Does Craft Bring Us Closer To Nature?

Q: Over the past 50 years, technology has grown ever more pervasive. People are arguably less and less connected with nature. Can craft somehow reconnect them?

A: I know the feeling. It comes upon me when riding a train, as I watch the landscape scroll past like a beautiful but dull film. Or when I stare mesmerized at a computer screensaver, with its lazily zooming images of lush jungle or sun-splashed beach, or watch the latest nature documentary – the sex lives of spiders in extreme closeup. In all these cases, nature is presented in an accessible form, laid out for delight and appreciation. But because appreciation is offered via the mediation of technology, somehow nature feels more distant than ever.

Rather than actual separation from the landscape – after all, any American with a bus ticket can see plenty of trees – I think it is the commonplace encounter with “canned” nature that makes us feel dis­connected. So much so that, even when we do make it to the waterfall, we may be re­minded of a shampoo ad, an association that may well spark resentment. We wouldn’t want to do without our trains, computers, and televisions. But we hate them for filtering our experience.

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