Champions of Nature #3

Rocky Nation

Aug 19, 2023

This is a series of flash interviews with people I admire, people who are doing something – anything, a lot of things – for the Earth. These folks walk the walk, each of them in their own way, using their own unique skillset. They dedicate their energy, their time, and their hearts to a crucial cause: the preservation of this precious planet we call home.

Please join me in celebrating these Champions of Nature. Every couple of weeks, I will post a new one, each time asking the same five questions. If you have a suggestion of someone I should interview for an upcoming Champions of Nature, let me know!

Rocky Nation and I first crossed paths 10 years ago, when I interviewed him over the phone for a piece I was writing to promote his upcoming talk at the South Carolina Native Plant Society. Rocky, a biology professor, told me about a college course he was teaching where he sent students out of the classroom and into the natural world to spend time in solitude. Wow, I thought, this guy is into some interesting stuff!

Since then, he and I have collaborated on several projects that focused on the therapeutic value of spending time in the woods, including a workshop titled “Mindfulness in Nature.” A couple of years ago, Rocky founded a nonprofit called Carolina Wilderness Renewal, which offers nature-based programs for people who work in helping professions. He is passionate about the potential for outdoor experiences to provide an antidote for the stresses we all endure every day.

Rocky holds a B.S. in biology from Furman University, an M.Ed. in natural sciences education from Converse College, and a PhD. in zoology/ecology from Clemson University. After stints on the faculty of Southern Wesleyan University and Anderson University, he’s now teaching at Brevard College, a small private liberal arts college in the mountains of North Carolina known for its robust program of environmental studies and outdoor leadership. Rocky’s recent research focuses on the ecology of resilience.

Rocky is not just an academic, though. He channels his abundant energy into lots of outdoor activities: leading group hikes, serving on the board of the Foothills Trail Conservancy and working as a naturalist guide for Jocassee Lake Tours in the summer. Rocky and his wife, Karon, have three children and live in Seneca, South Carolina.

Here are Rocky’s thoughts about the natural world—its profound effects on us and its imperiled future.

1. Tell me about some of your early experiences in nature.

One of my first memories regarding nature involves a forest near my suburban home. Looking back, it was simply a wooded tract behind a neighbor's house, probably no more than two or three acres, which had trees and a creek and more than likely a lot of invasive species. My later memories are that the creek was actually more of a stormwater channel with a lot of saturated soil and stagnant water that did sometimes have noticeable current, but hardly a pristine stream. However, it provided an element of nature in a neighborhood mostly characterized by cultivated lawns and landscaped yards and I felt drawn to its wildness. It's likely where I spotted my first snake and I recall catching turtles and building natural habitats for them at home. Apparently, those woods were calling to me before I was old enough to remember. One of my mother's favorite stories to tell of my childhood revolves around getting a phone call from a neighbor saying, "I just saw your little boy heading down into the woods across the street following your dog." I was three years old.

2. How did those early experiences shape your relationship with the natural world?

Somehow I think I found connection and solace in the woods of my childhood. I probably first started paying attention to it as a college freshman. I was getting my first real taste of academic rigor and coming to grips with being a small fish in a larger, and frighteningly more competitive, pond. Silence and solitude were rare in the dormitory, but there was a bay window on the top floor of the library where I could see mountains in the distance and a dense pine forest in the foreground, and they seemed to be offering what I needed to deal with my disquiet. Throughout my years there, I stole away to hike and camp whenever I could, but even when I couldn’t, just knowing there were natural areas nearby in which to be quiet and be by myself was comforting and I could feel the tension ease just by thinking about those places. Since then, that theme has never not been a part of my story.

3. How do you connect with nature now (either through your work or leisure or both)?

Work has provided great opportunities (excuses?) to be outside for academic and research purposes. Leisure time is often spent in outdoor pursuits like hiking, paddling, or just sitting, both with family and friends and in solitude. I also prefer to exercise outside—running on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike indoors is a rare occurrence for me.

4. What are your biggest fears for the future of our planet?

That humanity will not figure out how to balance economic productivity and survival with environmental sustainability. Obviously, we are not living sustainably in most places right now. Can economies grow indefinitely, or is there an asymptote? Going with the reality of the latter, as the laws of nature (and economics) take over, will it be a sharp and catastrophic correction that causes major extinctions including humans, or a slow and gradual adjustment to new realities of supply and demand in the context of renewable and nonrenewable resources? A new normal will likely develop, but what will it look like?

5. What is your biggest hope for the future of our planet?

In line with #4, that we'll figure out how to live sustainably and in harmony with what the planet gives us—and that everyone will appreciate and live with the concept of "enough" as opposed to excess, and be happy and content with that. Too much like a John Lennon song?

Thank you, Rocky, for being a Champion of Nature!