Tolkien as a Nature Writer

One of my favorite genres is nature writing. Edward Abbey is my favorite author, and he is among a rank of other favorites like Thoreau, Wallace Stegner, and Aldo Leopold among others. The more that I read Tolkien, the more similarities between Tolkien and these other authors. Particularly within the universe of Middle-Earth, natural themes and forces play strong roles. A great example of this is the power of Fangorn Forest in The Two Towers. It is a classic man-versus-nature story, except in  this one, nature is capable of literally fighting back. Tolkien draws focus on the damage that man can do to the surrounding ecosystems, and how it isn't a "victimless crime." With deforestation, pollution, and other forms of environmental degredation, there are organisms being harmed. The behaviors of man undermine the integrity of these ecosystems.

Years ago, someone proposed a thought experiment to me (to be honest I can't remember if it was in a conversation with someone, or I read it somewhere) which I found to be profound. If trees could scream, would we still cut them down? While this seems like a childish example, if you think about it, the "screaming" is less important than the concept that nature can feel pain. If we could see this pain, would we still be inflicting it? Now of course, even if we could, this would not be an end-all to our problems with environmental harm, but it would at least make us think twice about the effects that we are having on the natural world around us.

Now I don't know enough about Tolkien to know his history with nature, but the way he writes demonstrates that he obviously holds a respect for the power of nature. The power and beauty of trees is a particular recurrence in his works. The Hobbits have to escape Old Man Willow with the help of Tom Bombadil in The Fellowship of the Ring, and Fangorn Forest are both instances of more-personified power held by trees and tree-ish organisms. The two trees of Valinor in The Silmarillion are essentially the epitome of nature anywhere, and possess a light which was duplicated in  the Silmarils. The White Tree of Gondor, which was created in image of one of the trees of Valinor, is another tree which reflects beauty and power.

Another important aspect of nature writing is the documentation of the beauty in even the small things (the significance of the insignificant). Thoreau's Walden Pond wasn't some remote body of water in the New England wilderness (if that ever even existed), but instead a pond in the forest a few miles from civilization. Ralph Waldo Emerson lived in this town, and Thoreau would occasionally stop by for a meal. This proximity to the comforts of society did not stop Thoreau from noticing and appreciating the profound natural beauty of Walden Pond. He loved the changing of the seasons, the birds, and his bean-fields. Although I don't know if Tolkien was familiar with Thoreau (personally I would doubt if an Oxford professor would trouble themselves with American transcendental literature), but Thoreau's appreciation of the beauty of his surroundings reminds me of hobbits. They love the growing grass, the leaves of the trees, and the green gardens outside of their hobbit holes. Maybe there is space for a naturalist like Thoreau in the Shire.