Nature Interpretation

I’m in my fourth year, and this June I will be graduating. A lot of you are in your fourth year as well, but I’m sure that even those of you in your third year are beginning to sense the incoming end of your undergraduate degree and what that means. I know for certain that I want to pursue a Master’s degree, and I have a general idea of which schools and programs I want to apply to, however I don’t know if I want to take a break between my degrees to work or travel. Obviously, having choices is much better than not having choices, but it can sometimes feel like I keep finding new things I get excited about, and the list keeps growing instead of getting shorter. The point of this ramble is: I didn’t think when taking this course that I would come out the other end considering Nature Interpretation as a job. I knew it sounded interesting, and it would be a good skill to hone, but throughout the semester I feel like I’ve been noticing how small events in my life have been nudging me towards it. 

The summer of grade 10, my mom, sister, and I joined my mom’s best friend from university, his wife, and his son on a road trip from Seattle to Chicago. Their whole family is huge on nature and camping, and they have a plethora of knowledge on plants, animals, and the natural world – the dad is a zoologist who now works for the state of Illinois on managing invasive species, the mom is a wildlife photographer amongst her many hobbies, and the son is a veterinarian and a scoutmaster at the camp my sister and I also went to in Poland. Over the years, they have all taught me so much on topics on the environment that my mom (who studied child psychology) and my dad (who studied civil engineering) don’t always know too much about. Anyways, one of our stops was Yellowstone National Park. After interacting with our first park ranger there, my sister made a comment along the lines of ‘I can totally imagine that being you in the future’. That was meant as a joke, especially since at that point in my life I thought I wanted to be a dentist.

In April of this year I was in northern Queensland with friends on my first ever white-water rafting trip. I had such a great time and discovered I may have a passion for this crazy activity. Our guide’s name was Malcolm and he is definitely qualified for the top 10 coolest people I have ever met. He’s from a town in Minnesota, and had done his master’s in marine biology. After that he spent almost a year kayaking around the United States with a friend, until the white water rafting company discovered him from his Instagram and contacted him about a job. Now he’s been living in Australia for over a year and plans to continue doing it for as long as he can. He had an easy going demeanour, but he knew when to stop joking around and get us to concentrate on paddling when things began getting dangerous. He knew a lot about the river, the animals (and crocodiles!) and rainforest around us, and casually integrated facts into our conversations. I didn’t realize how much I had learned until the end of the day! I don’t know if he had been trained as a nature interpreter as part of his job, or if he did this naturally without realizing it, but after the adventure was over I was left with the impression that I want to do exactly what he does and become a white water rafting guide. Check out his Instagram, he’s a pretty interesting person

In September, we all visited the arboretum, and Chris Earley began the walk with an introduction about himself. He had done his undergrad in zoology and thought he had his career all planned out, until he spent a summer working as a nature interpreter in Bruce Peninsular National park and fell in love with it. It made me think how sometimes we find ourselves doing something completely different from what was planned, but that’s exactly where we were meant to be.

My friends and I, making our way through the rapids in Cairns, Australia.

I can’t say if I’m reading into these events too much, or if the universe is hinting that Nature Interpretation is my calling, but even if I don’t make a career of it, this course has taught me ‘gifts’ that I can continue to use in daily life. There are three gifts that I think made an impact on me in this course:

The gift of provocation: If people can see how much you are passionate about something, it leads by example and they can get inspired as well. Not only as a nature interpreter, but as an environmentalist, I hope that my passion for things will generate a spark of interest in others to get them interested in the things I talk about

The gift of targeted programs: Interpreting for different groups (like different age groups) should change the approach you take with delivering information. Outside of nature interpretation, I will put more conscious of tailoring my conversations to the individual. Not that I think I didn’t do so before, but reading this gift brought me more awareness to it. This also ties into the concept of invisible backpacks, and acknowledging that the experiences I have are exclusive to me, and not everyone has the same privileges.

