Week 10: How Nature Interpretation Shaped my Life
   I canât believe our semester is already coming to an end. It has been such a pleasure chatting and sharing personal experiences with you guys within this course! I cannot wait to read your posts and see how this course has shaped each of you as nature interpreters.Â
   I feel as if I have developed a more profound understanding of nature interpretation, especially within the luminosity it brings to life. I also feel as though many of us need to be held accountable for our privilege and the beauty we have surrounding us that goes unrecognized and gets mistreated. Privilege represents itself in many forms, but most cannot recognize it when they have it; most carry it in an âinvisible backpackâ (Hookyaas, Unit 3). I believe that recognizing that privilege within yourself and representing it through a positive light is very important. From personal experience, when I catch myself acting privileged, I usually have a moment of reflection or âawe.â Awe defines being âelicited especially by nature, art, and impressive individuals or featsâ (Beck et al. 2018). In other words, I usually take a moment to reflect on how poorly I acted in a situation and how I can be kinder towards myself, others and nature in the future. In regards to respect for the future of nature, reducing oneâs ecological footprint is vital (i.e. not littering, not leaving the water running, not leaving the car running when not in use, etc.). All of these situations are acts of privilege, and if I have learned anything from this course, it is to recognize privilege so nature can benefit. If I want to continue enjoying beautiful sunsets by the beach with my family and adventurous hikes with my friends, I need to be a part of the worldâs change as a nature interpreter.Â
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   From a general aspect, many of us have access to tools via nature interpretation, whether that be through music, history, science, scenario-planning, and the list goes on. However, in my opinion, before taking this course, I do not believe that I was able to grasp the efficiency when using these tools to help interpret nature in independent aspects. Anyone else feel a similar way?
   As a nature interpreter, my beliefs involve continuing to be kind to nature, the same way it is to us. I want to emphasize how important it is to be a part of the movements towards creating systems for a sustainable earth. A few examples (as I have previously mentioned some already) include minor things like recycling, saving electricity and/or water. However, some movements are slightly more prominent. Such as educating yourself on the earthâs global climate change and how things such as the physics of greenhouse gases affect our climate. I believe that consistent upkeep with worldwide trends is essential for practical help. Therefore I have posted a link below to a fantastic book I came across - the material covers many philosophical ideas regarding the fields of the Earthâs system and action towards global sustainability (Turner, 2018).Â
LINK â http://web.a.ebscohost.com.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=cddcafe2-79ed-4e1f-b11d-0e3687bde43d%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=1801551&db=e000xna (Turner, 2018)Â
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   My responsibility as a nature interpreter is to respect natureâs boundaries while growing my enthusiasm and admiration. According to Beck et al. (2018), one must strive to embrace the wonder and beauty of life and then share that with others. Whether the experiences be your own or others, sharing nature experiences is an essential part of nature interpretation. The beauty that comes from sharing experiences is two things. The first is to share your experiences with others, meaning you embarked upon an exciting moment in which you felt amused. The second is to listen to othersâ experiences and learn from their moments and the beauty behind them. Interpretation is all about the involvement of people and their experiences (Beck et al. 2018).Â
   I believe my most assertive approaches as a nature interpreter are nature within music and scenario-planning. To me, music is nature, and nature is music - there is no more straightforward way for me to word that (Hookyaas, Unit 7). When I am listening to music, and when I am nature, I figure out who I am. Therefore placing those both together feels as though I am in complete serenity. Whether I am in the company of myself or others, the vibes I feel in nature are immaculate, and the energy is unmatched to anything else I have felt in my life. Now, as for scenario-planning, that is the approach of recognizing nature as art. Itâs about the appreciation for the gift of beauty and everyoneâs life as a form of art - mine, yours, the trees, the bugs, everything (Hookyaas, Unit 4). I relate to scenario-planning because I believe that life is a form of art and that nature can paint beautiful paintings within it.Â
   After taking this course, as an individual, I want to live life as an environmental activist. The main goal of eco-activists is to raise public awareness of demanding and critical governmental and corporate responses to ongoing environmental damage (Heyes & King, 2018). This course has helped me educate myself within nature and has hit me with the brutal reality check of many ways to improve my own routine to support the planet actively. I am sure I cannot be the only one looking to educate themselves regarding nature activism further. Therefore, I have also posted a second link below to a news website called âThe Conversation.â This link leads to several news articles related to environmental activism - if anyone wanted to read a bit about the worldâs needs (The Conversation, 2021)! :)Â
LINK â https://theconversation.com/ca/topics/environmental-activism-3496Â (The Conversation, 2021)Â
My question for you guys â Have any of you ever felt utterly inspired by a moment in nature that has ever had you in a moment of âawe?â I would love to hear from you guys one last time! Thanks in advance :)Â
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   Overall, I feel I have gained some inspiration from this course, as I am sure many others have. Our reflections regarding nature interpreters are all going to be different. However, it excites me to know how many different young minds and perspectives are out there looking at nature in a new way, with a new light. I want to say thank you to all of you once again for interacting and sharing your thoughts and experiences with me over the semester. You guys have really helped make this one great course and fun in terms of blogging!
I wish you all the best in your futures!
Beck, L., Cable, T.T., & Knudson, D.M. (2018). Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage (First Edition). Sagamore-Venture Publishing LLC.Â
The Conversation. (2021). Articles on Environmental activism. URL: https://theconversation.com/ca/topics/environmental-activism-3496Â
Heyes, A., & King, B. (2018). Understanding the Organization of Green Activism: Sociological and Economic Perspectives. Sage Journals, 33(1), https://doi.org/10.1177/1086026618788859Â
Hooykaas, A. (2020). ENVS* 3000 Nature Interpretation Unit 4: Nature Interpretation through Art and Planning for âAllâ Scenarios. University of Guelph. URL: https://courselink.uoguelph.ca/d2l/le/content/666945/viewContent/2591221/ViewÂ
Hooykaas, A. (2020). ENVS* 3000 Nature Interpretation Unit 3: Risk versus Reward in Nature Interpretation. University of Guelph. URL:Â https://courselink.uoguelph.ca/d2l/le/content/666945/viewContent/2590559/ViewÂ
Hooykaas, A. (2020). ENVS* 3000 Nature Interpretation Unit 7: Nature Interpretation through Music. University of Guelph. URL:Â https://courselink.uoguelph.ca/d2l/le/content/666945/viewContent/2593375/ViewÂ
Turner, D. (2018). The Green Marble: Earth System Science and Global Sustainability. Columbia University Press.Â