Nature And Nature : The Physical Characteristics Of Nature

Henry Beston in Night on the Great Beach explains how we have destroyed some of the best parts of nature. We really don't appreciate the little things of nature. He goes in to great detail on how we have ruined night and continues to describe the little aspects of nature that we miss. Beston see nature as something that we don't respect anymore, but he has great love for it. It says to me that I don't appreciate nature. I never sit back and just enjoy it.

While reading different essays addressing the topic of nature, I came to the conclusion that they all shared the idea that being outside can make an impact in everyone no matter if you believe you only belong in a city or forest because it can bring you serenity and show you all the amazing things you wouldn't be able to see anywhere else. In Wendell Berry’s essay “An Entrance to the Woods,” he states that people can use the quiet of the woods to forget all their problems. Berry wrote “One is that, though I am here in body, my mind and my nerves too are not yet altogether here. We seem to grant to our high-speed roads and our airlines the rather thoughtless assumption that people can change places as rapidly as their bodies can be transported.” Nature has a way to transport ones mind and spirit elsewhere while the body is left behind on earth as we travel deep into thought. Adding on to that idea, the essay “A City Person Encountering Nature” by Maxine Hong Kingston the author explains that nature is a giver of peace and patience with its slow cycles that may frustrate people, but help keep a sane mind. Society is fast paced, making everyone feel that they need to keep the same pace in order to get things done, but we don't realize that although our bodies are moving and pushing, our minds are exhausted and cannot keep up with the fast pace. Kingston wrote “Preferring the city myself, I can better discern natural phenomena when books point them out; I also need to verify

Nature is an entity that persistently progresses to be overlooked. When I was home one day for the long weekend I went down to the beach, then observed the sunrise overlooking the view of the Boston skyline. As the sun rose little by little It came to me that I saw a parallel with my life. As the sun rose I associated it with my life and with each experience I endured in my life I grew as an individual analogous to the sun rising higher up in the sky. As soon as the sun rehabilitated colors from a pinkish rosy color to an archetypal yellow sun it symbolized the transformation a person encounters growing up from being a kid to a man. Consequently, as the sun crept over the skyline it was

Knowing Our Place is and excerpt from Barbara Kingsolver’s SMALL WONDER. The excerpt is basically all about the places where her life stories and where important times in her life take place. They all end up having to take place in the wilderness in a small town, in a small house in the middle of nowhere; where she had actually grown up. She talks about how her log cabin at the end of Walker Mountain is near tobacco plants and also how it has old historic nature to it. She talks about how she loves the rain and how it sounds in her little log cabin house that was built in the early 1900’s. She grew up and spent most her childhood in these woods filled with neighbor’s miles away and

Humans often find bliss in nature, as it can be a place of comfort for many. On the other hand, nature is also a place where we go to test our strength, and learn life lessons. By getting out there and letting the trials of mother nature challenge us, valuable encounters and experiences build our character in a positive way. Humans crave adventure. With nature’s resources, the glorified idea of adventure becomes a reality.

Nature in its tranquility provides a calming sensation away from the buzzing city life. The ability

‘The sheer popularity’ of stimulating nature or using nature as ad space ‘demands that we acknowledge, even respect, their cultural importance,’ suggests Richtel. Culturally important, yes. But the logical extension of synthetic nature is the irrelevance of ‘true’ nature— the certainty that it’s not even worth looking at. (Louv lines 9-19)

What is nature? The answer to that question is unique not only on a cultural basis but also unique to every person. When many people are confronted with different viewpoints or opinions on a particular subject, they often have the desire to conform that person’s opinions to their own. This creates a binary way of thinking. You either agree or disagree. This binary really is not effective, however, when discussing the topic of what is nature or what is natural because it is not a question that has a clear answer. We all have different connotations attached to the word nature. None of these connotations are wrong. They are just different. They are a product of our religion, our biology, and the experiences of our life. There have been many provocative thoughts expressed about what is natural that have either directly or indirectly defined nature to us. Whether it is an ancient story passed down through oral tradition throughout generations or modern writing, we have always looked to define nature not just for ourselves but for others around us. And this has caused only gridlock and confrontation.

