Mike's Interpretation

I am Michael Sarnacki and I am an Environmental Sciences student at the University of Guelph. This blog is for the ENVS*3000 course and expresses my personal opinions.

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From what I’ve learned

Throughout this course, we have touched on many topics regarding interpretation. We have learned about appreciating the values in our lives that give us extra experience in nature; embracing our invisible backpacks. We have been taught how to prepare for risks yet still succeed in maximizing potential rewards. Out of everything we have learned, however, the part that I realized was most important was being able to read your audience. We have been taught to recognize sensitive subjects and realize when a member of the group is uncomfortable. We have also been taught to approach those who do not know how to naturally engage in the group through various activities, both passive and active. With this in mind, we have been left to perceive new ideas and get creative.

One characteristic that I feel some of you might see from me is that I am quite charismatic and am very much a people person. When I was younger, I never considered myself a social butterfly, although throughout my school career (including this course) I have learned to overcome that fear. As a result, I am able to express my thoughts and passions to others, which for interpretation comes as a great asset. Fears and phobias are topics that we have briefly touched on in this course as a subtopic on risks and regulations when approaching a group. Having a fear of talking in large crowds because of judgement or denial is very common, one which I have gone through. In spite of this, I have a common understanding with others who are shy and timid, yet, want to engage. This makes it a personal responsibility of mine to make sure everyone is having fun and participating in some way. Here, I reference my camp leader, whom not only was super fun but knew how to handle such situations. She often helped me out when I was unsure about a group activity and held my hand when picking teams. Although she respected my alone time, she believed that (ironically) being a part of a group is a good way of bringing someone out of their shell, as long as it is not activity where the person is put on the spot (like answering questions or presentations). What I admired about her the most was that she made time for activities that everyone enjoyed. For example, she knew that I enjoy arts and crafts so, at down time she often had crayons and blank paper for those that wanted to draw pictures. She started out with so many activities and overtime, realized that the kids had their personal favorites which she heartedly took into account.

 (Picture of grade 7 me balancing on a rock at camp (and yes my favorite color is blue))

The point I would like to address is that being able to read your audience is an efficient skill to have when being an interpreter. Additionally, since you can not understand your group first hand (or even have a lot of time) it is effective to have many activities planned and make sure everyone in the group has a particular moment of the interpretation in which they can reflect on. With this, my belief is that nature interpretation is meant to set a positive memory and give people the opportunity to leave behind their fears in order to learn/ experience something spectacular.

In the future I hope to perfect my approach to different types of people and send out a positive vibe at the end of every nature experience. I want my group (in which I would be interpreting in the future) to feel comfortable with asking me questions and expressing their ideas towards me since I belief that an interpreter can receive knowledge from their followers as well as give out knowledge. Making people happy as well as living in full optimism is my motto and main goal in life and plan to share that with others in future endeavors of being an interpreter.

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Hi Hanna,

It was great having you as a group member for the Jane’s interpretive walk. We both discussed about how important it is to read your audience. In my own blog, I wrote that this is one of the aspects where I likely need to improve most in order to become more successful as a nature interpreter. I also agree with you that a goal of interpretation is to create a positive experience for the audience, which would be difficult to do if one does not read the audience properly.

You brought up that fears and phobias need to be considered when leading an interpretive walk. I personally think that an interpretive walk might help some people feel better about their phobias as long as the interpreter looks like they know what they are doing. If an interpreter seems confident and tries to engage the audience while taking into account for phobia, it might help some people get one step closer to getting over their phobias in my opinion.

Thanks,

Michael

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My Life as a Nature Interpreter

I believe that nature should be respected because nature has intrinsic value and we (humans) do not have any ownership over it that entitles us to destroy it for our own personal gains.

Before I took this class, I knew that I had responsibilities as a steward of the earth from my Catholic school education. I may have gone through Catholic education, but at this point in my life, I do not consider myself a religious person. What I do consider myself is a steward of the earth. Stewardship in Catholicism comes from the belief that we are created by God who created the universe. Looking after earth is the responsibility of the Christian steward. I have had a spark instilled in me at several stages in my life: through my visits to Guelph Lake, through a presentation in my elementary school about the horror of plastic water bottles, through a TERRA program as well as an Environmental Sciences SHSM, and through classes I have taken at the University of Guelph. As I grew and took classes in high school, my thinking evolved that my responsibility to protect nature stemmed from my responsibility as an environmental scientist. Now, after taking this class, I realize that my responsibility to the earth is as not only an environmental scientist, but also as a nature interpreter.

(A picture of the TERRA group in Algonquin Park, February of 2012. I’m 5th from the right)

I discovered last year that my greatest interest in nature is insects. I did not discover my immense interest for them until I took a class with Morgan Jackson. Morgan teaches ENVS 3090 (Insect Diversity and Biology) at the University of Guelph and his background comes from fly research rather than nature interpretation. That course has to be one of my favourite courses that I have ever taken at University of Guelph because I found all of the tests fairly easy owing to Morgan’s ability to frame each insect group as a story in his class. If I did not take ENVS 3090, I am positive that I would not have even considered applying for the field entomology trip I went on (which was one of the best experiences I’ve had at the University of Guelph) and that I’m going on again this Spring. I know that I want to do my masters in Environmental Sciences at University of Guelph next year and if I ever become a teaching assistant, I’d like to be able to command my audience’s attention and leave them with stories that they’d be able to remember long after they take the course (Like I have with ENVS 3090). After taking this class, I am confident that I can do that and that I can also add importance to each story.

(2018 Field Entomology Trip Class, May 2018) 

That is the responsibility of a nature interpreter. To give their audience gifts such as the 15 that our class learned from The Gifts of Interpretation. I believe the most important gifts that a nature interpreter can give their audience are the gifts of spark, story, provocation, personalizing the past, relationship, beauty, joy, and passion. The gift of a spark inspires people to continue with nature and spread what they’ve learned to other people. It’s probably the most important gift a nature interpreter can give anyone because it makes more nature interpreters. We are all human and we have a limited time on this planet so encouraging the next generation to continue with an idea is essential because they’ll do the same and the cycle will (hopefully) never end. Nature interpreters can give their audience the spark through giving them gifts of story, personalizing the past, beauty, and joy. Gifts of provocation, relationship, and passion follow because if you can make someone care about something, they’ll be inspired to protect it through their actions, perhaps they’ll be able to give financial/volunteer support, and they’ll bring their passion to the table to accomplish protection goals.

