In Fear of Ecophobia
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8kwXclAqwP117NwKi52BpTtdPYnFqJJtkvMSOlUlZDoKRpJyCxBZNFVZsQNZg8b6oUqNhKiI7-jULYU27QOmO3UYG2eS50eN_CAElG0SEI6N8Pm2xGJYaiKXrh_OPEPaIswUarRzhbO4x/s320/wpid-img_20141027_212005.jpg)
Yesterday I got an acceptance notice (yay!) from the online literary magazine Wraparound South , which will be publishing a short essay of mine in audio form. As part of the acceptance, they provided a long list of questions and asked me to answer one of them. (Author responses are included in the "Back Porch" section of their site). The question I picked was "What advice do you have for new and emerging writers?" Here's what I said: I would advise all writers to learn something tangible about the world they inhabit, specifically the natural world, which we too easily forget is the source of all our highfalutin technology. A single microchip takes many times its weight in fossil fuels, chemicals, and water to produce. So even if you’re an ecophobe (which I hope for all our sakes you’re not), you’re still deeply connected to and mutually dependent on the non-manufactured world. If you’re not keen on learning which rare earth minerals make up your laptop, at