The gift of professionalism: Interpretation takes practice, and you need background knowledge before you can develop your own style. Some people are afraid of public speaking, and a public speaking ability comes with practice. Throughout the semester I have developed a better understanding of my interpretation style (as I had never done it before), and have learned some new skills for public speaking, something I am still terrible at.

I think the three gifts you highlighted were some of the most interesting to me as well. I really resonate with the gift of provocation, and I think we all truly hope that we can inspire others to care about the things we are passionate about. This is still something I have to learn how to do effectively without seeming like I’m trying to push something onto someone. I also really liked how you tied the gift of targeted programs to privilege - this is something that I never thought to connect before, but it seems so obvious now that you’ve pointed it out.

Oh man if theres one thing  I think we can all relate to its not knowing what we are going to do with our futures. I am only in third year but the amount of nostalgia I feel after each event keeps growing. I can’t help but thinking I only have one more HOCO left or one more halloween with all of my Guelph friends. I think the best way to get over that sadness is to find something you are excited for in the  future... Hard to do when we don’t know. But not knowing is exciting to because we will get to try anything and everything we want. I’ve been toying with ideas of law school, interpretation and research, but to be honest I still have no clue at all!

Luckily even if we don't end up being interpreters the things you've gained from the course can be applied and used for the rest of lives especially the 3 you mention. The gift of provocation keeps our lives and what we do interesting, it pushes boundaries and gets rid of the dull. The gift of targeted audiences teaches how every different person has different needs that we can be more in tune with. And the gift of professionalism reminds how we should carry ourselves through out our lives. 

I hope that no matter where you end up you can keep adding skills to your resume of life and enjoy the whole thing.

Nice blogs this semester,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Great post. I can surprisingly relate to almost everything you mentioned in this post. Experience based learning is definitely the best way to learn for me. It’s the most core, primal root of learning. It’s the way infants develop into toddlers and then into adolescents, it’s almost like when we become adults we stop using this type of learning strategy. Funnily enough I learned through experience in an intense mountain biking incident too! When I was 13 my dad made a mistake on a school trip waiver form and accidentally signed me up for advanced mountain biking. When I got there I realized too late when I was forced to bike off my first jump. It was terrifying, I ended the trip covered in bruises and cuts from all my falls, but now I love mountain biking and its my favourite way to get outside. 

I agree that challenge is important (and I touch on it in my blog this week) but the one aspect I slightly disagree with is I often wonder how much is it our place to push others to that challenge. Ideally, we all challenge ourselves to our own limits, sometimes the most we can do is to encourage people to try.

I really related to your injury recovery. I am currently dealing with chronic pain in my right foot and it can be so discouraging not being able to do what I want (I had to say no back country camping trip this month and give up an opportunity to teach dance at the school this year). Its nice to see that there is light at the end of the tunnel because it really can feel like I’m going nowhere with this injury. And in the end can help us relate to people in a new light.

Nice blogs this year, 

The Greenhouse Jane’s Walk was a brilliant example of effective interpretation; the experience was engaging, informative and impactful, offering the gifts of a spark, revelation and story.

The gift of a spark requires capturing and maintaining audience interest. Such criteria necessitate both an enticing hook and an aspect of familiarity. In other words, a spark requires the creation of an environment in which new information, ideas and endeavours are shared in a way that is meaningful and significant for the audience. I found the order in which we were taken through the greenhouses facilitated this “catching” and maintaining of audience interest. The tropical greenhouse was the first greenhouse we were shown, with its vibrant orchids, unfurling palms and vastly different vegetation from what we typically see growing in our surroundings, these strange yet unique plants were an effective ‘hook.’ Subsequently, creating time for the audience to independently explore the area promoted curiosity and thus maintained interest.

