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01: Finding Place and Peace with Nature

Welcome folks to my Environmental Science Nature interpretation Blog! I am eager to share my thoughts, opinions, and some of my life with you all over the term. To orient you all, I am currently in my fourth and final term at the University of Guelph. My degree is in Arts and Science program with a focus on Biology and Psychology. I have experience in ecology, plant biology, and field experience that I will share with you all. Throughout my degree, I have found value in understanding how the natural world that surrounds us supports our functioning and the role we must have in protecting it.

From the ripe age of three, my parents bundled me up and took me on my first camping trip. I am reminiscent of those experiences as they have influenced my relationship with nature as a young adult. Hiking, youth groups, and time spent on the beach are some of the fondest memories of my childhood. Each summer, I have taken the initiative and have continued the camping tradition for myself. I am no longer reliant upon my parents to facilitate the trip and have introduced my closest friends to the joys of living with nature. Nature has taught me some of the most valuable lessons a child should learn and I feel inclined to share my lessons with those around me.

As a young adult, university has been a pivotal moment in my life. With university comes additional responsibility and pressure on the future. The COVID-19 pandemic commenced in my first year of study at the University of Guelph. The pandemic, in many ways, was a period of reflection and revaluation for my life and how I wish to lead it. In moments of high stress, I tend to forget the peace that nature brings. The pandemic allowed me to reconnect with nature the way I once did as a child and recentered my headspace.

More recently, I had the opportunity to travel to fourteen different countries across the United Kingdom and Europe. From breathtaking hikes in the Swiss Alps to walking the vineyards of Tuscany, I had the pleasure of exploring new areas and ecosystems of the world I never could have dreamed of experiencing. As I share stories of my adventures with those around me, I express the wonder and fulfillment I felt in those moments. Through facilitating conversations surrounding my travels, I remind my peers that nature does not need to be expensive or extreme. Nature is exciting in the simplest form and we as Canadians are blessed with an extraordinary country to explore. I have found a "sense of place" in some of the smallest corners of the world that ultimately challenged my perspective of what nature is capable of.

As described in the textbook, place is not a consistent entity; it may change and take new meaning through experiences (Beck et al., 2018). No one person or experience offered a sense of place in nature rather it has been a combination of many. As I have previously mentioned, I embark on a camping trip annually at one of our provincial parks. I have attended the same provincial park for nearly a decade. From the perspective of a young child, the campsite was simply a plot of land with large trees lining the perimeter as a source of protection; the beach was a place I would play and dive in to find beach glass. As I have matured, this "big picture" has evolved into a collection of smaller snapshots (Beck et al., 2018). I believe that the metaphorical lighthouse that guides my understanding of heritage will continue to change as I develop a stronger sense of self and interact with the environment (Beck et al., 2018).

In conclusion, my journey as an interpreter of nature is evolving. I found a voice and advocacy for our Earth in my travels. My metaphorical lighthouse has guided my path to places I have only dreamed of. The metaphorical lighthouses that assist in developing a "sense of place" may guide our path in several different directions throughout our lifetime (Beck et al., 2018). With each step, our connection and interpretation of the world around us may change (Beck et al., 2018). Like Shel Silverstein's, The Giving Tree, life will continue to evolve and in some moments we may take more of the Earth than we replenish. At the end of it all, it is our connectedness with others that can produce change. Regardless of socioeconomic status, there is wealth in the natural world that surrounds us all.

I have included some of my most favourite pictures of my adventures abroad. If you have been contemplating whether or not traveling abroad is worth it, this is your sign to book that flight!

References

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: for a better world. Sagamore Venture.

Silverstein, Shel. (1964). The giving tree. Harper & Row.

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Blog 7: Interpreting through music

Where is music in nature? Where is nature in music? These are very cool questions to unpack as this connection is such a strong one.

Music in nature is everywhere, the ebbs and flows of a river creating beats, birds singing songs, the whistling of the breeze through the trees, crunching of leaves or snow under your feet, and even the soothing sound of rain. These are all things that we base music on, the rhythms and beats of the natural world is a large inspiration in todays music. Not only the actual sounds but the description of the emotions felt while experiencing these natural elements. Feeling loved watching sunsets, the heartwarming feeling of warm weather, the sad dreary feeling of rain on a tin roof, all of the feeling of being immersed within nature. Music is all around and in abundance as its the most popular way to describe and connect to others and to express feelings of experiencing nature.

Nature is in music through the description of experiences from sunsets, to campfires, animals, hiking and dancing in the rain. Natural sounds being recorded and shared with the world as art such as birds chirping or wind rustling. Nature is also in music through the connection of people and nature through describing experience and interpretation of natural places. Cowboys living on ranches singing about being "rich but broke" because they are living off the land, connecting with nature in many ways which makes them rich from experience but broke because they have no money. People use music to get them through tough times such as mill workers, ranchers, coal miners and railroad workers (Beck et al., 2018). This would be beneficial as it changes the emotions of the workers, they go from angry, tired, ready to give up, to motivated, with a sense of community and an increased work ethic (Beck et al., 2018).

Not only is nature integrated into music and shared as an art form, but music is just as present in nature if you listen close enough.

Have you ever been in a situation where you listen to music to change your mindset in order to get through a difficult time? What songs were you listening to?

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage for a Better World (1st ed.). Sagamore Publishing. https://www.sagamorepub.com/products/interpreting-cultural-and-natural-heritage-better-world

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Blog 4, post 2:

Here are some examples of the gift of beauty in nature featuring my dog, Lucy! She is my inspiration for getting out and enjoying nature even when I don't want to.

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Unit 1: Nature Interpretation

My current relationship with nature is very strong. I love going on hikes, swimming, and watching wildlife. I worked on a bull farm for the past three summers, as that may not seem like a very integral part of nature, I believe that it taught me a lot about how nature is unpredictable and not always fair, but also taught me to love and appreciate it anyway. I also live on a large plot of land with a little farm on it. As a kid, and through my growth into an adult I have found that no matter what chaos is going on in my life, the farm and my home is always the space that gives me a sense of place. As a kid I was outside a lot. My parents are very outdoorsy people but are also home bodies, this meant that most of my memories with nature are from my own backyard. Chipping wood with my dad, riding horses with my mom, and going on walks through the woods with my brother and friends, connected me to nature in ways that I never noticed until I began to look back. When going back home for reading week, summer break or Christmas break over the course of my undergraduate degree, I have realized that our farm is my sense of place. I have countless memories and feelings towards the smallest structures and areas on the farm. I remember climbing the fences to reach the apples on the apple trees that grow in the yard, staring at the stars with my mom in the barn yard because there was almost no light pollution so we could see so many stars, and skating on the pond in the back field when it got cold enough. When people visit my farm, they are always amazed by the horses, donkeys, ducks, or the tractors and machinery we have. The things that they don’t know is that there are so many special characteristics that gives each pond, tree branch or funny looking rock a bigger story that only I will understand the full effect of. With this, I owe my sense of place solely to my parents. My mother and fathers ability to create a space and a home that allowed for me to use my creativity and connect with nature would not be the same had they not bought a farm and taught me how to enjoy being outside I would not feel a sense of peace when looking for Orion’s Belt in the stars or the sense of joy I get from eating an apple from a tree that I picked myself.

Photos taken by me!