Naturalist Essay

This weekend I decided to take a walk on a path that leads to a park near my house. In the beginning of my walk I encountered a lot of beautiful flowers and trees. The trees were all very big and it showed how long they had been growing here. I saw small animals such as rabbits, birds, and squirrels. On occasion if I’m lucky I even see groups of deer by the edge of the forest. At the beginning of the path the grass was a healthy shade of green and thick. However, as the path progressed the grass was damaged, yellow, and covered with weeds. There was garbage that people left all over the grass even though there are numerous garbage cans throughout the path. I noticed how careless people can be, they are ruining a beautiful park by throwing trash all over the place. That is the main reason I don’t enjoy walking on this path anymore, it used to be clean and relaxing but now all I can see is how much it has changed. As I progressed down the path I also noticed prairie grass and cornfields. When I normally walk throughout this path I don’t notice how much garbage is all over the place and how the scenery changes, as I get farther down the path. This is mostly because I walk my dog and only walk about five minutes into the path. I believe the beginning of the path is so clean, organized, and beautiful because my neighborhood is very nice and people don’t want their property or their location to be ugly or disgusting. As the path progresses the houses become apartment complexes and people start to become more careless about the land around them. When I look out my window at home I love nature because it looks flawless and perfect but when I am in nature I find myself becoming disappointed by the conditions of it. The grass is damaged because of what people have done to it and the air has even changed. People don’t pick up after their dogs and the air has a horrible stench.

I feel that everyone treats with nature on a daily basis whether they notice it or not because we breathe in the air, walk to school/work, use natural resources to live every single day. The urban life obviously has a different impact than the suburban life because of he amount of people and the way people get to work or school. I find the suburbs to be quieter and nature is more noticeable while in the city the buildings and rush of the city almost over shadow nature.

My interaction in nature was more like the interaction described in “A Geologist’s Winter Walk” by John Muir. I liked how he described the animals in their habitat and the way he wrote it I could picture myself there. He describes nature in a way unobstructed by buildings and manmade objects.

The two writings differ because they are each taking a different approach on nature. One focuses on the urban lifestyle with nature surrounding it while the other talks about the animals in their natural habitat.