Ian's Prairie Blog

As I reflect on my own relationship with nature, I’m aware of the positive influences various outreach programs have had on me. The most exciting days at school for me were those were we had guest speakers talk to us about nature. I still remember touching a snake for the first time in grade 3 at the end of an assembly that featured guest from a local zoo, since that first encounter with a snake I’ve had a huge interest in them. I can remember being inspired about conservation efforts after hearing a presentation from Earth Rangers in grade 5. At the start of my undergrad, I became involved in extracurriculars that would introduce me to birding, which is now one of my favorite hobbies. All these experiences share a commonality; these experiences made nature accessible to me. I didn’t grow up in a very outdoorsy family and I often moved around a lot meaning I struggled to connect with local naturalist groups. Hearing presentations about nature didn’t require me to go exploring remote locations to connect with nature and becoming a birder taught me how even urban areas are filled with beautiful creatures.

   Red-winged Blackbirds are commonly seen species of bird here in Southern       Ontario throughout the spring and summer. While they aren’t particularly             fancy, I still love coming across Red-wing Blackbirds. Photo by Michelle             Beltran

Making nature accessible to people is now a huge passion of mine. There are so many barriers that can prevent people from connecting with nature. Growing up I had a hard time in school, reading, writing, and math were difficult for me. It wasn’t until I was 16, I was diagnosed with a learning challenge. I think my experience with barriers in the classroom has sparked a passion in me to do my part in making the world accessible for everyone. I’m privileged to have had experiences that have nurtured my love of nature. I would like to have a positive impact on people who maybe haven’t been able to connect with nature in the ways I have been able to.

   Chipmucks are another urban critter that I will never get sick of! I love taking       pictures of common species of animals to show case how underrated some       animals are and how easy it can be to come across awesome animals. 

I see science communication as a powerful way to make nature accessible to people. Enriching people’s knowledge and using deliberate communication can help reduce communication barriers and make interpretation inclusive (Beck et al 2018). I have a lot of friends and family members that aren’t as passionate about the environment, but I don’t see it as a lack of caring about nature, and more about a lack of understanding of how amazing nature is. When I talk to my friends and family about animal sightings or valuable ecosystem interactions, I can see their interest is peaked. Breaking down scientific concepts to people can help them engage not only with science but also with science. A science communicator I was recently lucky to hear speak is Bryna B. the Education Director and owner of Monteverde Butterfly Gardens, Bryna uses science communication to help people effectively connect with nature. I loved hearing her experience and stories about how she makes animals like spiders, cockroaches, and beetles lovable to people.

   Max, the Blue Racer is a very dapper animal ambassador for Sciensational.       Sssnakes!!. I’ve had the pleasure of watching people gain an appreciation for     snakes after meeting and learning about his species. Photo by Michelle               Beltran.

As mentioned in this week’s course content, there are so many environmental problems. Whenever I’ve acted as an interpreter, I’ve felt a responsibility to help my audience gain an appreciation for nature. I believe that as people learn to appreciate and understand nature, they will be more motivated to play a role in helping the environment. My favorite part of using animal ambassadors in presentations is how easily people are able to connect with them and how it motivates people to take action to conserve the environment for animals.

Cheers,

Michelle

I really enjoyed your post here. I wanted to pick out a quote from your blog as I thought it really succinctly summarized the importance of nature interpretation and this course.

“I see science communication as a powerful way to make nature accessible to people. Enriching people’s knowledge and using deliberate communication can help reduce communication barriers and make interpretation inclusive. I have a lot of friends and family members that aren’t as passionate about the environment, but I don’t see it as a lack of caring about nature, and more about a lack of understanding of how amazing nature is.”

Totally agree, you and I have that passion for nature and how amazing it is, and now after taking this course I think I’m much better equipped with the tools to show people how amazing it is!

You bring up an interesting thought in your final paragraph.

“I believe that as people learn to appreciate and understand nature, they will be more motivated to play a role in helping the environment.”

I agree! But as you mention here effective interpretation must be employed in order to make those messages and lessons effective.

I am on a committee with the Prairie Habitat Joint Ventures to try to engage people in prairie habitat conservation.

It’s been very interesting to explore the social sciences aspect of conservation.

You might find it interesting to know that we often think that more education/messaging would advance our cause as conservationists. That if only people had the right information, then they too would become passionate about this. But it is much more complicated than that it seems! And that we must craft our interpretation so that elicits some ort of action!

Here is a very interesting Ted Talk on how to craft messages so that they actually change behaviour. There are millions of birders in North America, but only a small percentage of them actually engage in conservation activities or contribute to organizations working in bird conservation. How do we get those folks off the sidelines and into the game?!

You might be familiar already but in case you aren’t, check out Birds Canada’s programs and become a citizen/community scientist and contribute important data while you are out birding!

All the best!

When I first enrolled to take this class, I wasn’t quite sure what the course would entail or quite frankly what exactly nature interpretation meant. Although I had some idea, I don’t think I really understood the magnitude that goes into preparing and properly becoming a nature interpreter. There are so many variables that all must be taken into consideration; from being accessible to all or as many people as possible, learning styles, historical significance and more.

Photo taken by myself of a sunset at Koshlong Lake, Highlands East, Ontario (2015).

As a nature interpreter, a belief that I will implement is the importance of living harmoniously with nature. To me, living in harmony with nature means living sustainably. When we are living sustainably, we are meeting our everyday needs of the present generation while not compromising the ability of future generations to be able to meet their needs (Ikerd, n.d.). Through sustainability, we as humans, are able to find harmony amongst each other and within our surroundings. Additionally, for the harmonious sustainable ideology to work, the belief that humans are more than one-dimensional but rather multidimensional consisting of physical, mental and spiritual components that are interconnected (Ikerd, n.d.). If the connection between these components is unequal, it can result in the person becoming unbalanced (or not in harmony). This reconnection can be found through the combination of modern science technologies and traditional indigenous beliefs (Wang, 2020). The merger of these two concepts will aid in emphasizing the notion of sustainable development and environmental education while also increasing social productivity from the perspective of production (Wang, 2020). This belief, I believe, is crucial for being a nature interpreter as it demonstrates the significance of nature and that we are not be greedy but rather appreciative of the endless positive opportunities it provides us with.

