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@elleenvs3000f23
Disclaimer
This blog was created for ENVS*3000, University of Guelph.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of the University of Guelph.
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Final blog
Prompt: Describe your personal ethic as you develop as a nature interpreter. What beliefs do you bring? What responsibilities do you have? What approaches are most suitable for you as an individual?
Hello everyone, I can't believe it's already the last blog for the semester. I know I said it last blog but this semester flew by for me. I initially joined this course because I wanted to look at nature through a different lens than just science and this class helped me with that a lot. By reading through the units and reading other peoples blogs I was able to look at nature through other perspectives than just my own and I think that gave me a lot of insight into different ways to look at nature. As I develop as a nature interpreter my ethics have changed slightly throughout the course. When I joined this class I believed that nature should be conserved but it was only because of ecological reasons and protecting the environment, and those were my ethics when I joined the course. Over the course I came to realise that conserving nature has more benefits than just scientifically. There are cultural benefits, historical benefits, mental health benefits and even musical benefits that nature brings. Looking at my ethics now after I’ve developed a little as a nature interpreter, I want to conserve them even more. However there are now so many more reasons I want to preserve them. I want to preserve the culture that nature brings, the history that it can show, the mental health benefits of being surrounded by nature, and the beautiful music that nature is capable of creating. As a nature interpreter I believe that before anything else nature deserves our respect. When we are outside or when I am interpreting for a group of people I will ask them to respect whatever ecosystem we find ourselves in. That includes staying on the path so that the younger and fragile vegetation does not get disturbed by us, or not pulling up plants or pulling moss off a tree or rock. Nature has been around a lot longer than us and its the same with whatever ecosystem we are in. I also believe that when we are back in nature we should embrace our inner child, like what was talked about in this unit. We should look at nature with wonderment and curiosity while still giving the respect it deserves and try to leave the system how it was when we entered, no littering or pulling up plants and disturbing the area. My beliefs as a nature interpreter also reflect my ethics as I’ve developed the skill. I believe that while interpreting nature I should always keep in mind and take into account multiple perspectives. While it is still difficult for me to look at nature from a bunch of different perspectives I believe that it is worth the effort to try and interpret through a cultural, historical, or a musical lens.
Hi!
I am so glad you got to learn more about how and why different people value nature. I started this course with a similar goal of improving my scientific communication and also ended up becoming more open to other ways to understand and interact with nature. I think for scientists, it is becoming increasingly important to find the "why" in our research. We need to make our work relevant and helpful to communities and to do that we need to understand how different people see the world and connect them to our knowledge of nature in a emotional and practical way that is relevant to their lives. Our work will forever sit un-read in journals if we cannot bridge this gap with interpretation. I think this also ties in your idea of needing to accounts for a wide range of perspectives and make our interpretation according to our audience/participants.
So happy that you got to reconnect with some of that childhood curiosity and wonder during the course. I think we can sometimes get distracted by all the bad news and challenges and forget why we started studying the environment in the first place. Nature is COOL and I think we all have looked around and wondered about it through out our lives. I think holding on to that curiosity is key to making genuine and joyful interpretation. I was wondering what your childhood memories that connect you to nature are and how you might connect them to your interpretations?
Happy last blog though it may be bittersweet!
Personal Ethics and the Environment - Blog 10
Describe your personal ethic as you develop as a nature interpreter. What beliefs do you bring? What responsibilities do you have? What approaches are most suitable for you as an individual?
The world can be intimidating and scary. Navigating through personal issues, paired with what is going on in the outside world, can be overwhelming and bring negative thoughts. News articles about the environmental catastrophes around the world, ranging from floods to droughts to uncontrollable wildfires. People are being evacuated from their homes, and people are dying due to the lack of availability of resources. Social media posts are being rapidly shared about war and violence, paired with updates about the rapid global warming of the environment driven by anthropogenic climate change. Sometimes, it's all too much to wrap your head around. Sometimes, our bubbles burst here in North America when we read or hear about what is going on globally. We all know that life isn't always butterflies and rainbows; negative things will happen. However, it is essential to view these situations, whether firsthand or from a distance, and think of a solution or solutions to fix the problem. Humans are equipped with solid morals naturally, and ultimately want to see peace and harmony in the world, even though the news articles about the negatives often cloud this. This week's blog prompt calls us to reflect on our personal ethics. Ethics are linked to morals, which determine people's actions. We all have beliefs on how we want to live our lives and see our world, and for this reason, the environment governs many of my morals and, therefore, my way of life.
Currently, I am a student in the environmental science program at the University of Guelph. I care for the environment, want to learn more about its processes and resources, and I am driven to make changes to repair the anthropogenic, destructive actions that have harmed our environment. These are my ethics. For issues such as climate change, I am driven to think of future generations and how unfair their situation will be, as they will be left repairing the mistakes and damages we have caused in our generation. They will likely face resource shortages as humans have overexploited or polluted essential resources, such as water, we have stripped our soils of nutrients, we have amplified the abilities of pests and pathogens, we have exhausted our food crops, we've cleared forests, and we've left our waste to accumulate in landfills. I can recognize that humans have caused irreversible damage to our environment and ecosystems. However, I am not discouraged that there is hope for future generations. Through nature interpretation and education, young generations can learn about the state of the environment and the consequences of climate change and pollution, and be motivated to make changes. Teaching children the actual state of the environment, the issues humans have experienced related to land use management, and proper ways to make sustainable choices in our daily lives can lead a whole generation to reverse and mitigate the damage prior generations have caused. I am responsible for acting as an "environmental mentor" and educating the youth and our elders about the state of our environment and suggesting ways to live greener. This could be by sharing in person or even on social media, giving suggestions on how to lower our greenhouse gas emissions, such as carpooling, using public transit, reducing our meat intake, avoiding unnecessary air travel, choosing more sustainable vehicles, or even limiting our energy usage in our homes or preserving our water sources. These suggestions can encourage people to take action to leave lower carbon footprints and use less energy. Proposing ideas about how our daily lives can be powered by renewable energy sources rather than fossil fuels, or avoiding the consumption of fish products that are unsustainably harvested can also positively impact our future and future generations that are soon to come. Highlighting that little actions are just as successful and meaningful as big actions is also important when thinking about sustainability, as often, it can feel as if our decisions do not make an impact. I often read comments on social media about how some countries are stuck with paper straws to reduce our environmental impact, yet music stars contribute to high carbon emissions due to frequent air travel. There is no doubt that the constant air travel by celebrities contributes to increased greenhouse gas emissions, but it does not undermine the impact that the reduction of plastics has had on the environment. Sea creatures are now safer due to reduced single-use plastic use, and inputs into landfills of plastic products are reduced, proving that using paper straws ultimately has an impact. Obtaining a mindset that change is possible, no matter how daunting or negative things may seem, ensures that hope in reversing our climate crisis remains.
So far, I've learned that guided nature interpretation walks or videos, social media posts, podcasts, radio shows, or readings can be powerful vessels for spreading environmental education. In diverse ways, ecological knowledge can be shared through the arts, such as music and theatre, or through history by highlighting how nature was in the past. My responsibility, especially after taking this course, is to share this information with friends, family, and followers. I have always believed that the sharing of information can help educate and dictate people's actions, especially as it is likely that people are unaware of things related to the environment, including the impacts of climate change and the depletion of earth’s resources. Nature interpretation is a beautiful way to connect to a vast array of audiences in various ways that support the different learning styles we've learned about through this course. Nature interpretation is accessible, can be light-hearted and fun, can include real, deep information about negative issues, and creates many opportunities to communicate environmental information and allows audiences to find the beauty and awe in nature.
