Looking back on this semester and this course, it has indeed been an adventure from the start. Even from the first class, I remember how our community "clicked" and how it quickly became a class I was looking forward to each week. And although I grew up in nature and outdoor settings, I continually learned something new each week from our discussion.
If I could pick one word to encapture what I took away from this course I would have to say perspective. I recall the first day of class when we were looking at a student's laptop case with a sunrise or sunset on it and we briefly discussed and questioned which one it was and although I never realized it, that was the start of my perspective being shifted in this course.
One significant way I see my perspective shift is how I value nature. Like great art pieces, the more I learn about the artist and the intentionality behind a piece, the more I appreciate the item itself. And the same goes for nature. We read and discussed so many different lenses this semester on how to view nature and I think what is really cool is by the end how it is up to you to choose which perspective you believe in and will stand by. As a Christian, I continue to remain firm in my belief that God is the creator of all creation and from that stems its value and purpose however, I have greater appreciation and knowledge for the other perspectives we discussed this semester and can think back to them moving forward.
Another shift in my perspective would have to be how I view my relationship with nature. I truthfully had only thought about it in the sense of ownership and property rather than a friend and community. Now, I feel like it has deepened my respect and gratitude when I am around nature to see it as a friend to take care of and look out for rather than simply pass by. Again, as a Christian, I believe this grows my respect for God as the creator as well as all His hard work and intention He did in order to create a beautiful and harmonious living space for all of His creation.
Additionally, I really wrestled with the perspective on accessibility. Walking the fine line and determining what is valuable to society or destructive to nature is hard to determine. On one hand, granting accessbility to people in national parks is a gift and way to experience nature with friends and family. On the other hand, adding roads and paths can harm or take away from nature itself. It is easy for me to say "start the journey here" and focus more on maintaining nature since I have the physical ability to do that. However, it will be interesting to see too if accessbility points to nature are created to remind us that those paths are there in the first place given the quick development and distraction of modern technology and business. Our team did so at the nature center where we recovered the trail with mulch to highlight to new visitors what was once there. I would not be surprised if that was something that would ever increasingly need to be done given future modernization.
Furthermore, I was challenged in my perspective to think "invertedly" or walk in the shoes of another creature. Relates back to our discussion about how view animals as property or community, but even more so allows us to ask the question, "what if we were an animal?" We do not know the full extent of how animals think or what they feel but I believe this perspective gives us the belief that we can only imagine the nature of animals. For myself, this perspective creates more empathy for the animals and a desire to learn through their ways just as much as they can learn from us.
Overall, I am grateful for these perspectives and takeaways I will carry with me moving forward. Like debating whether a picture is a sunrise or sunset, it can only be determined by oneself based on past experiences and current beliefs. I included pictures of sunrises in this post to metaphorically demonstrate this idea of perspective and symbolize as this class comes to a close, there is new adventures continually on the horizon.
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