This image describes some steps on how to become more sustainable within your everyday life. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/search?q=sustainable+living+examples&tbm=isch&rlz=1C5CHFA_enCA764CA765&hl=en-GB&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjk0uif3NXvAhUO0KwKHcjdBKgQrNwCKAB6BQgBENcB&biw=718&bih=789#imgrc=sfmc9a2NCB2JnM

A responsibility that I believe is important is being inclusive and respectful to the people who are trying to learn. As we learned throughout the semester, either from reading about the various learning styles in week 2 or from ‘unpacking’ our invisible backpack during week 3, no 2 people are the same and there are an array of backgrounds and challenges that people have to overcome in their life’s. As a nature interpreter I would have the responsibility to make sure that I am approachable. When I say approachable, I don’t just mean that people have the opportunity to come and talk to me, although that is important, I mean that the content I am teaching about is approachable to individuals of all incomes and social statuses. I have to realize and acknowledge my privileges and utilize them to assist individuals who are less privileged. However, this is challenge as it has to be achieved as respectfully as possible. This means educating myself through the help of those I am trying to reach out to and listening to them about how and what is the best way to interact with them.

The additional responsibility that comes along with inclusivity is being accessible to individuals who may have different learning styles or who vary in abilities. Again, I have the responsibility to acknowledge that us as individuals differ amongst our preferred learning styles; some are more visual and thrive off of visual aids while others are auditory learners and thrive when able to listen to speakers. By incorporating these various techniques into my interpretation, I have the chance to become more interactive while also reaching larger audiences. At the same time, as I am trying to support the different learning styles, I have to take into account that not all individuals are fully able. This is important when opportunities arise for nature walks or trips out in nature, these challenges must be recognized and overcome with the accessibility of others in mind.

Image retrieved from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/using_diversity_and_inclusion_as_a_source_for_humanitarian_innovation

The final major responsibility I have as a nature interpreter is to be honest with my audiences and peers, however difficult that truth is. Nature is an aspect of human’s life that is presently being harshly exploited and destroyed. This destruction is happening in front of our very eyes through the ample examples of hundreds of species becoming either extinct or endangered every day, the deforestation of rainforests, and the loss of marine biodiversity. It is imperative that I education my audiences on all aspects of nature, whether it is positive or negative. It would not be fair to the individuals to solely speak on the positives of nature or solely speak on the negatives of natures, and how this information is told to the audience is important as well. This is a major responsibility as it relates back to the belief of being at harmony with nature. By expressing the good and the bad, with the adult audiences it may allow them to become more aware of their impact and make substantial changes in their lives whereas with children audiences it may provoke consciousness that they have never experienced before. When we are honest it allows for open conversation to happen which can lead to a sense of appreciation within.

The approach that is most suitable for me would be to keep the interpretation fun and interactive. Even though I stated that I have the responsibility to discuss the negatives that are occurring, this can be achieved through a light and interactive manner. When this approach is maintained throughout, it can allow the individuals to have a greater appreciation for the surroundings.

Photo taken by myself of the ocean in Cocoa Beach, Florida (2017)

This class has also opened my eyes to the intense reality of our relationship with nature. As demonstrated throughout the entire semester, nature is remarkably beneficial to humans and provides us with vast opportunities This course has also helped strengthen my own individual relationship with nature, showing me the impact of nature on humanity. But this relationship can become threatened when it is not appreciated or recognized properly, and I have learned through the various different techniques and lessons that come along with our responsibility to educate others on the significance of this relationship. Overall, I believe I am finishing this course a better and more knowledgeable person.

Thank you for the amazing semester!!

Alyssa

References

Ikerd, J. (n.d.). In Harmony with Nature. http://web.missouri.edu/~ikerdj/papers/HARMONY.html

 What a great reflection on the semester and on the things you have taken away from this course!

One of the things that really struck me in your post was the line “When I say approachable, I don’t just mean that people have the opportunity to come and talk to me, although that is important, I mean that the content I am teaching about is approachable to individuals of all incomes and social statuses.”

This is an excellent way of articulating the distinction between making sure our persona as a nature interpreter is approachable, but also that our content is inclusive to all groups so that everyone can learn about our world in a way that makes them feel a part of our planet, and not outsiders looking in.

This line of thought and your earlier mention of reconnecting the physical, mental, and spiritual components of ourselves and of nature.

We were asked to reflect on the responsibility we have as nature interpreters and you have reminded me of a responsibility I have that needs to be more at the front of my mind as I work in the grasslands.

That is how do we engage and learn from indigenous led conservation? While this is increasingly becoming more top of mind for conservation groups, we need to actively think about how we can incorporate our activities and our messages so that they are inclusive of these communities and this knowledge.

There is a very interesting paper here that discusses how we can learn from our past and move forward in the future to support “resurgent Indigenous governance to achieve biodiversity conservation that is effective and socially just.”

When thinking about smart animals, crows probably aren’t the first thing to pop into your head. And to be fair, they haven’t exactly gotten the best rap in the media (think of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’). In literature, crows and ravens represent bad omens and lead some people to think of them as dark, scheming creatures that steal eggs and terrorize other birds. But, as it turns out, crows are actually really smart, and deserve more positive recognition!

Tippi Hedren effortlessly rescuing her students from the wrath of crows in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film ‘The Birds’. 

Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Birds-film-1963

Corvids as a whole are known to be a really intelligent group of animals (this includes crows, ravens, scrub jays, and magpies). Crows are known for making their own tools (the only animal besides humans that do this in the wild), understand the general laws of physics and figure out simple puzzles involving tool use (Taylor, 2014). They even hold funerals for their fellow crows, surrounding dead crows they find and trying to figure out what dangerous thing killed it [and scolding them] (Swift, Marzluff 2015). But, to me, the most fascinating aspect of crow cognition is their memory. Crows can be trained to remember and distinguish between a multitude of different stimuli including colours, shapes, and even human gender (Swift, Marzluff 2015).

Due to the rapid urbanization of crows’ habitat, they encounter many people every day, which has led to a fascinating adaptation: the ability to recognize and remember human faces, and they can even distinguish between those who feed them from those who harass them. They can discriminate between different faces and assess the threat risk each poses to them. Based on that determination, they can adjust their behaviour accordingly. This behaviour can also be taught and passed on to other crows, or generations of crows, through calling. When one crow feels threatened by an individual, they may begin scolding that person and presenting with loud vocalizations. These vocalizations are heard by other nearby crows and can encourage other crows to join in and mob that “threatening” individual.

Photo by Valentin Petkov on Unsplash

Still not convinced crows are higher thinking and intelligent animals? Enter Dr. John Marzluff: one of the world’s leading experts on crows, he has done a huge amount of crow research aimed at expanding our knowledge of just how far crow cognition can go. Dr. Marzluff and his colleagues at the University of Washington, conducted a total of three studies in which they found out some fascinating results – crows were able to not only recognize human, faces but also to hold grudges for a long period of time.

In the studies, Marzluff wore different masks over his face while conducting a series of tasks with the birds. He wore certain masks when feeding the birds (a positive experience) and a different mask when capturing the birds (a safe, but stressful procedure for the birds). What he found was that the crows were able to recognize when the negative masked person was walking around campus and ‘scolded’ them as they walked by (involves diving and screaming at person). These birds even passed this facial memory onto their young and others who were not directly affected by the masked person.

Marzluff’s TED talk on the intelligence that crows’ possess. 

Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fiAoqwsc9g

I find this aspect of nature fascinating. I think that people can sometimes develop the perspective that most non mammal animals have a lesser intelligence. A deeper dig reveals just how smart animals, like crows, can be. In fact, crow brains are estimated to be in line with the neuron capacity of primates relative to their body size! Once you start to look deeper into any animal, you start to really appreciate the complexities of nature. If something as simple as crow intelligence is so ground-breaking and unknown, think about the vastness of animals and wildlife that we still have incorrect assumptions about, especially when you factor in the over 8.7 million known species of animals on earth!

References

Swift, K. N. & Marzluff, J. M. (2015). Wild American crows gather around their dead to learn about danger. Animal Behaviour. 109, 187-197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.08.021

My brother once observed a crow with an old stale hamburger bun that was hard as a rock. He watched as the crow would take the hamburger bun over to a puddle and dip the bun in to soften it up and then eat the softened bun. Kind of like us dipping bread into soup! Albeit slightly less appetizing.

This one really blows my mind. Where crows in Japan have learned to drop nuts into the street so cars will run over them to crack them open, but not only that, they will then wait at the cross walk until the walk light comes on, and then they will go get their nut in safety!

Or this Magpie that uses stones to displace water so that it can drink out of a water bottle.

Obviously there is something very pleasing about finding a connection to an animal. Often that connection is easiest made in animals that seem somewhat similar to us. Not much similar about a crow and a human on the face of it, but then their cognitive abilities make them seem much more relatable. This is of course amazing. Like when elephants mourn, or chimps (or crows) use tools.

Nature is music. Music is nature. I have felt this way most of my life. From living in Nova Scotia as a child and listening to the waves crash on the shore, to living now in Regina, Saskatchewan and listening to the wind blow through a wheat field, nature’s music surrounds me.

When I first started my certificate in Environmental Conservation, the first class I took forced me to go out into nature to identify what plants and animals were around me. I found myself going out at the break of dawn 20 minutes west of the city to a natural trail system called Wascana Trails. There I was enveloped in the quietness of nature, with the music of the wind, animals, and birds sprinkled through the calm. Even to this day, I love the quietness nature provides.

Wascana Valley Nature Recreation Site (n.d)

Music in the form of songs also provides a method of hearing nature. Sea shanties and folk songs tend to describe much of the world the songwriters are living in. Songs from Nova Scotia, songs from my childhood, describe fishermen on the water, campfires, farms, family, and friends. One song that always brings me back home to the ocean is Farewell to Nova Scotia. My Nan played this song on her piano; my mother, sister, and I would sing it during long car trips to the beach; I even sang the chorus on the radio once. When I hear the song, I am immediately back home, standing on a beach, looking at the waves of the Atlantic Ocean crash on the rocks. It generates very intense memories.

My copy of Farewell to Nova Scotia, handed down to me from my grandmother Hilda Baker. Photograph taken by A. Gagnon, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAmC5-_26O8   –  Click the link to hear Farewell to Nova Scotia

Another song that evokes strong emotion in me is a piano piece called Robin’s Return. It is by a musician named Leander Fisher who wrote the piece in 1870. I remember my Nan playing it and hearing it conjured images of spring when the snow would melt and the birds would return. It’s been a dream of mine to learn to play it as well as my grandmother did. It now arouses feelings of sadness as we lost Nan in 2015 and it was played at her funeral. Now, when I hear it, I see the beautiful spot where she was laid to rest and I hear the birds singing in the tree above her gravestone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aILxw1aS3d8  –  Click the link to hear Robin’s Return

Finally, on a happier note, my husband and I love to travel, and during our road trips we love to listen to music. Paul Brandt’s Alberta Bound brings me back to when we were travelling from the United States to Alberta and the song was playing as we crossed “the border at that Sweet Grass sign” (Brandt, P., 2004). I remember the beauty of the foothills, the expanse of the prairies, and the beauty of the wide open sky. It is still one of my favourite memories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx4EkjJw5xk  –  Click the link to hear Alberta Bound

A question for you:

What do you see in your mind’s eye when you hear the 3 songs I mention?

