My Nature Journal

Nature Interpretation 

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Blog 9

Hello everyone,

It is hard to believe this is our last blogging week! This semester has gone by so quickly but so slowly at the same time. I have learned a lot this semester not only about nature interpretation, but about myself and how I learn, communicate, and relate to others around me.

Through these blog posts I have also discovered that I have several strong personal ethics and beleifs that drive me. I value kindness, passion and genuine human connection and see interpretation as a way to spread all of those things to the people that surround us. I think it is part of our meaning in life to listen to our beliefs and to value them in everything we do. I think interpretation is an incredible privilege and opportunity to promote those values and beliefs to others in hopes of making a difference in the world. As I covered in my post about privilege, a large part of being an interpreter is carrying and accepting the responsibility of privilege and acting accordingly. Being able to interpret at all and having the opportunity to have an impact on others is a privilege itself. I will use interpretation to share knowledge, spread love for the Earth and nature, promote kindness, and encourage self-reflection and growth.

As one of my passions is environmentalism and caring for the Earth, I really loved this weeks content and its focus on the responsibility of interpreters to help foster the development of environmental stewards. Environmentalism has always been very important to me and I resonate a lot with the quote by environmental interpreter Jacob Rodenburg:

“I’m trying hard not to get discouraged. Being an environmental educator in today’s world feels like you are asked to stop a rushing river armed only with a teaspoon.”

I have always struggled with accepting the reality of our world and how we treat it and eachother. As the quote describes, it can feel impossible to make any difference when all we can control is ourselves. Treating the earth poorly is so engrained in our society and what we teach our children that it just seems like that’s the only option because everyone just follows societal norms like sheep. When our world is dominated and controlled by mass companies and governments, it feels like not using one plastic straw will do absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. And realistically, it may not. Only when we as a society change our norms and expectations will change begin to really happen. Like Jacob, I find hope in knowing that change is possible and knowing that the fate of our society rests on our youth.

The chance to make change by promoting environmentalism and respect for the earth gives me motivation to apply my knowledge in interpretation. I think the basis of my motivation is also sourced from the desire to achieve personal growth and happiness.

In terms of approaches to interpretation that are most suitable for me, I have found I really enjoy utilizing my linguistic intelligence in addition to an auditory focused format. I love talking and communicating with people in a genuine way that I feel like I can get through to people with. Personally, I find some methods of interpretation to be too distant and find that it can become washed out or ignored by audiences without a personalized component involved. Of course formats like information brochures and visual pieces are helpful in scenarios like trails or monuments when an interpreter is not present, I just personally would rather be involved in other methods of interpretation. I enjoy small, personal interactions with audience members where there can be discussion, debate, and opportunity for new ideas and concepts that I can learn from as well. This would give me the chance to really integrate my own insights, personality, and ethics into my work. It would also give me the chance to grow, reflect and develop my own beliefs and ethics.

I really value personal reflection as it relates to nature and would love to be in a scenario where personal growth and awareness are emphasized. I also love science and would love to have a position where I would be able to share knowledge and information to help an audience gain a better understanding of nature and its constituents.

When I first began this course, I really had never heard of nature interpretation nor did I understand the thought behind it. I genuinely have learned a lot this semester and I am very grateful for the privilege to be able to have access to education. I am willing to take on the responsibility that having that privilege comes with and will use what I have gained to spread knowledge, my passions, and hopefully a little bit of kindness and love.

I hope you are all prepared to do the same.

Cheers,

Riley 

[cljenvs3000w22]

Hey Riley!

Great post! I too find it hard to believe this is it! Your blog stood out to me because of the personal ethics you mentioned. These personal beliefs really resonated with me and made me want to keep reading. I loved hearing about how you value kindness, passion, and genuine human connection, because at the end of the day, isn’t that what it should be all about! :) Thank you for sharing this with us. I think that your idea about using interpretation as a means of promoting positive values of kindness and passion was amazing and that everyone should follow this notion. You mentioned that you believe you should understand your positionality (being personally aware) and that being able to interpret is a privilege in itself, and I completely agree. I also wanted to add to this by saying that having the ethical principles you mentioned you are ultimately going to have an empathy and understanding towards others that will allow you to be self-aware.

I also found while reading you post that we touched on a few of the same points. Particularly when you discuss the quote by Jacob Rodenburg. It is very hard to not get discouraged when talking about the impacts humans are having on our environment, and trying to make others aware of the situation. I think it really boils down to people not understanding that ONE person really CAN make a difference!

After hearing you describe the ideal platform for interpreting nature for you, I think you’d be well suited to possibly both continue this blog and start vlogging your adventures and explorations. You could have conversations from live streaming and you would be able to have discussion with people all over the world! Definitely something to consider – I think you’d have a real knack for it!

I think you are one of the few people I have met that openly says they value personal reflection and this is an amazing thing. This means that you are constantly trying to be a better person, and I think that if everyone was like this, there would be a lot less problems in the world! What an amazing note to end the semester off with! I really valued reading and responding to this post and I hope you continue to interpret nature and pass along your positive message. I know I will :) Thanks so much

Cora

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Final Blog Post: A Temporary Goodbye

Wow, I can’t believe that we have already arrived at our final blog post for this course. I approach the end of this semester with uncertainty; I feel both relieved to finally be done with assignments for the time being, but also slightly saddened as this course has truly been one of the most rewarding experiences this semester. I look back on my previous blog posts and am just in awe of how much I have changed as a person and an interpreter within the course of just one semester. As I approach my fourth and final year of undergrad, I’ve been spending a lot of time introspecting. What do I really want to do with my degree? It has never been a consistent answer, as I went into first year thinking I’d be applying to veterinary college. A year later, I was dead set on doing herpetology research. The next year, I switched over to entomological research.

So here I am now, reflecting on everything I have learned from this course, and I am faced with yet another “career change”. I have come to realize that my lack of commitment to one pathway out of university is because I just have a general passion and love for all things nature. Whether it was veterinary medicine, herpetology, or entomology, the common factor was that I just love learning! And with that, I love helping others learn about the same things that have brought me so much joy.

This new-found motivation is what fuels my main belief about nature interpretation: accessibility for all. Now, this of course encompasses physical and economical accessibility, but one of my main focuses is what I would call “emotional accessibility”. I have often encountered this toxic sense of superiority when it comes to STEM, even in natural/environmental studies. Sometimes without even realizing, we often place our own stereotypes on who should or shouldn’t be a part of the scientific community, and on that note; if you are not a part of the scientific community then somehow your access to nature is restricted! I remember as a kid how daunting it was to ask questions to adults; some of the people i looked up to the most have scoffed as what they considered a “silly” question. For a time, this really put me off from studying biology, and I felt like I wasn’t “good enough” to join nature clubs at school because I didnt have any background knowledge (which, who would ever expect a 13 year old to be an expert on plant identification??). I had placed this extra pressure on myself because of the role models (clearly not very good nature interpreters) that chidded me as a kid.

