Anna Walker @awenvs3000f24 - Tumblr Blog

This blog was created for ENVS3000 course at the University of Guelph.

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10: Interpretation ethics

As an ex-Catholic, I spent a good amount of time in my teens thinking about how my personal ethics and rules on morality both differ from and sometimes agree with Catholicism. However, I haven’t really taken the time since then to extend my personal ethics past post-Catholic discourse and relate it to my environmental values. I think it’s very valuable to be aware of your own ethical stances in terms of interpretation. Our ethics are the filter that shapes how we interpret nature, whether or not we acknowledge it. And that interpretation is then past on to our audience.

The first belief I bring to nature interpretation is kindness. Showing kindness to the nature around us means walking lightly and respectfully as we explore. Showing kindness to each other means creating a space where everyone feels able to ask questions and learn. I believe that kindness is one of the key elements that goes into creating a welcoming environment. And welcoming environments set up the possibility for growth and learning.

I also believe that curiosity and discovery lead to caring. It’s very difficult to care about something that you don’t know much about. But by encouraging questions, sharing facts/stories, and pointing out the beauty all around us, a nature interpreter can create connections between their audience and nature. In tandem with curiosity and discovery, is the power of awe. I want to get people excited about that cliff, that leaf, that creek. Wonder is a very powerful tool.

Spent a very long time staring at this view awestruck when I visited Vancouver last summer

Interpretation also comes with many responsibilities. When you act as a nature interpreter, people are putting their trust in you to act responsibly in your role. The basis of this trust is safety. Like we learned from the Timiskaming Tragedy, a lot of things can go wrong in outdoor education spaces. Physical safety means being prepared for hazards, natural disasters and changing weather. But emotional safety also play an important role. Words have power. And that power can be used to harm others if wielded carelessly or irresponsibly. Sensitive topics have to be addressed with care and nuance. Your audience should feel welcome and included in the space you create, through the language used and interpretation employed.

I also think that nature interpreters have a responsibility to convey accuracy whenever possible. This is especially important when interpreting for children, who may not have the skills to properly fact-check your claims. Adult audiences also deserve access to well researched and meaningful information. Working as a nature interpreter means positioning yourself as an expert, and your audience is placing their trust in you to know what you are talking about. I believe in putting in the time and effort to research a topic fully before you share it with others.

There are several interpretation approaches that work best for me as an individual. And those approaches vary greatly by age group. For kids, who often have short attention spans, I think that exploration and games work best. Exploration allows kids to experience nature on their own terms and form a more personal relationship with the world around them. It also allows for the reintroduction of unstructured play that is missing from many kids lives. Giving kids a magnifying glass and a simple objective (eg. “Find as many colour as you can!”) gives them the opportunity to look closer at their surroundings and discover something new.

Games are also a powerful tool for interpretation. Minds often wander during lengthy explanation, but games keep kids focused and their attention on the task at hand. They can also help simplify complex topics and break them down into bite sized pieces. As an example, at my summer job last year, I ran a workshop for 10–12 year-olds who were planting a pollinator garden at their school. I wanted to convey the importance of building new pollinator habitat and introduce them to the concept of habitat fragmentation. So, I created a game that was kind of a mashup of musical chairs and shrinking islands. I placed picnic blankets (“habitats”) on the floor and told the children to pretend to be their favorite pollinator. As the music played, they could fly around, and when it stopped, they needed to find a habitat to stand on. As the game progressed, the habitats kept getting smaller and smaller as I folded down the picnic blankets to represent habitat destruction. Near the end of the game, we added another picnic blanket to represent the new habitat the students were creating. The game showed the students the importance of their garden, while also engaging them with the power of fun.

For adults, I think the best approaches for me to use are storytelling and writing. Stories have staying power, and also allow people to come to their own conclusions in a very fluid way. If I tell you about how I tried (and failed) to stop a park tree from being cut down when I was in the second grade, the take home message can be very different depending on how I spin the story and your own personal beliefs. You might walk away thinking about the importance of urban trees, the emotional bonds kids form with nature, or how privilege impacts how people engage with activism.

Article from The Stoney Creek News

From a personal standpoint, I think that writing is an approach that I am very drawn to. I enjoy the act of writing and like that I can fine-tune my words until I am satisfied. Evocative language can really come alive on the page, and writing allows lots of space for larger ideas to be explored. And, as a creative writing and ecology student, writing about nature in an interpretive way seems like the natural way to blend my two areas of study.