Amanda

 Sources Used

Wascana Valley Nature Recreation Site. (n.d.). Tourism Saskatchewan. Retrieved from https://www.tourismsaskatchewan.com/listings/1003/wascana-valley-nature-recreation-site

Brandt, P. [paulbrandttv]. (September 28, 2009). Paul Brandt – Alberta Bound – Official Music Video. You Tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx4EkjJw5xk

Martha. [martha5151]. (November 15, 2010). Robin’s Return by Leander Fisher – J. J. Sheridan. You Tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aILxw1aS3d8

Love hearing about your Nan and the music that means so much to you. My wife and I were just watching a show with Fran Lebowitz, and she said something to the effect that musicians are most loved because they are able to evoke places and moments in our lives. That music has a unique ability to take us back to time and place and make us feel something, joy, or pain, that virtually no other art form can do. Which I think really hits the nail on the head. No book, or movie, or painting can quite have that personal connection with our lives that a song can. I grew up a big Ian Tyson and Corb Lund fan, and if you like Paul Brandt singing about Sweetgrass those two guys sing about the prairies and that landscape a lot and might float your boat!

The Wascana trails look like a great place for a hike and to escape the noise of the city. I am like you and I am really drawn to the open spaces of the prairie. Did you know that the remaining grasslands on the Canadian Prairies are part of the most endangered terrestrial ecosystem on the planet?

Since you do enjoy the prairies it might interest you that recently there has been a big announcement that the Weston Family Foundation is putting $25 million into grassland conservation in Saskatchewan! I work with Birds Canada as the Grassland Conservation Manager so this is really exciting for me!

I am really looking forward to getting out to Grasslands National Park and Old Man on His Back and some of the community pastures in Southern Saskatchewan.

 All the best,

There is no peculiar merit in ancient things, but there is merit in integrity, and integrity entails the keeping together of the parts of any whole, and if these parts are scattered throughout time, then the maintenance of integrity entails a knowledge, a memory, of ancient things. …. To think, feel or act as though the past is done with, is equivalent to believing that a railway station through which our train has just passed, only existed for as long as our train was in it. (Edward Hyams, Chapter 7, The Gifts of Interpretation)

 When reading this week’s quote, I start to think about the various artifacts and buildings that we as humans have preserved over the years. There are the tombs from ancient Egypt, the Colosseum, the old temple of Athena, etc. which have survived over thousands of years and we continue to preserve these buildings and artifacts in order to keep the history that comes with it. We can think the same way with nature and understanding the history within the world around us.

          (Photo of the Colosseum, taken from https://www.romeapartments.com/city-guide-pages/the-colosseum-rome-the-most-famous-building-of-the-roman-empire/)                                                           

 I think this quote relates perfectly to the theory of evolution and how the past is never completely gone. I particularly enjoy thinking about evolution and how fossils are such a great example of nature preserving itself for scientists to interpret and understand. It’s remarkable to me that nature alone is able to accomplish this sort of historic preservation for us to find and learn about. Thinking about how the fossil record has informed us of so many extinct species and the various reasons they are gone extinct. There is so much information that is hidden within the fossil records that are just waiting to be unpacked.

(Photo of fossilized trilobites, taken from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00117-1)

  We can also see this sort of preservation of nature within the trees, as they keep a record of how old they are in a very unique way. With every year that passes they add another ring to their trunk, telling an interesting story of the various climatic conditions it was survived. Scientists have decoded the history of the climate and life of the tree by understanding the differences in the rings found on the trunk (NASA climate kids, 2021). This natural phenomenon is another way that scientists have had to interpret the history and story that the tree is trying to tell us about its past. These natural phenomena are happening all around us and as nature interpreters, we have to tell their story to others.

(Image explaining tree rings, taken from https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2540/tree-rings-provide-snapshots-of-earths-past-climate/)

 This quote really got me thinking about how nature itself has so much history and information that we are still learning about to this day. Nature is complicated but yet so fascinating in how it is able to preserve such historic evidence. My question for all of you:

 Do you have any other examples of ways that nature has been able to preserve its natural history for us to uncover?

 Thank you for reading this week’s post,

Emily

 Reference:

You raise a fascinating point about evolution and the past “never really being gone”. Something that I always find a bit mind-bending and very cool is that evolution is continually happening!  So evolution is a link to the past and history but also the present and the future. What a great symbol for how history never dies, and what has happened in the past affects the future!

It is tough to get my head around it because it takes such a long time, but  the plants and animals that we have currently (and ourselves) are ever evolving and that this point in time is not the endpoint but just another ‘train station’ along the way (to use the analogy from the quote in our blog prompt this week).

I like to imagine, what would North America look like if it had another 1,000, 50,000, or 100,000 years of evolution working uninterrupted by European settlement? What flora and fauna would have come and gone? Would the Indigenous Peoples still be here, would their cultures have changed along with the evolution of the plants and animals? Or would everything be largely the same?

 I always find tree rings fascinating as well. I loved the part in Sand County Almanac when Leopold uses the rings of an old oak they are sawing to tell the history of the county (I actually talked about in my Nature Interpretation Through Art blog post).

This summer I had the amazing opportunity to work at a local organic vegetable farm called Edible Acres Homestead. This job was unlike any “outdoor” experience I have previously encountered, however, I was eager to learn!

Although my family has been growing their own organic vegetables for years, this was the first time I was involved in every stage of the growing process. Growing a vegetable garden is something everyone should try at least once in their lives as you learn a great deal from nature, plants, and how everything interacts. The most rewarding accomplishment is witnessing your hard work of planting endless rows of vegetables come to fruition.

