Abigail

           Writing this final post has actually made me quite sad. I enjoyed drafting these posts as they provided me with an opportunity to express my views and share my thoughts and opinions with my classmates. The response process with everyone also provided a much-needed social interaction that was lost due to the pandemic. Yet I will not dwell upon what is coming to an end. Instead, I will reflect upon what I have learned about my development as a nature interpreter. In particular, how is my personal ethic evolving, what beliefs are influencing me, what do I view as my responsibilities, and what approaches are most suitable for me as a nature interpreter? The highly divergent views expressed by my classmates in their blogs has illustrated how important individual life experiences and circumstances are in forming their opinions, thoughts and views. Sharing our individual experiences has helped us collectively expand our horizons. So how has this influenced me?

          Everyone has an ethic that influences the way in which they approach a task or respond to an issue. Ethics are referred to by the Government of Canada (2015) as “a way of living” that people use to justify their actions based upon what they deem right and wrong and just and unjust. The moral judgments that individuals make are not something that can be taught but is something that they need to cultivate. An individual’s ethics can continue to develop and change as people grow and learn valuable lessons over their lives. The beliefs that I have, the responsibilities that I feel, and how I go about addressing situations are all rooted back to my individual moral ethics.

My parents are two of the most important people in my life. A lot of the moral ethics that I have now are because of them. They have instilled values in me that shape every action I do. Photo taken by Brooke Murphy (my sister)       

       I believe that humans tend to take things for granted and we tend to not understand how truly valuable people, moments or objects are. I think that nature is one of those things humans undervalue. 

Quickly take a second and reflect on how vital nature is for your survival.

 Humans require nature for food, places to exercise, to find inspiration, and improve their mental health. That is why I believe nature interpretation is so vital. It helps enhance one’s appreciation for the natural world. Personally, the pandemic took a toll upon my mental health. One of the ways that I have been able to recover is through interpreting nature. Nature brings me this sense of calm, making all the anxieties, which tend to overtake my life some days, disappear. The significance nature plays in my mental health recovery is why I believe that nature is so vital as the benefits it has tend to go unnoticed by most.

I started really understanding how important walking through nature was for my mental health in 2017 when I started to develop severe anxiety. This photo is around the time my anxiety was becoming extremely bad and I was going on frequent walks just to try to feel calm and I found nature was able to help me find this calm.

         Given how positively impactful nature has been on my life, I feel responsible to serve as an interpreter for nature. I do not necessarily want to be a formal nature interpreter, but I would still like to be a nature interpreter through my day-to-day actions. The natural world has helped me immeasurably and improved my mental health. That is why I feel responsible for helping to improve nature’s physical health by discussing endangered species, climate change, and other pressing environmental issues. When I graduate, I plan to pursue a career in teaching and use the concepts that I learned in this course in my career. I learned that effective communication is essential! To educate an audience about nature, I need to be able to effectively communicate to an audience in both an engaging and inclusive manner in order to appeal to their moral ethic to act as stewards of the earth! 

Freeman Tilden says…..

 “we must not tell one what they can do, but what they should do and not what they must be, but what they can be”. 

I believe that in order to do this I will need to tailor to my audience how I present a topic. In the course and textbook, the notion is discussed that how people interpret and connect with a presentation will be influenced by presentation style. Understanding and customizing each presentation to address each audience’s different learning styles is critical and my responsibility.

           I feel responsible for being an effective nature interpreter, not just for nature, but also for the individuals that I am presenting to. I believe and feel everyone has a right to be included and that no one should be made to feel as if they are not welcome - speaking from experience. As a nature interpreter, it is my responsibility to ensure that everyone can engage comfortably with an issue or concept that I am discussing. As a person who suffers from social anxiety, I can relate to the difficulty of group engagement. I know that as soon as my anxiety begins, I start to zone out and cannot remember anything. To ensure that this does not happen to others, I would give consideration to making people feel physically, mentally and socially safe. Doing this will help to ensure that everyone is given the same opportunity despite what they have and lack in their “invisible knapsack”.

I remember I was super anxious this day and was very quite during this tour/experience. The tour guide picked up on it and in front of the whole group made me come and kiss a stingray for 7 years of good luck. This gesture made me feel so included and special that I stopped feeling as anxious and began engaging more. Highlighting how important it is to make sure everyone feels included and has the same opportunity to learn. 

          I find that humour is one of the best ways to present a concept as it makes people more engaged and relaxed. Adding humour to my presentation, while effectively articulating my point, makes an experience more engaging and memorable while creating a sense of joy and calm. I use humour often in my everyday life. Humour helps to lighten the mood and make experiences more enjoyable, I also find it helps reduce my anxiety, which is an added bonus.

          This course taught me that there are many ways to be a nature interpreter, present a topic or write a blog. The diverse means of completing different tasks allows us to add our own values and beliefs to everything. Therefore, when someone wants to use different approaches, teaching styles, and so on, that is 100% okay! The ways that individuals choose to work in the future will be effective regardless of the style, as long as they stay true to their morals, beliefs and values.

As long as you stay true to you the impacts you can have and the lessons you can teach will be unmeasurable! 

References 

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

I too can relate that the pandemic took a massive toll on my mental health.  As someone who has severe depression and already has a hard time “seeing the future” this pandemic has really made it difficult to remind myself “of things to look forward to.”  Especially now that we’re going into another lockdown I really have to keep myself grounded and remind myself that depression is a liar.

I too use nature to help myself with this everyday battle.  My daily walk that finishes in the forest allows me to be reminded of the beauty that the earth has to offer.  It allows me to “ground” myself by writing down 5 things I see, 4 things I hear, 3 things I can feel, 2 things I can smell and well I’m not tasting anything in the forest (Lol!) But the importance of this is keeping myself in the present moment.  I tend to always be in a more negative head space so this allows me to give my brain a break and just think as well as enjoy something else.  It also allows me to be reminded of what else I still need to see in this world.

With that, I thought I’d mention a couple of other tips I like to use to keep my mental health strong.  One, being journalling.  I mentioned before about grounding myself and writing down my surroundings, but just writing in general has helped tremendously.  Whether that’s through the poetry I like to write or just giving myself positive affirmations.  I can also say meditation has helped a lot as well.  Meditation allows me to go to a “safe place” and that my mind can also be filled with beautiful thoughts.

Here’s a link to a guided meditation that I quite enjoy!

Do you recommend anything else to help with mental health?

Thank you so much for taking the time to provide me with ways I can help cope with my anxiety. I have heard about the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 strategy but have never really applied it (I don’t know why) but after reading how helpful you find it I will definitely give it a try! I have tried meditation as well and absolutely love it, I personally recommend meditating in nature (or even your backyard) it is my favourite! I actually just began reading a book called “The Universe Has Your Back - Transfer Fear into Faith”. This book discusses the author’s battle with both depression and anxiety and talks about how she used meditation to help overpower her negative thoughts, I highly recommend you get the book! I also recommend drawing it allows your brain to wander and I actually find it allows me to visualize my feelings which makes it easier I find to understand them! Have you ever tried drawing?

           Writing this final post has actually made me quite sad. I enjoyed drafting these posts as they provided me with an opportunity to express my views and share my thoughts and opinions with my classmates. The response process with everyone also provided a much-needed social interaction that was lost due to the pandemic. Yet I will not dwell upon what is coming to an end. Instead, I will reflect upon what I have learned about my development as a nature interpreter. In particular, how is my personal ethic evolving, what beliefs are influencing me, what do I view as my responsibilities, and what approaches are most suitable for me as a nature interpreter? The highly divergent views expressed by my classmates in their blogs has illustrated how important individual life experiences and circumstances are in forming their opinions, thoughts and views. Sharing our individual experiences has helped us collectively expand our horizons. So how has this influenced me?

          Everyone has an ethic that influences the way in which they approach a task or respond to an issue. Ethics are referred to by the Government of Canada (2015) as “a way of living” that people use to justify their actions based upon what they deem right and wrong and just and unjust. The moral judgments that individuals make are not something that can be taught but is something that they need to cultivate. An individual’s ethics can continue to develop and change as people grow and learn valuable lessons over their lives. The beliefs that I have, the responsibilities that I feel, and how I go about addressing situations are all rooted back to my individual moral ethics.

My parents are two of the most important people in my life. A lot of the moral ethics that I have now are because of them. They have instilled values in me that shape every action I do. Photo taken by Brooke Murphy (my sister)       

       I believe that humans tend to take things for granted and we tend to not understand how truly valuable people, moments or objects are. I think that nature is one of those things humans undervalue. 

Quickly take a second and reflect on how vital nature is for your survival.

 Humans require nature for food, places to exercise, to find inspiration, and improve their mental health. That is why I believe nature interpretation is so vital. It helps enhance one’s appreciation for the natural world. Personally, the pandemic took a toll upon my mental health. One of the ways that I have been able to recover is through interpreting nature. Nature brings me this sense of calm, making all the anxieties, which tend to overtake my life some days, disappear. The significance nature plays in my mental health recovery is why I believe that nature is so vital as the benefits it has tend to go unnoticed by most.

I started really understanding how important walking through nature was for my mental health in 2017 when I started to develop severe anxiety. This photo is around the time my anxiety was becoming extremely bad and I was going on frequent walks just to try to feel calm and I found nature was able to help me find this calm.

         Given how positively impactful nature has been on my life, I feel responsible to serve as an interpreter for nature. I do not necessarily want to be a formal nature interpreter, but I would still like to be a nature interpreter through my day-to-day actions. The natural world has helped me immeasurably and improved my mental health. That is why I feel responsible for helping to improve nature’s physical health by discussing endangered species, climate change, and other pressing environmental issues. When I graduate, I plan to pursue a career in teaching and use the concepts that I learned in this course in my career. I learned that effective communication is essential! To educate an audience about nature, I need to be able to effectively communicate to an audience in both an engaging and inclusive manner in order to appeal to their moral ethic to act as stewards of the earth! 

Freeman Tilden says…..

 “we must not tell one what they can do, but what they should do and not what they must be, but what they can be”. 

I believe that in order to do this I will need to tailor to my audience how I present a topic. In the course and textbook, the notion is discussed that how people interpret and connect with a presentation will be influenced by presentation style. Understanding and customizing each presentation to address each audience’s different learning styles is critical and my responsibility.

           I feel responsible for being an effective nature interpreter, not just for nature, but also for the individuals that I am presenting to. I believe and feel everyone has a right to be included and that no one should be made to feel as if they are not welcome - speaking from experience. As a nature interpreter, it is my responsibility to ensure that everyone can engage comfortably with an issue or concept that I am discussing. As a person who suffers from social anxiety, I can relate to the difficulty of group engagement. I know that as soon as my anxiety begins, I start to zone out and cannot remember anything. To ensure that this does not happen to others, I would give consideration to making people feel physically, mentally and socially safe. Doing this will help to ensure that everyone is given the same opportunity despite what they have and lack in their “invisible knapsack”.

I remember I was super anxious this day and was very quite during this tour/experience. The tour guide picked up on it and in front of the whole group made me come and kiss a stingray for 7 years of good luck. This gesture made me feel so included and special that I stopped feeling as anxious and began engaging more. Highlighting how important it is to make sure everyone feels included and has the same opportunity to learn. 

          I find that humour is one of the best ways to present a concept as it makes people more engaged and relaxed. Adding humour to my presentation, while effectively articulating my point, makes an experience more engaging and memorable while creating a sense of joy and calm. I use humour often in my everyday life. Humour helps to lighten the mood and make experiences more enjoyable, I also find it helps reduce my anxiety, which is an added bonus.

          This course taught me that there are many ways to be a nature interpreter, present a topic or write a blog. The diverse means of completing different tasks allows us to add our own values and beliefs to everything. Therefore, when someone wants to use different approaches, teaching styles, and so on, that is 100% okay! The ways that individuals choose to work in the future will be effective regardless of the style, as long as they stay true to their morals, beliefs and values.

As long as you stay true to you the impacts you can have and the lessons you can teach will be unmeasurable! 

References 

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

I really enjoyed reading your post! One thing that I connected with was how you used nature and nature interpretation as a way to find a sense of calm to deal with your anxiety. During the summer I found myself gradually getting more and more involved with nature in a variety of forms from nature walks, biking through paths in the forest and starting my own garden. I strongly agree with you that the significance of nature really goes unnoticed by most. This is why I have taken it upon myself to get my family and friends to notice and appreciate how important and special nature is. Just like you I am not really trying to be a formal nature interpreter, but I am extremely grateful to have taken this class to allow me to understand how to use my passion and knowledge of nature to ignite that same passion in those around me. I find that it is easiest to get my friends and family interested in nature because it is the role of a nature interpreter to make the interpretation engaging and to get your audience to connect on a personal level, while leaving with a enjoyable and memorable experience (Beck, Cable & Knudson, 2018).It was said in our course notes “…Being an environmental educator in today’s world feels like you are asked to stop a rushing river armed only with a teaspoon” and for this reason, just like you, I feel a responsibility to fight against the various current environmental issues by educating as many people as I can (Hooykaas, 2021).

