interpretation with chloe :)

[cjenvs3000w22]

Welcome to the Final Show

This course has really opened my eyes to the eyes of interpretation in nature. Having the ability and opportunity to read about how nature has raised all of my classmates has helped me to reflect on how it raised me and all the things I missed about being in touch with nature. As an interpreter, I see myself as someone who wants to pull on their own experiences and teach through memories, rather than textbook materials. I’ve always been a firm believer of the notion that our impact on the environment is taking away from our children and grandchildren. As an interpreter, I think it is important to emphasize how our behaviour today is going to still be impacting the state of the environment for future generations; it doesn’t just go away once we are gone. With that being said, I guess my personal ethic as I develop as a nature interpreter is just a promise to myself that I will spread awareness and educate as many people as I can about our impacts so that my children and grandchildren can have a childhood like mine, filled with trees, birds, bugs, and any living thing I could get my hands on.

As this is the last blog post for this class, I wanted to take the opportunity to reflect on some of my experiences as a nature interpreter and how I’ve practiced my beliefs as an interpreter to help better my community for the future. All of these activities were made possible because of people in my community I looked up to as teachers and nature interpreters themselves. Each of these experiences helped me grow into the interpreter I am today and provided me with the tools to grow and the knowledge I need to pass along the passion for environmental conservation.

Wetland Habitat Restoration - Alongside the Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) and my highschool’s EcoTeam, I assisted in transforming an abandoned marina back into a fully functioning wetland.

Pollinator Garden Construction - planned and organized a pollinator garden “planting day” to attract different insects and pollinator species

TD Tree Days - every year I would partner with TD Bank and the Caldwell First Nations people for reforestation projects around Essex County

Food Waste and Climate Change presenter/advocate - after researching and collecting information on how food waste contributes to climate change, I delivered presentations to schools in my area as well as virtually to former Minister of the Environment for Climate Change for Canada Catherine McKenna for the Climate Change summit in Paris. This experience gave me the opportunity to spread awareness, information, and solutions we can implement into our everyday lives to help the cause and slow the effects of climate change. This was also a great experience as the presentations allowed me to spread my concerns and knowledge to a broader scale than just my community.

These experiences helped me to understand my responsibilities as an interpreter. They are as follows:

First: Understanding and adapting to different learning styles. Throughout planning the Pollinator garden and delivering the Food Waste presentation, it was important to consider the different learning styles of my audience to ensure they gained the most they could out of the event/presentation. This is an important skill for me as an interpreter to have because in different environments you need to pull on different styles. The Pollinator garden for example was very hands-on so I utilized the ability to teach through demonstration rather than simply verbal instructions.

Second: To educate honestly and passionately. It is one of my beliefs that when trying to explain the severity of issues like climate change (as an example), that sugar coating information is part of the reason why a lot of people don’t take environmental issues seriously. To make substantial change, people need to know the truth, so I believe it is my responsibility as a nature interpreter to make it clear how our actions impact our future and how we need change sooner than later.

My suitable approaches:

To play on my strengths, I think my most suitable approaches as an interpreter would have to be different types of visuals, as well as hands-on experiences. I would use visuals like photos and videos to (a) accommodate visual learners, and (b) provide context to concepts rather than just lecturing for long periods of time. Educational videos also allow for a change in pace from the main content/presenter which can be beneficial for different learners. After completing my undergrad, I have thought about being an Environmental Outreach Coordinator since I love sharing my passion for the environment. I am a very hands-on learner myself and so I think utilizing this skill of demonstrations and experiential learning for teaching will help me pass on my passion.

As nature has always been at the forefront of my personal endeavours, each day I wake up with the intention to do better. Whether it be for the world and the tangible ideal or nature, or the way I perceive nature. I hold an abundance of awareness that translates towards my actions each day. Whilst I go on walks outside, or discern certain ideals from the media, I make sure my actions translate to my core feelings towards helping this earth. I recognize the importance of trees as they provide the world with breath. I utilize my ability to focus on fragments of debris to make sure our earth and our surroundings are clean, like how it should be, before the toxins and pollution turned the vibrant blue sky grey. Each day, I wake up with the intent to do better for this world, and I can do this by being the interpreter I know I can be through what I’ve learned in school and in the field.