Here are some photos taken of one of the back fields at Edible Acres showing the heads of lettuce growing. These rows stretch 50ft long and use irrigation tubes to water the plants. Photo taken by my boss, L. Ahrens, 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.edibleacres.net/

Working at Edible Acres has shown me the importance of supporting your local farmers. So much time, money, and energy goes into maintaining a farm, especially an organic farm. When you omit the use of pesticides and herbicides, you have to manage pests and weeds in a natural way. This may entail days on end where all you do is weed. From spending 8+ hours a day sweating in the direct sun weeding to tediously preparing logs for shiitake mushrooms on rainy days, the grind never stops.

This is a photo taken by my boss in their back bush of the growing process of the shiitake mushroom logs. We took old logs and drilled holes into them and filled the holes with a mushroom mixture and covered it with a wax coating. The logs remain in the bush for a year before new growth forms. Photo taken by C. Ahrens, 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.edibleacres.net/

As consumers, we rarely factor in everything that goes on behind the scenes. How often do we go to our local grocery store or farmer’s market and simply purchase a fresh bundle of carrots without stopping to consider the time and effort that went into planting, growing, weeding, picking, washing and packaging those carrots?

Here is a photo of a customer's order. It shows the wide variety of produce that we grow on the farm from eggplants and leeks to pumpkins and jalapeño peppers! Photo taken by my boss, L. Ahrens, 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.edibleacres.net/

Caring for the gardens at Edible Acres has shown me how we have to be the caretakers and stewards of this earth. The earth is not ours to exploit, pillage, and strip of its finite resources for our own benefit. As we are collectively confronted with a catastrophic climate crisis, we must radically care for the Earth and act with urgency through more sustainable habits and ethical consumption.

During my research I found many great resources to inform us on how to be better caretakers of the earth. Here are some easy ways we all can work harder to help save the earth (Aleteia.org, 2020).

Reduce meat consumption.

Practice energy-saving techniques such as turning lights off when leaving a room.

Cut down on car transmissions by biking or using public transport.

Strive to go more zero-waste and using reusable materials

Here is another great resource illustrating 3 actionable steps to save the planet backed by science.

As I conclude my blog, I would like to pose some questions.

What are some lessons that nature has taught you?

What are some actionable ways that you contribute to tackling the current climate crisis?

Thank you for reading my blog and listening to my experience as an organic vegetable farmer!

Janieka :)

Works Cited

https://www.edibleacres.net/

https://aleteia.org/2020/01/06/10-simple-ways-to-be-a-steward-of-the-earth-in-2020/

What a great experience that looks like and what an opportunity to understand where your food comes from! I agree very much that we should all strive to get our food more locally and that as consumers we should strive to understand more about where our food comes from.

I would offer something to consider around the point of reducing meat consumption. I agree that overall our meat consumption should decrease. However, we should also think about what impacts a plant-based diet could have as well.

The North American grassland ecosystem, including the Canadian Prairies, is the most endangered terrestrial ecosystem on the planet (Lark, 2020). These landscapes evolved with large ruminant grazers, the plants and animals need grazing disturbance to be healthy, but even more importantly, they need grassland habitat period. Grassland conversion to annual cropping is a large cause of grassland habitat loss (Olimb & Robinson, 2019). Western Canadian pasture where cattle graze can support a huge amount of biodiversity (Teague et al. 2016), and sequester a large amount of carbon (Teague et al. 2016). However, if those pastures were converted to annual cropping to grow lentils for instance, much of the carbon that was stored in that grassland will be released and the habitat will be almost completely lost. Ironically, grassland loss is also being accelerated in some areas by organic production. For a producer to get into organic production, the land must be free from pesticides and fertilizers for three years. So instead of waiting three years on existing cropland, some will till native prairie.

So I just mean to point out that context is important to consider! And that if folks choose to eat meat, that beyond just reducing our consumption, we should support the production systems that provide significant ecological goods and services, like grass-fed beef raised on the Canadian prairies! Just something to think about!!

  Here is a great resource if you or others are looking to get connected with regenerative farmers across the country: https://regenerationcanada.org/en/map/

  W.R. Teague, S. Apfelbaum, R. Lal, U.P. Kreuter, J. Rowntree, C.A. Davies, R. Conser, M. Rasmus­sen, J. Hatfield, T. Wang, F. Wang, and P. Byck . 2016 The role of ruminants in reducing agriculture’s carbon footprint in North America. 71(2):156-164 Journal of Soil and Water Conservation doi:10.2489/jswc.71.2.156

 Olimb, S. and Robinson, B. 2019. Grass to grain: Probabilistic modeling of agricultural conversion in the North American Great Plains. Ecological Indicators. 102:237-245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.02.042

Art is great way to bridge a connection between life’s intricacies and human emotion. I grew up fairly immersed in the artistic community, although not by choice, per se. My dad is an abstract landscape artist, so I have been exposed to his artwork at home every day, have attended his art shows, have visited art festivals and art galleries as a family, and have spent time in his art studio since I was a young child. My dad uses nature as his inspiration and his paintings as a means to share his appreciation of nature with others. While he is not a nature interpreter by profession, those that see my dad’s artwork are encouraged to envision themselves in the natural world and the joy that it brings. Unfortunately, I did not inherit my dad’s artistic abilities or passion; however, I see the value in art as being a phenomenal medium to engage with others.

Photo of my dad’s artwork, taken by himself (Aaron Robbins). Find some of his artwork on: https://www.saatchiart.com/aaronrobbins

When I ask myself “who am I to interpret nature through art?” the answer I arrive at is that I am a human being. Art is a natural inclination, whether it’s theater, storytelling, poetry, visual art, music, dance, or some other medium of expression. Art is a part of what connects us together, since our distinct and sometimes seemingly disparate cultural backgrounds are told through similar artistic means (Beck, et al., 2018, p. 227). Likewise, art can be a useful tool in present day to guide us through complex ideas in nature interpretation and connect us to the earth. As a nature interpreter your key responsibility is to help people perceive the world around them differently, but, “beauty is the hard-to-perceive order of the universe,” because the structure of earth’s processes is often hidden (Beck, et al., 2018, p. 90). To be an effective nature interpreter that shares the underappreciated beauty of nature, ‘Mill’s Formula’ is a tool that focuses on appealing to human emotion. Mill’s formula includes, “giv[ing] flesh and bone to cold facts,” and “mak[ing] stories to breathe life into inanimate objects,” which denotes a need for abstract conception and imaginative thinking (Beck, et al., 2018, p. 83). Tangible elements like trees, rocks, and wildlife become connected to intangible meanings through artistic interpretive techniques, which stress universal truths (Beck, et al., 2018, p. 88).  

