Throughout the semester, our nature blogs that we have turned in at the end of each month have been very useful for me to understand the true environment behind the textbooks. It allowed me to really unplug from the fast pace world and sit in a quiet place with only nature that surrounds. I observed in places like Colorado, Wimberley Texas, and right here in Austin. When you truly exert yourself out of the technological world and come back to a similar way of living, even for an hour, it can be so relaxing and breathtaking. Its nice to realize that I still have my roots, back to the ways of the forests, even though sometimes it seems as if I am caught up in the modern world. Each was very different but had some same qualities. Something I noticed was that the noise pollution could be heard in each place I observed. It did not matter whether I was in Boulder Colorado up in the mountains or down at a creek next to the road in Texas. The sound of cars, planes and trains were heard even from thousands of feet away.
In difference, each place I observed, I always saw or heard something new. While I was in Colorado I was able to pick sage, see different plants grow and experience a view that was just beautiful. In Austin, I was lucky enough to observe seasonal changes down in Big Stacy Park. Throughout the months that I observed there, I was able to watch new plants be planted by the civilians, see flowers bloom, leaves fall, and even the creek go from dry to full. The vegetation is so amazing how it varies across the lands, different places of biodiversity among various species. That was my favorite part of the nature blog, being able to observe what type of animals are most seen in which places. I have always loved to observe and adventure, but this allowed me to tap into a different part of journaling.
Aldo Leopold inspired me by saying, “But wherever the truth may lie, this much is crystal-clear: our bigger-and-better society is now like a hypochondriac, so obsessed with its own economic health as to have lost the capacity to remain healthy… Nothing could be more salutary at this stage than a little healthy contempt for a plethora of material blessings.” (Leopold). This is so inspirational because although it was written a little while ago, it can still apply and describes us as humanity now. We have become so wrapped up in the health of the economy that we have forgotten to take care of ourselves, of nature as well. We are losing our own health to something that we have created, money, and it is taking over the world in a literal sense. We have lost the touch to nature, to call people ‘crazy’ who go amongst and live in the wild. For this has been categorized as a rare thing to do, even though people lived that way for thousands of years. Aldo Leopold truly understands what it means to be disconnected from and connected to nature.
I have written many words used to describe the way the place I resided in made me feel and what I observed. Many different experiences tapped into the ways I felt in certain places. During my Colorado nature blog I felt at ease and at such peace because it was a new place to explore and observe. You could smell the tree sap from the trees and the air felt so crisp and distinctive from the Texas air. While in Austin, I felt more sad than happy, I think this is because at points it made me despondent that Austin’s nature is so beautiful and we have torn so much of it down from industrialization. Whilst in Wimberley, I was at most peace than ever. I was camping beneath wonderful old trees next to Jacobs well. I slept underneath the stars and I felt so connected to mother earth. It was one of my first blog experiences that I was out in nature for a full three days witnessing everything. These experiences were wonderful and I am lucky enough to have them all written down.
Many of the words used that resulted in the word cloud were words such as, water, felt, nature, life, see, trees, feel, thought, preserve, birds, etc. By reading the word cloud and seeing the words used, I can come to a conclusion that many people were extremely connected to the environment in which they observed. Using words like feel, though, felt are words to describe how the person was feeling at that very moment. Words like birds, nature, trees, and water are words used to describe the location. These are more observational words in context; they send the message of the visual way in which what a person sees for him or herself. Applying the five senses words and language of vision can create an atmosphere for an external and internal view of the world and how one views it. Water and life are very powerful words for they are the elements in which we are. We are made up of mostly water and to be able to view water in a different way that Is not ourselves is almost like looking at a part of you that is one with nature. People used very powerful words to describe the beautiful way of life. We all choose the same words almost because I think that this nature blog gave us a feeling of acceptance where it is hard to find in the modern world.