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Seeing Earth as a Grain of Sand
Written By: Lance Hardin - Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust | Issue: July 2024
Author John Lane invites us to view the world through the eyes of a naturalist-poet at the Village Nature Series’ July 31 presentation at the Village Green in Cashiers.
John Lane
In July, the Village Nature Series welcomes naturalist and author John Lane. Lane is professor emeritus of environmental studies at Wofford College and served as director of the school’s Environmental Studies Center.
Lane, who has been described as “a soldier for sustainability and a warrior for wildness” is an accomplished author, essayist, and poet; his many published works include My Paddle to the Sea, Circling Home, Chattooga, and Coming into Animal Presence. He was inducted into the South Carolina Academy of Authors in 2014 and is a co-founder of the Hub City Writers Project in Spartanburg.
An expert paddler, hiker, and ardent conservationist, Lane has explored far and wide but also remembers how a favorite college professor “sharpened his eye” to “see the world in a grain of sand.”
His nonfiction works combine environmental history and landscape description with memoir and a keen appraisal of the idea of the Anthropocene, or human impact on the planet. Lane shows that geological landscapes and personal landscapes overlap and cannot be separated.
His most recent work, Gullies of My People, explores his family’s history intertwined with the Piedmont area of South Carolina, and demonstrates that “one of the best ways to read the past is to look for scars on the land.” Lane postulates that the story of a landscape can be lost over time, and that through “restorying” by reattaching memories and creating narratives, a conservation value can be created that leads to new perspectives for evaluating and saving land.
John Lane’s lecture is Wednesday, July 31, at 5:30 P.M. in the Lewis Event Hall at the Village Green.
The Village Nature Lecture Series, which runs from April through September, is a joint program of the Village Green and the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust, and is sponsored by the Cedar Creek Club. For more information see hcltnc.org/2024-village-nature-series.html or villagegreencashiersnc.com/village-nature-series/.
Village Nature Series at The Village Green
The Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust and The Village Green co-host a series of lectures each summer!
