I feel like this post is the end of an era. This is weird. This semester has been weird. I'm going to be completely honest: had I seen what this class would have been centered on before I chose the class, I probably wouldn't have chosen it. And that would have been a mistake. I never really though about Ecocentrism or anything of the sort before but taking this class has opened my eyes to the world around me in so many ways. I feel this class has been so weird because at the time it didn't feel I was learning anything and now I think of certain situations in which I can apply different beliefs or just words in general which I learned in this class. Some of the readings were dense, but that goes along with any English class really; however, analyzing them in class really helped and I find myself better able to deduce things from readings on my own-- a skill I'm very happy to have finally achieved too, by the way.
This class has changed my relationship with Nature in a positive way. I no longer see Nature as a bother, but rather as a reminder that it's probably much more important than most things in my daily life. The trees help me breathe and the plants provide me with veggies, and birds help get rid of certain bugs which may be dangerous to me. Nature and humanity have coexisted for a long time and it should remain that way. There's no reason for humanity to be unable to advance in every way possible while preserving the natural world. And preservation is so important to me now, more so than ever before. Imagine a century from now if we keep destroying the Earth's natural resources that some children may never get the chance to even see certain types of plants which normally grew in their region as they do nowadays, or a certain animal which is around today. It's a terrifying thought that if we keep treating the Earth so harshly, some generations from now, a child may not know what sea-lion or blue bird looks like in real life.
Nature is really such a wondrous thing and it's very heartbreaking to know that most people in our society don't really have a relationship with nature nor want to. I think it's an important part of the human experience to have some sort of relationship with our natural world, whether it's by using it as a vague means of describing sexual situations as Dickinson did, or by simply observing it and trying to understand how it works as Darwin. For me, I think my relationship with nature has transformed in that I can understand its relevance now, and not only that, but appreciate it. Granted, I'll still probably live my life never fighting for Eco-rights as a minority of people do, but I like being outside more now. I don't see the Sun as a nuisance anymore, but rather an overzealous bright friend; I'm terrified of birds but despite this, I respect their existence--really they're just trying to survive as I am, so when I see one hopping across the sidewalk, I give it time to pass; the rain has become more than just a way to delay my daily train or bus rides--it has become a way to rejuvenate the world; and even those flowers I was so used to pulling out: I leave them there now. I think I do that as a way to respect nature as she needs to be respected.
To put an end to a very long post, last week it was raining so much and it was really very horrible. By the end of the week, I was tired of mud and water and my Doc Martens had become a weird mixture of black, brown, and grey. But one day on my way home, I decided to go a different route, and one tree, which just a week before had been completely bare, was now covered in the most gorgeous pink blossoms. Come to think of it I wish I had taken a photograph. However it was sort of a beautiful moment for me and reminded me of how wonderful the natural world can be. Those pink blossoms sit on top of a tree planted in dirt fenced off in three ft by five ft area on the edge of the sidewalk in the middle of a very grey neighborhood littered with plastic bags and empty water bottles, but that fifteen square ft of space remained untouched by any of this. I feel like this has some sort of symbolism in it but I'm running on about three hours of sleep from the past three days and I'm not even sure how I got this far in the post but it's been lovely writing these blog posts and reflecting and reading everyone's thoughts okay bye.
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