These experiences, paired with everything I learned from this course about accessibility such as the importance of multiple intelligences (Beck et al., 2018) or the unpacking of our invisible backpacks (Gallavan, 2005), have taught me how vital it is to an interpreter to be accepting, forgiving, and encouraging. While this might be my motivation and my belief, it does bring about a huge amount of responsibility. As I witnessed myself first hand as a kid, and as highlighted in this unit chapter, we need to use our privilege of education and knowledge wisely as you never know who is looking up to you as a mentor. As an interpreter, you automatically are given responsibility for the future generation as they are the ones who listen the hardest and care the most (Beck et al., 2018). We need to be sure that our every action is in their favor and will help mold their connection with nature.

Thanks to this course, I am now able to both identify and express my motivations, beliefs, and responsibility; two skills that were definitely lacking beforehand. I have never been good at expressing myself in forms that were not visual; but through honing my writing and talking skills thanks to the blog and podcast assignment, I have realized that these skills were within me the whole time! I just never gave myself the chance to try it out. And that is exactly what I want to do after leaving this course. I want to give kids the chance to try out new skills and learn about nature in ways that they never thought they could. I now plan to further my studies by doing a Masters in Science Communication, so that I can continue to build these skills in both myself and the kids that I hope to inspire!

Thank you to everyone involved in this course, as the content of both the readings and your blog posts have been such an incredible source of inspiration! I have learned about things I never would have thought to look into and it has helped me widden my own personal point of view. I wish you all the best of luck in the rest of your nature interpreting journeys and hope to someday see how each of you have used these skills in your future careers.

Goodbye for now!

Marie

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For A Better World (1st ed., pp. 127-158). SAGAMORE Publishing.

Gallavan, N. P. (2005). Helping teachers unpack their “invisible knapsacks”. Multicultural Education, 13(1), 36. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A137921591/AONE?u=guel77241&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=9fe2f151

[cljenvs3000w22]

Hi Marie!

I thought your post was very well done! You really did a great job wrapping up the course and relating it to your own struggles with school and how you came to the conclusion that nature interpretation should be accessible to all! I really liked this comment! I was also loved to read about your enthusiasm emotional accessibility, as well. This really resonated with me because I too find that not everyone is self-aware when they are putting their own personal biases into their interpretation. In addition, not everyone comes from the same background or was raised in the same situation, and I find a lot of the time when people are relaying their experiences and their opinions to others, they don't consider this! I find that this course really helped with this as well! I am a biology/anthropology student, and I would say that when conducting qualitative research you really need to be aware and make it emotional accessible. I think that these courses have really helped me to understand this :) and I also think that it is super important. In addition, this ties into what we learned about the different learning styles, as well as multiple intelligences as you mentioned above (Beck et al., 2018). Learning styles are extremely important to understand when interpreting/presenting anything, in my opinion! I think it is a big takeaway from this course to understand that everyone learns differently, and there are limitations when we talk about accessibility. However, knowing the different styles we can try to minimize the limitations as much as possible. This may also help to increase the emotional availability of your platform/method (Tumblr, YouTube, vlogging, etc..).

I really loved hearing about your decision to pursue a master's in science communication. This is definitely a pathway that is worth pursuing! I am currently deciding between master's programs for next year, but I am leaning toward one at Guelph :)! I really hope that you continue to interpret nature - your blog is super entertaining to read and very well written! Thanks for your post and I wish you luck in whatever you decide!

Cora :)

References:

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For A Better World (1st ed., pp. 127-158). SAGAMORE Publishing.

[cljenvs3000w22]

A Final Farewell and Concluding Thoughts...

Hi all and welcome back one last time!

I cannot believe that we are completing our final post of the semester already! Time flew by. I have loved reading all of your posts and responding to them, as well as reading the thoughtful responses I have gotten! We have learned a lot of nature interpretative, what kind of interpreter we are and maybe even what kind we’d like to aspire to be. I think the main take aways from this is that everyone can make an impact, so no matter how small you believe your impact, or your blog’s impact is, if you reached one other person it is still worthwhile. Interpretation to me is about getting your positive message out there and inspiring people to make the proper change and to fully appreciate the beauty of our planet. And if I can help someone to appreciate nature, I really do feel accomplished and proud I made that small difference.

As we wrap up our blogging journey for now, I have a few final thoughts that I would love to share…

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

It is important to consider environmental sustainability and the current climate change situation as a nature interpreter. When we think of our platform as a nature interpreter, we have the possibility for encouraging change and new ways of thinking about protecting our environment. To me, I think this is the responsibility I have as a nature interpreter. Using this platform as a mechanism of change could be a powerful thing and a way to create positive attitudes toward the environment, especially in the next generation of young minds. As Louv says, that the focus should remain on our responsibility to future generations. To guide them into making positive decisions, as it pertains to our environment.

As we learned from the course content, it may seem difficult to become motivated because you, as a nature interpreter, must seem like “you are asked to stop a rushing river armed only with a teaspoon”. This really resonated with me because I always thought to myself, “what can I do as only one person? I won’t have any significant impact”, but this is not true. I think that it is my responsibility to show other like me that you can make a difference as one person. Especially on platforms such as Instagram, Tumblr, blogs, vlogs, YouTube videos, etc. These platforms allow you to reach a lot of people as just one person. This is important to understand, because interpreting nature as a means of recognizing that one person CAN make a huge impact on the way others interpret nature is what, I think, this course is all about.

In my personal experience what children are taught stays with them. Growing up with people who appreciated and loved being in nature was a blessing because it allowed me to appreciate it. We have this same obligation as nature interpreters, especially on social media or blogging platforms.

In addition, I would want to be an interpreter for everyone, meaning that I feel I have a responsibility to make my blog accessible to all types of learners. As we learned throughout the course, we are all very different when it comes to learning styles. For instance, I am a 40% auditory, 35% tactile, and 25% visual. But some may be 60% visual or 50% tactile. Especially with tactile, it is hard to reach these types of learners with using a social media platform because they are unable to experience it themselves. However, it is not impossible, through vlogging your own personal experiences, they can feel as though they are experiencing and interpreting nature from within the comfort of their home. It is this type of understanding that I believe is a crucial part of being a nature interpreter – in fact, I think it is our responsibility if we want to reach as many people as possible.

I think the approach that would be most suitable for me is to vlog my experiences. This is because I can still immerse myself in the experience, while having people interpret long with me, but I won’t be missing out on the experience myself. Earlier on in the course we discussed how sometimes when you are interpreting for others you miss out on the experience yourself, and while it may seem selfish to not want to miss out, this is not the reason I would want to do this. I truly believe in letting nature speak for itself and the more aware people are about what they are harming by contributing to climate change, hopefully the more will start to think about their individual actions.

In addition, I would also want to use nature interpretation to give those who cannot speak for themselves a voice such as the animals that we coexist with. Animals are such an important part of our ecosystems and our planet in general. I think it would be my responsibility to provide insight to the people listening to my form of nature interpretation on how the animals are impacted by our human action, namely climate change.

Overall, I really enjoyed this semester and blogging with everyone. I cannot wait to read everyone’s final posts.

