Gabbing with Gaia

Hello all!

This final blog post was such an amazing way of reflecting on how this course has change the way I view nature interpretation, and how I approach the communication of information in general. I am definitely someone who learns best by doing, I like to touch things, or see them in action! I learned this during one of our first units, when discussing how to teach to the different learning types and the difference between tangible and intangible elements (Beck et al., 2018). The reason I am bringing this up again is one component of the prompt we were given: Describe your personal ethic as you develop as a nature interpreter. The answer to this is deeply entwined with the rest of the prompt, but I’ll return to that later. The biggest ethic I believe in when it comes to nature interpretation is that everyone deserves the opportunity to understand the nature that they are surrounded by. This does not mean that that we should all have access to the same free online resources, though it does help, but instead that we are all given the chance to learn in a way that aligns with our needs.

 *Photo taken by me of my two friends crossing a frozen lake in Garibaldi Park, BC*

I started a program at UoG in 2014, graduated with a general Science, and went to Fleming college for Arboriculture, before returning to UoG to upgrade my degree. I learned that all of the book-reading in the world won’t help me retain knowledge the way that listening to a respected instructor, or physically applying my knowledge does. If I had been taught this at a younger age, I might have approached my education differently. This is why I deeply believe that we need to expand public resources surrounding environmental education so that it is not only given to those who can afford a college education, or courses from a private institution. Physical learners need to be given attention just as their counterparts are: starting in early childhood and throughout their developmental years. We need to break down the stigma that those who don’t retain well from intangible learning aren’t smart.  

 *Photo taken by me during a mushroom hunt and information share with my coworker in Coquitlam, BC*

So many of the people that I know who are in outdoor or environmentally central trades/professions stumbled into it later in life, usually due to the many physical faucets that this field has. They are some of the most well-educated people I have ever met, without spending much time at all in a classroom! My beliefs within nature interpretation are that by focusing on diversifying teaching methods we are able to connect more people to our cause. Opening up learning to everyone, despite their location, background, financial position, abilities, or personal beliefs would create a wonderfully inclusive culture around one thing that every human being shares: a reliance on the environment.

*Photo taken by me of a coworker pruning trees in White Rock, BC*

Our responsibilities as nature interpreters are to make this inclusivity possible, to be open to conversing with people, showing them what we know, whether or not they hold the same views as us. We should not argue with anyone, or try to change their minds, because everyone comes to love this earth in their own way, from their own place, as discussed between David Suzuki and Richard Louv in the video we were provided (Suzuki and Louv, 2012). All we have to do is open the door, and hope that they walk through on their own.  

 *Photo taken by me of a coworker pruning a tree in Langley, BC*

I am an arborist by trade, which means that I climb trees in order to identify diseases or hazards within them, prune for aesthetics and/or safety, and am often involved in tree removal. I entered this trade from a place of environmental consciousness, believing I was going to become a “tree doctor”, who identified issues and fixed them, only removing living trees if it was absolutely necessary. This is not the reality of my profession. I have seen many more trees cut down for urban development or due to unwise planting decisions than I had anticipated when I first began my career. I realized early on that people don’t see the benefit in their trees, such as reduced energy bills due to shading their houses on hot days, the way that they act as a sound barrier for roadways, the decreased likelihood of lawn flooding due to their roots up-taking water, and so much more. All they see are extra leaves to rake off their lawns. My coworkers often don’t see trees, especially big ones, as living beings, but instead as a fun challenge to kill that you can brag about later.

*Photo taken by me of a coworker removing a tree in Surrey, BC* 

Through this course I’ve learned that we are all interpreters for each other, we’ve all seen and learned things that others haven’t. Sometimes by listening to other people’s experiences we learn about things we’ve never encountered, and sometimes our own piece of knowledge can help other’s connect the dots on how something works. At my job most of the people I work with don’t understand tree biology but have many more years of practical experience than I do. So when they remark on how a growth on a tree, that I probably never would have noticed, is “weird” or “cool”, I get the opportunity to explain the probably cause of it, and why the tree responds to certain stimuli the way it does. I hope that eventually this mutual enlightenment leads to a deeper appreciation for trees in both of us.

