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This blog was created for ENVS3000 (F23), University of Guelph.

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of the University of Guelph.

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Unit 10 Blog Post

Prompt: Describe your personal ethic as you develop as a nature interpreter. What beliefs do you bring? What responsibilities do you have? What approaches are most suitable for you as an individual?

In the field of nature interpretation, personal ethics play a central role in shaping the narrative or experience that your audience has with the environment. As an interpreter, it is important to understand the influence that your position can have on other individuals, in order to make sure you're sending the appropriate message. I will carry into my work my beliefs surrounding the cruciality for people to cultivate a more profound connection with nature and to actively care for ecosystems, which stems from my personal morals on humans’ “role” in nature. In the wake of a capitalist political economy, humankind has increasingly perceived itself as not only separate from the environment, but masters over it. This paradigm shift has fueled ecological degradation all over the globe and severed our connection with the land upon which we live. In this day and age, many of us live in urban areas that are far from natural landscapes, making it extra difficult to remain connected to the earth and spark a passion large enough to create change in the system in which we live. My main focus as an interpreter is to convey scientific knowledge about nature to the public in a manner that fosters a deeper appreciation for the natural world. By doing so, I hope to cultivate a heightened concern for the well-being of living organisms and ecosystems. Ideally, this increased awareness will prompt other individuals to prioritize preserving and restoring endangered areas. Furthermore, adapting Indigenous ways of thinking and building relationships with the earth offers a transformative alternative to the colonial perspective upon which most of us were raised. Many Indigenous cultures are rooted in holistic perspectives and mutualistic relationships with nature. They hold intergenerational knowledge that emphasizes interconnectedness and sustainability with the land. By embracing these principles, I can hope to steer my audience towards developing more respectful and reciprocal relationships with the earth. I have personally had my view of the world shifted by the words of the Indigenous botanist and poet, Robin Wall Kimmerer, so I thought I’d share a quote from her book, Braiding Sweetgrass:

“I can see my face reflected in a dangling drop. The fish-eye lens gives me a giant forehead and tiny ears. I suppose that’s the way we humans are, thinking too much and listening too little. Paying attention acknowledges that we have something to learn from intelligences other than our own. Listening, standing witness, creates an openness to the world in which the boundaries between us can dissolve in a raindrop.”, (Kimmerer, 2013, p. 300).

In this quote, Kimmerer is inspecting her reflection in a raindrop dangling off an ancient cedar branch while pondering humanity’s lack of apprehension surrounding knowledge systems that are not our own. I want to embrace this way of thinking when I speak to others about nature. Perhaps then I can help shift their view of the world from a human-centric, hierarchical view to one where you embrace yourself as just another being in the ecosystem around you; the way Kimmerer has done for me.

As previously mentioned, the role of nature interpreter can wield a certain amount of influence over your audience. Therefore, the job entails a great deal of responsibility as to be mindful of the impact that your voice can have, and to use this influence wisely. Over the course of this semester, I’ve learned and reflected upon the privileges I hold as an able-bodied, middle-class, white woman. I will strive to create an inclusive learning environment that caters to the diverse backgrounds of my audience and differing learning styles. Furthermore, I will strive to present different viewpoints of nature. More specifically, I’m going to do my best to present a narrative that integrates Indigenous knowledge and voices with my own western scientific background.

Finally, through the podcast assignments this semester, I have learned that I would personally be much more comfortable in a nature interpretation role where I am present, face-to-face with my audience. I am an animated speaker and I believe my passion and goals for nature interpretation will best be used by leading people along a trail or hike and talking with them about the physical environment that surrounds us. I know this limits my audience (for the most part) to people who are physically able to walk along with me, therefore I think a video- blog or something of the sort would also be up my alley.

It’s been a lovely semester interacting with everyone on here, wishing you all the best and maybe I’ll see you out and about in the great outdoors somewhere!

Week 6. Blog prompt:

Unpack this quote:

There is no peculiar merit in ancient things, but there is merit in integrity, and integrity entails the keeping together of the parts of any whole, and if these parts are scattered throughout time, then the maintenance of integrity entails a knowledge, a memory, of ancient things. …. To think, feel or act as though the past is done with, is equivalent to believing that a railway station through which our train has just passed, only existed for as long as our train was in it.