I think the artistic mediums I would apply most often in nature interpretation are storytelling and visual art. Storytelling is something that strays from typical ‘lecture-style’ presentation, meaning it has greater potential to inspire curiosity in visitors. Inspiring curiosity is key because the bulk of learning occurs on an individual basis after the interpretive experience has ended (Beck, et al., 2018, p. 92). If someone walks away motivated to learn more, they are likely to engage with nature in the future. Visual arts are also an inspiring activity that can be accomplished as a group and it is often within the comfort zone of visitors. While activities such as dance and theater are great for certain groups of people, visual art is something more universal. It is important to understand your demographic and recognize the subtle reactions of the group you are with to make them feel comfortable (Beck, et al., 2018, p. 129).

Photo of my dad’s artwork, taken by himself (Aaron Robbins).  Find some of his artwork on: https://www.saatchiart.com/aaronrobbins

If you find yourself asking “who am I to appreciate nature through art?” the answer is you are a person fully capable and qualified to enjoy nature through the world of art, even though it can be intimidating. Society has constructed the idea of art as being on a pedestal, to be appreciated by the elites, but in no way does that accurately represent art as being innately human (Beck, et al., 2018, p. 228). Art does not need to mean gallery openings and staring into a painting like an abyss, instead it can be very informal and fun. My childhood may have exposed me to the ‘art world’, but I believe anyone can be a part of it, regardless of their experiences.

Have you ever been intimidated by art? If so, why do you think you felt this way? Does rethinking the meaning of art as a way to interpret nature change your perspective?

Works Cited

“Giving flesh and bone to cold facts” is a great quote. Could maybe expand on that and say that art can help cold facts soul?

I liked your reference to story telling as an art. It reminds me of cultures, such as many Indigenous cultures that use the oral tradition. The stories they tell of their history and of nature I have always been wrapt by those stories. Like the story of creation story of Turtle Island. Many indigenous cultures have a version of this story that has been passed down through generations.

Have you ever been intimidated by art? Does rethinking the meaning of art as a way to interpret nature change your perspective?

As some others have pointed out in their posts art can sometimes be pigeon-holed into meaning something that is expensive, exclusive and inaccessible.

Privilege are special advantages or entitlements that benefit you, or group you belong to, or disadvantages others.  These advantages can be based on variables such as social class, race, religion, sex, nationality, etc.… Summed up to, how do power structures in society aid the socially privileged groups (Kimmel & Ferber 2017).  Often, as mentioned in the textbook, these power structures separate different social groups based on the aforementioned variables and label some as being underserving of whatever particular advantage.  Separation of social groups based on privilege leads to ignorance, entitlement, and apathy amongst the more privileged groups, usually to the detriment of less privileged groups (Kimmel & Ferber 2017).  

Before delving into to how privilege might affect nature interpretation and some scenarios it has forced people into, I’d like to overview my own privileges and biases.  I am a white cis male.  I speak English (as well as two more languages fluently), grew up in a middle-class family, have two supporting university educated parents.  I had pets growing up.  I have always had access to clean running water, electricity, heating, and a home. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a very diverse neighbourhood in Ottawa and learnt very quickly of my home privilege.  While we didn’t have enough money to go on exotic yearly vacations, there has been a cottage in the family for a few generations now that I got to spend my summers at and where I really got to connect with nature.

(Retrieved from IWDA)

Getting back to the influence that the separation of social groups has on nature interpretation; I grew up belonging to a white-colonial social class that allowed me the experience of connecting with nature through a relatively isolated cottage.  These same separations enforce environmental racism.  This is the way in which minority groups are burdened with a disproportionate number of hazards, often sources of environmental pollution (Godsil 1991).  This is practiced through the passing of legislation that allows pollutant sources such as coal plants and toxic waste facilities to be built disproportionately in and around low-income and POC neighbourhoods. According to a report by the NAACP, 39% of coal plants are within a 3 mile radius of POC communities in America (Scientific American 2012). Other examples include the shipment of waste, especially e-waste to developing countries to be put in their landfills or burned, and pollution of water sources, which are often sacred to indigenous communities (Godsil 1991).  In my own experience, visiting my family in Chile, I noticed that the poorer neighbourhoods were all in the centre of the city, far from the nicer parks.  I am certain that each one of these scenarios impacts how residence of these areas connect with and interpret nature.  Would someone from these communities be as interested in going on a nature walk if all the nature they know is a dirty stream and a park with a couple trees?

This barely scratches the surface of the issue, and I encourage you to do more research.  Below I’ve linked an insightful PBS interview with Robert Bullard, the “father of environmental justice”.

(Source: https://envhumanities.sites.gettysburg.edu/es225a-spring19/environmental-racism/environmental-racism-2/) 

Canada is no exception, this map outlines the proximity of toxic industries to POC communities (Source: http://sandboxproject.ca/news/2020/9/8/the-ycrh-blog-environmental-injustice-in-canada)

However, I think that different forms of nature interpretation can also be used to connect with these communities.  TV shows, documentaries, YouTube videos, TikToks, etc… are great ways for interpreters to reach this audience.  As interpreters, we must understand the unique background that people arrive at a hike, or zoo, or whatever it might be, with, while also understanding how the privilege we grew up with and continue to experience, mold how we interpret and connect with nature.  

PBS interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU-D3YkOe-w&ab_channel=AmanpourandCompany 

Questions for you:

-  Has recognizing your privilege changed your life in some way?

