It’s Sunday at 1 o’clock.  Typically this would mean I would be on my couch watching football. However, my new ritual this semester is to do my nature walks at this time, and I have grown to actually enjoy it a lot. I arrive at White Clay Creek at about 2 o’clock. The beautiful weather really enhances the true smell of fall all around me.

I take a seat on a log with a buddy of mine and we try this whole mediation thing that I have learned to do in class. The feeling I felt was unlike anything else. Since it was so quite except for the natural sounds around me, I felt like I was able to go outside of my body and watch what was going on through my sense of sound. Birds screaming back and forth to one another, squirrels and chipmunks scurrying through the leaves, wind blowing through the trees.

My mind found it easier to escape all the problems and thoughts that were constantly running through my head when we meditated in class. After about 20 minutes of sitting in silence we decided to get up and explore a bit. Of course within 5 minutes of walking around I come across litter, which totally takes away from the nature “high” I was coming off of when I was mediating. Somehow a pop tart wrapper found its way at the trunk of a tree. The faded color of the wrapper told me it had been circulating in this ecosystem for quite some time.

It got me to think what the animals thought of this litter. We see it for what it is, some human being disrespectful toward the forest and having no care for anyone else but themselves. But I wonder when a squirrel comes across it or maybe an insect crawls inside of it what runs through their head. Do they perceive it as just another part of nature that they have not yet came across yet? Or do they see it for what it is and get angry and confused as to why someone would do that?

In discussion in class we talked about finding a cigarette in the lake and what that could represent. I feel like the biggest thing that does is give the perception to others passing by that its ok to litter and behave like that. If someone is walking by and has a little trash in their hand they will be more likely to litter if they see that kind of activity all around them. It’s the mentality of “ how much could 1 more piece of little trash hurt”. With no one there to monitor this action or constantly clean it up, you see how the chain reaction could be so harmful.

Something I thought that was very interesting the Forest Unseen was when Haskell says, “we crave rich variegations of light. Too much time in one ambience, and we long for something new.” What I took from this is that he’s saying humans naturally crave what they don’t have and always looking to move on to something different. I think this is a wonderful quote cause it not only describes how we feel when were surrounded by nature, but it also describes how we feel about almost everything else in life.

This is shown every time a new iPhone comes out or even buying new clothes. It’s something new and more importantly something we don’t already posses. Sometimes when I’m out in the woods for extended periods of times I also get a little frustrated. Were not used to being in the same “light” for too long. I believe this is due to the fact that we have television and computers that give us the ability to change the “light” that were in with the click of a button. It puts us in power of what were surrounded by, and we all know humans love to be in control.