(Edward Hyams, Chapter 7, The Gifts of Interpretation)

In this quote, Hyams highlights the fundamental role that the past plays in gathering a proper understanding of the present and future of place. I find his simile of a train station only existing as the trains pass through a station particularly interesting. Though he means it to signify the ignorance of not exploring the history of a place, the choice of a train station sparks a greater image in my mind of the ignorance of only exploring the history of a place through a colonial lens. As you take a trip through the town of Banff, you can learn all about the history of the railway, however it leaves me with questions. What about before the railway was built? Who stood here? What voices are not being heard? I see this as a common theme throughout many places across the country. It is one thing to learn of the history of colonial settlers in Canada, but through that there is a huge chunk of the story missing. One that dates back far before the first European ships hit the shore. For example, looking into the history of otter populations off the coast of Vancouver Island, we would not include humans as part of the natural ecological interactions and food webs. However long before settlers arrived, Indigenous communities were very much a part of the ecosystem there; hunting, gathering and stewarding the land. As a species, we have had an impact on nearly every inch of this country, whether through direct impact such as urban development or indirect impacts of climate change and acid rain, etc. This topic is becoming more crucial than ever as we view how ecosystems have changed over time in response to our presence. As an environmentalist, I often learn about all the ways humans negatively impact the earth and I feel extremely discouraged by the destructive footprints we leave as I feel that is all we’re capable of. This is when learning the history of this land is most important. Indigenous communities lived sustainably with land for generations before colonial settlements-and many do still to this day. By examining historic relationships with land, as well as the impact of current practices of land use, we can have a better idea of where our next step should be. This is founded in Edward Hyams' beliefs as he calls attention to the value of ancient knowledge and history of place in upholding its integrity in the present and future.

Week 4

Prompt: Who are you to interpret nature through art? How do you interpret “the gift of beauty"?

In my personal opinion, no picture, or painting, no matter how good the photographer or painter, will ever capture the whole beauty of nature. If anything, I feel that “art” is too much of an anthropocentric word to place on a natural landscape. A natural landscape is its own purest form of art. However, from a human perspective, art is moving- it evokes an emotional and sometimes even physical response from the audience. Speaking personally, I am constantly dumbfounded by the beauty of nature; whether it is seeing buds sprout on the end of a branch in spring or witnessing the leaves changing colour in the fall. I drove through Algonquin Park the other day, and it is hard to find words to describe the feeling of looking out over the calico blanket of oranges, reds, yellows, and greens covering the tree tops for miles on end.

Nature presents us with the gift of beauty on every scale. I feel it is important to not take it for granted no matter where you are. I have never found much beauty in buildings or big cities. I only ever feel that from nature. I cannot imagine how bleak my neighbourhood would be without the trees, flowers and plants that cover every inch of land that hasn't been turned into a road, or sidewalk or residence. I recall walking downtown in Vancouver once and seeing a plaque outside a building with a quote written on it that read (roughly) “The sun never knew how beautiful it was until it saw itself reflected in a building”. This quote deeply disturbed me as I thought about every body of water I've seen the sun reflected in or the pink shade of mountain tops as they reflect a rising sun, or any sunset I’ve ever witnessed. How could a building ever compare to such natural beauty? In my opinion it could never come close.

I recall this summer tree planting, I had the privilege of witnessing many beautiful mountain views. However, when the forest fires around us worsened, the views were masked by the smoke, turning the landscape into a dreary wall of orange and grey. Though the smoke was bad for many reasons- I remember the feeling when the winds shifted and the view of mountain ranges became a regular part of my day again, I swore I would never take it granted. Taking a moment in day to day life to be mindful and appreciate the beauty of nature around you is so important as one day it might not be there anymore- whether it be from changing seasons or urban development, etc.

Picture #1: Forest fire smoke rolling in this summer.

Picture #2: My friend's cottage near Algonquin Park.

Week 3

Blog prompt: What role does “privilege” play in nature interpretation? Please include your working definition of privilege.

Privilege, to me, means benefits or advantages that are gifted- not earned- to a certain group of people. Privilege is usually due to a majority group having a prejudice towards groups outside of this ‘majority’. These prejudices are harmful and have long standing socioeconomic consequences for non-majority groups. In this blog we will consider what place privilege holds in the ability to experience nature and nature interpretation.

To me, nature has always seemed like an amenity available for everyone to use. However, upon reflection I’ve realised that I only have this perspective because I grew up with the privilege of accessing natural areas as much as I liked. As a middle-class, white woman, I grew up with parents who had enough wealth to take our family on an abundance of different outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, skiing, swimming, and even week long cottage rentals. Additionally, these excursions usually required my parents to have free time or time away from work to take us on trips, which is a privilege not all parents and children get to have. Furthermore, I have the privilege of being able-bodied. This is one I take for granted in my day to day life, but especially when I am out and about in nature. Many of my favourite activities outdoors such as snowboarding and rock climbing would be near impossible if I was physically impaired. Lastly I am not a very cautious or nervous person by nature nor have I had any sort of trauma experience in the outdoors so I have no fear barrier between myself and adventuring outdoors.