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The Amazing Life Cycle of Monarch Butterflies

One of the most amazing things I would say I know about nature is the butterfly life cycle and migration patterns. Growing up down the road from Point Pelee National Park, my family and I would always go to the Visitor’s Center to participate in the Monarch Migration Count as they head to Mexico. As I’m sure we all know, the life cycle of the Monarch (and all butterflies) consist of four stages: the egg, the larvae (caterpillar), the pupa (chrysalis) and the adult butterfly. Monarch butterfly eggs are laid on the leaves of milkweed plants and hatch into caterpillars in about 4 days. This is the start of a new generation of Monarchs. The caterpillar fills its days (and its stomach!) by eating milkweed leaves in order to grow. Once the caterpillar becomes fully grown (about 2 weeks), it finds a place on the milkweed plant to attach itself so it can begin the process of metamorphosis. The caterpillar attaches itself to the plant using silk and can then transform into a chrysalis. The 10 days chrysalis phase is full of rapid changes that we can’t see from the outside. Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillars body parts are going through the remarkable transformation process we know as metamorphosis. Once the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, it flies away, feeding on flowers and enjoying the short life it has left - about 6 weeks. After laying its eggs to start Generation 2, the Generation 1 Monarch dies. The cycle repeats for Gen 2 and Gen 3. The interesting part of the life cycle comes with Generation 4. After following the same cycle as Gen 1-3, the Gen 4 Monarch’s do not die after 6 weeks. Instead, Gen 4 Monarchs migrate to warmer climates like Mexico and can live for 6-8 months until it is time to start the whole life cycle over again.

I always found this life cycle so interesting since only ¼ generations actually make it all the way to Mexico, the rest are just small pieces in the journey to warmth. Something I’ve always found incredible about migration at Point Pelee is how the shape of “tip” creates a funnel-like appearance and directs the Monarch’s in the right direction for migration!

Point Pelee National Park's funnel shaped tip assists Monarch's head their journey in the right direction! (Google Images)

If you are ever interested in keeping up with monarch migration from the most southern point of Canada, the Point Pelee National Park twitter page posts daily count updates during the migration season!

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Nature and Music

When most people think about music in nature, I’m sure the first thing that comes to mind are morning song birds you hear outside your window in the summer, or while going for a walk through a forest. Me on the other hand, I grew up on the shore of Lake Erie, so I fell asleep and woke up to the sounds of the waves gently (or not so gently) crashing against the shore. The melodic crashes lulled me to sleep for as long as I can remember, and it’s the thing I miss most when I am away at school. Similar effects come from the rain. I have always been a lover of thunderstorms and some of my fondest memories growing up go back to the nights my parents would let me stay up past my bedtime to watch the lightning strike across the lake. What I’m trying to say is that music in nature doesn’t necessarily need to be songs from birds, but can be natural weather events around us. Storms are like music in the way that all the different sounds layering on top of each other mirror how producers would layer different instruments and backing vocals on a soundtrack. The thunder as the drums, the wind as backing vocals, and the rain as a gnarly guitar riff (or whatever the storm sounds like to you).

Music has always been a huge part of my life, my dad is very musical so I grew up playing the drums and piano, and have taken up guitar over the last 2 years. We always had music playing at home, whether it was my dad or myself playing an instrument or just the radio, there was always something. To this day, I use music as an outlet and therapy because it brings me such comfort due to all the great memories I have surrounding music from living at home. Crashing waves and thunderstorms bring me this same comfort. One of my favourite feelings is getting cozy in bed with a mug of hot chocolate and a book, or a New Girl binge session when there is a storm outside! It is calming to me to know I can be at such peace inside while nature is reflecting the exact opposite; spitty and swirling anger around me. This is just one way I like to connect nature and music, through comfort.

My Dad likes to bring his spare Snare drum out to our backyard and drum along to songs while we sit out by the water fishing and watching the sunset; here, he is playing "Can't You See" by the Marshall Tucker Band (Personal Video, 2021).

When I think of nature in music on the other hand, I think of songs like “Smooth” by Florida Georgia Line opening the country tune with crickets chirping and frogs croaking, setting the scene that the listener is out in the bush somewhere; or “Outer Space / Carry On” by 5 Seconds of Summer, using the sound of rain as a way to fade from Outer Space into Carry On, representing the repeating line throughout the song “Nothing like the rain when you’re in outer space”. The use of these nature sounds helps set the scene of a song or to further demonstrate/add to the main theme of it.

Note: going back to this week’s CourseLink readings, the best John Denver song has to be “Leaving, On a Jet Plane” for sure! “Take Me Home (Country Roads)” is obviously a classic and most fun song, but “Leaving, On a Jet Plane” is just so sweet and holds a special place in my heart.