I know that my personal ethic will continue to develop and change as I grow as an interpreter. I’m looking forward to adding more nuance and challenging my own perspective.

awenvs3000f24

Hello, I have enjoyed reading this blog post and appreciate your insight on this week's discussion. I think it is interesting that you mention how you have spent a lot of time considering your ethics in relation and in disagreement with your previous religion, and I think most people like yourself often think of morals and ethics in this manner but do not think to include these types of introspective thoughts in relation to their relationship with nature and interpretation. I agree with you that it is essential to be aware of your own ethics when in a place of interpretation, as they are the baseline for how we conduct our interpretation and influence our audience.

I love the first belief you brought up in your post was kindness. This seems like such a simple and obvious thing, but it is not. I think most people think they are benign kind without trying most of the time, but I have come to realize that real kindness takes effort and acknowledgement, to be truly kind you have to work at it. I think this is very important to incorporate in your interpretation and as you mentioned it creates a safe space for your audience. In chapter 7 of the textbook “Serving Diverse Audience,” the importance of getting to know your audience and building a relationship with them in the little time you know them is essential. How you are as a person, can have a large effect on the experience of your audience. Even if you deliver an amazing interpretation with in depth information, if you do not create a space where your audience feels comfortable around you, included, and that you care that they have shown up, then they will not have a meaningful experience. The simplicity of being kind to your audience could make or break their experience.

I also agree with your next point about curiosity being so important in interpretation, and is a big building block in leading people to care for the environment. I think on top of helping people to build a deeper connection to nature, curiosity and the encouragement of the audience asking questions that may lead to unplanned discussions and stories is essential for engagement. If audience members feel as though all they can do during the interpretation is listen, they might get bored or disengaged with the information being shared, but if there is a safe space built for questions, comments and discussions to be held, people feel they are included and a part of the experience. This leads to a more engaging and enriching experience as well as deeper connections being built with nature.

I appreciate that you touched on the responsibility of interpreters to be accurate in what they are teaching. Interpreters should hold the accuracy of their interpretations to a high level of importance and should be continuing their research constantly to keep up with new information, and changing information, staying up to date and recent. This also makes it easier for people who are inspired by the interpretation and want to continue their learning and research at home, as they will be able to clearly see where the information you were feeding them comes from, that it is accurate, and where they can go from there.

krenvs3000f24

Unit 10 Blog Post

As a nature interpreter, my personal ethics heavily emphasize respect for the environment while ensuring that actual knowledge is being taught. My favourite way to approach almost anything is making sure that it’s personalized. Of course, I am catering to a general audience, but I would make sure that I’m remaining authentic to my true self and allowing others to interpret what they see their way. To do this, I would involve tons of story-telling as I think this could create opportunities for those I am teaching to apply their memories and experiences to what they see. I would also try to incorporate building a deeper appreciation for nature through the various forms of art, as this helps me feel stronger about protecting the environment and maintaining its longevity.

A strong emphasis on respecting the environment would be one of the points on my agenda that I am heavily pushing. Bringing up conservation and respect for the environment would allow for the idea of sustainability to begin to be fostered, along with creating a genuine environment for all those I am teaching to adopt these ideologies. I would hope that through storytelling, I can begin to mention the loss of habitats for specific species and the impact that it has on the ecosystem and surrounding species just so my audience can start to think more about what we can do to conserve our environment and all the organisms that reside in it. Incorporating these ideas into the stories that I tell can help make sure that a wide variety of ages can easily digest the content I am teaching.

One way to ensure that I maintain authenticity while being an interpreter is to foster the deeper emotions I feel in nature by being drawn to the artistic aspects of what I see. While in nature, I tend to think of the songs I am reminded of by the feelings I have, along with appreciating the actual view that I see in the environment, which causes me to feel more of an emotional connection to the surrounding areas, allowing myself to create a deeper appreciation for nature. Serenity is one of the feelings that being in nature provokes of me, which I mentioned in my original discussion post. I’d hope that by trying to get people to connect with the artistic aspects of being in nature, including the natural sounds you’d hear with the songs that being nature reminds you of, you can have this same feeling relayed. While this may not be the case for everyone, I think it can still be conveyed to certain people or similar feelings can be felt.

I prefer approaches that are more focused on the engagement I get from my audience. Ideally, I would take people on interpretive walks through a variety of environments. I would create conversation as I went on these paths to better understand my audience and cater more to its current demographic. Having the adaptability to speak to different audiences would benefit my approach and allow me to ensure that I can relay my content and information to any age demographic. My responsibilities as an interpreter would be to create a safe environment for my audience to connect with each other and their surroundings, and have conservation and respect for the environment, which are two things they leave with after I finish our walk/hike. It would be my responsibility to have these ideas be what my audience feels stronger as I hope I can inspire them in the slightest to put more effort into conserving and protecting our environment and, along with that being more respectful to our environment and the state that is into they can feel strongly about and begin to become mindful of their own actions that impact our environment.