The mental and physical health benefits of time spent in nature are widely proven; however, accessibility to wildlife is not available to everyone. Getting out into nature usually requires a vehicle, which requires a certain level of wealth that is not attainable for all. Furthermore, if one wanted to partake in activities in nature beyond walking through a forest, one trip to the local MEC reveals the high costs of equipment for camping, biking, kayaking, backpacking, rock climbing, etc. Even a supportive pair of hiking boots remains unfeasible for many people. Not to mention, if someone did want to start a new activity outdoors, there might be further costs necessary in terms of lessons, training, or guides.

Recognizing and reflecting on one’s own privileges is a critical step in becoming a better nature interpreter. It is important to take into consideration the wide array of backgrounds of your audience and that a lot of them may have had different opportunities from you.

egenvs3000f23

Week 2 My role as an environmental interpreter

Describe your ideal role of environmental interpreter. What might it entail? Where might it be? What skills might you need? (Keep these all-in mind as you begin to work on your assignments – tailor these to that ideal job!)

Blog Response:

When I call it a day and am off to sleep, I think about the events, choices and attitudes of the day just passed. The most fulfilling days always involve time spent in the outdoors, having used my mind, my body, learned something new, and having had the opportunity to get to know or spend time with the people around me. I love speaking with others, learning their world views, and the differences and similarities between myself and the given person, or group of people.

This being said, my ideal job, or role in an environmental interpretation position is one where I am outside, working as a discovery facilitator, and one where I am active throughout the day. It is a dream job of mine to work as a hiking guide or a bikepacking tour guide in a national park! I’m graduating this year and am applying to jobs with these roles involved in them! I am so nervous but cannot wait to see how things go!

Based on my previous experience, as mentioned in the last post, I had the chance to work in a nature interpretation role with BC parks! It gave me a lot of insight into how differently people learn, and how what works really well for some people, makes no sense to others. Age is also a big factor, I was better at working with the adults at the interpretation events than kids. However I must say, that the enthusiasm of kids discovering and learning in the outdoors cannot be beat! It was really helpful, as noted in the readings, to build a sense of rapport between you and those being communicated with, it really makes people listen to what you say because they know where your credibility lies, and how it fits within theirs. It develops a sense of trust and friendship which can make learning what otherwise could be dry information, interesting, digestible and meaningful.

I need to do some more research on how to appeal to different learning styles, but I think it is hard to make plans without having a good understanding of the audience first. How one actually intends to play to different learning styles is very context specific. I suppose the solution, to this, and the best quality, most accessible nature interpretation is to always play to different learning styles and just be adaptable as the audience makes their ways known. There could be visual learners so always having maps, diagrams images, paper and pencils on hand could be good ideas. For those who tend towards kinesthetic learning, making sure there is a physical component to the information, a game, a hike, or bike while learning about different species for example. Understanding that there are active and reflexive listeners, sensing and intuitive listeners, sequential and global learners, and then just playing to the needs of individuals in the given group is I think the best way to go. This is something I’ve learned that I need to make sure to focus on when doing nature interpretation in the future.

I think that its worth mentioning that even if someone is a specific type of learner they still have much to gain from learning in other ways as well. There are simply some things that cannot be learned through one type of learning. One cannot learn how to ride a bike by drawing it out, the drawing could help demonstrate the information, but learning to ride a bike will always be a kinesthetic task. I would expect that everyone has a different balance of the types of learning, but that everyone makes some use of them all at some point. This is a viewpoint I plan to take with me into any nature interpreting career. Always include all the learning styles, but don’t focus too hard to cater to one specific type while neglecting the others. Catering to the individuals, and crowd but still being realistic!

A fun aside (an app I really enjoy using myself):

An app that could be relevant to readers! i-naturalist is a great app for learning about species in the outdoors. You can upload a photo, make a guess as to what you think it is, and you then find out if you are correct on the app. It is also super fascinating because it catalogs and records all the sightings of species and keeps the data for science and the public to use!

Another gif! Go adventure in the outdoors!

ammenvs3000f23

Hey there, thanks for your post!

I love how much thought you're giving to different learning styles in order to engage the most with different types of people. I think that that is a super important factor in trying to communicate with the public and pass on your knowledge and understanding of nature. It sounds like you're going to make a great guide!

As a more hands-on learner myself, I love your ideas for incorporating games into teachings of nature. I agree that being equipped to reach all audiences is probably the best way to go and I’m sure you’ll also learn from them on how best to transmit information along the way. Furthermore, I also use and love the app i-naturalist! My whole family downloaded it this summer and it made hikes through the woods so much more fun as well as educational! I never would have noticed the wide array of mushroom species around me if I wasn’t seeking them out to add to my library on the app. I find that i-naturalist does a great job of incorporating different learning styles in an accessible tool for all to use. The use of visual pictures that you can add to, as well as information on each listed species, makes it a great tool for both visual and hands-on learners to increase their knowledge on their surrounding ecosystem.