Ultimately, I believe that we all have roles as humans to educate ourselves on the environment and the resources it provides for us, as it will allow everyone to find an appreciation for nature. Taking time to think about your ethics also allows for a deep connection between yourself and the environment to be formed. I aim to create a bright future with an abundance of natural resources for generations to come. For this reason, I will ensure that I spread thoughtful information about the environment to my peers, young and old, and play my part in trying to reduce my emissions, whether it is by cutting out meat products more frequently, walking or biking rather than driving, reducing my consumption of unnecessary items, especially plastics, and appreciating the nature that I see around me daily, whether it's the diversity I see in my front yard to a lush forest in the country. Enjoying nature can highlight your ethics and ultimately shape your life choices. I am curious to know about your ethics and whether the environment impacts how you live your daily lives!
P.S. Great blogs this semester, everyone! I really learned so much through everyone's unique and beautifully curated posts. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors! Brigette
Hi Brigette, great post to end the semester with! I really appreciate your commitment to optimism and action despite the regular bad news we are exposed to online. I think looking at interpretation as a way to be "environmental mentors" is an interesting way of conceptualizing our role. For environmental and sustainable actions to be successful we need large numbers of people involved. By using interpretation as a way to bring new participants to the cause and treating them as upcoming naturalists, environmentalists and interpreters rather than just temporary participants will make the work you do much more impactful.
I also appreciate how your ethic is solution focused. As the video in this week's material discussed, by highlighting changes we want to see in the world we help build that future in our minds and in reality. I think having hopeful and action based outlooks is so important for combating burnout and apathy.
I think making sure the calls to action we make as interpreters and activists is really important. A million people reducing their meat intake or driving time is better than a few people being vegan or using electric cars. By making sure our "asks" are believable and attainable by our audience we end up having a greater net impact.
Thanks again for your optimism and best of luck with the end of term!
Blog 10 - Where I started, what I learned and my personal ethic as an interpreter
Why I wanted to learn about interpretation
I first started to consider the value and role of science outside just curiosities sake seriously in first year. I was working as a research assistant to a prof and in the early days of lockdown was waist deep in trying to outline and plan my research project on hydrological connectivity. My professor kept talking about how we needed to find our story - did we want to make research that talked about agriculture and changing land use? Did we want to make a new piece for the climate change puzzle by looking at how incoming precipitation changes would move around the watershed? Did we want to comment on urbanization and the changing structure of our landscape?
I realized very quickly that my research and work as a scientist was going to be much more complicated than the experiments I did in highschool labs, or even the modeling I was currently working on in GIS. Science for science's sake is fun - I think a good baking-soda volcano is a testament to human creativity and the wonder of the little things. But experiments alone don't exactly draw funding and publications - or better yet, inspire real action and as our school would put it "improve life". Learning how to communicate my work as a scientist has since become a goal in my undergrad and was what led me to this course. In a scientific paper, sometimes you read a few sentences about the background of a place or the people that might be impacted by X phenomenon but the papers are never actually written for those people. I think interpretation can be a vehicle for bridging academia and communities in a two way street.
In our reading for unit 10 we watched a video conversation between David Suzuki and Richard Louv. One thing Louv said that really resonated with me is the impact our imagined futures have on the world. If people think that they are separate from nature, or that environmental movements are futile, we are bound to head towards that envisioned world. I think being able to share research and nature itself with general populations is crucial to making sure we as a community are on the same page about what we value and what we want the future to look like.
What I brought with me into this course
I come from a family of storytellers. My mom writes children's stories, my brother is an actor studying journalism, I do improv theater - family dinners are always a riot. Early in the course I would always try to anchor my blog posts to a story or experience I had - it felt like a way to make my work both unique and relatable. I think this anchor in storytelling is natural to me and I love the work I produce as a result of it - I think it is crucial to my approach to interpretation and I don't plan on losing it anytime soon. In the video of Louv and Suzuki linked above - they also both start the conversation with personal stories that connect their lives to nature - it is clearly a powerful tool to build engagement and emotional connection.
My moments of connection to nature are often grounded in my workouts - running and kayaking. I think the fact that I see nature as a place to push myself and let go of stress is important to how I interact with interpretation and would share nature with others. We talked about risk and interpretation in unit 3 and how being exposed to some level of uncertainty and hardship can push us to build resiliency and discover new abilities in ourselves. That unit also taught us to think carefully about what thresholds of risk are acceptable and how to know when to step back and re-evaluate. I have been on both ends of this rope - having some of my best times being recorded because I got lost during a run but also reaching a point where I pushed too hard and had to call a friend to pick me up from the trail when I got heat stroke. I think having this experience and attitude towards time in nature as time to test limits is a unique counterbalance to my hopes of sharing more academic knowledge as an interpreter - Is there a niche for nerdy-jocks? I think that’s who I want to be as an interpreter.
What I learned about myself and interpretation
This course opened my eyes to how we can interpret more than just information and facts. Music and art are also crucial to connecting with and understanding nature. I have to give more thought to how I could connect these to my own interpretation; I write songs but doubt I will be confident enough to share them with an audience any time soon so perhaps art and music can be a way to bring collaborators into my interpretation. I often mention my friend Jack and his photos on this blog so continuing to talk to and share the work of local artists would be something to include in my approach to interpretation.
Overall I think my initial impression of interpretation as a way to communicate science was narrow minded. Interpretation needs to be a two way street that connects with the beliefs and values of the people participating - maybe they can even give inspiration for new research questions as I begin to understand their needs and questions!
My responsibility and ethic
I want to
Celebrate local environments
Integrate physical activity with time in nature
Make communicating research essential to my interpretation
Connect communities to relevant research that impacts their lives
Make work that is relevant to current issues and questions and motivates action on issues such as habitat loss, water resource protection and climate change
I need to make sure
Make sure emphasis on physical activity doesn’t exclude disabled people form my work
Make sure that higher risk interpretation activities have an awareness of when risk has gone to far and have an exit strategy
Make sure I am as accurate and faithful to the science I share
Make sure I people are able to continue to engage with what they learned
A summary of my approach to future interpretation
I am a water researcher - it's been my work throughout undergrad, I will study pollution and water quality for my masters and I hope to continue to a pHd. As I mentioned in my earlier blogs, I believe that water is a great connector of people and nature. Water has great historical importance as we established communities along the shores of water bodies and traveled oceans and rivers. We can’t live without it but people are very disconnected from it as a resource that comes from taps and bottles. I want to make sure that I am connecting my interpretation to high quality science as well as the needs of the local community. In my home of Guelph/Fergus, a great deal of concern exists around protecting groundwater reserves from the bottled water industry and a key landscape feature is the Grand River so I would focus my interpretation around the history of the Grand and the environmental role of groundwater and rivers. I also think by encouraging participants to share their memories, stories and art of time in nature I could help build connection. I want to do an interpretation that is directly relevant to the issues facing the environment and communities and I believe that we can all benefit from spending more time outside and being active. In a single sentence I want to do scientifically based, community focused interpretation with an emphasis on physical activity.
