Claires Nature Corner

Welcome! Come with me as I expore nature interpretation in depth throughout the semester.  

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Final Tumblr Post

I can’t believe I am submitting my final blog post for this course. I specify “final blog post for this course” as I am not sure if I am done blogging. I found it very therapeutic each week to blog about what I had learned each week and explain my nature journey. However, writing this final post for the course feels like the perfect way to end the semester and commemorate what I have learned and how much I have grown. When I first began this course I thought nature interpretation was just for people that lead trail hikes or nature walks. However, I was naive as there is so much more depth to the role of a nature interpreter and it requires knowledge of not only nature ,but also how to communicate and effectively engage many different types of people. It is a complex job with a lot of responsibility to effectively communicate. Through developing an understanding of what a nature interpreter actually is, I also learned a lot about myself.

My understanding of what nature means to me and my personal ethics have grown extensively throughout this course. I believe everyone should have access to experience nature because nature is the most important place on earth. I know nature isn’t just one place but I know that all of nature is equally important and precious. From reading the course material, reading others' blog posts and writing my own blog posts, I have learned that nature holds a special place in everyone's minds and hearts. I believe that nature connects us all and I am so grateful for the relationship I have with nature. I believe everyone should have an equal opportunity to experience nature and learn about it. However, I also believe that nature is something we as humans take for granted. Maybe because we don’t fully understand it. We are so lucky to have all this natural beauty in the world but we don’t respect it. I believe if we don’t take action soon to protect it, we won't have much of the nature we know left to share with future generations. I have gained a new sense of responsibility as a personal ethic from this course. I feel responsible to share the knowledge I have gained from taking this course and my previous sciences course. Especially the nature specific knowledge I have gained on habitat destruction, pollution and climate change. Now that I know how to effectively interpret nature, as I have learned through this course, blogging and podcasting, I want to continue to share. I have shown my family and friends my blog and my podcasts and they all expressed that they learned a lot from what I shared. If I can make an impact on the people closest to me, maybe I can make an impact on a larger scale. To ensure I take what I learned from this course and use it moving forward I have decided to create an action plan for myself.

I will start a twitter version of my current tumblr blog

I plan to start a twitter account to share my nature knowledge as I believe it is a more useful platform. This is because I check twitter regularly but I don’t post often because I didn’t previously have a direction for my account. Furthermore, I believe more people post and read posts on twitter compared to tumblr. Therefore, I will be reaching a wider audience and have a wider variety of informative information to re-post on twitter because there is a wider variety of the science and nature community that post on twitter. I currently follow some of my previous science professors and some informative science figures on twitter and I truly enjoy reading their posts. I also enjoy that twitter has a 280 character limit which makes it easier to keep posts concise with only relevant information. This is because I feel like people are more likely to read a short burst of information compared to my current 500 word posts.

I will get more involved in projects that work to protect nature

There are many initiatives working to protect the environment, however I have never taken the time to learn more about them and get involved. Specifically, I have always been interested in climate change mitigation. I plan to continue to get more educated on the topic. From my knowledge some of the ways I can help mitigate climate change and help protect nature is participating in garbage pick ups in nature areas, buying less plastic based projects, eating plant based, and traveling less by gas powered transportation. I know this won’t instantly fix the problem of climate change or instantly protect nature. However, if I start my journey of taking action against climate change and share my successes with others, I may be able to show others what they can do to protect nature.

I will continue to learn more about nature and nature interpretation

Even though our nature interpretation course is coming to an end, my nature interpretation journey is just beginning now that I better understand it. I plan to continue to research more about nature to expand my knowledge so that when I interpret nature for others I have all the facts. I truly enjoy reading online articles by Ecology Letters as they are a trusted peer-reviewed source that focus on a lot of topics I find interesting, including a lot about nature. The more I educate myself on current nature research, the better I can interpret nature to others. I also plan to get involved by joining different nature interpreter groups, such as High Park Nature Center on Facebook. This way I can network to get to know other nature interpreters and learn new ways to interpret nature for our world.

I will explore!

Lastly I plan to continue to grow my connection to nature by getting outside as often as I can and exploring our beautiful natural world. As I am signing off for the last time during this course I just want to say thank you for all the great connections that I have made. As well as give a final reminder to never stop exploring, because you never know what you will discover!

- Sydney Spearing

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Hi Sydney,

Thanks for sharing you post. I agree and I can’t believe this is our final blog posts.  It’s a little bittersweet because I love hearing everyone’s thoughts and experiences as well as seeing the beautiful nature pictures people share.  

When I first began this course, I thought nature interpretation was just for people that lead trail hikes or nature walks. However, I was naive as there is so much more depth to the role of a nature interpreter and it requires knowledge of not only nature

I talked about this in my original blog post well because I had the same assumption.  I am glad to hear I am not alone, but also grateful for the opportunity to learn about meaningfully engaging people in nature interpretation and the many forms that can take.  

I believe everyone should have access to experience nature because nature is the most important place on earth. I know nature isn’t just one place but I know that all of nature is equally important and precious.

I would agree with this statement as I believe everyone should have equal opportunities to nature and nature interpretation.  I am glad our course gave so many of us (including myself) the ability to challenges our own assumptions and biases and learn and grow throughout that process.  One thing I was very nervous before starting the course is that this course wouldn’t address the inequality issues that are prevalent in nature interpretation, but this was not the case.  Even the textbook has a whole section on how to communicate, be respectful of and provide programming to individuals with disabilities (Beck, Cable & Knudson, 2018).  And our class discussions were equally enlightening in sharing additional barriers that exist in accessing nature and quality nature interpretation.  

 A beautiful shot of Yukon.  I hope my own photos have encouraged people who want to visit to do so (when it is safe for the communities again).  The Yukon will not fail to inspire you and leave you breathless with its amazing beauty. 

Thank you for sharing your action plan.  You have come up with some great action items and I can clearly see what you are interested in and who you are becoming as a nature interpreter.  If you feel comfortable please share you twitter handle on here so I can give it a follow and keep up with the amazing work I know you will do.  

I also appreciate how you are making a commitment to get involved with projects that protect nature and provided us with a few attainable examples.  Many of these are small but powerful changes that people can make.  I will share this paper with you by Wynes and Nicholas (2017) which communicates and evaluates some of the most effective actions people can take to help mitigate climate change!

Lastly, my favourite action of yours it to explore.  The photos that everyone has shared throughout this course has made me want to explore more than ever. I hope my photos that I have shared have inspired people to do that same.  If anything, it has reminded me this earth is a beautiful place worthy of protection and I know by exploring more and more of it I will continue to be inspired by nature and inspired to take meaningful protective action like you have committed to. 

Claire

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: for a better world. Sagamore Venture.

Wynes, S., & Nicholas, K. A. (2017). The climate mitigation gap: education and government recommendations miss the most effective individual actions. Environmental Research Letters, 12(7), 074024.

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Guiding ethics as a nature interpreter

For people who think too much, nature can be a difficult thing to wrap your head around. After all, we are stupid featherless bipeds stuck to a rock we will never conquer. Looking back upon the nature we emerged from, it can be overwhelming to see just how widespread the degradation of our home has become. With this devastation in mind, rekindling a connection to nature is a deeply important role for interpreters to fulfill. Not only does it provide numerous physical and emotional benefits, allowing others to realize the ‘gift of nature’ sparks an instinct within the audience to protect what we have (Beck et al., 2018). While providing this spark is a difficult challenge without being in the minds of our audience, I believe nature will do the work for us. Depending on what you need to feel fulfilled, it can be a teacher, or a friend, or a challenge. That experience, whether it be a guided hike on the side of a mountain or a casual walk through a butterfly sanctuary, is molded by the audience. As an interpreter, to offer that experience which provides spiritual uplift through our direction is to succeed (Beck et al., 2018). My personal tenet as a nature interpreter is that the natural world is intrinsically valuable as a chicken soup for the soul.

–

Some forms of interpretative media, like documentaries and zoos, occasionally create narratives within the natural world to harbour an emotional connection to the material. While this is suitable for kids and people who may not particularly care for the environment, this does not align with my perspective on interpretation. I see the environment as something to understand and appreciate – an opportunity to ask ourselves where we fit.

Why are we here?

