You Can Experience Nature Close to Home
Caring for nature requires that we have profound experiences of nature. Without these experiences, we will not see why we should protect nature (also, we likely won’t understand nature enough to do what’s necessary to protect it). How can we have profound experiences of nature? I’d like to dismiss one common misconception.
You might think that to have deep experiences of nature, we need to journey to remote, pristine wilderness. We need to go to Algonquin Park, or better, to the Northwest Territories. We must set aside a week for this journey, or, ideally, a month or longer. Although these journeys would surely help position us to profoundly experience nature, not only is it unrealistic for most of us (because of time, money, or comfort levels), it isn’t necessary.
Too often we make the mistake in thinking that in order to really experience something we must travel elsewhere. To learn French we must travel to France. To learn how to meditate, we must travel to India. To learn about nature we must venture into the wilderness. Oftentimes, especially for the beginner, I think the exact opposite is true. For example, it’s less discouraging to learn the basics of French in the comfort of your own country than it is in a foreign country where you don’t understand anyone. So you’re better off starting to learn French close to home.
The tools and materials we need to learn French or experience nature can be found close to home. Nature is all around us. We need to learn how to experience nature in our city. We need to learn how to take the time to pause and watch the bee buzz from flower to flower, to get in close and see how it gathers pollen on its legs and belly, and see that as it jumps from flower to flower it is cross pollinating.
Pause for a short moment on your walk to watch a squirrel forage, to examine the bark of a tree, to appreciate the intricacy of a flower. Build up your knowledge of nature in the city using resources like this one:
http://canadiantreetours.org/maps/trinitybellwoods.html
Caring for nature requires that we have profound experiences of nature. Without these experiences, we will not see why we should protect nature (also, we likely won’t understand nature enough to do what’s necessary to protect it). How can we have profound experiences of nature? I’d like to dismiss one common misconception.
You might think that to have deep experiences of nature, we need to journey to remote, pristine wilderness. We need to go to Algonquin Park, or better, to the Northwest Territories. We must set aside a week for this journey, or, ideally, a month or longer. Although these journeys would surely help position us to profoundly experience nature, not only is it unrealistic for most of us (because of time, money, or comfort levels), it isn’t necessary.
Too often we make the mistake in thinking that in order to really experience something we must travel elsewhere. To learn French we must travel to France. To learn how to meditate, we must travel to India. To learn about nature we must venture into the wilderness. Oftentimes, especially for the beginner, I think the exact opposite is true. For example, it’s less discouraging to learn the basics of French in the comfort of your own country than it is in a foreign country where you don’t understand anyone. So you’re better off starting to learn French close to home.
The tools and materials we need to learn French or experience nature can be found close to home. Nature is all around us. We need to learn how to experience nature in our city. We need to learn how to take the time to pause and watch the bee buzz from flower to flower, to get in close and see how it gathers pollen on its legs and belly, and see that as it jumps from flower to flower it is cross pollinating.
Pause for a short moment on your walk to watch a squirrel forage, to examine the bark of a tree, to appreciate the intricacy of a flower. Build up your knowledge of nature in the city using resources like this one:
http://canadiantreetours.org/maps/trinitybellwoods.html