-  Can you think of other scenarios that social privilege might put other groups in?

References:

Godsil, R.D. Remedying Environmental Racism. Michigan Law Review, vol. 90, no. 2, 1991, pp. 394–427.

Israel, B. (2012, November 16). Coal Plants Smother Communities of Color. Retrieved January 28, 2021, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coal-plants-smother-communities-of-color/

Your blog and your figure showing the proximity of toxic industries really got me thinking about the flip side of that. That as we talk about the need to protect more areas of the planet and the need to employ nature based solutions to combat climate change, where are these things going to occur?

Nature based solutions might be able to tale place in some of these communities and possibly improve quality of life in these communities.

But what about these areas that we are protecting? In Canada many of these places are in our North. Places that Indigenous populations live and rely on for their traditional way of life. In some cases, these areas might provide economic benefits to these communities, such is the case with some of the recent controversy with coal mining in the Rockies https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/crowsnest-pass-mining-hearing-1.5776974

This article talks about the Quebec government’s plan to add new and expand existing protected areas in Quebec’s North, but the Inuit population want self governance before these protected areas are put in place. How do we protect areas that need protecting but do it such a way that hears everyone’s voices?

If I had my way, I would like to be standing on a prairie somewhere, with stiff warm breeze blowing in the grass and the clouds racing across the blue sky.

However, I find myself most days in my makeshift office in my basement, thinking about ways to engage multiple stakeholders in prairie conservation.

When we think about conservation we often think about preserving places with mountains, lakes, cliffs and rivers by setting up national park and other protected areas. But we don’t often think about the prairies or if we do we don’t think about the prairies as working landscapes but these are just as worthy of our wonder.

North American Grasslands are some of the most endangered ecosytems in the world. Photo: Pete Davidson, Birds Canada

It’s not realistic for governments or land trusts to purchase or place easements on all remaining grasslands on the Canadian Prairies. So we must find room for nature in these private working landscapes. Farmers and ranchers face market pressures to plough up prairie to plant wheat or canola or pulses as it is more profitable to grow grain than it is to raise cattle. But, cattle have taken the place of free-roaming bison on the grasslands of North America, providing the disturbance that those pastures need to thrive, as long as the grazing is done responsibly. Many of these ranchers are proud to look after areas of such beauty and so full of biodiversity. But they often have no one to take over the ranch, so when they retire, the land is sold to the highest bidder, and often converted to annual cropping.

In the Northern Great Plains, we lose, on average, an acre of grasslands every minute, mostly to the conversion of annual crops (Plowprint, 2020). Modern agriculture should provide more while using less. Particularly less land. Agriculture today produces more food than the world currently demands (Berners-Lee et al., 2018). Yields of wheat on the Canadian prairies rose ~30% between 1991 and 2013 (Thomas and Graf, 2014). More supply than demand and more grain per acre should mean that prairie farmers would no longer have to drain sloughs, remove shelterbelts, plough up native prairie, but it continues to happen.

The majority of grasslands are owned by livestock producers. As owners of significant portions of our globe, they have a responsibility and obligation to steward the land. But we must also consider our obligations as consumers. Our purchase decisions must also reflect the land ethic. Seeking knowledge on the implications of our diets upon the landscape is important. For instance, consider the Chestnut-collared Longspur Calcarius ornatus, it relies on grazing to create variation in vegetation height to nest and forage in, so is happy to live among the cattle that provide your hamburger so long as they are grazed responsibly on the open grasslands. It cannot, however, live in the fields of soybeans and lentils in your plant based burger. The land is complex and so are the solutions to save it.

A Chestnut-collared Longspur in its display flight. Photo: Yousif Attia, Birds Canada.

Society must internalize Leopold’s land ethic, so that the farmer may embody it.  Over the last fifty years the farmer has done what has been asked. Produced lots of food cheaply. If we, as a society, internalize a land ethic, while also recognizing that economics must play a role, then would it not be proper to pay farmers for the ecological goods and services that they provide? Not through per acre short term payments, but from consumers spending their money on food that is produced in an ecologically friendly way. Then the farmer that abides by a land ethic is more competitive than his or her neighbour that does not. Soon the country will soon be filled with farmers with land ethics.  

Interpretation drives understanding “the land is one organism,” (Leopold, 1949) and could give rise to a land ethic that will permeate our society. If we as consumers request that our food that be raised with a land ethic; while be willing  to vote for this new ethical world with our hard earned money, then that could craft a future that has grasslands and rich biodiversity on our working landscapes.

 I read your great post! Regenerative agriculture has a lot of potential to provide solutions to the issues that are facing us. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and from a more human centric perspective I think could revitalize rural communities by putting more people back on the land. 

Over the last 50 years, since Norman Borlaug’s Green Revolution, agriculture has largely done what we as consumers have asked it to do. Produce lots of food as cheaply as possible. And that has done a lot of good things. Hunger rates globally continue to decrease (https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment), for instance.

However, it has also had major negative impacts on our environment. Agriculture isn’t going away, so now our next challenge, now that we feed more people than ever, is how to do that while reversing some of the negative impacts and fostering healthy and functioning agroecosystems. And how do we do that quickly? Regenerative agriculture has a huge role to play in that. 

You’ve asked some very difficult, but important questions. These are questions  that I grapple with everyday in my job. How do we get farmers and ranchers to a) stop converting native habitat to annual crop land, and b) how do we promote more ecologically sustainable production practices? Or beyond that ecologically regenerative production practices?

The short answer is that I don’t have the answer. But I think that what I’ve outlined in my original post is maybe the best way. 

Ultimately it must come from consumer demand.  For better or for worse farming is a business, and ultimately the farmer must provide a product that the consumer wants. So to scale the type of changes that are needed, it has to make economic and financial sense to the producer. 

