it carries the subtitle: An Ecological Approach to a New Agriculture.
Here's a quote from his introduction that
should give you an idea of his passion for what he is telling us in this work. "We have to think beyond the ecosystem to the ecosphere itself. So, when this book has been read, closed, and reflected upon, I hope the reader will have concluded that the idea that humans live within a 'life support system' is not the best way to think about our relationship, that a more correct idea is that all organisms, including us, are embedded within a living ecosphere, a supraorganism, not superorganism. Moreover -- and I hope the reader is ready for this -- it is the only truly creative force at work in the world."
So, what's it about? Well, let's let Jackson tell us himself. Setting our minds in the right frame before we dive into his work, Jackson gives us these words: "As our minds sweep over the past and then back to the present, I want them to center on the natural ecosystems still with us as our primary teachers. They are our source of hope. Reduced in number and limited in scale, they still hold answers to countless questions we have not yet learned to ask."
The book is full of his passionate urging for us all to learn from and mimic nature in order to not just
feed ourselves, but to sustain the entire biosphere. If you like Wendell Berry, Jackson's "Consulting the Genius of the Place" will be one of your favorites. I suggest you go find it and then make plans to attend the Prairie Festival at The Land Institute each fall.
