All over the country there are city folks now encountering forces of nature that haven’t registered with some of them for years, if ever. Snow and floods for example. The yuppy living on the twentieth floor of a centrally heated and air conditioned high rise with a ground staff isn’t continuously aware of things like wind and cold and heat that the person living in a one storey house in Montana, or a trailer park in Florida, might be consciously aware of all the time. Being near the ground makes a big difference in how life is experienced.

On the western plains, where natural forces are encountered raw and fierce, humans are obliged to have a connection with nature and to understand the signs and hints that clouds, birds and other messengers bring to those with awareness. People living at close quarters to the ocean often get to regard it as a living thing, with moods of its own.