earth, education, and experiences: a life’s journey

Maria Legault (ID# 20266913)March 24, 2011

ERS 410 Professor Brandon Larson

Earth, Education, and Experiences: A Life’s Journey

The only journey is the one within -Rainer Maria Rilke

1. A Natural Childhood

Wet, sticky mud adheres lovingly to my legs as I trudge triumphantly through my

grandmother’s farm field. Childish curiosity about nature spurs me forward, and I feel a sense of

elation at being so completely immersed in the earth. My life’s journey began with regular

exposure to the environment at my grandmother’s farm and my family’s cottage, which later led

me into an environmental education. My education has taught me many things about myself and

the world around me. In the future, I want to extend my academic knowledge to include more

practical experiences. My rationale for choosing the journey metaphor was due to my propensity

to prepare extensive plans for my life. Consequently, planning has been one of the barriers

preventing me from returning to my state of childhood innocence.

Two places where I had the opportunity for experiential learning with nature as a child

were my grandmother’s farm and my family’s cottage. Memories of these experiences continue

to colour my current perceptions of the environment. Abram (1993) notes how the basic idea of

perception requires us to be engaged with that which we are viewing; it is never a purely

objective exercise. During my childhood, I felt extremely attuned to the natural world. I would

take long, solitary walks around the edges of the fallow fields at my grandmother’s farm, with

the wind tousling my hair, the sun shining on my face, and the sound of birdsong all around me.

By finding peace and refuge outside, I came to believe that people should value nature purely

because it exists; I could not fathom damaging the beauty around me, and I did not understand

the economic value of environmental products and services. However, Dillard (1982) points out

1



that ‘wilderness’ is a highly valued commodity to urbanites desirous of refuge from the stresses

and pressures of the city.

My family’s cottage was the first place where I was able to feel connected to the idea of

wilderness. Despite being a leaning, lopsided little cabin amidst a grove of cedars, I loved

spending time at the cottage because it appeared so diametrically opposed to my home in the

suburbs. The mornings induced ecstasy with their brilliant sunrises and the evenings sang sweet

lullabies with their choir of stars. The feeling of ‘roughing it’ out in the bush pervaded all of my

cottage experiences, as electricity and running water were not available. Returning to my home

in the suburbs always felt fake and confining after the wide-open spaces I had left behind, a

sentiment shared by many North Americans (Cronon 1995). Kellert (1997) also discusses the

anxiety and depression many people experience when they are separated from nature. Over time,

my sense of being attuned to nature waned with my increasing vigilance in planning my life.

The journey metaphor suits my life’s story because of my early inclination towards

extensive life planning, although this distanced me from my childhood experiences with nature.

Around the age of fifteen, I dedicated myself to achieving scholarly excellence and physical

fitness. I clearly remember setting the goal for myself to receive above-average marks. To reach

this goal, I read books on study strategies and structured my time around the demands of

schoolwork. Similarly, my efforts towards physical fitness began with the setting of a goal. I

experienced many obstacles, both financial and emotional, along this route. The receding

horizon of both scholarly and physical excellence meant that I continued to pursue both late into

my university career. However, they caused me to feel distant from the places where I grew up.

2



Years of carefully apportioning my time and planning for the future meant that I had less

time to spend in the two places where I felt most in touch with nature. Losing my sense of place

was devastating for my peace of mind; stress was a constant, itchy intruder under my skin and I

longed to be free from its devastating effects (Everden 1998). Like a homing pigeon seeking to

realign an internal imbalance, I flew towards the Environment and Resource Studies (ERS)

program at the University of Waterloo (Everden 1998). I was drawn to the program’s discourse

of environmental preservation; it seemed to fit with my perceptions, borne of childhood, that

nature had intangible value and was worthy of protection.

The reason that I did not choose the connection to nature metaphor as a framework for

this essay is intimated here. My unity with nature has always been at the peripheral of my life

plans and has been a guiding, rather than defining, aspect of my life. I do intend to spend more

time outside in the future. However, more important than my need to spend time in reflective

contemplation of nature is the practical necessity of a job. The conflict between these two

factors is evident in what I have learned in ERS.