(My boyfriend practicing his interpretation skills as a Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory Volunteer, June 2018)

I have a young niece. Her name is Luna and she is two years old on December 4th this year. I bring her up because I believe that my responsibility is not just in academia. I have responsibilities to her and to the rest of my family and friends to show them the beauty of all things in nature and make them realize how important nature is and educate them on how their actions impact nature. Already Luna is interested in the outdoors because my family has taken her outside and have shown her things in our backyard such as flowers, leaves, bugs, birds, squirrels, and trees. She loves to bring in leaves from outside and just the other day she learned how to say turtle. Her mother, my sister Mary, is afraid of spiders. Mary and I have had a few chats about her bias against spiders and she knows that she has a responsibility not to bring that bias into Luna’s life. One of Luna’s favourite toys is a stuffed animal that’s a spider. 

(A picture of Luna! Taken July 2018)

I know it’s easier to get young children interested in the outdoors because they have lots of energy, but the challenge will be getting older adults more interested in the outdoors because they have more ‘closed’ minds and are set in their ways. It will also be a challenge to have them release their bias’s and preconceived notions about certain organisms such as spiders. I believe that I can do make adults more interested in the outdoors by noting what is in their invisible backpacks, and illustrating the importance of nature to younger generations and that the actions of adults will impact the future of natural areas. I’ve only come to this conclusion by taking this nature interpretation course. My nature interpretation ideas have shifted from how I would communicate cool facts to how I can pull at peoples’ heart strings and make them care about aspects of nature. The approaches that are most suitable for me as a nature interpreter are through telling stories right now to my family about nature facts and volunteering for organizations like the arboretum and in the future, as a teacher, a parent, and a donor.

(A picture of a scarab beetle - included just for fun, April 2018)

I just want to end my final blog post by thanking our instructor, Amanda Hooykaas for an amazing and eye opening semester. I would not have considered nature interpretation as a career choice and responsibility if I did not take this course. Thank you :) 

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Hi Marlee,

I wanted to read and reply to your post because we both went to the same high school, which adds a bit more similarity to our backgrounds that got us to the Environmental Science program. I was well aware of the TERRA program and the environmental sciences SHSM, but I never ended up doing either program. I also was not a part of the green club. I did however feel that it was important to be stewards of the earth and environment, which is how I ended up in this program.

I find it very interesting that you found your biggest interest in nature last year. I’ve known since I was three years old that my biggest interest in nature are fish. You definitely do seem to know a lot about insects, which you clearly displayed during Chris Earley’s lecture today when he got you to interpret on the spot, which happened to be an insect. Before insects were your biggest interest in nature, what was? What made insects more interesting to you than your previous biggest interest? It would be cool to hear since my main interest has not really changed, it just got more specialized.

Thanks,

Michael

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We Are All Interpreters

I would say that one of the biggest things that I learned from this course was that I have been a nature interpreter for others without even knowing. I made a blog post earlier about this that was titled “Interpretation Through Fishing.” Before this course, I did not really know what a nature interpreter is. Although the name is self defining, I have never thought about it before this course. I did not know what this course was about before registering for it, it was during the first day of class that I found out that it will not be like other conventional classes, I was interested to see what this course actually was, so I stayed.

As most of you have likely figured out about me throughout this course is that I really like fish. More specifically, fish in Ontario, both introduced and native species. This is the topic with which I generally feel most comfortable about interpreting. It is also where I feel that I have the most knowledge, which helps make me more comfortable and effective (I think) with interpreting when compared to other topics. I am always trying to learn more during my own time about my preferred topic, especially chinook salmon in Ontario. This is why I chose my ignite presentation about chinook salmon in Ontario, but I did not know about the population genetics I presented about beforehand, which was a new learning experience for me.

These are chinook salmon that I enjoy so much. (https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3549/3633160809_1864058c5f_b.jpg)

I feel that this is the area where I will always feel most comfortable and strongest as a nature interpreter. Although it is important for a nature interpreter to be well rounded, I do not feel as if I am there yet, but this course did help push me in the correct direction. The Jane’s walk that we had to do is what I remember as helping me most with becoming and more well rounded interpreter. My group did the Jane’s interpretive walk about the urban trees on campus. I do think that trees are cool, but they are not something where I spend my nights on google trying to learn more about them. The only time I have really learned about them was when it was school related, including this Jane’s interpretive walk. The topic that my group was interpreting was outside of my comfort zone, which I would say is a good thing. This is because it showed me that I can feel comfortable presenting or interpreting about a topic that I did not know much about. We did have time to prepare for the Jane’s interpretive walk, which would have helped increase the comfort levels about interpreting something that I do not know much about.

The cork tree was my favourite tree that my group found because of its unique soft bark.

Nature interpretation does not have to be done through a walk, which might be one of the first things in mind. Before this course, I did not really know what is considered to be nature interpretation. After learning about how there are countless ways to interpret nature, this is when I figured out that I have interpreted nature. Although there are many different form of nature interpretation, there are responsibilities for all of them. To me, the biggest responsibility is to try my best to not provide incorrect information. No one is perfect, and mistakes will happen, but it is my responsibility to try to minimize these errors as a nature interpreter.

Another responsibility that I learned about first hand is to understand and read your audience and adapt. The reason that I say that I learned this first hand is because I feel as if I failed with this aspect during my group’s Jane’s walk. I thought that the audience would have been more engaging and not as tired. It makes sense that the audience was like this because my group was the fourth walk in a row, and it was right before lunch. I did not adapt my presentation style in order to try to make the audience more engaging. Looking back, I should have tried to bring a higher energy level to the audience, maybe it would have helped engage them more. Understanding the audience is key to being a successful and entertaining interpreter, and this is where I really need to grow. So I feel that two of the main responsibilities are to provide accurate information and to understand your audience. Overall though, I do feel that making mistakes is not a bad thing as long as you attempt to learn from them.

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PROMPT 9. JANES WALK:

Hey y'all! Hope everyone enjoyed all the walks we went on last weekend, i know I did! I was to specifically talk about and that i thoroughly enjoyed was the second walk in the dairy bush (group ) that did a survival walk. I think the reason i liked this walk to much was because it was so inclusive. Throughout the entire walk we were engaged and in discussion, this make everyone feel included and made them pay attention. I personally am a hands on learner, this walk allowed me to get involved and partake in the action. In doing this I was able to grasp onto the concepts being shared and was able to take home the lesson that was being passed onto the participants. 