I imagine the answer would change from person to person, but it’s a rhetorical question anyways. I am more interested in questions that have answers. Why do sunsets look like that? Is it just me, or does each one seem to look different? As an interpreter, I bring the personal belief that inspiration within nature comes from getting to know it personally. As I have probably demonstrated with my long-winded posts about the science of rocks and mushrooms, it is knowledge that fuels that relationship for me. But some of us have been inspired artistically, through dreams of the northern lights strewn on campus. Others, including myself, have discussed its importance to our stress relief and mental wellbeing. Throughout the semester’s prompts, we have all discussed the various ways that nature has touched our lives, but I would argue that it is exposure that brings it out of us.

–

I personally see inspiration in nature as an outcome of allowing ourselves to feel small again. As an student in environmental science learning increasingly complex and boring information year after year, it is always uplifting to get the chance to ask a ‘stupid’ question about something I had never considered. Furthermore, I have always loved the excitement of feeling separated from the outside world, and the freedom to do ‘stupid’ things like climb trees or find out what leaves taste the worst. This is where the inspiration comes from, but it is realized when we take our experiences back into the real world. It is our responsibility to think about what we get to see and experience. To get to know the fight-or-flight response personally, maybe a deer will sneak up behind you and scare the living hell out of you while out for a hike in the middle of nowhere. Both of you will run, but only one has the chance to think about how their body feels as the adrenaline winds down. The more time spent getting to know your surroundings and the beings within it, the more opportunities there are to experience something new.

Furthermore, as someone driven by curiosity and the desire to know everything, it is my responsibility to understand that the role of an interpreter is not exclusively to educate. A true nature interpreter is not a teacher, although they are rightfully associated with information (Beck et al., 2018). There are more ways to know nature than are found in books and classrooms. For instance, nature interpretation often includes offering direct experience with the subject. Particular when dealing with beautiful vistas, it is best to leave these landscapes without explanation as the scene interprets itself (Beck et al., 2018). Giving the audience space to think for themselves encourages reflection. Perhaps you become a guide taking people up Mount Everest – see this not as moment to educate a captive audience, but rather an opportunity to accompany someone on a personal adventure. Hopefully, the questions they ask will be less in terms of:

How did this mountain get so big?

And instead, more along the lines of:

How did I get so small?

–

The most suitable approach to interpretation will be to rely on the ‘gift of nature’ to provide the inspiration that education alone cannot accomplish. This is a particularly important point for an aspiring know-it-all like myself, who often attempts to rely on words to convey meaning that can’t be conveyed in words. This is something I talked about in depth back in Week 4 because of my lack of artistic talent. Still, the textbook goes on to provide further guiding principles and associated gifts (pp. 85), offering suggestions as to giving interpretation deeper meaning (Beck et al., 2018). For instance, an important gift of interpretation to consider is ‘the gift of relationship’ (Beck et al., 2018). According to the textbook, the ‘gift of relationship’ is that the interpretive program must be capable of attracting support, whether it be financial, volunteer, political, or administrative. In the textbook, this is phrased in the context of being able to provide support back to the informational program by indicating its importance. However, given the current state of the environment and the significance of the ‘gift of beauty’, I would argue this could be understood as a tool to create support against the continued destruction of our world. Heeding back to the introduction, we live in a world where it can be confusing or distressing to think about the future of the natural world. Therefor, as a nature interpreter, it is our goal and approach to show the beholder that nature is still out there, is worth saving, and that it can be saved.

Beck, L., Cable, T.T., & Knudson. D.M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage for a better world. Sagamore-Venture.

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Hello James,

Thanks for sharing your personal thoughts on nature interpretation. You had a lot of awesome commentary and I really agreed with a lot of what you said.  

it can be overwhelming to see just how widespread the degradation of our home has become. With this devastation in mind, rekindling a connection to nature is a deeply important role for interpreters to fulfill

I really like how you described it because I feel the same way sometimes.  The news, the media and other sources often focus on the “doom and gloom” of it all and it hard be hard to stay positive when the pieces we read don’t talk about anything positives.  One thing I love hearing about is the success stories in conservation and the environment and adding those to aspects of nature interpretation can be so powerful because they can provide the audience with real world examples of success stories on how humans acted to repair some of the damage they have done.  I noticed while reading through the principles of nature interpretation in the textbook that the authors associated these with the gifts we can provide to the people not burdens (Beck, Cable and Knudson, 2018).  We can provide the most important “gift of hope” as the “beauty of the intricacies of nature give rise to hope, and these are the tools of the interpreter” (Beck and Cable, 2011).  It is such an important job that interpreters have to spark hope and help people rekindle their connection to nature like you mentioned.  

I personally see inspiration in nature as an outcome of allowing ourselves to feel small again

I love how you worded this because I completely agree.  Throughout you post your reflected on some of your various experiences in nature and in particular in the mountains.  I know this feeling of being small all too well.  Sometimes it’s the largest of landscapes the evoke the feelings of being small and these places also have a way of inspiring you and your own self reflection.  When I hiked the same mountain every day this summer it felt next to impossible to get our research done because all I really wanted to do was sit down and contemplate my entire life and that can be such a powerful connection to nature. I was able to see these amazing views and quite frankly in the moment it was hard to think that anything in our lives mattered because when I looked out at the view I saw hundreds upon hundreds of mountains older than the last ice age and I couldn’t help but be inspired by nature and life itself.  

One of the many views this summer that made me feel small which as you mentioned can be a powerful source of inspiration.  Tombstone territorial park, Yukon.  

Therefore, as a nature interpreter, it is our goal and approach to show the beholder that nature is still out there, is worth saving, and that it can be saved.

As a nature interpreter, I would say we share this guiding ethic.  Often times those of us who live in cities forget that such pristine nature exists and that the beauty of nature can be found almost anywhere. That is why the job of nature interpreters are more important than ever!

Claire

Beck, L., & Cable, T. T. (2011). The gifts of interpretation: Fifteen guiding principles for interpreting nature and culture. Sagamore Publishing.

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: for a better world. Sagamore Venture.

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My interpretation ethics

Everyone has their own sense of self and belief systems and it is important to reflect on those before you jump into the world of nature interpretation.  Our ethics guide how and why we share our knowledge with others, and this affects the people we share it with.  This is why me must be aware of our own beliefs and how they impact our philosophies of interpretation.  

Describe your personal ethic as you develop as a nature interpreter.

When thinking about my own personal ethics I thought of what areas of nature interpretation I am most passionate and enthusiastic about.  I was reading through our textbook and three principles and associated gifts stood out to me (Beck, Cable & Knudson, 2018, p. 85).  The first principle I think guides me and my work is “to spark an interest, interpreters must relate the subject to the lives of the people in the audience” with the associated gift being the gift of a spark.  The second guiding principle that I strive to achieve is that “interpreters should instill in people the ability, and the desire, to send the beauty of their surroundings” which can help encourage resource preservation which provides the gift of beauty.  Both of these “gifts” are very important to me so they are something I have thought of throughout the course and will keep with me as they guide who I am as an interpreter and what my goals are regarding interpretation.  

Cotton grass on top of a mountain from the Kluane lake region, southwestern Yukon.  

What beliefs do you bring?

One of my core beliefs is that humans and nature can peacefully interact if enough people are motivated too.  We often focus on the negatives of how humans are destroying the environment and I think this is a sad outlook.  I think one foundation of nature interpretation is about getting people to care about the environment and its conservation.  There are every day actions that we can take to coexist with nature and as nature interpreters we can share this information.  If we only scare people they wont want to experience the beauty of nature and all that it can offer but if we uplift people and encourage them to care about the environment for its protection.  

What responsibilities do you have?

I think that all nature interpreters have the responsibility to interpret nature in a sustainable and inclusive way.  I think we need to be cognizant of how our actions can affect the environment.  To me, this means making sure our audience can stick on trails, leaves no traces, and no harm is done to the environment while we interpret it.  If we leave a place with garbage it isn’t as beautiful and it isn’t fair to the people who want to enjoy this nature area in the future.  We also have a responsibility to ensure our interpretation is accessible to all.  This means there is lots of work ahead to make sure people of all abilities and financial backgrounds can access nature interpretation.  It is also a important responsibility of nature interpreters to include the original caretakers of the land in as many ways as possible and recognizing the important and ongoing relationships that indigenous peoples have with the land and water.  There are many other responsibilities, so many so they could deserve their own blog post, but those are the ones that stand out to me as the most important.  

Pisew falls provincial park.  I loved this photo because it looks like you are walking into the unknown.  

What approaches are most suitable for you as an individual?

