In the Nature of Things: The Environment and Everyday Life

This paper addresses the silence that surrounds nature within social science, the discipline of geography included. We begin by connecting the modernist project to the domination of nature, using the example of Scott's race to the South Pole. In addition, we show the way in which the externalization of nature is built into our concepts of science. In the third part of the paper, we begin to deal with the resuscitation of society-nature links. In particular, we examine those linkages within everyday life, where a place for nature is revealed to be most crucial. We explore this theme via the example of natural simulacra notably parks, in both wilderness areas and cities. We argue that by comprehending nature, we reassert our power to reconstitute social nature, a power that is immanent in the practices of everyday life.