The walk mimicked a “plane crash” and we all had to take precautionary steps to ensure survival. The important things i took away from this walk was: when stranded there are key things that are crucial 1) shelter, 2) fire and 3) awareness of surroundings. 

The gift of a spark: This walk sparked my interest with the dairy bush, i wasn’t really too interested in the dairy bush prior to this walk. I had been before, but i wasn’t really aware of the opportunities that it offers. The dairy bush is home to many research projects and to many species. Knowing this intrigues me and makes me wants to learn more about what the dairy bush has to offer. At the beginning of the Janes walk, we had to pick an item out of a bag and brainstorm how it would be of use to us, this sparked our imagination with the items and nature.

The gift of beauty: The dairy bush has such a calming feel to it and i find it quite beautiful. It is so nice to know that there is a nice walk space or chill area in the midst of all the madness. I love knowing that there is something so readily available to me that i can utilize at any time of the day. I find it rather beautiful and peaceful. 

The gift of story: Throughout the walk we were able to create our own story and share stories amongst one another. This walk and the stories we shared allowed everyone to connect and relate to one another. When we all had to pick a spot to stay for shelter, everyone had to explain why they chose this location and why it was relevant. 

I think this group could have worked on their The gift of the past. The dairy bush has quite a history, i think this group could have elaborated on the past and maybe went into more depth when they touched upon the history of the Dairy bush. I think if this was done we would have been able to make more connections with the past and how it has influenced the dairy bush the way it is today. The first group did a great job making the past relevant to our present day Dairy bush. 

Overall i really enjoyed this walk, especially the engagement factor and how we were all involved in the story. Hope you guys liked this walk as much as I did!

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Hi Savannah,

I also enjoyed the interpretive survival walk in The Dairy Bush. What I find interesting was our difference in how we perceived the gift of spark. For me personally, the first walk was more successful in making me more interested in the Dairy Bush. This was mainly due to the activity where we had to figure out which side was natural and which side was planted. The reason the survival walk did not quite invoke the gift of spark on me was because I was not really thinking about the Dairy Bush itself during this walk. During the survival walk, I was in a different mindset. I was a lot more focused on the activities themselves, such as finding shelter, rather than the Dairy Bush itself.

I do agree that the gift of story was well done by the group. This was the strongest gift by this group. They did a very good job of creating a background story that created our “survival” scenario. The story was well developed and the interpreters did a good job of staying in character throughout the entire walk from start to finish.

Thanks,

Michael  

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The Dairy Bush Was Planted?

I have chosen to debrief the first interpretive walk of the day. This was the first walk in the Dairy Bush where we learned about the natural and planted sides of the Dairy Bush. I really enjoyed this walk because I did not know about the history of the Dairy Bush before this walk. I have been in the Dairy Bush a few times during first year in university, this was because of the Biology 1070 course. Other than these times, this walk was the first time I have been in the Dairy Bush within the last three years.

The most interesting thing I learned that I did not know earlier was that there is a natural side and a planted side. This was one of the most interesting things I learned during the entire day. Even though I have done a few tree related activities during the Biology 1070 course at the Dairy Bush, I was not taught about the natural and planted sides. This interpretive walk did touch on many of the gifts that we learned about in the textbook readings. I will however discuss the ones that I felt were most prominent.

Arial view of The Dairy Bush.(http://biol1070forestbiodiversityunit6.weebly.com/uploads/3/8/7/9/38795305/_5921878_orig.jpg)

Gift of Spark - I feel that this gift is the one where there would be the most variation among the participants, but for me it was one of the stronger gifts. For me what caused the spark was learning about the natural and planted sides. Here after being told that there were two different sides, I was able to see the subtle differences between the two sides. The biggest giveaway was that the trees on one side were more evenly spaced on the other. This made me think that this side was the planted side, and that ended up being the case. This made me a lot more interested in the Dairy Bush to try to see other subtle differences between the two sides like these. I will definitely go back to the Dairy Bush when the weather becomes nicer and warmer.

Gift of Provocation - This gift largely ties in with what i have discussed throughout the post and about the gift of spark. I feel that this gift was provided for us during the activity where the participants had to walk around and try to figure out which side was natural and which was planted. We were not provided with many clues beforehand, which made have to think deeper. The reason the provided the gift of provocation to me is because the differences between the two sides were not obvious. I really had to look closely and think to try to figure out which side is which. I enjoyed it.

Gift of Beauty - I feel that this gift was well provided, but in a less obvious way. I feel that the gift of beauty here was provided through the explanation of the functions of parts of a forest. What I remember in particular was when the group was discussing the functions of a dead tree and how it provides important habitat for other organisms. I do feel that this gift could have been further developed if the group had more discussion about the physical beauty of the trees and Dairy Bush in general. I feel that this maybe would have helped even more people connect with the walk on a deeper level.

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Thoughts from the walks

Just to get right into it, I thought it would make sense to talk about some of my experiences from the walks in more detail. Don’t worry I won’t be re-explaining all of the different interpretive walks, but I do think the overall walk experience actually did resonate with me to the point that my current perspective on day to day life has changed slightly, if that makes sense. Looking back at all the walks I want to mention the 2 parts that most tickled my brain (in enjoyment and interest) and from that, try to analyze why that was specifically tickling.

For starters, the activity and overall theme of the second group that went kind of stuck with me in their attempted training of us through a simulated crash scenario, specifically with find a shelter location. Honestly, I’d say this theme may just be highly subjective because being stranded in nature without civilization to help you always intrigued me, I love the movie Cast Away and I think it would be really fun and a great experience to participate on Survivor the reality game show. Heck, I’d even thought about complete voluntary isolation as an interesting thing to try out. To analyze my brain tickling is actually kind of from what I just said with what I was intrigued by. Although I got to admit those were a bit of run on thoughts that I didn’t know if it would even fit, it really does fit perfectly because its the link with my past that provided me with that enhanced remembrance and joy to the activity. 