Bye for now :)

Cora

References:

Suzuki, D. & Louv, R. (2012). Interview with David Suzuki and Richard Louv[Interview]. Art Gallery of Ontario. https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/F5DI1Ffdl6Y

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Blog post 8 - The most amazing things about nature

In a world as extraordinary and complex as ours, with millions of different species and processes occurring every second, there is no doubt that there are so many amazing things about nature. The most amazing thing I know about nature is that plants and animals have the ability to evolve and change their structures to carry out specific functions. This might not seem very exciting, but it is a process that has helped to develop human technology. How you may ask? I’ll give you an example. Every dog owner on the planet hates burs; they stick to clothes, shoes, hair, fur, and are near-impossible to get rid of. But have you ever wondered why they stick to everything? Burs are seed capsules, coated in tiny little ‘hooks.’ Burs have evolved to contain these hooks for survival purposes. The hooks and thick rough fibers make it difficult for predators to break into the seed capsule, but that isn’t their main function. The hooks are specifically designed to get stuck in fur. It is believed that the fibers will latch onto mammals, and will fall off after the mammal has traveled far distances. Once the capsules have fallen off, they will decompose, and the seeds will germinate in that new region. This technique ensures wide-range dispersal of the plant, and provides advantages in increasing population abundance. 

This is my sister’s dog, Eva, who I take on endless outdoor adventures with me. I’ve lost count of the amount of burs she’s had on her, luckily we’ve not had to give her any wacky haircuts, they’ve all come out smoothly!

Through observation of the structural functions of plants, such as this dispersal technique, humans have been able to incorporate these mechanisms into our everyday technology. Not quite sure how burs have influenced human technology? It might not seem like the most advanced piece of technology, but through observing the dispersal patterns of burs, humans have invented velcro. Velcro contains two types of fabrics: both fabrics are comprised of nylon, but one fabric is soft and textured, containing thousands of small loops, and the other fabric is hard and consists of hundreds of small plastic hooks. When these two fabrics meet, they fuse together, and have the ability to hold objects in place. This invention is important for a variety of applications, including household use, healthcare use, military use, and even use by NASA in their spacecrafts, and would have never been invented if it weren’t for plants.

We can’t forget about animals and their structures! Let’s look at cats. Have you ever wondered why cat’s have whiskers? Whiskers are the length of the width of the cat. When their whiskers touch an object, they have sensors that tell them they are touching an object. This helps cats navigate their environment. This evolutionary technique has assisted cats (and other mammals) in night hunting, as it improves their ability to understand their environment when they have limited sight! (Sidenote, this is not my cat, this is Cora’s cat, she’s in this class. Her blog is cljenvs3000w22, go check her out!)

Another seed-related example is the Galapagos finches of the Galapagos Islands. I’m sure we’ve all learned this at some point, but the study of the finches of the Galapagos Islands determined that the same species of finch occurring on different islands experienced different phenological characteristics, despite containing the same genetics. The most significant observed phenological difference was the differences in beak sizes among each island, especially since the finch populations on each island were separated and had no way of interacting with each other. Islands containing small-sized fruits and nuts housed finches with small, narrow beaks, but islands containing large, hard, or bulky fruits and nuts housed finches with large, wide beaks. The finches of each island had evolved to accommodate the available resources on their island. This structural change ensured the survival of the species, and assisted humans in their knowledge on the process of evolution. This has led to countless evolutionary discoveries that have assisted humans in predicting historical and future events.  

[cljenvs3000w22]

Hi Ally! Great post and thanks for the shout out with my cat Tulio :). I really enjoyed reading your post and all the amazing things nature has had to offer.

I loved how you discussed how species can change/evolve to perform specific functions - your burr example was great! It made me think of green anole lizards. Green anole lizards developed larger toe pads and and more scales in order to cling to higher branches in order to avoid the invasive species brown anole lizards in the area on the lower tree branches (Tamata et al., 2017). This is amazing! Pictured below is a green anole lizard ;)

I loved how you mentioned that interesting fact about using dispersal patterns of burrs for the creation and development of velcro! Also, thanks for featuring Tulio in your post this week! He is so cute :) as per usual, and I did not know that about their whiskers but that is quite interesting! No wonder they are sure of themselves when squeezing through tight spaces!

When I was thinking about what I was amazed by in nature I was thinking more about the human experience, but I had not thought about all the wonderful discoveries animals and plants have provided humans in order to make such amazing advancements in science! Thank you so much for your post!

Cora

References:

Tamate, S., Iwasaki, W. M., Krysko, K. L., Camposano, B. J., Mori, H., Funayama, R., Nakayama K, Makino, T., and Kawata, M. (2017). Inferring evolutionary responses of Anolis carolinensis introduced into the Ogasawara archipelago using whole genome sequence data. Scientific Reports, 7(18008), 1-11.

[cljenvs3000w22]

The most awe-worthy things found in nature!

Hi again everyone!

Welcome back to my blog post. This week I wanted to present to you a few things I find amazing about nature!

The first thing, I find pretty obvious, and that is the ability for nature to provide a safe space where someone is able to feel truly alone and comfortable being with themselves. Now, while this may have seemed like a no-brainer for me, this may not be the case for everyone so I wanted to ask your opinions on this as well - do you find that you can truly be yourself in nature?? Where you can think and appreciate life without the daily distractions of everyday life? Just curious if anyone can relate or completely feels the opposite :). Everyone is different and that's what makes life so diverse and interesting.

The above image is a photo I took while feeling truly serene in nature. It was amazing - this feeling - I felt peaceful and comfortable in my own skin. I wasn't worried about what other people thought or what I needed to do that day, and I loved how I felt in this moment. Can anyone think of a time nature did this for them?

The second thing I find amazing about nature is a little bit more specific! I find it crazy how trees can communicate with one another or protect themselves from harm. An example is Arcadia trees, found covering the African savannah, have a very intricate defense system for when their leaves are eaten by animals (Hughes, 1990). The trees release something called tannin to a level that proves toxic for the animals ingesting its leaves (Hughes, 1990). Another example is how mycorrhizal fungi can be used as a form of communication for trees, which my group and I discuss in more detail in our podcast if you are interested! (Shout out to group 8 :)). Mycorrhizae can benefit the trees as they form a symbiotic relationship with tree roots improve nutrient uptake for these trees which helps them grow and thrive (Cram and Kasten Dumroese, 2012). This network that trees have and use amazes me and just remind me how crazy cool nature can be, below the surface!

This is probably my favourite picture that I have ever taken of a tree (and that says A LOT!). I love this angle, but it also ties in perfectly with what I am talking about, as it sort of looks like a picture taken from the POV of the ground (humor me here lol).

The last thing I find truly amazing, that I will share for the purposes of this post (there are so many other things), is the fact that in nature you can never go too far to find something extremely beautiful. What I mean by this is, is that you don't need to travel all the way across the globe to find something that amazes you! Now, travelling is fantastic but it is not a viable option to everyone as it is a privilege. However, to find the beauty in nature you do not need to walk, bike, drive, or swim very far! This to me is unique to nature! There is nothing that is this inclusive in the entire world and it is the very thing that I love about it. You can simply look into the sky to see how the clouds move or how the wind feels on your skin. A sunset or sunrise can really be the sight I need in a day to completely shift my attitude towards one that is more positive or appreciative - I think this is something everyone could benefit from!

