Throughout my growth as a person, this has been a kind of journey of communicating with the environment in which I am, and I know that I can only do that by understanding what I mean by my relationship with the world around me. An unforgettable memory that has been burnt into my mind forever was the long time I spent alone, trekking through the windswept and harsh landscape in the North Pacific. It was an early autumn morning in 2023; that day I was descending deep into the forest and sooner than I thought I was surrounded by the magical language of nature – the leaves were whispering, water was mumbling and far away our feather friends were calling through the forest.
On my trip to the woods, I came to a place where not only did I find out my link to nature but I also felt interconnected with it. There were trees and grasses, at the same time, based on a few moments of observation, I realized that there were living creatures as well. Some of these that I interacted with included birds of different species, bats, predator-prey relationships, and symbiotic living among animals. I came to an understanding that it is just a little part of a bigger ecosystem. I felt what could be described as nothing less than a paradigm shift in my deepest conviction about the absolute value of all life, and a delicate balance that supports our planet.
However, this was not just a simple event that happened once; it was rather a part of a series of “critical materialization moments” which played a great role in shaping my comprehension of the environment. Remembering my time as a kid, I am grateful that I spent the majority of my childhood participating in activities related to the natural surroundings such as climbing in the mountains and playing in the beaches. Those opportunities provided me with an essential insight into which stance I was on regarding the environment leveling up and how I would love to see it preserved for the off-shooting generations.
However, the real knowledge of environmental terror was limited only to an academic level. Besides, I had never had personal contact with that until the environmental philosophers’ thoughts, scientists’ research, and activists’ stories mirrored the environmental fright in my mind. For example, books, such as Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” (Carson, 2009) and Aldo Leopold’s “A Sand County Almanac”, (Leopold, 1970), challenged my perception by disclosing the fact that all living things are connected and at the same time exposed how humans’ activities destroy the environment. These articles have become my power source which triggered the change in my life and encouraged me to put forth all the efforts to promote sustainable practices in my daily life for others around me.
Of all the channels, talking to friends, family, or humanists responsible for the environment has equally been key in shaping my environmental awareness. The debates around this subject have opened up my mind to new things, shifted my presuppositions, and led me to eco-friendly inventions that contribute to environmental preservation. It could be a contesting of the pros and cons of renewable energy or an idea sharing regarding the ways of lessening pollution, so these interactions berth my knowledge of environmentalism and drive home the necessity of collective action.
Moreover, my embodied activities with nature also concretely contributed to my construct on environmental ethics. As studies have shown, there are pertinent concerns about human relations with the non-human world, especially environmental impacts of human practices, and human treatment of animals (Palmer, McShane, & Sandler, 2014). This suggests that addressing ethical issues and proving ethical statements require more than simply the empirical sciences. Sound ethical reasoning requires an understanding of social structures, human psychology, ecological systems, and global conditions. Plainly said, engaging in activities such as volunteering either through the herbs or vegetables plantation in the community garden or at the beach cleaning; these two activities have made a big difference in the way I look at the environment and has reinforced my idea that everyone should be a steward of our common land. There is something very powerful – deep down in me – that comes from working with nature whose slogans are related to “global survival” and even the smallest move counts.
Looking into the future, after my college career has come to an end, I see the immense impact that experience can have on how we think and what priorities we deem to be most important. I can navigate the whole spectrum of my life by looking back from time to time. The wilderness has touched me from long solitary hikes to intense heart-to-heart conversations with my peers. At this point, I feel like I have reached the summit of my journey, whereby I observe an uncomplicated, yet significant reality that underlines all the rest: we are all connected and therefore the welfare of the entire humankind depends on the state of our planet.
Finally, as I have endeavored to demonstrate above, my environmental activism has been defined by the interplay of several events, readings, friends’ conversations, and personal encounters with nature. Solitary hikes, thoughtful writings, and deep engagements in discussions are some of the encounters that have taken me on a journey of learning and living life. Among them, each encounter has the power to entrench the understanding of the connectedness of all life, and the relevance of environmental stewardship emanates. Furthering, it is fair to say that the planet’s condition is highly correlated with our existence. Thus, the health of the environment is of great concern to me. I will guard it from all harmful factors as it is crucial for our well-being. Though the challenge of embracing a holistic approach to environmentalism, which is rooted in empathy, respect, and sustainability is extremely high, I am personally convinced that this is the only way we can achieve a world in which nature and it are in the perfect harmony, and replenishing it for the generations to come, and those after them.
References
Carson, R. (2009). Silent spring. 1962.
Leopold, A. (1970). A sand county Almanac. 1949. New York: Ballantine.
Palmer, C., McShane, K., & Sandler, R. (2014). Environmental ethics. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 39, 419-442.