The main way the readings, reflections, and discussions with classmates has contributed to my understanding of how to incorporate nature is the variety of perceptions. I really enjoyed how every individual in the class had their own take on an issue and a way to connect it to nature. For example, there were at least three people who decided to focus on the issue of loss and grief for the assignment that was shared over the camping trip. Even though the topic was discussed by three people, each person used a different part of nature to depict their unique metaphor. Another way completing the classwork with peers has contributed to my understanding of how to incorporate nature is that the information from peers has displayed to me incorporating nature does not need to be difficult.
Since the beginning of the semester, I was worried about how I would incorporate nature into the location I am currently at for practicum. Due to the fact that I am a student, I have to record, which limits my ability to take clients outside. Also, there is an issue with confidentiality as soon as I walk out the door with one of my clients. There are a large number of “what if’s”, for example, what if the client and I bump into the client’s peers. These thoughts made adding nature into my practicum site seem impossible and I was worried about how I was going to role-play with a partner on how to get clients outside.
However, the readings, reflections, as well as class discussions calmed my
Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson has a lot to teach about how to respect the earth because it is a mighty force but Nature also teaches what it means to be connected with nature and the feelings that are associated with connection. During my close read of Nature I faced challenges, successes, and a greater appreciation for the writing from a world that is drastically different from the one I live in. One of my biggest struggles while annotating the piece was looking at the big picture and what the paragraph as a whole was telling me. While I am annotating I tend to focus more on the smaller pieces such as the meaning of words and decoding what a sentence is saying. It’s hard to pull back from that and connect the bigger pieces to find what the
Humans often find bliss in nature, as it can be a place of comfort for many. On the other hand, nature is also a place where we go to test our strength, and learn life lessons. By getting out there and letting the trials of mother nature challenge us, valuable encounters and experiences build our character in a positive way. Humans crave adventure. With nature’s resources, the glorified idea of adventure becomes a reality.
Nature is the playground for every human. It is essential that we include nature in our lives; it keeps us on our correct path. However, if we dismiss ourselves from nature, we begin to stray from our correct path. We become engulfed in the distractions from the modern world . The only approach to appropriate this quandary is to break our pervicacious ways and return to peaceful serenity known as nature.
“The most practical and the most feasible solution offered, and the one on which this paper will center, involves the schoolyard. The schoolyard habitat movement, which promotes the “greening” of school grounds, is quickly gaining international recognition and legitimacy.” This quote touches on the fact that currently our schools need to “greened” meaning nature needs to be implemented not on the sidelines of fields but rather right in the center for kids to explore. There are many studied showing how children’s connection with nature at a young age helps them have a strong connection with nature along with having better health and lesser chances of depression. There are many organizations such as the National Wildlife Federation, Council for Environmental Education, American Forest Foundation, Britain-based Learning through Landscapes, Canadian-based Evergreen, and Swedish-based Skolans Uterum, that have all expresses interest in helping out with this cause. A theory that is very interesting that relates to this issue is a theory by Edward Wilson from Harvard. He had a theory that he named biophilia. Basically what this theory was about was that all people are simply drawn to nature by their very instinct. This quote has a lot of truth to it. Almost all
I confess, I all too well know that living in the digital age, I have hindered my opportunities to immerse myself in nature like Henry David Thoreau. There is rarely a day that passes by that I do not use my cell phone or computer. Too often I forget that the outside world is more enigmatic and dynamic than anything that can be found on the computer or in the concrete jungle I enter when I go back home. I crave the mesmerizing and reflective space that nature has always provided since the dawn of time. Nature allows me to feel alone, but also become a part of something at the very same time. Thoreau beautifully claims, “We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all
“Could it be that we are supposed to be talking to the plants and animals, interacting with them, accepting the gifts they offer, and using them in ways that further their growth?”(Starhawk, 162). I feel this quote from “Our Place in Nature” is a great way to start the topic of how artists uses plant life in their work. It shows how artists might try to interact with the environment for ideas on the works that they come up. I feel also that they are trying to be one with the environment. I feel if you spend enough time in nature, you will build a strong connection with everything around you. This comment is justified when Starhawk said, “I can walk into any forest where the trees are strange and understand something about the relationships
Throughout today’s society there are several different cultural perspectives which form theoretical and practical understandings of natural environments, creating various human-nature relationship types. In this essay, I will describe and evaluate different ways of knowing nature and the impact of these views on human-nature relationships. From this, I will then explore my own human-nature relationship and reflect on how my personal experiences, beliefs and values has led me to this view, whilst highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each and reflecting upon Martin’s (1996) continuum.