The above pictures were taken around 6am just after I arrived for my 530am shift at work. I walked into the lot and just before I approached the entrance I saw the reflection of the sunrise in the glass of the door and had to turn around to take these pictures! I instantly had a smile on my face and dragged my coworkers out to see as well (even though they were tired, they still wanted to see what I kept droning on about hehe). We all stood outside taking pictures for about 30 seconds to a minute and I swear that it was because of those 30 seconds that we had a newfound appreciation for the day. Even if this wasn't the reason our day was brightened, it still put a smile on our faces for a brief moment to see something that beautiful on a tuesday(left)/monday(right) morning! I think that this last point is the ultimate ability that nature has! The ability to make people smile to reflect and to witness pure unfiltered beauty, while the rest of the world melts away for just a few seconds.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed my post!

Cora

References:

Cram, M., Kasten Dumroese, R. (2012). Mycorrhizae in forest tree nurseries. Agriculture Handbook, 680(1), 20-23.

Hughes, S. (1990). Antelope activate the Acacia’s alarm system. New Scientist. Retrieved on March 15, 2022 from https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12717361-200-antelope-activate-the-acacias-alarm-system/

[nhenvs3000w22]

Music in Nature

Music is everywhere in nature. George Santayana, a poet philosopher, and naturalist, stated “the Earth has music for those who listen.” Birds and whales have very similar music in respect to human songs. A song is defined as, “any rhythmic repeated utterance, whether by a bird, a frog, an insect, a whale or a human being (Gray et al. 2001). For instance, whale’s “songs fall between the length of a modern ballad and that of a movement of a symphony” (Gray et al. 2001). Due to the fact that whale’s songs are close to humans, it is believed that that they have close attention spans to humans (Gray et al. 2001). This is a result of whale’s large cerebral cortex’s (Gray et al. 2001). Additionally, whales are able to sing over a range of seven octaves. However, whales typically utilize “musical intervals between their notes that are similar to or the same as the intervals in our scales” (Gray et al. 2001). Next, birds will often chirp songs that “use the same rhythmic variations, pitch relationships, permutations, and combinations of notes as human composers” (Gray et al.2001).

Nature is also everywhere in music. Many of the sounds that are utilized in modern music are from nature. I personally know many people that can’t fall asleep without listening to ‘nature’s music.’ For example, hearing running water from a waterfall, owls hooting, or ocean waves crashing on the beach. Even in the famous nursery rhyme, “Old Macdonald Had a Farm,” nature is utilized in music through the use of the different farm animals.

The song that immediately takes me back to nature is “Big Yellow Taxi,” by Joni Mitchell. The message in this song is very clear message regarding society’s poor use and concern for our use of the lands around us (Mitchell, 1970). This is shown in the main chorus “we pave paradise and put up a parking lot,” as well as “we cut down all the trees and put into a tree museum and charge the people a dollar and a half to see them” (Mitchell, 1970). Whenever I hear this song, I think about how beautify nature is and how it is being taken away. This is even stated in the song when Joni Mitchell says, “you don’t know what you got till it’s gone” (Mitchell, 1970). I believe that this statement sums up nature as society has become so driven that nobody takes the time to enjoy what Earth has to offer. I loath the day we need to pay “a dollar and a half” to see nature in a museum.

References

Gray, P. M., Krause, B., Atema, J., Payne, R., Krumhansl, C., & Baptista, L. (2001). The Music of Nature and the Nature of Music. Science, 291(5501), 52. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A69270354/AONE?u=anon~bddb6115&sid=googleScholar&xid=8b0b8c09

Mitchell J. (1970). Big Yellow Taxi [Recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell]. On Ladies of the Canyon. United States: Reprise Records.

[cljenvs3000w22]

I really enjoyed reading your blog post! I especially was drawn in by your reference and mention of “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell! I used to listen to this song all the time as a kid and you’re very right - her message is extremely clear in the song.

Your take on this weeks post was very different from mine but that’s one of the best things about a blog! You took an approach I hadn’t thought about. I was think more about how musicians compare the beauty of the world and love to nature. Whereas your post made me think more about how you can use music to express what we as humans are doing to nature. It can be a way to express important views and get your message across to many many people in an entertaining way - very much like a nature blog! I think in addition, music can be a way to really express yourself and whether you are trying to urge people to help the planet it is still a way of getting your point across - I think Joni Mitchell does a very good job of that here (and bonus… she’s Canadian).

When I think of music in nature, on the other hand, I had a simile take as you on this, but I really enjoyed the quote you had about how the “Earth has music for those who listen”. This really expresses the idea that music in nature is subjective! And I love that about the planet - everyone has their own idea about what music is to them!

Thanks so much for your post!

[cljenvs3000w22]

Music and Nature

Music is everywhere in nature. I somewhat touched on this from my previous post. One of my favourite sounds in nature is the sound of a soft wind blowing through trees, especially in the summertime. I used to walk on this trail by my house all the time and it would be so quiet, so that all you would hear was the sound of the wind. Music in nature doesn’t necessarily have to be the birds or whales singing, although this would definitely be considered beautiful natural music. Music can be anything you consider a pleasant or moving sound, so this is completely subjective. Music found in nature allows us to go back to the stem/root of music in the world – what inspired music in the first place (Gray et al., 2001). In an article by Gray et al. (2001), it is stated that “every known human culture has music”, so this topic is not only interesting, but it also applies to almost every person on this planet. There are not many things that can apply to everyone and when something we can rest assured that it is important!

A lot of music encompasses nature. Songs that explain a feeling in nature, describe nature, or that remind someone of a time they were in nature. This can be an extremely powerful thing. For example, a song that reminds me of road trips, camping trips, and just being outdoors is Going Up the Country by Canned Heat. While it isn’t necessarily describing a nature scene, it reminds me of nature and the beauty of exploring.

A song can most definitely bring up a beautiful memory, and that is the incredible thing about nature in music. In addition to a song reminding, you of nature, you can also have a song that describes nature. The song that comes to mind for me is La Belle Fleur Sauvage by Lord Huron. This is one of my favourite songs and while it doesn’t directly describe a scene in nature, it describes the falling in love using nature to depict this message. One of the lines in the song is “Ages come and go, but her life goes on the same. She lives to see the sun, and feel the wind, and drink the rain”.

It appears they are singing about how connected she is with nature and how her life/inner beauty is eternal just as nature is known to be. It is quite moving to compare the beauty of someone to the beauty of nature. After starting this blog post, I found this phenomenon of using nature as a comparison for beauty, can be found in many songs to get across a certain message, and it is very moving. Another example of this is the song “She likes spring, I prefer winter” by slchld, as well as “Summertime” by NIKI. This new song release by NIKI uses a season to mark the time when this couple fell in love.

Using nature, or seasonal changes have been used in numerous songs to present the listeners with a story. The seasonal changes have also been used to mark the end of relationships in songs, such as Taylor Swift’s “Back to December” or “All Too Well”, and numerous others.

