My love for nature and the outdoors all stemmed from my Elementary School in Sequim, Washington State. Every day we would take walks in the surrounding meadows and woods just to enjoy being outside. Little did I know that these outdoor adventures were such a crucial part of my development and well being, until I moved to Virginia Beach in the third grade. No longer were walks and field trips an integral part of my school day, those were replaced by hour-long sessions listening to teachers ramble while sitting behind a wooden desk all day. I was never as happy at my new school as I was in Washington, but my younger self could not put together why. Three years later I moved yet again, this time to Annapolis Maryland, and attended a small private school called The Key School. To my …show more content…
Throughout my childhood I have been filled with the wonder of the various elements encountered on my various adventures. With a degree in Environmental Science and Policy, I will be able to both better understand the outdoors I enjoy spending so much time around, as well as delve into the world of environmental policy. During my four years in Key’s Upper School, I have attended over twenty-five outdoor education trips as both a student and a faculty member, so I feel as though my hands on experience with the science and outdoors part of this degree have been bolstered already. I hope to gain and earn more experience on the policy side however, as I have had limited opportunities due to my constant involvement in the outdoor education program as a wilderness peer leader. Outside of the Key Upper School Environmental Awareness activity that I participated in during my senior year, I have spent little time participating or learning about environmental policy, and I hope to increase my knowledge of the subject with a degree in Environmental Science and
As a child going outside was something that excited you. The freedom of running through the grass or climbing the trees was something that always excited you. As times change and technology improves going outside is not a happy thought anymore. In John Stilgoe’s Outside Lies Magic and Rachel Carson’s The Sense of Wonder, they both discuss the feelings you get while going outside and the importance why we should go outside. Though both have different reasons why we should both books are relevant to today.
There is this feeling we all experience when we step away from the chaos of rushing cars, infrastructure, and artificial lights, and we step into nature. Some describe it as bliss, comfort, excitement, pleasure or just pure happiness. This is the answer to the question Paul Bloom asks “Why should we care about nature?” in his article “Natural Happiness.” Paul goes through this process in which he uncovers the fact that “real natural habitats provide significant sources of pleasure for modern humans”, regardless of our need for food, clean water, and air. There are 3 main arguments that Paul makes in this article that I find particularly interesting, they include: “Our hunger for the natural is everywhere. In many regards our species has already kissed nature goodbye, and we are better off for it. There is a considerable mismatch between
Wilderness is a highly idealized concept in today’s society – we simply put it on a pedestal and choose to admire it as we see fit. Nature and wilderness are considered distant and remote concepts, separate from our everyday, civilized lives. By approaching the natural realm in this sense, we simply detach ourselves from our origin, which leaves us to fantasize about the great outdoors as an escape from the artificial creations of our everyday life. This desire to escape our artificial lives has lead to the construction of locations such as national parks, which merely appear to be the natural world, yet in reality they are simply just facets of the modernized world we have created.
Richard Louv explains how people can find “freedom, fantasy, and privacy… a separate peace” (7) in nature. Many researchers are becoming aware of the positive effects nature can provide. Previous generations often tell stories of their childhood; stories about running around in fields or woods. They talk about how it gave them feelings of euphoria and freeness. Nowadays, rarely will one hear of today’s children telling similar stories. With more time being spent indoors, doing homework, and using technology, there are fewer kids enjoying the wonders of the outdoors. Studies have shown that children, and people in general, should spend more time in nature. Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods discusses how people are negatively affected without exposure to nature; there are vital steps that individuals, communities, and the nation can take to help with nature-deficit disorder.
In the essay, A Literature of Place, Barry Lopez discusses the topic of the influence of nature. Lopez believes that “nature is critical to the development of a sense of morality and human identity.” A sunny day typically has a positive set off for your day, but it does much more than what you may be aware of. Lopez stated that the geography of your surroundings can influence many different aspects of your life, such as your imagination. By being aware of your surroundings and taking in everything that is around you, he describes how you will create a special relationship with the nature that you're surrounded by. And through that relationship you will feel a sense of belonging instead of feeling unwanted. A sense of belonging can get you
Richard Louv, the author of, “Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from nature deficit-disorder,” talks about nature and its benefits to a healthy development. Time Experiencing with nature allows people to have healthy development since it promotes creativity and imagination. It does not take more than a couple of steps outside to see nature. It is all around us. It can even be right outside our window. Leaving the blinds open can bring peace of mind, just by viewing it. As people experience time with nature, no matter the age, they develop greater creativity and imagination. It is like people today fear nature.
