The Last Leaf

About twenty yards away from the coast of Wright Patman Lake at the Atlanta State Park, there sits a single tree struggling to hold on to its last leaf before winter. At some point, this sad sap of a tree was full of life and full of leaves. Now, it is bare and trying to retain its last remains of the fertile spring.

This is all for the sake of survival. Winter conditions can be harsh for the tree. Even in Texas, temperatures drop, sunlight is sparse, and it becomes necessary to conserve energy to survive. This type of behavior isn't only found in trees. Certain animals hibernate. Others burrow. Humans take certain measures to survive in the winter as well. The heat comes on, and food gets stored up in case of emergency.

I waited for a while to see if the wind would finally take its last prize from the tree, but it did not. The leaf hung on. Maybe I should have done it a favor and taken the leaf for myself. It takes energy for the tree to push the leaf off of its branches, and it might be tired of providing for the stubborn leaf for all this extra time. Who could really know the mind of a Tree?

Don't worry, little tree. Soon, spring will return, and you will be fruitful once more.

Daddy Long Legs

A couple of weeks ago, I was wandering around outside after class for a Nature Observation. I sat down on a rock, and I didn't really know what I was looking for. I looked down at the ground and saw a spider, which frightened me a bit at first. Then, I realized it was a "daddy long legs." Technically, it is a Leiobunum, but I have called it a daddy long legs since I was a kid.

This arachnid had a small, pebble-sized body with eight skinny legs. Its body was a reddish-brown color with a thick black stripe going from its hind end to three-quarters of the way up its back. Its visual appearance was creepy, but I have seen plenty of creatures like it before.

As a kid, I was bolder than I am today. I used to pick up daddy long legs by their legs and let them crawl on my hands. I wouldn't even consider doing that today. It seemed to be terrified of me when I approached it. It ran a couple of yards to a nearby tree and climbed until it was out of my reach. It's probably difficult to stay intact when your legs are so thin and your body is so small, so I get why it would be scared of me.

The most impressive aspect of this particular daddy long legs is its ability to camouflage itself to its surroundings. If I weren't looking closely, I wouldn't have been able to see it crawling along the ground, and while I was chasing after it, I lost it several times against the bark of the tree.

Tivoli

Last semester, when I was studying abroad in Rome, I had some of the most enjoyable experiences of my lifetime. The city of Rome is so beautiful that I walked or ran over five miles every day just to experience more of its beauty.

About three months into the spring semester, I had traveled to other cities, I had explored the narrow streets of Rome, and I needed a break from city life. So one weekend when I did not have travel plans, I bought a train ticket to a small Italian town about an hour outside of Rome called Tivoli.

On the train to Tivoli, I got my first taste of the paradise that is Italian countryside. As the train winded through the hills, I saw miles of vineyards, the greenest pastures I have ever seen, and acres upon acres of olive trees. The houses near these massive vineyards and farms were gorgeous, yet quaint. Reflecting on the readings for the semester, I think Wendell Berry, with his "Making of a Marginal Farm," would be elated by the Italian countryside.

Tivoli itself was breathtaking. The town was on the side of a mountain and was where several ancient rulers built their villas, just far enough from the city of Rome but close enough to retain power. I was able to visit one of the villas called Villa d'Este. This villa was built in the 16th century and is now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There were massive gardens, waterfalls, extravagant fountains, and several terraces with a spectacular view of the city. You could tell the people of that time had a greater appreciation for nature than our society does today.



The villa was incredibly beautiful, but the best place to visit in Tivoli is undoubtedly Villa Gregoriana. It is a complex of weeded parks, paths, waterfalls, grottoes, and vegetation. It was commissioned around 1834 by Pope Gregory XVI, and it is a gorgeous place of unspoiled nature. The most famous site here was the Great Waterfall created by the River Aniene. The park has a complex system of trails and provides an incredible view of Tivoli's town center.



I have never felt so in tune with nature as I did exploring this park in Tivoli. It might be because I had just spent a few months in one of the largest cities in the world, but I truly believe Tivoli is a magical place of wonder, and most of the land is beautifully untouched.

Hermann Park

Last summer, I lived in Houston for ten weeks. I was there for a summer internship, and I spent most of my days locked up in an office. Thoreau would be disappointed in me. Most of my weekends were free, and since I spent most daylight hours indoors during the week, I tried to spend as much time as possible outside on the weekends. I tried visiting several parks in and around Houston, and for the first few weeks, I struggled to find one I really liked. The city is huge, but it is so urbanized that I wanted to feel like I was escaping from the city for a few hours.

