In the novel INTO THE FOREST by Jean Hegland, two young sisters who are the primary characters finally begin to explore, collect, and use wild foods after civilization has collapsed. Depressed at her accurate depictions of human nature, I'd put the novel down for a while. Hegland portrays a world not very different from the one where we live, and when the sisters had finally used their last tea bag and began drinking merely hot water with the dust of tea leaves from the bottom of a box, I'm internally screaming at them to go outside and pick some blackberry leaves for tea, until finally, which is what kept me reading, they begin to open up to the wealth of what nature can offer. They didn't hear me screaming, though; it was a book of their mother's that saved them.
The more I learn about how much industrialization has poisoned our food and air and water, the more sad I become. I watched a PBS piece recently on honey bees' demise, and learned that if the current trend continues, in only 25 years or so there will be NO bees. . . no pollination of over half of the flowers that produce the wealth of fruits and vegetables we enjoy. . . no honey. . . no beautiful bees.
Bruce Cockburn expresses my sadness in the most poignant song, "The Beautiful Creatures Are Going Away." I cry every time I listen to it and feel absolutely powerless.