Taken by: Virginia State Parks

Another activity that I’d say really resonated with me was with the last group of the day, where we all closed our eyes and then opened them afterwards where we then looked around. It was the activity that was abbreviated from what the Japanese have done traditionally for a few hours (my brain was slightly gone by the last group so that’s why I don’t remember exactly what it was called. Anyways the activity in itself is something that I really do think is an amazing quality even before hand, so again personal experiences really makes something memorable but also, we were lucky enough to get the sun to come out both basically as we closed our eyes. For one it was great that you can feel the sun on your skin on this cold day, but also, again with the whole personal experiences thing I have always enjoyed that sensation of the direct warmth from the sun’s rays. From that it was something that was mentioned when we looked around when opened our eyes again, which that clicked with me personally.

https://www.maxpixel.net/Sun-Rays-Foliage-Rays-Of-The-Sun-Sunlight-Trees-3419288

Overall, I’d say from my experiences with these and other activities, that personal experiences are really what makes something resonate with you which makes it hard to really make an interpretive walk meaningful to whomever it is done towards. Though I think that just the general notion of the fact that we are all human living on the same world and the same time period, poses similar intrigue between everyone, so although maybe not everything will sink in with someone, if you show enough of your intrigue as a method of making this interpretation, then something should stick with everyone.

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Hey Dom,

It was great having you in my group when we did our interpretive walk about the urban trees on campus. I also really like the survival theme that the second group had. For me it was the most entertaining walk. I really liked how they managed to maintain a high energy level throughout their entire presentation even though it was the first cold and snowy day of the year. It was awesome not knowing what activities to expect.

I really liked that every group presented about very different things. Even though there were two groups doing interpretive walks in the Dairy Bush, the two presentations were very different. It was also great how every group had a different approach to their interpretive walk. Since each group had a different approach and interpreted very different things, it helped make it easier to get through the long and cold day. This really shows how wide the spectrum for interpretation is even with a group of individuals with relatively similar backgrounds for the most part. This almost makes it seem like the number of approaches and topics that can be covered are endless. This was probably the biggest thing that I took out of the day, that there are several effective ways to present new information to people.

Thanks,

Michael

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Have you ever heard of this top predator?

This blog post is going to be dedicated about a top predator that is found in Ontario. Even though it is found in Ontario, I bet that most of you have never heard of it and have most likely never even seen a photo of it. So you might be wondering what it is? I will give you a clue, it is a native fish. It is not a northern pike, lake trout, or Atlantic salmon. So what could it be? It is a muskellunge, which is also known as a musky or muskie. They are the second largest fish in Ontario. The largest is the lake sturgeon, and then it is the muskie. Muskies can grow to be nearly five feet long with the Ontario record weighing in at 65 pounds. (https://www.ofah.org/programs/ofahontario-record-fish-registry/#popdown_toggle)

Myself with a muskie that I caught and released in Lake St. Clair.

I mentioned northern pike earlier, the musky is related and is very similar, but it is bigger. The easiest way to differentiate between the two is that a northern pike has a dark background with light markings while a musky has a light background with light markings. There are a couple other ways to differentiate them such as number of pores on the lower jaw or fin shape, but the first method is the easiest. Northern pike are found in many more water bodies than muskies. In many water systems, northern pike are at the top of the food chain. In lakes and rivers where both musky and northern pike are present, the musky is the king at the top of the food chain. 

Here you can see the different variations of muskies and how to identify them compared to a northern pike. Notice that northern pike and muskie can make a hybrid species. (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ab/b7/e1/abb7e1fb3c13a5b722c05c34cbeca562.jpg)

Muskies are very notorious in the angling world. They are known as the fish of 10,000 casts. Most serious anglers will never get to see one, while others dedicate their entire hobby to this fish. Out of those that do, many never see a musky in a full fishing season. The musky is very rare and elusive in most water bodies where it is present, however there are exceptions. The notoriety of this fish in the angling world is what made me so interested to learn more and start fishing for them a few years ago.

Myself with a musky that I caught and released in the Kawarthas. 

A unique thing about muskies is that they can act as a warm or cold water fish depending on the environment they are in. They can be found in shallow lakes such as the Kawarthas where summer water temperatures are very warm for Ontario. Here they are often found in water that is less than six feet deep in the summer. In the Kawarthas they largely feed on fish such as perch and walleye that are found in shallow weed beds. On the opposite side, they can act like a cold water fish. An example of this are the muskies of  Georgian Bay. Often times in the summer time they can be found deep in water that is 50 feet or sometimes even deeper. However not all Georgian Bay muskies live like a cold water fish, but the ones that do roam the depths of Georgian Bay searching for cisco (lake herring) to eat. Lake herring is a much fattier fish than perch or walleye, so muskies that primarily eat lake herring in their diet are typically larger than the muskies that act like warm water fish.

I hope I introduced at least some of you to a fish species you never heard of!

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Trees from Antarctica???

Ok everyone, I am incredibly excited to share with you all something ancient and mystical living amongst us today. It comes from a world that we will never know, but is still our own. This living memory may be one of the loneliest beings on earth as its species slowly dwindles and fails, but as the last survive, they provide testament to the resilience of life, the desire to survive, and evidence that the world around us will never be the same as it is in the moment we experience it. Today I share with you my favorite tree, Nothofagus moorei, the Antarctic beech.

The Antarctic beech is one of the only remaining species (I was told the only remaining but I question the reliability of the sign I read as it is my only source) native to Antarctica living today. Now, I know what you must be thinking. Yes, that Antarctica. The one with the lightless winter, miles thick ice sheets, and not a single tree to be found; let alone a deciduous tree that can grow to 50 metres in height. However, the southern extreme we know today wasn’t always that way.

(Photo by Neil Ross, 2013). 

Tens of millions of years ago after the dissolution of the supercontinent Pangea, a new landmass was forming in the southern hemisphere. This continent, named Gondwana, was comprised of what is modern day Africa, South America, India, the Arabian Peninsula, Australia, and you guessed it, Antarctica. The dominant ecosystem across much of Gondwana was cool, subtropical and temperate rainforests. It was in this environment that the Antarctic beech came into being. Over the following millions of years, Gondwana started to break and the last to pieces drifted south together, what would become Australia and Antarctica. The tree is believed to have originated in the Antarctic portion, with small populations extending into cooler alpine regions of Australia. As the two landmasses finally split, the trees living on their native Antarctica slowly dwindled to extirpation as ice devoured their ancestral range. Today only a handful survive in elevated peaks scattered along eastern Australia.

