Pollan envy

Posted by David Roberts at 2:41 PM on 22 Apr 2008

Read more about: climate | environmental movement | TV | green living

For people involved in the TV business, I imagine watching The Wire -- David Simon's novelistic depiction of big-city dysfunction on HBO -- generates mixed feelings. On one hand: Damn that's good. On the other: Damn. That's really good. It makes what once seemed excellent appear merely adequate; what was once adequate now worthless. It has transcended its medium and made those still laboring within its received limitations seem ... diminished.

That's how I feel when I read essays by Michael Pollan. Take his cover piece in New York Times Magazine's current green issue: "Why Bother?" It is profound, but written with zen-like simplicity. It presents a moral challenge without a hint of hectoring or self-righteousness. It is what it is: I can't imagine a single word added or subtracted.

Is it easy for him to produce this stuff, or does he labor over it for hours, relentlessly pruning and digging down to the essence? I wish I knew. There are many, many things I despise about my own writing, but foremost is my tendency to excess: too many words; too many baroque sentence structures; too much melodrama, narcissism, and judgment. Pollan seems to be playing a completely different game. Makes me wonder why I bother laboring down here in the minor leagues.

Obviously this says nothing about the subject of the piece itself, which is, suffice to say, considerably more interesting than my neurotic reaction to it. I trust you are wise enough to go read it for yourself.

For story: Pollan envy
8 Comments | Post a Comment

Tend your garden...

...is that how Candide ends?

I hope someone does a compendium of all of the solutions that are floating out there -- maybe divided into "individual" and "social".

Speaking of which, there's an interesting article at huffingtonpost by the author of 50 simple things you can do to save the earth, called "The new environmentalism is issues, not eco-tips", with a new website, 50simplethings.com.

Anyway, Dave, sometimes it's more fun to read somebody who's angry and pissed off.

by Jon Rynn at 3:26 PM on 22 Apr 2008

thanks for the link

Michael Pollan is truly a great writer.

"Going personally green is a bet, nothing more or less, though it's one we probably all should make, even if the odds of it paying off aren't great. Sometimes you have to act as if acting will make a difference, even when you can't prove that it will."

True dat.

by egbooth at 4:15 PM on 22 Apr 2008

Yeah, he's really, really good

On the other hand, he's 53. If you already know what you dislike about your writing, then you've got some years to work on it. It's humbling to be in the presence of greatness. On the other hand, it's worth considering that you are comparing yourself to one of the greats.

by GreenEngineer at 4:41 PM on 22 Apr 2008

FYI, yesterday's Gristmill post about this art.

Yesterday's (with comments) is here

> "Sometimes you have to act as if acting will make a difference, even when you can't prove that it will."

Alternatively, to borrow Michael Tobis's phrasing (in another context), Pollan suggests we "act with a certain futile dignity".

How about suggesting we act effectively instead? As a solution, retreating to the garden isn't going to be up to the job.

by Anna Haynes at 5:23 PM on 22 Apr 2008

Awww, David...

You're an amazing writer too! My favorite person to read anywhere.

With regards to the Pollan piece, it's really making the rounds. Both my sustainable foods friends and parents have sent it to me.

by Aberwulf at 9:14 PM on 22 Apr 2008

Anna

Rather than repeat myself, I'll simply reference my comment from that thread.

Gardening is not the be-all, end-all solution, of course (no such thing, anyway). But it is probably the single most significant thing that someone can do for the earth on a "casual" basis (i.e. no major changes to career or place of residence). And it's infectious: it tends to be a gateway drug to more intense forms of ecological awareness and involvement.

by GreenEngineer at 10:52 PM on 22 Apr 2008

style issues; gardens and the world

There is no doubt that Michael Pollan writes very well. Whether he is quite so sublime and flawless as DR suggests, though, is maybe less clear. In this piece, for example, we might suspect that he was out of control of all the connotations of "my evil Chinese twin."

DR,
your own style is terrific. But you surprise me when you say you worry about "baroque sentence structures." Everything you write is so simple and direct!

As for the alleged emotionalism, narcissism and melodrama, that is a matter of your own examination of conscience, and none of our business. You owe your readers to speak your own mind, from your own heart, with your own words; and you have always done all that beautifully.

Jon,
yes, in response to the comment of Pangloss, that Candide's final situation of relative peace and security depended on his course of wild adventures half way around the world, Candide answers, "Yes, but we must cultivate our garden." It is hard to be sure of what that means exactly; but in the context, it suggests a withdrawal from the affairs of the world, and attending only to the economy of one's own household. And Voltaire himself seems to have lived that way during the end of his life.

And we might remember that, although Pollan hopes that our keeping gardens may create a new fabric of strong, forgotten community ties, one of the great traditions of garden-keeping is that of the reclusive, exclusivist Benedictine monks. Their intention was to feed themselves and their guests, while keeping contact with the outside world to a minimum.

By contrast, the original Franciscan friars were a totally different sort of bird. They did not "own" their own houses, or anything else for that matter; and they would go around the towns where they lived (and which they served in their own ways) begging for their food. G.K. Chesterson wrote, "The difference between a monk and a friar is that the monk knows where his next meal is coming from, but a friar does not."

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 11:11 AM on 23 Apr 2008

In the spirit of Pollan,

the National Wildlife Federation encourages those in the right circumstances not only to make a garden, but also to design it in such a way that it becomes a welcoming environment for wildlife:

http://www.nwf.org/backyard/.

Their emphasis on spreading word about one's garden, e.g. by putting a sign up about it nearby, as well as inviting family, friends and neighbors to take part in it, seems very close to Pollan's ideas about setting a good example, and creating new community bonds.

Now, it is another matter, whether the same kind of garden is envisioned in the minds of Pollan and of the NWF people. I.e., Pollan seems to be more interested in vegetable gardens, the principal purpose of which is to produce things to eat, than in landscaping with native flora, which may be more what the NWF people (and our own WiscIdea) are after. But in fact the two visions may be compatible, and the distinction may not really amount to much.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 3:10 AM on 24 Apr 2008

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