 *photo taken my me, of a cool tree graft found in Victoria, BC*

In conclusion, this course hasn’t changed the way I see nature, instead it has shown me different ways to communicate my own view with others, and the value of listening to their response. There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to learning or interpreting, and, since we are all both interpreters and students, we need to have patience with each other, and try to see through the eyes of others. Only through connection to each other can we communicate our passions.

*Photo of my dog and I frolicking in Tofino, BC*

My questions for you are: have you realized through this course that someone in your life was a nature interpreter for you, and you never noticed? How have you been an interpreter for others before this course, and will your methods change now that it’s over?

Thank you to all of my classmates and our instructors, you’ve all taught me so much this semester!

Katie the Treehugger

*Photo of my dog and I looking forward to our next adventure!*

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

Since deciding that I wanted to study animal behaviour in tenth grade, I’ve been pondering on how my career choice could contribute to society. I felt like a selfish person for going into a domain just because I found it fascinating and nothing else, especially since I considered animal behaviour as a field that brought no benefit to humans.

In eleventh grade, I took a psychology/sociology/anthropology introduction class in which my teacher introduced us to Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall. It was then that I learned that animal behaviour was a cornerstone of psychology.

Dian Fossey and Puck the gorilla.

For instance, by studying chimpanzees, Frans de Wall illustrated the importance of cooperation and reconciliation in social groups. His work provided new perspectives to ameliorate aggressive behaviour among humans (Nuzzo, 2005). 

Two monkeys reconciling.

Later in university, I would then learn that studying animal behaviour also helped in predicting how animals would react to environmental changes and stressors.

While I still felt like a selfish person for doing the things I liked, at least I was a selfish person with excuses. By studying animal behaviour, I was at least helping society in some way.

But if I hadn’t taken those classes in high school and university, how would I have learned about the ways that animal behaviour helped us?

Not every teen or young adult will take a psychology or nature conservation class. They’ll most likely register for what interests them the most, or only take classes required for their programs.

Similarly to children missing out on being outside and discovering the natural world due to safety concerns (Rodenburg, 2019), many people are missing out on animal behaviour, or may have developed misconceptions about it.

I then realized that on top of understanding how animals thought and acted, I wanted to share my passion with other people. I wanted them to understand what made animal behaviour so cool and important for our society. As an animal behaviourist, my responsibility would therefore be to study animal behaviour and find ways to share this knowledge with other people.

However, I face two main challenges.

First, I would need to find a way to reach as many people as possible. While I really enjoy designing posters, this form of interpretation is unlikely to be seen by a large audience. As a person who doesn’t really care for physics for example, it is highly unlikely for me to go out of my way and look up facts about physics, let alone informational posters.

A way to reach a larger audience could be through social media.

Every now and then, I’ll find myself scrolling through TikTok. It was then that I discovered @tallpsychology, a TikTok account created by a PhD student named Ethan. While Ethan shares many interesting research papers and consumer psychology facts with his viewers, his most popular videos are those that involve polls based off of psychology experiments. Viewers are encouraged to answer a poll before Ethan got the chance to explain what the original research topic was about. Once he had gotten the chance to see his audience’s answers, Ethan would then post a video to reflect on the poll’s results, and whether or not they were similar to those of the original paper.

The results of a poll created by Ethan @tallpsychology.

Ethan’s success on TikTok is due to his creative way of making his audience interact with his videos. This method is a good way to engage active learners, as viewers are given the chance to “try out” a psychology experiment for themselves.

To keep my audience from scrolling past whatever I release, I should invite them to interact with me or my content. If I wanted to make polls like Ethan, I could base them off of animal behaviour research, and compare my results to those obtained for experiments on chimpanzees or other animals. Perhaps I could also post my earlier-mentioned posters on social media for more people to see them.

I’ll admit, creating a platform isn’t something I see myself doing. But sometimes, you have to step out of your comfort zone to get what you want!

The second challenge involves the fact that I’m a massive cynic.

In my previous post, I described experiments designed to decipher the thought processes of monkeys. I only focused on experiments in which the monkeys revealed their questionable morality and selfishness rather than experiments discussing altruism and compassion. My specific areas of interest involve the thought that self-interest is the root of every living creature’s decisions and actions.  