I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order. This quote by John Burroughs describes my diversion, outdoors. The outdoors is a place to free myself of all of my stresses and step away from urban living. The activities that I am participating in do not matter, as long as it is a new experience. Whether it is volunteering, trying a new restaurant, or simply going to the park, I appreciate the open-air on a beautiful sunny day. At the FSU reservation I would be able to swim in Lake Bradford on the hot days or rock climbing on the wall available on the site to destress or just to enjoy or a short getaway. Being outdoors also presents me with the opportunity to partake in the simple aspects of life that I would normally take for granted and take notice of the condition of my community.

The outdoors is hidden to many people around the world. All many see is the huge skyscrapers and whitewash walls of the cities. These people don’t tend to be as happy because there isn’t a stress reliever, or a place to get away to. They need this place so that they can have some time to just relax, learn, and develop true happiness. The outdoors is an escape for those who know it and are available to experience it on a regular basis. These places can be the Great Redwood Forests and Lake Almanor in California, to Canada’s vast river and lake systems, to the fields of Kansas, and the mountains of New Zealand. All of these places have one thing in common, the freedom to live. So many city dwellers don’t get to experience these things, which rural people hold to so dearly. The constant hustle and bustle of the city tends to keep people from their happiness. The stress of city life has a way to go “out the window” when you spend time outside with yourself and nature. The ones who can experience the life in the

Throughout today’s society there are several different cultural perspectives which form theoretical and practical understandings of natural environments, creating various human-nature relationship types. In this essay, I will describe and evaluate different ways of knowing nature and the impact of these views on human-nature relationships. From this, I will then explore my own human-nature relationship and reflect on how my personal experiences, beliefs and values has led me to this view, whilst highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each and reflecting upon Martin’s (1996) continuum.

Nature presents itself around us every day, sprouting between the sidewalk and the street, potted on a porch or controlled and planned out in sectioned off lots often accompanied by a playground. Living in the city, we are not often presented with the unpredictable qualities of wild nature, an environment that is more likely to make the average person feel like an explorer of uncharted territory than a trip to the neighborhood park would ever make us feel.

The beautiful blossoms that bloom in Californian spring, the summer daisies alongside the cooling lake, long after the summer the trees have lost their leaves entering autumn to fresh white snow out in the mountains. Nature is able to show us its true beauty without any falseness and modifications. After all, is it not ironic how people go to museums to look at paintings of colorful flowers, green hills, and clear water streams; those are beauties that can easily be observed in real life outside of the urban environment which are surrounded by them, or how people buy recordings of the calming sounds of nature, similar to what you would listen to at night in the woods or smell nature aromas of the candles. What we are doing is trying to mislead our minds and pretend to think that we are in the woods but are instead cornered inside our small, well-furnished, and full -with-technology apartment.

It is also clear to see how big of a part that nature plays in the lives of others. From movies, to songs, literature, and more, nature from transcendentalism is everywhere. Whether the situation is a lion on the hunt, a boy and his cub on a mission, or a blind adult, transcendentalism is always going to be around. Nature is the beauty of life, so why not learn from it? “The kingdom of man over nature, which cometh not with observation, -- a dominion such as now is beyond his dream of God, -- he shall enter without more wonder than the blind man feels who is gradually restored to perfect sight” (Emerson, 2).

The urban environment that I live in is my nature. My nature is filled with birds, cats, grass, and flowers. It may not be as abundant with mother nature’s resources compared to most places, but it still provides me with an experience of nature. Nature is not limited to just what we see anymore. However, you must use your senses to truly achieve the full experience of nature. In nature, you must smell the wonderful odors from the flowers, you should use your sight and observe the natural beauty of the ever-changing sky, touch the rough and jagged bark of the trees, and hear the spectacular songs of the birds that fly above you.