“Wonder increases with decreasing speed. The less you move, the more you are moved.” These quotes by David Haskell capture the essence of what I have learned in the second half of this semester in Geography of the James River Watershed. Through personal experiences, reading from Haskell’s book and listening to him talk about his experiences in the forests of southeastern Tennessee, and reading a geographer’s perspective on viewing earth from space, I have come to believe that the more we know about where we are, the more we enjoy it and recognize its worth. Having a strong sense of place increases our ability to appreciate what is around us.
I first began to realize how knowledge of a place enhances our enjoyment of our surroundings when I studied for the tree identification portion of our midterm exam. Phoebe was lucky to learn the importance of becoming familiar with different animals species at an early age, as she shared in her blog post “Earth Worms Make America Great”. As a later learner of different species, memorizing the physical characteristics of thirty local trees initially seemed daunting, but it soon became my favorite topic to study. With each tree I learned, I enjoyed walking around campus more. I began to associate personalities with the trees, as I described in my blog post “Spring is Upon Us”. I began taking more walks around campus and the surrounding neighborhoods to see how many trees I could identify that I hadn’t seen before. I was even aware of my new knowledge of trees when driving through northern Virginia on my way to celebrate Easter with my family. Seeing the conical peaks of the Dawn Redwoods poking into the sky and the colorful blossoms of the Redbud and Dogwood gave me great joy. Learning about trees that grow in the area gave me a greater sense of connection with the Richmond and broader Virginia area. Though I have been in Richmond for nearly two years, I still feel like a temporary visitor at times. Spending more time in Richmond and learning more about the history and ecology of the area have helped me root myself here and feel more of a sense of belonging than I otherwise would.
This sense of belonging in and appreciation of my surroundings was reaffirmed when David Haskell visited campus to talk about his new book, The Forest Unseen, and discuss his intensive exploration of a one-meter by one-meter plot of earth in the forest near Sewanee University. Haskell had experienced much of the same sense of appreciation for nature through his observations and getting to know the same plot, or “mandala,” as I had exploring the woods in my own backyard in Richmond. Reading excerpts from Haskell’s book gave me a deepened understanding of what I was experiencing and motivated me to keep learning about my surroundings. Haskell reminded me that one does not have to be an expert biologist (though he is an accomplished one himself) or academic to get the most out of appreciating nature. This is an attitude that I adopted early on in the semester after discussing Pilgrim at Tinker Creek in our Earth Lodge literature group, which I mentioned in my first synthesis blog “Discovering the Joys of Nature”. More important than training as a biologist are patience and being observant. These two skills have allowed me to learn much more about my surroundings, particularly at my reflection spot, increasing the satisfaction I experience when I see something familiar or notice a change in something I have been watching over a long time.
An article written by geographer and astronaut Thomas Jones (Jones 2001, 252-261) brought to my attention another dimension through which I can appreciate my surroundings: scale. In the article, Jones recounts his experiences photographing earth from the Space Shuttle Endeavor. After traveling around the world to see what he would be photographing from space in person, Jones had the opportunity to see the world from 215 kilometers away. Recalling memories from his four treks to spaces, Jones said that “the ever-varying beauty of the Earth below never failed to give [him] a new lesson in-and new enthusiasm for –geography.” This article allowed me to better understand how even when one has become deeply familiar with a place, as Haskell did with his mandala and as Jones did with several places around the world, a stronger sense of appreciation can be obtained by observing the place from a different perspective or scale.
My appreciation for place came full-circle recently during our final project preparations. My knowledge of local species grew as our group studied species identification of mammals and plants on the Gambles Mill trail, giving me an even greater sense of awe for what is around me— who knew there were flying squirrels in Richmond! Caroline had a similar experience on a visit to the Gambles Mill trail earlier in the semester, which she shared in her blog “Songs of the Gambles Mill Trail”. During the Gambles Mill trail cleanup organized by Phoebe, Caroline, Shannon, and Celeste, I was able to witness how other members of the community appreciate their space and experience connectivity on the trail through the community garden and using the trail for recreation. I was pleased to realize that when the species identification sign created by our group is installed, we will be helping others to gain a greater appreciation for place by adding to their knowledge of plants and animals that live in the area. I hope others will gain as much as I have from learning more about my environment.
I have heard statistics that within weeks of taking final exams, students lose the vast majority of the knowledge they obtained in a class. While this may be true for traditional classes, I am sure it will not be the case for my experience with Geography of the James River Watershed. This is because I not only learned about the James River Watershed, but I also learned about new ways of thinking and new lenses through which to view the world. This caused me to experience several transformations in my perspectives. After this semester is over, I may not remember how to determine whether an infinite sequence of numbers diverges or how to find the Fourier series of a function using calculus, but knowing the connection between a strong sense of place and appreciation for the environment is something that is sure to stick with me for years to come.
Jones, T.D. 2001. A Globe That Fills the Sky: Geography from the Space Shuttle in Geographical Review. 91: 252-261.