After a few weeks of searching, I found a place called Hermann Park that was exactly what I was looking for. It was not too crowded. It had a pond, plenty of secluded spaces, and a lot of trees for shade. I would guess on the average Saturday, I spent at least six hours sitting at the park jogging and reading, occasionally breaking out my laptop to finish up some work.

In the fourth largest city in the United States, it can be difficult to find much nature at all, but if you keep looking, you may find a small sliver that will help keep you sane. The people I saw enjoying the outdoors at the park, whether they were running, having a picnic, or just sitting around talking, always seemed to be happier and enjoying life more than the people I met in the concrete jungle that is downtown Houston.

There is a portion of Hermann Park called the Japanese Gardens, similar to the Japanese Gardens in the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. This section of the park is my favorite place to sit and read since visitors are encouraged to be quiet and respectful when they enter the Gardens. In the Gardens are beautiful assortments of flowers, a stream, a small pond with koi fish, several benches for sitting, and small bridges. From this part of the park, you can’t hear cars driving by, people yelling by the pond, or children crying. It is total peace and quiet and a perfect place for reflection and relaxation.

Thank God I found this place, or I may have gone insane.

Niagara Falls

Second to the Grand Canyon, the Niagara Falls are the second most beautiful natural wonder I have ever seen. I went to see the falls with my Mom, Dad, and my brother before the semester started. Honestly, the falls were never high on my bucket list, but after seeing them in person, I realized that I severely misjudged them.

The family and I flew into Buffalo, New York and rented a car to get to our hotel in Niagara Falls, New York. As we approached the city, I noticed a mist above the skyline. It didn’t take long to register in my brain that the mist was being produced by the falls. I wasn’t surprised by the amount of mist being produced, but I was surprised about how close the falls were to the heart of the city.

Thinking back on it, I am reminded of two of the class readings. One was the song “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell. This is a prime example of people “paving paradise and putting up a parking lot.” The area immediately surrounding the falls is a park, but there are several parking lots and basically a major city on each side of the falls. The second is the excerpt from Edward Abbey when he states that we need to take cars out of National Parks. I don’t fully agree that we need to ban cars from National Parks, but there was an overwhelming amount of traffic right by the falls, and the parking was right on the edge of the falls, so it took away from the natural beauty.

Nestled right on the American-Canadian border, Niagara Falls is one of the most visited tourist destinations in North America. I heard before going to the falls that the best views are from the Canadian side, and this statement held true. As urbanized as the falls have become, they are still well-preserved and breathtakingly beautiful. The horseshoe-shaped arch was the prettiest of the three falls that make up the Niagara Falls. It looped around and make a sort of semi-circle waterfall that was clearly visible from both sides, but the best view was from the Canadian side.

I wish I had taken this course before going to Niagara Falls, because I feel like I would have appreciated the natural beauty more than I did at the time, and I would have felt the irony of holding a Tim Horton’s iced coffee while I stood on the edge of the falls.

Mena, Arkansas

On November 10^th, my family and I took a short road trip from our home in Atlanta, Texas to the mountains of Mena, Arkansas. I went with my Mom, Dad, and my Grandma, who we call Granny. The drive was pretty much a straight shot north from Atlanta, and it took about three hours to drive there, then another half hour to make the drive up to Queen Wilhelmina State Park on the top of Rich Mountain.

This trip was only the second time in my life that I had been to Mena. The first time was when I was a lot younger. I couldn’t have been any older than 10 or 11. My Granny, however, has been more times than she can count; Mena was one of her family’s favorite destinations when she was younger. During the drive, Granny told us stories from when she was younger and how much the small towns through much of Arkansas had changed.

Every time we make the drive north, whether it be to Mena, Hot Springs, Fayetteville, or Branson, it always astonishes me at how quickly the terrain changes from flat Texas countryside to a hilly and mountainous region of Arkansas. Most of my younger experiences were throughout Texas where everything is relatively flat compared to Arkansas’ Ozarks. On the way home, I tried intently to notice when the terrain changed, whether it was sudden or more of a gradual change. I found that about halfway in between Atlanta and Mena, things started to change drastically. There is a mountain range that borders the town of Mena, so the landscape goes from mountains to hills almost immediately upon leaving the area. But about halfway, there is a road that winds around what feels like a large hill then as you approach the other side, the land is flat for as far as the eye can see.

