Nature Interpretation

[csenvs3000-2018-blog]

Interpretation: Not For the Weak-Hearted

When we went around the room on the first day of class, discussing our experience with interpretation, I didn’t have much of an answer. In fact, my answer was somewhere along the lines of “honestly, I don’t even know what nature interpretation is, and I’m here to find out”.

Over the course of the semester I’ve learned some solid foundations to help me figure out just what nature interpretation is. I’ve learned the basic principles of planning, running, and evaluating a walk. I’ve learned about how to balance risk to make sure that a program isn’t too boring or too scary. I’ve been able to, on multiple occasions, see professionals in the field interpreting nature and setting an example. The funny thing is, if you were to ask me today what nature interpretation is, I still don’t think I’d be able to answer. This isn’t however, because I’ve learned nothing. This is because I’ve learned one very important thing: nature interpretation can be done an infinite amount of ways. Interpretation is as much an art form as anything; the art of grabbing an audience’s attention and holding it through a presentation, ensuring each member walks away with something.

This leaves me to consider where I fit into the world of interpretation. I think that I bring a very specific view of the field with me, and as such have broken my ethic as an interpreter into three fundamental principles:

1)      Let people be free to discover on their own. In my opinion, the best way to learn is through experience.  Someone once told me that “experience is a bitch of teacher, but it’s a damn good one”, and as I consider this, I begin to realize how many of the lessons that I will never forget are ones that I learned from experience. Because of experience, I know that if a mountain bike trail is marked as “professionals only”, one should probably listen to it or risk some serious wipe-outs. Because of experience, I know that reef sharks are only going to chase you if you run from them: the best thing to do is stand your ground. Because of experience, I know that some of the best stories come from times when you had no plan, no idea, and no direction. This is something that I think everyone should experience, and as much as I can teach people facts and lessons about nature, few of them will truly grasp my point until they learn it from experience.

(What do you do with a single free day in Victoria? Follow vague directions to a local knowledge spot and climb out over a 200+ foot drop into a gorge of course. No plan, no idea, no direction - just four guys and a goal)

2)      Life begins outside of your comfort zone. Contrary to what we spoke about in class, I’m a firm believer that people should be constantly challenged, and that the best way to experience nature is to constantly put yourself in a state of discomfort. When I’m home for the holidays, I’ll often go for walks through the forest near my house. Its easy to get to and a good way to spend an afternoon. Last year, however, I decided I didn’t want to do that anymore because I’d grown up in that forest and it wasn’t new anymore. Instead of walking the same trail, I ended up bushwhacking and doing some off-trail exploring. I ended up in waist-deep snow. I found an abandoned hobo camp. I tracked a deer for 40 minutes, trespassed on in a farmer’s field, and still couldn’t find it. And best of all, I got hopelessly lost. I found myself in a very uncomfortable position: I had no idea where I was and was running out of daylight. Now, before I go any further its important to mention that this forest isn’t massive; I knew I could walk in any direction for under two hours and figure out where I am (I’ve been briefly but genuinely lost in an expansive forest before and its not something I’m eager to do again – see section 1). However, trudging through the snow trying to find something familiar afforded me two benefits. First, I began to notice little things in the environment that I hadn’t before in my desperate attempt to find something familiar. And second, I felt more alive than I had in a long time. All I had was myself and my skills to rely on. I trusted myself to find my way home, and I felt powerful when I eventually did. I do my best to do things that make me this kind of uncomfortable as often as I can - from illegally climbing through gorges in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia, to snorkeling with sharks and stonefish on the Ningaloo Reef, to boating into polar bear territory to collect firewood in the Cree Nation of Wemindji, to something as simple as walking through the Arboretum at night and trying not to jump at the shadows. The times in life when I am most exhilarated, and the times when I grow the most, are the times that I am deliberately uncomfortable. This is something that I think people need more than ever in a time when so much of our society and technology is focused on keeping us comfortable (read: numb).

(”What do you mean we’re going past the stop sign? Isn’t that illegal?” “Yes it is, Calder, but you won’t believe what’s down there!”)

3)      Give no quarter. There are obvious exceptions to this one, but as a general rule I believe that most people are capable of that which they think they are not. Last year, I underwent surgery to fix a foot that had been broken for two years. While this surgery fixed the break itself, it didn’t fix the chronic pain that accompanied it, and since March I’ve lived in near constant pain. Despite this, I continue to live my life the way I did before the surgery, and before the break. It takes some more teeth-gritting, some extra care, and a lot of Tylenol, but I have been able to meet (and exceed) my limitations despite this injury. I’m now a part of a gold-medal winning Quidditch team, I run 8 kilometres almost daily, and I’m in the best shape of my life. I have had the good fortune to realize that my injury can’t hold me back, and as an interpreter I think this is an important concept to pass on. Anyone and everyone can be outdoorsy, in most cases the only thing holding people back from going on a hiking trip, jumping into a lake, or climbing a mountain are their own perceived limitations that stop them from trying in the first place.

(A fracture of the 5th metatarsal - broken for over two years…)

(…and 8 months later, a regional gold medalist) 

If I had to sum up my ‘style’ as an interpreter in a single word, I’d choose “unforgiving”. My ideal program is one that promoted experiential learning that will make you uncomfortable and realize the only thing holding you back all along was yourself.

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

Hey great post!

I would love to do one of your future programs! Like you, I love pushing myself and exploring. It sounds like you have been on many awesome adventures! I particularly liked the story about getting lost in that forest. I totally agree with you in that this day and age people need to be going on more adventures like that. We rely so much on technology that I think a lot would be gained from learning to trust and rely on ourselves. I actually had a similar experience when I was on a high school camping trip for an environmental science class. The man who was running this trip was a nature interpreter from Guelph Lake and his philosophy actually reminds me a lot of you. He had us pair up in partners, took us into the woods and told us to find our way back to camp. It took some groups longer than others but it was defiantly great to try disconnect from technology and instead rely on ourselves and each other to get back to camp. 

I really like your second point ‘Give no quarter.’ I am actually a third degree black belt in karate and the saying “you can always do better than you think you can” is the first thing that is taught to new students. I think it is a great saying but I agree with you that in order for people to learn that this is true they have to be pushed past their comfort zone. This happened many times to me during my training time as a martial artist. I would say that the most extreme time that I was pushed past what I thought I could do was during a 6 hour physical endurance grading that I had to complete in order to earn my first degree black belt. It was physically one of the hardest things I have ever had to do but it definitely forced me to grow as a person and gain confidence in myself.I am glad that your goal is to push other people so that they can too grow and learn about themselves. Good luck to you!

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

My Journey as a Nature Interpreter

The last 3 months in this course have been very helpful to me in my future career. I am going to be going to be going to teachers collage in May to learn how to become a high school level science teacher. I included the below video because I believe it perfectly explains the main challenge that I will be facing in this career which is getting students interested in the subject I will be teaching:

This video mentions that the best teachers are the ones that can make you interested and passionate about the subject they are teaching. Instead of using the word spark he says flame, but the main responsibility of my job is to create the spark in my students for science. I think that it is a shame that so many students are turned off of this subjects because it is seen as boring and/or difficult. I believe that teachers have the huge responsibility of shaping the lives of young people so it makes me very frustrated when I hear horror stories about teachers who don’t put their full effort into their jobs. It is my goal to become one of the (unfortunately) few teachers who are able to inspire their students. 

