This past summer I was able to observe nature in many different places and climates. From the frosty mountains of Canada to the temperate forests of Hawaii and many other places I had the privilege of seeing a wide variety of plants and animals. My father and I took a trip to Golden, British Columbia where I walked right up on a grizzly bear. The bear and I stared at each other for a moment before we both turned around and went our separate ways. I hiked to the top of a mountain and peed off of it. We took an ATV ride through the woods and saw a good amount of animals. There was a rabbit on the trail we were following that our tour guides had named roger. I was fortunate enough to get a great view of the valley while hang gliding. It was a pretty clear day so many birds and eagles were out flying too. The only time I saw snow falling was when I was also plummeting toward the earth after jumping out of an airplane. There was snow on top of the mountains where it’s colder and the air is thinner. The trees were massive and stretched up a good portion of the mountain. We took a forty five minute car ride to see a giant glacier. While I was white water rafting I saw a good amount of deer drinking from the river. Other animals like birds, foxes, wolves, and bears also came to the river to drink or swim. I slept most of the way back to the Calgary airport but I was awake enough to see some of the massive mountains that we drove past. After Canada my family took a trip to Hawaii. Hawaii doesn’t really have any natural predators so the Hawaiian government is extremely strict about what you can and cannot bring to the island. I swam with dolphins before riding a submarine and seeing a lot of fish and undersea life. The water is extremely clear and was surprisingly a very comfortable temperature. My family and I hiked down the side of a cliff and reached a black sand beach. Black sand beaches are rougher than their yellowish counterparts. I also got to see an active volcano from a safe distance because the area was blocked off to the public. We hiked through jungles around the volcano and even down and back up out of a crater. Our last day in Hawaii we swam with manta ray and got to see a variety of aquatic life at night. Prior to arriving in France I was able to see a good amount of both the Irish and Italian countryside. My mom and I drove the ring of Kerry and got to go into a few caves. We also walked the grounds of Waterford castle. While I was in Rome I took a day trip to Pompeii and saw the destructive power nature is capable of. Taking a train trip from Rome to Venice allowed me to see the Italian countryside. Venice was a very interesting city to visit because everything is on the water. The people have found a way to live in an environment that isn’t exactly natural to humans. I also visited Stonehenge while I was in England. Most of the time I was traveling Europe was spent in urban environments which made me wonder about what the area looked like before humans built their massive cities. I did begin to miss the lush green and beautiful natural views of my time in Canada and Hawaii. The urban cities made me begin to feel cramped and trapped. In fact the more I traveled, especially once I got to Europe, the more I realized that the world is a crowded place. We keep breaking down natural environments to make room for our rapidly growing population. Not only that, we build concrete paths through jungles, stairs on hills, and lifts on mountains so that anyone can easily travel through these areas. While it is good for everyone to see the world we live in, we are destroying that which people are coming to see. Crowded urban areas are the worst when it comes to harming the environment. People in large crowds seem to behave worse than those in small groups. For example in Ireland I witnessed a man throw a glass bottle on the ground behind him and continue on walking with his friends. People also seem to believe that cigarettes can just be thrown anywhere once they’re done smoking. As if littering weren’t enough of a problem some people also fail to separate trash from recycling. However, certain things are being done to help reduce the negative effect we have on the environment. Public transportation and carpooling are great ways to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we emit, but we are still slowly destroying our planet. Simply put, there are too many people on this planet and the effects of that are beginning to show. Industrialization is fine in moderation, but we’ve reached a point where trying to supply demands is more important than preserving our environment. Our natural resources are being exhausted at an alarming rate due to the fact that we are constantly trying to move farther from nature and closer to technology. New inventions are created that make our lives easier, but could negatively affect our environment. As a species “we all strive for safety, prosperity, long life, and dullness” (Leopold). We are so concerned with making our lives easy that we ignore the consequences and do things we shouldn’t be doing. Pollution and deforestation constantly damage our environment, and it’s happening faster than the earth can heal. Too many people are too nearsighted to see exactly what their laziness or greed is actually doing. Once we all come together and decide that this is a problem that should be universally addressed, then we will be able to live symbiotically with our planet.