Unfortunately, the trees are currently believed to be on their last legs in their final stronghold today. Evolving in a cooler climate, the increasingly warm Australian temperatures have robbed the trees almost entirely of their ability to reproduce sexually. In addition, their alpine homes were traditionally out of the reach of the bulk of the fires that regularly reset life in Australia’s lowland bush. In the past decades though, drier weather has promoted the spread of fires into the mountains. Unlike the majority of Australian flora, the beech is not resilient in the wake of fire. The final figurative “nail in the coffin” is the slow but steady erosion of the mountains that host them as time rolls along. With large root systems that favour deep soil, the thin mountain topsoil exposes the roots to mosses and parasitic plant and insect species. With some trees alive estimated to be up to 12,000 years old, the age of this ancient beauty is coming to an apparent end. Fortunately, its timeless message of consistent beauty in the face of constant change will long outlive it, and possibly even us who learn this lesson. 

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Hi Matt,

Awesome post! This genuinely made me excited about a tree that I did not even know existed. I would have never thought that there is a tree species that exists today that developed on Antarctica. It’s amazing how it is thought that some of the trees are up to 12,000 years old. If this is the case, it must mean that they are very resistant trees since the earth would have gone through a few climatic changes over that kind of time period. It is probably even more amazing that the current climate change is what is slowly “killing” these trees since there are specimens that are thousands of years old.

Do you think that it is possible for this species to survive for a couple thousand more years? Is the moss on the tree trunks harmful to the trees? I do not mean to attack you with questions, but I do not know anything about the Antarctic beech outside of what your post presented to me as I have never heard of this tree before. I will definitely do some basic research about the Antarctic beech to learn more. Thank you for the quality post.

Thanks,

Michael

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Giant Fish in a Tiny Creek?

Imagine going on a hike through Inglis Falls Conservation Area near Owen Sound on a beautiful day in the middle of October. It is a warm and sunny day, the leaves are changing colours, it could not be a better day for a hike. To make it even more beautiful, there is a small creek flowing near where you are hiking, small enough where if you really want to, you can jump over it. The sound of the water flowing is soothing to the ears.

The trail we are on in Inglis Falls Conservation Area. (http://www.ontariotrails.on.ca/assets/images/mastheads-all/TrailsOpen_Masthead5L.jpg)

All of a sudden you hear some very loud splashing coming out of the creek. You turn your head to the creek and you do not see a beaver, coyote, or bird in that area. You might think to yourself that there is no way that there could be a fish big enough in the creek to make this kind of sound. You walk to the creek and find exactly what is shown in this video.

You saw a salmon in a creek that seems to be way too small for it. The water is so shallow that it does not cover the back of the salmon. You might be asking yourself how such a fish can survive in such a small creek, how is there enough food, and maybe the fish is lost? The fish is actually not lost and means to be there. You might be wondering why such a big fish would want to be in such a small creek? That salmon is in the creek to spawn and create a new generation. Typically, salmon need cold moving water and a gravel bottom to spawn. Although it might be tough to tell, this is a male chinook salmon that is swimming upstream in hopes of finding a female salmon to spawn with. As long as nothing goes wrong beforehand, such as a coyote picking up the salmon, or the salmon making a wrong move and ending up on shore, the salmon will die shortly after spawning.

Although this is a photo of a wolf, a coyote can also grab a salmon. (https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/11/25/article-1332918-0C3B0909000005DC-191_634x348.jpg)

What does the salmon eat in order to survive in such a small river? Most salmon actually do not eat anything when they are in a river. So that means that the salmon had to come from somewhere and did not live its entire life in the creek. Where was this fish a week ago? The creek where we found the salmon is a very small creek that flows into the Sydenham River. So a week ago, this salmon was likely in the Sydenham river getting ready to get through the Mill Dam in Owen Sound just like some of the fish in this video.

Where was the salmon two weeks before we found it? It was likely near the mouth of the Sydenham River in Georgian Bay. The fish was most likely in Georgian Bay for the last three and a half years eating like there is no tomorrow every day to grow. So where was the salmon we found four years ago? The salmon was most likely a fertilized egg in the exact same creek where we found it now! This means that even though this salmon spent years in Georgian Bay feeding, it knows where it hatched, and returned to spawn itself. As said earlier, salmon need cold moving water and gravel to spawn, but these rivers do not have enough food for these fish to be able to fully grow, so they move downstream a few months after hatching into Georgian Bay where other fish as food are plentiful.

Here you can see the mouth of the Sydenham River at Georgian Bay in Owen Sound. (http://www.wandawestover.com/userfiles/images/owen-ontario.jpg)

Thank you to everyone who read, I really hope you enjoyed the adventure we went on together! 

[rmsenvs3000-2018]

Struggling for a connection

      For some reason I struggled with this weeks prompt. I expected everyone’s blogs to be wind through the trees and campfire songs. But they were so much more intimate, well thought out and diverse. It really bothered me that I didn’t have an immediate connection like I thought I would. I love music, I make way to many playlists, music makes me cry, I’m an artist. Then why can’t I easily find my connection between music and nature?

           I’ve never been a fan of forced art. It seems painful and misses the point of why we create, consume and feel. I don’t want to lie and say certain pieces of music have enhanced my relationship with nature when they haven’t. It feels like these songs can only touch the surface for me. The closest I can get to is when I’ve felt the erg to run away from everything and just live in the wild, the song Coastline by Hollowcoves puts me into that mindset.

           The song transports me to a beach out east. Although the lyrics sing “someplace under the sun” I picture an overcast day with only a little bit of sun falling through. The song is about finding that peaceful place. For the artist it was a sunny place, for me it was a cloudy place. Yet we both are searching for the same feeling of a deep breath and big sigh.

           One day I took a night hike with a group of students from my high school. It was pitch black, we were asked to take 20 steps off into our own distance (a distance felt a lot further at night than in the day). When we got to our spots we took a seat on our own and were to sit there in silence. Except there wasn’t silence. There was the breeze, leaves rustling, insects buzzing and so much more. There was the most complex of noises working together to make a single song. That was a moment I felt a connection from the sounds of nature.

           Not everyone can have connections to everything. As interpreters we have an incredibly large task of providing people with connections and emotions. Although I was sad that I couldn’t find an immediate meaningful connection to this weeks’ prompt I was put in the position that many visitors to parks or nature based programs are. It’s frustrating to see others have a relationship that you don’t understand or have.