I am hoping to give the gift of a spark to as many students as I can. One of my main strengths that will help me with this is my enthusiasm for science and my love of teaching. This will allow me to continuously try to find new and interesting ways to present my material. I currently tutor a range of students from elementary school to high school and I love finding ways to explain concepts in new ways that are easier to understand. I also love to see a new confidence in my students as they discover that they can understand these concepts and this usually leads to a new appreciation for how cool science actually is. 

I believe that science teachers are essentially nature interpreters. This is because they are trying to convey information about life and the way that the world works in a way that is understandable to their audience. A major constraint that teachers have is their limited access to the outdoors. Instead of letting the experience of nature and beauty speak for itself, teachers have to find a way to bring the world’s beauty and wonder into a classroom. Therefore I think the gift of beauty is something that is often missed in science classrooms. I am hoping to bring this gift back through the use of pictures and videos. As a lot of you probably know from past blog posts, I think BBC’s Planet Earth series is an awesome way to convey the beauty of nature because its imagery is absolutely stunning and was actually one of the main things that gave me the spark for nature and science. Therefore I am hoping to incorporate videos like this to also help my students see the beauty in science. 

I think using the gift of a story will also help me to make my subjects as interesting as possible. I believe that sometimes these subjects can seem disconnected from the lives of students. I am hoping to make learning more interesting by presenting facts as a story that will engage students and make them want to learn more. I believe that one of the main reasons why students become disengaged is because they feel like they are learning useless information that they will never use. I am hoping to also use real-life stories from the media or real life examples so that students will feel like they are learning something worth while.

image from : https://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-wike-loyola/the-most-powerful-tool-in_b_6012136.html

Lastly, I believe the main thing missing from most science classrooms is hands on experience in the real world. Field trips are an extremely valuable way to get students engaged and interested in class material. One of my favourite memories from my high school biology class was our field trip to the Toronto Zoo. It was an awesome way to get us engaged in our biodiversity unit because we were able o physically see and explore the biodiversity of the world. This also made our subsequent assignment on the trip more interesting because we were able o talk about our own experiences instead of looking up and writing about the experiences of others. I was also fortunate enough to be able to take an ecology course at my high school that was largely experienced based. At least 3 times a week we were able to be outside collecting data or learning about the things we were seeing in nature. However, real world experiences don’t have to just come from the outside world. Valuable lessons can also be taught in the classroom by doing simple experiments or by brining in objects of interest into the classroom to make learning more fun. 

I hope to continue learning on my journey as a nature interpreter and continue to inspire students to pursue science in their future careers. This course was very helpful in highlighting some key strategies and gifts that I can give my students to help them understand my lessons. I would love to hear your thoughts about any gifts or strategies that I may have left out that would help me on my future journey! 

[ckenvs3000-2018-blog]

You’d make such a good teacher! It’s kind of scary how many bad teachers there actually are out there. Especially when you consider how hard it seems to be for new teachers to get positions at the moment. How did all these bad teachers get in? Even now during university I can’t count the number of times during the course selection period I’ve had conversations with friends that go a bit like this, can you relate?

Friend 1: “hey ever taken [blank] course before…I’m thinking of taking it?”

Friend 2: “oh that’s taught by Dr [name]….he’s seriously aweful, I wouldn’t wish that class on my worst enemy”

While I try to take classes that sound like they might be useful regardless of how hard they may be (I’m not paying to just learn things I could of figured out on my own after all), I have defintely steered away from classes that otherwise may have been fantastic simply because everyone who has ever had a class with that prof swears they’re satan incarnate. Rude attitudes, boring monotone lectures, and disorganized chaotic assignments leave students running for the hills and never looking back. But I’ve also experienced the total opposite. Classes I would of never thought I’d be enjoying, made fun by amazing professors. I’m no computer geek, but these days I actually enjoy coding in R…or at least I hate it significantly less than I used to. Those of us who were fortunate enough to have Orbax for physics in first year for example all probably have fond memories of his crazy antics to keep hundreds of disinterested biology majors entertained for a sememster of definitely not biology. Good teachers can draw a student into a subject just as fast as a bad teacher can send them running. Lets hope our schools fill with more good teachers in the future, as it already seems like too many people are simply not passionate about anything, having been scared away rather than drawn in by each teacher they encountered. 

[lpenvs3000-2018]

That’s awesome that you are starting Teachers College in May! That is a huge step to take after undergrad, and in my opinion, an awesome decision. Becoming a teacher is perfect for life-long-learners, and ENVS*3000 definitely taught me that we are surrounded by these passionate people who genuinely want to provoke learning and curiosity. You sound like someone who wants to share that passion, but also allow for students to explore their own passions! 

From reading your post, I got a glimpse of what your classroom could look like: 

1) Kids coming in, eager to learn about the next topic, whether it be on ecology, chemistry or otherwise. I see students coming up to you before class and asking you about what was learned in yesterday’s class, and showing you some things they found online that they were inspired to research after your classes. I also see students approaching you after class to ask about topics, eager to learn more! This brings out the gift of relationship between students and nature/science.

2) I see individual exploration of topics in science where students can perform self-guided learning. I strongly believe that experiential education is one of the most powerful methods of learning, as in these new generations, there are a lot of distractions that can pull students away from conventional lecture-and-PowerPoint style learning. This individual exploration can be a little intimidating for some, so as a teacher, you would be there as a ‘guide-on-the-side’, kind of like an interpreter! Instead of telling the students, you guide them towards the gift of revelation. 

3) I see the gift of technology being used on a daily basis. I noticed how you mentioned bringing the world inside, and technology is perfect for that! I often see professors or high school teachers that refuse to ‘get with the times’ and therefore lack the connection with their students since they are deemed ‘old-fashioned’. By allowing students to explore technology freely, we can provoke learning outside of the conventional classroom. 

I am actually also considering applying for Teachers College after my fourth year. I am curious as to where you are going? Amanda recommended this awesome program at Queen’s for Outdoor & Experiential Learning that I was eyeing; it combines modern and practical teaching methods but gives you an edge in environmental education! I wish you the best of luck on your new journey in education, you are seriously going to learn so many amazing things and inspire so many people in the future! Congrats!

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

Hi guys thanks for the replies!

@ckenvs3000-2018  I can’t tell you how many times I have rearranged my entire university schedule to avoid certain professors! Its crazy how much our educations revolve around who is teaching a course. It is really a shame that this happens because we could potentially be missing out on new passions and career choices. That being said, like you I have also had some pretty amazing teachers. One of the most influential professors I have had at this university is Dr. Manish Raizada. I took AGR*2150 (Plant Agriculture for International Development) with him. I highly recommend this course to anyone looking for courses to take. It definitely changed my perspective on many things and Professor Raizada is an amazing instructor. 

@lpenvs3000-2018 that is amazing that you are considering teachers collage! I agree with everything you said and I seriously hope my future classroom is as good as you have described it. I think it is so important to let kids explore science on their own! I believe the rigid lecture, memorize, test, repeat structure that most classrooms run under are definitely not helpful for teaching kids how to do science because science is all about exploring and discovering new things! I also agree with your point about using technology. I think it is very important to use technology as a teaching tool and to teach kids how to use technology to assist them with their studies.

