J. Drew Lanham: Taking the Wild Path to Human Understanding

BY JENNIFER C. SCHÜNEMANN

“An ornithologist said significantly, ‘If you held the bird in your hand—’; but I would rather hold it in my affections.”

—Journal of Henry David Thoreau, 10 May 1854

Professor J. Drew Lanham, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology, Master Teacher, and Certified Wildlife Biologist at Clemson University, is a renowned ornithologist, an accomplished author, poet, and scientist. He is also the keynote speaker at this year’s Thoreau Society Gathering in Concord. It’s not a surprising link. Henry David Thoreau was a careful observer of nature, as well as an eloquent writer and a social justice warrior. All these traits drew the attention of Prof. Lanham, as we discussed in a recent interview.

J. Drew Lanham

©Peter Frank Edwards/Redux

Hailing from Edgefield, South Carolina, Drew (as he prefers to be called) grew up on a family farm that backed onto protected forest lands. As such, the line between farm animals and wildlife was blurred for a young Drew. Birds, in particular, fascinated him at an early age.

“The idea of free flight – the ability to just get up and GO but with air under one’s wings with the land sliding beneath you… the whole idea of escape – birds do it best,” he said. “Living off the land, nature was nurture for us. We depended on the farm for physical sustenance, but my soul was nourished by seeing and hearing bobwhite quail or wild turkeys on a spring morning or hearing barred owls call to one another on a summer evening. These experiences were the wild cherry on top of the jelly cake in my childhood.”

While many tried to steer this “bright young black kid” towards math and science, Drew knew in his heart that his true passion was linked to the wild. He found a way to take that expectation from society and create his own outcome.

“Passion is the fulcrum on which our lives are levers,” he said. I can leverage this thing I love and have a passion for – starting with a rigorous scientific grounding to build up truth that goes even further with creative writing, the arts, and literature to not only impact people’s heads but also touch their hearts – which is at the core of action. Until we feel, there is no movement towards some effective action or solution.”

Drew has been able to take the scientist role as an ornithologist and to move it to a place not just of facts we can know about, but to inspire people through the unknown. By creating a sense of wonder about what birds are thinking or feeling as they fly and flit above us, he opens a space to inspire people in ways that help them do better by birds, nature, the earth…and therefore, one another.

“That little boy who was watching birds and wondering how they flew, how they sang, how they built those nests, where they came from is still here. That pause for awe and wonder led me to other questions that led me to become the scientist that I am. I hope that I have surpassed the expectations others had of me, by taking my own flight path.”

J. Drew Lanham

©Joel Caldwell

A Sense of Self Through Observation

Drew describes his love of observing birds as being closely linked to a discovery of the self. “That interaction with that one individual – the chance to watch that individual just be and then I can just be – it creates a very different fraction of bird or wild beast as numerator and me as denominator. As different as we are, the two of us being ourselves creates a sense of unity.”

“Recently, I observed a worm-eating warbler in a southern Appalachian forest singing so fervently that it shook from its beak to its tail! I saw that bird vibrate as if it would come apart. But it didn’t. It vibrated again and again. Each time it did that, I felt like I was seeing it for the first time. It moved me profoundly.”

Worm-eating warbler

©istock.com/RStockesPhoto

“When we are in the presence of other beings, a river of sensibility flows between us. By observing a bird sensing the world as it does, I am free to sense the world as I do. It’s a kind of barter of being free to be who/ what we are as the core of all of this. It’s an acceptance in a very intimate way that allows that bird or animal to be most fully who/what it is – which in turn, allows you to be wholly what or who you are.”

Barred owl

©istock.com/RStokesPhoto

Linking Nature to Freedom

Drew points out that the first lesson in learning about birds is LISTENING. The beautiful music of their song, or even the silence of the billions of birds who have disappeared in the past half century because of pollution and habitat declination, may inspire us to want to learn more. He states that the science is well in hand, we know that’s happening to us. We must make a hard stop and reconsider our treatment of nature and of one another.

“Henry David Thoreau is often considered as ‘that man who lived in a cabin by the pond.’ But his writings, musings, and most especially his actions, exemplified a strong belief that protecting nature is indelibly linked to insisting on the rights of humans as well as wildlife,” said Drew. “For me that’s always been the attraction to the work of Thoreau. He did not put a barrier between nature and humanity that would have us be separate. Human rights and nature conservancy go hand in hand.”

Bobwhite quail

©istock.com/Lakeview_Images

“I find it interesting that we are at ease discussing the importance of biodiversity in nature, but we seem to be afraid to talk about human diversity,” said Drew. “Thoreau was not afraid to talk about the sins of enslavement and the conundrum of being in a space where people were constantly talking about freedom but not looking for everyone’s freedom. Thoreau is an example of how a sensibility for nature and humanity can converge into a larger message. He was a true ally who spoke not just about the beauty of nature but railed against the bitterness of enslavement. He did not parse his words when it came to human rights. I like to think about his trajectory beyond his premature death to what a great and powerful voice he would have been for liberty for all as the country plunged into civil war beyond his time.”

And like Thoreau, Drew Lanham encourages us all to take the binoculars down and speak out for human rights. “Understanding nature in different ways gives us a chance to expand our sensibility to include the human heart. Do not ignore the plight of those in distress. We have a responsibility to help others. This is the core of the message I hope to deliver - and the kindship I hope to share - in Concord.”

Professor Lanham will deliver the Dana S. Brigham Memorial Keynote Address at the 2022 Thoreau Gathering on Saturday, July 9. For more information, please visit secure.thoreausociety.org/events/annualgathering-2022