Mehul Chaudhari - Naturalist Essay

It was in the afternoon, a vibrant sunny afternoon heading down this quite, friendly but busy street I was enriched by all the surroundings of nature. The temperature must have been low 70s, as I saw many residents of Lincoln Park outside walking around as I was. I started my journey at Halsted and Armitage were I reside. From there I went down Armitage past Seminary, make a right up on to Fullerton. I knew my walk in Lincoln Park would be filled with nature, because of the effort many residents put in their landscaping, and environment around the town. I was able to encounter nature as I stepped outside and tightly closed the knob. The air that I breathe, the sunlight that I exposed, and everything I see is nature in a general statement. Also a mosquito that landed right my right leg is unfortunately also nature . When looking at the ground I saw, beautiful flowers planted with varies assortments. I saw many residents walking their golden retrieves, and poodles. I did take more detail into what I was observing today than usual, I don’t usually get to take an hour and really examine what I’ve learned, and things you may see but overlook in your head. I believe when the sun is out, shining bright, the skis look clear, the wind is mellow, and the grass is green, I feel as this is a great start to my day, and I am more upbeat in a sense to start my day early in the morning. If the day was pour raining like today, my mood wouldn’t be as happy, as it can be until I got inside, were nature was limited. Talking about our interactions with nature, I believe personally my interaction with nature is happening every second of our life. We are nature, to a point. Without nature we couldn’t survive on this planet, or universe. We need the air to breathe, we need food to survive, and we need water, these are all interrelated with nature. In both writing Kuo’s and Murir’s they both had good points of view on nature, and their interactions and relationships with nature. How they felt we can work better with nature, and how it really has a social impact on us. I think I was able to connect with Kuo’s writing this time, because he provided a closer to home piece of writing. He mentions how public aid housing is effected trees outside of their building, how family’s feel safer because they are easily able to communicate outdoors with each other. He tends to talk more about urban environments which was the one I made my walk through. I feel as everyone’s mood was better because, the nature surrounding us in Lincoln Park is beautiful. The differences in both writing were mostly the point of view they were trying to represent. Murir’s writing showed his personal interactions with nature, and his trip through Yosemite. He was showing more detail of nature, and the wonderful features of nature. Kuo’s was more informational then anything. He provided us with in-depth research showing social interactions with nature. He showed the difference between crime in areas with greener settings then crime in areas with little nature. It helped us figure out what’s best for us, and how to efficiently utilize nature to help out our everyday life.

Mehul chaudhari

Naturalist Essay

Due to very cheap airfare, I decided to take a trip to my hometown of Birmingham, Alabama this weekend. While I have been told in the past that I do not look or sound like I am from the South, I think that many people assume everyone that is from Alabama has a thick southern drawl and does not know what shoes are. Another assumption is that Alabama is home of all farms. Where I live, this is not the case. There are no farms for at least an hour and a half out of Birmingham. Since my family recently just moved into a new neighborhood in a suburb of Birmingham while I was away at college, I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to see what I could encounter with nature.
There were many things that I noticed that were completely different from my usual walks down the streets of Chicago compared to my walk I was currently taking in my very wooded and damp atmospheric neighborhood. It had just stopped raining, and the mosquitos were swarming. There are hardly ever insects in Chicago, but in the south, they are everywhere. When I am home in Alabama, I am always amazed about how green and lively everything looks compared to when I am in Chicago. Just by taking a 45-minute walk in my neighborhood, I am astonished by how hilly the land is. I can literally see hills and mountains, where in Chicago everything is very flat and there are hardly any trees. One of the main things I noticed on my walk was this patch of mushrooms growing behind one of the bushes of my neighbor’s yard. It was like nothing I have seen before. These mushrooms were very vibrant, large, and exquisite. I couldn’t help but take a picture for my personal keeping, because it was not something I can easily see walking down the sidewalks of Lincoln Park.
I feel that whenever I am home I appreciate nature more because I can actually hear the trees sway, and the birds chirping instead of those noises being drowned out by the sounds of cars and ambulances on Fullerton. Even though I interact with nature every day in Lincoln Park, I feel as if the “nature” part is very artificial. Almost every tree has been strategically placed to make room for people to walk. Humans force nature to adapt to us, and in someway we make it so we have to adapt to nature. For example, because we cannot change how the weather is in the winter, we do what we can to adapt to nature.
My walk resembled Kuo’s more than Muir’s due to the fact that Kuo explains how arboriculture limits the crime in neighborhoods and encourages neighborhood interaction. Because my neighborhood does have a lot of well-kept lawns and trees, I feel as if this encourages interactions between neighbors and does limit crime to a certain extent. I think Kuo’s and Muir’s writings differ in that Kuo was describing ways in which one could improve their neighborhood and how arboriculture could benefit those in residential neighborhoods while Muir’s writing was depicting vivid scenes of nature in different areas. It also did not talk much, if any, about arboriculture. Muir also wrote in a way that made his ideas sound like poetry. Both Kuo’s and Muir’s writings greatly differ such as the nature in Birmingham and that of Chicago.