That environmental education program looks amazing! I think environmental education is very important, especially in light of the many crises that the environment is facing today. I am going to the University of Prince Edward Island to complete their BEd program (the link is below). Its a great program, they place a lot of emphasis on indigenous and international student education programs which, as Canadians, I think is very important to learn about. It is also only a 3 semester program! It runs for one full year from May to May. That being said, the schedule is quite busy to fit everything in a shorter time frame but it definitely gives you an edge since you can start getting those supply teaching hours in a whole year earlier! Plus who doesn't want to live in PEI for a year? (Incase you didn’t know, an agreement was made that allows Canadians to get their BEd in any Canadian province and be able to teach in any province, but there are some restrictions so if you were curious about getting your degree outside of Ontario I would phone the Ontario Teachers Association to ask about prospective schools) 

http://www.upei.ca/education/bed-program

Let me know if you have any other questions I would be happy to answer them the best I can! 

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

My Journey as a Nature Interpreter

The last 3 months in this course have been very helpful to me in my future career. I am going to be going to be going to teachers collage in May to learn how to become a high school level science teacher. I included the below video because I believe it perfectly explains the main challenge that I will be facing in this career which is getting students interested in the subject I will be teaching:

This video mentions that the best teachers are the ones that can make you interested and passionate about the subject they are teaching. Instead of using the word spark he says flame, but the main responsibility of my job is to create the spark in my students for science. I think that it is a shame that so many students are turned off of this subjects because it is seen as boring and/or difficult. I believe that teachers have the huge responsibility of shaping the lives of young people so it makes me very frustrated when I hear horror stories about teachers who don’t put their full effort into their jobs. It is my goal to become one of the (unfortunately) few teachers who are able to inspire their students. 

I am hoping to give the gift of a spark to as many students as I can. One of my main strengths that will help me with this is my enthusiasm for science and my love of teaching. This will allow me to continuously try to find new and interesting ways to present my material. I currently tutor a range of students from elementary school to high school and I love finding ways to explain concepts in new ways that are easier to understand. I also love to see a new confidence in my students as they discover that they can understand these concepts and this usually leads to a new appreciation for how cool science actually is. 

I believe that science teachers are essentially nature interpreters. This is because they are trying to convey information about life and the way that the world works in a way that is understandable to their audience. A major constraint that teachers have is their limited access to the outdoors. Instead of letting the experience of nature and beauty speak for itself, teachers have to find a way to bring the world’s beauty and wonder into a classroom. Therefore I think the gift of beauty is something that is often missed in science classrooms. I am hoping to bring this gift back through the use of pictures and videos. As a lot of you probably know from past blog posts, I think BBC’s Planet Earth series is an awesome way to convey the beauty of nature because its imagery is absolutely stunning and was actually one of the main things that gave me the spark for nature and science. Therefore I am hoping to incorporate videos like this to also help my students see the beauty in science. 

I think using the gift of a story will also help me to make my subjects as interesting as possible. I believe that sometimes these subjects can seem disconnected from the lives of students. I am hoping to make learning more interesting by presenting facts as a story that will engage students and make them want to learn more. I believe that one of the main reasons why students become disengaged is because they feel like they are learning useless information that they will never use. I am hoping to also use real-life stories from the media or real life examples so that students will feel like they are learning something worth while.

image from : https://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-wike-loyola/the-most-powerful-tool-in_b_6012136.html

Lastly, I believe the main thing missing from most science classrooms is hands on experience in the real world. Field trips are an extremely valuable way to get students engaged and interested in class material. One of my favourite memories from my high school biology class was our field trip to the Toronto Zoo. It was an awesome way to get us engaged in our biodiversity unit because we were able o physically see and explore the biodiversity of the world. This also made our subsequent assignment on the trip more interesting because we were able o talk about our own experiences instead of looking up and writing about the experiences of others. I was also fortunate enough to be able to take an ecology course at my high school that was largely experienced based. At least 3 times a week we were able to be outside collecting data or learning about the things we were seeing in nature. However, real world experiences don’t have to just come from the outside world. Valuable lessons can also be taught in the classroom by doing simple experiments or by brining in objects of interest into the classroom to make learning more fun. 

I hope to continue learning on my journey as a nature interpreter and continue to inspire students to pursue science in their future careers. This course was very helpful in highlighting some key strategies and gifts that I can give my students to help them understand my lessons. I would love to hear your thoughts about any gifts or strategies that I may have left out that would help me on my future journey! 

[malenvs3000-2018-blog]

Debriefing the Greenhouse Walk

On Saturday November 10th, our nature interpretation class had our Jane’s Walk presentations. Unfortunately I could only attend half of the presentations because I had an appointment to make in the afternoon, but I was fortunate enough to present my walk on the Dairy Bush with Jamie and Mitchell, and also attend the outdoor survival walk, the green house walk, and the trees on campus walk. Even though the weather wasn’t very cooperative, I had a very good time walking around and learning about hidden gems on the University of Guelph campus.  

For this weeks blog post, we had to choose a Jane’s Walk to debrief from the role of a participant. I am choosing to debrief the greenhouse walk because even though I have already been in the greenhouses that group 5 lead tours on, I learned new information that I did not know and that interested me greatly. I believe that there were six members in this group and my impression was that they had practiced the walk more than a few times because their transitions were smooth and they really knew their information. I was really impressed at how smoothly their walk went and how well they all worked together. I was also happy to attend their walk because it was very cold outside and greenhouses are an excellent refuge from the cold weather.

(https://twitter.com/uofgadmission/status/518428749067735040)

The leaders of this walk incorporated more than three “gifts” into their walk, but I’ve chosen to talk about the strongest gifts that they offered their participants. These gifts are 1. The gift of beauty, 2. The gift of personalizing the past, and 3. The gift of provocation.

1. The Gift of Beauty – Group 5 gave us the gift of beauty by showing us how beautiful vegetation growing in greenhouses can be. The best part of this gift that they gave us was that they didn’t even have to tell us it was beautiful. For example, when we were inside the tropical greenhouse in Bovey, they gave us free time to walk around and explore the green house and all the walk goers were amazed at the beauty of the plants growing and took pictures. The walk leaders commented on how we all thought it was beautiful and then told us that we should use the green house as an escape for when we’re feeling stressed with school/studying place.

(Taken on November 10th, 2018 in the tropical green house in Bovey by myself)

2. The Gift of Personalizing the Past – This group gave us the gift of personalizing the past through their stories of the naming of the Bovey building, about the Rutherford greenhouse, and through their explanation of the history of green houses. The stories that the group told were very entertaining and true – they remained true to the history of these terms and places and communicated the information to us effectively. I know I will remember what the purpose of a pinery greenhouse is.

(https://hiveminer.com/Tags/greenhouse%2Ctatton)

3. The Gift of Provocation – I received the gift of provocation in this Jane’s Walk. This group inspired me, and probably my other class mates, to go on and make green houses of our own. This group used many tools to explain the importance of greenhouses and it made me very interested in having one. Not only did they explain the importance of greenhouses, they also did a demo on how to make a mini green house and had instructions and seeds so you could get started.  

(The DIY Greenhouse pamphlets group 5 handed out at the end of their Jane’s Walk)

I do believe that even though the leaders of this walk gave the gift of provocation, they could have further developed it by telling the audience how they could get involved in greenhouses such as volunteering on campus at one of the many greenhouses. I believe that they also could have suggested other green houses in the area that we could visit and explained why greenhouses can be more environmentally friendly than conventional farming.