John Denver - Leaving On A Jet Plane (Audio)

Florida Georgia Line Smooth

Outer Space / Carry On

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Nature Interpretation through History

The first thing that came to mind when I read this quote by Edward Hyams was the expression “if there is no one around to hear a tree fall in a forest, will it still make a noise?” - specifically the line “(...) believing that a railway station through which our train has just passed, only existed for as long as our train was in it”. Things simply do not happen just when we are around to witness or experience it; one cannot be present for every moment, of every day, of every person’s life just to verify that an event truly occurred. This is the same with historic events, just because someone today wasn’t there to experience them doesn’t make them unimportant or untrue. To me, this quote reflects the importance of history, and how it’s important for us to learn about it and understand it now to avoid history repeating itself. From a nature perspective, to me this quote represents appreciating the past, but also learning from it to serve the purpose of preserving and protecting our environment for future generations.

The first half of this quote, to me, refers not just to history, but like I previously stated, it’s importance. As someone who wasn’t the biggest fan of History in school, I still understood the importance of events even though it wasn’t something I had interest in. Although I wasn’t there, I still respected and valued the stories I was being told about the history of my country. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, a common theme throughout this post is not being present for the historical events we learn about today, so the pessimist in me is saying that I should mention how because we weren’t there, who is to say the tales of these events are true? These stories have been told for years, from generation to generation, there is bound to be some exaggerated details, right? This made me think of the game “Telephone” I used to play as a kid around the campfire. If in one short round of Telephone the sentence can get changed, it’s almost inevitable that historical events have bent from the truth.

To wrap up this post, what this quote says to me is that it is important to have faith in the history we know to be true; despite if there has been an ongoing game of Telephone being played throughout time.

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What I've been thinking about - Growing up

When I saw this week’s blog didn’t have a prompt, my first instinct was to text my roommate to complain about it; “how am I supposed to know what to write about if there is no guidance!?” But before I hit send, I realized that’s what I will write about this week - Growing up and the absence of guidance as we enter adulthood.

People say that moving away for university is when you are truly on your own for the first time; you don’t live with your parents (finally haha), you are in charge of your own meals and health, your school work is all on you because no one is nagging you to do it all the time, and frankly if you don’t no one is checking up on you to see why you didn’t submit an assignment on time. As a third year student, I have lived away from home for the majority of the last 3 years, and it definitely has its pros and cons. Pro number one, I have my own room while I’m in Guelph and don’t have anyone telling me that I need to go to bed (I share a room with my sister at home and this is a regular occurrence). Con number one on the other hand, I miss home cooked meals. My specialties in the kitchen include grilled cheese and peanut butter toast, that’s about it! Being an adult on my own now though, it is important that I am fueling my body with good nutrients to keep my brain sharp in school and my body healthy to fight off unwanted…viruses, for example…, but as a person who is a picky eater, I don’t eat as many vegetables as I probably should, which my mom would tell me all the time if I were home.

Moving away from my horrendous eating habits, another thing that has been on my mind related to growing up is stress. With midterms coming up and graduation starting to come into view, I have found myself in a constant state of stress. I am fortunate though to have roommates that can help me through the dark when I see no light, and my mom just a FaceTime call away when I need her. Not everyone is this fortunate and have to work through the dark times on their own. If I ever feel like I am going through something alone, or am simply not ready to talk about it out loud yet, here are a some ways I get through it:

Going for a walk - this is a great way to free my mind and get myself out of my room. Oxygen is also great for your brain after a long “grind session” during midterm season

Cry - although it sounds counterintuitive, I find putting on a sad movie and crying everything out can be a good release, maybe not the most healthy way to deal with it, but it works for me

Take a shower - I know personally when I get in a depressive mood, I tend to stay in bed for as long as days at a time, so jumping in the shower just to rejuvenate myself and cleanse not only my body, but my mind is a way out of the dark

Music - sometimes the most simple things can cheer you up, so for me it is music; whether it is listening to my vinyls, or pulling my guitar out, music is something that has always spoken to me in a way that nothing or no one else ever could.

