Nature Blog Network

I may be alone among bloggers in that I’ve never taken much of a shine to the term “blogging”. I mean, there’s nothing inherently wrong with this neologic contraction of weblog, an equally unwieldy term, it’s just that the term seems to lack the weight of something like “writing” or “composing”.  I fully realize my hesitation to describe my work in bloggy terms is sort of ridiculous when you think about it.  Simply because of it’s relative age, lacking the thousands of years of common usage of “writing”, a blog may get the shaft in the sense of perceived influence.  The world is simply not ready for it in the way it’s ready for a book or a magazine, something you can hold in your hand rather than stare at a screen.

But what we bloggers do is no different, the typed word no less thoughtfully considered, the creative spark no less sparky (perhaps even more-so given the electric nature of our medium).  And the great amalgamator of information, Google, doesn’t make much of a distinction so why should we?  New mediums take time to develop, but I see the nature bloggers here in this community as a continuation of Darwin and Carson and Leopold, but here and now everyone with a voice has an opportunity to share it. And that’s regardless of whether you subscribe to blogging jargon or not.  We write, and that’s all that matters.

The future blogger hard at work, photo from wikipedia

Enjoy these NBN blogs with a focus on the written word, the best nature prose and poetry on the web.

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- Writer Fred First muses from his Appalachian Virginia front porch at Fragments from Floyd.  Fine pictures, great writing, and a beautiful place.  Can’t beat it.

- ConneCTingLines comes appropriately from the state of Connecticut, where Diane finds inspiration in New England’s ample natural wonders.

- Also based in New England, Wild Ramblings is an indication of what can be done in the blog format.  Bill started the blog as a way to archive old newspaper columns and it’s become the reason for the columns themselves.

- From the rugged wilds of south Wales comes Carolina at Coastcard, whose every post is a reminder of her love of nature and literature and an invitation to enjoy both with her.

- Naturalists, like anyone else, are invariably drawn to read about their passions.  Fortunately there’s a blog like Pines Above Snow whose author not only writes books about nature, but seeks to spread the word about others to her readers.

- A really great blog full of literary reviews, thoughts on that great naturalist and writer Thoreau, and generally fine writing, Greentangle claims to be on a hiatus from in depth, longer form posts.  I certainly hope not.

- Marie Sansone describes her blog as a place to share resources and ideas on the environment, outdoor recreation, history, and Americana.  She believes that enjoyment of nature can inspire environmental action, and I’m inclined to believe her.

- Short and simple, the goal of Haikus is to distill the essence of something into thoughtful poetry in 17 syllables.  Four winds haiga has a new one every few days.

- From north India, Life in a Goan Village writes about the simple life, and the encounters of wildlife that entails.

- Poetuition hails from Australia with wildlife observations with a poet’s intuition.  Maybe it’s me, but Australia’s wildlife strieks me as positively Lewis Carroll-esque.

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You;ll definitely get your fill of fine nature writing in this bunch, some of the best wordsmiths in the community can be found in the list above.  Enjoy!

For next week, I’m covering a state that I’m somewhat amazed I haven’t done yet.  New Jersey gets it’s fair share of mockery from the general public, but we nature lovers know that stuck between the teeming metropolises of New York City and Philadelphia lies an oasis on the east coast.  So Jersey nature bloggers, now’s your time to shine. Send me your links at naswick (at) gmail (dot) com.

Til next time!