For me when I think of how I want to interpret, I like to be in and surrounded by nature with “boots on the ground”.  I think that’s when I am most passionate about nature and that passion can translate into the way I share my knowledge.  My favorite way to share knowledge with others is to just be in nature and interpret as I go.  I love sharing the facts I know and the history of the land I am on.  

Although I think of nature walks as my ideal style of nature interpretation one quote from the textbook really resonated with me.  

“Interpretation can last a few seconds to a lifetime” (Beck et al., 2018, p. 4).

This quote resonated with me because it helped me realize that interpretation isn’t always about formal nature guided walks or a lecture in a big classroom, it can be spontaneous and part of a single moment.  Our own life experiences in nature and with others can provide interpretation opportunities and we can all learn from each other. One moment this reminds me of is when I was working this summer and a friend joined us for a hike up the mountain.  At the time he was so fascinated by all the different plants that we knew.  We thought he was just asking to be nice, but he was fascinated with the plant and said he had fallen in love with Senecio lugens which to us was a rather unremarkable plant species.  His passion and enthusiasm that he brought with him was so inspiring and uplifting to me in that moment.  Or my friend who is an ethnobotanist, even though my coworker and I were botanists we had no idea of the amazing medicinal and edible uses for the plants we saw every day.  When she came up with us and described all the uses for these amazing plants it made me interested in our research from a whole new perspective.  

This photo is from my high school environmental science field trip where we went on a nature walk.  Prior to this course if you asked me what nature interpretation was I would have shown you this photo.  Now I know that nature interpretation isn't about one thing or the other its about inspiring, teaching, and learning from others with the common goal of preserving the environment for ecological or cultural value.  

I guess what I am trying to say with these examples is that the ability to interpret nature is all around us even when we don’t notice. Before joining this course I had a lot of assumptions about what nature interpretation was, how it was performed and who nature interpretation was for and to be honest, I was completely wrong! This course and the class discussion have been so helpful at dismantling my own personal biases and challenging my previous thoughts.  I have learned so many different ways to interpret and how to reach and inspire new audiences who are traditionally left out of important conversations.  

What assumptions did you have about nature interpretation before joining this course?

Claire

Beck, L., Cable, T.T., & Knudson. D.M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage for a better world. Sagamore-Venture.

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Cool Science: Cold Plants

Hey everyone,

Its been a while since I have been on this blog, I have missed reading everyone’s post! This week we were tasked with sharing some cool science. The Yukon is filled with AMAZING PLANTS, and the specific area I visited in the Yukon this summer was a hotspot for rare alpine plants.  One (well all but I am going to talk about one) of these plants is probably the coolest.

Saxafraga oppositifolia or purple mountain saxifrage is a beautiful, purple-flowered plant that lives in some of the coldest places on earth.  Before I left for the Yukon I was reading about some of the cool arctic and alpine plants that I might find and when I read about this one it instantly went to the top of my bucket list.

I took this photo in the Yukon using a magnifying glass. See the beautiful purple petals growing amount the rocks.  

Purple mountain saxifrage grows in small cushions on the ground, so it forms clumps and it grows on rocks or on tundra soil, sometimes they can even grow on top of moss.  Like its name suggests it grows at the tops of mountains. If you stop and think about it, it is insane that plants can live at such high elevations because the tops of mountains are cold, windy and buried under snow for sometimes >9 months in a year.  When you think about where plants grow what do you think of? Do you think of a tropical rainforest? Maybe a greenhouse? All of these places would be far too hot for purple mountain saxifrage to survive.  The plant has a number of cool adaptations that allow it to survive. Since it is so windy on the mountains, they grow very close to the ground so they don’t blow away.  Since its time to grow is so short the flowers can open underneath the snow which is my favourite part about it.  Most plants wait until the snow melts and the weather is nice so they can flower, this plant is used to the cold so it will flower when it is still too cold for most other plants.  

See this plant flower while under the snow. Photo by Nergui (2021). 

This plant wins the record for the highest elevation angiosperm in Europe (Korner 2011).  That means of all the flowering plants on the mountains in Europe this one plant can survive higher than all others. It also at the highest latitude site in the world, meaning it can grow further north than most other plants and it grows only 7° away from the North Pole!

The plant is hardy, lives in the cold and knows how to survive in extreme temperatures similar to the people of Nunavut, which is why it is the territorial flower (Nunavut Legislative Assembly).  It is also an important medicinal plant to the people of Nunavut as it can help relieve stomach problems.  It also symbolizes spring as it flowers before everything else and flowers at a time young caribou are born. The flower brings with it good weather and beauty to the land.  

Claire

Körner, C. (2011). Coldest places on earth with angiosperm plant life. Alpine Botany, 121(1), 11-22.

Nergui, Juugee. “Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga Oppositifolia).” INaturalist, INaturalist, 7 Nov. 2021, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/100499486.

Nunavut Legislative Assembly. The official flower of Nunavut. The Official Flower of Nunavut | Nunavut Legislative Assembly. Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://assembly.nu.ca/about-legislative-assembly/official-flower-nunavut.

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I also had to add that when we found this plant both my boss and I dropped to the GROUND to look at this beauty.  We were laying down on the soaking wet snow and rocks all the while enjoying the simple beauty of this plant.  I initially spotted it and I screamed out loud I was so excited.  

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Hi Claire!

I was so excited reading your post and I’m glad there are others out there who like to geek out with plants! :) I haven’t heard of purple mountain saxifrage before but this is so incredibly cool! I am so glad you were able to learn about this plant and then find it in the wild, it is so interesting that these flowers are able to open up under the snow. Was this trip to the Yukon for a summer job? The Yukon is definitely on my bucket list for places to visit and to be able to work there and observe all sorts of plants would be so cool. 

Your post made me think about two things. One: do you know how they reproduce? Is there a pollinating beetle that helps these flowers out? And two: it reminded me of a plant called skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) that lives here in Ontario and is actually able to melt through snow in the spring by producing heat with an increased metabolism process. The skunk cabbage gives off a fairly strong odour that attracts the first pollinators of the season since it is still generally quite cold and snow still covers the ground. It looks much different from the purple mountain saxifrage as it has a spathe and spadix structure like a lily. 

Thanks so much for sharing this with us this week, I feel like I need to travel up north just to see this flower, too!

-Emma:)

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Hi Emma,

Thank you for your response. I am glad that you found my post interesting! I love learning about new plants and all kinds of cool plants.  I also enjoyed reading your post this week about the ginko tree, I have seen them around campus, but I was never sure what they are so thanks or sharing.

Was this trip to the Yukon for a summer job?

Yes! I was working doing research and doing my own undergraduate thesis project.  It was such an amazing experience to live in the remote Yukon and climb a mountain 5 times a week to see amazing plants.  If you are ever fortunate enough to visit northern Canada I would say GO! Every Canadian should explore that amazing part of our country.  

Do you know how they reproduce?

Yes, its actually very cool. Most arctic plants including purple mountain saxifrage are able of self-fertilizing, meaning they can pollenate themselves.  Its not always great to self pollenate so they can also be pollinated by bumblebees which have special adaptations to live in cold environments just like plants do. They can also be pollenated by flies and caterpillars and butterflies.  

Saxifraga oppositifolia in Norway (Eidesen, 2020).

I had never heard of purple skunk cabbage before you mentioned it, but it is a crazy looking flower.  How cool! I was going to ask you what the odor smells like but ill take a guess and say maybe it smells like a skunk which doesn’t smell pleasant, but I guess the pollinators of the plant feel otherwise.  Ah so many cool plants, thanks for sharing!

It has been so cool this week to learn about everyone’s cool science facts.  It is nice to go back to the core of nature interpretation by showing enthusiasm for the work of interpretation itself (Beck, Cable & Knudson, 2018, p. 13).  By sharing what we are passionate it about it is clear everyone this week is very enthusiastic about so many different nature-related topics.  

Claire 

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: for a better world. Sagamore Venture.

Eidesen, Pernille B. “Flower Love in Bjørndalen.” UNIS, 9 July 2020, https://www.unis.no/flower-love-in-bjorndalen/.

[cesenvs3000f21]

Cool Science: Cold Plants

Hey everyone,

Its been a while since I have been on this blog, I have missed reading everyone’s post! This week we were tasked with sharing some cool science. The Yukon is filled with AMAZING PLANTS, and the specific area I visited in the Yukon this summer was a hotspot for rare alpine plants.  One (well all but I am going to talk about one) of these plants is probably the coolest.