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

Hey! I was one of the leaders on this walk so I am so glad you liked it! 

I agree with you that the plants inside the greenhouse were stunning. My favourite was the Bird of Paradise flower (seen in the picture below). Its so interesting to see all of the exotic plants in these greenhouses. I think its a great learning experience for people to get to see these unique and sometimes foreign looking exotics. 

photo taken from https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/8190627451

I am also very glad that you liked the part about the history of greenhouses. I was actually the one to learn about and present this topic. I was pleasantly surprised to learn how interesting the history actually is! Who knew that so many unique and colourful stories could come out of such a practical invention. My personal favourite was the story about how the first ever greenhouse was made because a doctor told an emperor that he needed to eat a cucumber a day, I thought it was both funny and charming. 

Those are some great suggestions. There were so many ways we could go with talking about greenhouses its too bad we didn't have the time to visit all of them. If you are interested in all the greenhouses in Guelph I found a list of them, here’s the link:

https://local.guelphmercury.com/categories/agriculture/greenhouses

Thanks again! 

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

The Dairy Bush Jane’s Walk

On November 10th I had the pleasure of attending several Jane’s walks on the University of Guelph campus. A Jane’s walk is essentially a tour of your own community which helps you to better appreciate it and see it in a new way. Although it was a very chilly day, I greatly enjoyed the Jane’s walk through the Dairy Bush. The Dairy Bush is a little forest and accompanying field on campus that many students pass by every day without giving it a second thought. Learning about its history, current uses and future really opened up my eyes to what an amazing place it is. 

photo taken from https://www.flickr.com/photos/mungobah/5044768300

The Gift of a Spark

This Jane’s walk gave the gift of inspiration. Before I went on this walk I was unaware of the importance that this area had in University of Guelph research and classes. It left me wanting to know more about the research and activities going on in this interesting place. For anyone else who also felt the same way as me, here is an interesting article I found about the Dairy Bush that goes a little bit further into how it is used:

https://news.uoguelph.ca/2011/12/dairy-bush-takes-learning-outside/

I think that one of the reasons that this had such an impact on me was because I will be going to teachers collage next year. It got me thinking about what kind of activities I could do in small local forests to get my students involved just like the UoG students. The fact that this group was able to get me thinking about how to incorporate outdoor learning into my own career just goes to show how well they were able to create a spark in their audience. 

The Gift of Personalizing the Past 

This group was able to teach us about the history of the Dairy Bush in a way that stuck with its audience. While walking to the forest we stopped at various points on our pathway to discuss different points in the Dairy Bush’s history. This was cool because it was kind of like a walk through history and it associated a physical activity with history. We were also reminded about the history several times while we were actually in the forest. For example, being asked which side of the forest that we though was historically more maintained allowed us to think on our own and form connections between the past and present. 

The Gift of Beauty 

Last but not least, this walk gave us the gift of beauty. Snow was covering the forest making it look beautiful. Being able to look out at Guelph from the top of the hill in the field was also awesome. I really like how the group pointed out the contrast between the church and the crane that we could see in the distance. I  think that the fact that this walk was so aesthetically pleasing really helped the audience become more invested in this forest and made us feel more connected to it. 

[nmenvs3000-2018-blog]

The issue of information presentation

Something that is constantly on mind not only as a individual in this nature interpretation course, but as a student of environmental science, is how do we present scientific information to those who are not learned in the field. In a past blog, I explained the key differences between the idea of environmental science as a discipline, and environmental activism and how the two need each other to communicate information effectively and accurately.

Much of the information regarding the potential and current woes to the environment can be fairly easily absorbed by anyone who approaches that information with an open mind. For example, much of the litter we produce ends up in the ocean, and the result is us finding ‘beached whales’ whose bodies are absolutely polluted with garbage and plastic. This sort of information is easy for anyone to process.

Image: taken form dreamstime.com

But, as someone who is always reading scientific papers for the purpose of study, I often come across that can be somewhat misleading and contradictory to a mind that may not consider certain variables. Someone who is adept at using data and applying this data to a regression analysis may look at a data set containing some of the annual temperature changes year to year in the prairie provinces, and interpret this information to mean that global warming is providing some benefit to this region. They may also take information regarding the annual temperature change in a region close to the equator and see that data the temperature change is only a fraction of a degree and therefore insignificant.

As environmental scientists however, we examine this information in a different light, and from a different perspective. In the prairies, we note a drastic change in the region’s climate, which can spell disaster for the various ecosystems which are already being ripped by the tar sands. With equator regions we see a small annual temperature change in a region already almost too hot to be livable for not only humans but for other native organisms as well.

Those whose agendas are working opposite to that of people concerned with saving the environment can use perceived controversial data for their own purposes, such as those who work for oil companies, and politicians that are funded by them.

In the world of nature interpretation, there is a constant struggle to communicate information to the public effectively to engage our audience, and in a professional manner. It’s easy to get on a international platform and spew out biased facts, but in my opinion this makes us look just as silly as those who deny environmental issues. Building a reputation of fairness and civility to me is an incredibly important factor in attracting the world’s attention.

My favourite speakers have always been the ones who present their information in a not only captivating manner, but one that is presented in a respectful and fair demeanor. So how do we adapt this strategy to the world of nature interpretation?

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

Wow interesting post. I also am going to go back to one of my old posts to add to this discussion:

I already posted this video from the Last Week Tonight’s youtube channel. However, I think it deserves to be seen again because it brings up so many issues with how climate change is portrayed by the media (plus Bill Nye the Science Guy is in it). It talks about how the media portrays this issue as still being up for debate. Prominent media figures are making the facts seem arguable which is not true because as the video points out, 97% of scientists agree that humans are causing climate change. Therefore, the whole climate change debate is the result of the media manipulating the viewers point of view. 

I agree that this is a huge issue without any clear ways of getting around it. I think one possibility would be for there to be a higher representation of people in the media who are presenting clear facts. We need people who are able to take scientific evidence and translate it into a way that the public can easily understand and find interesting.  One of the only ways to get this would be through the public becoming better educated and demanding higher quality from the media.

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

AVATAR

Hey followers!

This week I want to talk about one of my favourite platforms for nature interpretation… movies! I am a total movie nerd. In my opinion some of the best movies always explore a real world issue in an entertaining way. Just take a look at the success of the Black Panther as it explored racism or Fantastic Beasts and where to Find Them as it explored the unfair treatment of misunderstood people and animals. But today I would like to talk about the hugely famous movie Avatar. Here is a trailer for the movie incase you have never seen it: 

If you have never seen this movie I highly recommend it. It is essentially about humans coming into a new world and destroying it through mining for a precious metal (sound familiar?). It has amazing CGI effects and is visually stunning. It places a huge emphasis on how this world is so interconnected and beautiful. The native peoples truly care for their world, protecting and caring for it. It is essentially an ideal world. 

That is until humans come. Most of the humans don’t care for the life on this new planet and destroy it for profit. This movie follows the story of Jake as he slowly learns to appreciate the value of life and fights to stop its destruction.

This movie is hugely popular. Disney even dedicated a section of their famous Animal Kingdom park to it. I was lucky enough to visit this park last year. The remainder of the photos in this post are from that trip. 

