Michael McCarthy: A minister rooted in the natural world

Nature Notebook Friday, 10 October 2008 Here's a question to ask yourself this weekend if you're out for a walk in the country (there's a chance of fine autumn weather, at least in the South). Why do we value the natural world? What exactly is it that draws you to the woods, or the hills, or the shore, on an October Saturday or Sunday? I mean, it's not for the necessities of life, for food or fuel, is it, as it would be in parts of Africa, say? (Wild mushrooms are hardly necessities here). It's for something else. But what, exactly? Can you define it? It strikes me as unusual that the man who is in charge of the natural world in England, Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, managed to define its worth and meaning fairly comprehensively, and with notable eloquence, in a speech he made... [read full story]