Reading/self care - I have one spot in my room dedicated to reading, it’s just cozy and warm and a great place to get lost in a good book. Self-care, in any form, is important for your mental health. This can include any of the above listed things, as well as doing your skincare routine, doing your makeup/hair, or even just getting dressed and out of your pjs can be positive actions taken to improve your days

Left: my vinyl set up, with some of my favourites from my collection on display; Right: my cozy reading nook

When it comes to stress and anxiety, I am no expert, but part of growing up is being able to work through the hard times on your own. This post kind of got a little out of control, but I’ll end by saying, once we are on our own, every decision we make (or don’t make) without guidance from parents or teachers or friends has set us on the path we’re on now, and although the journey may be hard, the final destination will be worth it.

This magazine-book type thing helped me through a lot, great tips and tricks for improving mental health inside

Cheers!

[cjenvs3000w22]

Nature Interpretation in Art

I have never been an artistic person, or someone that cared about art really; so when I saw this week’s prompt I was definitely worried. I had no idea what to write about, art has never been something that spoke to me or something I was ever interested in. But then I started thinking about the one person from my childhood that art look like fun, the one and only, Bob Ross. I used to watch Bob Ross every morning before school with my sister and I just remember always having the biggest smile on my face whenever he would say things like “let’s build some happy little trees” or “there is nothing wrong with having a tree as a friend”. He was like a safe space. He always interpreted nature with such positivity, it made me love playing in the trees or out by the lake when I was a kid (and still now). I think it was his passion about interpreting nature through his painting that got me into photography. I opted for a camera over paint brushes without hesitation as I was not blessed with the talent of painting. Photography opened lots of doors for me in nature; whether it was having my photos hang in my local art gallery, or published on the Ontario Nature website. I used to use photography as an outlet when I felt stressed or disconnected with nature. There was always something freeing about going out to a trail and being able to capture any beauty that catches your eye.

Personal photo: I thought the ice frozen on this twig looked like a praying mantis, this photo was displayed in my hometowns local Art Gallery

Personal photo: Painted Lady butterfly I found in my moms garden 

Art can be used as a fantastic tool for interpreting nature for all age groups. As a day camp counsellor, I’ve worked a lot with kids ages 4-12. It’s sad to me sometimes to see how little kids go out and interact with nature nowadays, and all just have iPads and video games instead. So, at camp we would go for nature walks and have scavenger hunts to find things like pinecones, 4 leafed clovers, or sticks that are in the shape of a letter of the alphabet. This was one way we used to get kids involved. Another way to get them to connect with nature was by using things like sticks and leaves to make art. The campers were given freedom to create whatever they wanted with what they could find in nature and turn it into something unique. I’ve seen similar concepts used with sea glass by adults at craft fairs. 

Example of camper nature art (Fireflies & Mud Pies, 2016)

Example of sea glass art I’ve seen at craft fairs (Pinterest, 2022)

To take a quick turn, this week’s reading talked about museums and galleries thriving off of interpretation, nature or not, and that is something that didn’t even cross my mind. Art is something that can be interpreted 100 different ways by 100 different people, which I guess is something that isn’t true for most things. When I was 15, I was part of Experience Canada’s “Canada 150 & Me” celebration in Ottawa. One day, we each had to select a painting at the National Gallery of Canada and stand in front of it for like 4 hours and try to explain the meaning behind it to people visiting the Gallery. This is a strange concept for me to think about now because I probably interpreted my painting way differently than some of the people who came through the Gallery that day. But I guess that’s the beauty with art, everyone can make it mean something to them in some way or another, the same way I look at a fallen log in the forest and try to imagine how it fell, were or are there animals living in that tree but someone else would just see a dead tree.

All in all, interpretation through art is important not only in nature, but everywhere, as we can all make our surroundings meaningful to us in our own way.

References:

Creating nature art with kids. Fireflies and Mud Pies. (2019, October 24). Retrieved February 6, 2022, from https://www.firefliesandmudpies.com/creating-nature-art-with-kids/

Pin On Crafts. Pinterest. (n.d.). Retrieved February 6, 2022, from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/10977592831959427/

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Privilege - Unpacking my Invisible Backpack

My working definition of privilege would be a benefit or an opportunity that someone is given that someone else is not. It is something you receive without doing anything to earn it. Having privilege is not because you did everything right, and not having privilege is not because you did everything wrong; it simple exists.

