Eric's Nature Blog

I was driving earlier today, and I happened by a park and decided to get out and walk. It was a marvelous temperature and the was cool but not too cool and the sun was warm on my face. It was the part of the day between late afternoon and early evening when the world takes on a golden hue for a moment. So, I pulled into the park, got out of the car, and just went for a walk. I do not have any pictures because I did not think to take any as I was so engrossed in the beauty of the nature and serenity surrounding me. I am unsure of haw far or for how long I walked, and I realize now that neither of those things matter. The trees in the park do not know their age nor do the insects know which day of the week it is. They simply exist and do what they are doing and thus I followed in their philosophy as I walked across those amber lit paths, not knowing or caring where or when I was. I was a sojourner in that park, sauntering as Thoreau might have along the banks of his pond. There was som...

A lot of the texts that we have read in class have discussed the relationship between the wilderness and man and how mankind has distanced itself from nature and its “dangers”. We have discussed how humans have separated themselves from nature and have grown apart from the place that we came. We have discussed how humans have polluted the ecosystem and have increased the factors that lead to global warming, environmental destruction, and climate change. We have also mentioned and discussed nature writers that have encouraged us to get back with nature and to view and saunter with nature as they did. But what happens when this goes to far? What happens if we corrupt the reunion of humans and the wild? I would like to briefly discuss social media and its effects on the wilderness. I want to begin by saying that I do not believe that social media is bad and that it has contributed many positive things to society, but I do think that it has its negative sides as well, specifically ecot...

       When reading the writings of Edward Abbey, one thing really shined through. It was his sense of humor, particularly in the letters at the end of “The Best of Edward Abbey”. This was refreshing and a bit of surprise to me because I do not usually associate nature writing with humor or comedy. No, when I think of an author writing about nature, I tend to think they are writing with their soul and have become enlightened after long meditations and have invoked the muses to move through their quill so that us readers may simply glance at the inner, universal truths that they saw.          This was not the case with Edward Abbey, he wrote in a way that I could relate with and made me feel like I could approach the genre of nature writing. Abbey has this sort of every man, “hey, I’m just like you” approach to writing that is a breath of fresh air when compared to the dense vocabulary and descriptions and philosophical questionings of Henry ...

This past Wednesday, as a part of class, I went to the Fort Worth Nature Center. It was my first time at the nature center, and I was not entirely sure what to expect. I figured it would be like the wilderness I saw on my road trip to the Grand Canyon last spring. Well, at least the first part of the road trip anyways, when I was just out of the city. I also was not sure what exactly we would be doing. I knew that there was a chance that I might be clearing a trail and was fully prepared to do this because I have done so previously. It about five years ago and I was helping to clear a mountain path in New Mexico with the Boy Scouts of America. However, when I got to the nature center it was revealed that we would be planting grass to prevent erosion and I was a bit unexcited. As the time progressed, I found myself getting more and more into the labor and the nature of it all. There were deer quite close to trail and I was excited to see them standing so near the trail and then the...

          This past weekend, I went to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. It was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be, and I ended up having quite a bit of fun. I had never been before and I have always wanted to go, but until this assignment I never had enough reason to visit. I went with my friend Spencer because he loves the gardens and I thought he would be beneficial if I needed any pictures taken.             The first room you enter at the Botanical Gardens is the greenhouse place where they have plant species form the tropical parts of the world. The had gigantic palms and small flowers and various fruits and berry plants. The one I remember the most was the banana tree because the bananas were a pink color and it was the most surprising thing to me because I have seen bananas my entire life and it had never occurred to me that they could me anything besides yellow or green, much less...

I live in the Tom Brown/ Pete Wright buildings of TCU’s campus and in the common building in the center of the apartments (where the clocktower is located) there is a secret balcony. Well, I at least say it is a secret because I have never seen anyone up there in my three and a half years here on campus. However, that is the very spot that I went to today. I went up there to watch the clouds, something that I had not done since my childhood and I figured that the seclusion of the balcony accompanied by its relatively high placement would render it an opportune spot for the activity.             I do not the exact amount of time that I sat alone on that balcony just staring into the sky (likely anywhere for thirty minutes to an hour) but then again neither did the clouds. They just kept on floating up there carefree and boundless. They were rather high up as clouds go, I believe cirrus is the proper term. They were light and wisp...

I saw a cricket today. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about the insect despite that fact that I had noticed the creature. It moved to quickly for me to take a picture and thus I am not able to show you it now. It looked like any other cricket with its rough, scratchy, black exoskeleton and long wiry legs. It was just sitting on a tall blade of grass and preparing for its next jump. The cricket did not even chirp, as crickets tend to do, but rather sat there silent and austere. It was just a cricket, and yet something about it made me pause and think.  What a simple, insignificant life this cricket led. If that it was to die no one would care or more likely even notice. In fact, no one (myself excluded) seemed to even notice the cricket while it was alive. I guess that cricket is kind of like us in that way. Most of lead lives that will be so soon forgotten to time and history. The only thing noteworthy in our existence is what is seen by the brief glance of a passerb...