nature walk

I chose to take a forty-five minute walk around my apartment in Lincoln Park. It was an opportunity for me to familiarize myself with the new neighborhood and encounter “nature”. While I was on my walk, I passed several trees and patches of grass but nothing too spectacular. I also saw shrubbery and a small tomato garden. One apartment had a little flower garden that was filled with exotic flowers. While I was taking this walk, I noticed that there were many stores and apartments but a few number of trees. My neighborhood had a couple flower and fruit garden, but besides the few gardens in people’s yards, there were none anywhere else. The roads and sidewalks were surrounded by a couple grass patches and/or rock patches. The article really opened my eyes to urban “nature”. When I think about nature I picture fields of flowers and forest filled with trees. I imagine a serene and beautiful place. However, when I am outside “in” nature, I get a reality check. I realize that the images I have can only be seen in certain places. I also realize that nature has changed and that it is slowly but surely diminishing. In urban areas especially, the beauty of nature that I imagine in my head is very much different from what I see everyday while walking to class. I interact with nature when I run at the birds that are sitting in a bush, or when I play at a park. Nature interacts with me on a daily basis by the weather outside. Sometimes the weather will be nice and sunny and other days it’ll be dark and rainy. I also interact with nature on a daily basis when I breathe. The trees and plants create oxygen for me to breathe in and my body creates carbon dioxide for the plants when I breathe out. Nature and I interact in many ways that I don’t even know. However, there are times when I interact with nature in bad ways. An example could be when I liter or when I pick flowers. I destroy nature and prevent it from doing what it needs to do. I believe my nature walk described Kuo’s writing because he describes nature in urban areas. I have witnessed firsthand what green space can do for people. I live in Naperville, IL and both my neighbors and I have yards and we have come to be good friends. I do believe it is because of the yard and the activities our families do outside that allows for us to interact with one another. However, in my apartment in the city, there is no yard or green space, and this has prevented me from getting to know any of the neighbors. I do not talk with any of them and I have no opportunity to really interact with any of them. The walk around my neighborhood helped me to reflect on Kuo’s writing about the importance of green space. The difference between Kuo’s writing and Muir’s writing was that Kuo describes and proves the importance of green space and nature in urban areas. While Muir is writing about a beautiful scenic environment. He is telling a story, whereas, Kuo is writing a research paper on the benefits of green space. It is two different writing styles and both authors are talking about two different environments. However, they both are talking about nature and the positive things that it brings to the earth. Overall, the readings opened up my eyes to nature that I had never really considered. I learned a lot and am now more observant when walking to class.