Like I mentioned earlier, all  truly amazing movies have some sort of real world issue that they address. Its easy to see that Avatar explores how human destruction of ecosystems for profits is an issue. The success of this movie really demonstrates how valuable movies can be in creating the ‘spark’ in people. In Avatar, the world has the ability to draw people in with its interesting plants and creatures. This gets them invested in the biodiversity of this new planet so that they are emotionally impacted by its eventual destruction. This way they are able to see and experience, possibly for the first time, how detrimental human impact can be on our own planet. 

This is a photo of a poster that was inside one of the buildings at the park. It really illustrates how movies like avatar can help kids learn about processes in the ecosystem. Using the Banshee to talk teach about things like keystone species can make learning more fun and therefore create a better understanding of these concepts. 

Many other lessons can be learned from this movie making it a useful move for nature interpretation. For example, this movie emphasized the connectivity of all the organisms in the ecosystem. Every organisms has a purpose and they all depend on each other. 

I would love to hear your opinions on this or if you know of any other movies that are useful to nature interpretation. 

[lpenvs3000-2018]

I agree that movies can be a useful way to communicate the value of nature to the wider public. I find that it is great for audiences who do not have a scientific background to connect with nature in a way that is meaningful to them. Why read a journal article, when you can watch a documentary on the same topic or issue? Movies are a way to expand scientific communication past the scientists.

For example, have you seen ‘Before the Flood’, the documentary on Netflix about climate change and global warming? I was recommended this documentary from somebody who had never had a scientific background, and they told me that it had opened their eyes to the wider world around them. After watching it, they said that they never knew that global warming was a prevalent issue, and always thought it was just a myth. When I started watching it, I was shocked to see that Leonardo diCaprio (who is an AWESOME actor, but not a scientist by any means), was the ‘host’ of the documentary, and was the one attempting to explain the changing world. However, when I finished watching it, I realize that by creating a documentary on something as important as world-conservation, Leo was connecting with the side of the world that did not know there was an issue. He was creating that awareness in people and communicating environmental issues to them, using his status as a celebrity figure. Although none of the things that he said in the documentary were ‘proven by science’ or had peer-reviewed research articles backing it up, he created that ‘spark’ where it wasn’t before. And who knows, maybe some of those people watching his documentary will grow up to become those scientists, conserving wildlife and creating policies to mitigate pollution!

I would be interested in seeing a show like ‘Black Mirror’ do a take on environmental issues. I am confident that you are at least aware of the show, and how it takes issues today and amplifies them tenfold into a fictional dystopia setting. The show creates this eerie feeling in viewers that the events in each episode are happening (or will happen) in the real world around them. I wonder if they would be able to rewrite ‘apocalypse’ settings so that they appear more realistic to what is happening now in the world?

Do you think that darker, more mysterious movies like Avatar, and shows like Black Mirror are the only way to communicate the changes in nature to the public? Or do you think there is a way to integrate these messages into comedy, cartoon, and sitcoms? 

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

Hey! I will definitely check out Before the Flood. This might sound strange but as someone who has been educated about climate change since a young age, I  felt as though I didn’t need to watch the movie. Movies like this tend to make me feel upset or frustrated because I feel that it is so hard to get people to make the needed changes to combat climate change. However, I definitely see their value. I do think that the ‘upset factor’ is needed to make people realize that they need to change. For me, the movie that did this was ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ by Al Gore. 

I included the above Ted Talk that Al Gore did in 2016 called ‘The Case for Optimism on Climate Change.’ I really love this Ted talk. Al Gore is a truly amazing speaker and I am certain that he had created the spark in many people. What I love about this presentation in particular is that by the end he makes you feel that there is hope. I think this is so so so important to remember when teaching people about climate change because without hope why would they feel like they should change? I know that this Ted Talk is a little long, I absolutely encourage everyone to watch the whole thing but if not, please at least fast forward to around the 12 minute range and I promise you will feel inspired. 

To touch on your question about genre of fictional movies. I think that all genres could potentially deliver important messages about environmental issues. That being said, I do think that darker movies may deliver the message more strongly. This is because there tend to me more fear, shock or depressing emotions associated with these films that may have a greater impact on the viewer. Fictional movies also have the ability to explore dystopian scenarios or other eye-opening concepts like the impacts that deforestation had on the native people in Avatar that will bring about an emotional response in the viewer than  non-fiction documentaries may not have access too. I believe this will really increase their impact and reach to people who may not be inclined towards the sciences or environmental issues. 

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

AVATAR

Hey followers!

This week I want to talk about one of my favourite platforms for nature interpretation... movies! I am a total movie nerd. In my opinion some of the best movies always explore a real world issue in an entertaining way. Just take a look at the success of the Black Panther as it explored racism or Fantastic Beasts and where to Find Them as it explored the unfair treatment of misunderstood people and animals. But today I would like to talk about the hugely famous movie Avatar. Here is a trailer for the movie incase you have never seen it: 

If you have never seen this movie I highly recommend it. It is essentially about humans coming into a new world and destroying it through mining for a precious metal (sound familiar?). It has amazing CGI effects and is visually stunning. It places a huge emphasis on how this world is so interconnected and beautiful. The native peoples truly care for their world, protecting and caring for it. It is essentially an ideal world. 

That is until humans come. Most of the humans don’t care for the life on this new planet and destroy it for profit. This movie follows the story of Jake as he slowly learns to appreciate the value of life and fights to stop its destruction.

This movie is hugely popular. Disney even dedicated a section of their famous Animal Kingdom park to it. I was lucky enough to visit this park last year. The remainder of the photos in this post are from that trip. 

Like I mentioned earlier, all  truly amazing movies have some sort of real world issue that they address. Its easy to see that Avatar explores how human destruction of ecosystems for profits is an issue. The success of this movie really demonstrates how valuable movies can be in creating the ‘spark’ in people. In Avatar, the world has the ability to draw people in with its interesting plants and creatures. This gets them invested in the biodiversity of this new planet so that they are emotionally impacted by its eventual destruction. This way they are able to see and experience, possibly for the first time, how detrimental human impact can be on our own planet. 

This is a photo of a poster that was inside one of the buildings at the park. It really illustrates how movies like avatar can help kids learn about processes in the ecosystem. Using the Banshee to talk teach about things like keystone species can make learning more fun and therefore create a better understanding of these concepts. 

Many other lessons can be learned from this movie making it a useful move for nature interpretation. For example, this movie emphasized the connectivity of all the organisms in the ecosystem. Every organisms has a purpose and they all depend on each other. 

I would love to hear your opinions on this or if you know of any other movies that are useful to nature interpretation. 

[csenvs3000-2018-blog]

A Natural Horror Story

This week, we were prompted to write about thing that we find most amazing about nature. When I initially read this, I had a lot of problems figuring out what to write about. I thought about how nature is constantly changing, yet always seems to stay the same. I thought about the mystery of the deep ocean, and how life can persist in a place where it was never thought to be able to. I thought about caves, and how the species in them have adapted to live in an area without sunlight or vegetation. But when I was thinking about all of these broad topics, it dawned on me that the most amazing thing I know about nature isn’t broad at all – its incredibly specific. And given the time of year, it seems appropriate to write about:

The shrike.

