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mind set

This biographical piece about  Herman "Jack Rabbit" Smith Johannsen by the NFB offers insight into the kind of thinking we need if we are to restore our human experience, that is, to reconnect with the earth that gives us all we need to live.

Of course if we value money over the land, then the land will suffer. We will not imagine restoring Cootes if we do not share a relationship with the land.

As Johannsen says in the film, getting closer to nature frees one from the cares of finances, and for him, offered the kind of life he wanted. We could, and should, do much more to make the natural world accessible to those who can't afford cottages or get-away weeks, by enlarging and restoring the natural gifts we have in this area.

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