Fellow woodworking teacher, Paul Ruhlman of Buckingham, Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, MA made mention in an email of Pulitzer Prize winner, E.O.Wilson and his concept "biophilia".

"Paraphrasing Wilson’s work, Biophilia is the innate need to connect and affiliate with the natural living world. Deep within us, we as woodworkers and furniture makers feel an affinity with this beautiful living material, wood. For tens of thousands of years trees have made up an integral component of our lives. Living with trees and working with the wood they provide, allows us to maintain the bonds to our arboreal past."

Following Paul's lead I became interested in E.O. Wilson and biophilia and found the following article that you might enjoy. Of Ants and Earth. from Harvard Magazine. Edward O. Wilson is a powerful voice for environmental conservation, and what Paul has brought up is the woodworker's direct role in it. By sharing the beauty we find in wood, we awaken others to that beauty, and perhaps even love. By bringing people to love, we may also encourage them to protect and preserve.

Another bit of reading of late concerns the 10,000 year old ice man found in 1991, frozen in a glacier in the Alps. In his posession were objects made from 18 individual species of wood, suggesting intimate personal knowledge of the forest and the best specific application of the materials that came from it.

There are some who question Wilson's biophilia concept. They ask how we can come to love that which is distinct from our own kind. My own question is how can we love that to which we have never been exposed? Is biophilia inate even for those who have never engaged in exploration of the outdoors? Many children don't play outdoors anymore unless it is a supervised activity. How do you become engaged in the study of ants like E.O. Wilson, without being left loose and unattended as a child to make your first discoveries?

Our survival is closely linked to our interest and engagement in the natural world. It always has been. Once, in the age of the age of the iceman, personal survival required it. In this age, survival of our culture depends on it. The survival of species barely know to us depend on it. Woodworking is a doorway to greater understanding, opening our attentions to the details of greater life and our involvement in it. It is our choice. With the natural world, we either love it or lose it. If we lose it we have lost the most important part of ourselves.