The gift of revelation involves connecting physical objects with associated concepts and intangible ideas; in this case, the greenhouses and the vegetation they housed, with the notions of conservation and sustainability. Similar to the way in which a spark needs to be enticing, the physical objects/raw materials need to be attention-grabbing and relevant. The human brain is biased in what is tends to focus on, namely it is inclined towards high contrast stimuli and novelty. The vegetation found inside the greenhouse stood in stark disposition to that which was found on the other side of the glass. Moreover, having never traveled to a tropical location myself, most of the vegetation I saw growing in the greenhouses were unlike any species I had ever directly come in contact with. Thus, the high contrast and novel qualities needed of the raw material was clearly apparent. Another important consideration when offering the gift of revelation is to aid in the creation of episodic memory, the remembering of experiences. Research has proven that this episodic memory, is more conducive to individuals forging their own conceptual associations. Variables that aid in episodic memory are (1) repeated exposure, (2) relation to the individual, and (3) engagement with the content. In the last greenhouse Guide Kenzie engaged the audience by first calling upon individuals to share what they had for breakfast. The guide then informed us of what she had eaten. A map was then passed around indicating where all these products were from and where they were being sent to. It was further explained how the import and export of foodstuffs increases GHG emissions and can often be politically/economically dependent on who does/does not have power. Growing food resources in greenhouses was then suggested as a viable solution. Breakfast is a tangible that I, likely along with my classmates, have had repeated exposure to and are very familiar with. This familiar practice of eating breakfast was connected to a tangible structure, the greenhouse, and subsequently, through the use of a map, the utility of greenhouses for conservation and sustainability were revealed. Therefore, this experience was made to be highly memorable and as such, expertly offered the gift of revelation.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/uofguelph/39892460845/in/photostream/

Lastly, the gift of story was bestowed upon the audience when learning about the history of greenhouses on campus. While standing in the Rutherford Conservatory (present moment), limestone that formed the foundation of the raised bed was told to be directly from the original greenhouse (past moment). Furthermore, the greenhouse hours of operation were offered, thereby promoting continued and future use. As Terry Tempest Williams states in Gifts of Interpretation, “story is the umbilical cord that connects past, present and future.” The Greenhouse walk clearly highlighted this time-space continuum.

One of my favourite things to learn about during research for this walk was the limestone too. It really helps connect the greenhouses to the rest of our campus and the earth around us. The quote you included about the “time-space continuum” really puts into perspective the caliber the information we can provide people sometimes. 

So a common struggle I find for myself when I go out hiking, is packing the right amount and kind of food. I am a big foodie, I love eating good healthy food and am a sucker for dark chocolate. So this week I’ll be going over, the foods I like to bring while I’m outdoors, whether it’s on a day hike or a weekend camp trip.

(My mom and I eating some yummy mac and cheese while camping)

While hiking or camping you would probably bring different food compared to if you were staying in a hotel! While spending a day or weekend outdoors you want food that is easy to pack, doesn’t need a lot of refrigeration, while also providing you with the protein and vitamins you need! Another thing to keep in mind is the duration of your time outdoors, you want to be sure you have enough food to sustain yourself for that whole time. Plus a little extra never hurts, you can never be too safe in the event that possibly get lost!

So now let’s get into the good stuff…. THE FOOD!

Usually when I go out on a hike my favourite go to snack is trail mix, funny enough I am usually on a trail when eating this! Trail mix is a great source of protein with all those nuts. The fruit and dark chocolate (if you choose to put it in) are a great source of sweetness to give you that extra boost! Trail mix is really easy to carry in a jar or container. Fruit is also my go to when going for a day hike especially apples or oranges, you don’t have to worry about them getting too squishy in your bag. Finally, granola bars are a great quick snack to bring that are really good for an energy boost!

Next up I’ll go into some great camping snacks and meals! Now this obviously depends on what you will be bringing to cook food on so I’ll try and keep it simple by just sticking with a fire.

So let’s talk breakfast, probably my favourite meal of the day! While camping my favourite breakfast food is overnight oatmeal, its easy to pack and you can pretty much put anything in it! I always do a good mix of peanut butter, banana, and some pumpkin or chia seeds and then add milk. Bagels or toast are also really great breakfast meals with peanut butter or cream cheese on it. 