I think I have the qualities to be an effective interpreter as a few of my strengths are in public speaking and communication. These two skills would be highly beneficial for connecting and reaching my audience. When being an interpreter who is guiding a crowd on a walk and trying to teach them, the way you communicate depicts just how they interpret what they see and whether or not they feel strongly about any of the ideas I am trying to teach them about. Using this could help me tell stories that are more engaging, help with all my responsibilities as an interpreter, and ensure that my ideologies and personal beliefs are taught. Hopefully, using my communication skills, I can foster a deeper appreciation for the environment from my audience and influence their own behaviours and emotions when they are in nature so they can feel stronger connections to nature, spend more time outdoors and hopefully inspire them to do what they are capable of to help with protecting our environment.

awenvs3000f24

Hi Krishna! I enjoyed reading your blog this week. I agree that personal ethics are the baseline for the respect we show for the environment, and I can tell throughout what you say in your blog that you have a lot of respect for the environment and that would definitely shine through in your interpretation. I admire the importance you give to being unique within your interpretation. I think making sure you interpret in a way that feels personalized and true to yourself will set you apart from other interpreters. Even if someone could learn the same information from another interpreter, the experience you will provide will make them want to choose you, and they will likely walk away with a longer lasting connection to what they learned because of the way you will help them connect to the stories and information they are learning and experiencing.

I agree that it is important for your interpretation to reach and apply to a wide audience. As we learned in week 3 through textbook chapter 7 “Serving Diverse Audiences,” it is important that everyone and anyone can feel included in what you are teaching and have the same opportunities to learn and connect to nature no matter who they are or where they are from.

I think the emphasis on respecting the environment as the most important thing that guides your interpretation is arguably the most important thing about interpretation. Respect for the environment is the whole purpose of interpretation in my opinion. It brings people in with all different levels of connection, relationship and knowledge of the environment, and deepens this for every person. This might be the first time someone takes a step to become closer to the environment that surrounds them, and the first time that they learn of its importance. If every person that experiences your interpretation walks away with a little bit more appreciation and respect for the environment then I think the job of interpretation has been done. This has such a big impact too because each person who attends an interpretation and leaves with a meaningful experience, will tell their friends and family about what they learned and felt, who will tell their friends and family and so on. This ripple effect seems small but can make such a big difference in how many people are actually touched by one interpretation, and how many people become a little bit more aware of the respect the environment deserves.

I definitely agree that storytelling is an effective way to provoke meaning from the audience. When information is taught through story telling rather than random facts that don't all connect in a flowing matter, myself and many people grasp the concepts so much easier. Framing information in a story not only makes it easier to understand and to stick with you but it also makes you feel something and connect. Mentioning the loss of habitats for species, and especially putting this into a story will provoke emotion in the audience and they will care about the species you are mentioning more than if they heard it as a cold hard fact.

Blog post week 10

Throughout this blog I will be discussing and developing my overall ethics within nature interpretation. I will connect my points with different sources and discussions that we have touched upon throughout this course as they intersect appropriately. I will discuss the beliefs I bring to nature interpretation, the responsibilities I have within this field, the approaches that are most suitable for me as an individual and how I would translate all of this through interpretation in order to have a successful and rewarding career in this field.

The first major belief I bring into my interpretation is the power of education within interpretation. Interpretation should be an entertaining and enjoyable experience that people choose to participate in. Most people are looking for a leisurely experience when they are signing up for interpretation, however the way their experience becomes meaningful and allows them to form a deeper connection to the nature they were inherently curious about is because nature interpreters are educators. Education as a baseline for interpretation and the benefit of this is discussed within chapter 4 of the course textbook. Visiting a natural environment can be a great experience for people, but when the audience gets to dive deep into the history of a natural location and be educated on it, this creates space for a much deeper and more meaningful connection to the location and the experience which they will walk away with (Beck et al., 2018). This meaningful experience through education also makes the audience more inclined to care for the environment more than they did previously, provoking them to feel responsible for the protection of these areas and the natural environment.

