Taproots: Walking As Presence + The Infrastructure Of Human Movement / Antonia Malchik

Essayist and author Antonia Malchik joins me in this wandering, expansive discussion, touching on subjects at the heart of her writings and 2019 book, A Walking Life, and her upcoming book, No Trespassing. We discuss how the infrastructure of an automobile dependent society shapes our perception of nature and built environments, and in turn how we relate and move through it. I asked her about her more expansive view of walking and walkability, and how getting lost is good for our brains and souls. And near the later half of our time together, Antonia talks about her decision to ditch smartphones and social media, and how the creeping demands of our digital lives relate to her broader focus on enclosure, property, and reclaiming the commons.

When you have a taprooted plant, you see the plant, but what you don't see is this really thick, sturdy root that goes at least as deep into the ground as the plant is itself. So, when I pull a thistle out—here's this thistle: it’s maybe six inches tall, and then the taproot is like a foot and a half. It's thick and deep, and you can't get it all out; there's always a little bit left, and that will always sprout a new thistle. 

So, I think of these issues as taprooted, and it's so important to be doing things like changing the way that barbed wire fencing is structured to enable wildlife and really thinking differently about private property rights and what we can actually change in our legal system to reflect a relationship—everybody’s—every form of life's relationship with the land, not just the owner’s rights over that land. 

But, I really think it's important to have people who are also looking at the taproot. Where did this come from? How did this structure come to be? What psychologically keeps us believing, not only in it, and not only that it's a good thing, but it's an inevitable thing?

Bio:

Antonia Malchik has written essays and articles for Aeon, The Atlantic, Orion, GOOD, High Country News, and a variety of other publications. Her first book, A Walking Life, about the past and future of walking’s role in our shared humanity, is published by Hachette. She is currently working on No Trespassing, a book about ownership, private property, and the theft of the commons past, present, and future. Antonia gives talks on walking, walkability, conservation, public lands and the commons, and private property, and lives in northwest Montana.

Episode Notes:

Subscribe to Antonia’s newsletter, On the Commons, and learn more about her work at her website

Read her article, The theft of the commons, published at High Country News, and Dis/connection, published for her newsletter

Purchase a copy of A Walking Life from Bookshop

The song featured is “Kodama” by Nick Vander from the album Kodama (Nowaki’s Selection), used with permission by the artist.