I wonder if anyone has any songs that they can think of where they are comparing a relationship to nature. What are some of your favourite songs that might apply?

Thank you for reading!

Cora

Reference:

Gray, P. M., Krause, B., Atema, J., Payne, R., Krumhansl, C., and Baptista, L. (2001). The music of nature and the nature of music. Science, 291(5501), 52-54.

[omenvs3000w22]

Blog Post 6 - History and Interpretation

“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 attempting to deconstruct the above quote I think it is important to recognize that it is meant to be interpreted, leading to many possible conclusions on the meaning. The ambiguousness of the wordplay lends to the author’s favour, allowing personal connections to relate with the writing. In my mind, the ultimate objective of this quote is to emphasize the importance of interpretation of history and how interpreters can weave stories out of the past. Unravelling the quote itself provides insight into why an interpreter should see the significance of history.

Breaking down the first component of the quote, I believe the author is alluding to the power of interpretation. Without interpretation a relic is just that, a relic. A relic or an old structure by itself is not particularly worth discussing. However, how the owners of the relic treated it or what they did with the relic can be fascinating and important, even relative to modern times. Exploring the how or why something is the way it is can provide stories from a bygone era, giving interpreters a look into the past. By investigating the integrity of something from the past, interpreters can construct a vision of life from that point in time. The ability to extrapolate history like this is an incredible tool that is essential in educational purposes. Recreating authentic experiences from history can translate memories and feelings to audiences despite living however many years later.

The second part of the quote relates to how the perception of time is often skewed, and that the events of the past intertwine with the ongoings of today. It is very easy to think that the happenings of the past are in the past, never to be revisited again. I am guilty of such thinking. Nevertheless, what happened in history influences every aspect of living in the present and even though a critical event may have happened a long time ago we still feel the reverberations. Being able to understand where we are in the grand scheme of things allows us to place ourselves on a point in the relative scale of time and human history. In doing so we can learn from mistakes of the past and realize what steps we need to take to accomplish our future goals.

So, what can we takeaway from this quote? First and foremost, this quote is an excellent example of interpretive writing. The author pulls out all different types of meanings from a wide variety of individuals, the evidence of this being our separate ways to unpack the quote in our blogs. Additionally, interpreters have an important role in contextualizing via the events of the past. Accurately depicting and learning from history may be imperative for learning about something in the present. Finally, using a narrative based in the past is an efficient way to interpret as it can drum up strong emotions and personal connections.

[cljenvs3000w22]

I really enjoyed your interpretation of the quote. Your thoughts were well thought-out and superbly explained. I very much agreed with your point on how the quote is about the importance of interpretation of history and how these interpretations can change/alter stories of the past. I thought this was an interesting point, and something that I had previously not considered in my original post. I think that your point ties very nicely with the integrity portion of the quote too. Being truthful and having integrity about your past. I now think this is what he meant when he spoke about integrity, and I had not thought of this perspective before.

It’s funny how other people’s perspectives can be so different from your own and can make you look at things so differently, which I think is a great thing. We all have our own way of thinking and can learn from other points of view. I also thought your interpretation of the second part of the quote was very well written.

I also thought about how we tend to think of the events that occurred in the past as being in the past (that they no longer matter or need to be looked at), which shouldn't be the case - we should learn from and fully accept our pasts. This concept that you touched on really resonated with me also! I thought this was such a cool way to look at the past – not as something that is over and done with, but as a reservoir to learn from and understand past wrongdoings.

Overall, I truly enjoyed reading your perspective and cannot wait to hear what else you have to say in the weeks to come. Hope you enjoy your reading week!

[cljenvs3000w22]

History and Nature

“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)

This quote was very interesting. I read through it multiple times, and each time I found something new to unpack. The beauty of a quote such as this is that every person will have their own variation of what it means to them, and it may resonate with them in different ways. This is very present in nature interpretation. We are all finding our own meaning in the things around us in nature (how we perceive the world), just as though we are finding our own meaning within the things we read.

The picture below is a photo I took of my favourite walking trail near my house. It has special meaning to me and reminds me of past adventures I have had with friends and family, but to you it may just be a picture of a trail on a nice day (or it may remind you of one of your own memories from your past).

In order to unpack this quote, I must first indicate that this is my interpretation of the quote. My understanding of Hyams quote is that there is only merit or significance to historical objects and things because of the story told behind these things. The integrity upheld by telling the story of (or remembering) historical artifacts is what gives them merit; hence, “there is merit in integrity”. When he continues to say that integrity means keeping the part of the whole together, he may be talking about the fact that us remembering is what maintains this integrity. Our very knowledge on the subject is what gives these ancient things, or memories merit and significance. This is depicted through “maintenance of integrity entails a knowledge, a memory, of ancient things”.

The second part of the quote is a bit trickier, in my opinion, to unpack, but I think the idea is that if we forget about the past and discard it as though it is over and done with (that it no longer has significance), then that is the same as believing that “a railway station through which our train has just passed, only existed for as long as our train was in it”.

An equivalent to explain this quote would be perhaps that to ignore events that occurred in the past, to ignore our own history, would be to repeat our mistakes. In a more simplified sense, if I did not remember every stupid thing I did throughout my life, I would not grow and learn from these experiences. In a large-scale example, the world right now is at a crossroads with which direction it can choose to go considering the world’s current climate change situation. We can learn from the mistakes we know we have made and try to redeem ourselves from the mess we have created, or we can choose not to have integrity and no longer learn from our past.

Understanding and remembering the past is important in moving forward and creating a better situation than those before us. This doesn’t just pertain to nature, but everything, including world wars, attempted genocides, or mass-casualty events. We must remember what has happened in order to make sure that mistakes do not get repeated. I am sure we have all heard our high school history teacher say those very words, but they are quite true, as is shown in Edward Hyams quote.

Thank you all for reading. Hope everyone is having a good week so far.

Cora

[cljenvs3000w22]

First Time Independent Traveller

Hi all! 

Welcome back to my nature blog. Today, I have a little anecdote/story to tell about how I came to be EVEN MORE in love with nature over the course of the pandemic than I was before!

I thought I would talk about how this year was a big year for me! Before this year I had never been on a plane, or been on a vacation without my parents. However, in 2021 I completed both these things, even despite the pandemic. The pandemic has been going on a long time now, and it has been quite mentally and physically draining on everyone. I have learned a lot about myself throughout this time. I’ve had the chance to be alone, to decompress, to feel lonely, and to long for human connection - as have many of us I presume. At the beginning of the pandemic, almost 2 years ago now, I felt lonely, bored, and generally physically exhausted from not being outside or doing the activities that I would normally do (like go to the gym, or go to a gathering with friends). However, throughout the years (yes, years!) I have grown to enjoy being on my own, and I feel that nature helped me immensely on this journey. This post is somewhat of a love letter, if you will, to nature. 