For instance, altruism is defined as an animal’s behaviour that benefits other individuals at a cost to itself. While disadvantageous at the individual level, Charles Darwin argues that it is advantageous at the group level. Through altruism, species living in groups would then be able to give rise to future generations, also living in groups (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2013).

Ground squirrel sounding an alarm to warn others about an approaching enemy. By making noise, the animal risks attracting the predator to itself.

Some may disagree, but to me, behaving altruistically to guarantee the survival of your own species is kind of selfish. Any action performed by an organism can somehow lead back to self-interest. The only reason that one can perform good deeds is due to altruism being hardwired into them by evolution. The most altruistic groups of individuals survived, so their genes are going to give rise to even more altruistic groups of individuals.

My worry is that these views, while interesting to people like me, might be too dark or perhaps depressing for others (at times, they can be for me too). I don’t want to deter them from taking an interest in nature just because I believe that nothing is inherently good.

Perhaps I should find a way to explain the balance of good and bad in nature, rather than just focusing on the bad. I’m still working on a way to interpret this information to an audience without “turning them off”. This leads to my question to you:

Some facts about nature are kind of depressing. For instance, the survival of some animals involves the killing of others. As an interpreter, how would you paint the picture or present your information in a way that won’t have your audience leaving with bitter feelings?

References:

Biological altruism (Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy). (n.d.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/altruism-biological/

Nuzzo, R. (2005). Profile of Frans B. M. de Waal. PNAS. 102(32): 11137-11139.

Rodenburg, J. (2019). Why environmental educators shouldn’t give up hope. CLEARING. https://clearingmagazine.org/archives/14300

Image references:

Fossey and Puck: Dian Fossey. (n.d.). Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dian-Fossey

Monkeys Reconcile: de Waal, F. (n.d.). Transcript of “Moral behavior in animals”. TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/frans_de_waal_moral_behavior_in_animals/transcript?language=en

Poll Results: E. (2021, March 25). Twitter. https://twitter.com/tallpsychology/status/137522

“With language, we can ask, as can no other living being, those questions about who we are and why we are here. And this highly developed intellect means, surely, that we have a responsibility towards the other life forms of our plant, whose continued existence is threated by the thoughtless behaviour of our own human species.”

- Jane Goodall, Jane

        Over one thousand meters below the surface, where light cannot be found, and strange creatures lurk, lives an organism that does not eat, grows up to two metres in length, and has red blood flowing through its body…

Photo by Nico Smit on Unsplash

        The year was 1977, and near the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean, scientists had set out into the deep sea to find hydrothermal vents (Young, 2018). These vents form on the ocean floor at mid-ocean ridges, also known as spreading-ridges (National Geographic, 2013). Mid-ocean ridges form when tectonic plates spread apart, allowing magma to rise and cool as it touches the cold ocean water. Near these ridges, water may travel through cracks in the ocean floor. It is then super-heated by the magma below the earth’s surface, eventually reemerging from the surface as a vent (National Geographic, 2013). These vents release water that is over 320°C, hot enough to melt lead. As the ultra-hot hydrothermal fluid escapes from the vent, it interacts with the cold, oxygenated ocean water. This results in minerals from the hydrothermal fluid, such as sulfur, coming out of solution, and solidifying to produce metal-rich chimneys. These vents may take on different forms based on the minerals, temperatures, and flow rate of the fluid (National Geographic, 2013).

A deeper look at how hydrothermal vents are formed - Video by WORLD BOOK on YouTube

        The scientists found what they were looking for; they discovered the hydrothermal vents deep in the ocean that had never been seen. However, they found something else too. They discovered the wealth of life that existed in this hostile environment, and among it, colonies of Giant Tubeworms (Young, 2018). These tubeworms are only found near hydrothermal vents, in fact, they need them to survive (Fulton-Bennett & Dalit, 2017). When a hydrothermal vent stops flowing, as it sometimes does due to changes below the seafloor, an entire colony of giant tubeworms may die out. But not to worry, the larvae can colonize new hydrothermal vents that emerge hundreds of miles away (Fulton-Bennett & Dalit, 2017).