Overall great post, thank you for sharing!

Howard

References

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

           Writing this final post has actually made me quite sad. I enjoyed drafting these posts as they provided me with an opportunity to express my views and share my thoughts and opinions with my classmates. The response process with everyone also provided a much-needed social interaction that was lost due to the pandemic. Yet I will not dwell upon what is coming to an end. Instead, I will reflect upon what I have learned about my development as a nature interpreter. In particular, how is my personal ethic evolving, what beliefs are influencing me, what do I view as my responsibilities, and what approaches are most suitable for me as a nature interpreter? The highly divergent views expressed by my classmates in their blogs has illustrated how important individual life experiences and circumstances are in forming their opinions, thoughts and views. Sharing our individual experiences has helped us collectively expand our horizons. So how has this influenced me?

          Everyone has an ethic that influences the way in which they approach a task or respond to an issue. Ethics are referred to by the Government of Canada (2015) as “a way of living” that people use to justify their actions based upon what they deem right and wrong and just and unjust. The moral judgments that individuals make are not something that can be taught but is something that they need to cultivate. An individual’s ethics can continue to develop and change as people grow and learn valuable lessons over their lives. The beliefs that I have, the responsibilities that I feel, and how I go about addressing situations are all rooted back to my individual moral ethics.

My parents are two of the most important people in my life. A lot of the moral ethics that I have now are because of them. They have instilled values in me that shape every action I do. Photo taken by Brooke Murphy (my sister)       

       I believe that humans tend to take things for granted and we tend to not understand how truly valuable people, moments or objects are. I think that nature is one of those things humans undervalue. 

Quickly take a second and reflect on how vital nature is for your survival.

 Humans require nature for food, places to exercise, to find inspiration, and improve their mental health. That is why I believe nature interpretation is so vital. It helps enhance one’s appreciation for the natural world. Personally, the pandemic took a toll upon my mental health. One of the ways that I have been able to recover is through interpreting nature. Nature brings me this sense of calm, making all the anxieties, which tend to overtake my life some days, disappear. The significance nature plays in my mental health recovery is why I believe that nature is so vital as the benefits it has tend to go unnoticed by most.

I started really understanding how important walking through nature was for my mental health in 2017 when I started to develop severe anxiety. This photo is around the time my anxiety was becoming extremely bad and I was going on frequent walks just to try to feel calm and I found nature was able to help me find this calm.

         Given how positively impactful nature has been on my life, I feel responsible to serve as an interpreter for nature. I do not necessarily want to be a formal nature interpreter, but I would still like to be a nature interpreter through my day-to-day actions. The natural world has helped me immeasurably and improved my mental health. That is why I feel responsible for helping to improve nature’s physical health by discussing endangered species, climate change, and other pressing environmental issues. When I graduate, I plan to pursue a career in teaching and use the concepts that I learned in this course in my career. I learned that effective communication is essential! To educate an audience about nature, I need to be able to effectively communicate to an audience in both an engaging and inclusive manner in order to appeal to their moral ethic to act as stewards of the earth! 

Freeman Tilden says…..

 “we must not tell one what they can do, but what they should do and not what they must be, but what they can be”. 

I believe that in order to do this I will need to tailor to my audience how I present a topic. In the course and textbook, the notion is discussed that how people interpret and connect with a presentation will be influenced by presentation style. Understanding and customizing each presentation to address each audience’s different learning styles is critical and my responsibility.

           I feel responsible for being an effective nature interpreter, not just for nature, but also for the individuals that I am presenting to. I believe and feel everyone has a right to be included and that no one should be made to feel as if they are not welcome - speaking from experience. As a nature interpreter, it is my responsibility to ensure that everyone can engage comfortably with an issue or concept that I am discussing. As a person who suffers from social anxiety, I can relate to the difficulty of group engagement. I know that as soon as my anxiety begins, I start to zone out and cannot remember anything. To ensure that this does not happen to others, I would give consideration to making people feel physically, mentally and socially safe. Doing this will help to ensure that everyone is given the same opportunity despite what they have and lack in their “invisible knapsack”.

I remember I was super anxious this day and was very quite during this tour/experience. The tour guide picked up on it and in front of the whole group made me come and kiss a stingray for 7 years of good luck. This gesture made me feel so included and special that I stopped feeling as anxious and began engaging more. Highlighting how important it is to make sure everyone feels included and has the same opportunity to learn. 

          I find that humour is one of the best ways to present a concept as it makes people more engaged and relaxed. Adding humour to my presentation, while effectively articulating my point, makes an experience more engaging and memorable while creating a sense of joy and calm. I use humour often in my everyday life. Humour helps to lighten the mood and make experiences more enjoyable, I also find it helps reduce my anxiety, which is an added bonus.

          This course taught me that there are many ways to be a nature interpreter, present a topic or write a blog. The diverse means of completing different tasks allows us to add our own values and beliefs to everything. Therefore, when someone wants to use different approaches, teaching styles, and so on, that is 100% okay! The ways that individuals choose to work in the future will be effective regardless of the style, as long as they stay true to their morals, beliefs and values.

As long as you stay true to you the impacts you can have and the lessons you can teach will be unmeasurable! 

References 

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

I really enjoyed your post, and it just goes to show how amazing this course is in terms of sharing our perspectives with each other. I really loved how you shared about nature being a source of wellness for you in your struggles with anxiety, because I have had such a similar experience. It feels as though we owe nature so much since it adds so much to our lives and recharges us! I also really appreciated the idea of making learning about nature accessible to everyone. It is completely true that everyone has different learning styles and capabilities, and to ensure nature interpretation is inclusive it is totally essential to cater to individual needs. Everyone deserves to enjoy and appreciate our natural world, and it is also necessary for the survival of our natural world for as many people to understand and appreciate it as possible. Thanks so much again for sharing your thoughts, I loved reading them! Take care and have a good rest of your semester.

It was lovely to hear from you and I am so glad that by discussing my own struggles with anxiety I open the door for conversation about your and other students’ issues with mental health and how nature has actually played a huge role in improving one’s quality of life during this challenging time! You state how we owe it to our planet to help restore it and I actually found an interesting article from Nature Guelph about how you can help clean up areas in Guelph which have been damaged due to human disturbance. If nature can give us all these benefits I think taking some time out of our busy days to help clean up the planet is essential! 

Here is the link: http://www.natureguelph.ca/programs/get-involved/

Have a great rest of the semester!

Abigail!

           Writing this final post has actually made me quite sad. I enjoyed drafting these posts as they provided me with an opportunity to express my views and share my thoughts and opinions with my classmates. The response process with everyone also provided a much-needed social interaction that was lost due to the pandemic. Yet I will not dwell upon what is coming to an end. Instead, I will reflect upon what I have learned about my development as a nature interpreter. In particular, how is my personal ethic evolving, what beliefs are influencing me, what do I view as my responsibilities, and what approaches are most suitable for me as a nature interpreter? The highly divergent views expressed by my classmates in their blogs has illustrated how important individual life experiences and circumstances are in forming their opinions, thoughts and views. Sharing our individual experiences has helped us collectively expand our horizons. So how has this influenced me?

          Everyone has an ethic that influences the way in which they approach a task or respond to an issue. Ethics are referred to by the Government of Canada (2015) as “a way of living” that people use to justify their actions based upon what they deem right and wrong and just and unjust. The moral judgments that individuals make are not something that can be taught but is something that they need to cultivate. An individual’s ethics can continue to develop and change as people grow and learn valuable lessons over their lives. The beliefs that I have, the responsibilities that I feel, and how I go about addressing situations are all rooted back to my individual moral ethics.

My parents are two of the most important people in my life. A lot of the moral ethics that I have now are because of them. They have instilled values in me that shape every action I do. Photo taken by Brooke Murphy (my sister)       

       I believe that humans tend to take things for granted and we tend to not understand how truly valuable people, moments or objects are. I think that nature is one of those things humans undervalue. 

Quickly take a second and reflect on how vital nature is for your survival.

 Humans require nature for food, places to exercise, to find inspiration, and improve their mental health. That is why I believe nature interpretation is so vital. It helps enhance one’s appreciation for the natural world. Personally, the pandemic took a toll upon my mental health. One of the ways that I have been able to recover is through interpreting nature. Nature brings me this sense of calm, making all the anxieties, which tend to overtake my life some days, disappear. The significance nature plays in my mental health recovery is why I believe that nature is so vital as the benefits it has tend to go unnoticed by most.

I started really understanding how important walking through nature was for my mental health in 2017 when I started to develop severe anxiety. This photo is around the time my anxiety was becoming extremely bad and I was going on frequent walks just to try to feel calm and I found nature was able to help me find this calm.

         Given how positively impactful nature has been on my life, I feel responsible to serve as an interpreter for nature. I do not necessarily want to be a formal nature interpreter, but I would still like to be a nature interpreter through my day-to-day actions. The natural world has helped me immeasurably and improved my mental health. That is why I feel responsible for helping to improve nature’s physical health by discussing endangered species, climate change, and other pressing environmental issues. When I graduate, I plan to pursue a career in teaching and use the concepts that I learned in this course in my career. I learned that effective communication is essential! To educate an audience about nature, I need to be able to effectively communicate to an audience in both an engaging and inclusive manner in order to appeal to their moral ethic to act as stewards of the earth! 

Freeman Tilden says…..

 “we must not tell one what they can do, but what they should do and not what they must be, but what they can be”. 

I believe that in order to do this I will need to tailor to my audience how I present a topic. In the course and textbook, the notion is discussed that how people interpret and connect with a presentation will be influenced by presentation style. Understanding and customizing each presentation to address each audience’s different learning styles is critical and my responsibility.

           I feel responsible for being an effective nature interpreter, not just for nature, but also for the individuals that I am presenting to. I believe and feel everyone has a right to be included and that no one should be made to feel as if they are not welcome - speaking from experience. As a nature interpreter, it is my responsibility to ensure that everyone can engage comfortably with an issue or concept that I am discussing. As a person who suffers from social anxiety, I can relate to the difficulty of group engagement. I know that as soon as my anxiety begins, I start to zone out and cannot remember anything. To ensure that this does not happen to others, I would give consideration to making people feel physically, mentally and socially safe. Doing this will help to ensure that everyone is given the same opportunity despite what they have and lack in their “invisible knapsack”.

I remember I was super anxious this day and was very quite during this tour/experience. The tour guide picked up on it and in front of the whole group made me come and kiss a stingray for 7 years of good luck. This gesture made me feel so included and special that I stopped feeling as anxious and began engaging more. Highlighting how important it is to make sure everyone feels included and has the same opportunity to learn. 

          I find that humour is one of the best ways to present a concept as it makes people more engaged and relaxed. Adding humour to my presentation, while effectively articulating my point, makes an experience more engaging and memorable while creating a sense of joy and calm. I use humour often in my everyday life. Humour helps to lighten the mood and make experiences more enjoyable, I also find it helps reduce my anxiety, which is an added bonus.

          This course taught me that there are many ways to be a nature interpreter, present a topic or write a blog. The diverse means of completing different tasks allows us to add our own values and beliefs to everything. Therefore, when someone wants to use different approaches, teaching styles, and so on, that is 100% okay! The ways that individuals choose to work in the future will be effective regardless of the style, as long as they stay true to their morals, beliefs and values.

As long as you stay true to you the impacts you can have and the lessons you can teach will be unmeasurable! 

References 

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

I really think that our values are aligned when it comes to our goals as interpreters. Like you said, nature is vital for our survival, which I believe makes the job of the interpreter all the more difficult. Interpretation really is a challenge for a number of different reasons, and I think that that has been especially evident having explored the content in this course. One thing that I noticed about your post is your remark on interpretation’s impact on your mental health. Many studies that I have looked into have found strong, positive links between mental health and nature. One such study found that green exercise (any activity in the presence of nature) improved the self-esteem and mood of the participants. Further, it was found that the presence of water generated even greater effects. It also looked at the impact on those with pre-existing mental health conditions, and discovered that the mentally ill showed the greatest improvements when participating in outdoor activities. This is an area of interpretation that I find interesting. With the rise in mental health advocacy, I think that interpreters now have the added responsibility to consider the impact that they will have on those with mental health conditions that would likely benefit from a positive association with nature.