The summer after it first broke out - I started to enjoy being outside in general - sitting outside, reading, listening to music, going on a walk, lying out in the sun, etc. This was my time to decompress to enjoy time with myself, and it allowed me to grow in a very short amount of time. This growth, that I could not be more grateful for, did wonders for my confidence. I was able to express myself with people and make connections I was never able to make. This actually led me to find someone who shares the passion for being outside and travelling to new places just as much as I do (now that I have come to appreciate it so much more).

Last summer, we went on a trip, just the two of us, completely in the middle of nowhere. We rented a cottage with no wifi, no air-conditioning; just us, the lake and nature all around us. It was truly a moment in my life I felt completely confident in my abilities to live in the “real world”. I know it must sound silly, but it’s true! And those few days I was able to appreciate nature which only made me want to travel and see more of the world in this same way. 

Here are a few photos of the trip:) 

Thank you so much for reading!

Cora 

[amenvs3000w22]

Blogging as an interpreting tool

Hey folks,

One of the classes I’m in this semester, Natural Resource Policy Analysis (BIOL*4500), required me to get in contact with several conservation managers and talk to them about different policies, habitats, land development, etc., to better understand the topics we have chosen. In my project, I am studying the Chestnut-collared Longspur bird species that reside only in the grassland regions of Manitoba. Because of the development of grassland into cropland, most of the habitats suitable to house the Chestnut-collared Longspur have been eliminated. Today I was able to interview the grassland conservation manager of Birds Canada, and I asked him about some of the tasks included in his role. Funny enough, he said that the biggest thing Birds Canada does to spread awareness and interpret environmental concerns is through blogging. He told me that his blog has 70,000 followers and that through informing the public about environmental concerns via the internet, the amount of funding and awareness surrounding threatened grassland bird species in Manitoba has significantly increased. Although none of us have 70,000 followers on our blogs, I still believe that blogging and spreading awareness through social media platforms is the most effective way of inspiring others and sharing relevant concerns/information. My interview today took me back to the beginning of this course when we were asked why blogging is an important part of nature interpretation. After my interview, it made me feel like even though I am still a student, I am a part of something bigger because it’s something that professionals do. Keep up the good work with your blogs everyone!

All the best, Ally 

[cljenvs3000w22]

Hey Ally,

I really enjoyed reading your point of view on how blogging can be used as a tool for spreading awareness. I completely agree, and in fact I would say it is the most effective way to get your point across to as many people as quickly as possible, especially when concerning environmental protection. It allows for a platform of pictures and moving stories to be interpreted by people all over the world from all different backgrounds, which is simply amazing. Blogging, as well as vlogging, would be excellent uses of these. This post reminded me of a fellow classmate's post on their interest in becoming a YouTuber/Vlogger. I thought this was a super clever idea as it pertains to interpreting nature because, not only are you enjoying the surrounding nature yourself and are completely immersed, but you are providing for people a way to interpret nature through their own eyes, even if they couldn't be in the same place and time as you. This allows everyone to experience it without the need for time or money that we may not have. I think, as you said, it would be a most helpful tool for spreading knowledge and sharing relevant information on wildlife concerns/environmental concerns that are important to know. This is the way we can "get the message across", so to speak, very effectively. Plus let's face it, a lot of blogs and vlogs can be fun and amusing to read/watch, instead of the traditional news websites and articles.

I think that it is pretty incredible that a species of grassland birds in Manitoba was increased because of awareness on a blog - this just goes to show how powerful it is. I really appreciate you sharing that - it is inspiring to hear stories like that, that can really make us feel like we can make a difference no matter how insignificant we think it might be. Even if it is just one person, that is powerful in itself, but chances are if it made a difference for one person, it may make a difference for another.

Thanks again, Ally, for sharing. Have a great week :)

Cora

[omenvs3000w22]

Blog Post 4 - Nature Through Art

Interpreting nature through art is a skill, a likely underappreciated one at that. Nature is by no means linear; it encompasses an unfathomable amount of the planet and it’s systems. Art itself is an abstract concept as it may come in many forms, some more complex than others. Being able to harness an understanding of both nature and art while merging the two can yield some remarkable results. Art inspired by nature has been used for commercial success and interpretive guidance. Nature in art also has profound flexibility in who it caters to. The art may be directed towards a specific locality or environment, or it can include nature as a whole. This flexibility also makes it harder to interpret. Additionally, art can be made for a diverse or extremely specific audience, making a “general” interpretation near impossible.

So, who am I to interpret nature through art? I do not think that you need to be an inherently creative person to take on the task of nature interpretation through art. So long as you are willing to capture an aspect of nature through a medium, I say you are welcome to do so. This idealism certainly helps someone like me who struggles to find my footing in a creative setting but still has a deep appreciation for the natural world. Furthermore, I do not think that my experiences in nature make me any more qualified to attempt interpretation through art. If anything, past experiences may present a bias. At the same time, I also think that in many circumstances the artist creates art that is meant to be interpreted many ways, biases and all. Regardless, being involved in the study of nature and ecology, as we all are, can only help. Aspiring interpreters may even have a unique viewpoint on interpreting nature through art that can only be conveyed by environmentally involved youth.

When it comes to the “gift of beauty”, I think the most important takeaway is to generate a motivation within people to act in favour of the environment. “The gift of beauty” is described as interpretation that can motivate people to see beauty around them and the ongoing perils in the natural world. Attempting to introduce “the gift of beauty” through art is likely an onerous task, as beauty is entirely subjective. Not only is “beauty” hard to attain but being able to instill an understanding and motivation in a listener/viewer requires a rare mastery in interpretation. Through whatever medium you are using, the artist or interpreter must accurately depict environmental duress with enough accuracy and threat of doom that the average audience member is willing to take time and effort to do something about it. Tough. However, if done successfully it can be an incredibly powerful tool. As an interpreter, it is likely invaluable to have the audience care about interpretation and the environment as much as you might. I think it is fair to say that art and the “gift of beauty” are key instruments for interpreters and conservationists.

[cljenvs3000w22]

I really enjoyed reading your post! Your thoughts on this subjects were almost poetic! It reads so beautifully and I really appreciate the amount of thought you put into it. I couldn’t agree more about the ‘qualifications’ that people may believe are required to interpret nature through art. I really liked what you said about how it is subjective and I also think that everyone has the right to interpret things in their own way. Just because one person may be more creative in one way does not make them more or less qualities because art may be subjective. I very much agreed with you on this!

The gift of beauty as you stated in your post is the interpretation that can motivate people to see beauty around them. As you have established since this is subjective it is different for everyone and I think that is the true beauty of it. Looking at nature through an optimistic perspective we can find beauty anywhere. I agree while it would be hard to present this beauty you see onto others, you can definitely try and that in itself is being an interpreter for others. However, they may not see it all the same way you do because everyone is different and unique. I really enjoyed reading your post - it really stimulated my opinions on this subject and helped me to think optimistically about interpreting nature through art.

Thank you!

Cora

[cljenvs3000w22]

Nature Through Art

Hi everyone!

Welcome back to my page! I found this week's prompt to be somewhat puzzling, as I often have trouble putting my thoughts on art and artistic forms in words. Most often art speaks for itself (even though it may vary depending on who you are asking) just as a picture doesn't need a caption to be interpreted by someone. That being said I very much appreciate nature as the most available and widespread artform there is, which is something pretty amazing.