I wanted to start this post by unpacking my invisible backpack. I am a white female who grew up in a middle class household, with both parents under one roof. My dad retired early after a serious work injury, so we have been a single-income family since I was about 7. I played plenty of sports like soccer, volleyball, badminton, and softball growing up, and my parents always helped pay for team and tournament fees because they knew how much I enjoyed them. Growing up though, my parents taught me the importance of saving money and not spending it on “material” things. I grew up about an hour from the Windsor-Detroit border, and I remember girls going over to the US to go shopping, with their mom, but I never got to do that and I was always jealous of those girls. Not that I even liked shopping, but I always wanted to miss school to go like other girls in my class would. Today, I am grateful my mom raised me without all those shopping sprees because now I have learned that fancy clothes aren’t what matters in life, it’s who you are and how you treat other people. While others went out shopping, my parents would take my sister and I on nature walks, play with us in the garden, or take us kayaking as we lived right on the shore of Lake Erie. These memories shaped who I am and my relationship with my parents.

In high school, I was lucky enough to have parents that could afford equipment for the 3 sports I played, all 4 years; every tournament, team uniforms and “merch”, as well as the privilege of being able to go to Italy in grade 12. My parents gave me $1300 to pay for half of my Italy trip, but I had to work for the other half, and I did. I had 2 jobs my grade 12 year and every second was worth it for that trip. I understand however that not everyone is in the same position as I was and had to come up with all the money themselves or simply not go, and I am very grateful for my parents helping me with all of that.

1) Florence, ITA (above left), 2) Rome, ITA (above right), 3) Venice, ITA (bottom) (Personal Photos)

As an Interpreter, I have the privilege of being able to read and speak in English, as well as the privilege to have had experiences and opportunities presented to me growing up, providing me with the knowledge and skills required to be an interpreter. When I was about 15, I had the privilege of enrolling in the Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) Teen Ranger program, which provided me the opportunity to learn how to kayak and canoe, identify species of plants and insects, as well as connect with like-minded individuals. This program cost money, I don’t remember how much because I didn’t have to worry about it, my parents covered it, and I am grateful for that.

After watching the “Social Inequalities Explained in a $100 Race” video, I tried to think about where I would’ve been on that line. Yes, my parents are together, I had a father figure growing up, I knew where my meals were coming from, and I never worried about my phone being shut off. However, I did not get any help from athletics to pay for university, that comes from my pocket, from money I saved working in high school. I work throughout the school year to afford rent and groceries because those responsibilities are on me now.

Overall, privilege plays a large role in nature interpretation as well as just in life in general. My upbringing provided me with the best parts of being in nature with trips and different skill training (i.e. kayak training courses, lifeguarding, etc.) that others may not have had. Not everyone is able to engage with nature the same way I was, but that doesn’t make me better or worse than others, but it does make me wish some of the courses I have taken were more easily accessible to everyone. Nature seems available to all, but it’s not, nothing really is, and that’s how privilege plays its part in the world.

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My Ideal Role as a Nature Interpreter

My ideal role as Nature Interpreter would be to use knowledge I’ve gained from my degree as well as experiences with my high school’s EcoTeam to inspire others to try to create positive change for our planet. To be completely transparent, I don’t have any plan of what city, province, or coast I want to settle down in after graduation, but I do know I want to be doing some sort of education. Whether it be teaching in a classroom, or education outreach programs like the ones I grew up with and worked with, I think it is a necessity to pass along my passion for environmental conservation to younger generations. With that being said, I have always heard adults saying that the future of the planet is in my generation/younger generations hands, which may be true, but we can’t stop there. As an interpreter, I think it is important to educate not only younger generations, but also older generations that don’t understand, or rather don’t care to understand the impact that they have on our planet. In order to successfully educate all age groups, I, the interpreter, would need to possess skills that will keep 8 year olds and 48 year olds engaged in a discussion.

Me, grade 10, presenting a report on how food waste contributes to climate change to my science class, which I was later chosen to present to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada Catherine McKenna (Personal photo, October 2016)