Next up, lunch! For this one you could always go with the old fashioned sandwich, you can never go wrong with some yummy cheese, ham, avocado, spinach and tomato. But if you want to mix it up, quinoa is a really delicious lunch time snack as well! I like to add tomato’s, cucumber, feta, and olives and some chicken, with a little bit of Greek dressing! 

Alright, now its time for dinner, with this meal it can really be anything that can easily be packed, and is mainly up to your preferences, like all the other things I mentioned above. Usually, I will bring something warm like chili or a stew, you can just warm it up in a pot on the fire. Hamburgers are also a really great dinner. These are all fairly easy to make or easy to prepare before your trip!

Since this blog post was on food, it is also really important to mention the idea of leaving no trace. Sometimes the food we bring can come in packaging, so it is important to ensure all the packaging is thrown out and not left lying around. Try prepping your food before hand and bringing it in containers or jars! Another side of leave no trace that people often forget is the fire that the food was cooked on. It is ideal to leave as little disturbance to the areas you visited and that means being sure to properly put out your fire by dumping water on it or sand!

I hope this helped you realize that the food you bring outdoors doesn’t always have to be really bland simple food, it can really be anything as long as you have the proper equipment to cook it and prepare ahead of time! 

Forests cover about 30% of our planet, and provide our planet with so many important things: our air that we breathe, a place to rest, and a home to our flora and fauna. There is so much diversity in forests, and we often forget how interesting the complexity of trees can be. Trees, although quiet and solitary, are buzzing with life and energy, and perform amazing feats for survival! The inability to move does not stop trees from getting crafty in order to survive and reproduce, and there is always so much to learn from them. From the massive redwoods and baobabs, to the slender but beautiful birch, there is much to love about trees, and the amazing things they do for us. 

Without further ado, here are 5 AMAZING things about trees you probably didn’t know about:

1. Trees communicate with eachother.

A boreal forest in Lake Clarke. Note the pattern of evergreen greens, scattered among the deciduous trees. Retrieved from the U.S National Park Service website. https://www.nps.gov/lacl/learn/nature/forests.htm

In The Hidden Life of Trees, German forester Peter Wohlleben describes a new and controversial concept that is growing substantially in the scientific community: that trees are constantly communicating with eachother. He looks at the interactions between tree species, and how they individually fight for survival in a forest stand. By identifying these interactions, he has created the idea that trees simultaneously work together with their own species, as well as cooperating with trees of other species! He relates this interaction to that of an insect colony: by emitting chemical signals to other trees through their roots and underground fungal networks, trees can communicate danger, can facilitate growth and can protect eachother in times of drought and disease. Check out this article by the Smithsonian, which looks at this amazing interaction and Wohlleben’s novel!

2. Trees can clone themselves.

A trembling aspen stand in Zion National Park. Are they all separate aspens, or just clones of one adult? Retrieved from Flickr - photo by Zion National Park. https://www.flickr.com/photos/zionnps/5205494244

Trembling aspen, the iconic tree that resembles “jazz hands” as the wind blows through its leaves, is actually a professional of colonizing land! The trembling aspen forms ‘root suckers’: root extensions off of the main root system of the adult tree, which shoot up from the earth to grow into new aspen trees. This way, they can create large populations in a new environment quickly and efficiently, as a form of asexual reproduction. Each separate shoot will have an identical genome to the plant that it grew from. So, when you see a large trembling aspen, look out for neighbouring aspens, who may actually be clones, a product of the adult! Aspens are not the only trees that can do this, as beech, birch and dogwood can also propagate themselves in this way. 

