Well, I don’t think of a guy who goes on solo treks into the wilderness as being exactly biophilia-deprived. There are some people who seem unable to perceive non-human nature as having any intrinsic value at all — that’s what I was getting at, there. “Nature lover” probably isn’t the best term for what I’d like to think is the normal, default setting for most human beings.

And not just that, but all the new diseases and pests that are wiping out species of trees here in the eastern U.S., too. The butternut, for example, an obscure walnut species: the last speciment on our mountain was in my front yard, and just toppled one calm autumn morning seven years ago. In that case, the loss of a single charismatic individual symbolized the species’ mysterious blight-caused extirpation throughout much of its range.

Thanks for caring.

Well, it’s always possible that my unusual ineptness last night was for unrelated reasons. I don’t know.

Glad I prompted you to renew.

I guess one of my main motivations in occasionally sharing despair-inducing stories like this, aside from their inherent importance, is so people will understand that the dark tone often present in my writing is not an affectation.