The sound of the wind blowing through the trees is one of my favourite sounds found in nature. I have always found nature to be a musical artform. While this may sound a bit strange, I interpret it as the birth place of music. Whether that be from the trees blowing in the breeze or a bird chirping, or maybe even the rain hitting the forest floor. I completely understand that nature is mainly thought of as a blessing on the eyes, but I have been playing the violin for quite sometime now, so my interpretation of nature as a musical artform definitely comes from my background.

In addition nature is of course vastly beautiful to look at. A picture can speak to everyone on this planet, it doesn't matter what language you speak, that picture can be interpreted by anyone and everyone. I find nature to be bafflingly beautiful - it has the power to amaze and unite. Generally, for nature to amaze people it doesn't necessarily have to be a place that you have never been before. It can be a place that you have been to or passed hundreds of times, but on that particular day you noticed something different, and I think that is the "gift of beauty". It is unique to a particular person, at a particular time, in a particular place, but can change in just a second. I have added a photo below that I think truly sums up what I believe to be my interpretation of nature through art.

This image was captured just outside of War Memorial Hall on Guelph's campus first thing on a fall morning before my 8:30am class in my first year. You can see in the photo there is another person also taking advantage of the photo opportunity, but what the photo doesn't show you is the 30 other people who had stopped to take this same photo. The morning fog was having this amazing effect on the sunlight coming through the trees on Johnston Green, and it was pretty unbelievable. That morning I spoke to several others in my class that I had never spoken too and ended up sitting with them during class, and that, in itself, is the power of nature - to amaze and unite through beauty. This is how I would interpret the "gift of beauty" in nature.

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you are having a great week :)

Cora

[tnenvs3000w22]

Nature's Dance with Privilege

Hey Everyone! It's that time of the week so welcome back to my blog!

This week I am discussing privilege and honestly when I read what I was going to be talking about I choked a bit. Honestly, it's something I joke about a lot but it is a bit uncomfortable. To start I will tell you where I'm coming from and then discuss the overall effects of privilege. So let me be frank. I am black, Afro-Caribbean to be more specific, I come from a middle-class immigrant family (now a blended family as my parents are divorced), I speak fluent English and dabble in many other languages, I’ve played sports all my life and I was born and raised in Canada. In terms of my education, I am very fortunate to have parents who were in a position to plan and pay for University tuition.

Speaking English in North America is a great asset but the benefits of that never occurred to me until I got older. Another interesting take is that both my parents have accents but can switch to an American accent easily to be understood and with the additional purpose of being taken seriously. In a way, it is oddly a privilege that I speak naturally with an American accent. Both my parents were able to pay for me to do sports, something which I have the privilege to continue in University. I think the most shocking privilege is socio-economic. I grew up in a town where majority of people around me growing up had the world at their fingertips, I often felt out of place. However, as I grew up I realized how fortunate I was and still am. I am by no means rich but my family has done well for themselves, it is something I never considered but it is true regardless of what I think. I also had the privilege to grow up in an area surrounded by trees and trails. I had the privilege to just travel to mountains to ski or to explore national parks. I had the privilege to grow up in a safe space where I was free to explore the world. Growing up in that environment made me want to share nature because regardless of where you come from nature does not judge. I hope for everyone to have that experience.

My definition of privilege is the ability to easily obtain opportunities without barriers or discrimination. As a nature interpreter, it is important to invite everyone into experiencing nature while providing a safe space. Privilege affects one's relationship with nature because it affects contributing factors such as knowledge, access, financial means and health. Growing up in a medical household my parents would always remind me of how lucky I am to be able to explore the world the way I can and how it is a privilege to not be bound to a hospital. Some people cannot physically access nature because of their health and that is a perspective that I was always reminded to never forget. Education can change how you see the world whether it be oral knowledge or written - they are valuable. In addition, some people may be looked down upon if they do not have a lot of knowledge on the subject or cannot understand the language the knowledge is being shared in. That creates a hostile environment and may result in animosity or restriction to exploring nature. It also creates a fear of nature, if one is not able to read signs when walking through the trail, they may be scared by the picture of a snake biting someone or the rash from poison ivy will ward them away from returning. Honestly, language is one of the main reasons I try to learn so many. I hate not being able to speak to everyone and make them comfortable. Money often breaks many barrier which is why it is something that many wish to have more of. It is interesting because people think that they can’t see these amazing places because of money when they can travel to other places that have just as much value, just not social value. I'm sure many people have been on trips outside the country but downplay it not realizing some people haven’t left the province let alone the country. In writing this blog I realize the many barriers one may experience and how I have been blind to many. It is interesting because we often discuss how we want to travel to all these amazing places but disregard the things that we do have access to. The places we have the privilege of exploring and understanding. It is a privilege to have the ability to take in all this information and learn from others.

As a nature interpreter, it is important for me to be self-aware and understand where my perspectives differ from that of my audience. And I also want to be as transparent as possible So no matter how big or small I am always interested to hear your relationship with nature or how you are investigating that relationship.

- Tamia N.

Beck, L. et al. Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage for a Better World. 2018. Sagamore Publishing.

[cljenvs3000w22]

Hi Tamia!

I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on privilege and its impact on nature interpretation! I too am very lucky and also come from a middle-class family. I was privileged in my life to be able to do the activities and explore nature the way I wanted because of this privilege that I did not earn but my parents gave to me. I can only hope that I use this as a tool of appreciation and for helping those around me feel comfortable, just as you had pointed out above.

I completely agree with your point on language and how knowing English, as well as other languages gives you a big advantage wherever you are because you will ultimately feel more comfortable when you can understand the language. I first really noticed this when I met my boyfriend's family. To tell you a little bit about myself for context, my mom's side is Canadian and my dad's side is Guyanese. My grandmother immigrated from Guyana over 60 years ago by herself and started her life in Canada, slowly helping the rest of our family immigrate as well. While half of my family are immigrants we are still a unilingual family. My boyfriend's family, on the other hand, immigrated from China before he was born and his Dad actually does not speak any English, which makes life a lot more complicated. If I had not had the experience of seeing how a language barrier can affect someone over the last couple years I would not have fully appreciated your insight here. I now see that you are absolutely correct about language being a way to make people, and yourself, feel more comfortable in your surroundings. I am currently learning Mandarin from my boyfriend, but I was wondering, if you are willing to share, what languages do you dabble in? :) 

I'd love to hear from you! Hope you had a great week.

Cora

p.s. Happy Chinese New Year to those celebrating this week!

[cljenvs3000w22]

The Role That Privilege Plays..

