Intro to Environmental Studies 24

I was very excided to take this class because being a sophomore this is my first class this is counting towards my major of environmental studies! Before starting any class at CNU I always look up my professors and what other class they teach. I was very happy to see that Dr. Kip Redick had a lot of classes relating to philosophy, religion, and environmental studies since those are all areas in which I am interested in. What I have begun to love more and more about the Environmental program and major is how it brings together a bunch of different subjects together and gives you a broader understanding of the subject and makes you combine different themes that you wouldn't at first think of putting together. One of these connection in interest for me is the Camino de Santiago and the AT! I became really interested in walking the Camino de Santiago after watching the movie "The Way", and I really like the connection that this book has to offer with the act of spiritual walk...

 I really enjoyed reading through the introduction of  "The American Camino", by Kip Redick, found on pages 1-5. I thought it was interesting take on how different (out of the three examples) experiences of the trail can impact our overall view of the Appalachian trail and your overall experience with hiking. I am very excited to continue reading and find out more of the detail of hiking the AT and especially the details of hiking the entire AT as a whole. My question that I have is that even through each of the three examples of people "using" the trail for different reasons-and this inherently make every experience different, and some can argue that hiking a throw hike is the most impactful and just a day trip picnic has the least impact- is it still enjoy nature and the AT trail even if you are only experiencing it surface level. This question is a personal question since I have enjoyed the AT as solely a "viewer" of the landscape and not hike anywhere,...

In the class text book "The American Camino", by Kip Redick, in chapter four "Can Wildness Be Found on a Wilderness Trail", reference a quote by transcendentalists Henry David Thoreau. The quote said, "We go eastward to realize history and study the works of art and literature, retracing the steps of the race; we go westward as into the future, with a spirt of enterprise and adventure". I really enjoy and appreciate the idea that this quote vocalizes. Recognizing our past, honoring that, as well as stepping boldly into the unknown. I think that this is a concept that has held the attention of US citizens for a long time, and is practically ingrained in the fabric of what make us a nation. Embarking on a journeying to a new land for a greater promise of peace, expanding westwards with westward expansion, and even our country's innovative way of preserving "untouched wildlife/senary" through National Parks Service. It is obvious that this messa...

During the summer of 2023 I went on a trip with my family to Ireland. I LOVE IRELAND and could probably write an entire essay about..... yeah, I was about to start listing off topics relating to Ireland that I could talk about, but then we would be there for a while- but with the blog post I am going to focus on the observations I made about the landscape and more specifical the human and environmental interaction. In Ireland, even through the land has been inhabit for much much longer then America, when visiting, it is surprising to find that Ireland's environmental impact is seemly much smaller then Americans. In our entire trip we only really drove on one highway and it was leading out of a major city, Ireland is mostly village based with two main city's in the entire country. I also, not an exaggeration- only saw trash on the side of the street once in Northern Ireland. I think Ireland achieved this based on many different reasons but some that Americans can take with us ar...

One way that I think we can promote the love of nature is through movies! The first two forms of media that portrayed a positive view on nature was writings (transcendentalists) and painted pictures and movies is wonderful middle group. I believe that Hollywood has portrayed the beauty of nature in a positive way with movies like my side of the mountain, sound of music, and moana, and has even produced movies that also impact the viewer in a way that encourage them to pay attention to climate change like the day after tomorrow. Documentaries, like Disney's "Elephant" are a great way to bring life to specific topics but are a hard way to bring in a wide range of audience. By combining both Hollywood story and dramatics with none SGI scenes of nature, movies can really impact the audience to began to appreciate nature and create "eternal" change among individual.

I believe that adventure and curiosity go hand and hand. In a society who is constantly moving towards more and more forms of instant gratification and reward- the need for "adventure" is becoming more sought after. How media portrays this adventure, in the context of environmental adventure, is summed up by dangerous journey across glaciers, deep scuba diving into the open ocean, and climbing up Mt. Everest. Yes, all of these adventures are in fact environmental adventures, but I also think that adventure can be found in the ordinary moments of walking though a forest or trail. T he forest offers millions upon millions of adventures and interesting discovers waiting to be found. Just thinking of the possibility of adventure whenever interest and curiosity is found and the forest is no acceptation. Next time you are walking in the forest I encourage you to try to get "overwhelmed" by the scenery. A method that my dad has taught me is to mentally take note of one thi...

My family and I have lived next to a public park near Richmond called the Robious Landing park since I was about three. The park has about 102 acres of land and 3.4 miles of walking trails with beautiful landscapes. Having grown up with the forest, and being familiar with the the trees and landscape around me it feels as though the forest and the life that inhabits it and I, have a deep connection and familiarity more then just person walking though a place. This familiarity, or relationship even, can really only be described as getting to know a friend, and feeling the lost and longing when being apart. Since this blog post is in my perspective and we don't know a way to "talk to trees" at least not right now, the relationship can often sound one sided-similar to the issues discuss in the beginning of the year with the problems relating to the barriers in naming things. I also think that in addition to keeping a heathy reservation to naming things I also think that it is...