When signing up for Our Place in Nature, I did not expect to get the experience I did throughout the semester. Being a creative writing minor, I was initially hoping for the class to be more geared toward nature poetry. There was some poetry throughout the semester, but the class ended up being an array of different styles of writing mixed with hands on learning. There were so many unique opportunities that presented themselves during our class time, such as field trips and guest speakers, something I have never experienced in a college class.
My favorite field trip was when the class went to the farmers market and had the opportunity to cook for the class and watch a film on eating local. Besides being a fun and entertaining project, it was also very instrumental in my understanding of locally grown food and the process behind food consumption. In addition, reading Barbara Kingsolver’s novel Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, really opened my eyes to the separation of the American population and the food production industry. She states, “humans can be fairly ridiculous animals”, and I completely agree. This comparison between the human population and the food they are consuming mirrors the knowledge the population should have about the food they are consuming.
One of the passages from the anthology I related to most was “The Art of Seeing Things”, by John Burroughs. I believe Burroughs truly encompasses the simple facts that people forget – nature can be seen by everyone, yet, it is up to us to see what it has to offer. The human population is a vast array of different personalities, and “there is nothing in which people differ more than in their powers of observation” (Burroughs 147). This brilliantly captures the essence of individuality in relation to nature and its interpretation, as well as opening the door for more of the human race to enjoy nature in the way they choose.
Throughout this class I have truly learned to appreciate the earth around me, and never take what it gives for granted. Writing my current events paper on Barbara Kingsolver’s article about water preservation in National Geographic sparked my first thoughts on becoming more involved in conservation, preservation, and simply an overall awareness of the natural world around me. As Gifford Pinchot said in his journal “Prosperity”, the earth is “ours to use and conserve for ourselves and our descendants, or to destroy” (Pinchot 174). It is up to our generation to preserve the dignity and well being of our nature rich earth, and I am ready to do my part.