Saxafraga oppositifolia or purple mountain saxifrage is a beautiful, purple-flowered plant that lives in some of the coldest places on earth.  Before I left for the Yukon I was reading about some of the cool arctic and alpine plants that I might find and when I read about this one it instantly went to the top of my bucket list.

I took this photo in the Yukon using a magnifying glass. See the beautiful purple petals growing amount the rocks.  

Purple mountain saxifrage grows in small cushions on the ground, so it forms clumps and it grows on rocks or on tundra soil, sometimes they can even grow on top of moss.  Like its name suggests it grows at the tops of mountains. If you stop and think about it, it is insane that plants can live at such high elevations because the tops of mountains are cold, windy and buried under snow for sometimes >9 months in a year.  When you think about where plants grow what do you think of? Do you think of a tropical rainforest? Maybe a greenhouse? All of these places would be far too hot for purple mountain saxifrage to survive.  The plant has a number of cool adaptations that allow it to survive. Since it is so windy on the mountains, they grow very close to the ground so they don’t blow away.  Since its time to grow is so short the flowers can open underneath the snow which is my favourite part about it.  Most plants wait until the snow melts and the weather is nice so they can flower, this plant is used to the cold so it will flower when it is still too cold for most other plants.  

See this plant flower while under the snow. Photo by Nergui (2021). 

This plant wins the record for the highest elevation angiosperm in Europe (Korner 2011).  That means of all the flowering plants on the mountains in Europe this one plant can survive higher than all others. It also at the highest latitude site in the world, meaning it can grow further north than most other plants and it grows only 7° away from the North Pole!

The plant is hardy, lives in the cold and knows how to survive in extreme temperatures similar to the people of Nunavut, which is why it is the territorial flower (Nunavut Legislative Assembly).  It is also an important medicinal plant to the people of Nunavut as it can help relieve stomach problems.  It also symbolizes spring as it flowers before everything else and flowers at a time young caribou are born. The flower brings with it good weather and beauty to the land.  

Claire

Körner, C. (2011). Coldest places on earth with angiosperm plant life. Alpine Botany, 121(1), 11-22.

Nergui, Juugee. “Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga Oppositifolia).” INaturalist, INaturalist, 7 Nov. 2021, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/100499486.

Nunavut Legislative Assembly. The official flower of Nunavut. The Official Flower of Nunavut | Nunavut Legislative Assembly. Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://assembly.nu.ca/about-legislative-assembly/official-flower-nunavut.

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I also had to add that when we found this plant both my boss and I dropped to the GROUND to look at this beauty.  We were laying down on the soaking wet snow and rocks all the while enjoying the simple beauty of this plant.  I initially spotted it and I screamed out loud I was so excited.  

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Cool Science: Cold Plants

Hey everyone,

Its been a while since I have been on this blog, I have missed reading everyone’s post! This week we were tasked with sharing some cool science. The Yukon is filled with AMAZING PLANTS, and the specific area I visited in the Yukon this summer was a hotspot for rare alpine plants.  One (well all but I am going to talk about one) of these plants is probably the coolest.

Saxafraga oppositifolia or purple mountain saxifrage is a beautiful, purple-flowered plant that lives in some of the coldest places on earth.  Before I left for the Yukon I was reading about some of the cool arctic and alpine plants that I might find and when I read about this one it instantly went to the top of my bucket list.

I took this photo in the Yukon using a magnifying glass. See the beautiful purple petals growing amount the rocks.  

Purple mountain saxifrage grows in small cushions on the ground, so it forms clumps and it grows on rocks or on tundra soil, sometimes they can even grow on top of moss.  Like its name suggests it grows at the tops of mountains. If you stop and think about it, it is insane that plants can live at such high elevations because the tops of mountains are cold, windy and buried under snow for sometimes >9 months in a year.  When you think about where plants grow what do you think of? Do you think of a tropical rainforest? Maybe a greenhouse? All of these places would be far too hot for purple mountain saxifrage to survive.  The plant has a number of cool adaptations that allow it to survive. Since it is so windy on the mountains, they grow very close to the ground so they don’t blow away.  Since its time to grow is so short the flowers can open underneath the snow which is my favourite part about it.  Most plants wait until the snow melts and the weather is nice so they can flower, this plant is used to the cold so it will flower when it is still too cold for most other plants.  

See this plant flower while under the snow. Photo by Nergui (2021). 

This plant wins the record for the highest elevation angiosperm in Europe (Korner 2011).  That means of all the flowering plants on the mountains in Europe this one plant can survive higher than all others. It also at the highest latitude site in the world, meaning it can grow further north than most other plants and it grows only 7° away from the North Pole!

The plant is hardy, lives in the cold and knows how to survive in extreme temperatures similar to the people of Nunavut, which is why it is the territorial flower (Nunavut Legislative Assembly).  It is also an important medicinal plant to the people of Nunavut as it can help relieve stomach problems.  It also symbolizes spring as it flowers before everything else and flowers at a time young caribou are born. The flower brings with it good weather and beauty to the land.  

Claire

Körner, C. (2011). Coldest places on earth with angiosperm plant life. Alpine Botany, 121(1), 11-22.

Nergui, Juugee. “Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga Oppositifolia).” INaturalist, INaturalist, 7 Nov. 2021, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/100499486.

Nunavut Legislative Assembly. The official flower of Nunavut. The Official Flower of Nunavut | Nunavut Legislative Assembly. Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://assembly.nu.ca/about-legislative-assembly/official-flower-nunavut.

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Music of Nature or the Nature of Music

Image: Approaching Fingal's Cave on Staffa Island.

Music is essence of nature from the melody of the smallest birds to the whale songs in the deep to the hum of grasshoppers through the night. Humans express their appreciation for the sounds of nature through lyrics, musical instruments and scores. The music of nature surrounds us each day when we step outside. We are always quick to talk about the benefits of seeing nature, but other senses can help transport us to that very space. Music is one of those interpretations as highlighted in course notes “music is the

What is the Music of Nature?

Music of nature for me is most notable in bird songs. Learning the quick trills and thrills of a winter wren or enjoying the minor key of the White Throated Sparrow song is the music of nature.

Winter Wren Singing Listen to 0:11

White Throated Sparrow Singing - Listen to 0:35

How do birds know how to sing? Are they born with their songs already etched in their mind? Bird songs unlike the call must be learnt and practiced by young birds to perfect the skill. It is important for these young birds to get it right as it is used to attract mates and claim territory. This is much like learning a new musical instrument, where practice and consistency pay off. Listening to birds sing you slowly begin to pick out certain qualities, pitches, and rhythms which resemble composed music (Gray, P.M., et al, 2001). This is not only true for birds, but for many sounds in nature, as I will share now.

The Nature of Music Inspiring Music

Staffa Island, a small but impressive island, is off the Scotland coast near the of Isle of Mull. This small island inspired Felix Mendelssohn in 1829 to write a musical score based on his experience at Staffa Island (ClassicFM). The music in the Overture is meant to capture the ever-changing conditions in Fingal’s Cave and along the shores of Staffa with the music resembling the crashing waves. Take a listen!

The Hebrides, Op.26 “Fingal’s Cave” by Felix Mendelssohn

In 2018, I took a tour to Staffa Island, the boat ride to the island proved to be a rough day on the water. While bobbing up and down in the rolling waves the guide told of how Staffa Island was created and the many people that have been inspired by the island’s beauty. The guide played a short expert from the “Fingal’s Cave” Overture immersing the group of tour takers into Mendelssohn’s interpretation of this gift of nature, evoking emotions and stimulating the imagination (Beck, et al.2018). Once on land and standing at the entrance to Fingal’s cave, you transport yourself back to early 1800s when Mendelssohn stood in that very spot. You took a moment to listen a little longer to see how Mendelssohn’s musical composition compared. How do you think it compares to this audio recording of waves on the shores of Staffa?

Video: Waves crashing on Staffa Island.

Source:

Beck.

Gray, P.M., Krause, B., Atema, J., et al. (2001). Science. Music of nature and the nature of music. Science. Vol. 291 (5501).

Song Facts. Fingal's Cave by Felix Mendelssohn. https://www.songfacts.com/facts/felix-mendelssohn/fingals-cave Accessed: October 29, 2021

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Hi Marlene,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on music in nature.  I really enjoyed reading your blog post, it was also excellently put together which is awesome.  I can tell you took a lot of time to reflect on your post.  