Another belief I bring to interpretation is the interconnectedness of all life, humans, wildlife, and nature. In week 7, the article “The Music of Nature and the Nature of Music” resonated with these beliefs. This article gave a perfect representation of the interconnectedness of life. It represented music as universally experienced and enjoyed by describing the ways animals create music and humans create music, and the similarities between these processes (Gray et al., 2001). Plants and other environmental forces can also be included in this because of the sounds they make that resemble songs, like the rustling trees in the wind. I found this article beautiful, and viewed it as an example of the interconnectedness of life, the fact that humans, and animals of all forms, from all corners of the world are not as different as it might seem on the surface. The way that we all connect in our cultures, communication, pure amusement and connect emotionally to music shows how much more similar we are than different, and why it is so important to interpret and learn about the nature we share this earth with (Gray et al., 2001).

(Photo from: European Ranger Federation)

Now I will discuss the responsibilities I have and believe are part of my duty as an interpreter. The first responsibility I have is to understand the needs and learning levels of my target audience, specifically the age group of each audience. This is discussed throughout chapter 7 of the textbook titled “Serving Diverse Audience.” This chapter talks about the necessity of getting to know your audience as an interpreter, saying “to effectively serve and relate to audiences, you must know them (Beck et al., 2018).” Basing this on different audience age groups can provide a deeper connection between the audience and the interpreter, as well as the audience and the nature being interpreted. Doing research on how children learn, what their specific age groups have prior knowledge of in school and what keeps them engaged will elevate their interpretation experience exponentially. They will be more excited to participate and find passion in the information being taught, if the interpreter takes the time to make the information digestible, understandable and exciting. This can be said for teenagers, young adults versus older adults and elderly people. Tailoring an interpretation to your audience shows the care you have for the information you want to sharee, and your audience's experience.

(Photo from: European Ranger Federation)

(Photo from: Parenting Science)

The second responsibility I have is to respect the recreational benefits of interpretation. In chapter 3 of the textbook “Values to Individuals and Society,” the author discusses the importance of people's leisure time (Beck et al., 2018). This section mentions how people often do not want to spend their leisure time in a learning environment. This is why I feel it would be my responsibility as an interpreter to put the recreational and fun aspects of my interpretation as a priority. Making an interpretation educational, while still making it feel like a fun recreational experience is crucial because “pleasant experiences seem necessary to maintain a high quality of life (Beck et al., 2018).”

Another responsibility I feel is important and what I would bring to my interpretation would be to acknowledge my own experience and privilege as an educated white woman. I feel this is especially important when in a space where I would be interacting with people from all cultures, race, socioeconomic status and all different walks of life. An article that speaks to the importance of recognizing privilege is titled “Helping teachers unpack their invisible knapsacks” by Gallavan, 2005. Chapter 7 in the textbook that I mentioned previously also speaks to this when it discusses the importance of including and reaching diverse audiences from all backgrounds, as well as the importance of including people who are disabled. By unpacking my own privilege, I become a more self aware individual. This improves my ability to advocate for marginalized individuals and communities, which is essential when given a platform where people listen to your voice that reaches so many people with so much range in privilege.

Finally, I will discuss what approaches within interpretation would be most suitable to me as an individual. Chapter 6 of the course textbook outlines the different ways people learn and how they are all valuable in their own right. The 3 main learning types that are discussed within this section are cognitive domain learners, affective domain learners, and kinesthetic domain learners (Beck et al., 2018). Personally, I reside in the affective domain through what I prioritize in my learning and how I learn best, meaning this is the domain that would be the strongest within my interpretations. Effective learners prioritize the attitude and feeling that comes through learning (Beck et al., 2018). To learn is to provoke meaning and connection. I would bring this to my interpretations by putting strong emphasis on the feeling my interpretations bring to the audience, I want them to feel excited about what I am teaching them, to be engaged in the material and to feel like they are having fun and getting a meaningful experience out of their time rather than enduring a time of ingesting facts that they do not connect to and cannot understand. In order to optimize my interpreting career and make my work as accessible to as many people as possible, I would choose to do in person interpretations at specific nature sites that I am passionate about, talking about issues that I am passionate about as well. I would like to lead interpretive walks through these areas, giving the audience a chance to explore the area first hand, interacting physically while learning audibly. I would also like to make my interpretations available online, through a website, or even a youtube channel posting videos of my walks. This way, people who cannot afford to participate in interpretive experiences, or people who are not located near my in person interpretations can learn about the areas I interpret and can get as close to the in person experience as possible.

afhenvs3000f24

Unit 9

I remember how, when I was still in high school, I just wanted to come home and unwind, seeing whatever was on the TV after a really exhausting day. My ritual of half-watching the news as I scrolled through my phone was suddenly disrupted by a segment that had all the hallmarks of joining the long list of forgotten stories in marine science. Then, I heard, "The green sludge that could power our future," and I paused. I looked up, curious. What followed altered the world for me and put me on my path to where I am today, studying Environmental Management.

