{"id":3443,"date":"2013-09-30T21:46:22","date_gmt":"2013-10-01T01:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/?p=3443"},"modified":"2013-09-30T21:46:22","modified_gmt":"2013-10-01T01:46:22","slug":"reflection-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/2013\/09\/30\/reflection-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection Point"},"content":{"rendered":"

The James River Park System, it is exactly that, a SYSTEM. Driving the narrow back roads to gain\u00a0access to the Wetlands, was an experience in and of itself because many of us had never been there and\u00a0<\/span>simply thought that TLB was lost. Never had I been to this entry point on the James River. We pulled up\u00a0<\/span>in our 16 passenger van under the canopy of trees. We were greeted with new smells and sights, while\u00a0<\/span>walking into the park entrance. It is simply incredible the new things you can learn about your local\u00a0<\/span>community once you open your eyes and explore further than just the popular local areas.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have been to Pony Pasture and Huguenot Flat Water, but the Wetlands was a new adventure\u00a0for me. As we walked down the dirt path, the sunlight made its way through the trees and illuminated\u00a0<\/span>the path for us. We continued walking down this beautiful path and had momentary stops along the\u00a0<\/span>way to look around us. While stopped we discussed the various different types of borders, as well as,\u00a0<\/span>what a wetland actually is and what constitutes land as \u201cwetland.\u201d Talking about the ways, people try to\u00a0<\/span>get around building on wetlands, brought me instantly back to my Environmental Law and Policy class.\u00a0<\/span>During the course of the semester, we talked about different environmental laws and how they are\u00a0<\/span>used to protect the land. To many of us, protecting the environment is a no brainer- we would not have\u00a0<\/span>joined Earth Lodge (I do not think) if we did not respect the land in some way. But there are people out\u00a0<\/span>there who do not understand. Their views are plainly anthropocentric and\/ or they simply have never\u00a0<\/span>had any exposure to the local beauty. People travel to experience \u201cnatural beauty\u201d. For these people, I\u00a0<\/span>believe there is some sort of disconnect between their local environment and themselves. There is a link\u00a0<\/span>that is missing.<\/span><\/p>\n

For me, this link was created back in the spring 2011. It was my freshman spring and I was in\u00a0an environmental chemistry class learning about how pollutants enter the lake and calculating their\u00a0<\/span>residence times. It was hard to believe the types of impacts our every days life have on the environment\u00a0<\/span>we adore. After transferring, I decided to pursue my love of the environment and my passion to protect\u00a0<\/span>it. Through field trips during my environmental studies classes, I have been able to develop place\u00a0<\/span>identity with the city of Richmond, the river and the surround landscapes. I appreciate the beauty and\u00a0<\/span>feel connected with the land. This connection allows me to care, and this connection leads me to want\u00a0<\/span>to do my part in protecting these areas for future peoples. But had I not had this place identity created\u00a0<\/span>for Richmond, I might not care. I might not know anything about the access points to the James River,\u00a0<\/span>the trees that thrive in a riparian zone, and the effects of impervious surfaces and urban heat islands.\u00a0<\/span>The link that is missing in most people is place identity. To develop place identity, people have to\u00a0<\/span>experience the area around them. They need to walk the lands, see the organisms, and be one with the\u00a0<\/span>nature around them. This feeling is something that cannot be taken away. This feeling creates internal\u00a0<\/span>connections to that place, those smells, and those sights.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sitting on the edge of the River at the Wetlands, was like any other experience I had ever had on\u00a0the James River. The fog was rolling down the stream following the river. The sun was reflecting off the\u00a0<\/span>water and there was silence. This hydrologic system has been running for years. It is an interconnected\u00a0<\/span>system, meaning the water from the impervious surfaces of urban development run off to the wetlands,\u00a0<\/span>and riparian zone where it is filtered before hitting the river. This system is powerful and simply\u00a0<\/span>incredible, but we have influenced the river. Over time, we have changed the health, the flow and the\u00a0<\/span>overall ecosystem that encompasses the river. It is something that I am not proud of and I want to try to\u00a0<\/span>change. I believe that we can mimic this sturdy river system by creating connections amongst ourselves\u00a0<\/span>to join together to protect our river. I would like to be able to share the same joy of the river with future\u00a0<\/span>people. How can we connect with this river system to make it even stronger, more powerful and have\u00a0<\/span>an even higher function?<\/span><\/p>\n

This question is the type of question that is always lingering in my head. How can you get\u00a0anyone to do anything? Today\u2019s class discussion on In River Time, that I facilitated, left me feeling\u00a0<\/span>hopeful. We need to target people of all ages. There is no set way to target everyone with one sign,\u00a0<\/span>or one tour, or one event. I believe there needs to be categories. Like anything, there will always be\u00a0<\/span>individuals that don\u2019t fit perfectly into them and there will always be people that simply will refuse to\u00a0<\/span>care about the environment around them. But the more people that support the system, the stronger it\u00a0<\/span>will be. I believe that this mentality works on a small scale, such as the Westhampton lake or the James\u00a0<\/span>River, but it also works on a larger scale, like the Chesapeake Bay. Each person has value similar to every\u00a0<\/span>part of an ecosystem. The more organisms there are the more function the system has within it. The\u00a0<\/span>James River is a SYSTEM that people need to become more connected with.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The James River Park System, it is exactly that, a SYSTEM. Driving the narrow back roads to gain\u00a0access to the Wetlands, was an experience in and of itself because many of us had never been there and\u00a0simply thought that TLB … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1952,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1952"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}