Blog 8 (week 9) - Fireflies; I just think they're neat
Bioluminescence is one of the most incredible phenomena on the planet. Before humans invented electricity and lightbulbs in the early 1800s, the only thing we knew that could produce light was fire and stars…and life.
As humans we like to think of ourselves as quite advanced and intelligent as we have mastered how to light up the dark - fire allowed us to find safety from predators at night when we were most vulnerable and allowed us to work even after the sun had gone down. But we aren’t special, so many species were making their own light long before we ever tried.
If you’ve read my old post on art and nature you’ll remember one reason I am very fond of fireflies is because of a chance encounter with a massive population during field work; but fireflies have always been near and dear to my heart - growing up in rural Canada, there's no shortage of time to waste and bugs to catch and fireflies where the first insect I ever really took the time to observe up close as a kid.
Bioluminescence is incredible for a lot of reasons, one being it is almost perfectly efficient at using energy (Branham, 2005). Fireflies are tiny! They don’t have a lot of material and energy to waste so their light needs to be as cost effective as possible. If you’ve ever touched a lightbulb that’s been on for a long time it's hot! But fireflies don’t waste any light energy as heat - both for their own safety and to save precious calories.
For glow-worms (larval fireflies) flashing lights are a warning to predators - a giant neon sign saying “HEY! I TASTE REALLY BAD!” (and they do, so if a bird eats the glowing worm once, it's unlikely to want to do it again). Adult fireflies have unique flash patterns for their species and use their light to attract a mate (I’ll save you my attempts at flashing jokes, you’re welcome) (Branham, 2005). I’ve you’ve ever taken a date on a romantic night out to look at the stars, are you and the firefly really that different?
So how does it work? Well bioluminesce happens through a complicated looking chemical reaction like this:
(Navizet et al. 2011)
It looks science-y and difficult but at its core ATP is the same molecule that your body uses when it needs energy. When you eat, the energy from your food attaches a phosphate “P” onto the molecule and then you rip the phosphorus off to use that energy when and where you need it! When the P is ripped off to do biofluorescence the energy is used to power a reaction between magnesium or calcium, oxygen and a chemical the fireflies produce called luciferin that produces light!
As pollen and nectar foragers- they are also pollinators hard at work even after everyone else is asleep. So thank a firefly for more than just their incredible light! I think it's always good to remember that as separate and exceptional from nature we may consider ourselves to be as humans - most of our technology is something nature did first and really - we’re not so different from the rest of the animals we share a planet with.
Branham, M. (2005, September 5). How and why do Fireflies Light up?. Scientific American.
Marc Branham, an assistant professor in the department of entomology and nematology at the University of Florida, explains
Navizet I, Liu YJ, Ferré N, Roca-Sanjuán D, Lindh R. The chemistry of bioluminescence: an analysis of chemical functionalities. Chemphyschem. 2011 Dec 9;12(17):3064-76. doi: 10.1002/cphc.201100504. Epub 2011 Oct 13. PMID: 21997887.
Hi Ella!
I found your post quite interesting! Bioluminescence is such an amazing phenomenon. My favourite idea you brought up was that before the invention of electricity and lightbulbs, the only thing we knew that could produce light was fire and stars…and life. It’s so neat to see how human inventions reflect things that nature already had.
I didn’t know that fireflies don’t express any energy as heat as they need to conserve energy for their own safety and to save calories. I also found it interesting that fireflies are pollinators and are able to pollinate so effectively are night. Your breakdown of the chemical process was very easy to understand and most definitely allowed for your readers to fully grasp the concept.
You may find the bobtail squid to be an interesting creature. This organism has a symbiotic relationship with bioluminescent bacteria. These bacteria live in its mantle and assist the squid with hunting at night by hiding its silhouette. However, the squid is not born with these bacteria in its mantle and must capture it. Every morning the squid releases almost all the bacteria and catches more throughout the day so that it has new bacteria for its evening hunt. I found a fascinating fun fact about this squid that I’d love to share. I learned that the bioluminescent bacteria and the bobtail squid is being studied to improve camouflage in the U.S. Air Force.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog post about bioluminescence and I found it very educational.
https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/species/8701
Look how adorable they are!!! It's awesome to learn the Air Force is studying these squids- we're still using life to inspire technology!
Blog 8 (week 9) - Fireflies; I just think they're neat
Bioluminescence is one of the most incredible phenomena on the planet. Before humans invented electricity and lightbulbs in the early 1800s, the only thing we knew that could produce light was fire and stars…and life.
As humans we like to think of ourselves as quite advanced and intelligent as we have mastered how to light up the dark - fire allowed us to find safety from predators at night when we were most vulnerable and allowed us to work even after the sun had gone down. But we aren’t special, so many species were making their own light long before we ever tried.
If you’ve read my old post on art and nature you’ll remember one reason I am very fond of fireflies is because of a chance encounter with a massive population during field work; but fireflies have always been near and dear to my heart - growing up in rural Canada, there's no shortage of time to waste and bugs to catch and fireflies where the first insect I ever really took the time to observe up close as a kid.
Bioluminescence is incredible for a lot of reasons, one being it is almost perfectly efficient at using energy (Branham, 2005). Fireflies are tiny! They don’t have a lot of material and energy to waste so their light needs to be as cost effective as possible. If you’ve ever touched a lightbulb that’s been on for a long time it's hot! But fireflies don’t waste any light energy as heat - both for their own safety and to save precious calories.
For glow-worms (larval fireflies) flashing lights are a warning to predators - a giant neon sign saying “HEY! I TASTE REALLY BAD!” (and they do, so if a bird eats the glowing worm once, it's unlikely to want to do it again). Adult fireflies have unique flash patterns for their species and use their light to attract a mate (I’ll save you my attempts at flashing jokes, you’re welcome) (Branham, 2005). I’ve you’ve ever taken a date on a romantic night out to look at the stars, are you and the firefly really that different?
So how does it work? Well bioluminesce happens through a complicated looking chemical reaction like this:
(Navizet et al. 2011)
It looks science-y and difficult but at its core ATP is the same molecule that your body uses when it needs energy. When you eat, the energy from your food attaches a phosphate “P” onto the molecule and then you rip the phosphorus off to use that energy when and where you need it! When the P is ripped off to do biofluorescence the energy is used to power a reaction between magnesium or calcium, oxygen and a chemical the fireflies produce called luciferin that produces light!
As pollen and nectar foragers- they are also pollinators hard at work even after everyone else is asleep. So thank a firefly for more than just their incredible light! I think it's always good to remember that as separate and exceptional from nature we may consider ourselves to be as humans - most of our technology is something nature did first and really - we’re not so different from the rest of the animals we share a planet with.
Branham, M. (2005, September 5). How and why do Fireflies Light up?. Scientific American.
Marc Branham, an assistant professor in the department of entomology and nematology at the University of Florida, explains
Navizet I, Liu YJ, Ferré N, Roca-Sanjuán D, Lindh R. The chemistry of bioluminescence: an analysis of chemical functionalities. Chemphyschem. 2011 Dec 9;12(17):3064-76. doi: 10.1002/cphc.201100504. Epub 2011 Oct 13. PMID: 21997887.
