A Greater Sudbury author has written a book about the environment, how we look at it and how we can help it. Richard Adamson has spent the past 30 years working in the environmental technology and policy space. He said during that time he became more frustrated around the climate file, and that spurred the novel, The Great Remembering. “We apparently know we have a serious issue we have to deal with, but we seem to be completely incapable of addressing it the way we need to,” he said, speaking with CTV News. Author reflects on why governments aren’t acting Adamson said he could not get past why organizations and governments are not doing anything about this. “I started reflecting on what’s behind it,” said Adamson. “I concluded that it is not policy, and it is not technology. There is a cultural lens we look at the world through, and it frames what we can see and we cannot see, and what we can conceive of doing. The conclusion I came to was we need to change the lens.” Adamson said the book is about looking at the climate file through a different lens and getting people to look inside themselves. In the book, he talks about how he once walked his dog in the woods without appreciating what he was experiencing. Now, he said, he has a greater appreciation of nature and what it gives us. Deeper connection to nature “That was the first level. The beauty of nature. Then you notice that there is a place where you get lost in it,” said Adamson. “There is not a me and it. It is like I am part of this overall process. The trees are breathing. You can see how everything is interconnected.” He added once you are immersed in nature you see that there is no separateness between people and nature. Adamson said that the issue of separateness and the way our brain works in the day-to-day reflects our culture, what our culture is doing and why our culture is unable to respond.