Thank you for the link you provided it was very interesting to read! I do indeed notice a shift in my mood when outside for a walk, bike ride, or even a run! I find it helps me calm down and breathe which is why I highly recommend it to anyone who says they are stressed or anxious about work and school. I think this pandemic took a large toll on everyone’s mental health and because nature provides so many benefits like you stated to improve one’s mental health I believe that nature interpretation will become essential in helping to reduce everyone’s anxiety and stress post-COVID. Think how many people will be needing help with their anxiety and stress upon returning back to normal life after adjusting to a year and a half of isolation and social distancing! I provided two articles below about how governments and other individuals are worried about an increase in anxiety and other mental health issues that will occur post-COVID!

https://www.wcax.com/2021/03/26/experts-offer-advice-on-bracing-for-post-pandemic-social-anxiety/

https://www.wellandgood.com/post-pandemic-anxeity/

Thank you for all your kind words and I wish you the best with the rest of the semester!

           Writing this final post has actually made me quite sad. I enjoyed drafting these posts as they provided me with an opportunity to express my views and share my thoughts and opinions with my classmates. The response process with everyone also provided a much-needed social interaction that was lost due to the pandemic. Yet I will not dwell upon what is coming to an end. Instead, I will reflect upon what I have learned about my development as a nature interpreter. In particular, how is my personal ethic evolving, what beliefs are influencing me, what do I view as my responsibilities, and what approaches are most suitable for me as a nature interpreter? The highly divergent views expressed by my classmates in their blogs has illustrated how important individual life experiences and circumstances are in forming their opinions, thoughts and views. Sharing our individual experiences has helped us collectively expand our horizons. So how has this influenced me?

          Everyone has an ethic that influences the way in which they approach a task or respond to an issue. Ethics are referred to by the Government of Canada (2015) as “a way of living” that people use to justify their actions based upon what they deem right and wrong and just and unjust. The moral judgments that individuals make are not something that can be taught but is something that they need to cultivate. An individual’s ethics can continue to develop and change as people grow and learn valuable lessons over their lives. The beliefs that I have, the responsibilities that I feel, and how I go about addressing situations are all rooted back to my individual moral ethics.

My parents are two of the most important people in my life. A lot of the moral ethics that I have now are because of them. They have instilled values in me that shape every action I do. Photo taken by Brooke Murphy (my sister)       

       I believe that humans tend to take things for granted and we tend to not understand how truly valuable people, moments or objects are. I think that nature is one of those things humans undervalue. 

Quickly take a second and reflect on how vital nature is for your survival.

 Humans require nature for food, places to exercise, to find inspiration, and improve their mental health. That is why I believe nature interpretation is so vital. It helps enhance one’s appreciation for the natural world. Personally, the pandemic took a toll upon my mental health. One of the ways that I have been able to recover is through interpreting nature. Nature brings me this sense of calm, making all the anxieties, which tend to overtake my life some days, disappear. The significance nature plays in my mental health recovery is why I believe that nature is so vital as the benefits it has tend to go unnoticed by most.

I started really understanding how important walking through nature was for my mental health in 2017 when I started to develop severe anxiety. This photo is around the time my anxiety was becoming extremely bad and I was going on frequent walks just to try to feel calm and I found nature was able to help me find this calm.

         Given how positively impactful nature has been on my life, I feel responsible to serve as an interpreter for nature. I do not necessarily want to be a formal nature interpreter, but I would still like to be a nature interpreter through my day-to-day actions. The natural world has helped me immeasurably and improved my mental health. That is why I feel responsible for helping to improve nature’s physical health by discussing endangered species, climate change, and other pressing environmental issues. When I graduate, I plan to pursue a career in teaching and use the concepts that I learned in this course in my career. I learned that effective communication is essential! To educate an audience about nature, I need to be able to effectively communicate to an audience in both an engaging and inclusive manner in order to appeal to their moral ethic to act as stewards of the earth! 

Freeman Tilden says…..

 “we must not tell one what they can do, but what they should do and not what they must be, but what they can be”. 

I believe that in order to do this I will need to tailor to my audience how I present a topic. In the course and textbook, the notion is discussed that how people interpret and connect with a presentation will be influenced by presentation style. Understanding and customizing each presentation to address each audience’s different learning styles is critical and my responsibility.

           I feel responsible for being an effective nature interpreter, not just for nature, but also for the individuals that I am presenting to. I believe and feel everyone has a right to be included and that no one should be made to feel as if they are not welcome - speaking from experience. As a nature interpreter, it is my responsibility to ensure that everyone can engage comfortably with an issue or concept that I am discussing. As a person who suffers from social anxiety, I can relate to the difficulty of group engagement. I know that as soon as my anxiety begins, I start to zone out and cannot remember anything. To ensure that this does not happen to others, I would give consideration to making people feel physically, mentally and socially safe. Doing this will help to ensure that everyone is given the same opportunity despite what they have and lack in their “invisible knapsack”.

I remember I was super anxious this day and was very quite during this tour/experience. The tour guide picked up on it and in front of the whole group made me come and kiss a stingray for 7 years of good luck. This gesture made me feel so included and special that I stopped feeling as anxious and began engaging more. Highlighting how important it is to make sure everyone feels included and has the same opportunity to learn. 

          I find that humour is one of the best ways to present a concept as it makes people more engaged and relaxed. Adding humour to my presentation, while effectively articulating my point, makes an experience more engaging and memorable while creating a sense of joy and calm. I use humour often in my everyday life. Humour helps to lighten the mood and make experiences more enjoyable, I also find it helps reduce my anxiety, which is an added bonus.

          This course taught me that there are many ways to be a nature interpreter, present a topic or write a blog. The diverse means of completing different tasks allows us to add our own values and beliefs to everything. Therefore, when someone wants to use different approaches, teaching styles, and so on, that is 100% okay! The ways that individuals choose to work in the future will be effective regardless of the style, as long as they stay true to their morals, beliefs and values.

As long as you stay true to you the impacts you can have and the lessons you can teach will be unmeasurable! 

References 

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

I am glad to read that when looking for a place to live in Guelph you made sure to choose a place near the arboretum (I wish I thought to do that). By living so close to such a beautiful area it definitely isn’t hard to get your vitamin N in! I am happy you agree that humor is essential when engaging an audience, my group and I used humor in the children’s podcast and will be using it for the adult podcast as well to engage our audience! I think the best lessons are learned when having a good time and who isn’t having a good time while laughing and smiling!

Also, the weather forecast in Guelph looks like it’s going to be a beautiful week! Hopefully, you find time to go on a nice walk through the arboretum for a moment to relax and get away from school! 

Abigail!

           Writing this final post has actually made me quite sad. I enjoyed drafting these posts as they provided me with an opportunity to express my views and share my thoughts and opinions with my classmates. The response process with everyone also provided a much-needed social interaction that was lost due to the pandemic. Yet I will not dwell upon what is coming to an end. Instead, I will reflect upon what I have learned about my development as a nature interpreter. In particular, how is my personal ethic evolving, what beliefs are influencing me, what do I view as my responsibilities, and what approaches are most suitable for me as a nature interpreter? The highly divergent views expressed by my classmates in their blogs has illustrated how important individual life experiences and circumstances are in forming their opinions, thoughts and views. Sharing our individual experiences has helped us collectively expand our horizons. So how has this influenced me?

          Everyone has an ethic that influences the way in which they approach a task or respond to an issue. Ethics are referred to by the Government of Canada (2015) as “a way of living” that people use to justify their actions based upon what they deem right and wrong and just and unjust. The moral judgments that individuals make are not something that can be taught but is something that they need to cultivate. An individual’s ethics can continue to develop and change as people grow and learn valuable lessons over their lives. The beliefs that I have, the responsibilities that I feel, and how I go about addressing situations are all rooted back to my individual moral ethics.

My parents are two of the most important people in my life. A lot of the moral ethics that I have now are because of them. They have instilled values in me that shape every action I do. Photo taken by Brooke Murphy (my sister)       

       I believe that humans tend to take things for granted and we tend to not understand how truly valuable people, moments or objects are. I think that nature is one of those things humans undervalue. 

Quickly take a second and reflect on how vital nature is for your survival.

 Humans require nature for food, places to exercise, to find inspiration, and improve their mental health. That is why I believe nature interpretation is so vital. It helps enhance one’s appreciation for the natural world. Personally, the pandemic took a toll upon my mental health. One of the ways that I have been able to recover is through interpreting nature. Nature brings me this sense of calm, making all the anxieties, which tend to overtake my life some days, disappear. The significance nature plays in my mental health recovery is why I believe that nature is so vital as the benefits it has tend to go unnoticed by most.

I started really understanding how important walking through nature was for my mental health in 2017 when I started to develop severe anxiety. This photo is around the time my anxiety was becoming extremely bad and I was going on frequent walks just to try to feel calm and I found nature was able to help me find this calm.

         Given how positively impactful nature has been on my life, I feel responsible to serve as an interpreter for nature. I do not necessarily want to be a formal nature interpreter, but I would still like to be a nature interpreter through my day-to-day actions. The natural world has helped me immeasurably and improved my mental health. That is why I feel responsible for helping to improve nature’s physical health by discussing endangered species, climate change, and other pressing environmental issues. When I graduate, I plan to pursue a career in teaching and use the concepts that I learned in this course in my career. I learned that effective communication is essential! To educate an audience about nature, I need to be able to effectively communicate to an audience in both an engaging and inclusive manner in order to appeal to their moral ethic to act as stewards of the earth! 

Freeman Tilden says…..

 “we must not tell one what they can do, but what they should do and not what they must be, but what they can be”. 

I believe that in order to do this I will need to tailor to my audience how I present a topic. In the course and textbook, the notion is discussed that how people interpret and connect with a presentation will be influenced by presentation style. Understanding and customizing each presentation to address each audience’s different learning styles is critical and my responsibility.

           I feel responsible for being an effective nature interpreter, not just for nature, but also for the individuals that I am presenting to. I believe and feel everyone has a right to be included and that no one should be made to feel as if they are not welcome - speaking from experience. As a nature interpreter, it is my responsibility to ensure that everyone can engage comfortably with an issue or concept that I am discussing. As a person who suffers from social anxiety, I can relate to the difficulty of group engagement. I know that as soon as my anxiety begins, I start to zone out and cannot remember anything. To ensure that this does not happen to others, I would give consideration to making people feel physically, mentally and socially safe. Doing this will help to ensure that everyone is given the same opportunity despite what they have and lack in their “invisible knapsack”.

I remember I was super anxious this day and was very quite during this tour/experience. The tour guide picked up on it and in front of the whole group made me come and kiss a stingray for 7 years of good luck. This gesture made me feel so included and special that I stopped feeling as anxious and began engaging more. Highlighting how important it is to make sure everyone feels included and has the same opportunity to learn. 

          I find that humour is one of the best ways to present a concept as it makes people more engaged and relaxed. Adding humour to my presentation, while effectively articulating my point, makes an experience more engaging and memorable while creating a sense of joy and calm. I use humour often in my everyday life. Humour helps to lighten the mood and make experiences more enjoyable, I also find it helps reduce my anxiety, which is an added bonus.

          This course taught me that there are many ways to be a nature interpreter, present a topic or write a blog. The diverse means of completing different tasks allows us to add our own values and beliefs to everything. Therefore, when someone wants to use different approaches, teaching styles, and so on, that is 100% okay! The ways that individuals choose to work in the future will be effective regardless of the style, as long as they stay true to their morals, beliefs and values.

As long as you stay true to you the impacts you can have and the lessons you can teach will be unmeasurable! 

References 

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

Great post! I truly appreciated learning about how this course allowed you to grow in your journey of nature interpretation. I also cannot believe that this chapter is ending, however, I know that we will take this unique learning of our natural world with us.

In your post, you specifically stated that you need to effectively communicate to an audience in an engaging manner. You state that it is imperative to captivate an audience while sharing our unique interpretations. My question to you is, in what ways do you plan to do this? Are there particular strategies that you have learned from this course that will help you engage others as you share in your interpretation of the world around you?

For me in particular, I often use the art of storytelling to captivate learners and spark creative discussion. I used this in our podcast assignment and fully intend to employ this skill beyond this course. For me, this strategy is effective because, “linguistic storytelling uses allegory and metaphor to broaden the scope and deepen the message of a theme. Storytelling can powerfully convey information about cultural and natural history” (Beck et al., 2018). As Beck reveals, this narrative-based approach allows interpreters to relate their speech to engaging aspects of both history and culture. Additionally, storytelling appeals to a variety of multiple intelligences including linguistic and interpersonal. As you ponder this question I have posed, I encourage you to reflect on what multiple intelligences you are servicing in your approach.

In all, I thoroughly enjoyed your post and hope you continue to think deeper about how you plan to approach your journey of nature interpretation.

