As a kid I spent most of my time outdoors. I grew up in an apartment complex set up to be family friendly with trees and grass along the sidewalks, with benches set up at various places and two small playgrounds. Imagine walking through the smaller sidewalks of the UW campus, but with the giant buildings as modest four-home apartments spread throughout (very scenic). Although it wasn't a forest, I spent most of my time climbing up the trees and under bushes, much to the disapproval of the maintenance staff. Crawling into bushes and hiding in them was my favorite past time. Bushes were the best places to hide during hide-and-seek, or cops and robbers. It was definitely the best place to find caterpillars and ladybugs. I spent hours outside climbing and playing with the plants and on hills, with my sisters and I trying to stay outside as long as we could and our mom tracking us down to come home. Looking back, I wasn't afraid of insects as I am now. I suppose in middle school was when I joined the "city" life and was cooped up in buildings most of the time, depriving myself of natural experiences. Elementary school provided so much opportunity for outdoor time--recess and awesome field trips to the Northwest Trek, camping, and Tillicum Village! But moving on to higher education I spent less and less time in the outdoors and more indoors studying about the outdoors (which is ironic). I became disconnected with the nature I once loved and now I'm trying to reconnect.
What got me interested in the environment again was witnessing the vast forest land that I passed by on a daily basis being cleared for upscale fancy apartment homes. The chirping of the birds I came to know and love, the soft rustling of the leaves, and the fresh smell of the woods all disappeared, replaced with imported plants, artificial landscaping, and obnoxious buildings. It was then that I became fully interested in how our natural environment is constantly being changed by human impact. I felt a personal loss and a deep heartache that still resides in me every time I pass by the giant apartment complex. The worse thing about the apartment complex is how they completely erased all memories of what that specific landscape used to be. Everything from the plants to the roads is completely different, as if there never was a forest there. There isn't an attempt to make the area seem like it has native trees. This experience fueled my passion to reconnect with nature that I've forgotten for 10+ years, and this 280 class will help me in my journey to understand Washington's natural history and the changing landscapes that occur.
Since entering college, I've spent more time outdoors in parks, going on hikes, and just sitting on the grass enjoying natural sounds. The Environmental Education course I took with Tim, where we taught Washington Middle Schoolers concepts of the outdoors and took them on a hiking trip to Seward Park, was the first class I had that required me to pay close attention to the natural surrounding. Conveying it to the middle schoolers and sharing my passion with the outdoors with them was one that cannot be replaced.
I'm really looking forward to being able to identify our state's natural plants and its uses. I've always admired people who can do that naturally. How can we live in Washington without knowing the names of the trees or birds we pass by on a daily basis?! Yet a majority of citizens can name what the golden arched M and a swooshed check mark is. Changing how people perceive nature as being a forefront instead of a background thing is important to propel more people to become better stewards to the natural surroundings. Nature can be seen in high mountaintops, in apartment parks, and in the city. It's everywhere but is often ignored by the busy lifestyles of those living in the city. Figuring out a way to get more people engaged with nature and excited about it is my goal.
I look forward to my journey in this class and how it'll help me in my future endeavors :-)
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