I love the examples your shared of music in nature.  It is easy to forget how important a sense sound is, but there are so many experiences in nature that is enriched by our ability to hear.  I loved when you said “the music of nature surrounds us each day when we step outside” because it is so true.  No matter where you go you can hear parts of nature.  Right now as I write this I am hearing the leaves on the tree outside rustle with each gust of wind.  

The song you shared is beautiful and I can definitely understand how it was inspired by nature.  I can imagine being in the cave listening to that song.  The song you shared reminded me of Hans Zimmers “Ocean Bloom” and how it was created to be a soundtrack for the ocean as described in the Vox Video about it. It is such a beautiful song and like “Fingals Cave” it tries its best to capture the variability, the beauty and the essence of the ocean and its waves all in one music piece.  Both pieces can evoke emotions in me and remind be of the push and pull of the waves which is beautiful.  Thanks for sharing!

Claire

Your photo of the Isle of Mull reminded me when I visited another coast in Scotland off Orkney island and we saw the gorgeous waves crashing against the rocks 

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Music in Nature and Nature in Music

 Hello everyone.  

I found this week’s topic very interesting, music was not an aspect of nature interpretation I would have guessed we would be discussing in this course.  When I think about nature and music I instantly think of some of my favorite songs which focus on natural themes.  I also, like many of our classmates have shared, think about the music in nature and the diversity of sounds and songs different animals sing.

I think of whales most notably when I think of music in nature. Whales are such complex and fascinating creatures.  As many of you know they use songs to communicate.  Whales produce such complex and beautiful songs; many scientists believe they have their own languages. They can also learn other whales’ languages, this famous example of whales learning new songs from other populations of whales and over time starting to sing the new songs which I think is really cool (Noad et al. 2000).

When I think of nature in music, I think of one of my favorite artists Elisapie.  Elisapie is a Inuk singer who draws on lots of inspiration from Inuit people and culture in her songs. Two of my favorite songs are “Wolves Don’t Live By the Rules” and “Call of the Moose” draw inspiration from natural phenomena and animals.  Although both songs aren’t directly about the environment for me, they inspire me to get outside and explore nature. When I listen to those songs, especially when I am in nature, I feel a deepened sense of connection to the environment and the world around a greater appreciation for nature.  

“Music can also serve as a point of connection between humans and the natural world. In these ways, music can inspire environmental action and advocacy while also helping to foster empathy for the natural world.”

Kate Turner & Bill Freedman (2004)

This is a quote I found on a paper on incorporating music into nature interpretation (Turner and Freedman 2004).  I really like this quote because it highlights the important of music in engaging more people in environmental education.  Each week we have talked about various aspects of nature interpretation like art and history and music is no different. Each medium will help enrich the experiences of those we interpret nature for and may help some people connect with nature.  Not every approach we may take will work for everyone but if it can help a few people learn about and connect with nature then it is a great way to get people involved.

There are many songs that come with strong political or cultural statements so it makes sense that music can be another additional tool to use to gain environmental awareness.   One of my favorite artists, Bruce Cockburn, is a legendary singer songwriter who makes very bold statements with his music.  One of his most famous songs is “If A Tree Falls” is really a call to action to stop the Amazon Rainforest Deforestation.  If you take a listen to the song, I think most people are able to understand the intention of the song quite clearly and learn a lot about a very important issue.

I have many songs that are attached to my personal memories in nature.  One I can think of off the top of my head is “You’ve got to run (spirit of the wind)” By Buffy Sainte Marie and Tanya Tagaq.  Everyday when we finished our work on the mountain in the Yukon, we would run down the mountain with this song on repeat blasting from my speaker attached to my backpack.  Of course, we said the music was just to let the bears know humans were coming but then we got so into the song it was so motivating.  Now every time I hear the song, I am back on the mountain running through the alpine tundra with my hiking shoes wet, dehydrate, starving, but feeling energized for our three hour walk down!

This is the view we would start walking down from every day in the Yukon while listening to Buffy Sainte Marie.  

Claire

 Noad, M. J., Cato, D. H., Bryden, M. M., Jenner, M. N., & Jenner, K. C. S. (2000). Cultural revolution in whale songs. Nature, 408(6812), 537-537.

Turner, K., & Freedman, B. (2004). Music and environmental studies. The Journal of Environmental Education, 36(1), 45-52.

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Unit 6: Nature Interpretation through History

“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)

I had to read this quote a couple times before I was able to understand the message that Edward was trying to convey. I interpret this quote to say that integrity comes with understanding the past, present and the future. If we don’t take into consideration all parts of the scattered puzzle, we wouldn’t be getting the entire story that comes with ancient things. It is our responsibility to appreciate the memory and story that history brings. 

The second part of the quote really intrigues me. “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.” First thing that came to mind is the connection I made to indigenous wisdom. From my knowledge, one of key beliefs of indigenous wisdom is that we are simply visitors to nature as indigenous people have been present in nature for a long time. No one takes ownership of the natural world, we are visiting for a part of the time. Chapter 15 of the textbook mentions that the story of the land would not be complete without interpreting the histories of the earlier cultures. It also mentions that the best historical interpreters bring the past alive and are able to make connections to the present and propose possible futures. They don’t simply focus on historical facts, they take into consideration how it relates now to the present and the foreseeable future. 

There are valuable benefits that come with understanding indigenous history. By acknowledging indigenous history, we can encourage people to reconcile with the past, vocalize the stories of the victimized people and show respect for the oppressed. 

This quote also made me wonder whether I’ve valued the merit in integrity when it comes to nature. Doing this week’s readings helped me understand that when I’m at a historical site, I must not disregard the past events and the stories of people who previously lived on that land. It would help me understand my self-identity, who I am, and how we got here. As it states in this week’s reading, interpreting history nurtures the development of a personal identity as individuals hear inspiring or thought-provoking stories of the past, and it forms values to guide living in the present. 

After this week’s readings, I decided that next time I find myself at a historical site, I will take time to educate myself on the relevant stories from the past and the indigenous histories that correlate to it. I’m curious as to how doing this will impact me and my present life. 

References: 

Beck, L., Cable, T.T., & Knudson. D.M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage for a better world. Sagamore-Venture.

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Hi Julia,

Thanks for sharing your perspective this week on how you interpreted the quote.  I have seen so many different interpretations of this quote this week so I have really enjoyed when people sharing what it reminded them of and how it made them feel.  

I like what you said about integrity coming with past, present, and future.  I did not think about the future aspect in my interpretation, but it is very important to consider all parts of something we wouldn’t be getting the full story.  

Your interpretation of the second part was certainly different than mine but I loved hearing your perspective on this as well.  Indigenous wisdom is so important, so I am glad you took a moment to acknowledge it. I agree that the best interpreters bring alive the history, that can be such a rewarding and engaging aspect of nature interpretation.  I have been to those historical villages where they have people dress up and act like it is another moment in time which is so cool to see the world from another perspective in time.  Although the places like those in the past have not acknowledged indigenous history I do enjoy when places acknowledge it in other ways.  

One of my favourite boardwalks has interpretive signs all over that share the story of the land from oral recollection and share the language of the different plants and animals and what indigenous people call those things. It really makes me feel more connected to the land when places share the story and history as well as information about the original caretakers of the land.   There is certainly a lot to gain from sharing traditional knowledge and stories.

Thanks for sharing Julia.

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History and Nature Interpretation

Hi class,

I hope everyone is doing well.  The quote below is certainly a very interesting one, I wanted to unpack it a little more and share my own thoughts on the quote. I have enjoyed reading everyone’s interpretations of the quote thus far.  

“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)

When I think of this quote I think that Hyams is trying to get us to think beyond the world and the time we live in.  When we see the world we see it one second at a time, we cant see the history of a landscape or an object but they are still important nonetheless.  When we see nature we are seeing thousands upon thousands of years of evolution, ecological history and human history which forms our perception of what we see in the moment.

I think this quote is trying to encourage us to think about the history of a object when we look at it. The part about the train really makes me think of this, because if we only looked at a railway station when a train was there then that is all we would know but we would certainly be missing out on the important history of the train station.  We wouldn’t be thinking about what the land looked like before the railway system existed, we wouldn’t know what it looked like when the train was being built, and what it looks like when the train is gone. I think remembering different ways in which the places and objects we interpret exist and how they can be perceived differently in space and time is an important consideration in how we can interpret history and incorporate it into our teachings.  