Colloquially known as the Butcher Bird, the shrike is a tiny bird of prey. Weighing in between 35 and 50 grams, the shrike is about the size of a robin. Unlike the robin, however, the shrike doesn’t prey primarily on worms and insects. While smaller prey do compose a portion of its diet, the shrike is also a hunter of much larger prey – like frogs, snakes, turtles, and even other birds. Because of this, the shrike faces a big challenge; its talons are much too small to hold its prey in place while it consumes them. To account for this, the shrike has evolved a macabre behavioural technique.

After making a kill, the shrike will take its prey to a plant with thorns, a particularly sharp twig, or even a barbed-wire fence, and impale its meal on the spike. With its prey immobilized, it is free to feast, or leave it there as a store for later.

This paints a very morbid, yet interesting picture in my mind. Imagine being a small mammal of some kind and wandering into a new area. All of a sudden you start to see skewered carcasses of other, similar creatures high up in trees, some partially eaten, others left drying up in the sun. Scared, you look around, but thankfully the giant beast that committed this atrocity isn’t anywhere in sight. In fact, the only other creature you see is a small bird, eyeing you from a branch. You aren’t sure if it knows the danger its in, so you try to warn it! You watch as it leaves its perch and flies in your direction, tiny talons out…

Now, this idea is both made up and perhaps a little fantasized, but the points still stands: for a small mammal in shrike territory, life can change into a horror story very quickly. The scariest part of this? Its not a concept that is alien to the human experience. Yes, the hunting techniques of the shrike  bear a striking resemblance to those of Vlad the Impaler, a killer who was famous for impaling his victims and using their corpses to decorate his property.

Others may not have the same macabre appreciation for the shrike as I do, but anyone would have to admit that such a solution to a complicated problem is, in its own terrifying way, amazing.

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

Hey! I actually have heard of this bird before! I recently learned about it while watching Planet Earth 2 (yes I know I’m a nerd). I love your narrative about becoming prey to one of these interesting little birds. I would probably even be a little concerned if I wandered into one of these “displays” as a human! 

I’m not sure if you’ve seen Planet Earth 2 but you actually framed talking about this bird in a similar way. Both yourself and the show talk about as if it were a horror story. I think this is great because it really grabs the readers attention and gets people engaged. I think this is particularity important for people who aren't as naturally inclined to become engaged with nature. This sort of storytelling helps people to become invested in natures story. 

I think that this might be a reason why the Planet Earth series became so popular. It is able to tell the stories of all sorts of organisms in a way that resonates with people and gets them invested (not to mention the spectacular imagery that takes your breath away throughout the entire series). 

I strongly recommend that everyone does watch this series. I included the trailer  below (incase my words weren't enough to convince you). 

I guess the point that I am trying to prove is that Planet Earth was one of the key things that inspired me to want study nature in school. I think this goes to show that telling interesting stories, just like you did with the shrike, can have a big impact on people. Therefore, I think that it is very important that we have fun with this concept and try to incorporate it as much as possible into our teachings. 

Great post, thanks for sharing! 

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

Evolution!

Hey guys! I decided to post about evolution this week. I think that its a shame that this topic is often turned into a boring school subject, because it is actually very cool. Here is a quick video explaining what it is incase you have never heard of it:

Evolution can be really interesting. I think it is amazing how species change over time in response to factors like changing environmental conditions. Its also amazing to think how all life on earth evolved from one common ancestor, so yes, we are distantly related to things like pineapples, ants and starfish. Information about relatedness can be found in phylogenic trees. Phylogenic trees show you the routes of evolution between species and how different species are related. Here is an example:

photo retrieved from: https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/285422/rich-phylogenetic-trees-accompanied-with-a-non-linear-timeline 

Looking at this tree we can tell which species are related to each other and how closely. For example, did you know that black bears are more closely related to northern elephant seals than they are to dogs? Or that gray foxes are only distantly related to red and arctic foxes? 

We can interpret an amazing amount of information from phylogenic trees. Go ahead and look up a phylogenic tree of one of your favourite species. You might be surprised about what you find!

We can also think about evolution in terms of humans. Do you recognize the below dinosaur? Some of you may have seen it before in TV shows or may have even have had little toys resembling it growing up. Did you know that it is thought to be the ancestor of all mammals?

It is called a dimetrodon and is one of our ancestors! So yes, some of your DNA may have come from this creature! 

Keeping on the theme of human evolution, here is a cool video depicting how the modern human has evolved: 

When watching videos like this I like to think about what kind of events and pressures may have led to all the evolutionary changes. For example, it is thought that our jaws started to become smaller when we discovered how to soften food for easier chewing by cooking it over fire. 

I hope my above examples helped you to get at least a little bit more excited about evolution. The next time you are out in nature I hope you take the time to consider the amazing evolutionary journey all the organisms around you have taken. Millions and millions of years of perfecting has gone into each and every organism for them to be how they are today. 

Here are some additional resources incase anyone is interested in learning more:

https://www.britannica.com/science/evolution-scientific-theory

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/high-school-biology/hs-evolution/hs-phylogeny/a/phylogenetic-trees

https://www.thoughtco.com/charles-darwin-and-his-voyage-1773836

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

Where is music in nature?

To be honest I really struggled to answer this question. I know that there is always the obvious sounds like birds chirping and the wind whistling through trees. These are without a doubt music, but these are all things that you would hear on land. What about under water? or on a silent night without any wind? 

The ocean is one of my favourite ecosystems, so to answer these questions I thought about my experiences snorkelling. Of course, there is the music of the waves, but once you’re under water, everything sounds pretty muffled. This realization lead me to thinking about aquariums. Aquariums are not silent at all, they play music to fill the silence. I thought back to going to Disney World as a child and I have a distinct memory of them playing the Finding Nemo theme song (the below youtube video) 

As humans, we have the ability to listen and interpret things from music. Music makes us feel, and can put everyone who hears it in a certain mood. I think Disney World was using this song to set a tone of imagination and beauty when guests were visiting the aquarium. If heavy metal or spooky music was playing, I would have certainly came away from that experience with a different interpretation of what I saw. 

With this in mind, I now believe that we can hear music everywhere in nature because as humans, we can chose what songs represent a certain place. This also highlights the power of music. Music can make people feel a certain way, and if they associate this feeling with a place, then they can have a whole new interpretation of that place. 

I think as nature interpreters, we can certainly use this to our advantage. Playing music can help us to get our point across. If we are trying to allow people to see the beauty in things like reptiles or insects, we could play music like the Finding Nemo theme song instead of the classic horror music that is typically associated with these creatures. 

If you are reading this blog, I think its safe to assume that you are a nature lover.  Since you love nature, I would imagine that you would pick a song similar to the one I chose to represent your favourite place. Perhaps using these songs to convey a place would help others see the beauty and awe that we see in nature. 

[apack2003]

Hey there! To start off, the Finding Nemo main theme is one of my all time favourite pieces of music. It’s so beautiful and poignant at the same time, it’s a great juxtaposition. I think it’s really interesting how you thought out of the box and didn’t just think about something on land, but you open the conversation to music underwater. I think in a perfect world, when you swam underwater a tune like the Finding Nemo main theme would play, but sadly in reality I don’t think that’s true. I find “underwater” soundtracks in media to be composed much more differently than normal themes. 

