Struck by Aldo Leopold’s essay “The Green Lagoons," I became obsessed with understanding just what, exactly, he meant by saying "never to revisit a wilderness." With his enduring reputation as someone committed to the land in all forms, particularly in its wildest states, it didn't make sense that he would really suggest such a thing. But in thinking about my own connections to wild places, I couldn't help admitting that sometimes I felt that way, too: tempted to turn away from changed landscapes and a sense of wildness lost. Was it possible that Leopold wasn't telling us to do or not do anything, but instead professing his own ecological grief?
In this long-form video essay, I explore Leo...