Unit 10: Nature Interpretation's Role in Environmental Sustainability
Hello Everyone,
Welcome to my last blog post I have had a wonderful time completing these and learning about nature interpretation and I hope you all feel the same.
I have grown immensely throughout my university career going through ups and downs, rights and wrongs, great times, and sad times. If I look at it from a larger picture, I ask myself how I stand up against my fellow undergrads. Am I better than them? Are they smarter than me? Whoās going to get the better job? I can guarantee most individuals maybe not all will think of these questions at one point or another. Not in a way that they want others to fail but rather in comparison. I do not want anyone else to fail but I also do not want to be at the bottom. Everyone is striving for superiority including myself. However, this concept is needed to create a competitive atmosphere that drives the thought in your mind to push yourself to your limits. To make something worth remembering. To be the change. Studies have shown that individuals have a high desire for status even if that means the downfall for others (Anderson & Hildreth, 2016).Ā
Regarding my own ethics, beliefs, and reasonabilityās they have all been developing since I could walk and talk. I was raised in a catholic home and went to a catholic school. Learning about the bible, the sacrifice, the joy, the consequences. Thinking about those experiences my ethics are solely based on my beliefs. Beck et al. (2018) on page 91/92 puts its perfectly explaining the idea of āconstructivistā. We build new knowledge, values and beliefs based on our early constructs of knowledge and values that we gain in early development (Beck et al., 2018). We all learn in different ways meaning that the construction of every person is different and therefore constitutes a different ethics system. Beck et al. (2018) on page 110 explains that in all presentations a variety of learning styles is key to success. Meaning if an individual is not given the right opportunity to absorb knowledge through their learning style, then they cannot grasp the importance of the content which will directly affect their ethics and beliefs. Ā
Now I have not really answered the question yet because to me the most important ethic to follow is common respect. No one is above you and no one is below you. Being smarter or having a higher paying job does not make you any better than your neighbour or friend. Yet our lives are consumed and controlled by this notion. Beck et al. (2018) on page 101 says that interpretation is a visitorās experience. The ultimate goal is to get the visitor to respect what they are seeing, smelling, or hearing. If I can provide you with respect that makes you feel like you are important than learning from me is easy. Not only do others deserve your respect but nature does to. In the article by Rodenburg (2019) they mention a story about a killdeer where the students protected the bird and watched it raise its young. This exact same story happens to me every summer at my job. There are hundreds of killdeers around my workplace and whenever I see them nesting in a driveway where they could get hit, I always set up pylons and check up on them every day. Itās as simple as respecting another human being. Rodenburg (2019) further goes on about ways in which we can get children excited about nature allowing them to make a discovery even though you already know about. Respecting that this is a new experience for them is crucial to their development and their future ethics. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
I believe that it is my responsibility to inform others to the best of my knowledge my interests and thoughts. Through this I am hoping that others will be in intrigued by my teachings to become interested in the subject. I am an environmental science student and so environmental issues are a big part of the concerns that I believe in. Approaching the question of my ethics and how they can be interconnected with my beliefs and responsibilities can be difficult to express. I want to approach the problem like Rodenburg. By building age-appropriate environmental education. Due to this I believe that another very important ethic to follow is integrity. Integrity is such an important aspect to follow. Simply being honest even when no one is looking is truly what brings you closer to a higher being. Beck et al. (2018) on page 458 explains that visitors who are served with thoughtful, meaningful, creative interpretation benefits the individual, the community, organizations, society and most importantly the integrity of the planet. By simply being an honest human, it reflects to much light onto others and shows the world how much you care about a subject. It creates wonders for other people to want to follow in your footsteps. Ā
Now as I mentioned earlier in this weekās blog post, I am catholic and was raised to believe in the holy bible. I do not necessarily believe in everything that is spoken in the bible or even God for that matter. However, it is still my belief that there is a greater being and to reach that greater being you just need to believe. You could be good or bad, but everyone will one day reach that greater being. For some it may take longer because they do not see the way but for others that are in the right place it happens when the time is right. Individuals with strong ethics are closer to reaching this greater being than individuals lacking strong ethics. In a way it is my responsibility to try and help others try and reach their potential. I cannot make them believe in anything but helping them be a better person by educating them on environmental issues, having common respect for others and having integrity for our planet is crucial to reaching internal and external peace.
What are your thoughts? Are your ethics, beliefs, responsibilities similar to what I have talked about? Ā
Thank you everyone for listening!
Aaron
Anderson, C., & Hildreth, J. D. (2016). Striving for superiority: The human desire for status. IRLE Working Paper No. 115-16. https://irle.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Striving-for-superiority.pdf
Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For A Better World. SAGAMORE Publishing.
Rodenburg, J. (2019, June 17). Why environmental educators shouldn't give up hope. CLEARING. Retrieved March 20, 2023, from https://clearingmagazine.org/archives/14300
Your post sparked a lot of interest in myself. I agree with you that as humans we are always comparing each other to others. I think it is almost natural to compare we to peers or coworkers, and at least wonder who is succeeding and who I not, or who is doing better. This is simply because we are all thriving to push ourselves.
I find it interesting to read everyoneās ethics and beliefs and see what everyone thinks the most important ethic is. Like you, several others have written that respect in some form is the most important ethic.
I agree, respect is so important and completely necessary to have relationships with others. With this being said, respect is 100% important when communicating with other humans, however respect is just as important in context to relationships with nature.
I know a lot of people do respect nature; however, I want to point out that respecting nature should be talked about more. There are a lot of people that donāt respect nature, and there are simple things that reflect this. For example, there are a lot of individuals that show respect to nature by walking or using public transit to reduce their emissions into the atmosphere.
I love how you find importance in sharing who you are and that you include integrity in your belief system. I think it is important for everyone to share their voice on topics they are passionate about. Especially when referring to environmental issues. I love when others share new environmental updates with me, when I learn something new about our Earth it allows me to become more knowledgeable so I can continue to share with others.
I enjoyed reading about you perspective on ethics and beliefs, thanks for sharing!

















