Well-meaning staff are trapped between ecological reality and an owner’s demand

Evidence

In the concealment of the trees, he visibly relaxed. He grinned as he turned off his radio with a conspiratorial look and stuffed his hat into his back pocket. We suddenly felt like kids sneaking off from school to go fishing. … Matt showed off every nook and cranny of the outcrop with evident familiarity. I suspect he’d played hooky and come here more than once. … Matt confided that the owner was extremely frugal and, especially with hiring outsiders, schedules had to be adhered to. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 534

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the close-observation thread of the whole book — Matt’s bodily familiarity with the outcrop reads as genuine knowledge, even while his employer’s demand is ecologically impossible. — connects to: Nursery-grown native plants can masquerade as ecological restoration — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 530