All the best,

I think how I will choose to engage an audience will vary depending on the age group! As the textbook discusses different age groups have different learning and engagement styles. This can be clearly seen in how we have to modify our podcasts to now address an adult age group instead of children. When discussing with children I would try to teach them information by applying what I am discussing to something they can relate to. For example, in the podcast we did for children, my group and I explained our topic by discussing things that some between the ages of 8-12 could connect to like playing in the park! As Beck et al. (2018) say children have a hard time imaging/learning a topic if they are unable to connect or relate it to something they have experienced. However, adults are able to understand concepts easier, and Beck et al. (2018) state that adults are able to “engage in mental manipulation” which would allow me to be able to inform an adult audience on more complex topics. I also understand not everyone learns the same as one can be a visual, auditory, or taticle learner so I want to try to find ways to integrated all learning styles when trying to interpret to an audience. This will allow for everyone to have an equal opportunity to learn and understand what I am discussing! I like your idea of storytelling I think that is an extremely effective way to engage an audience, I find I remember a lot of the lessons I learned through hearing about one personal experience!

Have a great rest of the semester!

Abigail! 

References

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

           Writing this final post has actually made me quite sad. I enjoyed drafting these posts as they provided me with an opportunity to express my views and share my thoughts and opinions with my classmates. The response process with everyone also provided a much-needed social interaction that was lost due to the pandemic. Yet I will not dwell upon what is coming to an end. Instead, I will reflect upon what I have learned about my development as a nature interpreter. In particular, how is my personal ethic evolving, what beliefs are influencing me, what do I view as my responsibilities, and what approaches are most suitable for me as a nature interpreter? The highly divergent views expressed by my classmates in their blogs has illustrated how important individual life experiences and circumstances are in forming their opinions, thoughts and views. Sharing our individual experiences has helped us collectively expand our horizons. So how has this influenced me?

          Everyone has an ethic that influences the way in which they approach a task or respond to an issue. Ethics are referred to by the Government of Canada (2015) as “a way of living” that people use to justify their actions based upon what they deem right and wrong and just and unjust. The moral judgments that individuals make are not something that can be taught but is something that they need to cultivate. An individual’s ethics can continue to develop and change as people grow and learn valuable lessons over their lives. The beliefs that I have, the responsibilities that I feel, and how I go about addressing situations are all rooted back to my individual moral ethics.

My parents are two of the most important people in my life. A lot of the moral ethics that I have now are because of them. They have instilled values in me that shape every action I do. Photo taken by Brooke Murphy (my sister)       

       I believe that humans tend to take things for granted and we tend to not understand how truly valuable people, moments or objects are. I think that nature is one of those things humans undervalue. 

Quickly take a second and reflect on how vital nature is for your survival.

 Humans require nature for food, places to exercise, to find inspiration, and improve their mental health. That is why I believe nature interpretation is so vital. It helps enhance one’s appreciation for the natural world. Personally, the pandemic took a toll upon my mental health. One of the ways that I have been able to recover is through interpreting nature. Nature brings me this sense of calm, making all the anxieties, which tend to overtake my life some days, disappear. The significance nature plays in my mental health recovery is why I believe that nature is so vital as the benefits it has tend to go unnoticed by most.

I started really understanding how important walking through nature was for my mental health in 2017 when I started to develop severe anxiety. This photo is around the time my anxiety was becoming extremely bad and I was going on frequent walks just to try to feel calm and I found nature was able to help me find this calm.

         Given how positively impactful nature has been on my life, I feel responsible to serve as an interpreter for nature. I do not necessarily want to be a formal nature interpreter, but I would still like to be a nature interpreter through my day-to-day actions. The natural world has helped me immeasurably and improved my mental health. That is why I feel responsible for helping to improve nature’s physical health by discussing endangered species, climate change, and other pressing environmental issues. When I graduate, I plan to pursue a career in teaching and use the concepts that I learned in this course in my career. I learned that effective communication is essential! To educate an audience about nature, I need to be able to effectively communicate to an audience in both an engaging and inclusive manner in order to appeal to their moral ethic to act as stewards of the earth! 

Freeman Tilden says…..

 “we must not tell one what they can do, but what they should do and not what they must be, but what they can be”. 

I believe that in order to do this I will need to tailor to my audience how I present a topic. In the course and textbook, the notion is discussed that how people interpret and connect with a presentation will be influenced by presentation style. Understanding and customizing each presentation to address each audience’s different learning styles is critical and my responsibility.

           I feel responsible for being an effective nature interpreter, not just for nature, but also for the individuals that I am presenting to. I believe and feel everyone has a right to be included and that no one should be made to feel as if they are not welcome - speaking from experience. As a nature interpreter, it is my responsibility to ensure that everyone can engage comfortably with an issue or concept that I am discussing. As a person who suffers from social anxiety, I can relate to the difficulty of group engagement. I know that as soon as my anxiety begins, I start to zone out and cannot remember anything. To ensure that this does not happen to others, I would give consideration to making people feel physically, mentally and socially safe. Doing this will help to ensure that everyone is given the same opportunity despite what they have and lack in their “invisible knapsack”.

I remember I was super anxious this day and was very quite during this tour/experience. The tour guide picked up on it and in front of the whole group made me come and kiss a stingray for 7 years of good luck. This gesture made me feel so included and special that I stopped feeling as anxious and began engaging more. Highlighting how important it is to make sure everyone feels included and has the same opportunity to learn. 

          I find that humour is one of the best ways to present a concept as it makes people more engaged and relaxed. Adding humour to my presentation, while effectively articulating my point, makes an experience more engaging and memorable while creating a sense of joy and calm. I use humour often in my everyday life. Humour helps to lighten the mood and make experiences more enjoyable, I also find it helps reduce my anxiety, which is an added bonus.

          This course taught me that there are many ways to be a nature interpreter, present a topic or write a blog. The diverse means of completing different tasks allows us to add our own values and beliefs to everything. Therefore, when someone wants to use different approaches, teaching styles, and so on, that is 100% okay! The ways that individuals choose to work in the future will be effective regardless of the style, as long as they stay true to their morals, beliefs and values.

As long as you stay true to you the impacts you can have and the lessons you can teach will be unmeasurable! 

References 

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

     Oh, reading your post just made me even sadder that this class is coming to an end. I have had so much fun blogging and sharing with you guys, but as you said, we will not dwell on the past but rather congratulate ourselves on how far we have come and what we have learned along the way.

     It was nice to learn about your personal ethics regarding nature interpretation and who has helped shape you in your life. My parents have also had a huge positive influence on my life, especially concerning moral ethics. They are both such hard-working souls, inspiring souls. 

(PERSONAL PHOTO: My parents & I enjoying a village trail walk at Blue Mountain. DATED: November 14th, 2020). 

     I see you also made a point to mention social anxiety and how you understand the difficulty of dealing with that on some days. I just wanted to reach out and say that I personally relate. Therefore I am super impressed that is something you chose to involve within your final blog. As you have mentioned, you are absolutely right; we do not all feel things the same, but it is essential to make everyone involved, especially in more extensive group settings. That is what nature interpretation is all about—the beauty of learning and sharing your experiences with others. I know I have done a little bit of reading about social anxiety in the past just because I wanted to learn more about controlling emotions when feeling anxious in social settings. 

     If you’re ever interested, I recently came across this page at the beginning of the semester. It discusses seven different tips and tricks to control social anxiety :) (Casarella, 2020). 

LINK → https://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/tips-for-living-with-social-anxiety (Casarella, 2020) 

Overall, once again, great post, Abigail - great chatting with you! Good luck with the rest of your semester.

Sanchi! 

Reference:

I am happy to read your parents influenced your ethics as well! I think watching how my parents treat others and how they react so positively to negative situations has inspired me to act the same. This is why I am so passionate about trying to help the plant, despite climate change, habitat loss, and other factors affecting our planet being such a negative topic I chose to react positively by trying to raise awareness, cleaning up garbage, etc! I believe reacting negatively to a bad situation does more harm than good and reacting positively to every situation helps one find a solution much faster! While I’m talking about saving the planet here is a link to a couple things you could do in your day to day life to help the planet: https://www.wwf.org.uk/thingsyoucando

I also would like to thank you for providing me with this article about panic attacks, it was very helpful and I will definitely be applying these when social engagements become normal again as I worry about having so much face-to-face social interaction post-COVID after adapting to being more isolated will increase my social anxiety!

All the best!

           Writing this final post has actually made me quite sad. I enjoyed drafting these posts as they provided me with an opportunity to express my views and share my thoughts and opinions with my classmates. The response process with everyone also provided a much-needed social interaction that was lost due to the pandemic. Yet I will not dwell upon what is coming to an end. Instead, I will reflect upon what I have learned about my development as a nature interpreter. In particular, how is my personal ethic evolving, what beliefs are influencing me, what do I view as my responsibilities, and what approaches are most suitable for me as a nature interpreter? The highly divergent views expressed by my classmates in their blogs has illustrated how important individual life experiences and circumstances are in forming their opinions, thoughts and views. Sharing our individual experiences has helped us collectively expand our horizons. So how has this influenced me?

          Everyone has an ethic that influences the way in which they approach a task or respond to an issue. Ethics are referred to by the Government of Canada (2015) as “a way of living” that people use to justify their actions based upon what they deem right and wrong and just and unjust. The moral judgments that individuals make are not something that can be taught but is something that they need to cultivate. An individual’s ethics can continue to develop and change as people grow and learn valuable lessons over their lives. The beliefs that I have, the responsibilities that I feel, and how I go about addressing situations are all rooted back to my individual moral ethics.

My parents are two of the most important people in my life. A lot of the moral ethics that I have now are because of them. They have instilled values in me that shape every action I do. Photo taken by Brooke Murphy (my sister)       

       I believe that humans tend to take things for granted and we tend to not understand how truly valuable people, moments or objects are. I think that nature is one of those things humans undervalue. 

Quickly take a second and reflect on how vital nature is for your survival.

 Humans require nature for food, places to exercise, to find inspiration, and improve their mental health. That is why I believe nature interpretation is so vital. It helps enhance one’s appreciation for the natural world. Personally, the pandemic took a toll upon my mental health. One of the ways that I have been able to recover is through interpreting nature. Nature brings me this sense of calm, making all the anxieties, which tend to overtake my life some days, disappear. The significance nature plays in my mental health recovery is why I believe that nature is so vital as the benefits it has tend to go unnoticed by most.

I started really understanding how important walking through nature was for my mental health in 2017 when I started to develop severe anxiety. This photo is around the time my anxiety was becoming extremely bad and I was going on frequent walks just to try to feel calm and I found nature was able to help me find this calm.

         Given how positively impactful nature has been on my life, I feel responsible to serve as an interpreter for nature. I do not necessarily want to be a formal nature interpreter, but I would still like to be a nature interpreter through my day-to-day actions. The natural world has helped me immeasurably and improved my mental health. That is why I feel responsible for helping to improve nature’s physical health by discussing endangered species, climate change, and other pressing environmental issues. When I graduate, I plan to pursue a career in teaching and use the concepts that I learned in this course in my career. I learned that effective communication is essential! To educate an audience about nature, I need to be able to effectively communicate to an audience in both an engaging and inclusive manner in order to appeal to their moral ethic to act as stewards of the earth! 

Freeman Tilden says…..

 “we must not tell one what they can do, but what they should do and not what they must be, but what they can be”. 

I believe that in order to do this I will need to tailor to my audience how I present a topic. In the course and textbook, the notion is discussed that how people interpret and connect with a presentation will be influenced by presentation style. Understanding and customizing each presentation to address each audience’s different learning styles is critical and my responsibility.

           I feel responsible for being an effective nature interpreter, not just for nature, but also for the individuals that I am presenting to. I believe and feel everyone has a right to be included and that no one should be made to feel as if they are not welcome - speaking from experience. As a nature interpreter, it is my responsibility to ensure that everyone can engage comfortably with an issue or concept that I am discussing. As a person who suffers from social anxiety, I can relate to the difficulty of group engagement. I know that as soon as my anxiety begins, I start to zone out and cannot remember anything. To ensure that this does not happen to others, I would give consideration to making people feel physically, mentally and socially safe. Doing this will help to ensure that everyone is given the same opportunity despite what they have and lack in their “invisible knapsack”.

I remember I was super anxious this day and was very quite during this tour/experience. The tour guide picked up on it and in front of the whole group made me come and kiss a stingray for 7 years of good luck. This gesture made me feel so included and special that I stopped feeling as anxious and began engaging more. Highlighting how important it is to make sure everyone feels included and has the same opportunity to learn. 

          I find that humour is one of the best ways to present a concept as it makes people more engaged and relaxed. Adding humour to my presentation, while effectively articulating my point, makes an experience more engaging and memorable while creating a sense of joy and calm. I use humour often in my everyday life. Humour helps to lighten the mood and make experiences more enjoyable, I also find it helps reduce my anxiety, which is an added bonus.

