Loving Wilderness To DEATH

Man! What a beautiful snow storm we had the last few days...left the ground and the trees absolutely beautiful. There is something about when it storms, that the next morning, when the sun is finally coming up, its is soooooo quiet. It is so peaceful, everything is starting to wake up, and you realize your world has been transformed into something very very white. This here is a tree by my yard, right in front of the barn (cudos to my mom who took the picture in the morning). 

This week we focused more on management and preservations in wilderness ethic. A time began when support was needed for people to see how cool wilderness is! Well, support did come...and a lot of it! Pretty soon protected areas were getting thousands of visitors every day! There was no management, soils were eroding, plant life was disintegrating, and animals left the area..sounds like a great wilderness. When nature gave people an inch, they took a mile. 

Today, there is much more regulation, but preserved wilderness is there mostly for people to enjoy it. Behind my house there are acres and acres of protected "town" land. It contains a historic site of old foundations and stone walls, a small museum, and trails that are maintained by the Nor'easter club of our area. Taking our horses is incredible, and the trails are so well maintained with wood chips! In the winter, snowmobilers occupy the entire area. I have seen a deer or two, and once a moose...but for wildlife that's about it. Here's my dog Lola on a walk the other day, to show how much the trail is being used. 

So i'm trekking up the path with Lola, and a snowmobiler comes by... there's not a whole lot left on the ground but they are still active. It slows down and passes, and the smell of gasoline lingers in the air for quite some time. Nothing better than trying to get some fresh air, right? 

I stopped to take this picture of the trail because of what I had read earlier this week. Loving wilderness to death is a strange concept but it is very true. When the first pioneers set foot into the wilderness and came back, they did not keep their mouth shut. They told anyone and everyone that would listen about the wonderful experience they had! Nothing was ever like it! Nothing could compare! Well if someone ran out of the woods with a huge smile on their face, their perspective on life changed, and their attitude nothing but positive....I would definitely want to see what the hype was about.

Roads came, and everyone decided to take vacations into one of the defining characteristics of America- the outdoors. It seems that in this transition, we have made wilderness only suitable for ourselves, for our own enjoyment. We disregarded the preservation of wilderness for the sake of leaving it alone and uninhabited.

The conserved lands behind my house offer one of the best tension releasers, stress reducers, and happiness builders I could have ever gotten. Growing up I rode horses out there, walked dogs, cross country skied, mountain biked and ran every inch of those trails- I could walk them with my eyes closed. These trails are for me, not for nature. It's a strange thing to think about and it makes me feel divided on whether I should be guilty for exploiting the resources I have, or grateful for the appreciation is has strengthened. 

Probably it is a bit of both...

Nature and You

What does nature mean to you?

Why do you care about nature? What is it about nature that makes you want to fight for it? 

This week's classes primarily focused on the changes on how dependent nature has been on man and vice versa. Dependency in resources, preservation, and intrinsic beauty. Earlier in time, humans were very much dependent on nature for food, resources, and shelter. This has turned, for the dependency has changed and today nature is at its knees to humans. Further destruction is at the will of our hands, and nature is at our mercy.

 An 11 year old Josie Greveling can sum it up pretty well...

Look Outside, see the trees
Watch the flowers in the breeze
Things won't be like this in a year or two
If polluting is all we do
Seize the night
Seize the day
Things won't always be this way
Thousands of people are dying
In the night you hear children crying
Let's stop the war
Our people are sore
The world can't help itself
Who cares about your wealth
Help me to help you
Show the world what you can do. Source

It is hard to convince people that from which we take take and take is worth saving and fighting for. People like John Muir back a century ago did the same exact thing- tried to change the mindset of the American. The view Muir had on the world was absolutely worth fighting for, and he believed that if people could see the world and see nature for themselves, they would agree with him. My question to you.... is the world worth saving? I think so. 

Water and Reservoirs

All this talk about Environmental Preservation and the history of what started when is interesting! Plus I'm learning a lot- I had no idea about the Hetch Hetchy debate, dam, or reservoir! The Hetch Hetchy valley in Yosemite has a reservoir in it created by the O'Shaughnessy Dam and filled by the Tuolumme River. This reservoir was a huge environmental debate during President Teddy Roosevelt's time. 