The purpose of this article is to make the reader aware of students losing their critical thinking and connection to the environment by not being engaged with nature as Giracca was taught when was in college. In the article she explains how classes like Ellis’s class have become obsolete since the early twentieth century, and during this time outdoor biology studies were mandatory for students, because as Giracca puts it, “Educators believed that cultivating students’ awareness of their natural surroundings was essential.”. She describes how Ellis’s class
Whenever I volunteer at The Grotto, I always find it enjoyable compared to volunteering at my high school due to the fact that the Grotto is surrounded by a great deal of wildlife, while on the other hand, volunteering at Centennial High seems to be bland because of it’s stuffy, enclosed, environment. Not only does nature relieve stress on the mind, but it also calms it too. For instance, when Williams writes, “Officers there report calmer behavior in solitary confinement prisoners who exercise for 40 minutes several days a week in a “blue room” where nature videos are playing, compared with those who exercise in a gym without videos” (58). This illustrates how simply seeing nature can affect the human mind, keeping some of the most aggressive, vicious, people calm. Whenever I get angry or frustrated, whether it be a game or homework, I like to go to the Lynch Wood park and lay there, listening to music.
When deciding on what career best suited me, I found myself considering my role as a global citizen. As an inhabitant of this earth, I felt that it was my duty to advocate for its protection. I therefore decided to study Environmental Engineering. By generating ways for humans to creatively coexist with our environment I will be helping to create a more sustainable world as a whole. Similarly, this idea of making decisions based on the needs of my community has been prevalent throughout my life. I have participated in many volunteer groups including National Honor Society along with lending my knowledge to those who require help through tutoring and in-class aid. I plan on continuing to take an active leadership role in my community through a profession in environmental engineering and strong sense of environmental stewardship.
The fleeting changes that often accompany seasonal transition are especially exasperated in a child’s mind, most notably when the cool crisp winds of fall signal the summer’s end approaching. The lazy routine I had adopted over several months spent frolicking in the cool blue chlorine soaked waters of my family’s bungalow colony pool gave way to changes far beyond the weather and textbooks. As the surrounding foliage changed in anticipation of colder months, so did my family. My mother’s stomach grew larger as she approached the final days of her pregnancy and in the closing hours of my eight’ summer my mother gently awoke me from the uncomfortable sleep of a long car ride to inform of a wonderful surprise. No longer would we be returning to the four-story walk up I inhabited for the majority of my young life. Instead of the pavement surrounding my former building, the final turn of our seemingly endless journey revealed the sprawling grass expanse of a baseball field directly across from an unfamiliar driveway sloping in front of the red brick walls that eventually came to be know as home.
Growing up in a massive neighborhood magnificent. My neighborhood flooded with kids around my age to hang out with. Occupying the edge of this neighborhood was a large park where the neighborhood’s kids and I would spend most of our time eliminating their boredom. When this park would not satisfy our needs, there were
Walking through the woods never fails to clear my mind. After spending all day sitting in a stale classroom, filled with stress, confusion, and overwhelming responsibilities, taking a long stroll through the familiar woods behind my grandmother’s house lifts any worries that could ever weigh me down. I never wander through aimlessly. I always follow the trail of grass that has been deliberately cut down shorter than the rest, making it easier to tread through to the small creek at the end of the trail. The entire journey through the woods behind my grandmother’s house, there and back, first took on a whole new importance in my life during my junior year of high school.
My family and I rarely went on outings; my parents were always busy or at work. Likewise, family trips or vacations were something my parents could not afford. The first time I ever fully experienced the beauty of nature was when I went on a week long trip with my fifth grade class to an outdoor school. This was the first time I went on a real hike and the first time I was really in the middle of nature. Walking through the forest, listening to the birds chirp and the graceful movement of the leaves in the wind changed my perspective. That week, I realized how much beauty there was to discover on Earth. My relationship with the environment started during that trip in fifth grade as I realized that the world is such an immense place full of things to admire and unearth. It was something wholly new to me. I fell in love with the
I have not had many meaningful moments with nature, even though I have many encounters with it. But the encounter that is the most prevalent in my mind is my vacation at Willow Lake, Minnesota. Here I had encounters with nature on the water, out bike riding, and watching a storm come in the distance.
Outdoor recreation is something that everyone needs. Finding that place within yourself that allows you to forget about everything. Whether that be playing with your kids in the nearby park, fishing with your grandfather, hiking with someone or just by yourself you learn something new about yourself. Some people use recreation to forget about something and they use being outside as a calming effect. Williams and Stewart (1998) believe that nature, as a place, creates an emotion bond, has a complex meaning to the person, and that people have this draw back to the place. To get the same feeling that someone would get while doing an activity in nature to simulate Williams and Stewart’s (1998) belief, I recently participated in an