I really enjoyed the following quote from the unit this week.

“Historical interpretation grounded in individual histories facilitates connection between lived experiences and archival records or artefacts.”

(Modern Cartography Series, 2019)

When I visit a new place, I am always curious about the history of the place.  Of course, I like learning about the ecological history, but I always love learning about the human history. I love finding little displays in museums that describe how a city was formed and show early pictures.  This summer I visited a town in Yukon that in the late 1800s was home to a intense gold rush.  They had a small museum with pictures of life back then but it was so fascinated to learn what they ate, what they did for fun, and what their community was like.  I saw pictures from the 1920s with the same mountains in the background that I was seeing which I thought was so cool.  

Incorporating history into our nature interpretation can help to enrich the connections we share with people and places and allow for ourselves to form more meaningful connections.  What aspects of history in nature interpretation do you like learning about? Why?

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The Hummingbird Clearwing Moth

This summer I had the opportunity to work at a garden center and I honestly loved it. I felt great doing hard work every day and being surrounded by all kinds of wonderful plants. I learned about a ton of plant species, their scientific names, growing conditions, how to prune them back for the winter or during the summer to promote bushier growth, and how they reproduce. It was so interesting to see plants (especially the annuals) go through their whole life cycle from seedling all the way back to seed in August, but what was also fascinating was the relationship these plants had with native pollinators. There were beautiful honeybees, small pollinating flies, butterflies (it was so exciting when the monarch butterflies arrived), and moths. By far one of the coolest pollinators I saw this summer was a hummingbird clearwing moth (Hemaris thysbe). One day I was walking through the rows of flowers when I spotted something taking a drink of nectar from some of the annuals. At first glance, it appeared to be an actual hummingbird, which got me very excited, so I got closer. My next thought was “Oh! This hummingbird has horns!”. It was a smaller creature with brown, fur-like feathers and a flared tail that almost looked like a shrimp’s tail. Its wings were flapping so fast they were a blur and it had two long “horns” which I then understood to be antennae. I watched as this creature unraveled its proboscis and took a drink from a flower, then quickly buzzed over to the next one. I was in awe of this mystery creature because it was unlike anything I had ever seen before, and it definitely wasn’t a hummingbird. I ran over and asked one of my coworkers what it could be and they said it was probably a hummingbird moth.

(These are pictures of a Hummingbird moth that visited me at home! The flower is a Bougainvillea.)

From the family Sphingidae and the genus Hemaris, these moths are also known as hummingbird clearwing moths because of their resemblance to hummingbirds and their wings which feature clear, glass-like patches (Mass Audubon, 2021; Moisset, n.d.). They are only around 1-2 inches long, but they buzz around like a real hummingbird would and use their long tongue to feed on flowers that have long necks such as verbena, honeysuckle, and beebalm (Mass Audubon, 2021; Moisset, n.d.). I find it so incredible that this creature has evolved to mimic hummingbirds which could help defend them from predatory birds and their long proboscis allows them to access flowers that many other pollinators can’t take advantage of.

From then on, anytime I would see the moth hovering around, I would grab any customer nearby just to show it to them because I just couldn’t get over how incredible they were and I wanted to share my new knowledge with as many people as I could. This week our readings talked about the importance of citizen science (when nonprofessionals assist with scientific research (Merenlender, 2016)) and I firmly believe that the more people know about our natural world, the more they will interact with it in a positive and constructive way. There is always a place for those who have been formally educated in scientific fields to lead the way forward, but without the help and cooperation of every individual, environmental research and conservation will only get so far. This is why I will always and forever share my knowledge with anyone who is interested because we should never gatekeep information about the world we live in. We all share in the beauty of this planet, whether we are in a scientific field or not, and things like the hummingbird clearwing moth are too incredible to ignore.

Works cited

Mass Audubon. (2021). Hummingbird Moth (Clearwing Moth). https://www.massaudubon.org/learn/nature-wildlife/insects-arachnids/hummingbird-moth

Merenlender, A.M., Crall, A.W., Drill, S., Prysby, M., and Ballard, H. (24 April, 2016). Evaluating environmental education, citizen science, and stewardship through naturalist programs. Conservation Biology, 30(6), 1255-1265. https://doi-org.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/10.1111/cobi.12737

Moisset, B. (n.d.). Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris spp.). U.S. Forest Service. https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/pollinator-of-the-month/hummingbird_moth.shtml  

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Hi Emma,

Thank you for sharing all your knowledge about the beautiful hummingbird clearwing moth.  I have loved reading everyone’s post this week about so many different topics.  I have especially enjoyed this week when people take the time to chare something they really care about.  

I have never worked in a greenhouse, but I feel it would be an amazing experience.  I love plants and I have worked a lot with wild plants but never had to actually grow plants on my own.  Your knowledge is so valuable.  

After your so beautifully described the hummingbird clearwing moth I want to see one now.  It sounds very unique and beautiful.  Looking at the photo you shares I certainly would not have known it was a moth.  Are these pollinators native to Ontario? Or where you working somewhere else? Either way they look like something from a beautiful tropical place!

I love that you were able to share what you were passionate about with customers.  I feel like people, including myself, really respond to learning about something new when the person who is sharing the information is clearly passionate about it.  I remember when I was on a train to northern Manitoba once and we saw the northern lights. My friends and I had no idea what caused them and were making (very) uneducated guesses.  I overheard someone whisper to their friend quietly behind us “I just want to tell all these kids about the science of the northern lights”. I immediately turned around and asked if they could share what they knew.  They went on and on about how the northern lights are created in the sky and if I had heard that in a classroom I probably would have been bored, but this woman was so passionate about them it made me want to learn even more!

We all share in the beauty of this planet, whether we are in a scientific field or not, and things like the hummingbird clearwing moth are too incredible to ignore.

That perfectly describes how I feel and why I love this course so much! Thanks for sharing Emma.  

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Week 5- Nature on Campus

Hi all,

I wanted to take this prompt free week to talk about one of my favourite things.  That is biophilia.  

Biophilia is the concept that humans are innately attracted to nature and enjoy the calming presence of natural features.  For many of us, our love of nature comes naturally, without effort.  Biophilia is a concept that has been researched time and time again and its origins lie in human evolution.  As humans, we evolve in nature not in cities and urban areas so our sense of what to be in nature comes as an instinct.  This concepted has been leveraged in many ways over the years and namely in architecture and city design.  

Biophilic design is the practice used to design spaces while intentionally incorporating natural elements. This practice can be achieved on multiple scales such a single element in a building like an office space, an entire building or even in city or residential design.  

Some small examples of biophilia can be a green wall in an office building or incorporating natural wood tones into spaces.  Building wide examples can be green roofs or courtyards, and lastly biophilia can be incorporated into city design by planning urban parks, or incorporating urban agriculture like community gardens.  

Guelph is a very biophilic campus which actually blew my mind when I first learned about the concept. The ivey that hangs over old buildings, the green roof over the bike rack, the arboretum so close to central campus, and even the concrete pillar shaped like a tree that sits in the atrium of the science complex, campus gardens, these are all examples of how biophilia has been incorporated into our campuses design. These do not happen by mistake and they were placed there for a purpose.  

I think this concept is very cool.  It has also been shown to have environmental and social benefits. People who live in areas with urban nature go on more walks and receive the added benefits to less stress and improved quality of life.  Biophilic elements like green roofs can help filter pollutants from rainwater and improve air quality.  Green walls can be used indoors to help filter air quality and there is a great example at guelph-Humber where the green wall is actually hooked up to the HVAC system and filters air pollutants (https://www.guelphhumber.ca/about/plant-wall).  

Think about where you would rather study in? Would you rather studying in a room filled with plants and calming natural wood tones and naturalistic deign, or a concrete square room with white walls?

This concept of incorporating nature into our every day life is just so cool to me I wanted to share it with everyone.  I hope you all have learned something! This relates to our course so well because with biophilia we can find nature almost anywhere!

Do you think these natural elements on campus make campus look better? I always find a sense a calm and admiration for the old buildings covered in ivey and the green roof is just so cool!

