I’ve always been a girl who likes to spend her time outside. My childhood consisted of growing up in the 90’s and early 2000’s, at the point when many of the people around me started tuning into the technology, and away from what the earth had to offer. My parents were the same in my early childhood. They got a computer and were oooing and awwing over the internet and such and wasting a lot of their precious time on fictitious entertainment that in no way was improving their lives. Before this age, and before they had me, both of them were outdoor personalities, spending much of their lives hiking, taking trips, fishing, and enjoying what the earth truly had to offer.
When my parents had me, they said even as a baby, I wanted to break out of the house and go play outside. As i started walking, it was me who forced my parents to humor me. Since I was an only child, I had no other brothers or sisters to spend my energy with, and my parents began acting as my brother and sister. They would play with me outside and we would spend our afternoons playing games like tag, hide and go seek, and other fun little games day in and day out. At this time, we were a middle income family, but my pops was on the rise in his money-making ventures.
When I turned ten, my dad was becoming very successful. Less and less, the family was sitting on our hinies watching TV and doing meaningless activities, and more and more we would go on little family trips around the town, and around the country.
We visited fantastic places during my teenage years. We hiked through Yosemite, explored Yellow Stone National Park, skied the Rocky Mountains, drove and boated through the Grand Canyon, fished in Lake Tahoe, camped on a boat throughout the Great Lakes of Northern America, visited Niagara Falls, there was a litany of activities that I was able to participate, and I thank my parents for letting me experience that type of childhood that helped form the woman that I am today.
Today, I am an avid environmentalist, I appreciate the beauty that the world has become, and I fight against the powers that be from ruining what we are left with. Thanks to my parents, I am currently in college studying environmental science at University of California Irvince, which is a major I love, am learning a lot in, and am enthusiastic about where it will lead me for the rest of my life.
For any of you who are interested in learning more about the beauty that the Earth has to offer, I have a couple of course recommendations for you. Take an environmental science introduction class. You may think you know a lot about the happenings of the world because you might think you are a professional internet user, but being in a classroom full of people of the same mindset (or similar, I mean, they were knowledgeable enough to take an Environmental class), you could share your ideas, your beliefs, and your passions among like-minded individuals. Another suggested class I have for you is a intro to Geography class. It is important to know how the Earth’s many landscapes work to understand the inter workings of the Earth’s environment. I think a lab with your geography class could be very beneficial. An anthropology class could also be very beneficial in your environmental knowledge repertoire. Learning about and appreciating the animals on this Earth left me truly caring for many other lifeforms on this Earth. Environmental Law was also another interesting class to take. It helped us all gain a little bit of an insight into what kind of cases we have had concerning the environment over the last few years, and what kind of cases should be brought to the attention of the public. Nutritional studies are also very interesting. The American media definitely persuade our public to ingest food and drinks that are not good for our bodies, and science shows us that all natural food are more often than not much better for us that manufactured foods. Also, by continuing these classes to the upper division level, you will gain a much better insight into each subject’s material.
I know this was a rant guys, but I just wanted to first off give a shout out to my parents, and second of all, influence some of you to be proactive in your environmental education.
Until Next Time!
Signing off!