Hi I truly enjoyed your post this week talking about fireflies! As a kid I think they are one of my first wonders of nature that I had got to experience that show the true beauty of nature and science! Your personal connections with fireflies growing up in a rural area, chasing and catching them is something I can also personally relate to. I never realized that even as larvae they had bioluminescent abilities. The ability for spcies to produce bioluminescence has always been a natural beauty. One of my favourite species that have the ability to luminate is the Green Pepe mushroom (or Mycena chlorophos). They are commonly found in rainforest and emit a green light from their gills of the mushroom caps. These mushrooms are brightest when they first emerge then fade as they grow longer (Rapoza, 2021). Like fireflies, Green Pepe also contain Luciferin responsible for luminescence (Rapoza, 2021). Insects that are attracted to the bioluminescence are they covered in fungal spores after crawling on the mushroom, increasing their reproductive success (Rapoza, 2021). Bioluminescence as a kid was the closest thing to magic in the real world. I always found these mushrooms feel like they’re something right out of a fairytale. The same feeling that seeing any species that is able to light a night sky or dark ocean can bring.
Rapoza M. (2021). Bioluminescent Fungi Glow to Trick Insects. The common Naturalist. Accessed from: https://commonnaturalist.com/2020/04/13/bioluminescent-fungi-glow-to-take-advantage-of-insects-looking-for-love/
A moment of appreciation for all the bioluminescent organisms classmates shared with me last week! Going to be re-blogging them all!
It's crazy to me that fireflies and fungi use the same chemical compound to produce light... Wondering if this is from a long ago shared ancestor or convergent evolution?
Unit 9 Blog Post
Interpet (through this blog) the most amazing thing you know about nature – get us excited. This is your blog – your audience isn’t in the field with you so bring the field to your armchair reader.
There are so many concepts of nature that I can speak upon that amaze me, such as bioluminesence, the beauty of the northern lights, and the captivating diversity in nature. However, for this week’s blog, I wanted to take a different approach and reflect upon the beauty that humans have provided within nature. Every piece tells a fascinating story; a collection can form a narrative that spans centuries, continents, and cultures.
I find it astounding to look back at the technical wonders that have shaped history, especially as we stand on the shoulders of innovation in the 21st century. When the world's wonders, like the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids of Giza, and the Colosseum, were built, they were engineering marvels. Fast forward to the present, and we are surrounded by a brand new category of wonder: the digital world.
I believe that a lot of the reason we are able to look back and appreciate our history is due to technology. It makes it so convenient for all of us to enhance our knowledge on a topic or concept that we find interesting. It is also worth noting that technology can aid in the transmission of interpretive messages at sites, allowing more visitors to learn about the location (Beck et al. 2018, p. 465). For example, when my family and I went to Los Angeles, we visited the Griffith Observatory (same planetarium seen in ‘La La Land’!). During this visit, we watched a show at the Dome at the planetarium that used the Zeiss Star Projector. The live show we watched was ‘Signs of Life’ which uncovered what it took to put life in the universe. I was truly captivated, along with the audience, by the magnificence of technology and how it can be used to interpret aspects of our history.
In the modern era, prominent technological wonders include the Hubble Space Telescope, the International Space Station, and Mars rovers. These innovative technologies have allowed for explanations of many mysteries in space as well as discoveries. Furthermore, the Hubble Space Telescope has provided us with countless stunning photos of space exploration and the beauty that exists within our solar system—a universe that will never cease to amaze me.
However, among these technological wonders, it is important not to forget the wonders that breathe history—true testaments to human ingenuity and ambition. Each structure within nature holds a unique place in history, leaving a persistent mark on the world (Beck et al. 2018, p. 329). As an Egyptian, it only feels fitting for me to speak of the brilliance of the pyramids of Giza. This is the only one of the Ancient Wonders of the World to survive largely intact today, along with its intricate details and massive scale. Though it remains a mystery how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids without modern technology, it sparks many theories on how exactly they were created. Nevertheless, it’s inspiring how these architectural marvels, whether ancient or modern, captivate tourists with their awe-inspiring designs and historical significance.
I hope you all find this as interesting as I do, we're embedded within nature and that includes the history that precedes us and continues to evolve. It is also fascinating to me personally how technology and the human creations embedded within nature can strive for many diverse interpretations!
I have provided some images taken from the Hubble Space telescope below :)
References
Beck, L., Cable, T.T., & Knudson, D.M. (2018). Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage For a Better World. Sagamore-Venture Publishing.
Hi and thank you!
My immediate impression of your post was that you are treating interpretation as a celebration of human curiosity and it was excellent to read! The idea that we should consider technology a wonder in itself is a way I have never heard it described before but I think it's a powerful idea. I think I was about 12 when I got a telescope for christmas one year and it was like a whole new piece of nature was now available for me to observe. When I started university and got to use microscopes in microbio courses it was the same wonder all over again; I think technology allows us new areas of time and space to explore and interpret.
I liked how you connected your Egyptian background to the historic wonder you chose to interpret. I know I find such joy learning about my ancestors and their lives. On my mother’s side I have been spending some time researching the clans my family is a part of in Scotland and it’s only because of the internet that I am able to connect to distant relatives of mine all over the world!
I’d love to hear your favorite theory behind the pyramids, I find the debate really interesting! I wonder if they had any technological role in society and what tech people used to build them. A simple pulley and rope - a complex network of steps to shape and move pieces? I love that humanity has a natural urge to invent and create - I think it's an interesting place where interpretation can connect the past to the present.
Thanks for a read that made me think deeply about what we consider a wonder :)
Blog 8 (week 9) - Fireflies; I just think they're neat
Bioluminescence is one of the most incredible phenomena on the planet. Before humans invented electricity and lightbulbs in the early 1800s, the only thing we knew that could produce light was fire and stars…and life.
As humans we like to think of ourselves as quite advanced and intelligent as we have mastered how to light up the dark - fire allowed us to find safety from predators at night when we were most vulnerable and allowed us to work even after the sun had gone down. But we aren’t special, so many species were making their own light long before we ever tried.
If you’ve read my old post on art and nature you’ll remember one reason I am very fond of fireflies is because of a chance encounter with a massive population during field work; but fireflies have always been near and dear to my heart - growing up in rural Canada, there's no shortage of time to waste and bugs to catch and fireflies where the first insect I ever really took the time to observe up close as a kid.
Bioluminescence is incredible for a lot of reasons, one being it is almost perfectly efficient at using energy (Branham, 2005). Fireflies are tiny! They don’t have a lot of material and energy to waste so their light needs to be as cost effective as possible. If you’ve ever touched a lightbulb that’s been on for a long time it's hot! But fireflies don’t waste any light energy as heat - both for their own safety and to save precious calories.
For glow-worms (larval fireflies) flashing lights are a warning to predators - a giant neon sign saying “HEY! I TASTE REALLY BAD!” (and they do, so if a bird eats the glowing worm once, it's unlikely to want to do it again). Adult fireflies have unique flash patterns for their species and use their light to attract a mate (I’ll save you my attempts at flashing jokes, you’re welcome) (Branham, 2005). I’ve you’ve ever taken a date on a romantic night out to look at the stars, are you and the firefly really that different?
