Hands down my best experience with nature was in the spring of 2007 when i spent about a month and a half traveling around Siberian villages. I vividly remember driving from the airport in the city down to the lake to catch a fairy accross, we drove for a couple hourse with forest on either side of us and when the lake came into view it was so white and covered in snow that you couldn't see the horizon line, the sky was white the ground was white, the lake was white, it may sound boring, but it was unlike anything i'd ever seen, it was completely untouched. In the following parts of the trip I lived with an elderly woman in a tiny tiny village where everyone supported themselves through farming (one woman even thought that Americans were very rich and that they must all have really big potato fields and cows...oh if she only knew) and bartering, a mountain village where the cow to human ratio is 3:1 (the cows all 'hang out' on the main street and wander around, when i didn't see any branding or tagging i asked how people know which cows are theirs, i was informed that the cows know who they belong to, i'm still a little skeptical about that) as well as a village on the lake, full of superstitions, that lives in harmony with the water and the world around them. I even got to participate in the traditional (yet not outdated) slaughtering of a sheep, it was incredibly methodical and bloodless and to be honest the meat tasted great. My experiences with nature are few and far between, but each one has stayed with me and opened my eyes to something new. So, i suppose it is worth protecting, but with so many battles to fight, who fights them and which comes first? And so we get into the complicated part, as always seems to happen...

Nature

This summer, I spent a week in the oldest rainforest in the world. In Taman Negara, Malaysia, I was enthralled by the beauty and complexity of nature. One particularly magical and thrilling moment was when I went on the canopy walkway, a bridge that towered very high above the ground. Feelings of awe outweighed my fear of heights, and it was truly an unforgettable moment. Unfortunately, it only took a deeper glance across a river to see bulldozers and logging machines at work. The river served as a boundary to the protected zones, and the differences between the sides were distinct.

I also toured an indigenous community that, before modernity, thrived off the land. To see what “civilization” has done to these communities was horrifying, and I realized that nature was not just a luxury concern for those who could afford to worry about it, but it was a diverse ecosystem that should be protected from our own interests.

I believe nature is very much something worth saving, as long as it can be done without costing development opportunities. One only needs to look at Haiti and the Dominican Republic to see that development at the expense of the environment can yield harsh consequences.

Question #7

As a kid, I loved to go in the woods behind my house and imagine that I was in a different world. I would explore along the creek, and I could make my own home away from home, my own little secret hide-out. I always felt so relaxed and happy when I was out there – and I can definitely say that my experiences out there are some of my favorite memories. Most of my favorite memories are from when I was out in “nature.”

Yes – nature is worth working to safe. The reasons for this are endless – so I will give just one. My sister got her master’s degree in family counseling and a part of this included a lot of reading about child development. A problem in our current world is that children are not outside in “nature” enough and instead of going outside and using their imagination, they are placed in more and more structured environments. This clearly negatively effects their development, and when they become adults they have trouble organizing themselves. Again – there are a LOT of reasons that nature is worth saving, so I thought I would mention something that probably would not be discussed.

Conversation

I talked briefly with a few friends concerning the environment. They have not taken a course concerning the environment, and it was clearly evident that they argued solely on the political rhetoric that is so prevalent in this election season. One friend demonized corporations and criticized the government for being apathetic, all the while he wouldn’t turn off the lights when he left a room. Another friend argued that the earth has historically gone through climate changes before. Both were very smart students, but both were just repeating lines they have heard before. Neither read a great deal about it, leading to us arguing about the foundations of the argument, and not the argument itself.

While the conversation was respectful, I came away from it thinking that because of the wealth of environmental issues, it would be near impossible for two people to agree completely about the environment. They were also so concerned with the political rhetoric and macro view of the environment that they lost sight of personal accountability and action.

Environment Conversation

Over break I had a talk concerning the environment with my Nana (grandmother). I first would like to mention that this conversation I had was not necessarily with someone who disagrees with me about the environment, but I still would like to mention it because I find it interesting that considering how different our view are on politics, we both have the same stance on the environment. When I went to visit my Nana, I walked into a cold and dark house. She lives alone and told me that by keeping the temperature down and lights off she is saving money, but more importantly is being environmentally friendly. While this may be a small step, it is something. My conversation with her was not about anything deep - I told her that I felt like I was living somewhat environmentally friendly because I received a lot of kitchen supplies from her son (my uncle) instead of going out and buying everything new myself. This is good for the environment because I am not "consuming" something new, but instead I am reusing something that is old to someone else.

I would say the conversation went quite well. She seemed to understand exactly what I was saying and was able to relate from her own practices. She saves everything (she even returned the old wrapping paper that my dad used on her old birthday present - she thought we could use it again), and so I would say that she is a really good example that people can reuse and recycle a lot of things that we normally do not think to reuse. And that is what I learned - that things I would never think to save can be used multiple times.