Victoria Schlesinger, editor in chief of Bay Nature (Barbara Butkus)
One of my earliest memories—I was three, maybe—is of standing in the narrow space between the side of my house and the yard’s fence where a shrub grew high over my head. It was shady and cool back there, the hard ground damp. I felt hidden away in a wild world of my own, where dark pink flowers, large as my little hand and otherworldly, pulled my attention. Tentacles seemed to spill from the blooms’ mouths, and the plump petals felt like a strange, living fabric. The memory is so clear, most of all the quality of wonder and quiet fullness.
All these decades later, when I get outside on my own, disengage from all the deadlines and headlines, that feeling of wonderment reappears. And it has a name. Famed biologist E. O. Wilson called it “biophilia” and popularized it in a book by the same name, suggesting that “. . . to explore and affiliate with life is a deep and complicated process in mental development . . . our existence depends on this propensity, our spirit is woven from it, hope rises on its currents.”
Summer is a good time to nurture that spirit and the hope it brings, and we can do it just by being outdoors. This special issue of the magazine—the Explore issue—is a trove of ideas and information for doing so.
There’s an essay about journalist Susan Kuramoto Moffat’s conversion from deep skeptic to enthusiast of open-water swimming in the San Francisco Bay, along with a robust how-to list for newbies. Or, if you favor a slower kind of rush, learn where to look for local snakes, which often lurk nearer than we think. Not into reptiles? Discover the unsung blooms of summer—wildflower walks aren’t only a spring thing in the Bay Area. An article by iNaturalist cofounder Ken-ichi Ueda describes some of the hardiest species and a resource for finding them.
Longtime readers know that Bay Nature’s archive of articles about beloved places in the Bay Area is deep. Twenty-five years deep. In a nod to our quarter-century of publishing, we want to revive those stories. Check out our mini-guide to 25 trails and the past articles about them. This issue also covers accessible nature, herb foraging, trail running, jumping spiders, three regional trails, and more.
Step outside and find your biophilia.