        So what are these strange creatures? Giant tubeworms, Riftia pachyptila, are marine invertebrates found on the Pacific Ocean floor (Young, 2018). They belong to the Siboglinidae family. These invertebrates grow up to two metres in length and are characterized by a white tube anchored to rocks, and a red plume-like structure at the top (Fulton-Bennett & Dalit, 2017). The red colour of the plume-like structure comes from the blood flowing through the worm that is transporting oxygen and minerals through the body (Young, 2018). However, what really makes this creature so strange is that it doesn’t eat. It has no mouth, or a gut, or a way to excrete its waste (Young, 2018).

A look at these strange creatures, Giant Tubeworms - Video by Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) on YouTube

        So how does the giant tubeworm live if it has no way of obtaining nutrients through food? Well, it gets its nutrients in a different way. By a process known as chemiosmosis which, unlike photosynthesis that converts sunlight into energy, converts chemicals into energy (Young, 2018). But the tubeworms themselves do not do this. Instead, they have a symbiotic relationship with bacteria that live in a part of their body known as the trophosome. The bacteria within the trophosome use hydrogen sulphide as an energy source. This hydrogen sulphide comes from the thermal vents, and passes through the red plume-like structure that acts as a lung to breathe it into the trophosome (Young, 2018). From there, the bacteria feed on the hydrogen sulphide, excreting sulfur and organic compounds that the giant tubeworm can use as energy. To protect its red plume-like structure, the tubeworm can quickly retract it when it senses a nearby creature (check out the video above to see this!) (Young, 2018).

Image by Natlaya Zahn on I Contain Multitudes

        Of course, this is only one of the many strange creatures that live among the ocean floor; others such as the Bobbit worm (Eunice aphroditois) or Wobbegongs (Orectolobidae) exist. Have you heard of any of these amazing creatures?

References Fulton-Bennett, K., & Dalit, M. (2017). Giant tubeworm. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. https://www.mbari.org/products/creature-feature/giant-tubeworms-landing-page/.

National Geographic. (2013). Deep sea hydrothermal vents. National Geographic Education. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/media/deep-sea-hydrothermal-vents/.

“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)

This quote sounds very much like something my grandpa would say. Actually, instead of saying “There is no peculiar merit in ancient things”, he would say “Another flipping ruin!” The “ruins” referred to the old manor houses, walled gardens, living museums, historical centres, and cathedrals that my grandma and I loved to go to. My grandpa has never really been interested in social history (he refused to come to Stonehenge with us) but he is a fountain of historical knowledge about anything to do with aeroplanes, trains, cars, buses, ships, tractors, ride-on lawn mowers, pipes, irrigation, and antique toys. He would definitely make a similar railway-related analogy as the original quote did; it was my grandpa who helped spark my love of trains which I wrote about in my last blog post, “On Track with Nature”.

Locomotive 6167 at Guelph Central Station. My grandpa and I went to visit this locomotive when he came to visit me in Guelph. Image from Guelph Museums, guelpmuseums.ca 

In fact, thinking about this quote and imagining my grandpa saying it has really helped me to unpack this quote and relate it to interpretation. My grandpa interprets lots of things to me by always having facts ready to share about the history of some form of transportation; it seems that most of my knowledge about railroad history comes from my grandpa. I love hearing his facts and anecdotes, because, like most interpreters, I believe it is important to learn about the historical context of something so you can appreciate it more, and develop a deeper understanding that you can share with others.

I also believe it is important that memories and stories are passed down, and that this really is at the core of interpretation. My grandparents were born in the early 1940s, and so their lives were deeply affected by the Second World War. My grandpa’s street was bombed during the war, and a bomb went off near his home, killing some families he knew well. My grandma would speak about the rationing during and after the war, and acknowledged that the habits engrained in her during this time never left her, even in old age.

Poster from the Second World War encouraging people to grow food in response to rationing and food shortages. Image from the Imperial War Museum, imw.org.uk . 

I knew from my grandma that rationing continued after the war, but I did not know that some items like meat were rationed until 1954, and that public parks were used to grow food (Imperial War Museum, n.d.). That is why it is so important to consider the history of an area when doing nature interpretation, the way a piece of land is used changes constantly. As well, people’s knowledge and memories of an area affect the way other people interact with that same area. For instance, I am not a religious or spiritual person, but when I have visited historic churches or cathedrals, I instinctively know to remove my hat, speak quietly, and show extra respect to the space. I know to do these things because I know that for many people, churches and other places of worship are sacred places that are deeply important to them, and I respect that.