I like to believe I hold these skills as I have experience presenting to groups my own age (in the classroom), older adults (Catherine McKenna and party), as well as children between the ages of 4-12 as a day camp counselor. Let’s paint a picture. I have graduated from UofG and am working as an Environmental Outreach Educator for the Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) (a group I know well and worked with in the past) and am in charge of creating a presentation on local issues for 10-12 year olds. Okay, where do we begin? I would begin with high priority issues in the Essex County area, and the first one that comes to mind is the presence (and frankly increase) of blue-green algal blooms in Lake Erie, which is a topic I happen to be educated in and confident in explaining . Next, I have to think about my audience; it is more important to give the impression that these kids have an important role in saving and protecting our Great Lake, rather than getting deep into the science of how algal blooms form. Now that I have picked my topic and the language I am going to use, I need to consider the different learning types: Auditory, Visual, and Tactile. Using features like “before and after” pictures of the lake, as well as simplified graphs can be useful for kids with visual learning types, whereas listing facts out loud and class participation can help auditory learners. Class participation can also be a good way to engage tactile learners in this scenario. As a visitor giving a presentation in a classroom, I can’t necessarily bring them out to the lake itself to get the hands-on learning they might need. My goal as an Outreach Educator with school groups in this scenario would be to inspire them enough to tell their parents about it, maybe encourage their parents to stop using fertilizer with phosphates in it like I did with my parents the day the Outreach Educator came to my grade 6 class.

I participated in the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER) Bio-Blitz where I collected water samples around Leamington and Essex County which were then sent to a lab to be tested to determine the health of our local freshwater resources (Personal photos, August 2017)

Now, back to reality. I think it is important as a student and just as a person in the moment to understand that I will constantly be learning throughout life, but I also have the opportunity, now more than ever, to educate others. I never had a “dream career/job” when I was younger, and I still don’t. But if I had to pick something to do, it would be spreading my knowledge and inspiring others to be the change they want to see in the world.

This is me. I am Phoebe. (Google Images, 2022)

[dralh]

Disclaimer

This blog was created for __________, University of Guelph. 

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

The University of Guelph is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by this blog.

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Elora Gorge, 2018

My mom snuck this photo of me when we went to the Gorge on our way home from Orillia. I love this picture because at the time, I truly was in my element. Just sitting still with my eyes closed, listening to the rush of the water pass by me, surrounded by singing birds was where I felt I needed to be in that moment.

I enjoyed photography a lot in high school and always made sure to bring my camera with me everywhere.

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Elora Quarry, 2018

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My relationship with nature

My relationship with nature has always been a complicated one. I grew up in a small town at the most southern point of Canada called Leamington, home to Point Pelee National Park. I spent a majority of my childhood at the Park; and considering I could walk there in 10 minutes, why wouldn’t I? Around age 7-8, I was enrolled at the Park in the Junior Naturalist program, where once a week for one summer I would go spend a WHOLE day in the park with other kids with similar interests as me as we learned more about the nature found in our own small town. I remember the passion my instructor, John, had for what he was teaching us and how engaged I was all summer long. Both of my parents were very outdoorsy and were always encouraging my sister and I to play outside, soak in some vitamin D, and other typical parent things like that; but I had no complaints. There is a shortage of pictures from my childhood where I’m not holding a frog, some sort of insect, or covered in mud from playing in the garden.

Me, age 7, with an amphibian friend found in my front yard; Me, age 17, with a new amphibian friend found while Amphibian Monitoring in Hillman Marsh with my high school's EcoTeam

As I grew up though, I felt my relationship with nature slowly start to fade. In high school, I became more focused on athletics and fitting in with the “it-crowd”, rather than focusing on what I was passionate about. My school’s EcoTeam still provided me with experiences like amphibian monitoring, habitat restoration, and reforestation projects that brought me so much joy throughout my high school career. It provided me with field experience, but more importantly friends and relationships with people who were just as passionate about saving our planet as I was. These elated feelings came from deep within as I had tried to push them down to make room for what was “cool” as a 16-year old just trying to survive the battle which is high school. It was like I was living a double life; with one group of friends I was doing anything I could to save our environment like it was the ONLY thing I was capable of, but with other friends all that mattered was succeeding athletically and winning tournaments. One group provided true and genuine feelings of joy and purpose, the other was simply material. Although I was still an active member of my high-school’s EcoTeam, I began pushing my environmental responsibilities to the side as I approached graduation day.

Me, age 17, participating in the Freshwater Invertebrate Workshop at the Ontario Nature Youth Summit for Biodiversity and Leadership (Lake Couchiching, Ramara, ON, 2018)

Since coming to university, I have completely neglected the nature that raised me. It is hard to believe considering how much nature was available to me, especially living on campus in first year with access to the Arboretum. I quickly started associating nature with stress, and only went for walks when I needed a mental-health break, to step away from reality. It’s a strange relationship; why would I only go to the place that brings me happiness and relief when I am extremely stressed, but ignore it when other things, material things, keep me content enough to stay away?

Like I said, nature and I have a complicated relationship.