3. Growth rings are able to take us back to the past.

Looking at the cross-section of a bald cypress tree from Northern California allows us to see which years had plentiful nutrients and water for the tree, and which years may have had drought. Retrieved from Flickr. Photo by James St. John. https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/38675652474

As kids, we all learned that to find out the age of a tree, we take a cross-section of its trunk, and count the rings. Then, I have no doubt, we all spend a considerable time trying to count the hundreds and hundreds of tiny rings on a stump, to no avail. Well, by looking at the growth rings of an old tree, we can not only tell how old the tree is, but also its history, and the history of the environment it lived in! By looking at the size of the growth rings, you can determine whether or not a tree had a ‘good year’ - one with plenty of rain, nutrients and sunlight or a ‘bad year’ - one likely with drought. A big ring indicates a good year (lots of growth), and a small ring indicates a bad year (little growth!). Not only that, but recent scientific research is looking at the chemical compounds within each ring to see what the environment was like during a particular year. For example, the Tipuana tree in Brazil is being used as a marker of atmospheric pollution, as its roots absorb heavy metals that are present in the atmosphere, transporting these compounds to the wood of its growth rings. By looking at growth rings of the past 50 years, you can rewrite the story of the surrounding pollution in those years!

4. Some trees are not that tall, and not trees at all.

A ground pine, hiding under the shade of a tall tree. Behind it, you see many other shoots of the same ground pine plant poking up from the undergrowth. Retrieved from Flickr. Photo by Dendroica cerulea. https://www.flickr.com/photos/dendroica/

Club mosses sure look like tiny trees, don’t they? Well, it’s because in an essence, they are. These plants have a similar function to vines; the plant creeps along the ground, shooting up small, tree-like leaves up towards the sky to reach sunlight. By doing this, the plant creates a mat, or mini-forest, along the forest floor. Even though they are not considered trees, early lycophytes (which were the descendants of clubmoss) formed the oldest group of forest-forming trees in the Carboniferous era. So, although club moss are not trees themselves, they evolved from early trees and have still kept similar function to forests, just on the forest floor!

5. Although trees may look small, they can be old, and strong. 

Foxtail pine growing in Sequoia National Park. This photo was taken before the treeline (which is where trees can no longer grow due to extreme weather and altitude). Note how dispersed the trees are, and so small! Received from the U.S National Park Service website. https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/nature/subalpine-forests.htm

In a subalpine ecosystem, life grows differently. Once you reach altitudes where snow, rain and cold is prevalent, life is not able to grow the same as if you were lower in altitude. Trees in these biomes are adapted to these extreme weather conditions, and have evolved some amazing survival techniques! Krummholz trees, also known as dwarf trees, are trees that live above the treeline, which is the highest point at which trees can grow. These trees are smaller than most trees, and misshapen, but are the same species as the ones growing lower than the treeline. This shows how far a tree will go to survive, and will even risk death in adverse conditions to grow! Since northern, subalpine forest communities are often never disturbed, we can still see old-growth forests today. However, these forests are threatened by climate change, as the trees thrive in cold conditions, and are susceptible to change.

5 AMAZING things about trees just barely touches on all the incredible adaptations and functions trees have. The most amazing things in nature may not be the most spectacular views or the weirdest animals. They can be the things we see in our day-to-day lives, like our forests! 

They way you talked about trees in the beginning especially connected with me, specifically about redwoods and baobabs. There’s just something about seeing something so tall that isn’t made by people. When I was living in Australia, I went to visit King’s Park in Perth, which is a big botanical garden that overlooks the city. There, they have a massive boab tree (which is in the same genus as the baobab). The story behind it was amazing. It was standing in an area that was set to be developed, so to save it, they ended up trucking it down from the Kimberly to Perth. It was a really delicate job that garnered a lot of media attention. According to the (interpretive) sign in the park, people were out lining the streets to watch this tree get moved, and a lot of people were invested in its success.

