Microdose Nature #1
California Wolves, AI Intensity, Dr. Angela Duckworth Talks Nature, and a Moonset.
Hey friends. Trying something new here. I love a well curated roundup. Microdose Nature is my version, done through the Nature Junkie lens. Every couple weeks I’ll share a few microdoses of nature from the world that stirred my juices about the human/nature relationship. Let me know what you think.
1. LA Wolf
The first gray wolf to be documented in the Los Angeles region in nearly 100 years was sighted a couple weeks ago. This is a sign of wolf recovery, which began as a reintroduction program in Yellowstone National Park in the 1990s. Not everyone is going to love this, but I think it’s a rad sign that rewilding can work. And I’ll definitely be a bit more attentive during my night sky photography missions!
2. Parliament of Owls
Let’s keep the wildlife thing going. After watching Path of the Panther, an epic doco on the plight of the Florida panther by National Geographic photographer Carlton Ward, I came away with heaps of respect for photogs who do camera trap work. Because they mostly get skunked. But when they score, they score big. Robert Martinez is one of my fave follows on IG (@parliamentOfOwls) because he captures incredible images of mountain lions, bears, and other critters in the ecotone that is the Angeles National Forest.
3. AI Needs a Nature Break
I’m deeply conflicted about AI. Something about it just doesn’t smell right. While I find it to be a nifty tool for work, I also worry that it will eat too many jobs too fast, that it will homogenize everything, eradicate critical thinking, sever human connection even further than the internet and social media have, and supplant nature with data centers that will siphon our precious aquifers bone dry. Then add to that the hype machine.
Everyday I get pummeled with ads and posts that all seem to say something like, “Adopt AI for everything or you’ll be left in the dust by your competition unless you buy our service. Then you’ll be ahead of the game blah blah blah.” This only fuels my skepticism. So does a recent study covered by Harvard Business Review.
The TL;DR is this. While there were short term gains in productivity from AI tool adoption, work intensity ratcheted up in ways that were not sustainable for mental health. The HBR authors put it this way,
“Once the excitement of experimenting fades, workers can find that their workload has quietly grown and feel stretched from juggling everything that’s suddenly on their plate. That workload creep can in turn lead to cognitive fatigue, burnout, and weakened decision-making.”
Does this feel like getting ahead?
The solutions they propose to counterbalance these AI side effects include intentional pauses (taking breaks), sequencing (batching work with natural breaks to increase focus and preserve energy), and human grounding (duh).
If you’re keen to protect your stoke levels while working with AI, I recommend taking your breaks in nature because you’ll be more likely to restore your cognitive attention and ability to focus. And if you connect with people on those breaks, you’ll also feel more…human.
4. Grit Author, Dr. Angela Duckworth On the Importance of Nature Connection
I love the Finding Mastery podcast because Dr. Michael Gervais has action sports history, he’s a high performance psychologist, and he gets his guests to open up in ways they don’t on other pods. Dr. Angela Duckworth (of Grit fame) graced the show recently and they wandered into a conversation about nature connection that I thoroughly enjoyed. They mused on the lack of nature connection combined with too much screen time as a driver of unhappiness in Gen Z. Duckworth summoned Williams James and Thoreau for their thoughts on the “Curative effects of being in nature” and Gervais dropped this gem.
“The effervescent aliveness that comes when we’re with nature is nearly irrefutable for most people.”
Jump to timestamp 40:56 for the nature part of their convo.
5. Skye Walker
Artist and muralist Skye Walker recently sat down with me for a recording of Nature Junkie Radio and we had a lovely chat about the importance of public art, the role nature plays in creating it, and wrestling with AI. Dropping next week so stay tuned!
6. Moonsets
I’m starting to like moonsets more than moonrises. It’s early morning, right around sunrise, so it’s quiet outside. I can feel the crisp air cool my nose as I inhale as the first rays of light warm my face. Only the early birds stir, which I am not. But for a moment, I feel like I’m in their club, winning the day before it begins. Every once in a while the coastal fog gives way to a clear, blue hour sky and I get a neat photo like this one.
Enjoy the ride,
Jeff
Loving this, especially the excerpt of the nature connectedness piece. The trick is doing it right, so many people are "going into nature" with the wrong intention (with phone in hand to get the shot to share on their screens). It is less about connecting to nature, and more about gaining clout from nature. There needs to be a mindset shift back to venturing out into the wilds with the intent to be present in it, and experience it fully