Verlyn Klinkenborg, writer and member of the New York Times editorial board, expressed his ideas about humans and their connection to nature Thursday night at Founders Memorial Library.

The name of his speech was “The Conscience of Nature.”

Klinkenborg began his speech by reading a number of excerpts from his book, “The Rural Life.” Raising pigs, baling hay and growing vegetables were some of the topics he spoke about.

He also talked about how humans use land for their own purposes without feeling any obligation to it. He said people use land to benefit economically, and they don’t feel like they owe anything to it.

Klinkenborg, who owns a farm, also talked about what it’s like to live with animals.

“It teaches me about the limits and boundaries of being human,” he said.

He said animals have many levels of intelligence and perception.

Klinkenborg also discussed his writing career and said he never set out to be a nature writer.

“A writer’s life is in part a series of accidents,” he said.

Klinkenborg said he started writing about everything he could, and whenever he traveled, he would try to write a 500-word essay about it. He said a New York Times editor heard about him and his work and offered him a job.

Klinkenborg said most freelance writers write about humans and many don’t write about nature. He said the good thing about nature is it doesn’t tell people what to think, it just sits there and lets people respond to it.

He said writing has taught him volumes about himself and the world he lives in.

“I think that he was insightful and interesting about his views of raising farm animals and bringing that idea to the city and the New York Times,” said James Caldwell, a junior biology major who came to hear Klinkenborg speak.

Klinkenborg’s presentation was sponsored by the Friends of NIU Libraries.