Claire 

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Nature Through an Artistic Lens

Nature and the environment around us inspires various forms of art, from visual arts, such as painting and photography, to performing arts, such as music and dance. The truest form of nature interpretation through art for me is painting. Since I was 4 years old, I grew up watching my mom, an artist specialized in water-colour and oil painting, illustrate nature through the arrangement of color and visual display. It fascinated me how she was able to portray the beauty of nature through her paint brushes. Being constantly exposed to nature in the form of arts , I saw the natural connection between the arts and the natural environment. Specifically, one particular artwork of hers left a vivid memory for me. It was a huge oil painting that took up an entire wall in our small house. This art piece consisted mostly of purple, pink, yellow and white color combinations. It was the type of painting that could be perceived in a couple different ways depending on who is looking at it. To me, it seemed like a diverse arrangement of short and tall wildflowers. Through her artwork, I was able to feel, see and understand nature in a different way. 

Arts-based environmental education can engage us with natural phenomena in unfamiliar ways and make space for the unforeseen (Boeckel, 2015). Through the artistic lens, we can perceive nature in different ways. The textbook mentions that, “using the arts judiciously helps to convey the messages and to create richer experiences” (Beck et al, 2018). Art holds the capability to enhance the natural interpretive experience emotionally and intellectually. For example, the textbook expands on how art unify and connect groups effectively attracting the “unconverted” people who are not initially passionate about the environment (Beck et al, 2018). This is so important and especially relevant today as art can be used as a method to raise awareness and bring attention to the environmental concerns occurring due to climate change. 

I interpret “the gift of beauty” as the ability to find beauty in the environment around me.  The feeling, perception, experience and memories that nature provides us with using its natural beauty. I sense beauty in nature when I look at the bright yellow, orange, and red leaves on the autumn trees mid transition. I find beauty in nature walking through a snowy trail watching tiny crystalline snowflakes fall in slow motion from the fair white sky. Anyone can truly embrace the beauty in nature if they stay present in the moment and truly allow themselves to experience the natural aspects around them.

References

Beck, L., Cable, T.T., & Knudson. D.M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage for a better world. Sagamore-Venture.

Van Boeckel, J. (2015). At the heart of art and earth: an exploration of practices in arts-based environmental education. Environmental Education Research, 21(5), 801–802.

[cesenvs3000f21]

Hi Julia,

Thank you so much for sharing your perspectives on art in nature interpretation.  You described your moms’ paintings very beautifully; I wish I could see one. I wished I had shared this in my original post, but your post reminded me of a dance show I once saw.  I attended a show a few years back called “Water” and the entire show revolved around the dancers and choreographers’ image of water and how beautifully it moved. Dance is an often-overlooked form of expression, but I remember it being so beautiful how different the pieces were within the same show and how I could tell that someone different had choreographed a piece because even though they were dancing about the same concept the choreographers left their own interpretation of the idea of water in their dance moves. It is amazing how many ways nature can inspire different forms of artistic expression.  

I enjoyed reading this week’s chapter of the textbook and the quotes you shared from it as well.  It is so important as nature interpreters to find new ways to engaging with folks and sharing our passion for the environment with them.  The ultimate goal being to instill the same sense of passion in nature in others as we have in ourselves.  The many mediums of art can be effective tools to get others to experience nature in a new way and want to care for nature as well.  

Lastly, thank you for sharing how you interpret beauty.  I hope you are enjoying the fall colours right now, wherever you are.  

Claire

[cesenvs3000f21]

Art in Nature Interpretation

Growing up I was never artistic, and I never saw the value of art in science.  I thought that science was one thing, and that art was its own.  It was only recently in which I discovered the beautiful intersection between the two.

I remember seeing a talk by Emily Damstra, a local scientific illustrator.  Emily’s job is to make the drawings that you see in many science textbooks.  Emily was presenting in the Arboretum Center on her Goldenrod project (https://www.emilydamstra.com/projects/goldenrod/).  Emily illustrated the beautiful and complex ecology of Goldenrod and how its forms galls inhabited by different types of insects.  I was so amazed by how detailed her drawings were and how much Emily had to know about this life cycle to even begin illustrating it.  Emily’s work also captivated me because she took something I would never even think twice about, and she made it beautiful and fascinating.

Art can be another way to engage in nature interpretation and for some people it can help them feel connected to nature.   Art can help others see something from anew perspective.  It can capture the beauty of nature in a moment in time and share that moment with others.  Art can also reflect the emotion and the feeling behind the artist in that moment. I know that I have seen some of my friend’s work including photographs and paintings, and I have felt like I am there in the moment with them and I can feel the sense of peace and calm that they felt which making the art piece.  It can be a gift to receive a beautiful photograph or a drawing from someone. They are essentially sharing an intimate moment of their life with you and they are sharing the gift of beauty with you as you may be inspired by the artwork itself.  Art in nature interpretation can be informative and share information about nature but it can also be emotional, the balance of the two, in my opinion, can bring such a unique beauty to nature interpretation.  

As nature interpreters it is our job to help others find ways to engage with nature and form meaningful connections.  Many people have their own ways of doing this and art can be an extremely powerful one. For me I love photography.  I love being able to capture the beauty of a moment and keep it with me forever.  Although recently I have been exploring a new medium.  I am currently working on my undergraduate thesis and I was getting tired of using pictures, so I wanted to be able to show off the plant I am studying in a new way. I created some digital art to illustrate the major concept of my research as well as illustrating the plant itself.  With this art I hoped to share the central idea of my research as well as show the beauty and intricacies of the plant I am studying.  

From my drawing can anyone guess what my thesis is about? I’m also curious, what art form are you exploring right now?

[kbenvs3000f21]

[photograph by Ali Kazal on Unsplash of the dedication to Walt Whitman carved into Mazinaw Rock, with canoeists visible paddling in the background] Privilege is the advantage of wealth and power.  It is the rights, immunity, and benefits that someone holds.  Your privilege is everything that you don’t have to worry about that someone else does. It’s not being tailed around an outdoor supply store by a clerk who’s slapped a negative stereotype on you because you look black, or indigenous, or poor.  It’s not having to worry about how you’re going to get home.  It’s not being spoken over, for, or down to.  It’s feeling like you don’t have anything on the line when someone talks about race. It’s everything that your position in society buys you, and everything that you get to do that someone else doesn’t, because of their position.

Privilege shapes who nature interpretation is done by and who benefits from it.

It’s not an accident that so much of the imagery of people in nature features white people.  It’s not an accident that in Canada so much more land is dedicated to national and provincial parks in the north than the south; by and large Canada’s parks systems are comprised of less agriculturally desirable land, while the desirable agricultural land has largely been colonized by settlers.

1885 saw the founding of Canada’s first national park, Banff, and its superintendent seeking the exclusion of indigenous people from it [1,2].  As members of Keeseekoowenin Ojibwa band left Riding Mountain National Park for a reserve in 1936 they saw smoke rising from the fires that park wardens set to their barns and houses to keep them from coming back [1].  The Algonquin people were forced out of Algonquin Park [2]. It has been very clear, historically, that not all people are welcome within Canada’s parks. 

Black people share a similar history of white people forcing them from their lands, during the slave trade and after.  In Forsyth County, Georgia there were several years of effort by white people, beginning in 1912 when a lynching occurred, to force black people to leave [3].  In 1912 there were 41 black landowners, in 1913 there were 31, and in 1918 none were listed in the tax records; the black population dropped from 1,098 in 1910 to 30 in 1920 [3].  It’s not an accident that the term “urban” has been used as a synonym for “black”, and it is hardly surprising that some do not feel welcome in “nature”, today.

Systemic racism has fueled diversity gaps in nature interpretation.  It has created access barriers, to physical sites and to educational opportunities.  It has defined the lens through which nature interpretation is permitted to occur and facilitated land theft in the name of ecological conservation as part of a “green colonialism” [2] that has been enabled by a colonial view of “nature” and “wilderness” that excludes humanity.

Mazinaw Rock in Bon Echo Provincial Park features 300-1000 year old indigenous pictographs [4] and, (pictured above) carved into the rock in 1919, a massively large dedication to the democratic ideals of Walt Whitman.  It feels like an apt metaphor for the colonial lens that has shaped and directed nature interpretation.

1: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/the-shady-past-of-parks-canada-forced-out-indigenous-people-are-forging-a-comeback 2: https://thewalrus.ca/canadas-national-parks-are-colonial-crime-scenes/ 3: https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/16/us/restitution-to-blacks-unlikely-in-georgia-county.html 4: http://www.ontarioparks.com/parksblog/bon-echo-wanderer-boat-tour/

[cesenvs3000f21]

Hello,

Thanks for sharing some important background information regarding the troubling history of so many natural areas.  It is important to recognize the history of natural areas in relation to the humans who once inhabited and took care of these areas long before colonial actions threatened the lives of these peoples.  