A photo of Wells Cathedral, Wells, Somerset, UK. I visited Wells Cathedral with my family a few years ago, it is absolutely beautiful. Image from Wells Cathedral, wellscathedral.org.uk

My grandma went to church, but she also loved her garden. My grandpa may not like museums, but he’d stand out in pouring rain to see an interesting aeroplane or train go by. They are both whole, and part of a whole, with various parts scattered throughout time, but they have helped make me who I am, and in remembering them I am interpreting my own history.

References:

Guelph Museums. (n.d.). Locomotive 6167. Image. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://guelphmuseums.ca/venue/locomotive-6167/. 

 Imperial War Museum. (n.d.).  What You Need to Know About Rationing in the Second World War. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-you-need-to-know-about-rationing-in-the-second-world-war#:~:text=The%20end%20of%20the%20war,rationing%20ended%20completely%20in%201954.

Likely to boost the spirits of the citizens during World War II, letters my Pa and his sister wrote were published in the Evening Express in 1939, when my Pa was 9 years old.

Being stuck inside for most of the day and lack of adventure during this pandemic has really got me thinking about past thrills I experienced before all this began. I can remember feeling this way even at the beginning of the summer, having the longing for adventure since being in lockdown. Thankfully, some of my friends were feeling similarly, and one day we decided to pack up, escape the city for a weekend, and head to Algonquin.

Heading off for our weekend escape. Photo taken by Kayla Hutchison 

We ended up at Lake Opeongo that Friday afternoon. After the canoes had been loaded up, we set off for our weekend escape. I will never forget the canoe ride that brought us to our final destination. We would go from one site to the next, each time finding they had been already occupied. We would joke that we would end up sleeping in the middle of the lake in our canoes at that point. A few circles around the lake later, we finally claimed our camp spot on the other end of the lake, but not before we passed “Seagull Island.” It was intriguing and we knew we wanted to explore it, but it would have to wait for the following day as the sun was starting to set.

The next morning, we enjoyed our breakfast and coffee while staring out at Seagull Island in anticipation, waiting to go and explore it. We decided to make a full day of it, so we gathered up the stove, lunch, Spikeball, and sunscreen, and paddled off. As we drew closer to the island, we could clearly make out the shapes of circling seagulls above the trees. There were at least 6, and you could not miss hearing them as they were being quite vocal with their familiar seagull cries. 

Sunbathing on the flat rocks of Seagull Island. Photo taken by myself

We pulled up, and enjoyed laying on the flat rock with the warm sun on our faces. It was a very peaceful time, enjoying the sun, going out swimming, and truly appreciating the conversation between the four of us. However, we still could not ignore the presence of the seagulls or cut out the sounds they were making.

The nest we found on the island. Photo taken by myself

The two seagulls staring down at us. Photo taken by myself

It wasn’t until we started to get lunch ready that we came across this nest laying on the ground with this huge egg inside of it. Now things started to make sense. They were trying to distract us from the nest, and honestly it worked quite well. We looked up at the trees above and there in the branches were these two sets of seagull eyes staring down at us. We kept to the other side of the island while they kept up their intimidating circling.  We finally got the message and decided to head back to our campsite and relieve the stress these birds were feeling.

Sadly the weekend came to a close and we had to face the reality that we were going back to the world where the pandemic was a thing. Thankfully we were able to forget about the craziness back home, even if it was just a few days. As we paddled back, we couldn’t help but glance at seagull island and remember the day we got to enjoy there. We said “goodbye Seagull Island, we will miss you,” and knew that we must come back the following year to check on our new feathered friends. 

Our view of Seagull Island from our campsite. Photo taken by Kayla Hutchison

Thank you for reading my little story about Seagull Island. It seems a bit silly, but I am constantly thinking back to these fun stories and adventures I was able to take part in before online school began and restrictions got as tight as they are now. These memories help remind me that when this is all over, I will be able to continue going on these adventures, and I have these incredible people that I can talk with to remember these memories and plan to make new ones. 

What stories are coming to mind when you think back to times before isolation?