So how does it work? Well bioluminesce happens through a complicated looking chemical reaction like this:
(Navizet et al. 2011)
It looks science-y and difficult but at its core ATP is the same molecule that your body uses when it needs energy. When you eat, the energy from your food attaches a phosphate “P” onto the molecule and then you rip the phosphorus off to use that energy when and where you need it! When the P is ripped off to do biofluorescence the energy is used to power a reaction between magnesium or calcium, oxygen and a chemical the fireflies produce called luciferin that produces light!
As pollen and nectar foragers- they are also pollinators hard at work even after everyone else is asleep. So thank a firefly for more than just their incredible light! I think it's always good to remember that as separate and exceptional from nature we may consider ourselves to be as humans - most of our technology is something nature did first and really - we’re not so different from the rest of the animals we share a planet with.
Branham, M. (2005, September 5). How and why do Fireflies Light up?. Scientific American.
Marc Branham, an assistant professor in the department of entomology and nematology at the University of Florida, explains
Navizet I, Liu YJ, Ferré N, Roca-Sanjuán D, Lindh R. The chemistry of bioluminescence: an analysis of chemical functionalities. Chemphyschem. 2011 Dec 9;12(17):3064-76. doi: 10.1002/cphc.201100504. Epub 2011 Oct 13. PMID: 21997887.
Week 7 Blog Post
Where is music in nature? Where is nature in music?
As a follow-up (focus on the above two before you tackle this one), what song takes you immediately back to a natural landscape? What is the context? Share it with us – I would imagine many of these ideas may have similar underpinnings of a campfire, roadtrip, backpacking journey, etc.!
This week’s blog prompt is about music which is not something I’d regularly associate all that much with nature. Music is one of those very human constructs the majority of the time, listening to music of someone singing while someone else plays man-made instruments usually connects me more with other people rather than nature. That isn’t to say no music has a connection with nature, quite the opposite in fact! There are still songs that take me right into a nature loving mood whenever I listen to them.
To answer the second part of this prompt first, I think nature can be found all throughout music. Songs with a heavy emphasis on acoustic sounds and more gentle lyricism are the ones that most commonly come to mind. Taking out the heavy electronic sounds of electric guitars and synthesisers can really make all the difference as those are instruments you would never really expect to hear out in nature. Acoustic guitars and other softer instruments can easily bring to mind the sound of someone strumming away around a campfire. Even if you’ve never experienced this situation firsthand you’ve almost certainly seen it on TV or in movies at some point, or at the very least noticed that these shows set outside civilization tend to have amore acoustic theme when they appear.
For the other part of this prompt, about where music is found in nature, well the obvious answer that probably jumped into everyone's mind was birdsongs! Whether it’s waking up to the soft chirping of finches or hearing a chickadee tweeting their tune throughout the day it’s almost impossible to not hear birds singing if you keep an ear out for them, even in more urbanised areas. It is sad to hear many fewer birds here in Guelph compared to back home outside of Owen Sound but areas like Preservation Park or the Arboretum are great refuges for these sounds to still exist! The trees do a great job of keeping out the sounds of cars and other traffic while the birds take centre stage with their songs.
Beyond bird songs there’s so many more musical things to find out in nature. Frogs singing at night during the summer seasons are one of my personal favourites to listen to but other things like the gentle trickle of a creek combined with the other background noises of a forest take on a music-like quality for me. They may not have rhythms and beats but they achieve the same effect of relaxing me or at the very least taking my mind off things for a bit. This is another reason why I love going for walks when I’m too stressed, the sights and sounds of nature work together so well to make a familiar, yet comforting and unique setting.
To wrap things up with some music I wanted to share one song in particular that has always been associated with nature for me and that song is Far Away by José González. It basically hits all the points I mentioned about it being all acoustic sounds and the lyrics just speak of being, well, far away which is something I like about being in nature, being disconnected from the world for a bit.
Hey!
I really liked your discussion of how some music sounds more natural or connected to nature than others. I understand our gut instinct to associate low tech sounds with nature and our time in natural spaces. I would wonder based on that, do you think we should be intentional with the instruments we use to create music that helps interpret nature? For example, if I wanted to write a song about birds (whether literally or using them as a symbol), we could consider what instruments most sound like birds, maybe a flute or xylophone. One case where an electric guitar might actually work is writing about storms and thunder or maybe even a natural disaster like an avalanche, after all nature isn't always soft and lovely.
I relate to your experience moving to Guelph and finding less natural music around you and missing that relaxation from natural music. I think its an important factor we sometimes miss when we talk about how beneficial nature is to the mental health - maybe sometimes we could benefit from appreciating the small sounds around us and escaping from traffic sounds.
Thanks for sharing the song - it feels sorta like standing at the base of a mountain about to hike!
Cheers and thanks for a great read!
Week 7: Music and Nature - Nature and Music
Where is music in nature? Where is nature in music?
Nature in music
When I think of how nature exists in music, I remember how I feel when I dance and figure skate. Dancers are taught to use our breath in our movements, to give them strength , flow, and power. Musicians do the same when they sing or play, using the breath to power notes, find pause, and build rhythm. I think that at the core of music and dance, the fact that I find a life process crucial to mammals is very indicative of how innate music is to nature. To me, the breath in music connects us to the environmental cycles that keep us alive and proves that we aren’t separate from nature, we are part of it, and dependent on it. When I need to calm down, I breathe. When you step outside on a fall day you take a deep breath to take in the earthy smell of the season. We connect to nature and are part of nature because we breathe.
I also think there is nature in music because we use metaphors and imagery in lyrics. Singers talk about weather like rain or sun as a proxy for emotions they are feeling, flowers represent beauty and mountains represent challenges. Because we have emotional ties to nature we lean on it when we self-express through music.
Music in Nature
I’d like to think that other animals appreciate music as well. My dog Wally will often join me when I play guitar, he likes to rest his head on the instrument (he also used to try and put his head in the bell of my clarinet, I think he likes how the vibrations feel). There are also videos online of dogs singing along to music such as this duo on Britain’s Got Talent Meet Aaron and Buddy: the amazing SINGING DOG! | Auditions | BGT: Unseen - YouTube. However, I have no idea if he hears and experiences music the same way I do. Reading in Gray et al. (2001) that whales and birds naturally tend to structure their songs while writing similar rules and patterns to us gives me some hope that Wally appreciates and experiences music the same way I do.
Gray et al. (2001) explains that whales and birds structure and compose music in the same way we do, but I had always thought whales and birds make music for a different purpose. My baseline assumption was that humans use music to entertain and animals use music to communicate and find mates. This week’s material made me reconsider this assumption, because communication and entertainment are not actually separate things. As interpreters we make our communication entertaining in order to gain attention, focus and interest and we make entertainment communication in order to cause social and behavior changes (ei inspiring conservation actions).
Assuming that animals only communicate information with music might also be incorrect. Whales have a high capacity for emotional intelligence so it is reasonable to assume they don’t just share information, but also feelings in their songs. And what could be more romantic than birds singing to find partners just like we do when we share love songs. I am having a lot of fun considering how animals might share more than objective facts with music.
