Journal 6

Joe Hartshorn

Dr. Dan Williams

24 October 2017

Nature Journal 6

            For this class period we ventured back out to the nature center, but this time our group went to work with another group on shoveling dirt to fix eroded areas on various trails. While some other groups have been working on filling in holes in the trails with dirt previously, we had yet to do so. We received shovels and other materials to move the dirt and smooth out the trail, and went on our way. The Nature Center is where I have spent the most time this semester contemplating occurrences within nature and humanity’s ever-evolving relationship with nature. This is mostly due to the busyness of life and senior year especially, so having the opportunity to drive out to the nature center and spend two hours not thinking about anything else other than our trails has been the most insightful experience for me.

            We spent the entirety of class moving dirt that the nature center employees brought out onto the trail and then smoothing it out where we saw fit, so my mind was mainly stuck pondering the idea of erosion. The fact that these trails erode due to weather such as rain and wind is interesting in itself. The natural world is constantly moving and reshaping itself into new forms into whatever form is the most viable at the time. However the natural world doesn’t really have a choice to do so. The adage survival of the fittest applies to nature seamlessly, as nature either adapts and survives or perishes. This can be applied to a wild animal or even a dirt trail in the Fort Worth nature center. Weather and erosion slowly broke down areas of the trail we were working on due to the trails obvious inability to protect itself. While this is a small example and could even seem like a stretch, this is where my mind wandered to.

So much of the natural world or “wild” doesn’t have the ability to protect itself from the potential harm that other aspects of the natural world can bring. If God provided humanity the earth to survive, do we have an obligation to protect the natural world from itself? This might be one of the biggest questions for humanity to answer. Our trail was eroded away by the elements, which is essentially the dirt and rock that existed to form the trail. If we didn’t deem that trail valuable and worth protecting/fixing, the trail would slowly disappear if not used. The dirt and rocks would travel to other spots to settle in a new home. Is that what God intended, or did He intend for us to make decisions for nature as to how nature should exist? Humanity has taken on the role of the nature curator. We have taken it upon ourselves to determine what is best for the natural world and how it is supposed to co-exist with us. Rather than let nature be and allow nature to shape itself, we more and more continue to tell nature what state it is going to exist in based on what we believe is the most advantageous to us. I’m not sure that is what God intended when he provided us the earth. Perhaps our relationship with the natural world has become too one-sided.