Our view from the campsite fire-pit! Photo Credit - Stephanie Jones 

Recently I started working on this project with a group of folks in Guelph, called F*ck Perfect. It works with you on a journey of self discovery and finding growth, or achieving whatever you want. They also break pre-existing notions set by society around art and perfectionism. We grow up feeling and learning that to do art, we need to be perfect, or the end goal is something perfect. It works towards breaking these notions and starting on a journey of creative risks.

Art Not Shame, Guelph- Fuck Perfect Workshops.

Ever since I started working on this workshop, I realized how many times when we are expected to do something, we try to be the best or feel like we failed. During lockdown (all the versions of it :D), I started working on a new type of art. I have done water-colour, acrylic, soft pastels, repairing jewellery, journalling, crochet, embroidery, craft, drawing, and what not! And every time I did something new, I would be too focussed on the end product- to make it beautiful and perfect. I never reflected on how the process made me feel, why was I doing it. By journalling for this workshop and later processing things, I realized that it was during the times that I was painting, I was processing my feelings with COVID-19, being isolated, struggling with work, and being burnt out. While I was stressing about making that piece perfect, I forgot about the fact that the process of making that piece of art (moving the brush on the canvas, needle on the cloth) was actually very therapeutic and was actually the best stress buster. 

The painting that I made through the university’s art stress buster series, December 2020- photo taken by me. 

Why am I talking about this when talking about nature interpretation? Something that I noticed while reading through multiple posts was folks fixation on “good art” by “great artists” can create feelings/connection with nature. I don’t think that is true. I think every small piece of art, made by anyone, can play a role in nature interpretation. While my favourite poem is by Oscar Wilde, I do enjoy the random rhymes that slip into conversations, and honestly its these rhymes and not poems by great poets that I remember with a smile on my face. I think every small piece of art- grainy/unfocused pictures, undeveloped music, a kid’s stick figure drawing, journal entry- literally anything that speaks to you, can be a great interpreter. You just have to allow yourself to appreciate it. 

As a way to incorporate this in my life, I took a little advice from my friend, and I no longer throw away art that does not look like what I wanted it to be. I used to call it mistakes, but now I just call them creative opportunities! I will paint over them or try to draw something with a black marker on them and integrate it together. Or, I just leave them as is, just cause they still remind me of the sunset I saw! Others might not see they same sunset as me, but I know what it means to me and what it remind me of. Hopefully, to others, it reminds them of something else they saw! In my small ways, I am fighting the urge to be perfect and embracing my imperfections. 

When hearing the word “privilege”, the definition that comes to my mind is a set of traits that allows an individual who possesses them to have specific advantages in life. One’s privilege can be determined by their race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, education, gender identity, age, and more (Media Smarts, 2014). Privilege can easily be taken for granted and can become normalized in environments such as schools (Gallavan, 2005). Therefore, it is critical that privilege is recognized as an advantage, and education systems are constructed around the idea that each student has a different set of privileges. This applies to interpretive programs as well.

Retrieved from : https://www.theantiracisteducator.com/post/the-anti-racist-educator-white-privilege-test

Before discussing how privilege relates to nature interpretation, I would like to reflect on my personal privileges. I am a white, I speak english, my family is middle class, I have a Canadian passport, I attend university, and I have two very supportive parents. I have never been deprived of clean water, heating, or a place to live. When reflecting on this, I recognize how fortunate I am. Both my grandparents are immigrants, they left Macedonia and came to Canada to find better living conditions. My grandma immigrated to Canada when she was 12 years old, and her life growing up was much different than mine. When she was in Macedonia, they had no access to running water or heating and she was forced to work on the farm from a very young age. When she arrived in Canada, she faced discrimination due to her accent and weak english proficiency. When comparing her experiences to mine, it is clear that I have been granted privileges that she never had access to. 

A photo of my Grandma and her friends at Woodbine beach, Toronto in 1957.