          Music is a great way to help connect people to nature when they feel like an outsider. Empathy for when they can’t is imperative to being an understanding and effective naturalist interpreter.

[msenvs3000-2018-blog]

Hi Rebecca,

It is definitely okay to not have an immediate connection. I am glad that you were straight up and honest about it. I had to go deeper than just trying to connect music that I listen to with nature, or even the music that I make. I was kind of in a similar boat as I never really felt a connection with nature while playing guitar. I had to look deeper, and for me the thoughts went back to the sounds of rivers, while for you it was the Hollowcoves song.

I am glad that you also think that art should not be forced. I wrote a bit about this during last weeks prompt. I think that an artist should make what naturally comes out of their mind or emotions. This makes things a lot more true to the artist, and keeps the art in the art.

Even though you feel that you did not have an immediate connection, out of the blog posts I read, this was the one I connected to the most. This is because of how honest you were, instead of just trying to force an answer.

Thanks,

Michael

[msenvs3000-2018-blog]

Are Rivers Music?

As most of you already know from my last post, music and guitar are a couple of my passions. For those of you that were at the songwriting seminar with James Gordon, you most likely saw this as James allowed me to take over the guitar portion. Anyone that is passionate about music, is passionate about it in a different way and finds different inspiration for it.

I personally do not find that I use nature as what drives me to make music, however it might be used subconsciously. I do very clearly see music in nature though. For me the basis of hearing music in nature has to be running water, such as a river. Without this, the experience is not complete for me, no matter what other elements are present. The Credit River is what made this the absolute base element for me. During my summers of elementary school, I usually spent a two or three days a week fishing on the Credit River in the Norval area.

Credit River near Norval, Ontario. (https://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/14858874.jpg)

At the time I lived at the west end of Brampton, so it was just a short drive away and I was lucky enough that my parents would take me there whenever they could. Due to this, I slowly learned about the different sounds that a river makes, and it was music to my ears. Definitely by far my favourite sound even to this day to hear a river make is when a fish jumps and the fish crashes back into the water. This splash has always put excitement into me. Another sound that comes to mind right away, is the splashing sound of a large fish, such as a salmon, swimming through very shallow water that does not completely cover their back. 

A salmon leaping out of the water. (http://www.craa.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/featured-image-2.jpg)

Outside of river sounds that are caused by fish, the sound of high water levels were always interesting to me. The flow of water is a lot louder and it feels like there are a lot more low frequencies, kind of like bass in music. Sometimes this hum of the running water is so loud that you almost have trouble hearing the person next to you, almost like at a music show, but not quite.

When trying to find if there is nature in music that is made, it goes much deeper than just looking at lyrics as some songs do not even have lyrics. You would have to know what inspired the artist to write the song in the first place. Someone could have been on a hike all day long, and that put them in a different mood than they would normally be in otherwise, and this mood might help them write music. Even if they do not specifically mention any part nature in their song, there is nature in the song as it is what helped them write the song, even if it is indirect. I personally have never consciously experiences this, however I cannot say that it never actually happened.

[hdenvs3000-2018-blog]

Nature as an expression

Nature in my opinion is a characterization of art. Nature expresses itself with seasons, where light carries color and temperature paints the circle of life through weather patterns and stochastic events. Being able to sit back and admire the beauty of a landscape whether it be a meadow, mountain or body of water, become a rare skill and one that I feel is essential when trying to connect with the environment. Possessing a sense of wonder through questioning nature’s history and existence as well as associating philosophy with visual art becomes both a talent and struggle many interpreters come to pass.

Many of you do not know this, but I do at times consider myself an artist and have a secret passion for expression through hands-on projects. When it comes to nature, it is safe to say that many famous artists have expressed their view of the environment as a “gift of beauty”. One of which I find most inspiring is a man named Tom Thomson. He was a Canadian raised oil painter in the early 20th century (mostly self-taught) from Claremont, Ontario and grew to be one of the Group of Seven, which came to be one of the most famous artist groups in history. His family were environment enthusiasts, just like him, which came to life in his 400 oil paintings of plant life. He was employed as a graphic designer in Toronto until he found a new love for painting on his first trip to Algonquin Park, where most of inspiration came from. What I find most interesting is that his favorite thing to paint was rugged, unkempt scenery (hence why he was excepted into the Group of Seven) using very short yet broad brush strokes. This style followed his impressionist stature giving more emphasis on the meaning behind his work as opposed of making it look identical to what he was painting. The painting “The West Wind” shows a pine tree standing in early winter with the Canoe lake in the background and is one of his most famous pieces. He loved painting trees since it reminded him of great structure and unity, but pines he loved especially. In this piece, the pine represents the Canadian character or in his words:

“the visual equivalent of a national anthem, for they have come to represent the spirit of the whole country, notwithstanding the fact that vast tracts of Canada have no pine trees” ~ (2006, Firefly Books)

(Painting by Tom Thomson, “The West Wind”) (2006, Firefly books) 

The reason I bring Tom in the picture is because he poses as a great example of reconnection with nature through artistic processes. Educating ourselves just by simply being aware in our surroundings can bring us closer to nature and help us appreciate the environment and what it gives us. Now Tom Thomson is only one perspective of beauty in nature. I personally love seeing nature and a home and almost a fantasy world full of creatures we can’t explain. This idea keeps reminding me that there is still so much we do not know about nature and its vast connections.

(Quick sketch I drew a couple years back of life in a potted plant)

What do you use to express you love for nature? Comment down below!

[msenvs3000-2018-blog]

Hi Hanna,

I enjoyed your post, especially the first paragraph. I have never really thought of nature as art, but it made a lot of sense to me. Seeing natural changes throughout the year can definitely be seen as art. The state of nature can definitely set a mood, setting a mood or emotion is often times a goal of art. In general, people usually seem pretty happy and optimistic during the first warm day of spring. This emotion is a product of the natural environment.

You also discussed the expression of nature through visual arts. I have never had much interest in visual arts, but the background you provided about the Tom Thomson painting made it a lot more interesting and easy to understand for me. I am a lot more connected with music, as I explained in my blog post for this week.

I guess this can all go back to the idea that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If I saw the painting without any of the background that you provided, I would have thought that it is very boring. However, the background you provided helped change my “eye” or perspective as it made me look at the painting in a different approach, which made it more interesting.

Thanks for making the post,

Michael

[msenvs3000-2018-blog]

Does Nature and Music Blend?