2. An Environmental Education

Despite my early planning efforts, ERS was unexpected in terms of both format and

where it led me. However, I have learned more than I ever thought possible about myself and

the world around me in this program. The format of ERS was more open than I had anticipated,

and this forced me to identify my own academic interests and strengths. I found that I was

interested in theories about the world and could write reasonably coherent papers. Accordingly,

my electives were scattered across a broad array of different topics, ranging from English to

Macroeconomics. My fear of failure meant that I avoided technical courses which I perceived to

3



be more difficult (e.g. Geographic Information Systems, Biology). Accordingly, I have not

developed the skills required for a job working outdoors. Although this was what I had

originally envisioned for my future, I now see myself headed more into the world of academia.

Putting an equal amount of effort into all of my undergraduate courses allowed me to maintain a

high overall average, and my professors encouraged me to apply for graduate school in my final

year. Consequently, I will be entering into the Tourism Policy and Planning Master’s program at

the University of Waterloo next fall. This was the second unexpected component of ERS; I

never expected it to lead me into more advanced studies.

My desire to attend graduate school is a direct result of the many things that I have

learned about myself and the world around me in ERS. For example, I have learned that I can be

a critical thinker. This has required me to step back and rationally evaluate the dominant ideas in

our society. Professor Larson called these ideas ‘memes’ during the lecture on the metaphor of

the monkey mind; memes are insidious cultural units in our society which spread through

repetition. During my time in university, I have become less passive when reading over

newspaper stories and have begun to actively evaluate the source and aim of that information.

Proctor (2001) supports the importance of knowing the social context of information because

even facts can be influenced by human values. Although I feel it is important to be cognizant of

societal memes, I did not use this metaphor to frame this discussion for several key reasons.

I focused on the journey theme in this discussion because of the inapplicability of memes

to my entire life story. The discussion on memes circled around finding the middle path between

too many and too few ideas as the motivating force for taking action. New ideas have always

been a source of interest to me. Like my early childhood experiences in the mud of my

4



grandmother’s farm, curiosity has driven me to explore interesting, unfamiliar concepts through

books and journal articles. However, these ideas are only the small puzzle pieces which form the

overall plan for my life. The journey metaphor is much more accurate for conceptualizing my

past, current, and future situation because ideas have helped to guide my life rather than shape it.

Ideas that I have learned in ERS about the world around me are the second factor driving

my interest in graduate school. These ideas have come from both classroom work and

discussions with my very intelligent peers. First, classroom work has shown me the importance

of words in shaping my perspectives as well as the perspectives of society. Chawla (1991)

identifies how language has the power to create ideas and can shape our perceptions of reality.

For example, I discussed earlier how I felt towards wilderness at my family’s cottage. I thought

of it as a place quite distant from my home in the suburbs, and regarded it as more worthy of

protection than my suburban backyard. I also felt brave and powerful when living what I

regarded to be the ‘frontier life’ (Cronon 1995). Cronon (1995) wrote a brilliant article which

resonated with me on each of the above points. The article made me realize that it is important

to address environmental impacts in places where human-caused damage is most significant,

rather than focusing only on the impractical desire to protect pristine wilderness (Cronon 1995).

I have also gained many ideas about the world around me through discussions with my

peers in ERS. They have caused me to realize that I do not necessarily have to plan rigidly to

make progress towards my future. They have also allowed me to experience a variety of

different perspectives on society and the environment. Their most significant contribution to my

life has been to encourage me to take action on what I have been learning, and this is reflected in

my vision for my future.

5



3. A Holistic Future

It has only been in university that I have begun to critically reflect on my own perspective

of nature, as well as the problems inherent in this approach. Although I strongly believe that

nature has value independent of humans, I have never actively exerted myself to create

environmental change. This situation is morally upsetting when I consider the many academic

journals which outline the culpability of regular citizens in efforts to preserve the environment. I

believe that my inertia is partly a result of my aesthetic, superficial love of nature and the

structure of our society. I do not provide these reasons as an excuse for my passivity; instead, I

present them here in the context of how I intend to change in the future.