These words by the news anchor were animated with that very rare tone of genuine excitement. The camera cut to a sprawling, bright-green pond, bubbling under the sun. What I think most amazed me then was the realization that what I was looking at wasn't just any body of water, but an algae farm. It wasn't just about the algae clinging to rocks and ruining beach days; it was about a world of potential I'd never considered. The segment dove into the basics: how algae grow at incredible speeds, don't require fresh water or fertile soil, and can store up to 50% of their body weight in oil that can be turned into biofuel. My jaw dropped.

A lightbulb just went off in my head. Here was this slimy, green organism-so unassuming, so oft-rejected by the public which was quietly capable of making fossil fuels obsolete. The notion seemed the stuff of a science fiction movie, but there it was, on a 6 pm news slot.

The more I listened, the more it resonated with me. What if the algae could capture not only carbon dioxide from the air but also grow in aggressive media, such as seawater or even wastewater? I remembered the scientist being interviewed and saying, "Algae don't compete with traditional crops for arable land. They're nature's ultimate recyclers, turning sunlight and CO2 into liquid energy." I sat up a little straighter; my heart was pounding. That line stuck with me, humming in the back of my mind long after the segment had moved on. This was bigger than a fun fact to whip out during science class.

At the time, I was struggling with what to do after high school. I'd always cared about the environment, but I'd never quite known how to turn that concern into action. That segment was like a jigsaw piece clicking into place: I could work in a field where nature wasn't just something to be protected; it was a partner in creating solutions for some of the world's biggest challenges. That algae, oftentimes an overlooked part of our ecosystem, actually could serve in a way as groundbreaking as sustainable energy was what truly inspired me. It sealed my decision to study Environmental Management, hoping someday I would be part of the team to make innovations like algae-based biofuel mainstream.

Let me take you back to what made algae so cool. During that segment, the narrator just listed out a string of facts that got me wide-eyed. Did you know that algae can double their biomass in as little as 24 hours? Or that they can thrive in briny seawater where other crops wither and die? This is not all about speed and adaptability, though. The most astonishing fact was that algae could produce oils rich enough to be directly converted into biodiesel. Unlike corn or soybeans used for traditional biofuels, algae don't hog valuable agricultural land or guzzle fresh water. It is a zero-compromise way of producing energy, the sort of thing which I'd always assumed would exist only in the distant future.

I was practically giddy over how the algae could power vehicles, homes, and whole communities while sopping up CO2. The algae weren't cool; they're game-changers. More than an ivory tower curiosity, the possibility of clean renewable energy that wouldn't compete with the world for food or water is something the world most desperately needs.

Fast forward to today, I am a third-year Environmental Management student, and the spark that ignited after that news segment burns bright. Every time I read about advances in algae biofuel research, I know exactly why I chose this path. I want to be a part of a world where innovations like these aren't just talked about on evening news shows but are implemented into how we live and interact with our environment.

The algae taught me that even the most minute and insignificant parts of our world can make all the difference. They are the underdog of nature, and they just go to prove that true power isn't flashy or grand; it's usually hidden in spaces so small, just waiting to be noticed.

But if you take away anything from my story, let it be this: pay attention to the "green sludge" moments. Maybe they just might be the start of something that would change your life and maybe even change the world

awenvs3000f24

Hi Farhiya, I loved reading your blog this week, It really touched me and inspired me. I cannot believe you can look back and pinpoint a specific moment that contributed to the realization of what you want to do with your future career and what you are passionate about. That is an incredible feeling and I wish I could remember the specific moment in my childhood when I realized I wanted to be a teacher.

This blog was so intriguing, and you painted your memory so vividly. I am so surprised that this algae is not more known about, and I guess that is the problem of environmental issues and the public. If more people knew how much this natural living thing could help our planet and the issue of climate change, then more people would get inspired just like you, to research and learn more about how magnificent this species is, and to get involved in how this could benefit the planet.

I am taking a climate change course right now, and we have discussed many of the options of tools used to reduce climate change and capture CO2. This algae was never mentioned but I definitely think it should have, if we could find a way to protect this species, study it to learn more of how it can benefit the environment and spread it safely to more places, it could be an incredible tool.

Thank you for sharing this entertaining story. You seem very knowledgeable on this subject and I enjoyed learning from this blog. I can tell you would make a great nature interpreter.