          This course taught me that there are many ways to be a nature interpreter, present a topic or write a blog. The diverse means of completing different tasks allows us to add our own values and beliefs to everything. Therefore, when someone wants to use different approaches, teaching styles, and so on, that is 100% okay! The ways that individuals choose to work in the future will be effective regardless of the style, as long as they stay true to their morals, beliefs and values.

As long as you stay true to you the impacts you can have and the lessons you can teach will be unmeasurable! 

References 

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

I too feel upset that the blog posts are ending. I learned about so many of our classmates, and they all gave us so many unique perspectives on how they interpret nature. Every single person has their own reasons as to why they are taking this course and many of them have such amazing and unique experiences with nature. I think doing something like this in an indoor class setting would be tough so the format of this course was a breath of fresh air and I ended up learning so much. I like your point about how there are many ways to be a nature interpreter. During the first couple weeks of the course, I thought a nature interpreter should have amazing presentation and public speaking skills. While I am sure having these skills can aid someone in being a nature interpreter, it is not the only way. As a photographer, I have the opportunity to use my art in order to be a nature interpreter. Chapter 5 of the textbook discusses how tangible evidence can push intangible meanings and this directly relates to using something like photography as a tool for nature interpretation. being a nature interpreter can be so versatile and the possibilities on what type of nature interpreter someone wants to be is limitless. As interpreters, it is very important to be warm, welcoming, and kind towards people who want to learn more about the natural world around us.

Much like yourself, nature is also very important for my mental health. During covid where I am sure we are looking at a screen for 12 hours a day, outdoor time is essential to unwind. I find myself appreciating nature now more than ever because of this.

Photo I took on a hike 

Thank you so much for showing me the photos you have taken, however, I am a little sad seeing them they make me miss summer! Despite you not wanting to become a professional nature interpreter I encourage you to keep showing others the photographs you take while on hikes! When looking at these photos I felt a sense of calm and peace, making me view nature as a place when I can go to escape all the craziness from the world around us! I highly recommend you travel to British Columbia with your camera as I bet you will be able to take some amazing photos. Here are a view of the photos I took while down there and considering you are a photographer I’m sure you will capture even better shots of nature!

           Writing this final post has actually made me quite sad. I enjoyed drafting these posts as they provided me with an opportunity to express my views and share my thoughts and opinions with my classmates. The response process with everyone also provided a much-needed social interaction that was lost due to the pandemic. Yet I will not dwell upon what is coming to an end. Instead, I will reflect upon what I have learned about my development as a nature interpreter. In particular, how is my personal ethic evolving, what beliefs are influencing me, what do I view as my responsibilities, and what approaches are most suitable for me as a nature interpreter? The highly divergent views expressed by my classmates in their blogs has illustrated how important individual life experiences and circumstances are in forming their opinions, thoughts and views. Sharing our individual experiences has helped us collectively expand our horizons. So how has this influenced me?

          Everyone has an ethic that influences the way in which they approach a task or respond to an issue. Ethics are referred to by the Government of Canada (2015) as “a way of living” that people use to justify their actions based upon what they deem right and wrong and just and unjust. The moral judgments that individuals make are not something that can be taught but is something that they need to cultivate. An individual’s ethics can continue to develop and change as people grow and learn valuable lessons over their lives. The beliefs that I have, the responsibilities that I feel, and how I go about addressing situations are all rooted back to my individual moral ethics.

My parents are two of the most important people in my life. A lot of the moral ethics that I have now are because of them. They have instilled values in me that shape every action I do. Photo taken by Brooke Murphy (my sister)       

       I believe that humans tend to take things for granted and we tend to not understand how truly valuable people, moments or objects are. I think that nature is one of those things humans undervalue. 

Quickly take a second and reflect on how vital nature is for your survival.

 Humans require nature for food, places to exercise, to find inspiration, and improve their mental health. That is why I believe nature interpretation is so vital. It helps enhance one’s appreciation for the natural world. Personally, the pandemic took a toll upon my mental health. One of the ways that I have been able to recover is through interpreting nature. Nature brings me this sense of calm, making all the anxieties, which tend to overtake my life some days, disappear. The significance nature plays in my mental health recovery is why I believe that nature is so vital as the benefits it has tend to go unnoticed by most.

I started really understanding how important walking through nature was for my mental health in 2017 when I started to develop severe anxiety. This photo is around the time my anxiety was becoming extremely bad and I was going on frequent walks just to try to feel calm and I found nature was able to help me find this calm.

         Given how positively impactful nature has been on my life, I feel responsible to serve as an interpreter for nature. I do not necessarily want to be a formal nature interpreter, but I would still like to be a nature interpreter through my day-to-day actions. The natural world has helped me immeasurably and improved my mental health. That is why I feel responsible for helping to improve nature’s physical health by discussing endangered species, climate change, and other pressing environmental issues. When I graduate, I plan to pursue a career in teaching and use the concepts that I learned in this course in my career. I learned that effective communication is essential! To educate an audience about nature, I need to be able to effectively communicate to an audience in both an engaging and inclusive manner in order to appeal to their moral ethic to act as stewards of the earth! 

Freeman Tilden says…..

 “we must not tell one what they can do, but what they should do and not what they must be, but what they can be”. 

I believe that in order to do this I will need to tailor to my audience how I present a topic. In the course and textbook, the notion is discussed that how people interpret and connect with a presentation will be influenced by presentation style. Understanding and customizing each presentation to address each audience’s different learning styles is critical and my responsibility.

           I feel responsible for being an effective nature interpreter, not just for nature, but also for the individuals that I am presenting to. I believe and feel everyone has a right to be included and that no one should be made to feel as if they are not welcome - speaking from experience. As a nature interpreter, it is my responsibility to ensure that everyone can engage comfortably with an issue or concept that I am discussing. As a person who suffers from social anxiety, I can relate to the difficulty of group engagement. I know that as soon as my anxiety begins, I start to zone out and cannot remember anything. To ensure that this does not happen to others, I would give consideration to making people feel physically, mentally and socially safe. Doing this will help to ensure that everyone is given the same opportunity despite what they have and lack in their “invisible knapsack”.

I remember I was super anxious this day and was very quite during this tour/experience. The tour guide picked up on it and in front of the whole group made me come and kiss a stingray for 7 years of good luck. This gesture made me feel so included and special that I stopped feeling as anxious and began engaging more. Highlighting how important it is to make sure everyone feels included and has the same opportunity to learn. 

          I find that humour is one of the best ways to present a concept as it makes people more engaged and relaxed. Adding humour to my presentation, while effectively articulating my point, makes an experience more engaging and memorable while creating a sense of joy and calm. I use humour often in my everyday life. Humour helps to lighten the mood and make experiences more enjoyable, I also find it helps reduce my anxiety, which is an added bonus.

          This course taught me that there are many ways to be a nature interpreter, present a topic or write a blog. The diverse means of completing different tasks allows us to add our own values and beliefs to everything. Therefore, when someone wants to use different approaches, teaching styles, and so on, that is 100% okay! The ways that individuals choose to work in the future will be effective regardless of the style, as long as they stay true to their morals, beliefs and values.

As long as you stay true to you the impacts you can have and the lessons you can teach will be unmeasurable! 

References 

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

I understand what you mean when you mentioned how sad it is to be writing your last blog. I am also feeling a bittersweet moment, happy to be ending the semester but also sad not going to be communicating with all my classmates anymore. I liked your use of saying that moral judgements are not taught but cultivated. You mentioned using humour for an approach for your audience and I definitely agree in that sense, I think as an audience hearing a joke or a funny fact will allow me to better remember it and understand it. Ideally, interpreters reflect enthusiasm, humility, a gentle sense of humour, a pleasant demeanour and adaptability (Beck 2018). I find this approach works best for everyone, not to mention children as well!     

Humans do require nature for many aspects such as food, medicine, gateway to relax and exercise. But it is also so important for animal species because it provides them a habitat and food, to be able to live with their species. For example, honey bees need natural resources such as flowers to gather pollen and make honey. Us as humans we consume that honey and other products that honey bees make such as beeswax. In the end nature indirectly helps us by helping the animals that live in that ecosystem. Do you think there are even more benefits that nature provides? Benefits accrue on an individual level but also lend toward a healthier society and eventually healthier ecosystem to include all species (Beck 2018). 

Great post overall!

Dana            

References:

You asked a really good question and my answer is yes. As you and I both said nature provides us with food, medicine, a place to relax and even exercise. However, I am in another course right now called Conversation Biology (BIOL*3130) and I have learned that our planet provides us with so many other services I was failing to recognize. I have learned that nature does so much more than what I listed above. For example, we tend to not think of nature as a place that can store carbon and help reduce the amount of atmospheric CO2, however, did you know actually there is more carbon in the soil than the atmosphere (A. MacDougall notes, BIOL*3130 Conservation Biology, March 28, 2021)! In order though to have all these ecosystem services and functions we need to help restore a lot of the biodiversity that has been lost by the result of NUMEROUS human impacts. If we do not help restore the plant a lot of the benefits that nature supplies us with will be lost. I strongly believe that if our plant isn’t healthy we can’t be truly healthy either. That is why I am so happy I enrolled in ENVS*3000 as it provided me with the information I need on how I can supply individuals from all age groups with the information necessary to help save the planet! All it takes is one person to generate a chain reaction!

All the best, 

Abigail!

One of my favourite ways to exercise outdoors is hiking!

References

I am always happy to discuss and be open about my anxiety as I understand just how paralyzing it can be at times. I completely relate to you, as I find when I go on walks I can’t even remember what I was worried about, I am so grateful nature is able to do that. I have found that not many other things have been able to eliminate my anxiety as fast! It makes me so happy to hear all the lessons this course has been able to provide you! I have found that most courses I have taken provide me with information about just the content (obviously), which is great but I think it was amazing that this course went beyond teaching us just about nature and how to interpret to an audience and actually taught us internal things as well like how to reduce stress and anxiety. Despite the textbook discussing how interpretation is shifting to technology a little (which has been nice due to COVID), I do not think it could ever replace or amount to the feeling I get while outside exploring nature, and from your reply to my blog, I think you can agree! 

This is a photo I took while going on a hike with my cousin this summer. Photo taken by me. 

I do not know if you live in the Oakville, Burlington, or Hamilton area but if you do I recommend going to Bronte Creek in Oakville! I went in the summer and had the best time ever, I think that day was one of my favourite days ever. I shut my phone off and just was just in the moment exploring nature! I think you would find it helpful especially with your anxiety, I did!

All the best

Abigail :)

References 

           Writing this final post has actually made me quite sad. I enjoyed drafting these posts as they provided me with an opportunity to express my views and share my thoughts and opinions with my classmates. The response process with everyone also provided a much-needed social interaction that was lost due to the pandemic. Yet I will not dwell upon what is coming to an end. Instead, I will reflect upon what I have learned about my development as a nature interpreter. In particular, how is my personal ethic evolving, what beliefs are influencing me, what do I view as my responsibilities, and what approaches are most suitable for me as a nature interpreter? The highly divergent views expressed by my classmates in their blogs has illustrated how important individual life experiences and circumstances are in forming their opinions, thoughts and views. Sharing our individual experiences has helped us collectively expand our horizons. So how has this influenced me?

          Everyone has an ethic that influences the way in which they approach a task or respond to an issue. Ethics are referred to by the Government of Canada (2015) as “a way of living” that people use to justify their actions based upon what they deem right and wrong and just and unjust. The moral judgments that individuals make are not something that can be taught but is something that they need to cultivate. An individual’s ethics can continue to develop and change as people grow and learn valuable lessons over their lives. The beliefs that I have, the responsibilities that I feel, and how I go about addressing situations are all rooted back to my individual moral ethics.

My parents are two of the most important people in my life. A lot of the moral ethics that I have now are because of them. They have instilled values in me that shape every action I do. Photo taken by Brooke Murphy (my sister)       

       I believe that humans tend to take things for granted and we tend to not understand how truly valuable people, moments or objects are. I think that nature is one of those things humans undervalue. 

Quickly take a second and reflect on how vital nature is for your survival.

 Humans require nature for food, places to exercise, to find inspiration, and improve their mental health. That is why I believe nature interpretation is so vital. It helps enhance one’s appreciation for the natural world. Personally, the pandemic took a toll upon my mental health. One of the ways that I have been able to recover is through interpreting nature. Nature brings me this sense of calm, making all the anxieties, which tend to overtake my life some days, disappear. The significance nature plays in my mental health recovery is why I believe that nature is so vital as the benefits it has tend to go unnoticed by most.

I started really understanding how important walking through nature was for my mental health in 2017 when I started to develop severe anxiety. This photo is around the time my anxiety was becoming extremely bad and I was going on frequent walks just to try to feel calm and I found nature was able to help me find this calm.

