While observing and thinking in White Clay Creek, I often think about how humans interact with nature. Especially after reading ContamiNation and all the chemicals we are putting into the environment as well as hearing about in the news the worsening effects of global warming, it is easy to identify with Robin Kimmerer’s students who “said confidently that humans and nature are a bad mix” (Kimmerer, 6). While awareness of environmental issues are certainly one reason that we may feel that humans and nature can’t get along, Kimmerer points out that there are also cultural explanations for why many non-Native Americans feel this way. She argues that as opposed to her native culture’s spiritual beliefs that connect humans to the environment in a supportive way as demonstrated by the tale of Skywoman, Western Christian culture contributes to man-centered view where man must take command of nature for survival as nature even punishes Eve (Kimmerer, 7). Kimmerer than offers the view that instead thinking we are incompatible with nature (or that we must dominate it), we should try and learn from it. And what is one way to learn from something? To observe it.

As I came to my spot on the creek this week I immediately noticed how the water level of the creek had increased. Areas that were once dry were now covered with water. In the water there were small fish such as minnows, and nearby signs indicted that White Clay Creek is a trout stream, though I have yet to see a trout. Above the water there were several different sizes of dragonflies. In the sand there was colony of ant scurrying around along with flies who were resting. In the flowers, as usual, there were plenty of bees, and I spotted a few different species of butterflies, including a Red Spotted-Purple, a Black Swallowtail, and brilliantly yellow Tiger Swallowtail. In the trees and air I got a good look at small white bird with a black head that I was later able to identify as a Black-Capped Chickadee. Life truly is everywhere. As for the plants, which Kimmerer specifically mentions we should pay attention to, I was able to identify a nearby tree/shrub as a Smooth Sumac. Small patches of Forget-Me-Nots were in the vicinity (although they are a non-native species).

In the section “Good Oak” of The Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold also portrays how we can learn from plants and nature, specifically through his story about an oak tree. He describes how the different layers of the tree capture history, while at the same time, remaining impervious to the various natural and man-made events happening around it, until it was finally struck down. He also explains how the same tools need to use to use the gift of the wood are same ones need to analyze history and properly understand our past. Like Kimmerer and those “raised on the story of Skywoman,” (Kimmerer, 6), Leopold seems to understand that we must learn from nature and appreciate its gifts, similar to how the Skywoman reciprocated the gifts of the animals.

What have learned from nature? If anything, I have grown to admire the calmness and flowing aspects of nature. This week, my mind was focused on the GRE that I was taking on Saturday (oh boy). Going into nature for my journal forced me to have sometime to relax and not ruminate on my anxiety about taking the test. Similarly, the unceasing flow of the creek provided a metaphor for how life will go on regardless of the results of the exam. I am sure this is only the beginning of what I can learn from nature.

This past week in class we discussed our favorite quotes from ContamiNation, why they were powerful and how they were effective in their language. With this same mindset, I began reading Sand Country Almanac by Aldo Leopold. I decided to bring my copy along with me to my spot this week. As I sat on the man made bridge at the edge of my spot, I began reading “Thinking Like a Mountain”. As I opened my book to sift through the light brown pages, stained with water so much so that it makes a crunching noise as I attempt to turn to the page, the area around me was calm. I began reading, putting my reflection of the space around me on hold.

The words on this old page are powerful. The reflection on one act, an act that has quite possibly forever changed the mindset of Leopold, is heavy in its guilt. Leopold says, “Only the mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of a wolf” for the mountain does not fear the wolf as the deer does, as the rancher does and as our population in general does.   Greater is the fear of the deer by the mountain, for the deer has the power to destroy the mountain for decades. Leopold continues, “I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view” as he watched the ‘green fire’ die in the eyes of this mother wolf. I wonder what White Clay has to fear. I assume, quite possibly, the answer is me.

As I sit here in my spot on the hard wood planks of this bridge, I can see the sharp dichotomy of nature and man. I am sitting on it. The bridge is a perfect example of man’s influence over nature. We came in, we saw a need to better the park for our own interest, and thus we built this very bridge. What does the Eastern Mud Turtle think of me, as it crawls slowly along the edge of the stream gulping the same air? I wonder if it fears what we (humans) will conjure up next in White Clay to satisfy our own selfish interests. It is possible that the bridge did not cause much harm to two Green Frogs sun-bathing in front of me, caked in the slime from the surface of the still water, but what about the dam? The dam that stretches bank to bank in my distance has changed the migration pattern of fish, contributing to extinction of some. Maybe we placed that dam there because we thought it meant more power for our mills, less polluting emissions for our air, but as I sit here and watch the water rise over the cement wall, I know that neither the stream nor the fish agreed with such a view.

The air was heavy with humidity in White Clay, but the temperature was cooler. As I finished reading “Thinking Like a Mountain”, I spent some time listening to the pecking of a woodpecker, busy at work in the canopy of trees above me. I can also hear the screeching of the Grey Cat Bird, which will not seem to quiet down. I am sure that these two birds share that same common fear of human thinking that White Clay, the bog turtle, and the green frogs all have.