My love for mountains is probably due to my being raised in the piney woods region of Texas where everything is flat, and I spent at least 10 years of my life before actually seeing a mountain in person. And that was just the Ozarks. When I was 15, my family and I drove to Tennessee to the Great Smoky Mountains. That was when I found out what real mountains are. We got a cabin in Pigeon Forge, and I sat out on our porch for hours just sitting and staring off into the distance.

Compared to the Great Smoky Mountains, Rich Mountain in Arkansas might as well have been a small hill, but to me, it was still just as captivating as it was when I was 10 years old. The fact that I could experience the trip again with my family made it even more enjoyable.

Final Video Assignment

Victoria, Noah, Danielle

Wildness, Conservation, and the Environment

              For our final project, we decided to focus on wildness, conservation, and the environment. These themes resonated with us throughout the class and featured some of our favorite writers. The video features readings and interpretations of our favorite excerpts and ends with a call to action. We want the class to realize that even though we are just college students, we can make a big, positive impact on the environment by completing small tasks.

              Below is a list of the passages we enjoyed learning from and reasoning for its inclusion in our video:

1.      “Beds are Burning” by Midnight Oil

“Beds are Burning” was one of the first things we read as a class. This song/poem highlights how the Earth as we know it is deteriorating and it is time for us to fix it. We must “pay our rent” to the Earth we call home. We liked this song because it is catchy and has a call to action. It demonstrates how subtle messages are hidden in pop culture to help our environment.

2.      Preserving Wildness by Wendell Berry

This passage demonstrated environmental stewardship. It suggests that humans need to stop taking nature for granted and appreciate where it comes from. To be a steward of the Earth we must preserve wildness and practice conservation. The quote we use in the video describes how humans need to have a certain love for the earth and what we take from it. Berry suggests that environmental stewardship is the most important factor in conserving the planet.

3.      “The Wild Honeysuckle” by Philip Freneau

We chose to read this passage from Freneau’s poem because it highlights how fleeting human life is in the large scheme of the world. Humans are here for a limited amount of time just like flowers. It is our job to leave behind a beautiful, healthy Earth, because it will go on forever (hopefully), but we will not.

4.      Industrial Tourism and the National Parks by Edward Abbey

Abbey is one of our favorite authors we read this semester. This passage highlights the importance of wilderness preservation. We need to limit urbanization and industrialization to save nature. Edward Abbey claims he would rather live in a thermonuclear war than a world without wilderness preservation. It is a cry for action.

5.      Before the Flood featuring Leonardo DiCaprio

Before the Flood features climate change issues and environmental destruction. Our class took this film to heart. Most notably it featured the need to reduce our pollution as Americans because a lot of the world has yet to receive the same technology we have. When the rest of the world does, the outlook for our environment is grim, unless we change our ways and limit our carbon footprint. Additionally, this film featured the harmful effects that the use of palm oil has on the environment. We included this film because, although grim and sad, it is a call to action.

              We used Before the Flood as a grim transition to the more uplifting part of our video. Over the semester, we did read many works that discuss preservation, preserving wildness, and the environment. A lot of these works could be viewed as sad, but we found that these works are more of a call to action and are incredibly positive. There is still time to reverse our carbon footprints and make a large effort to bring awareness to our environmental issues.

              As a college student, we often times find ourselves asking what could we ever do to help such a large problem? Our video answers this question in an educational and humor-filled way through the usage of environmental tips and tricks. We listed the following tips and tricks in the video:

1.      Walk to class instead of driving. It will help eliminate air pollution

2.      Spend time outside. The CO2 you emit is actually great for the environment.

3.      Purchase products that do not contain palm oil. The only way to stop destructive palm oil farming practices is to not buy items containing it.

4.      Turn off the lights when you leave a room. This will reduce your energy usage.

5.      Use reusable water bottles instead of plastic water bottles. This will save plastic and will save you money.

6.      Read class assignments on your laptop instead of printing. This will help save trees and eliminate paper waste.

7.      Buy your clothing from sustainably-sourcing companies.

These tips may seem simple, but it is important to be reminded of simple tasks we can do to help conserve and save the environment. Our video highlights that you do not need to come up with an Earth-shattering solution to an Earth-shattering problem, but rather we can make a collective effort to take small steps towards reducing our carbon footprints and enhancing the environment. If every college student practiced these seven tips, the environment would be better off. These small steps also have the potential to lead towards eventual greater steps to help the environment.

We had a great semester in this class. It really opened our eyes and taught us how to appreciate nature in a deeper way and that we are the future of environmental stewardship. Any effort we can make to help is well worth it. Thank you!

https://youtu.be/WkxwwWO7YAI