Long story short, people needed water and sort of lost water rights after a big earthquake. Since this place was in the protected Yosemite Valley, an authorization from Congress had to be made. People argued both ways. Some didn't want anything to be done with the protected area (I mean thats why they struggled to get it all protected in the first place right?) while others wanted to create something a bit more urbanized inside something untouched...for of course the benefits of the people living in the surrounding areas. 

It supplies water to millions of people in the surrounding areas and supplies power to San Francisco. Advocates today still are fighting to restore the valley to its original (dry) appearance. 

Here's a short video on the Hetch Hetchy reservoir- now being turned into a bad ass documentary I can't wait to check out- to better familiarize yourself with the issue!!

So where does YOUR water come from? Clicking here can help you figure that! Sometimes water comes from protected lands, straight from rivers, or from natural and man made aquifers. I think its important that people realize and understand where their water comes from. Poland Springs water advocates its resources from Maine. Fiji water from New Zealand. Evian from France. I never really got sold on buying a whole lot of bottled water. The water from my hometown was sooo delicious it could never be heated by any store bought water. I can taste the difference when i go to different places- even to other houses in my same town.
To buy bottled water however I always thought was the biggest thing to get ripped off on. If we bathe ourselves, our clothes, cook our food, clean our dishes, and water our lawns with water that comes from our town or our own well- why would it be any different to drink it?

5 Reasons Not to Drink Bottled Water
1. A Rip Off
2.  Not any Healthier
3. Garbage, Waste, and more Garbage
4. Who is controlling it??? Your answer: Corporations
5. Less attention to public systems

Still not convinced? Try seeing where your water comes from! And just for kicks- go ahead and see where people in Sudan get their water, or people in the Congo or Zimbabwe. Don't be so picky

 Where Does Your Water Come From??

Man's Relationship with Nature

The readings in class have sparked up thought and conversation about Henry David Thoreau, the transcendentalist who started it all! He was the one who advocated for the simplicity that can be found in the natural world and was able to portrey the importance of the wilderness. His belief of living simply meant to live within the boundaries of our needs. Henry David Thoreau’s experienced in Concord, Mass while living at the Waldon Pond show that happiness can be sought in the natural world. The beauty, tranquility, and peace of mind Henry David Thoreau got from living without distractions he could not get anywhere else. 

His ideas were seriously ahead of the curve since at the time of his created sanctuary in Concord, Mass., the rest of America was just slowly beginning to understand the intrinsic value of nature and of wilderness. Henry David Thoreau was able to capture the essence of a relationship so necessary for mankind in his writing. 

I believe his ideology is one that can be revisited for generations to come. The fight for wilderness preservation has, is, and always will be a struggle. The relationship mankind has with nature is a very fragile one. It is one, like any relationship, that needs to constantly be mended and fixed; respect has to be earned and given; and love, peace, and happiness must always be priority.

On this note, I decided to try to find another way of expressing my concern for how I believe our relationship with nature it going. I found this gem on our wonderful internet, and as cynical as it is to watch, I believe that this is a much better representation of 2013’s relationship with nature. 

365 Days of Nature

The year in Review!!

http://www.nature.com/news/366-days-2012-in-review-1.12042

What is snow?

Sitting in my apartment, thanking the heat gods and the tea gods, I am being surrounded by a lot of white stuff. Are the clouds throwing up? Is the world ending?
No, no, no! It's snow!

This video shows how snowflakes are formed and how no two are ever the same! incredible!
Actually, the atmosphere has to have just the right stuff in it to form snow. If not, we could be getting a monsoon rainstorm, or orange-sized balls of hail. In between sounds just fine!

First Post!

Welcome to the first and official blog of me!
As uncomfortable as I may feel spilling my thoughts on the internet for everyone to read, (and apart that people have been doing it for decades) I will try to do my best! This January, i'm taking a course that requires me to discover the wonderful capabilities of having a blog. Thanks to my wonderful roommate Kasey, I will hopefully get a good one started! (filled with wonderful picture of the animals I love, like this one!! George, you're an old fat doggie but I love you)

Talk to you all soon

Me and George!