         Given how positively impactful nature has been on my life, I feel responsible to serve as an interpreter for nature. I do not necessarily want to be a formal nature interpreter, but I would still like to be a nature interpreter through my day-to-day actions. The natural world has helped me immeasurably and improved my mental health. That is why I feel responsible for helping to improve nature’s physical health by discussing endangered species, climate change, and other pressing environmental issues. When I graduate, I plan to pursue a career in teaching and use the concepts that I learned in this course in my career. I learned that effective communication is essential! To educate an audience about nature, I need to be able to effectively communicate to an audience in both an engaging and inclusive manner in order to appeal to their moral ethic to act as stewards of the earth! 

Freeman Tilden says…..

 “we must not tell one what they can do, but what they should do and not what they must be, but what they can be”. 

I believe that in order to do this I will need to tailor to my audience how I present a topic. In the course and textbook, the notion is discussed that how people interpret and connect with a presentation will be influenced by presentation style. Understanding and customizing each presentation to address each audience’s different learning styles is critical and my responsibility.

           I feel responsible for being an effective nature interpreter, not just for nature, but also for the individuals that I am presenting to. I believe and feel everyone has a right to be included and that no one should be made to feel as if they are not welcome - speaking from experience. As a nature interpreter, it is my responsibility to ensure that everyone can engage comfortably with an issue or concept that I am discussing. As a person who suffers from social anxiety, I can relate to the difficulty of group engagement. I know that as soon as my anxiety begins, I start to zone out and cannot remember anything. To ensure that this does not happen to others, I would give consideration to making people feel physically, mentally and socially safe. Doing this will help to ensure that everyone is given the same opportunity despite what they have and lack in their “invisible knapsack”.

I remember I was super anxious this day and was very quite during this tour/experience. The tour guide picked up on it and in front of the whole group made me come and kiss a stingray for 7 years of good luck. This gesture made me feel so included and special that I stopped feeling as anxious and began engaging more. Highlighting how important it is to make sure everyone feels included and has the same opportunity to learn. 

          I find that humour is one of the best ways to present a concept as it makes people more engaged and relaxed. Adding humour to my presentation, while effectively articulating my point, makes an experience more engaging and memorable while creating a sense of joy and calm. I use humour often in my everyday life. Humour helps to lighten the mood and make experiences more enjoyable, I also find it helps reduce my anxiety, which is an added bonus.

          This course taught me that there are many ways to be a nature interpreter, present a topic or write a blog. The diverse means of completing different tasks allows us to add our own values and beliefs to everything. Therefore, when someone wants to use different approaches, teaching styles, and so on, that is 100% okay! The ways that individuals choose to work in the future will be effective regardless of the style, as long as they stay true to their morals, beliefs and values.

As long as you stay true to you the impacts you can have and the lessons you can teach will be unmeasurable! 

References 

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

I understand what you mean when you mentioned how sad it is to be writing your last blog. I am also feeling a bittersweet moment, happy to be ending the semester but also sad not going to be communicating with all my classmates anymore. I liked your use of saying that moral judgements are not taught but cultivated. You mentioned using humour for an approach for your audience and I definitely agree in that sense, I think as an audience hearing a joke or a funny fact will allow me to better remember it and understand it. Ideally, interpreters reflect enthusiasm, humility, a gentle sense of humour, a pleasant demeanour and adaptability (Beck 2018). I find this approach works best for everyone, not to mention children as well!     

Humans do require nature for many aspects such as food, medicine, gateway to relax and exercise. But it is also so important for animal species because it provides them a habitat and food, to be able to live with their species. For example, honey bees need natural resources such as flowers to gather pollen and make honey. Us as humans we consume that honey and other products that honey bees make such as beeswax. In the end nature indirectly helps us by helping the animals that live in that ecosystem. Do you think there are even more benefits that nature provides? Benefits accrue on an individual level but also lend toward a healthier society and eventually healthier ecosystem to include all species (Beck 2018). 

Great post overall!

Dana            

References:

You asked a really good question and my answer is yes. As you and I both said nature provides us with food, medicine, a place to relax and even exercise. However, I am in another course right now called Conversation Biology (BIOL*3130) and I have learned that our planet provides us with so many other services I was failing to recognize. I have learned that nature does so much more than what I listed above. For example, we tend to not think of nature as a place that can store carbon and help reduce the amount of atmospheric CO2, however, did you know actually there is more carbon in the soil than the atmosphere (A. MacDougall notes, BIOL*3130 Conservation Biology, March 28, 2021)! In order though to have all these ecosystem services and functions we need to help restore a lot of the biodiversity that has been lost by the result of NUMEROUS human impacts. If we do not help restore the plant a lot of the benefits that nature supplies us with will be lost. I strongly believe that if our plant isn’t healthy we can’t be truly healthy either. That is why I am so happy I enrolled in ENVS*3000 as it provided me with the information I need on how I can supply individuals from all age groups with the information necessary to help save the planet! All it takes is one person to generate a chain reaction!

All the best, 

Abigail!

One of my favourite ways to exercise outdoors is hiking!

References

           Writing this final post has actually made me quite sad. I enjoyed drafting these posts as they provided me with an opportunity to express my views and share my thoughts and opinions with my classmates. The response process with everyone also provided a much-needed social interaction that was lost due to the pandemic. Yet I will not dwell upon what is coming to an end. Instead, I will reflect upon what I have learned about my development as a nature interpreter. In particular, how is my personal ethic evolving, what beliefs are influencing me, what do I view as my responsibilities, and what approaches are most suitable for me as a nature interpreter? The highly divergent views expressed by my classmates in their blogs has illustrated how important individual life experiences and circumstances are in forming their opinions, thoughts and views. Sharing our individual experiences has helped us collectively expand our horizons. So how has this influenced me?

          Everyone has an ethic that influences the way in which they approach a task or respond to an issue. Ethics are referred to by the Government of Canada (2015) as “a way of living” that people use to justify their actions based upon what they deem right and wrong and just and unjust. The moral judgments that individuals make are not something that can be taught but is something that they need to cultivate. An individual’s ethics can continue to develop and change as people grow and learn valuable lessons over their lives. The beliefs that I have, the responsibilities that I feel, and how I go about addressing situations are all rooted back to my individual moral ethics.

My parents are two of the most important people in my life. A lot of the moral ethics that I have now are because of them. They have instilled values in me that shape every action I do. Photo taken by Brooke Murphy (my sister)       

       I believe that humans tend to take things for granted and we tend to not understand how truly valuable people, moments or objects are. I think that nature is one of those things humans undervalue. 

Quickly take a second and reflect on how vital nature is for your survival.

 Humans require nature for food, places to exercise, to find inspiration, and improve their mental health. That is why I believe nature interpretation is so vital. It helps enhance one’s appreciation for the natural world. Personally, the pandemic took a toll upon my mental health. One of the ways that I have been able to recover is through interpreting nature. Nature brings me this sense of calm, making all the anxieties, which tend to overtake my life some days, disappear. The significance nature plays in my mental health recovery is why I believe that nature is so vital as the benefits it has tend to go unnoticed by most.

I started really understanding how important walking through nature was for my mental health in 2017 when I started to develop severe anxiety. This photo is around the time my anxiety was becoming extremely bad and I was going on frequent walks just to try to feel calm and I found nature was able to help me find this calm.

         Given how positively impactful nature has been on my life, I feel responsible to serve as an interpreter for nature. I do not necessarily want to be a formal nature interpreter, but I would still like to be a nature interpreter through my day-to-day actions. The natural world has helped me immeasurably and improved my mental health. That is why I feel responsible for helping to improve nature’s physical health by discussing endangered species, climate change, and other pressing environmental issues. When I graduate, I plan to pursue a career in teaching and use the concepts that I learned in this course in my career. I learned that effective communication is essential! To educate an audience about nature, I need to be able to effectively communicate to an audience in both an engaging and inclusive manner in order to appeal to their moral ethic to act as stewards of the earth! 

Freeman Tilden says…..

 “we must not tell one what they can do, but what they should do and not what they must be, but what they can be”. 

I believe that in order to do this I will need to tailor to my audience how I present a topic. In the course and textbook, the notion is discussed that how people interpret and connect with a presentation will be influenced by presentation style. Understanding and customizing each presentation to address each audience’s different learning styles is critical and my responsibility.

           I feel responsible for being an effective nature interpreter, not just for nature, but also for the individuals that I am presenting to. I believe and feel everyone has a right to be included and that no one should be made to feel as if they are not welcome - speaking from experience. As a nature interpreter, it is my responsibility to ensure that everyone can engage comfortably with an issue or concept that I am discussing. As a person who suffers from social anxiety, I can relate to the difficulty of group engagement. I know that as soon as my anxiety begins, I start to zone out and cannot remember anything. To ensure that this does not happen to others, I would give consideration to making people feel physically, mentally and socially safe. Doing this will help to ensure that everyone is given the same opportunity despite what they have and lack in their “invisible knapsack”.

I remember I was super anxious this day and was very quite during this tour/experience. The tour guide picked up on it and in front of the whole group made me come and kiss a stingray for 7 years of good luck. This gesture made me feel so included and special that I stopped feeling as anxious and began engaging more. Highlighting how important it is to make sure everyone feels included and has the same opportunity to learn. 

          I find that humour is one of the best ways to present a concept as it makes people more engaged and relaxed. Adding humour to my presentation, while effectively articulating my point, makes an experience more engaging and memorable while creating a sense of joy and calm. I use humour often in my everyday life. Humour helps to lighten the mood and make experiences more enjoyable, I also find it helps reduce my anxiety, which is an added bonus.

          This course taught me that there are many ways to be a nature interpreter, present a topic or write a blog. The diverse means of completing different tasks allows us to add our own values and beliefs to everything. Therefore, when someone wants to use different approaches, teaching styles, and so on, that is 100% okay! The ways that individuals choose to work in the future will be effective regardless of the style, as long as they stay true to their morals, beliefs and values.

As long as you stay true to you the impacts you can have and the lessons you can teach will be unmeasurable! 

References 

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

This semester has really flown by hasn’t it? Cliché as it sounds, it did only feel like yesterday I felt a swell of panic at the thought of having to write a series of blog posts. While I love nature, expressing that love in words has never been something I felt overly confident in doing. But here we are!

Great job on your final post, I think you described your relationship with Nature Interpretation thoroughly. I also wanted to thank you for sharing your experience with panic attacks. As someone who experiences anxiety, it is always refreshing to hear someone speak so openly about it. I am a big believer that discussing mental health is the best way to help eliminate the stigma behind it. I also feel like you are totally correct about inclusiveness. I feel like many people (myself included) miss out on the opportunities to experience nature because of things like social anxiety. I believe to be an effective interpreter, we are responsible for creating an environment where people can feel safe to learn, in whichever manner best suits their needs.

(Tumblr, 2018)

On a personal note, whenever I feel overwhelmed, I also sort of escape into nature to try and find a sense of calm. There’s a creek that’s about a 10 minute drive from my house, and I will sometimes head out there just to hear some of the sounds of nature (Gray et al, 2001).

Rodenburg (2019) states “It is the art of an educator to know what to say and what to refrain from saying,” and I think you echo this sentiment perfectly. I have always found the best teachers were those who weren’t about checking off certain boxes in the curriculum, but rather creating the kind of environment conducive to real learning. I remember a teacher in grade 8 wanted us to do a book report. But rather than simply talking about the book, she gave us the option to express how the book made us feel. Some students made songs; others acted out scenes. I think I ended up drawing something because that’s how I found I best communicated my ideas. I think that’s how I view the role of an interpreter. As someone whose there to guide and help, but not to box people in or force a certain structure upon them, as you said, “a nature interpreter through my day-to-day actions.”

This year has really shown that we need human connection more than we had previously thought. When normalcy returns (if there even is such a thing) I think the world is going to need interpreters more than ever. People who want to connect individuals to each other and to the world around them. I think if you bring your ethics and beliefs to whatever you end up doing, you’ll make an excellent interpreter.

Cheers,

Tim

Gray, P., Krause, B., Atema, J., Payne, R., Krumhansl, C., & Baptista, L. (2001). The music of nature and the nature of music. Retrieved March 27, 2021, from https://science.sciencemag.org/content/291/5501/52.full

Rodenburg, J. (2019, July 17). Why environmental educators shouldn’t give up hope. Retrieved March 27, 2021, from https://clearingmagazine.org/archives/14300

I am always happy to speak openly about mental health as it is not something that needs to be hidden, especially anxiety. Like you I have felt my anxiety held me back a lot and as a result, I missed out on quite a few neat opportunities. However, I feel strongly that by normalizing mental health and not making one feel ashamed we can help enhance one’s quality of life and allow them to feel more included in every opportunity.  