Peggy McIntosh describes privilege as an “invisible knapsack of unearned assets” (McIntosh in Noel, 2000, p. 116). When considering nature interpretation, privilege can quite literally be demonstrated by a knapsack full of expensive equipment. Money can buy you a nice tent, hiking shoes, a kevlar canoe, and a down sleeping bag. All of these items will make a camping experience much more comfortable and affect the experience you have with nature. One major factor that influences privilege is social class. If you are wealthy, you will likely have very different experiences with nature compared to someone who is less fortunate. For example, if you can afford a cottage or vacation home, you will have a drastically different interpretation of nature than someone who can only afford to connect with nature at their local city park. Therefore, privilege plays a major role in nature interpretation. Privilege can determine the experiences you have access to, who you share these experiences with, the places you can travel, and your level of comfort while doing so.  

My friend and I on a trail at Algonquin Park, photo taken by my mom.

My question to you: 

As interpreters, how can we enable all participants to have a similar experience regardless of their privilege?  

I think that one way we can achieve this is by having cheap transportation to provincial parks. There currently is a park bus that will transport people from the city to provincial parks. However, a one way ticket to Algonquin is $71. Most people who live on a strict budget cannot afford this. Another way that we can enable all participants to have a similar experience is by collecting donations of old or broken equipment and repairing them. These items can then be used by people who can’t afford to purchase their own camping equipment. There are many equipment rental programs in existence. However, like the park bus, they are quite pricey and not everybody can afford them. 

References: 

Gallavan, N. (2005). Helping teachers unpack their “invisible knapsacks.” Multicultural Education (San Francisco, Calif.), 13(1), 36.

McIntosh, P. (2000). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. In J. Noel’s (Ed.). Notable selections in multicultural education (pp. 115-120). Guilford, CT. Dushkin/ McGraw-Hill.

I loved your analogy that privilege is like camping gear. As a big fan of camping, I know how expensive it can get when you have to get new equipment. This definitely puts a boundary on who can participate, beyond pre-existing boundaries such as the physical distance and the ability to take time off for a vacation. I like your idea of collecting equipment to make camping more accessible for everyone. Camping really helped me develop my love for nature and its where I began to interpret nature in order to experience it more meaningfully.

Regarding your question about what we can do as interpreters to enable all participants to have a similar experience regardless of privilege, my answer is to get to know them. Having the same experience doesn’t always mean everyone has the same amount of fun but I think the best we can do as interpreters is to recognize everyone’s invisible backpack so we can consider what tools they carry. This would allow us as interpreters to develop experiences everyone can learn from and appreciate.

When describing an ideal environmental interpreter, I immediately think of an enthusiastic man named Peter who works at Shades Mill Conservation area. Throughout my academic years, starting from a very young age, each year my class would take a field trip to the conservation area, where we would meet up with Peter to do various nature activities and learn more about the local wildlife. Peter is a very passionate man who wishes to help people broaden their perspective of the world around them and deepen their understanding about how everything in nature is harmoniously connected. Whether it was learning about different insects or analyzing various animal tracks, Peter always had the class actively engaged.

My ideal role as an environmental interpreter would be hosting an art class outdoors by a beautiful scenic view. Each participant would have the opportunity to interpret and create a piece of art that truly speaks to them. I believe that establishing a connection to nature through art, allows one to see things they may have overlooked before and see the world from a different point of view. Art has always been an important component of my life as it allows me to just relax and take a minute to breathe. 

As an interpreter, I would help the perceiver to establish a sense of wonder and discover through exploration what that sense of wonder looks like to them as an individual. It is important to remember that everyone interprets and digests their surroundings in a unique way and as an interpreter I wish to encourage that uniqueness through the expression of art. If drawing an extremely detailed picture of a flowing river speaks to them, or messily throwing down paint onto a canvas to see what it will create speaks to them, then do it! 

As discussed within the textbook, an effective interpreter is able to use tangible elements - the growing plants, the running rivers and streams, and the lively wildlife - to create intangible meanings associated with these elements. David Larsen promoted this concept, noting that tangible objects and places are connected to intangible ideas, feelings and meanings (Beck et al., 2018). 

Photo taken from: https://www.liveabout.com/which-acrylic-paints-best-hot-climates-2577394

I certainly agree that passion is a vital element of meaningful interpretation. I have always loved art and find myself so often inspired by the environment around me. However, as a novice I often struggle to know where to begin. I’m sure this feeling of hesitation would be a common experience among a few. I know passionate interpreters such as you and Peter would be the difference between giving up or learning to explore nature in a new way.