    I am very involved in art. More specifically, I am involved with music. I have never really connected music creation to nature interpretation. I do feel that my experience and devotion to music can give me a different perspective. I have been playing guitar for the last 9 years of my life. I have spent thousands of hours learning the craft, and the learning will never stop.

Some guitar playing of mine from several years ago.

    I try to fit at least a half hour of guitar playing into my schedule everyday. For me, it is a very effective way to relax and destress. Due to this, a few years ago I stopped trying to pursue a career in music and I stopped performing. I performed several times as a solo artist and with bands, even doing a couple very large shows, including headlining an outdoor festival with over 1000 people. I feel that avoiding this was the best way to be a true artist, where it is just about making music that comes out on its own, not molding it for other people. This might seem selfish, but I think that it is a good way to keep the music true and real for the artist. 

One of my bands of the past and I performing at a small outdoor show in 2015.

    I mentioned before that I have never really connected my music creation to nature. This is probably because I always play guitar at home. I mainly play progressive metal on the electric guitar, this might make things feels even further away from nature. Progressive metal is what naturally comes out of me without any thought. If I were to grab my acoustic guitar and go into the middle of the forest, I know that the music created would be a lot more different. It would be a new environment for writing for me and the general vibe would definitely be felt through the created music. It would most likely be mellow music. I do not think I would be able to interpret nature through any other art form as well as through music. I feel that I know how to express myself through music and could interpret nature with it. The trouble with interpretation through music, is that it is difficult to convey emotion in a way that most people receive it in a similar way.

    I do feel that “the gift of beauty” can be applied to both music and nature. It does not matter what the genre of music is, there is someone out there that loves it and appreciates it. A general example of this can be country music. There are many people that love it, but I think that there might be even more people that try to avoid it like the plague. With nature, snakes can be an example. There are some people that are terrified of them, and there are others that love them so much that they have them as pets. This follows the whole idea that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think that this is what “the gift of beauty” refers to. Something can be beautiful to one person, but ugly or scary to another person. With nature, someone will find beauty in everything. Beauty does not have to be visual, it can even just be the appreciation of a process or system.

[mjlenvs3000-2018]

Fires in the West

So since this week is a free write for the blog I decided that I wanted to reflect on my summer. This summer I had the opportunity to work in Waterton Lakes National Park in the south western area of Alberta. In 2016 I road tripped out west with my family for a month and got to see the Canadian Rockies for the first time. I immediately fell in love with the mountains and all the wildlife that surrounds those areas. So the following year I applied to national parks out west. I got to see some pretty amazing things while I was out there such as bears, herds of elk, mule deer and many many wildflowers.

Black bear cub (pc. me)

One thing that I knew prior to driving out to Waterton before the summer was that the previous year there was a massive forest fire which devastated the town and park. Fortunately the many firefighters and the parks Canada staff was able to come together to protect all the buildings and historic sites and evacuate all the people before the fire came into the town.

This past summer another fire hit the town and it shocked me how much fires effect an area. This fire specifically was started by a lightning strike that hit the southern edge of the park in Glacier National Park, Montana. The fire spread very fast into our park and ended up only 5 kilometers away from the townsite.

Burnt forest floor in Waterton (pc. me)

I realized this was the norm for people who live out west. Being from Ontario I did not realize that extreme forest fires occur in British Columbia every year. That doesn’t make them any less devastating but it was surreal going to areas that just have to deal with that on a regular occurrence in certain areas of Canada and the world. Immediately when I realized this I became more aware of looking into how many forest fires were going on in certain areas around me. It was crazy finding out that at certain points in the summer that there was around 600 fires in British Columbia alone, with only a portion of those being under control.

Lupins growing in Waterton after the fire (pc. me)

One thing that I learned about fires from being out west is that it can be really beneficial to the land to get that extreme treatment. I always learned in conservation classes and forest classes in school that forest fires and controlled burns are really good for an area’s biodiversity. I did not have a good concept of this until I saw it for the first time. The parks Canada staff who have lived in the area for some time explained to me how devastating the Kenow (2017) fire was and seeing all the burned areas was a shock. But as the seasons changed I participated in a wildflower count in the park and the botanists that were there were surprised and super pleased about how many more wildflowers were growing in the area because of the fire and the ash fertilizing the ground. It’s absolutely amazing to me that with so much destruction comes great beauty in following years.

Crocus flowers growing after the grass fire  (pc. me)

[msenvs3000-2018-blog]

This was interesting to read as natural disasters do not really happen in Southern Ontario. I would also be shocked if I experienced such a large forest fire. Pretty much the worst we get here in Southern is a small tornado or a small ice storm every few years. This is nothing compared to what occurs with the forest fires out west. I would imagine that being used to yearly forest fires would really change how those people perceive forest fires.

The first thing I thought of are the dangers, such as homes getting burned down or evacuations. Even though I am in an environmental program, I find that my emotions took over when thinking about things such as forest fires. Even though I did know already about the benefits for biodiversity, my emotions still took over. I would guess that this is due to my lack of experience with such occurrences.

This is something that needs to be taken into consideration with nature interpretation. What can be an unknown experience for me, can be known by others. Did you talk to any of the residents of areas that often get forest fires? If so, did you find them to speak more positively or negatively about forest fires?

[msenvs3000-2018-blog]

Interpretation Through Fishing

As I have stated in my spark post, fishing is a large experience that made me interested in the environment. Before taking this course, I did not think that I have ever really done any nature interpretation. After learning more about what nature interpretation is, I figured out that I have tried to interpret nature for people before. I have done this through fishing.

Photo of myself fishing for salmon.

I am a catch and release angler. This means that I try my best to release every fish that I catch. The only time I keep a fish is if I think the fish has large chances of dying after being released. This is rare and I do whatever I can to minimize it, but it does sometimes happen. Most people that fish, like to keep some fish to eat. I try to teach these people selective harvest. Selective harvest means strategically keeping some fish while releasing others. The reason I take this approach is that I know I will not be able to convince most anglers to just release everything they catch, but I try to teach them to keep fish in a way that minimizes the ecological impact.

My favourite fish to try to catch are chinook salmon. Every year during late summer and fall, they leave the Great Lakes and enter the tributaries to spawn. This attracts a lot of anglers in some areas. It would be nearly impossible to tell people to not keep salmon if the law allows them to do so. I try to teach people to release female salmon, and if they are going to keep any, to keep the male fish. I usually point out the differences in the jaw structure as this seems to be the easiest way for people to learn how to identify males and females.

