Nature in LA

Writer Jenny Price likes nature and nature writing. And she lives in LA. Is this a contradiction? She says no, in a long, thoughtful and smart piece in the April issue of The Believer called 13 Ways of Seeing Nature in LA (via WorldChanging). Actually, it's only the first six ways; the remaining 7 will appear in May. Here's a taste:

nature stories should see and cherish our mundane, economic, utilitarian, daily encounters with nature—so that what car you drive and how you get your water and how you build a house should be transparent acts that are as sacred as hiking to the top of Point Mugu in the northern Santa Monica Mountains and gazing out over the Pacific Ocean to watch the dolphins leap, the ducks float, and the sun set.

Then she visits the LA River, which we did yesterday to get the photo above. It's fun to see it rain-swollen, even if that means the water is dirtier than ever.

Anyway, Price's piece started out in this book and is a little acadmic; nevertheless, it provides a nice framework for thinking about how us Angelenos can be environmentalists — in the most unlikely places.