Rural Hours Response

                


The reading of Susan Fenimore Cooper's Rural Hours really resonated with me this week. She speaks a lot about "the preservation of old pines" (57) and the trees impact on the world. Cooper mentions how it tkaes many years for a tree to grow. It needs time from a seed to evolve into a sapling, then a young tree into a statuesque evergreen. The rainfall it acumulates through its roots gets absorbed and gives the tree a stronger base. The sunlight powers the leaves, letting them produce chlorophyll which allows plants to gather energy from the sun. This process is quite magical and is the basis of powering the ecosystem. All the hard work and dedication it takes from the environment to produce such an incredible tree can be cut down by a chainsaw in just a few short minutes.  A tall and noble tree seems to have wisdom from all the changes and events it has seen. Planting new trees just does not benefit the environment in the way some people may think.
Cooper's discussion of this issue related to this week's 10th anniversary of September 11th. For the memorial they took a tree that was planted outside the World Trade Center and was over 90% ruined due to the attacks. After being cared for and nursed back to health, it was replanted in the memorial and is now just as strong as ever. They are calling the tree the "Survivor Tree" and it is a very inspiring story. I think for the city of New York and the country, it is a symbol of hope for America. The attacks on 9/11 were designed to damage the country as a unit. Today, we have stronger security, a stronger city of New York and a stronger tree.
In 9th grade I took a trip to California and we went to the Redwoods. It was amazing to see first hand the gigantic trees together in a forest. The trunks of the trees were immense. Looking straight up the tree, it seemed to go on forever. I found it interesting that their root system is shallow, but the roots interlock together to hold up their neighbors. The example these large trees represent of community is something human kind can learn from. No matter how important or famous someone becomes,they still need their own support system to hold them up.Trees represent life and can be a great example of community. They work together with nature and humans to produce and sustain life. Cooper acknowledges the importance of trees and to preseve the natural beauty nature holds.


Read about the Suvivor tree HERE!!!

In class on Thursday, we discussed Thoreau's Walden and his appreciation of nature. Something that really stuck out to me was the idea and/or definition of nature. Google's definition of the word is the following: The phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations. How individuals have different definitions of nature impacts their awareness of what they should do to conserve. Some people may think of a park, or their backyard as being nature. Or maybe a mountain or state park. The idea of man made areas counting or not counting as nature is also an interesting argument.
It seems that what is to be defined as nature, should be natural to the earth. A plant or flower, or tree is a natural entity of the world, but if humans plant this does that take away the definition? Currently,  many people inhabit and overpopulate the world. Times have changed from the 1800s, technology is rapidly effecting every part of human life. I think it's fair to say the definition of nature also has to change.  Even though everyone's personal concept of nature is different, I feel that as a whole most definitions would exclude humans from "nature." It is interesting that instead of trying to coexist and use nature to enrich our lives, society tries to separate in order to survive. It was mentioned in class that we, humans, essentially need nature to survive, but it doesn't need us. Although I have not realized it, this is a strong belief I have. The overall respect of the earth and nature is a strong value of mine. Without living off the grid, or completely converting my lifestyle, I feel that the little things I do everyday to conserve energy or recycle does make an impact on the world. I always feel that I could do much more. The idea that I don't think I'm doing enough often makes me angry when I think of people who aren't as aware or caring and how much they waste without realization of the fact.
To conserve nature we must all make a small change to our everyday lives. Nature is made of ecosystems, and no matter what your personal definition of the word includes, nature needs to be preserved. I don't feel there can be a "wrong" explanation of nature. Who is to say that just because there is a tree on a city block doesn't make that nature? I think our idea of nature is that of a wooded area, but a single frog or area of grass is defined as being a part of the whole. I think to limit the idea to large, natural areas is wrong.
One person, even by themselves alone is still a member of the human species. It is the same idea with nature. No matter how big or small, the definition of nature can vary but it is still alive and thriving on the earth. We should appreciate this and value it, because if we don't one day there will be no nature to witness first hand.