My most thrilling experience with nature was when I studied abroad in New Zealand. I've always been a big fan of the outdoors and for this reason I chose to travel to New Zealand because of the country's beautiful scenery. Everything there was breathtaking, but the place I remember the most is my trip to Able Tasman National Park. My friends and I took a 4 hour hike through the forests and the views were absolutely amazing. The water was bluish green and the sand was a yellowish color. At various points throughout the hike it would rain and five minutes later it would be warm and sunny. One of the best parts of the hike was one of the side trails which lead to the beach. It was there that I was able to take in how wonderful nature really is. Something about being by yourself on a vast stretch of land with the sound of waves crashing in the background allows you to completely relax. Nature allows our imaginations to grow and provides a place where we can escape from the difficulties of the real world. In a way it allows us to slow down time and appreciate life's beauty. For these reasons, whether you're an environmentalist or not, I think nature is something we should value and work hard to preserve. Whether you simply like to take a break from a hard day at work and go for a walk in the park or you're an avid hiker, nature fits into everyone's daily routines.

Nature

There are many instances in which I have marveled at nature's wonder.  Being from a small town in Nebraska and also living around the mountains of Wyoming, I have seen open spaces instead of cities, all of the stars of the night sky, and the Northern Lights without any interference from city lights.  The instances that stick out most in my mind are the nights spent camping in the Snowy Mountains outside Laramie and the night my friend and I went to the Box Butte Reservoir to watch the Northern Lights.  Because of times like these, where I am able to revel at nature and appreciate all she has to offer, I hate living in DC.  Rarely can I see the stars here, which really sucks.  Night skies are amazing and the lights from cities ruin it all.  I love the mountains, the clean air, the view, and everything else Wyoming has to offer (except the people, Wyoming people are insane).  To pick one specific instance that made me love and understand why nature should be protected is impossible.  I grew up living around nature; every day was an appreciation of nature and natural beauty.  After living in a city for 2 years, I now understand why hermits live alone in the mountains.  They just really love the natural environment and hate people and what people have done to the environment.

nature

Confession time: I'm more at home in the woods than the city, these days. As some of you know, I spent 6.5 months hiking the Appalachian trail last summer. I am an avid long distance backpacker and canoeist and have been fortunate enough to spend a lot of nights under the stars in various parts of the country.

That said, I have a hard time isolating a single experience outside of human civilization that has been particularly high-impact for me. Probably my favorite recent experience was the 100 Mile Wilderness in central Maine. The Wilderness is the last section of the Appalachian Trail, a remote stretch of woods with no roads, buildings, or other traces of civilization for a hundred miles (about a week of hiking).

I was fortunate enough to hike through the Wilderness in early October, when the leaves were changing and the crowds were nonexistent. Seeing as it was the tail end of my long journey, it was especially profound for me: the silent beauty of Maine's evergreen woods and emerald lakes was the perfect backdrop to contemplate what my next step would be, when the trail ended. The woods taught me to quiet my mind, and humbly appreciate my place within something bigger than myself.

This is why it is absolutely imperative that we not rest until we have guaranteed the safety and integrity of our wild places. They are our oases, places we can go to get in touch with our true selves, to recognize our role as tiny, short-lived creatures drifting in infinity. This revelation may sound depressing, but for me it is liberating and awe-inspiring. The woods are proof that we are all immortal, even if that immortality is no more than the humble carbon cycle that recycles our bodies into new life. Our species, for all its technological prowess, will be a grim failure indeed if we manage to complete our destruction of the grander world around us.

I can't think of one event or situation in particular that has made me marvel at the beauty of the planet or the environment. It is sort of the opposite that has affected me most. Seeing beautiful, majestic scenes marred by the touch of people and technology has had a greater impact on me than simply the environment alone. It is jarring to be out in the middle of nowhere and still get cell service or to see trash cans. People seem to impact every square inch of this planet and this impact is largely negative. The impact of people on this planet needs to be limited, not just so there will be untouched wilderness in the future, but because people are not the only one's on the planet. When the planet becomes less and less habitable to people, it is just as deadly for every other living organism on it along with us. 

The wild is worth protecting and saving. It should be one of the chief concerns of environmentalists, but not the only concern. Environmentalists also need to be concerned about people and the impact we have as people on the planet. Focusing on the wild and protecting species there is important, but so is minimizing the impact people have by living their lives.   

During spring break, I had a talk about the environment with a friend of mine from high school. My friend is going to college and pretty smart, but our discussion was frustrating. He felt that there was no need to be concerned about the environment because the impact people were having was small and easily managed by reducing pollution. He also believes things  global warming is simply a result of the ending of the previous ice age, meaning people are not having an impact. 

Trying to talk to him about the environment was hard as it seemed like we were living on two different planets. He lived on a planet with few environmental issues that was simply exhibiting cyclical weather changes. I was living on a planet were people are having a detrimental impact that was starting to wreck the planet. Granted, I have gotten used to conversations like this with him as there is almost nothing we agree on so we just talked, respecting each others view points. 

I couldn't help but think that this must be part of the reason why the people do not do more to lessen the impact of people on the environment. Not everyone seems to think that we are having an impact; though, my friend holds this view, in part I feel, because he likes to drive his huge SUV and blast his AC all year round. People can live considerable more comfortable lives if they ignore the impact their actions have on the environment as most of the costs are not felt by the person enjoying their life, but by people far away. This is not to say that people trying to lessen their impact on the planet need to live like hermits or pretend electricity was never discovered; you simply need to pay a little bit more attention to what you do and how you live.  

Discussing the environment

My conversation about the environment was with my grand mom. I went to empty the trash one day and commented on the large amount of trash each household in the neighborhood generated within a week. My grand mom shrugged her shoulders and said she didn't think it was that much. From previous conversations I knew that she wasn't very interested in environmental issues, but I still like to discuss topics such as this with her to try and understand her point of view. I explained how some places charge each household a certain amount of money per trash bag in hopes to reduce the amount of waste produced each week, and that I thought this would be a good idea for our township. She simply nodded her head. But I wasn't even sure if she had listened to everything I said, so I asked her what she thought. She replied with, "Hey, it's all headed to the landfill anyway." Conversations like these are the most frustrating for me because there's nothing worse than someone who doesn't have much of an opinion about something. It really did feel like talking to a brick wall. There were a number of things I could have said in reply, but I realized that nothing I have said in the past or could say in the future would miraculously change her mind. I also reminded myself that my grandmother grew up in a different generation than my own, and therefore her concerns with the world were/are also different. Because of this I was more understanding with her than I may have been with someone else. Unfortunately this wasn't a very productive conversation, but every once in awhile I give it another try.