Bonus: A song that reminds me of a natural landscape
Is He’s a Pirate from the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack. I am a runner and one of my regular routes takes me in and out of a cedar forest along a river. The second last kilometer is a rocky, up-and-down straight shot along the edge of the forest and the river bank and I have developed a habit of putting this song on and seeing how fast I can run the stretch. It makes me feel adventurous and strong which is always something I have loved about outdoor sports and spending time in nature. I get to pretend to be a daring explorer like I did when I was little (a dream that I think spiraled into my current career in environmental science). Every time I hear it I can feel myself flying around trees and over rocks.
I am aware that it is considered rude online to talk about pets without sharing a photo so here is Wally :)
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.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/apps/doc/A69270354/AONE?u=guel77241&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=fb9366a8
Blog 6
Prompt: unpack “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.”
Hey everyone! This week's prompt is about unpacking the quote above. I think for this week's blog I’m going to go through the quote step by step to unpack it as easily as possible. The first part of the quote “There is no peculiar merit in ancient things but there is merit in integrity, and integrity entails the keeping together of the parts of any whole” is something I agree with as we learned this week about interpretation through history, its interpretation that brings life in and meaning to “ancient things'' and the quote says that integrity entails the keeping together of the parts of any whole and I think that also applies to history. Through our interpretation of history we keep together the parts of history and attempt to keep it whole. The next portion of the quote “and if these parts are scattered throughout time, then the maintenance of integrity entails a knowledge, a memory, of ancient things.” What I think the quote is saying hear is that if parts of history are scattered through time or lost, then it is through interpretation of history that we can attempt to put the pieces together. Because we interpret history it allows us to remember the stories, the knowledge, memories and keep the stories of ancient things intact and breathe life into them. The last part of this quote “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.” talks about how if don't care to think about history or don't care to interpret it is like saying all that happened in the past doesn't matter. If no one thinks about or attempts to interpret history it's like it never happened at all. Or whatever did happen only happened then, and it doesn't matter what really happened. I agree with what the quote is saying overall, that something being ancient or old isn't what makes it interesting. What makes an ancient thing interesting is found through the interpretation of that location, when you interpret the history of something you look at its community, its culture and the stories about what happened there. Through interpreting all these things we can give meaning to history. The same goes with interpreting nature as well, the landscapes we interpret won't always look the same, as the world changes it could be destroyed for housing or it could be burned down in a fire. If we don't interpret the landscapes and attach stories, cultures, and memories to the landscape it’ll be just like the quote said, the landscape would be like the railway station, it only existed while we were there. I think the quote has a lot of meaning attached to it, especially around the importance of interpreting history and the things attached to it so that the history of a place stays meaningful even after it's gone.
Hi!
I really appreciate your approach of breaking the quote into smaller pieces to be evaluated and explained. When I first read it, the block of text was long and contained so many ideas that it made my head spin a bit so I appreciate the analytical approach you took.
I really liked your comparison of history and nature and how both can be lost to time and change if we don’t make an effort to collect and tell their stories. I think this is particularly important in the face of climate change as we lose massive and stunning environmental features like ice-caps. If we don’t document what we have lost we won’t appreciate the damage that has been done between generations and won’t take the lessons from our impacts on the environment.
I think your comment that “If no one thinks about or attempts to interpret history it's like it never happened at all” is an excellent summary of the core of the quote. Interpreters give value and longevity to places and history by recording and sharing our work. We are tasked with maintaining the integrity of nature and history by putting the pieces together and telling the stories of a place. It is a mournful experience to think about how many stories have been lost because no one cared to include them in interpretive work. It goes back to our previous talks of inclusion and privilege. Marginalized groups are less likely to have been talked about and included in past interpretations and therefore the integrity of their experiences has been lost to time. As a woman, I have clear records of the men of my family recorded in the family bible but I have very little information on where the women who married into my family came from and that makes me really sad. I think we as interpreters need to focus on making sure all the pieces and people that have shaped land and history are included in our work so they don’t end up lost and the integrity of those stories are maintained.
Thanks for such a clear and thoughtful breakdown of the quote, it was a joy to read!
Elle
Week 6: Things are boring - stories matter
Prompt: “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) - Unpack this quote.
Hyams' is suggesting that integrity and storytelling is not only a key to good interpretation but the goal of interpretation - we need to bring all the pieces of a place or event together to authentically give them meaning.
“Ancient things” can be compared to plants or features of an environment; on their own they are just a fact, but by connecting facts and ideas we can tell stories with emotional impacts. By connecting pieces of nature and history together for our audiences we are moving our work away from just sharing information to interpretation. Our readings in Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage describe good interpretive writing as needing to connect to:
the life of the reader
a tangible thing (ei a artifact or place)
create an emotional connection between the reader and the thing
guide the reader towards a change in thinking or action.
(Beck, Cable, and Knudson, 2018, 304)
I think Hyams’ quote really speaks to the WHY of interpretation; yes, learning history is fun, we like stories, we like fun facts and we like visiting new places. Having interpreters involved in parks and tourism takes the fun and makes it meaningful and long lasting in the minds of the audience.
A great example of how an interpreter can take a thing and make it special and meaningful comes from when I visited Prince Edward Island. I was on a tour with my highschool band and a history interpreter told us stories about the sidewalk tiles going up from the harbor. Sidewalk tiles are objectively boring. Here’s how good interpretation made sidewalks amazing and symbolic of East Coast culture:
The tiles were meant to cover the sidewalk of the whole main road from the harbor to city hall. But the hard tiles were shipped in blocks of stone to be cut once they arrived on the island. Unfortunately cutting hard granite wasn’t possible on an island that on ever has soft sandstones. Instead the city council decided to just bury the blocks of granite and only have a stone path for the first block leading up from the harbor! Our guide went on to comment on how reflective this is of East Coaster’s mentality; they prioritized welcoming guests as they arrive from their ships above all else (and they don't see the point of stressing over a complicated solution when there is a simple option).
Sidewalks are boring until you connect them to a broader story and that story to the cultures and values of people.
Unfortunately I have to take this conversation in a sad direction to address the second key idea in Hyams’ quote where he claims that “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”. You’ve heard the old adage about history repeating itself. If we forget the lessons we have learned we risk repeating them; interpretation can teach us things so that we don’t have to experience suffering first hand to learn from it. Earlier in this course we learned about the Tragedy on the Timiskaming in 1978 when a group of students on a canoe trip ended up falling into freezing water at the cost of many young lives. James Raffan shares the story through a song "The Last Place" A song about the 1978 Temiskaming Tragedy - YouTube performed to students of his own who will go on to be interpreters and guides. The song not only makes the story memorable and emotional, sharing the story serves as a reminder to the students that they should think twice before making decisions in the wild - nature has little mercy and accidents tend to pile up. Essentially, Raffan is sharing history in the hope that his students can avoid repeating it - saving them from having to make a fatal mistake themselves. By learning history in memorable ways that connect to our own experiences we not only take information but lessons.
Overall I think Hyams’ quote speaks to the connections interpreters need to prioritize: attaching a thing to its story and the story to a message.
