Launch Post: David Gessner's Presentation

In his statement, David Gessner critiques the current state of the environmental essay. Gessner describes several characteristics that he has observed in environmental writing that he recommends that we as writers avoid. Gessner dislikes many of these characteristics in part because they have become so overused that he feels that they now read as trite cliche. Descriptors such as "calm" and "peaceful," the idea of "living in the present moment," the portrayal of nature as mystical, the use of an invariably solemn tone, a scolding or apocalyptic undertone in texts that deal with environmental issues, and an emphasis on the division between the "natural" and "unnatural" worlds are all traits that Gessner suggest have been relied upon too heavily in environmental essays.

Gessner also questions whether some of these characteristics make sense. He argues that nature is not inherently peaceful and suggests that writers should also be able to find a great deal of conflict to explore in their writing by studying the natural world. He also critiques the sense of certainty that seems to pervade much of this type of writing, as well as the fact that these texts' narrators do not seem to be in the process of development, but often come across as having already found all of the answers to life's questions. 

Essentially, Gessner seems to be advocating for a type of environmental writing that is more true to life and that acknowledges and depicts uncertainty, complexity, disorder, and so on while more authentically capturing the emotion that nature can contain and evoke for both the writer and reader. 

Do you agree with Gessner's critique, and, as a writer, do you find his suggestions useful? Going forward, will the ideas that he puts forth in this piece have an impact on how you portray the environment and human interaction with it in your own work? Also, what connections do you see between Gessner's argument and the other speakers' presentations? What common threads, if any, do you see in each presentation (aside from a general concern that the environmental essay needs to evolve in some way to address contemporary issues)?

Note: I originally made this post for Week 7. Because this reading was pushed back to Week 9, I've copied and pasted this into a new post so it will appear alongside the other launch posts for this week. Xochi Ocelotl - I saw that you already commented on the original post; you may also want to copy and paste your comment onto this new post so ensure that other commenters see and can respond to it.