Systemic racism is so present in many ways and is still very present within nature interpretation.  Truthfully, it wasn’t something I ever thought about until recently.  I was scrolling through twitter one day and I was reading about “Black Birders Week” which is very well described here: https://www.audubon.org/news/black-birders-week-promotes-diversity-and-takes-racism-outdoors. I remember being so disgusted hearing so many black nature interpreters and enthusiast share their stories of racism and institutional barriers that made them have negative experiences with the outdoors.  I am so thankful for so many of these individuals for sharing their stores online so others like myself can learn.  

Sadly, the story you shared about the formation of Algonquin park is not an anomaly, it was the standard for a long time.  Many of our national parks today were formed by violently removing indigenous peoples from their own land in order to create dedicated natural areas for tourists to enjoy. Its sad to think of our governments efforts to remove the original caretakers from the land in order to “conserve” natural areas.  

These systemic and institutional barriers have a troubling past and continue to impact marginalized groups today and make nature interpretation inaccessible to many and unwelcoming to many more.  It can be very easy to overlook the privileges we ourselves may benefit from but I am very encouraged to see so many thoughtful posts filled with people looking to learn and listen from others this week.  

[cesenvs3000f21]

Privilege in Nature Interpretation

Privilege refers to certain social advantages, benefits and respect that an individual has because they belong to certain groups or fall within certain social or cultural categories. Privilege can be linked to a persons ability, their ethnic backgrounds, their socioeconomic standing, they way they identify, their gender identity and many other things which the individual themselves cannot change.  

Privilege unfortunately plays a large role in nature interpretation as there are many barriers that exist and block people who are less privileged from participating.  Privilege also creates many opportunities for those who are able-bodied, white and typically from affluent socioeconomic standings.  

Nature interpretation is often made inaccessible for people with mobility issues.  People with able bodies are able to go on long nature walks, go off the path to explore, navigate obstacles like fallen trees, and keep up with large walking groups.  People who may use mobility aids or re not able to maintain strenuous activity would not be able to participate in such activity because trails can be very inaccessible, trails can often be unmaintained so even if there is an accessible boardwalk it may be broken and not fixed, and nature interpretation hikes can be long.  All these factors would privilege able bodied people and create barriers to accessing nature spaces for those who do not experience this privilege.  

When I worked in the Yukon this summer, I was responsible for purchasing all my own gear.  The gear required to be outdoors can be very expensive. I probably spent upwards of $300 on gear alone.  Luckily, I had my parents who helped me purchase some of this and I was able to afford proper gear but if someone wasn’t able to spend this amount of money, they likely would not have been able to work the job I had.  Even other researchers at the field station would make fun of my co-worker who wore jeans because they were more comfortable in their opinion than field pants.  Every day the other researchers would make comments about jeans weren’t appropriate field pants.  In this case my co-worker could have afforded proper “field pants” if they wanted to but chose not to.  Those kind of comments could have been very hurtful to someone who couldn’t afford “field pants” and had to use jeans as their only option.  

It is very disheartening to hear examples of how barriers to nature interpretation sway people from learning about the outdoors have but I am glad we have forums like this class to discuss how to make nature interpretation more accessible to all people who are interested.  It should be our job as students of the field and hopefully one day professionals of the field know, recognize, and dismantle all the barriers that may exist in nature interpretation.  People of all backgrounds should be able to enjoy nature in a way that makes them happy and included if they wish.  We should all work towards creating accessible nature experiences from the start, not making something accessible only once people ask.  I hope to see the field of nature interpretation exist one day where it is free of barriers for anyone who wishes to explore nature.  

[cesenvs3000f21]

My ideal role as a nature interpreter

I wanted to share with you my ideal role of a nature interpreter.  There are so many ways that nature can be interpreted which is something so unique and personal to everyone.  Everyone sees nature through a different lens and perspective and its our role as interpreters to encourage others to find their own viewpoints and explore nature in a way that is meaningful to them.  

If I think about my ideal role as nature interpreter, I think of myself on a beautiful trail complete with a winding boardwalk usually surrounded by wetland plants and water.  I love boardwalks in parks and natural areas because they allow people to explore places that usually would be hard to get to.  You can walk on water over a boardwalk and explore the amazing diversity of life that lives in wetlands.  Plus, when they are built right boardwalks make nature more accessible to people who can’t navigate rough or uneven terrain.  

In my ideal role I would be able to tell everyone of all ages about the amazing diversity of life that wetlands home and the many services they provide for humans and the environment. Wetlands are home to cool plants, migrating waterfowl, unique insects, and other amazing wildlife.  I love that almost everyone who is interested in nature can find something they like in wetlands.  Wetlands are a beautiful interplay of land, water, wildlife, insects and plants and they work in harmony to provide so many valuable services like flood protection, water purification, and recreation.  I would love to one day be able to take people on guided tours through wetlands and be able to share all the fun facts and identify all the organisms that live in wetlands.  I also want so many people to know how important they are.  People can see the biodiversity of wetland through their eyes, they can hear the sounds of nature and they can feel the water, which is another reason why wetlands can be a awesome learning environment.  

Wetlands are dynamic and ever changing, you can’t get bored visiting the same wetland every day. Each time you visit you will probably find a new plant sprouting, a new duck taking a bath or looking for food, or notice a new frog hopping around.  That is part of the reason wetlands are so exciting. People of all ages can visit and learn something new, especially with the help of a nature interpreter!

When I think of my ideal nature interpreter role, I think of all kinds of wetlands in all kinds of places, but one place stands out to me.  That place is the prairie pothole region. The prairie pothole region is a result of the last glaciation, when big glaciers were retreating they left thousands and thousands of small indents in the landscape.  The indents filled with water and became beautiful functioning wetlands in my home province of Manitoba. I am partial to this region because not only did I grow up there, but it was also my experience working in wetlands in Manitoba that brought me to my great love of nature I have today.  

The skills needed to be a nature interpreter depends on everyone’s individual styles.  For my ideal role, I think you would need to be creative, enthusiastic, and be willing to learn.  To be engaging to a wide audience from children to adults you need be able to think of new and exciting ways to talk to them and share information about wetlands. Creativity is so important in every field, especially nature interpretation because when things change or go wrong you need to be able to think of new and exciting solutions.  One characteristic that is absolutely required is enthusiasm, if you are not passionate about what you are sharing people will know and not be interested.  Whenever I watch a cool talk or join someone on a hike I love seeing just how enthusiastic they are to share their knowledge and I am even more interested.  Lastly, you need to be willing to learn. Technical skills like plant identification and  wildlife identification can be learned with experience if you are willing.  You can check out a library book on the types of waterfowl and just get out there and start trying.  You can use apps like iNaturalist to crowdsource some of your plant identification and get more and more comfortable as you get more experience.  The most important fact remains is that you must be willing to try new things and learn.  

Keep reading

[msenvs3000f21]

Hi Claire,

Reading your blog post was very informative and really interesting to read about. I agree with the skills required to be a nature interpreter. Being creative, enthusiastic, and willing to learn are all very important in developing a successful interpreter. Every zoo or guided hike i’ve been on, has interpreters who have those skills and they always have a creative approach to learning about different things.

You mentioned you really like wetland walks and hikes. I agree as they are some of the most scenic and exciting trails to be on. I really recommend going to Terra Cotta. You can spend hours there and not get bored. There are so many different routes you can take so there is always something new to see. There’s a high diversity of plants and animals, so if you’re into photography its a great place to go. In the fall when all the trees start changing colours and the weather starts to get cooler its really a great experience i really recommend it Its really close to Mississauga so its not that far of a drive. 

-Michael

[cesenvs3000f21]

Hi Michael, 

Thanks for your response.  I appreciate that you agree with me that nature interpreters must be creative! Many people think that scientists don’t have to be creative but I completely disagree.  One of my favorite nature interpreters (http://www.discoversecondnature.ca/) makes amazing nature art and informative signs that you may see on the sides of walking paths.  Its such a cool concept and interpretive signs are a great example of the interplay between art and nature! For me I am working on my thesis project and I have made my own art of my study species and area to include in my presentations!

Thanks for sharing about Terra Cotta.  I will have to check it out sometime soon!

Claire