Usually water soundtracks move at a much slower pace and they make the audience feel like the notes of the song are fluid and flowing to one another. When working with this type of environment, I find the composer has a lot of variation in what emotion they can instil into the piece, and subsequently the listener. Water can be portrayed as the most serene biome on the planet, home to a multitude of forms of life, or it can turn into a violent destructive force that brings nothing but pain and sorrow. Another fun fact is that a lot of “underwater” music is composed is a ¾ time which is associated with the waltz style of dance. A waltz can have these same characteristics of water, where it can be flowing and have lots of variation in what to do with the style of it.

If anyone else responds to this post it would be really cool if you could link a song that you think kind of matches this tone, and maybe we could start a thread going! Mine is a piece called “Spiegel I’m Spiegel” from the movie Gravity. In contrast to the ocean I really believe this piece has the same characteristics of the water environment, but a more melancholic tone to it. Great post!

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

Hey! I don’t know a whole lot about music so hearing you explain about how the ocean is typically portrayed by music was super interesting for me! Its kind of crazy how so many people can look at something in nature like the ocean and independently decide on such similar pieces of music represent it. 

I love how we both chose music featuring the piano. For me, the piano is very calming and relaxing. I think its interesting that the music you chose was meant to represent space. To me, space and the ocean have many similar characteristics. They elicit wonder and exploration and are also very beautiful because they have such a large range of objects and organisms that can appear to be very foreign to us. 

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

Collection of Nature Music

Hey everyone! In light of this music theme, I thought it would be fun if we made a collection of videos featuring our favourite sounds in nature. Two of mine are the sounds of wolves howling and the music that whales make under water.

[rsenvs3000-2018-blog]

Music

To me music in nature is everywhere. To me how the wind hits the tress and they move is music to me. I think again a lot like art music is about emotion and how something makes us feel. For me sitting in a forest listening to wind move the trees evokes peace. The feeling that in that moment nothing else matters. But what is amazing is that fact that the is just one of the sounds we hear when we go outside. The sounds we hear in fall when we walk on fallen leaves is still music. The sound of a river moving, the sound of animals running. Just like music everyone has their own preference of what they like, and it is the same when we go outdoors. Not everyone will enjoy the same things and that is okay. No matter what time or day you go outdoors at any moment there is some sort of music in the background.

(Picture of my boyfriend at our favorite lake near our house! no matter the day,season or time it always brings us peace and happiness)

I keep thinking of the Disney classic movie Pocahontas and the song “colors of the wind”. To me this song beautifully paints how songs can evoke emotion to us. To further my idea how emotion is evoked through music, in the song she sings,

“We need to sing with all the voices of the mountains We need to paint with all the colors of the wind”

And this gives me emotions of hope. The idea that we must be together in this, to sing as one with everything that nature can give us.

Another example is from the movie “Spirit” (which by the way is one of my favorite movies)! This movie is amazing in every way possible but what I want to focus on is the soundtrack. Bryan Adams did an amazing job making me feel so many different emotions throughout this entire film. I could not just choose one song to explain how music is nature but if I had to, my favorite example would be “I will always return”. This song is about the horse destined to find his way back home no matter what. I love what it makes me feel when I listen to it.

If we now look at where nature is in music, I think the answer still remains everywhere. Everywhere we go nature surrounds us whether in a large quantity or small. Within that there is music being made at every corner.

I would love to hear what everyone else thinks about where they find nature in music or music in nature!

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

Hey! Great post!

Its funny, when thinking about this post I totally considered writing about “The Colours of the Wind” in pocahontas or the spirit soundtrack. Spirit was one of my favourite movies growing up, and I completely agree that its music embodies nature. Its funny how certain music resonates with certain people as being representative of nature. I think this has a lot to due with our invisible backpacks. For example, I actually own a horse and I was raised around animals in landscapes similar to those that appear in spirit. I think this hugely contributes to how I feel about the songs in this soundtrack.  

“I will Always Return” is a great song to represent nature! Personally, my favourite song from this playlist is “Here I am” (see the above video). 

For me this music does a great job of conveying the wild, adventurous side of nature that a lot of us love. Of course, the visual imagery of wild horses running helps to convey this message, but the music still plays a huge role. Because of this movie, I always have images of “the wild west,” horses and eagles when listening to these songs. I would love to hear if you guys have any songs in particular that remind you of a certain place!

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

Where is music in nature?

To be honest I really struggled to answer this question. I know that there is always the obvious sounds like birds chirping and the wind whistling through trees. These are without a doubt music, but these are all things that you would hear on land. What about under water? or on a silent night without any wind? 

The ocean is one of my favourite ecosystems, so to answer these questions I thought about my experiences snorkelling. Of course, there is the music of the waves, but once you’re under water, everything sounds pretty muffled. This realization lead me to thinking about aquariums. Aquariums are not silent at all, they play music to fill the silence. I thought back to going to Disney World as a child and I have a distinct memory of them playing the Finding Nemo theme song (the below youtube video) 

As humans, we have the ability to listen and interpret things from music. Music makes us feel, and can put everyone who hears it in a certain mood. I think Disney World was using this song to set a tone of imagination and beauty when guests were visiting the aquarium. If heavy metal or spooky music was playing, I would have certainly came away from that experience with a different interpretation of what I saw. 

With this in mind, I now believe that we can hear music everywhere in nature because as humans, we can chose what songs represent a certain place. This also highlights the power of music. Music can make people feel a certain way, and if they associate this feeling with a place, then they can have a whole new interpretation of that place. 

I think as nature interpreters, we can certainly use this to our advantage. Playing music can help us to get our point across. If we are trying to allow people to see the beauty in things like reptiles or insects, we could play music like the Finding Nemo theme song instead of the classic horror music that is typically associated with these creatures. 

If you are reading this blog, I think its safe to assume that you are a nature lover.  Since you love nature, I would imagine that you would pick a song similar to the one I chose to represent your favourite place. Perhaps using these songs to convey a place would help others see the beauty and awe that we see in nature. 

[ckenvs3000-2018-blog]

Who are you to interpret nature through art?

When I first read this blog prompt at the beginning of the week, knowing that I had a busy week ahead and hoping to get this post out of the way, it completely threw me. What do you mean ‘who am I to interpret nature through art?’ The seemed accusatory - aggressive even. People had often asked me ‘why photography’ or ‘why nature’, but never ‘why you’. I was the given, the known, the unquestioned, in the equation.

Then during our trip this week to the Guelph Art Gallery, I was struck by the two very different artistic depictions of Scotland on display in the 1745 exhibition. In the video playing the landscape looked harsh and unforgiving, filled with stormy skies, unsheltered moorlands, and ragging rivers. In fact, the landscape almost seemed to be an active villain, hindering the sister’s ability to escape; thistles scraped their legs and tripped them as they ran passed, rivers threatened to drown them if they lost their footing as they wrestled with the man.

Image from the 1745 video. Retrieved from the Art Gallery of Guelph website. Note the muted sombre ominous colour scheme. 

In total juxtaposition to this were the paintings of the landscape by famous Scottish artists of the time. Here the landscape was soft and inviting, with quintessential little bridges over bubbling brooks, and countryside manors nestled amongst the rolling hills. Each painting featured a faded misty look that wasn’t ominous or creepy, but rather almost romantic. The landscape inspiring both art pieces was the same – yet the final product couldn’t have been different. These differences weren’t due to the subject, or even the medium (although they were different) – but due to the artist, and whether the colonial landscape was comfortable to them or not.