First, my aesthetic love of nature has prevented me from undertaking a constructivist

approach to environmental issues. A constructivist approach would require that I have a full

understanding of both the facts and the perceptions surrounding environmental problems

(Proctor, 1999). However, my superficial knowledge and limited first-hand experiences with

biology and ecology means that my understanding is limited to human perceptions of

environmental problems. Field courses, a summer job providing technical training, or

volunteering with nature organizations such as the RARE Charitable reserve in Cambridge

would help me to reach this goal. I also hope to have the opportunity to take more practical

courses during my graduate career. Ultimately, these actions should help me to find a job

working outside and allow me to contribute, in some small way, to environmental preservation.

The structure of our society has also contributed to my current inability to take action on

environmental problems, despite my awareness of these issues. Researchers have found that the

current generation of youth are more focused on their personal success than becoming involved

6



in enacting social and environmental (Hume 2010). Additionally, there is an overwhelming and

often contradictory amount of information available on these issues (Hume 2010). Unable to

apply the precautionary principle to my own life, I have remained immobilized and have not take

action on any environmental issues. The precautionary principle encourages action on issues

which could be problematic before there is complete evidence in support or denial of this belief

(Migone 2007). I have also felt the pressure to succeed independently is a far greater priority

than working with others in the community to tackle common problems.

In the future, I intend to change my own apathetic approach to environmental issues

through the help and encouragement of my peers in ERS. There is one student in particular who

has pushed me to undertake new ventures and put me back in touch with my childhood

experiences with nature. First, he was the catalyst for my application to graduate school because

our long discussions revealed to me how much I love learning new theories and the process of

writing. He also showed me that it is not necessary to plan everything to progress towards

certain goals. As he has taught me spontaneity and flexibility, I have slowly grown away from

my rigid planning focus to include a more holistic vision of my life’s journey. This has helped to

remind me of the places where I grew up and where I felt truly connected to nature. He also

shares many of my childhood experiences, because he lived near my family’s cottage for a

period during his youth. I feel that with his encouragement and support, I will be able to move

towards a more holistic future balancing my scholarly learning with more practical applications

of my knowledge.

The journey metaphor applies to my life’s story because of my propensity to plan, while I

have only been guided by my connection to nature and new ideas. I have found that planning is

7



not always effective because of the unexpected things that can happen; one of the best examples

of this is my application to graduate school. I have learned an incredible number of things about

myself and the world around me from my ERS undergraduate degree, and I have gained the firm

desire to apply my learning in more practical ways in the future. My free writing and

mindfulness exercises each day have been very valuable in contributing to this discussion on my

life. Free writing allowed me to pound out my ideas as they came, fast and furious and hot,

from my pen. My mindfulness exercises allowed me to step back and critically examine the

context and source of my thoughts. From these sessions, I determined that many of my current

perspectives developed during my early childhood experiences with nature.

As I sit and ponder how best to conclude this brief essay, my mind drifts back to the days

spent on my grandmother’s farm. The image of my young self moving through the thick mud

with joy and determination begins to blur and meld with my vision for my future self. Spring is

a tangible taste on the tip of my tongue, tantalizing in its rich, living textures. My senses are

again alive to the world: listening, alert, and open. Birds call coyly to me from the treetops and I

reply with a joyful whistle of my own devising. I hope to use the positive emotion that I feel

from this image to guide my future scholarly endeavours in graduate school. No longer will I

remain closeted away behind closed doors with my books and journal articles; I wish to take my

knowledge and apply it in more practical ways. With the help of my peers, I believe that this

dream is a distinct possibility and could lead me to a job involving hands-on work experiences

with nature.

8



4. Additional References

Hume, M. 2010. Compassion without action: Examining the young consumer’s consumption and

attitude to sustainable consumption. Journal of World Business 45(4): 385-394.

Kellert, S.R. 1997. Kinship to mastery: Biophilia in human evolution and development.

Washington: Island Press. 249 pp.

Migone, A. 2007. Hedonistic consumerism: Patterns of consumption in contemporary capitalism.

Review of Radical Political Economics 39(2): 173-200.

9

earth, education, and experiences: a life’s journey

Documents