In addition, I absolutely admired what your grade 8 teacher did in regards to your book report. As we know through the course material and the textbook everyone learns differently and interprets information differently and how someone may want to express the information they learned can vary. That is why I love that your teacher allowed you to express the book not just through a report but by illustrating how it made you feel. Let’s be real all book reports sound the same as they do not provide one with much room to discuss how the book made them feel as everyone just recites the same thing like the plot, the characters etc. However, giving one the option to express how the book made them feel through a song, poem, report, and even drawing allows one to show their personal connection to the book, something I don’t think can be seen in a report! I want to be a teacher when I am older and I definitely think I want to do something like that with my future students.  

Thank you for all your kind words and good luck with the rest of the semester! 

Abigail!

           Writing this final post has actually made me quite sad. I enjoyed drafting these posts as they provided me with an opportunity to express my views and share my thoughts and opinions with my classmates. The response process with everyone also provided a much-needed social interaction that was lost due to the pandemic. Yet I will not dwell upon what is coming to an end. Instead, I will reflect upon what I have learned about my development as a nature interpreter. In particular, how is my personal ethic evolving, what beliefs are influencing me, what do I view as my responsibilities, and what approaches are most suitable for me as a nature interpreter? The highly divergent views expressed by my classmates in their blogs has illustrated how important individual life experiences and circumstances are in forming their opinions, thoughts and views. Sharing our individual experiences has helped us collectively expand our horizons. So how has this influenced me?

          Everyone has an ethic that influences the way in which they approach a task or respond to an issue. Ethics are referred to by the Government of Canada (2015) as “a way of living” that people use to justify their actions based upon what they deem right and wrong and just and unjust. The moral judgments that individuals make are not something that can be taught but is something that they need to cultivate. An individual’s ethics can continue to develop and change as people grow and learn valuable lessons over their lives. The beliefs that I have, the responsibilities that I feel, and how I go about addressing situations are all rooted back to my individual moral ethics.

My parents are two of the most important people in my life. A lot of the moral ethics that I have now are because of them. They have instilled values in me that shape every action I do. Photo taken by Brooke Murphy (my sister)       

       I believe that humans tend to take things for granted and we tend to not understand how truly valuable people, moments or objects are. I think that nature is one of those things humans undervalue. 

Quickly take a second and reflect on how vital nature is for your survival.

 Humans require nature for food, places to exercise, to find inspiration, and improve their mental health. That is why I believe nature interpretation is so vital. It helps enhance one’s appreciation for the natural world. Personally, the pandemic took a toll upon my mental health. One of the ways that I have been able to recover is through interpreting nature. Nature brings me this sense of calm, making all the anxieties, which tend to overtake my life some days, disappear. The significance nature plays in my mental health recovery is why I believe that nature is so vital as the benefits it has tend to go unnoticed by most.

I started really understanding how important walking through nature was for my mental health in 2017 when I started to develop severe anxiety. This photo is around the time my anxiety was becoming extremely bad and I was going on frequent walks just to try to feel calm and I found nature was able to help me find this calm.

         Given how positively impactful nature has been on my life, I feel responsible to serve as an interpreter for nature. I do not necessarily want to be a formal nature interpreter, but I would still like to be a nature interpreter through my day-to-day actions. The natural world has helped me immeasurably and improved my mental health. That is why I feel responsible for helping to improve nature’s physical health by discussing endangered species, climate change, and other pressing environmental issues. When I graduate, I plan to pursue a career in teaching and use the concepts that I learned in this course in my career. I learned that effective communication is essential! To educate an audience about nature, I need to be able to effectively communicate to an audience in both an engaging and inclusive manner in order to appeal to their moral ethic to act as stewards of the earth! 

Freeman Tilden says…..

 “we must not tell one what they can do, but what they should do and not what they must be, but what they can be”. 

I believe that in order to do this I will need to tailor to my audience how I present a topic. In the course and textbook, the notion is discussed that how people interpret and connect with a presentation will be influenced by presentation style. Understanding and customizing each presentation to address each audience’s different learning styles is critical and my responsibility.

           I feel responsible for being an effective nature interpreter, not just for nature, but also for the individuals that I am presenting to. I believe and feel everyone has a right to be included and that no one should be made to feel as if they are not welcome - speaking from experience. As a nature interpreter, it is my responsibility to ensure that everyone can engage comfortably with an issue or concept that I am discussing. As a person who suffers from social anxiety, I can relate to the difficulty of group engagement. I know that as soon as my anxiety begins, I start to zone out and cannot remember anything. To ensure that this does not happen to others, I would give consideration to making people feel physically, mentally and socially safe. Doing this will help to ensure that everyone is given the same opportunity despite what they have and lack in their “invisible knapsack”.

I remember I was super anxious this day and was very quite during this tour/experience. The tour guide picked up on it and in front of the whole group made me come and kiss a stingray for 7 years of good luck. This gesture made me feel so included and special that I stopped feeling as anxious and began engaging more. Highlighting how important it is to make sure everyone feels included and has the same opportunity to learn. 

          I find that humour is one of the best ways to present a concept as it makes people more engaged and relaxed. Adding humour to my presentation, while effectively articulating my point, makes an experience more engaging and memorable while creating a sense of joy and calm. I use humour often in my everyday life. Humour helps to lighten the mood and make experiences more enjoyable, I also find it helps reduce my anxiety, which is an added bonus.

          This course taught me that there are many ways to be a nature interpreter, present a topic or write a blog. The diverse means of completing different tasks allows us to add our own values and beliefs to everything. Therefore, when someone wants to use different approaches, teaching styles, and so on, that is 100% okay! The ways that individuals choose to work in the future will be effective regardless of the style, as long as they stay true to their morals, beliefs and values.

As long as you stay true to you the impacts you can have and the lessons you can teach will be unmeasurable! 

References 

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

Thank you for sharing this week’s post as I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on the prompt for this week. I too found that this pandemic took a toll on my mental health, especially at the beginning of it all when everything was changing so quickly. I moved back home which was a real change for me after 3 years of living in Guelph but found peace within nature as my family did many hikes with our 4 dogs. After taking many science courses and being more in touch with nature, I too look to help improve nature’s physical health. I believe that it is important to start discussing these pressing issues that we learn about within a small group of individuals that are closer in terms of relationship (family, friends, etc). This way there can be more of an open conversation about the matter rather than just educating them.

(Photo was taken by myself during a hike with 3 of the 4 dogs during last spring)

I really enjoyed reading about how you will use your social anxiety to try and find new ways to make a group feel included and safe when you pursue a teaching career. It is important I believe to use our previous experience and make the necessary change to avoid that for others around. We are constantly learning as individuals and must always keep in mind that there are underlying concerns due to an individual “invisible Backpack” (Hooykaas, 2021). When you mentioned humor being a way of presenting a concept, I found that to be true as it keeps your audience engaged. I have learned and still learning and it is always great to make fun and laugh at yourself to allow others to feel comfortable around you. It shows to them that we aren’t all perfect and it’s okay to laugh at ourselves sometimes.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas this semester.

Emily

References

I am sorry to hear that you as well have experienced mental health problems as a result of this pandemic, I moved home too and I think it was a great decision as it really helped me get my mental health back on track! I wanted to suggest if you find during exam season it is hard to get outside or say the weather isn’t the greatest one day I recommend you listen to nature sounds on youtube! I found by doing this helps with my anxiety a lot! 

Here are some of the ones I listen to! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2mWQFKiZAU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oc8Fa7tb8c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TNK916Pjto

Have a great rest of the semester!

Abigail! 

If I am honest, I feel I have had a love hate relationship with this course over this semester. Coming from a more scientific background, I have found it slightly difficult to find the motivation to write and put together “my thoughts” on the topics we discuss in class. I am so used to having explicit facts and having to write about those from a scientific approach, so trying to put together a post about my thoughts with such freedom has been a challenge. I have appreciated though throughout the semester how writing got a bit easier, and that we were able to talk on subjects that were interesting to us. I will definitely be taking some skills away from my time in this course.

One of many photos taken of water and rocks (Lake Ontario) as it is another huge love of mine. Photo taken by myself.

Like many who are taking part in this class have a love for nature, and are probably coming from a major with some type of nature encompassed in it. This is true in my case, as I am a wildlife biology and conservation student. Wildlife biology and conservation is just one side of my love for nature. Others include marine studies, geology, and  geography/landforms. This would open up so many doors in the nature interpretation field for me. I also have passion for the care and protection of animals, species at risk, climate change, plastic pollution, and how humans interact with nature in their everyday lives, similar to Jacob Rodenburg who wrote the article, “Why Environmental Educators Shouldn’t Give up Hope.”

A shell fossil found in a rock at the Elora Gorge while on a field trip with my geography class in third year. We were trying to interpret the history of the area, guessing it was a marine environment from all of the marine fossils found in the rocks. Photo taken by myself. 

As an interpreter, I feel there is a certain responsibility I have when working with an audience. The first responsibility being the need to deliver creditable information that your audience can trust. This struck me as important when we were learning about nature interpretation in history. This is something I always seek out when learning about different things because I want to make sure what I’m learning is true and has some merit behind it.

I took my Alberta friend on a Hamilton waterfall tour as she did not believe me when I told her Hamilton was the waterfall capital of the world. An example of one of my first “interpretation tours.” (She was impressed). Photo taken by Jenna Stetz.

Another important responsibility is for the interpreter to put their own spin on their presentation and make it personal. I have lost count of the number of presentations I’ve had to listen to when someone is just reading off of a slide or a card. I don’t know about you, but I feel like when I hear these kinds of presentations, the presenter doesn’t really care too much and doesn’t seem to care if their audience gets a good experience or not. I always learn better and pay attention the most if someone shares a personal story that relates to the content. An example of this was recently I was in a course that was preparing me to apply to be a fire ranger this summer. I could instantly tell that my instructor was passionate about his job as a fire ranger with the number of stories he would tell. One story was to emphasize the importance of safety. He told the story about him and two other crew members messing around while chopping down some small trees to kill time, and they made a competition around it. His crew leader decided to take part and wasn’t paying attention and ended up getting an axe in his shin. He made this boring 2 hour long safety module more interesting and engaging by telling this story. When putting your own spin on it, it allows the audience to engage much more, as well as being relatable.

One last responsibility I feel is of importance is that as interpreters we have almost like a duty to pass on knowledge of certain things, not allowing them to be forgotten about. I take great pride in this, knowing that I might have an influence on the future “me’s” one day to share this information with others. We have to remember we are not just passing on knowledge of the environment and nature, but also cultural beliefs and practices too. I mentioned in a previous post about how it is important to learn from the past, and we cannot do this unless we actually know what happened in the past. I personally love just even sharing my scientific and nature knowledge with my friends and family who do not have this as a background, and take pride in the fact that I am able to help educate them on this subject.

Photo of my mom and I at the cottage, as she is making sure I was exposed to the outdoors as early as possible. Photo taken by my dad, Dave Zarnke.

An approach that I would make sure to include in my interpretation is to be able to share with a diverse audience. This would include different age categories, different cultural backgrounds, different knowledge backgrounds and understanding on the subject, as well as learning styles that people possess. This is important to consider because knowing these different factors would affect how you would conduct the presentation to make it the most effective. With different ages there is a different level of understanding so when I would present something to a younger audience, I would make sure to use lots of examples and simple terms they could easily understand, compared to an older audience where I could potentially use more complex terms and concepts. Knowing the cultural and knowledge backgrounds may also determine the content you wish to speak on and the approach you take.

Personally I am a visual and tactile learner, and find it easiest to teach and interpret in this way. During an interpretation I would probably include many visual aids such as photos, videos, and live models to share with the audience. I would encourage the audience to take part in demonstrations and actively participate throughout the presentation. I have also found that through my school life I learn best when examples are given, or thought provoking questions are asked. When information is presented in this way it helps me to compare an example to real life and make those connections, and the thought provoking questions challenge me to take time to digest and organize all that I have learned to put it all together.

Something I think that may set me a part from many interpreters is what I believe and my faith. I am a christian (and like to think of myself as a christian scientist) which can be quite difficult at some times trying to study my major in a secular setting due to different beliefs. The main one would be how the world was created. I believe that there is one true God who created this world, everything in it, and the species we see today are the same and looked the same when the world was created 6000 years ago. This belief and faith of mine plays a huge role in my life, influencing most and if not all of my decisions, so it would be important to me to include this in my interpretations. I would not share or teach others something that I don’t believe in. This would probably lead to me interpreting to a different audience or have a different approach in my interpretations as these beliefs are not the same as what secular science believes and teaches, as well as most organizations. If this were to be a career of mine I would have to work for an organization whose beliefs are the same.

Photo of the Oakville waterfront taken from a walk with friends one afternoon after church. Photo taken by myself. 

