My family has always camped; it is just what we do. Even this past weekend when most families were taking the time to dress up and go out on the town in the city of Richmond, my family and I spent our time in jeans and sneakers, lounging around a campfire and making s’mores. Because of the way I was raised and the sheer number of hours I spent outside as a child, I am fully confident in saying that I have a greater appreciation and concern for the outdoors than a lot of other people my age. My parents did not allow my sisters and I to stay inside and watch television on nice days, and we certainly never owned any video game devices. We were told to go play outside, and so we did. We splashed around in the creek behind my house and dug for buried treasure. We rode our bikes through the woods, pretending we were Native Americans atop our noble steeds, collecting greens and berries for our grass salads for supper. I would not give this aspect of my childhood up for the world, because it has taught me to see the beauty everywhere in the outdoors, not just in those places that travel brochures deem worth seeing, and it has taught me to seek out the beauty of the outdoors everywhere. William Cronon alludes to the allure of nature and wilderness in the article “The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature,” and I easily identified with the individuals that he claims view the wilderness as a “sacred temple.”
Because of my family’s love and appreciation of nature, we also do more to preserve it. I was the first one of my friends to begin championing the reusable water bottle initiative in my high school because my whole family decided to stop buying water bottles. I was the only one amongst my friend to sport the wrap-n-mat as opposed to the typical plastic sandwich bags people use every single day (http://www.wrapnmat.com). As a family, we decided to install solar panels on my house, and I can tell you all about what can and cannot be recycled in the state of New Jersey. Needless to say, I came into Earth Lodge feeling like a bit of a know-it-all on the topic of conservation and eco-friendly efforts, and I received a huge reality check.
For as much my family does do its part in trying to promote an environmentally conscious way of living, I am learning that it is important to educate yourself and understand why such efforts need to be made in the first place. Taking something for granted is not something anyone likes to admit, but I must be honest in saying that I think until this point, I took the wilderness for granted a bit. It is easy to go to national parks and get lost in the beauty and the escape into a more sublime state, but I never really stopped to think about the environments themselves. I never in a million years would have considered what trees were growing in the park, or why they grow where they do, or about the possible upstream pollution flowing into the breathtaking streams and rivers throughout the park. These are all things I just aesthetically absorbed and enjoyed, but really did not question. My sister is an environmental studies major at the University of Delaware, and she is constantly rambling on about the environmental effects of this or that, and while I nod my head and agree, part of me has always just kind of tuned her out. Being in this class, reading articles about the James River and its surrounding riparian zones and applying some of the broader ideas to additional observations and reflections on other water sources and issues, has spurred an inquisitive side to me that I have never really felt before when it comes to the environment. Earth Lodge has certainly opened my eyes and infiltrated my life in more ways than I ever thought it would.
I catch myself looking at the different trees and identifying how wide the riparian zone is now when I am down at different portions of the river. I look at landscaping more now, and think about the astounding amount of pesticides that must be used to keep lawns so artificially green. I cringe over the fact that these pesticides will undoubtedly flow into the rivers people all over the country love and cherish, and more frightening than that, they will seep into the ground and into our underground water sources as well as contaminate our drinking water. Just today in my philosophy class we were watching the movie Food, Inc. and a major point that was made about the corporate meatpacking industry was the huge contribution they make to the agricultural run-off that pollutes our country’s water sources. Not many people in my class probably clung to this revelation like I did. I am certain the majority of them were focused purely on the gruesome images of the suffering cows, but because of Earth Lodge, I clung to this knowledge, and more crucial than that, I understood the implications.
(One view of the James River taken on our Downtown adventure)
Earth Lodge and the class geography of the James River have given me the resources and knowledge to understand the myriad of factors affecting the James River on a daily basis, but I have also learned how these factors are not issues solely for the James River. Many of these issues are universal for many rivers all over the United States. There are too many people who, like my previous self, do not question the health of their local water sources or what they may be doing on a daily basis that has the potential to negatively affect the water sources that need to be preserved. The aspect of this course that has made me so inquisitive has been the field trips to different portions of the river. Connecting the things we read about in class to the real-life observations we make when we go on trips is what has cultivated my inquisitive nature and taught me what to search for when observing and trying to understand my surrounding environment. Previously, I was a passive observer, but now my mind is constantly active with thoughts about the environment and what makes it work in the way it does, whether it be thriving or struggling to survive. Earth Lodge has completely changed my way of thinking, which was something I never expected from a geography class, but I have been pleasantly surprised, to say the very least.