Seeing my backyard grow with more than just grass over the last four months was surprising yet pleasant. As mentioned in one my earlier posts, I have allergies so being outdoors isn’t something I enjoy when I’m sick. However, something about helping my mom in the garden allowed me to appreciate the small area that is my backyard. While helping my mom not only was I learning more about my own heritage, I was learning about about the different ways certain plants could be used in meals. Be it for flavoring or decoration, it certainly made learning about cooking fun and adventurous.
At the same time, the stress that came from finals and the end of the semester did make it difficult to enjoy the outdoors. On campus, I would walk around campus but over the last month, that decreased as I was indoors working preparing for finals. Even when I went home on the weekends, I spent most of the time indoors.
Now that Spring has officially arrived, I am constantly hearing a variety of birds around the neighborhood but I can’t spot them. With the rains we have received over the course of the last four months, I notice a significant change in the scenery after it rains. Plants appear to be alive and are a different shade of green that relaxes me. As I think about it more thoroughly, being outside after it rains has become a habit of mine.
Even with the warmer weather, I am surprised that I have not seen more bees or bugs around considering that the garden now has flowers blooming. I think it may have to do with the location. Although it may not seem like an important thing to consider, after what I learned it class, I think that the reason I have not found many insects relates to the stress that these organisms may be under. This reminds me of Aldo Leopold stating-
“Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.”
In a way, I feel like I have become a doctor by doing what I can to help the environment. By doing small actions such as recycling and reusing items, I am contributing to lessen my carbon footprint. Simultaneously, I have been teaching my family about what I have learned in class and how our decisions may affect us in the long term. As I continue to learn about climate change, I continue to consider how as a Political Science major I may help create a better future.
Aside from the times when I was sick, the nature blogs gave me an opportunity to look at the outdoors in a new way. Before I never took the time to sit outside and relax. Now I feel like I may spend more time outside as a past time. The experience is something I will not forget. I’ve been able to look at the world around me in a new way I hope that I can continue with something similar to this is the future. After the research I did for my semester project, I hope to be able to continue doing things like this to continue learning about the environment.
In a way, the word cloud reflects some of my own thoughts from this past semester. I would use the word “beautiful” to describe the changes I have seen in scenery. The transition from winter to spring is something I have always looked forward to. Now that I have paid closer attention as to what happens in nature, I think I will go ahead and start taking notice of the transitions between spring to summer, summer to fall and all to winter for the remainder of the year.
“Time” was one of the words that stood out and can be taken into many interpretations. While I may not know what everyone thought of the blogs at the beginning of the semester, because we are in college, making time to visit a site for each month is something that may have been difficult for some as others may have found it easier. Even with this, it feels like time itself has flown by now that the ends of the semester, the school year and the blog have come to an end. As one part of the year comes to a close, another is just beginning just like time.
:Trees” and “water” were the other two words that caught my attention. Having grown up in Austin my entire life both trees and water are important issues. We have a lot of trees around town in places some may not suspect and with the Colorado River being a main source of water aside from the Edwards Aquifer, water issues are something I look deeply into and care about. After being in a drought for several years, the fact that the drought is still on going has gone to the back o my mind. Seeing the word cloud reminded me of why taking care of the environment is important, without water, we would not be able to live the lives we do. Water is essential for all life and we need to take care of it. Trees are not just for climbing or for tearing down. They are only one kind of plant that takes the carbon dioxide we produce and turns it into oxygen we can breathe.
At the end of the day, I hope that to be able to make a difference be it through my own actions or through helping shape environmental policies in the future. To be able to continue living on Earth it will require everyone play a part. Over time, we may be able to see new changes come from the actions we take.