Blog 5
Hey everyone! No prompt this week was surprising to me and made this a little more difficult because I'm terrible at choosing things and it took me a while to choose what to discuss in this week's blog. After a while I decided I was gonna talk about how I figured out I became so interested in plant id and how it helped me with nature interpretation and this class. I actually only recently became interested in plant id, I always thought it would be a cool skill to have but I actually started learning how to do it and follow keys in books like michigan flora which was really helpful to learn. The sudden start came from a botany class I decided to take which went into detail about plant id and I really took to it. Since then i've been continuing to learn things about plants like they have different cultivars as well. This semester I’ve started learning more about specifically trees and how to id them properly which I’ve been really enjoying, the past two weeks I've been in the arboretum for labs just learning how to properly id trees and how to do things like tree inventory which has been very fun and rewarding to learn. Learning about all these new things and how to id plants has given me a brand new perspective now when I for hikes or walks in forests, before I just saw beautiful greenery with all the plants and trees and now I find myself looking out and seeing a bunch of different species and its astounding to me and makes me want to learn more and get better at id. Thanks to that increased interest I think that's what mainly helped my nature interpretation, I'm able to use the knowledge I've learned and apply it in a way that's interesting through interpretation. It also makes me feel more connected to the ecosystem I'm in when I understand the processes happening while I I'm there. My ecology classes also helped highlight to me just how closely everything connected and affecting one thing affects the whole system. So in that regard when I'm interpreting a place if I know the processes and the social interaction between organisms I feel like I know the place much better, almost like talking to a person, the more you get to know people the more interesting they become and I think my classes have helped me connect in that way with certain ecosystems I've learned about especially forests recently. So whenever I get lucky enough to go and visit the boreal forests one day I'll have tons of knowledge about it and feel right at home surrounded by the ecosystem. That's already how I'm starting to feel in the deciduous forests around Guelph and my home, being able to walk through the woods while on a hike and look at plants and know what they are is a great feeling and I hope I can continue to grow this skill for my everyday life and for nature interpretation.
Hey, I really liked how you describe looking at nature through the eyes of a botanist or ecologist as a conversation you have with the environment. I've always thought of my work as a scientist as if I was reading a landscape - noticing all the clued and putting together the stories of why and how. I think I like your version better though - it feels more mutualistic and connected whereas my view kept me as a thing separate from nature.
I'm so glad you had fun in the boral forest! My friend from high school has a cottage up north and I spent a week with some old friends there last summer. Boreal lakes are like living labs when it comes to ecosystem succession - the rocky islands isolated in large lakes, and (unfortunately but interestingly) the acid rain stripped environments (the clearest water I have ever seen in Canada because everything in the isolated lake was killed). I ended up accidentally giving what my friends called "the morning lecture" everyday because I would sit in the front of the motorboat talking about science while they all tried to fish. I guess sometimes we interpret by accident or habit, even just to ourselves.
I will definity be checking out the Michigan Flora key you mentioned and would love to hear about any other tools you've found helpful learning plant ID...I'm more of a birds person so I've only just started getting to know trees a little better and it feels like a totally different language sometimes.
Best of luck with your classes!
Blog 5: A picture worth one hundred thousand words
I was reading a book called The Devil’s Element by Dan Egan for another class this week. The book is all about phosphors and related environmental harms and catastrophes. In the chapter I was reading, Egan was discussing research done by David Schindler at the experimental lakes area. This study was one of the first to use an entire natural lake as the subject in an experiment; the goal was to figure out what was causing algal blooms in freshwater lakes across the continent. Before Schindler’s study there had been numerous accusations that phosphorus in detergents was the cause of the blooms but no evidence had been sufficient enough to sway legislation or the court of public opinion on the issue. Schindler’s experiment resulted in one of the most famous photos in environmental science; an aerial shot of lake split by a plastic divider: one side bright green (the side that had been spiked with phosphorus, and one side the original inky blue water (that had been treated with carbon and nitrogen). I have attached the photo below:
Egan describes this photo as being “worth one hundred thousand words” (94) when it came to convincing the public and government of the harms of phosphorus and the need to legislate on detergent.
The idea of a key photo got stuck in my head and has been playing in my mind for a few days. The photo was decisive, it cut through a barrage of arguments detergent companies had made about how essential phosphorus was and how much the public wanted and needed their product. Do these claims sound familiar? Yeah, they did to me as well. The main arguments against climate action center around how much we need fossil fuel, how expensive alternatives would be, how dependent our economy is on oil and gas…what if we had a photo just as powerful to sway public opinion and policy on climate action?
The issue I keep butting heads with is that I believe we have hundreds of damning climate change photos: we have wildfires in Canada and Australia, hurricane destruction, floods and droughts. There is a growing list of disasters scientists have linked to climate change that we see on the news regularly…why isn’t this enough.
My initial thought was that it's because Schindler’s photo was scientific evidence in a pure form - the result of a study and research. Climate science is complicated in a way eutrophication isn’t - its consequences aren’t always intuitive to someone without significant background (such as how some regions will become wetter while others dry and how all our data is confounded by hundreds of interacting factors on a global scale). I can’t think of a way to take a real life picture of climate science, the best I can think of is a global projected temperature increase map but that still feels very abstract and adjacent to people’s everyday lives.
Last week we discussed art as a tool for interpretation and a thing to be interpreted, this week we read about science and how to interpret research to our audiences. I learned that a key to interpreting science can be to relate it to the everyday lives of people, through stories, emotions and shared experience. I was wondering if I could start finding and taking photos of the climate change consequences I see in my everyday life as a way to build impactful photographic evidence that could convince people to pursue climate policy by recognizing the connection of the crisis to their everyday lives.
Current examples or ideas include
My friend’s truck tires sunken into their paved driveway this summer
Any fruit shortages or high prices in the grocery store due to drought
The last five (except one) of my family Christmas photos on a green lawn
Any other ideas or climate change photos welcome!
More info on the Experimental Lakes and David Schindler's work: Canada's Experimental Lakes | Science
Week 4
Who are you to interpret nature through art? How do you interpret “the gift of beauty”?
Nature interpretation is a process by which individuals can learn and connect to the natural world. It allows people to gain knowledge on ecological concepts, wildlife behavior, conservation efforts and generally create a deeper understanding on the environment. Now science may be crucial when trying to understand certain concepts regarding nature interpretation, however art plays a major role in it too.
Art has always been a way for us to connect to the world around us, whether it is through painting, photographs, music, etc. and we typically find nature to be a muse for many artists. (I may not be a profound artist, but nature is typically the central theme in my drawings) Now there must be a reason why nature or the natural world is such a popular choice when it comes to the central theme of many works of art. The relationship between art and nature complex yet often go hand in hand. Now some may wonder, how can recreating a view or a natural environment be any different from going out and looking at it yourself, but as Aristotle said, “Art not only imitates nature but also completes its deficiencies”. Art can enhance certain aspects of nature and allow for different perspectives, emotions, and experiences, what I may see in a forest may not be the same as what you capture. Not to mention, it isn’t always as simple as getting up and going out into nature. Art allows access to those who may not have direct access to the natural world.
For example, at this stage in life it is a little difficult for me to travel. Don’t get me wrong, I still love and appreciate going on walks on trails nearby or visiting places like the arboretum, nevertheless I am still looking forward to when I can travel around the world. However, my older sister is at a stage where she often has more opportunities to travel to different places around the world. Which is why I often look forward to seeing the pictures that she captures. The photographs allow me to connect to different natural environments and experience the beauty in a way that is convenient for me.