This blog post prompt is very exciting because I’ve been passionate and fascinated about music my entire life. Over the past couple of years I’ve really taken a liking to analyzing and discussing certain soundtracks in various types of medias. To tell a story effectively you must have skill, but to convey emotions and feelings using only music, you must be a master. Music doesn’t have to be something that has a distinguishable pattern, it can seem completely random or disjointed. Music is all around us in the natural world, we just have to take a moment to listen for it once in a while. For example, the chirping birds, the babbling brook, and the crackling leaves all create a very unique and personal sound to everyone that hears them; this is a form of music.

In the lab this week we were fortunate enough to create our own song about the essence of nature, about how different elements of the natural world sound to us. It was very interesting when we were asked to think of songs that remind us of nature, and two for me are “Wildflowers” by Tom Petty, and “Summer” by John Denver. Both have lyrics that describe different feelings and emotions connected with physical things in nature. Using lyrics that talk about different aspects of nature allow the listener to easily imagine all of those elements of nature the singer is talking about. The lyrics within the song performed by those artists allow the listener to translate the music into nature.

On the opposite side of that question, “where is nature in music?”, I really enjoy listening to pieces of music and looking at the different instruments. I like how instruments can represent different sounds we hear in nature, because of the sound they make or the tempo of the song. Another aspect of it is instruments can make you feel such a strong emotion that it transports you to a place or a memory instantly. One of these songs is a piano piece by the composer Kashiwa Daisuke called “Greenery Rain”. (Please listen to it while reading the next section because it makes a bit more sense. The numbers are timestamps to the YouTube video.)

The song is meant to represent a rainstorm. At 0:00 It starts off with a few notes that are higher notes which represent the few drops of the start of a rainstorm, then it turns to a light but steady melody which is the start of the steady rainstorm. At 0:23 it pauses very briefly before heading into a rushing onslaught of notes with more and more heavy lower notes to express the sheets of rain coming down. This heaviness of sheets of rain continue until 1:19 where there are very harsh and abrupt lower chords, symbolizing the crashing of thunder. From here I like to hear the constant runs of the piano and picture absolute chaos, with the wind whipping the trees, the rain pouring down in sheets, and the sky constantly cracking with thunder. Finally this starts to slow down around 2:15 and the song returns the listeners to higher notes that are more sparse and flighty, signalling that the thunderstorm has stopped and is coming to a close. Right at 2:22 listen to how few the notes are and how high they are. This to me represents that the rain has stopped all together but I can picture the sunlight shining on water droplets that are falling off leaves ever so gently. And with this, the storm is over.

Songs like this can only come from someone who is a master composer. The instruments, and tempo of the song, and even how lightly or harshly they play a certain note, allows the listener to create their own representation of what the song means. The composer has truly given us, the audience, the nature in music.

Beauty is a peculiar thing. The meaning of beauty – the exact definition – is different from individual to individual. Within an individual the definition of beauty is ever changing, and grows and develops with our perception on life.

The Journey

The longest, most exciting journey you will ever take is the one that will change your perception on beauty the most. This is the journey we refer to as life. From the day we are born until the day we take our final breath our perception of beauty will mold and change.

At a young age beauty is often found in anything. Anything with bright colours, or in anything kind. Children seem to have the most wholesome view on beauty. The world itself is full of colour, sounds, and the exploration waiting to be done – it is vast and undiscovered, making it all the more beautiful.

As we grow our view on what beauty is often becomes muddled. Around this age the natural world often becomes more beautiful as a place of freedom, and a place to express ourselves. At this stage we may still appreciate the visuals of a beautiful nature scene, but deeper meaning can sometimes be lacking.

Now we get to life as adults. For myself, nature has become more than just a place to look at the scenery, or a place that represents freedom, but now it is a place of calming. For me, there is nothing more beautiful than being able to be in nature, with no time restraints, forgetting about the stresses and worries of my young-adult life. This is where I am now in my life, and until the next chapter I cannot begin to imagine how my views will change.