Week 2

When I think about my ideal role in environmental interpretation, no specific job comes to mind. I do however know the type of impact I want to have, no matter where I am working, I want to help people obtain a deeper understanding of natural areas, and if possible obtain a personal relationship with the land in order to spark an interest- or even passion- about its future.

A lot of the research done in ecological sciences is released through scientific papers. However the amount of scientific jargon used in peer review papers renders the information virtually inaccessible to the general public (those who do not have a background in science). After taking botany courses at Guelph the past couple years, my perception of the natural world has changed. Looking at a tree, or a flower, or any plant, I no longer saw just a a green stem and some leaves - I saw all the energetic processes and interspecies relationships that have evolved over millennia to allow this being to survive and reproduce in the most efficient and successful way possible. Learning the mechanisms of plants made my appreciation for them grow tenfold. Many people, especially those who have grown up in urban landscapes don’t often see a tree as anything more than that thing that grows on the corner of their yard or street. My goal is to be able to communicate nature science to the public in a way that makes them care more about the natural world. From there, more people will care about the destruction of these beings and ecosystems, and hopefully then we can create real change for endangered areas in need of protection or restoration.

A couple years ago, I spent some time at Fairy Creek, on southern Vancouver Island, protesting the logging of old growth forests. Many people I talked to outside of the movement had either not heard of the protests at all or had, and just pictured a bunch of tree-hugging hippies in the woods getting in the way of natural resource extraction. Although that isn’t totally off base- many of them didn’t understand the intrinsic value of these ecosystems as the media outlets broadcasting the news were limited or largely biased. I believe understanding is caring so if I can help people to understand what makes endangered areas like this important then, with luck, I can make them care about the future of them. Hopefully then they will be more inclined to stand up to government figures and big companies that plan to wipe them out.

One nature interpreter I love to follow on social media and podcasts is “Nerdy by Nature”. I find him quite clear and interesting in the way that he explains ecological issues at hand and why it is important for an area to be protected or restored. I would love to hear more recommendations for any nature podcasts, so if you listen to any please share!

Here's a picture from Fairy Creek

Week 1

Prompt: Describe your current relationship with nature. How has this developed/evolved? Who offered you “a sense of place,” as described in our textbook?

My appreciation for nature and the outdoors dates back to my childhood. Growing up in Ottawa, I was surrounded by lovely hiking trails, tons of lakes, and many green spaces such as Gatineau Park. As a child, I would mimic my mother’s curiosity and admiration for all the living beings that surrounded us as we strolled through the woods or peered out over ponds. Enjoying the outdoors and spending time in nature had always been weaved into my day to day life, however it wasn’t until all activities came to a halt in the spring of 2020, that I understood just how important nature was for my mental health. Over the course of lockdown, taking a walk in the forest near my house a least once a day made noticeable changes to my anxiety levels and overall mental well being. I would often enter the forest feeling overwhelmed with the stress of online school on top of feelings of isolation due to lockdowns and then leave in a much more peaceful and content state. Being in nature is good for you! Who would’ve thought?

After the one year anniversary of COVID lockdowns had passed, I decided at the end of that school year I would find a summer job that required being outside in nature all the time. So I left that May for my first year of planting trees in the forests of Northern British Columbia. The job entails living outside (in a tent) for three and half months, braving all the types of weather and bugs that come with it.

This is where I found my “sense of place”. Living outdoors for such an extended period of time offered a new level of connectedness to nature and land that I had never been able to reach in the confines of a city. I got to truly experience the change of seasons -from the freezing winds and snowfalls of early May to the head-pounding heat waves of mid July. I never missed a bit of rain and felt the incremental warming- and eventual cooling- of the temperature as months passed. Furthermore, over the course of the summer I got to watch all the different plants of the area come to life. I got to witness all the species of wildflowers and berries bloom in the environment around me, the latter of which offered a lovely snack on the job. I learned from others in my camp -as well as some handy books on the properties of Northwest native plants- the names and traditional medicinal uses of many of the species that were growing all around me. From this I learned to mash fireweed roots to soothe the tendonitis in my wrist and even tried making wild-rose bush roots into a tea in an attempt to regulate my menstrual cycle. However, as I must return to a more urban landscape for school I have tried to bring the teachings of the past three summers in the bush with me. I now pay closer attention to the species of trees, flowers and other plants that grow around my area, noticing them as each rise a fall with their season.

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