Now as for “the gift of beauty”, the textbook describes it as how “interpretation should instill in people the ability, and the desire, to sense the beauty in their surroundings-to provide spiritual uplift and to encourage resource preservation.” As for how I interpret this in simple terms, interpretation should prompt people into appreciating the beauty in what around them, in this case the natural world. This is generally what art does, whether it be related to nature or something else. Art bestows the gift of beauty.
Hey Harjot!
Both of our posts this week touched on photography as a way to share the beauty of nature with art so I wanted to dig into that further. Your reference to Aristotle's view of art completing nature's deficiencies rubbed me the wrong way at first because my knee jerk reaction was to defend nature as a thing I find beautiful. I took a second to think and came to terms with it a little better because you and Aristotle never said nature wasn't beautiful, just that is can be added to through art. When we take a photo we add our perspective, which is unique and can offer others a window into how we see the world; we share our experience but also our point-of-view which is a product of our whole lives.
You talked about how you enjoy sharing you sister's travel experiences through her art; I wonder, when you get to have travels of your own, will you take the same photos and make the same art as she did? I doubt it, because the two of you could stand in the same place, see the same beautiful thing and value different pieces of it; your art will reflect this.
Maybe art is a simple way to connect our own stories and lives to nature; to interpret not only nature but how we feel about it.
Thanks for the great post and for making me uncomfortable enough to reconsider my initial impression of Aristotle!
Week 4: Art as an act of love - Why we interpret nature through art
When I think of interpreting art or the gift of beauty I think of a moment from two summers ago when I was working as a field biologist. The task of the day was an anuran survey. We were at the site after dark, listening for frogs and toads. I love frogs and toads, truly, but I wouldn’t personally call many many dozens of spring peepers calling beautiful (picture many many small angry cats yelling at each other). No, the beautiful thing was on the walk back when the whole forest lit up with fireflies; thousands of glowing bugs floating down the trail in a forest dense enough to block out most of the ambient light. It was like standing in a crystal clear night sky; my two co-workers and I silently agreed to turn off our headlamps and just stand there for a while.
I share that story because I think it captures how I feel beauty and art should be interpreted. I didn’t need to be told fireflies are beautiful, I didn’t need to understand the biochemistry that lets them light-up or why they seem to love this random wooded area behind a train station, but I never would have been there in that moment if I wasn’t a biologist with a miraculous stroke of luck. To be clear, please don’t go hiking through private property at night looking for fireflies, it's unsafe and you're more likely to just get lost and mosquito bitten half to death. My point is that I was in the right place at the right time and magic happened, and as interpreters, I think we can let nature speak for itself in the beauty department if we only get our guests there at the right place and time.
These moments are rare and lightning doesn’t reliably hit twice so we can also share these events through art and stories. You felt a little calmer when you read about the fireflies right? You have an image in your head about what I might have seen and really, that image could be just as beautiful as the one that lives in my head. I’ve talked about my friend the photographer on this blog before as well and I think that is another great way to share and interpret beauty. He has always had a talent for noticing little things, an a-symmetrical leaf, the pattern of plants in the grass, and he can highlight beauty in what he sees by taking a picture that lets others look through his eyes.
Now, I couldn’t talk about art and beauty on a nature interpretation blog without talking about my personal favorite comfort media: Ghibli movies. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, congrats you have plans tonight: find your comfiest blanket and look up Spirited Away on Netflix, you can thank me later. Spirited Away shares the story of a young girl who accidentally travels to the spirit realm where she ends up working at a bathhouse full of nature spirits. The movie personifies rivers, radishes and ducks and almost every other thing you could find in a forest and brings them into a colorful world where they can be cleansed and relaxed. It’s an interesting metaphor for how pollution affects the natural world. Metaphors and personification aside, the film also has beautiful imagery of nature, with calm grassy fields, wide lakes and mysterious mossy forests. You don’t even have to step outside to be moved by Miyazaki’s interpretation of nature and to understand the messages about our responsibilities in caring for it. It’s my favorite example of how interpretation of nature through art can simplify complicated ideas into a single work and communicate them without lecture.
At its core, art is an act of love - it takes time and labor to create and can wordlessly communicate the artist's belief that something is special, and therefore worth appreciating, protecting and thinking about. I suppose my thesis in this post is that art captures and shares moments that are special, so we can connect with nature on an emotional level and build a sense of value through finding the beauty in a place.
Images from Spirited Away (2003)
Blog post 3
Blog Prompt:
What role does “privilege” play in nature interpretation? Please include your working definition of privilege.
For as long as society has existed, there has been the presence of the oppression, discrimination and privilege. Privilege has clothed itself in various forms and has wedged itself in almost every nook and cranny of society. Privilege, in simplistic terms, is the reality that there are disparities in the opportunities a person may be able to attain due to their race, gender, class and religion among other things. From racial bias to the economic disparities, privilege tempts us to either be oblivious to it all together and often leaves us unable to properly empathize with those around us. Privilege has often been used to oppress others instead of building other up, this was seen in acts such as slavery or residential school and has left lasting wounds on those who have encountered it.
Privilege also finds itself in nature interpretation in a number of ways such as economic barriers and the need for accessibility. Privilege often makes us forget that not everyone can afford university, to repay student loans, rent or even food. We often forget that not everyone has a two-parent household or a childhood where our parents can afford to take us to trails and museums where you’ll often find nature interpreters. Due to this economic barrier, only a certain amount of the population will be able to experience the magic nature interpretation.
Privilege also impacts nature interpretation as many individuals within our society are persons with individuals who may experience blindness, deafness or an inability to walk or use their appendages among others. Due to this, many people are unable to experience trails due to the uneven pathways or grass, and their need to use a walker or wheelchair. Our privilege often makes us forget that these people exist or they tempt us to pity them. We may often find ourselves aiming to overcompensate these feelings by being excessively kind but I’ve recently learnt that this is not the way— we need to treat them as people. By treating them as people, we give ourselves the opportunity to exist as they truly are—as individuals who experience difficulties and struggles just like everyone else. The sad reality of life is that privilege impacts us in various ways. You can be both unprivileged and privileged, for example one person may privileged economically but unprivileged ethnically. Privilege makes it difficult to see things for the way they are but even harder to connect and interact with those around us.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Hi!
Thanks for the well written post, I appreciate that your definition of privilege as a) a systemic problem and b) acknowledges that it can be tempting to ignore or overlook. We want to believe our accomplishments, interests, and lives are a result of our own hard work and every person does struggle, but I think its important to look at how privilege influences our lives and the lives of others without letting ego get in our way.
I hadn't considered being able-bodied when listing my own privileges before and I am so glad you brought it up! Its a difficult to contemplate how to make nature an accessible space because we can't necessarily make all trails paved or perfectly groomed but that doesn't mean we can't work towards technology to help make these places more accessible. The senior center near my home has bikes with seats on the front so family members can take their loved ones with them on bike rides, multi-person transportation like canoes might also be an interesting option. Online tools like our blogs can be a great way to make interpretation accessible (also why libraries are so important so everyone can access these resources). Would love any ideas you have to make nature a more welcoming space!
Your final comment that privilege makes in harder for us to connect with others is a really profound observation; I think its great that we are having this discussion as a part of class and I hope the larger interpretive community is as well. If we keep talking about it and calling it out when we see it, overtime maybe we can build more connections than we break.
Cheers and thanks for a great post!
Elle