The Interpreters Goal

As a nature interpreter, the concept of beauty is necessary in helping others appreciate the details of nature that inspire you. A part of knowing your audience, however, is knowing that each person’s perception of beauty may be significantly different. What evokes awe in one may simply be brushed past by another. So, do you simply try to change somebody’s mind on what beauty is and is not? This would likely not be a very effective approach.

To guide people towards finding beauty in all natural things, an interpreter must put meaning in the details of that place or thing. For example, if a group of people were being guided through a marshy trail on an interpretive walk, some individuals might consider the surroundings to be rather gross. They might view the marsh as something wet, dirty, and host to many undesirable insects and frogs. If a nature interpreter is able to describe some of the history of that area, it may suddenly be much more substantial of a thing. Rather than just being a wet, dirty, natural place, this marsh will become a long standing, highly adapted habitat to many unique species that would not be able to thrive anywhere else. Pointing out the uniqueness of some of the plants able to thrive in this consistently wet environment, and what makes them able to do so, may give meaning to an audience. These trees are not simply trees, but highly adapted organisms that have fought and evolved to be able to thrive here. Knowing this bit of background information could change somebody’s outlook on that environment. This shift in perspective may nudge them along the path of finding beauty in this natural environment that, in some cases, does not follow the conventional notion of beauty.

Who am I to interpret nature through art?

Like many works of art, nature can be complex, and the underlying meaning of a landscape can be hidden from an audience. I personally have had the opportunity to attempt to learn what makes art beautiful, and ultimately the principles of design resonate throughout nature. Texture, colour, and rhythm can be found out in the natural world, and much of what we have learned about art can be stemmed from what we first had to learn from the natural environment. I find it hard to think about interpreting nature through art, simply because nature is a form of art. So, why would I have to even consider the idea of interpreting art through art? This is simply interpreting art.

I do not have any more right than the next person to be doing such interpretation. Aside from guidelines put in place for interpreting through this course, and it’s text, I have no more reason than the next person to get up and tell a crowd of people what natural beauty lies before them.

I am very glad that this week we have a free for all blog post because I have a lot on my mind between school, my home life, the news, and thinking about the future. I have been looking at my calendar and assignments and feeling the pressure as time goes on and due dates get closer. I love my family dearly, but Thanksgiving tends to be a stressful day when you have a schedule you need to stick to. Today was a very warm day. The high was 26 degrees Celsius which is odd for a week that was so cold and wet. With the weather being odd, I couldn’t help think of the news released by the UN. This news is stress inducing, especially when you’re like myself and have little control over political decisions such as those which would mitigate the effects of climate change. 

I was feeling very stressed, but I went for a walk through Riverside park by myself and I now feel much more calm and relaxed. That made me think that my blog post should be about nature mediation because I’m sure many individuals like myself could use it if they don’t already know about it. Here is a link to more information about Riverside Park if anyone wants to check it out and hasn’t been already: https://guelph.ca/venue/riverside-park/ .

(Riverside Park, October 10th, 2018)

(Riverside Park, October 10th, 2018)

What is mediation? Mediation is an activity that individuals use to clear their mind and achieve a state of peace. One can mediate using breathing techniques, music, and visual aids to focus on a particular thing and let everything else bothering them ‘slip away’. When I was reflecting today in the park, I was thinking that nature mediation could be an excellent way for nature interpreters to reach out to the general public and get them more involved with nature. Looking online, I found this primary research article that discusses the benefits of being in nature! I believe that if the general public knew about these benefits they’d be outdoors more. I suppose that as nature interpreters, it is essential that we communicate the benefits of nature to the general public to get them more invested in nature. There are on campus nature walks such as on Wednesdays, there is a walk at 12:15 pm at the Arboretum that is open to the public. 

(https://www.facebook.com/uogarboretum/photos/a.400427158176/10155903144873177/?type=3&theater) 

As a resident of Guelph, I have not seen any other nature walks organized in the city like the Arboretum noon hour walk. I’m not sure what organization in the City of Guelph would be responsible for this kind of activity, but I would be interested in emailing them and organizing a weekly nature walk. I am sure that organized nature walks would also be beneficial for other residents of the City of Guelph because stress isn’t only limited to university/college students.

