Timeless Wild

What's the most thrilling/magical/enchanting engagement you've had with the non-human world?

This is a really hard choice for me, because 4 or 5 different experiences come to mind. Above the others, I would say that the most enchanting experience I've ever had in the non-human world while I was fishing. It was the summer before college and my father took me to the river a dozen miles from our house. The day was calm, overcast, and warm, just before a light evening rain. In the middle of the stream, water flowing by my feet, wind in my hair, fly rod in hand, I felt connected to nature on a primeval level. The whole experience felt timeless, like the act of fishing was something that always existed and always will be. I caught the fish, and I let them go; it was an amicable game.

And part II, is "saving nature" something we should concern ourselves with? Why, or why not?

Yes, and I would agree saving nature is mostly an exercise in human restraint. If we are to save nature and thus save ourselves, we have to stop the cancerous expansion of human modifications to the ecosystem. I know that this is no longer completely in reason, due to the fact that man-made polution now permeates every corner of the globe, but there is still so much worth saving. We need nature for all of the ecosystem services it provides, in addition to the aesthetic, spiritural, and cultural values nature can provide. In order to save nature for future humans to understand what Earth was like, will require very active measures to increase efficiency and conserve wild places.