I have to admit, I was one of the people the blog post below rants about. I simply did not care about nature for most of my life. Places without lots of people seemed “boring”. But two circumstances changed that for me.
When deciding where to travel I used to only consider cities – places where I could soak up the art, culture, food and music. Only a chance budget-minded choice to forego a trip to the Greek Islands and instead choose Costa Rica opened my eyes to the incredible experiences of the natural world. Many environmentalists and educators ask – how can you get someone to appreciate and enjoy the non-manmade world? How can you get a population to care about something besides themselves (i.e. nature) now so it stops making bad decisions that will ultimately affect them later? Travel is one way, but it is an experience many people won’t get. And unfortunately even those who have the privilege of jetting around to exotic places don’t give two hoots about nature but only as it relates to them. In Costa Rica, for example, I learned there is a difference between bird lovers and birders. Birders are often apt to rack up the numbers of species they’re photographed without a concern for the actual birds. One birder in particular relished in the thought of killing ducks who were dirtying up his golf course back home.
Another experience that changed my point of view was, strangely enough, the Charles River in the Boston area. Recently I had the pleasure of seeing David Gessner speak about his new book “My Green Manifesto” which is based on his experiences with the man who is responsible for creating a natural oasis out of what was once polluted wasteland along this river. The man’s name is Dan Driscoll and I owe him a great deal of thanks. About 4 years ago I decided I was sick of the borderline dangerous and definitely unpleasant bus rides I was dealing with on my daily commute – I started to walk the 5 miles to work every day. I had noticed there was a bike path along the Charles River for part of the way and it seemed like a nice alternative. On this walk I encountered new plants, animals and birds – seeing many for the first time in the wild – frogs on lily pads, rabbits, turtles, red-winged blackbirds, blue herons, night herons and many other wild birds. I would rush home and Google the bird descriptions with each new discovery. A normally stressful commute became something I looked forward to each day.  The Charles River between Watertown and Waltham was like nothing I had ever experienced. This bike path route was city planner Dan Driscoll’s way of revitalizing what had once been a wild place by cleaning up the neglected riverbanks and planting native plants. “My Green Manifesto” talks about a new type of environmentalism – one which isn’t about discovering some far off places – but enjoying the “wild” in our own cities and towns. If we could only stop for a few minutes and look around, we might realize the treasures we have right in front of us.
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