A comparison between male and female salmon. An easy way to identify the difference is the jaw structure. Males have hooked jaws. (https://bcfishingjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Chinook-Spawning.png)

I try to explain the advantages of keeping males instead of females. Females are usually the limiting factor in the number of eggs that get fertilized. Harvesting males does not have anywhere near as much of an effect on this. This is because one male can spawn with several females. Due to this, by releasing all females and harvesting males, there can be less of a negative impact made on future generations. Although this is not perfect, it is better than blindly keeping any fish you catch within your legal limit. Instead of just saying to release females, I do my best to explain the ecology in simple terms.

A pair of chinook salmon near the end of their life cycle after spawning in a river.(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Pair_of_Chinook_salmon.jpg)

What really helps me to be successful with this, is when the person knows me. Even if it is just a friend of a friend, I find that if the person is somehow connected to me, it helps them have more trust in me. Although I have successfully taught people I have met in the river on how to identify male and female chinook salmon, I do not know how well they were able to connect with me and how they followed my advice in the future. Due to this, something I need to work on is to better present myself as a trustworthy person to people I have newly met on a river.

[ddenvs3000-2018-blog]

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)

I’d like to put what I think the meaning Edwards intended for the quote was and then my own interpretation of it. To start, Edward believes that things from the past have no worth to them, which I think includes both moments/events and physical objects, as although there is worth in antiques financially, the object in it itself does not contain worth in what it can do for you. The next thing that he states is that there is merit in integrity and what it entails. I think that integrity is considered to have worth for Edwards as the concept of integrity has a high implication to stability in human society, and stability is something that is considered almost all the time as something that is good and worth having. Edwards then goes on to state that if the “parts” are in different split up in the past, then the idea of integrity brings these parts together. The idea behind this I believe is that the past with no knowledge of how it turned into the present does not have any worth, but if the concept of integrity is connected with “ancient things”, then it has worth. He lastly provides an analogy of a train passing a railway station to the idea that the railway station will still have worth after the train passes it. Edwards in this sentence I think wanted to clarify with the audience of what his message was.

Creator: MaxPixel’s contributors           Credit: https://www.maxpixel.net/

Now to be honest when I first read this quote I thought I got the message generally, but to me it seemed that I didn’t fully get the wording which put some extra strength to the quote. So I read it a few times over focussing on how it’s being stated, and after attempting to focus on certain attributes, honestly … maybe I’m just bad at this but the message still didn’t really sync as well as I wanted it to in my head. When he talked about merit, although I think it’s not too revolutionary in thought, does make sense and ancient things as itself also does, but the first time I read the quote I did attribute the past onto ancient things before I realised Edward didn’t. The next part which is what I thought was the sink of the quote is the connection of integrity to ancient things, and I definitely agree with Edwards that putting the puzzle pieces together of the past put’s context to the present. Also, I don’t think he was particularly going this way, but I think the past shapes the present in its entirety and pushes notions for the future. I think Edward attributed the past specifically to appreciation, and the relevance of the pasts existence which I think is very true, but does not put significance into it. In accordance with how I perceived the message I would personally think that the train analogy should have been about an abandoned rail station, rather then an active one. As the working rail station has a targeted present-day function, while an abandoned rail station has lost its targeted function, cementing an idea that that station is “in” the past while having worth in its effect on the present in a multitude of way such as more advanced railways, giving shelter to the homeless, individual effects, etc…

Author: bolandrotor 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Montpelier_railway_station_HDR.jpg 

(via ddenvs3000-2018)

I really liked your ideas about the train station portion of the quote by Edward Hyams. I do agree with you that maybe commenting about an abandoned railway station would have been more appropriate. This is because the quote refers to ancient things, rather than something we used five minutes ago. You looked at the potential current uses of an abandoned station. This was interesting, because I thought about the past uses and importance about when that kind of railway would have been actually in use. With an abandoned railway station, merit can be brought to it by learning about what it was used for. For example, what the general routes were to and from the station. Also, information about the people that used the station and why they used that one in particular.

Although a part of the quote that I do like when referring to a current train station, is that even though you could have just passed it, it still exists. And when thinking of an a station of the past, even if we do not know about, it does not change the fact that it did exist in the past, and that it most likely had an important use.

[msenvs3000-2018-blog]

Is the past important?

“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).

Do all things of the past deserve recognition or praise? The answer is no. This is because not everything that was made or occurred was necessarily important or had some kind of impact on humanity, for example a thousand year old squash soup recipe. However, if there is a connecting story or a general usage, than it might be different. It may be tough to dismiss certain ancient things or ideas just due to the fact of how old they actually are. However, if we have knowledge of ancient ideas, that would mean that ideas have been shared and passed a long. Likely if an idea is not worth being passed along, it will not make through generation to generation for a couple thousand years.

An ancient Italian structure. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/spiri/4837740972)

This quote does largely refer to physical things, however I feel that looking at stories might be even more important. Since stories are needed to bring merit to physical things and past events. In order for things of the past to maintain its integrity, especially events, I do feel that it is important to have as full of a story as possible. An example of an event where I feel that in a long time there may be more and more holes is the World War II event. Since this is not ancient and very well documented, currently there is a good idea of most of the story. World War II had an extremely strong global impact, which is potentially still felt today, even though it occurred over seventy years ago. I do not know whether this event will be talked about at all in a thousand years, however I do think that it is likely that it will be. Most people are aware of The Holocaust and what generally occurred, such as approximately six million Jews being murdered. However I do feel that there are many other very major parts of World War II that people do not really learn or know about. For example, the approximate 27 million people of the USSR that died due to the war. This number is astronomical. Even if this is slowly forgotten in the future, it does not mean that it did not happen.

Damage in Warsaw, Poland during World War II. (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/The_Saski_Palace_Warsaw%2C_destroyed_by_Germans_in_1944.jpg)

Ultimately, I feel that this quote shows the importance of more than just the past. I feel that it also shows the importance of the present and future. If we do not currently have a good knowledge of ancient events, there may not be much integrity in the story. However, if we use our current knowledge to build tools to unwind the past, maybe we can help add integrity to things that have occured in the past. So if important world events occur in our current world, it is important to make the information accessible for those in the future so that our stories can maintain their integrity and merit if there was any.