With midterms coming up, I’d like to know how my fellow classmates combat stress. I’m open to other stress dealing strategies as well!

let me break that down….. 

I am right there with you in terms of feeling the pressure of deadlines, so many seem to be coming up this week, and I’m looking at each of my assignments and saying i will not be able to get this all done, but some way somehow it does. So trust in that I would say, one way or another you will get what you need to get done! 

The news on dealing with climate change is also a slight stress inducer for me too! However, I wouldn’t necessarily say that you are hopeless in doing somethig about it. I mean I’m still trying to figure that out myself, ut maybe get a little more info on specifically environmental politics and seen if there is any organization you could get involved in that works to combat this, or maybe even start a kind of petition. You are only as powerless as you make yourself be!

Meditating in nature is also something that keeps me sain. I have not been to riverside park yet, but I heard it is beautiful, and looks beautiful based on your pictures. MY go to place is usually the arboretum or down by speed river. I always like being near water because the sound of the flowing water I find slows down my breathing to a more normal phase and almost washes away the stress. My destressers are mainly waks in these beautiful places or a nice morning yoga class or workout really, simply refreshes my brain ! 

Goodluck with all those due dates !

I understand the hopelessness you can feel when it comes to current climate issues. But I think there is a lot of things we can do about climate in our everyday lives to help combat these issues. I’ve been noticing lately (mainly on twitter) people in fear of climate change post UN announcement and are putting all the blame and need for change on big companies. Yes, these companies do play a massive role in green house gas emissions but it takes the blame off of us and into the hands of unreliable companies. If more people put that blame on themselves and make a few small lifestyle changes we can see change in the climate!! To not overly stress myself out about climate change I take a degree of peace knowing I have done some of my part. 

Politically it can feel like theres nothing we can do ( I can understand the last election didn’t go the way I wanted). Luckily, we live in a democratic country which is a true blessing we just need more people to take advantage of this. Everyone should vote, when worried about the environment we should especially vote in municipal elections (which are often forgotten). Although not as flashy as federal and provincial elections municipal plays a big role in environment. Controlling land use laws, rate of developments, water resources and more that impact our environmental services. 

So don't stress too much, knowing that you are searching for answers and justice and that makes 1 more person fighting this worthy battle. And like Steph said above “You are only as powerless as you make yourself”, we all have a lot of power and that is something I can relax knowing. 

One of the most fundamental aspects of survival is the ability to learn. Regardless of the species, the young learn from their parents or environments how to operate successfully to survive. They learn in order to understand their place in the world, and this becomes inherently important in the human context. Our individual survival is based on learning yes, but it is also important to consider something far more important, beyond the scale of the individual. The survival of our cultures and society are based off of our ability to learn from the past.

This concept can be inferred from Edward Hyams’ quote in chapter 7 of The Gifts of Interpretation,

“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.”

The analogy of the train station is an important device used here. The past may be over in a physical sense, but it did happen at one point. And because of this, it can never have not happened, and therefore shall always exist regardless of who remembers it. Memory however, is where the importance of learning from our past comes into play.

To follow in the footsteps of Hyams, I will use an analogy of my own. Imagine human history as a book. It is a very dense book filled with stories of progress, triumph, and advancement of human society, however it also contains some very dark chapters. If we forced every person on earth to read this book, they would be exposed to this darkness, and the majority of people would be unsettled or disturbed, wondering how we as a species could commit acts that cruel. This example is parallel with the real world education about wars, genocide, and other stark realisms of human history. It is taught to us to allow us to understand why the world is as it is today, and to remember what happened so that similar atrocities can be avoided. The past is the past, but it is what shaped the present, and what will shape the future as the present today becomes the past of tomorrow.

(Allied prisoner of war cemetery, Kanchanaburi, Thailand, January 2017).