I believe that as an interpreter, I would ensure to create programs specifically directed towards kids because I have experienced the benefits of taking part in these programs personally. We have learned a bit about how technology is a double edged sword. On one hand, it can be a great tool for nature interpretation, playing sounds, videos, or even in our case currently creating podcasts we can share over the internet. The downfall is that they are also causing people and especially kids to be very disconnected these days. I have lost count the number of times I will see kids with their parents just out and about, completely ignoring their parents just fully consumed in what is on their screen, and these kids are as young as even four years old. I didn’t know what a computer was til I was way older than that, and never received one myself until even later. I think it is so important to raise awareness of these environmental issues to kids and get them involved so they gain interest early in life and can be a part of the solution for their generation.

You discussed how you think interpretation should be honest and when you interpret to an audience you want to discuss what you believe to be true. I thought it was amazing that in your final blog post you displayed exactly that, you were completely honest in how you found the course, what you liked and didn’t like, and didn’t alter this blog post to be what you think we would want to hear but what you felt we should hear! That is truly what this course has been about - being true to you and how you interpret an experience or information - and you encapsulated that completely. 

Beck et al. (2018) say how an interpretation goes beyond information and reveals both deeper meanings and truth. In this post, you did not just tell us information about the course but your honest opinion about this class and what it has meant to you….I know you don’t want to be an interpreter but I think you would be amazing at it!

Photo courtesy of https://sunilpaul.medium.com/we-can-fix-it-saving-the-truth-from-the-internet-7bec83df150d

You stated how you are a wildlife biology and conservation student and I have a place I recommend visiting post-COVID if you find yourself in Florida, Clearwater Marine Aquarium. They help rehabilitate injured marine animals and only keep animals they rescue that can’t survive in the wild anymore! I visited this aquarium when I was 14 and had the most amazing time! Here is a link to their website https://www.cmaquarium.org 

This was a movie that was made that was actually made about one of the dolphins that lives at this aquarium. Photo courtesy of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dolphin_Tale_Poster.jpg

All the best! 

Abigail! 

References 

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For a better world. CHAMPAIGN: SAGAMORE Publishing.

Paul, S. (2016). We Can Fix It: Saving the Truth from the Internet [Online Image]. Sunil Paul. https://sunilpaul.medium.com/we-can-fix-it-saving-the-truth-from-the-internet-7bec83df150d

Dictionary.com describes an idealist as an individual who cherishes or pursues high or noble principles, purposes, goals, etc, or a person who represents things as they might or should be rather than as they are.

A sunrise that metaphorically represents that although the world may seem dark and grim, the sun will always rise again and we will be here: present and okay, a belief I have while being an optimistic idealist. Photo courtesy of: Ivana Cajina unsplash.com. 

I would say that I am an idealist. 

My beliefs also extend into being an optimist, so I would say in the purest form, I am an optimistic idealist. 

I believe in conceiving the world for (1) all the good it has to offer, and (2) l hold strong moral values and goals of my own. The following blog will consist of both these components and how they intertwine and shape my beliefs, responsibilities, and approaches that I bring as an interpreter of nature. 

For my first component, I absolutely love the quote in the textbook: interpreters encourage people to see the world as interconnected and diverse (Beck et al., 2019). 

There is harm in the world; there is danger; there is also uncertainty, as our current pandemic situation reflects that greatly. 

However, I choose to conceive the world through a different lens, one where I believe in the faith of humanity and human nature, as well as in nature’s physical world as well. 

An image that really depicts our strong connection with nature, wether we view it consciously or subconsciously. Photo courtesy of: Christoffer Relander weburbanist.com. 

We are dependent upon nature, and conversely, nature is dependent upon us. Nature offers us ecosystem services or it’s natural resources, and we must aim our sights on preserving both these factors to continue to flourish as a global society in the anthropocene. 

Like the quote in the textbook describes, we as a global society are undeniably connected and diverse. As an interpreter, I work to recognize how interconnected we all are with nature and strive to perceive that idea in an optimistic idealist manner. 

For example, I strive to see the good in our global society while preserving the future of the natural world. Although we pollute, deplete, and destroy Earth’s resources in our pursuit of capitalistic gain, I believe that our capitalist system can be used alternatively as the solution to our crisis.  

Never before as Earth functioned so homogenized: the global financial market is available to us in the click of a button, we have access to thousands of foreign natural resources, and we have the opportunity to work together with other prosperous nations. 

A cartoon depicting capitalism in our global economy. Photo courtesy of: investopedia.com 

Our homogenized global economy can therefore work together to promote change in restoring Earth’s natural capital. The global nations can realize that fossil fuels are not sustainable and that green energy must be incorporated in the coming decades. 

In the capitalistic system, these factors can be promoted and thus surge a rapid pursuit of clean energy industries (such as solar energy and renewable fuel sources) in the pursuit of profit. Therefore, both corporate monopolies and our human civilization can win. 

Capitalism can be as harmful as it is beneficial. As an optimistic nature interpreter, I choose to see the upside of the benefits and thus have hope for our interconnected world’s future. 

For my second component, as a personal moral value and goal, I have stated countless times throughout the course that I plan on becoming a high school teacher; one that is focused on teaching environmental science.

My aspiring profession: a teacher. Photo courtesy of: Skynesher, gettyimages.co.nz

As described in Why Environmental Educators Shouldn’t Give Up Hope (2019) in this week’s course resources, gloomy topics like climate change and habitat destruction make it increasingly hard for environmental educators to become discouraged. 

These topics have the potential to derail students from these certain “formidable challenges”, as the article describes. 

I resonate greatly with this week’s resource as I too will not give up hope as an educator. As an optimistic idealist, I will strive to invoke passion and guidance in my future students and transcend those qualities into their beliefs about interpreting the natural world. 

As stated in Beck et al. (2019), interpreters can potentially inspire hope & feelings that can address climate change challenges, a “formidable challenge” outlined in the article described above. Further, interpreters work to fill in “cognitive holes” that ultimately prevents the public from utilizing effective solutions (Beck et al., 2019). 

As a teacher, my moral values and goals of my own are that I will work tirelessly to fill any knowledge gaps or “cognitive holes” that students have on our changing environment. I will do my very best to inspire students to change our future world, in a matter that is rooted in great optimism instead of in fear.

Fear is a strong motivator, but I believe that hope is the only thing stronger than fear - Suzanne Collins. 

Photo courtesy of: quotefancy.com

I believe that the best things in life are free.

As a nature interpreter, I say that nature’s bountiful landscapes and features are a great representation of that.

Whether it be physical nature, or human nature itself, my optimistic idealist sense relies on perceiving the good out of our rapidly changing global economy and thus working to inspire the future generation in that same hopeful way as a teacher.

This course has inspired me not only to think deeper about interpreting nature, but to promote more intrinsic thought and become a more grounded as individual that is a part of nature. 

Thank you very much for reading, and I wish you all the best in your future endeavours. 

Questions…

1) What is your hope for the future? Are you more optimistic like I am, or do you perhaps perceive the future in a pessimistic lens and that is what motivates your responsibilities as an interpreter? 

2) Are you intrigued about capitalism’s role in climate change? Please let me know, as I am extremely fascinated with economics in general. 

References

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For a better world. CHAMPAIGN: SAGAMORE Publishing.

Cajina, I. (2017, July 20). Photo by Ivana CAJINA on Unsplash. Retrieved March 22, 2021, from https://unsplash.com/photos/dQejX2ucPBs

Relander, C. (2014, January 04). Naturally us: Stunning combinations of nature + humans. Retrieved March 22, 2021, from https://weburbanist.com/2014/01/04/we-are-nature-stunning-combinations-of-nature-humans/

Editor. (2019, June 17). Why environmental educators shouldn’t give up hope. Retrieved March 22, 2021, from https://clearingmagazine.org/archives/14300

“Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.” (n.d.). Retrieved March 22, 2021, from https://quotefancy.com/quote/1038571/Suzanne-Collins-Hope-is-the-only-thing-stronger-than-fear

Idealist. (n.d.). Retrieved March 22, 2021, from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/idealist

Ross, S. (2020, August 25). What role does the government play in capitalism? Retrieved March 22, 2021, from https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/040615/what-role-does-government-play-capitalism.asp

I resonated with your final blog post a lot. I tend to try to be as optimistic as possible and sometimes it can be hard to remain positive with all the negative talk we see in the news. I fear all the negativity is resulting in people feeling like we are doomed, that this world isn’t going to change and people are giving up hope. Thus, it was refreshing to read your post where you only speak about the positives! Our world like you said is very interconnected which opens the door for changes to be made globally. The world provides us with many services, like resources for medication, food, and an escape from reality which is why we owe it to the planet to not quit!

Like you I to wish to become a teacher. I want to work my absolute hardest to make my future students as passionate as I am about saving the planet through different projects and lessons! I loved that the article Why Environmental Educators Shouldn’t Give Up Hope (2019) discusses various reasons why we need to inspire students to want to save the planet. I enjoyed how the article was discussing kids’ desire to discover and learn about the natural world and how we can engage students in the future. Think how beneficial this information will be when we become teachers!

Photo courtesy of: https://www.newtownbee.com/10162015/reed-students-test-the-waters-of-deep-brook/

I found some articles that tie into both your moral values and goal of becoming a teacher. Let me know if you like them! The second one is more elementary school but hey it’s a great read!

https://www.ecoparent.ca/eco-parenting/how-teach-children-care-about-environment

https://greenteacher.com/the-elementary-years-introduction/

References

Editor. (2019, June 17). Why environmental educators shouldn't give up hope. Retrieved March 22, 2021, from https://clearingmagazine.org/archives/14300

Hello Everyone!

Despite resilience being the thing that I find the most interesting about nature there are quite a few other interesting facts I have learned over the years about this amazing planet we live. Which is why I’m adding an extra post this week to share another neat fact I know.

Now how many of you try to buy products that are pesticide-free? As we perceive these chemicals as toxic and dangerous right? This is why so many protests have been formed to stop the use of pesticides on crops. The public tends to be misinformed a lot due to lack of information which is why Beck et al. (2018) state that interpretation is essential in order to provide the public with both factual and important information that is relevant to their lives. So that is what I’m going to quickly do in this post - provide factual and important information extremely relevant to a university student’s life. Now back to my question, how many of you again are trying to purchase pesticide-free products? If you said you I am curious, will you continue to drink coffee in the morning, especially with exam season right around the corner? Coffee is a natural pesticide. This pesticide is a neurotoxin which when consumed by humans will stimulate our central nervous system (Daniel, 2019). Plants produce this chemical that we consume large amounts of in their leaves as a form of protection (Daniel, 2019). They produce this chemical to impact the central nervous system of insects - paralyzing and even killing them (Daniel, 2019)! This makes me wonder, why are people so against pesticides when most of us tend to state (including myself) “I would die without coffee” as for insects they would state they would “live without coffee”. What are your thoughts on this? Will this interesting facts stimulate any discussion lets wait and see!

References 

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

Personally, I have never made a purchasing decision based on pesticide association. This is due to the fact I believe they are a necessary evil to maximize the yield of our (GMO, another necessary evil) crops to feed our already overpopulated Earth. 

Source: Necessary Evil

I sure as hell already had 8 cups of coffee today and will probably have another 4 so don’t expect me to quit caffeine to save the insects! LOL. My uncle was an entomologist and he would surely hate to read that comment; sorry if you’re reading this Uncle Marv! 

I know I wouldn’t die without coffee but it seems nearly impossible to become abstinent from coffee. Between the headaches and irritability that overcomes my personality if I do not consume caffeine in the first few hours of waking up is mainly why. I’m far too libertarian to imagine a worldwide ban on caffiene because at this point it is entrenched in our society. Here is a great read about the history and science of caffeine!

Source: Looney Tunes

Anyways, if you haven’t had the chance I would highly recommend taking ENVS*3020 Pesticides and the Environment. Even though I took it last semester via remote learning it was still incredibly fascinating and thought provoking! Seems like you already have a passion for the subject that would make it easy to self-teach.

Btw, clever title!

Cheers,

I am so glad you liked the title of my post! I am completely blown away by the fact you have already had 8 cups of coffee this morning. I have to stop myself at 2 a day or my anxiety gets extremely bad. However, this makes sense after reading in that article that coffee is not recommend for anyone who suffers from anxiety or who gets nervous or stressed easily (basically telling me to just take coffee out of my diet altogether) (Stewart, 2011). You said you get headaches and tend to get irritable without coffee which sounds like you suffer from abstinence syndrome which is discussed within that article (Stewart, 2011). Here is an article to help one reduce their coffee intake if you are interested in potentially reducing the amount of coffee you consume https://www.everydayhealth.com/sleep/101/move-more-drink-less.aspx 

Also funny you mention ENVS*3020 as I am currently enrolled in it now. This course changed how I view pesticides that is for sure and I too highly recommend this course!

References