Like you say consumers are changing their purchasing habits, but still on the whole, we spend a half to a third on food compare to the 1950′s. (https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/04/how-america-spends-money-100-years-in-the-life-of-the-family-budget/255475/). We need a lot more people willing to spend more for their food in order to fund a change in how our food is produced.

I believe that market solutions are the key to scaling the types of changes that are needed in our agricultural system. Now, it is true that certainly there are producers that have switched over to regenerative ag and found it more financially sustainable along with all of the other ecological benefits. And there are more producers coming around to these ideas all the time. But in order for these types of practices to really expand we need bigger market drivers. 

What I would like to see is this:

A farmer or rancher is farming in such a way that provides multiple environmental goods and services. Wildlife habitat, enhanced water quality, carbon sequestration. And instead of relying on cost share programs or NGOs, and regulations (although these will also play a role) that these practices actually make the producer more money. That doing the right thing for the environment is also the right thing for their family and their business. This could e achieve through stackable traditional incentives like cost shares from NGOs, and through access to markets and consumer demand. This will mainstream these practices and scale them. 

For example, let’s say a rancher in Saskatchewan, doesn’t convert her land to annual crop production, she can then generate and sell carbon credits as an additional revenue stream on her ranch.

She also manages her land in such a way that provide optimal habitat for prairie species at risk. The biodiversity on her land could be verified by measuring it and feeding it into some sort of index. If a certain threshold of this biodiversity index was reached, this could make her eligible to supply a food company that has inset biodiversity goals into their supply chain and she receives a premium for her beef. 

Because of her environmental outcomes she’s eligible for much lower lending rates than her neighbours are. She also has first and cheaper access to public grazing lands because of her efforts on her home ranch. So on and so on.

She now has multiple incentives that make her more financially than if she had torn up the prairie and planted a monoculture.  

 A consumer base that recognizes the value of these ecological goods and services that this Saskatchewan rancher is providing is key to this. 

We’ve created a system that pushes farmers to maximize profitability, and taking risks and changing production practices is risky, and failure is really not an option because it is their livelihood. So there is a huge amount of inertia driven by economic and cultural factors.

So how do I convince a farmer to take up these practices? Well right now it’s pretty hard.  I hope one day that I won’t have to convince the farmers or ranchers, it will be an obvious choice, and if they don’t they will be less successful. We need to shift the paradigm that these environmental  goods and services make the producer more competitive than the ones not practicing them. And I think we as interpreters have a huge role to play in that!

I believe that the role of a nature interpreter is essential in relying adequate and informative environmental information while keeping their audience intrigued. For many scientist this is very difficult as they typically have extensive knowledge pertaining to the topic at hand making it difficult for them to relay the information in an intriguing way. I have learned over the past few years that I have a large fascination for oceans and the corals reefs particularly which is why my ideal nature interpreting role would be some sort of snorkel/dive guide. There is so much information to be told about the various aspects of the coral reefs as well as the ways in which we are able to protect it.

(Photo taken by the author while on a snorkel dive in Cozumel, Mexico)

While being in school for marine biology and taking many environmental science courses I have learned to love the aspect of conservation especially within the ocean. I would ideally love to be able to express to tourist how the various relationships found within these complex ecosystems work together and how they are all affected by climate change and anthropogenic activity. To be able to do this sort of interpreting role I would firstly need to move somewhere warm and near a coral reef. It would also be essential to have my scuba divers licence which would allow myself to bring people on dives and have a better look at the various things that I told them about. As much as I have loved snorkeling in the past, last year when I was on a snorkel trip with my family, our guild told us that if we wanted to see more interesting animals (octopus, more fish, eels) that a scuba licence would be needed. This guide we had aided me in understanding that if research is not a possibility within my future that being a snorkel and scuba guide is the nest best job for myself.

(Photo of myself snorkeling taken by my sister, Kristina Heil, in Cozumel, Mexico)

I have always been very nervous when it comes to public speaking where I stutter a lot and move due to nerves. This is one thing that I will have to work on if I am ever to get a job as a nature interpreter within the marine field. To help myself through these challenges, this winter semester as well as most of last years (before COVID made everything go online) I volunteer within a second year invertebrate lab. My role is to help a variety of students with any questions that they may have regarding the lab content. This has been an amazing experience for myself to open up more in larger group settings as well as learning the appropriate ways in which I should be communicating the information to the students. It was an amazing being able to go into the lab last winter with the students and being able to show them with the specimens what we are explaining. This semester will be very different but great for understanding and adapting to new ways of communicating the information.

(Photo of myself holding a crab within the ZOO 2700 lab at the university of Guelph during the winter 2020 semester)

As I have been the only one in my family to follow a carrier in science, I have had the ability to learn how to relay information that i have learnt to my family with no biology background. This has allowed myself to develop skills in my communication as my family and other do not understand and know all of the technical terms that I am taught. I am grateful to be able to learn at a younger age how to communicate scientific terms and information to individuals who do not understand them. That is a skill that many scientists have a hard time doing as they spend their entire life learning all of the technical terms. I am fortunate for this as it has also taught me that I may be interested in a position of interpreting nature and providing the information that i have obtained over the years to others who are interested in learning.

I tend to view each day as an opportunity to learn, I don’t always succeed in that pursuit, but it’s the reason I am taking courses at Guelph!  You seem to have a similar view of life judging by your commitment learning is evident in this post. Your self awareness of things that you feel you can improve is great, but even more impressive is your constructive attitude towards these things is so awesome! I also really admire your willingness to take on things that scare you, and to blaze your own path!

In conservation sometimes it feels like you’re never reaching enough people. But I think it’s really important to remember that every person we interact with has the potential to be a force for positive change. So by passing on your knowledge to your family members is so great!

With the rise in popularity of ecotourism, it’s becoming a really important aspect of conservation, and of course it hinges on effective nature interpreters! So if research isn’t in your future, being a diving guide would be an awesome way to educate lots of people, and not to mention it sounds like a dream job!