The role that privilege plays in nature interpretation is one of opportunity and experience. When we are given opportunities in our life, such as travel, experience, etc., we are privileged to have had these experiences. What I mean by this is that we are ultimately the sum of what we have accomplished/have experienced in our lives. Our privilege gives us the opportunity to broaden our horizons and expand our bubble, which would change our relationship with nature and interpretation of such. In addition to our experiences, opportunities are equally important when discussing the role of privilege in nature interpretation. For example, I was given the opportunity to be put into swim lessons as a kid, so this gives me a certain privilege in nature. I am able to swim and therefore explore the lakes, oceans, rivers without being worried about that particular aspect of nature itself. This is because my family had the means of paying for and getting me to swimming lessons as a child, but this may not be the case for everyone, which would affect how and what we interpret in nature. It is these opportunities given to us that may alter our relationship and our interpretation of nature.

I am very lucky to have experienced all the things I have experienced in my life, but I also know that there are places that I haven’t seen and things I haven’t done that others have. What you have done and will do in your life shapes who you are and how you view the world. I went on my first plane this past fall and was so nervous to travel. Everyone else on the plane seemed fine, calm even, and I was freaking out. I now, more than ever, would love to visit more places around the world. This experience changed the way that I view travel and the world. Before my world was limited to my small bubble; driving and walking everywhere. I have never been anywhere that you can’t drive, and I want to go so badly somewhere that I can’t get to by car.

In essence, I am sure that someone who has never left their town has a very different interpretation of nature than someone who has been to 5 different countries. Now, this does not mean that the person who has travelled the most has the most valuable interpretation of nature, but it does mean that these two people are going to have drastically different interpretations. Looking back at my experience on a plane, we can see how fear may play a role in our interpretation - Someone who hasn’t travelled very far may be frightened of certain aspects of nature, whereas someone who has grown up hiking through jungles, rock climbing (not in a gymnasium), or deep-sea diving may not be afraid of those things.

I would say that overall, the role of privilege in nature interpretation does have everything to do with your life experiences and the opportunities given to you, and this impacts the way you view the world. I would also say that the more you see of the world the less frightened you are going to be, and this is why privilege gives us a great advantage; certainly, a positionality that we need to be aware of and understand when interpreting nature with and/or for others.

[kmsenvs3000w22]

Ideal Interpretation Role

This is a really good question. Honestly, it has taken me this long to have a good think about what my ideal environmental interpreter role would be. The issue is, while I do enjoy spending time with people in the outdoors and really like sharing my interests with others, I feel as if that takes away from the experience for myself. Is it just me? If I was to explain things to people or to ensure that everyone was taking something away from my role, I feel over time that would deteriorate my satisfaction from my role. So, I feel it has to be a role where I can be spontaneous and creative with what I want to do. But still, be able to connect with people and hopefully inspire them as well. I think this is why my ideal “role” would be a YouTuber; a platform where you can decide what your content can be and hopefully attract and inspire others. Now of course for this to work I have to learn how in the world to use iMovie and possibly invest in an actual camera, especially if I am going to be recording myself on my adventures. I have seen many people do this already, but I feel really connected to these channels since they are just being themselves and enjoying what they are putting out. Furthermore, I feel you can still attend to the different ways people absorb information. Of course, you have the visual, but you can add in music or narration for the audio, and hopefully inspire others to go out and try similar things to obtain the more physical senses (smell, touch, taste). In my own experience, the combination of a video and the right music to accompany it can be extremely powerful. I think in terms of connecting YouTube content more to nature interpretation is how I connect what is happening in the video to the big picture. For example, let’s say I decide to make a terrarium build video, because it is cold outside, and I miss summer. I can add the cool time-lapse, the feel-good music, the sick macro shots, the smooth transitions, the calm voice narration to show people how crazy, but beautiful the natural world is. Or can film a fishing session on the speed river (not in winter of course). Can just throw on a chesty GoPro and be ready to talk to myself about what I am doing and good to go! I can just think out loud about where I am going, what my plan is, why I am doing something, how I am going to do it. Then again, I can link it to the larger picture of water quality and conservation. What I like about YouTube is even though it is a virtual platform, there is still a sense of community within a given channel. The viewers can still share their opinions with me and others. I always light up when I am watching a video and there are so many comments saying how this video has inspired them to do something or has helped them through a hard patch in someone’s life. YouTube, it’s not your conventional role, but I think it would be quite fun 😊

Kiran 

[cljenvs3000w22]

Hi Kiran!

Loved reading your post and your ideal role as a nature interpreter. I thought your ideas were well thought out and very interesting. I totally understand what you meant when you said that being an interpreter for others can take away from your own experience. Being a Youtuber is definitely a super creative and effective way of combining inspiring others, while also not losing any of the experience yourself. The GoPro was such a cool idea because this would allow you to, maybe even, forget that you are recording and enjoy the moment - whereas I have heard from others that when you are a YouTuber you feel like you are always playing a role (to some degree), which would very much defeat the purpose of being immersed in nature and in the experience itself. However, having a GoPro constantly running would be the ideal way to do this. I’d be curious, if you did go the GoPro route, if you found that it took away your enjoyment and happiness of nature or if you found that it was the perfect balance for you! It would be definitely worth a try!

I must admit when I first tried to answer this question, I did not think of this as a possible answer, but you have opened my eyes to new ways of using our own creative thoughts to answer these interpretive questions. 

Honestly, if you did go the YouTube route, I’m sure most of the students in this class would be tuning in! Thanks for your post and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the “portraying an image/character” as a YouTuber.

All the best, Cora

[cljenvs3000w22]

My Role as an Interpreter

I believe that my ideal role as an interpreter would be one of understanding, active listening, and patience. I would want one to develop their own opinions about nature. As I read from the first blog posts from the class, there were a few students that outlined how their relationship with nature grew as they became an adult. They discussed how their parents and siblings loved nature and would always be outside, camping, swimming, outdoor sports, etc.. and they grew to resent nature. But as they learned to appreciate it on their own terms nature became a special place to them. While my role would be one of enthusiasm and excitement, which I hope would resonate with those around me, I do believe that when you cultivate your own relationship, it becomes one you appreciate even more.

My dad and I loved the outdoors, and as I grew up I loved camping, hiking, swimming and a plethora of outdoor sports, but my mom did not as much. She gave me and my brother a balance - she allowed us to choose what we wanted and didn’t force anything onto us. I think this allowed my relationship with nature to be one of appreciation. As we grew, I found that my mom’s relationship with nature also grew - now it would seem that she enjoys being outside as much as us! I think that you can’t force people to “fall in love” with nature, so to speak, but you can help them see things through your eyes.

Growing up I had an interpreter of my very own; my best friend who always loved the outdoors! In fact, they are a student in this class and have always played a big role in my life, especially in nature as my guide and leader. Now for the sake of not singling them out, I will not reveal this person, but I really wanted to tell the full story of why I believe my role lies in active listening and patience, more than guiding and leading.

My learning style is 40% auditory, and 35% tactile, and 25% visual. With this in mind, I think my strengths are best suited for listening to others just as I have previously stated, as well as to guide them to see the beauty and wonder of nature. While I am still unsure about where I would like to be, considering I, myself, have not travelled as much as I would like, my only hope is that I am passionate about where I am and what I am doing. Overall, my goal would be to help show others what we can do to respect and protect our planet/our environment. This is what I would want to help others interpret, even if it is the only take away that I can provide.

Thank you so much for reading :)