Naturalist Essay

My walk consisted of going from my apartment on Southport and Fullerton down Fullerton to the Quad, through the Quad and back down Belden back towards my apartment. The walk down Fullerton had small amounts of “green” areas. There were some trees and spots of grass but not as much as I encountered later. Walking through the Quad there was a nice open lot with numerous trees and a lot of grass. The walk back down Belden had alot “green” coverage. I enjoyed the larger trees scattered around the sidewalks and next to luxury houses. There was grass along the whole walk between the street and sidewalk. There were large trees along Belden that I didn’t see on Fullerton.

The walk got me to notice more about my surrounding area but not much. I normally would walk to class along Belden because it is a quieter and more scenic view than walking down Fullerton.

When I walk along the “greener path” I feel more relaxed and comfortable. I get out of the frantic of everyday life and can relax.

On a daily basis I interact with nature because of its impact on my mood. I enjoy looking away from the buildings and concrete to the trees and other natural organisms.

I think my walk was more like Kuo’s article. I feel that nice homes of Lincoln Park contributed to a sense of communityI felt. There were kids playing outdoors, neighbors conversing, and I felt very safe. Muir’s article reminded me of when I travel to my cabin in northern Michigan, where I really enjoy the outdoors and relax in the beauty surrounding me there.

The first writing I read by Kuo talked about how “greenness” of an inner-city neighborhood can have a positive effect on the community. The article talked about how more trees and grass would lead to more active kids, less civil disturbances, and the residents to feel safer in their own community and numerous other benefits. The second article by Muir talked of the beauty of nature. The man went on an overnight hike into the canyon and he talks of the beauty of nature.

Naturalist Essay

Courtney Carlstrom

Environmental Science Paper

Every morning I try to go for a run outside if weather permits. I have a five-mile route both downtown and in Barrington (the suburb I live in) in which I try to do six days a week. Because I was home over the weekend, I chose to write about the route in Barrington. I can not even count the amount of times I have ran this route, however, I have never really noticed my natural surroundings due to the fact that my ipod is usually blasting. I also tend to get lost in my head and thoughts while I run. I thought it would be interesting to look at something I am so immune to in a different aspect, which is why I chose to write about this specific route. I left my ipod at home, left my house, and began my run.

My warm up is a walk down my street, I live in the town of Barrington where homes are average sized, and houses are relatively close together. There are many trees down my street and the grass on everyone’s property is well kept. I thought about how Kuo made the connection of trees and a friendly neighborhood. I would say that my neighborhood is relatively friendly. I saw kids playing outside while on my run, which was another thing that Kuo spoke about. The scenery that consumed the majority of my run was homes, trees, grass, and flowers. There is a pond in Barrington that I ran passed as well, however, it is not very large. It was nice taking notice of my surroundings and really just appreciating the area I live in while I was out for my run.

After I cam home from my run I thought about how I think about nature and how nature interacts with me on a daily basis. I looked in my backyard and saw an arrangement of bushes, trees, and even still flowers (at this time of the year). I realized that when I wake up in the morning, the fact that I wake up to such a beautiful area is something that automatically puts me in a good mood. I really began to appreciate how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful town as far as nature goes. I know that when I am active outside, I am generally in a better mood than when I stay indoors.

Growing up, we lived by the Fox Lake, so playing games with the other neighborhood kids are memories that fill my mind when referring back to my childhood. Being able to enjoy the outdoors is something that almost shaped me growing up. I thought about how my life would be different if I did not have the privilege of being raised in an area surrounded by well-kept nature. I think the perspective I have on live in general would be different and less creative. I almost feel like a child who can’t play outside or at least enjoy the view of a natural landscapes life must be dull or sad. Just having the ability do to things and be active outdoors is something that has presented itself throughout my life and how I have always interacted with nature.

I think that my interaction with nature was more like the writing of Kuo. For some reason, I kept making references of his study while on my walk. I immediately connected the smile on my neighbor’s faces to the trees and green area. I would say that my experience was more similar to the writing of Kuo than Muir. I found Muir’s writing to be descriptive more than actually looking at the social effect that nature has. Overall I thought it was extremely interesting to take a moment and reflect on how my natural surroundings affect me and the life I live.

Naturalist Essay.