Here’s a photo from when I was very little and went on a roadtrip camping in Scotland with my family. I remember it much like this photo - bright, colourful, and exciting. 

When I still lived in England I went on a camping trip with my family to Scotland. My memories of the landscape include the brilliant deep blue of the loch, the cool northern breeze through my hair, and the thick sleepy mist that lingered on the mountain tops each morning. In other words, my memories fit much more closely to the landscape depicted in the paintings than that depicted in the video – which makes sense considering I’m white, English, and my family has long historical ties to those landscapes.

To be honest, this realization was quite an uncomfortable one. I’ve never really thought about how my ‘whiteness’, or any other aspect of my identity or invisible backpack might impact how I view nature before. Of course, I know different people view civilizations, history, cultures, news, etc. differently, but somehow I never really applied the same line of thinking to nature or wilderness. Once this settled in, I started wondering how my own nature art – my photography – might be influenced by these aspects of my identity. 

How do my photographs convey my whiteness? 

My immigrant status? 

My queerness? 

Since I’m not directly photographing these things, I don’t really take them into consideration when composing my photographs. But perhaps subconsciously they still play a role in my art, just as they do in how each person interprets the world around them.

One of my favourite quotes about photography is by Elliot Erwitt who said;

“Photography has little to do with the things you see, and everything to do with the way you see them”

I’ve always taken this quote to mean that the best photographs can be of the most everyday things – it’s about thinking outside the box and finding new ways to look at the world. But now I can also add a second layer of meaning to this quote; that while you may be taking a photo of a tree, or a lake, each photograph is in someway actually a reflection of yourself and how you see the world around you. 

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

Hey! I completely agree with what you said about the 1745 exhibit. I am really glad that we ended up going there because it allowed me to see a whole new way (albeit negative) that a person can relate to nature. It really threw me off to see nature depicted in such a scary and unforgiving way. It must have been especially eye opening for you to watch since you had visited Scotland before, and as you said, had a very positive experience. 

For me, its easy to understand how someone can be nervous about being in nature. Little anxieties like being afraid of bees or heights are things that we come across all the time . However, I had never encountered the level of fear that these sisters were experiencing. The closest I have ever come to that would be feeling a little uneasy being outside with a thunder or wind storm coming in. 

I think a huge thing that contributed to the sisters fear was that they felt very out of place and had no idea how to relate to these new nature experiences- they felt like they were on an alien planet. They also fundamentally did not want to be there and felt a strong dissociation with the land. Being able to see this played out for us on the screen as a form of art really made this concept hit home for me. This just goes to show how powerful art can be in making us see, and understand things in a different way. 

Like you, I felt very uncomfortable when I realized how my invisible backpack was causing me to almost romanticize the idea of nature while other people may see it as something to be feared. After consideration of this, I fully believe that everyone takes photos and other forms of art in different ways due to their invisible backpacks and past life experiences. Perhaps as nature interpreters, it will be important for us to keep this in mind when trying to interpret art. 

[kfenvss3000-2018-blog]

Paying Attention to the Details

Art has always been something close to my heart. My great grandfather was a painter and so is my aunt so I guess you could say it runs in my family. I personally prefer to sketch. I am brining this up because our readings talk about the 19th century poet John Ruskin, and his idea that people can fully possess nature’s beauty through drawing or writing about it. He believed that this would allow people to slow down so that they could understand and process all the fine details of nature. This really resonated with me because quite frankly, it is true. Sketching is a time consuming creative process that allows you to really think about what you are drawing in new ways. 

I don’t typically share my sketches because the saying that ‘you are our own worst critic’ is definitely true. However, I think that sketching is beneficial to everyone so I will use them help illustrate my point.

There is a little bit of a story behind this hawk sketch. There was a period of time in my life when I was dealing with anxiety and panic attacks. During this time there was this hawk that always hung out at my barn and to me it represented freedom and strength so I decided to draw it. I am sharing this story to illustrate the point that art allows people to make personal connections to a place or animal. Hawks are now one of my favourite animals because I have this personal connection to them. 

This lion sketch is a favourite to many people. I included it to show that not every sketch has to have a previous personal connection like the hawk did, it can be created as you are drawing. I started drawing this lion simply because I felt like it. However, as I was sketching I began to make up a story in my mind about how he is this young male looking for his own pride with a coalition of other males. This shows how art really makes people slow down and appreciate what you are drawing and gives you time to make up stories and create a connection to nature through your imagination. 

I am not going to talk about the other 3 sketches in this post because we would be here all day. I am including them because I would actually love to hear your interpretations on them (if anything catches your attention), I find it really interesting how people take images in different ways. If you did want to hear why I drew one of them I would be happy to share.

The point I am trying to get at is that art is an extremely useful form of nature interpretation. I know from experience that it forces you to pay attention to the details that you may have missed by just giving something one quick look. It also allows you to create a personal connection through the use of your imagination which is a powerful thing. 

For those of you who have never tried it, I highly recommend picking an animal or place and trying to sketch it. I find music helps to get you thinking creatively about what you are doing. It can be frustrating, I am a bit of a perfectionist so half of the time I walk away feeling frustrated but find it really helps you to connect with what you are drawing and not miss any of the details. 

I would love to hear how you guys feel about implementing art into nature interpretation programs. I personally like sketching because I am a very visual thinker so breaking down the fine details of a face or even the eyes of an animal is very helpful. I know some people prefer physically dancing or listening to music as a way of expressing themselves so there are many different ways that this kind of interpretation can be done. 

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Who am I to interpret nature through art?

In my opinion one of the best ways to interpret nature is through art. Art allows each and every person to form their own opinions and ideas. Our invisible backpacks will allow us to all have different interpretations of a scene and we will all place a different meaning on it. In this sense, it breaks down barriers because everyone can have an opinion without any prior knowledge and everyone’s opinions are right. 

Nature has an amazing amount of beauty. It contains so many colours, textures and objects to focus on. I will discuss several pictures that I took during my family’s thanksgiving walk to explore this topic:

The above picture was the first one that I took. Its funny because my family initially questioned why I was taking photos of the forest without anyone in them. It was only after I showed this to them that they realized how beautiful the forest really is. Several people said that it looked like it was out of a story book and they began to have a new appreciation for the forest. This illustrates why it is important for us as nature interpreters to make people aware of natures beauty so that they can start to see and appreciate the beauty around them.

This photo is one of my favourites. It doesn't really give justice to how brilliantly these red leaves stood out against the rest of the forest. For me, this is just an example of how many different layers of complexity nature has. We are of course drawn to the red leaves, but all around there are so many different colours of green and so many different plants. It really shows how beautiful nature is if you take the time to look around you.

These trees were interesting because near the top they were tangled together. I like this picture because everyone in my family used their different life experiences to create their own story to explain what was happening. The people who had a science background created a story of competition, with these trees fighting to get sunlight. Other people interpreted them as leaning against each other for support or even them being in love with each other. 

I think allowing people to see nature as art is important because it lets them make a more personal connection to nature. Even though the idea that the two trees in the picture were in love is scientifically inaccurate, its still a personal interpretation that made people feel closer to nature. 

So going back to the question of “who am I to interpret nature through art?” Everyone is capable of interpreting nature in this way, and I believe nature may be the most beautiful thing in this planet so not appreciating this beauty once it is put in your awareness is crazy. Therefore, I think the question should be “who am I to not interpret nature through art?”