Chris McCandless, the subject of Jon Krakauer in Into the Wild, was not insensible or ill-equipped, but rather he was going out into the wild to locate the genuine importance of life and to perceive what it resembled to live out in the wild all alone. Chris was an incredible good example for children the whole way across the nation; since he was attempting to experience his fantasy and do what he believed was appropriate in the wild and would not tune in to what anybody instructed him to do. Chris McCandless was an adoring and minding individual who esteemed for all creation and needed to make tracks in an opposite direction from the general public and live allowed to locate the significance of life.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini takes a solid focus on the lives of two young women, Mariam and Laila, who grow up in a struggling and turbulent Afghanistan. This book emulates the lives of those who have actually been affected by the extreme changes of power within their culture. From the Soviets to the Taliban, these people are caught in a war they cannot win but must deal with the consequences of. The lives of Mariam and Laila are consumed and silenced by those with power over them, namely males with traditional values. The book conveys the idea that even with an immense amount of destruction and terror wrought throughout Afghanistan, underneath lies a beauty that has been muted but it still provides hope for the future.
My connection with nature that were unveiled during my observations can be summarized in four ways, the first being memories. When I was a kid my first experiences with nature where having fun playing outside and spending time with my family. I had a really vivid imagination in my youth, along with the large property my family owned, I had a vast area to have as much fun as I desired. My family has direct connections with the Mojave Desert, moreover that allowed me to spend a decent block of time in either, the National Park, or learning about our area. During my observations, just being in that similar environment brought back several memories from my youth. Furthermore, that will be something that sticks with me for the rest of my life.
Having a bond with nature is key to appreciating simple aspects of life more. Walking instead of driving and stopping to look at the scenery every once in a while will get some one that much closer to achieving that bond. However, people have become accustomed to depending on machines to do their work and ignoring nature or feeling that they are too busy to stop and smell the roses. A strong connection with nature will allow people to open up relationship with themselves and nature can help build bonds with others and the
Nature sets out to inspire a sense of reverence for nature through exploring the interdependence between
This semester I learned a lot about writing in English 151. It has been a roller coaster ride with these essays for me this semester. I learned step by step how to write a good essay and how to have your readers be engaged in what you’re trying to tell them. Each essay I did has taught me something valuable I can take to the next level of English. I feel as if as the semester went by I did not take my writing that seriously and that reflected in my grades I received in each essay. It made me a better student and writer and it will reflect next semester. In this essay, I will reflect on what I learned throughout this semester that you should apply in your writing when you begin English 151.
Despite being an environmental studies major, I would be lying if I said that the environment and nature has always had a huge role in my life. The only reason I became interested in the “environment” was when I found out about environmental justice and environmental racism. In other words, because of people. Before I made that connection sometime in high school, I, like many others, never viewed “nature” as something that should be, rather something that just was. Appreciating nature was a subjective value that I had no particular interests in. Because of this, although I am now what I consider a fully-committed and passionate environmentalist, Last Child in the Woods by Richard Lou was difficult for me to read because it pointed out how
As a 17-year old teenager going to high school, contrary to the environmental activist, David Suzuki’s, remarks about the ignorance of humans about nature, I receive much information about these kinds of problems at my school, from dedicated assemblies, eco fairs and special days that address our responsibility to deal with nature in a more responsible fashion. Yet, when the school day is over, all of the information seeps out of the roof of the school; plastic water bottles are still found in the corners of hallways and leftover Tim Hortons cups are still present in the desks of my former Business class. Even when I step inside the door of my house, the disconnection from nature is apparent. Most of my time at home is spent looking at a screen and doing homework and the only sign of nature would be the fly