Although this assignment required us to embark upon a 45-minute nature walk, I decided to extend my usual 20-minute commute to work in the Loop to a 45-minute nature commute. I walked around my block – observing the modest variety of trees and flowers that flourished the neighborhood. And as I boarded the brown line heading towards the Loop from the Armitage stop, I analyzed how the amount of greenery digressed from a mildly flourished northside neighborhood to a metropolitan madhouse of toxic emissions. Before the Sedgwick stop, there were still a couple of quaint parks here and there that accommodated a lush garden or collections of trees, however, after the Chicago stop, there were mainly massive herds of cars and office buildings. I departed at the Quincy stop in the heart of noise, light, and garbage related pollution. Usually I don’t have the time to notice vast difference between neighborhoods. This past weekend, I went home to the suburbs. Although the suburbs of Chicago are still extremely bustling and populated with
Overall, I felt that my nature commute was somewhat of a combination between the informational, scientific writings of Frances Kuo and the naturalist, artistic writings of John Muir. On one hand, Muir adhered to a more philosophical approach to observing nature. In addition to his creative observations of nature, Muir also stated that “there is an all manufactures of Nature something essentially coarse which can and must be eradicated by human culture” (Muir 27), which encouraged the interaction of human culture with Nature. On the other hand, Kuo focused on the relationship between urban communities and the presence of trees in a more concrete method as opposed to Muir.
In saying this, I learned that it is necessary to observe your environmental surroundings from more than one perspective. And in turn, human culture can and must maintain a relationship with Nature in order to contribute to the health of our biological and social ecosystem in Chicago.

Naturalist Essay

I chose to walk near my house at a local park for my nature walk. Behind the park there is an area where there were railroad tracks a while ago but not it is just trees and bushes. There is an entrance to the area with trees that I went through which led me onto the old railroad tracks. I walked through this area and it felt as if I wasn't any where near a city anymore. There were a lot of trees, bushes, and grass. Some parts of the area even had flowers that I had not seen before. It was also very quite in the area because it wasn't close to any main streets and not much noise from the neighborhood was heard from there. The entire walk was very peaceful and relaxing because not only did I get away from the city but there was silence which was very relaxing. When I walk around my neighborhood, which is rarely, I tend not to notice all the ways nature is involved in the environment. The main thing I notice is the houses and the cars but when you pay attention you see all the things around the house and in public areas. I like being outside in nature because it helps you relax and forget about many of the worries you might have. Usually when I go back home overseas to Montenegro I spend a lot of time "in" nature because our house is on a mountainside away from the main cities. It is very calming and relaxing, because I do things that I probably wouldn't do if I was in a big city, such as explore the outdoors. I think we all interact nature on a daily basis. Everyone breathes and trees help that greatly. We also have a small garden in our backyard and the vegetables that grow there are eaten by my family and me. I think my interaction was more closely related to Muir, because during my walk I just tried to lay back and relax while taking the beauty of nature in. It was very peaceful and the area I walked through didn't have a lot to do with the town I live in because it isn't very visible from the neighborhoods and many people don't even walk through it. Kuo's writing seems to look at the affect of nature on neighborhood's and seems to have a more scientific point of view. Both writing's work but it depends on how you look at nature while you are outdoors which helps you relate to one or the other.

My nature walk

During my nature walk I took a closer look at the nature around me. It was still in an urban setting, and little did I know that there was still a fresh, green environment surrounding me. There were no exotic plants or animals, no tall forests, but there was old trees with character. I walked down Halsted, Armitage, and Belden. When I was thinking about where I was going to take my walk I had thought of this man made lily pond that is the most relaxing, get away place in the city, and on my way I had thought that its not the nature that had intended to ponder. It was made by human hands, and the nature on the three streets I chose were mostly already there before we came in, or placed themselves. Because I do not watch the trees or nature when I walk to get some where. But I looked very closely today. When I woke up I took a good look at the huge maple which I never do. I know its there and its pretty, but its beautiful! I have never taken a second to enjoy it, and I am glad I did today. I noticed that there were a lot of trees with character and flowers that I didn't think were possible to grow in Chicago like hibiscus flowers. Im not saying that it was the first time I saw the trees outside, but it was the first time that I took it in and appreciated it. I love nature, I enjoy it no matter where I am. My room is full of it, my garden is my meditation spot, I just can not get enough of it, and its great because I'm constantly surrounded by it. I believe my walk was more of Muir's interacts because I mediated on it and I went into a state of peace. "Muir valued nature for its spiritual and transcendental qualities." (Wikipedia). The two naturalists differ, but I agree with both, because Kuo says that if there is nature in communities and neighborhoods then there will be less of a crime rate. I agree because I believe that nature is soothing and is a companion to humans. Muir believes strongly in conservation of wilderness like as he did for Yosemite Valley. They both have amazing ideas and studies and I agree with both, but I feel like my walk has more to do with Kuo's writing.