on becoming a naturalist
In the summer of 1997 I took a class at the continuing education program at Clark University taught by Roger Leo. Roger called the class Rivers: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. I took the class partly because I work at the university an I get to take night classes for next to nothing. Of the many listed in the catalog I think I settled on taking Rogers river class because it listed a single pre-requisite and I had it . . . a life jacket.
Despite a lifelong experience with "nature", those parts of the world that have been least effected by humanity, my relationship with it was largely undefined and very much so far from my conciseness. I went camping, hiking and canoeing; I climbed mountains and combed the shore of many a beach in search of shells and sea solace. But little of these experiences crept into the thoughts of my concise mind. This class wasn't on my list because it was in the Environmental Sciences program, it was a lark - "Hey free credits for canoeing, cool!"
Well that changed. Since studying the river systems of central Massachusetts I've thought some about going back to school full time to study Envi. Sci. I must say that it probably won't happen, but I experienced a fundamental shift in the way I perceive nature and the environment. Well no thats not completely accurate, my core values and beliefs have not changed, well maybe I did state that correctly. My values are the same but the way I look at things has changed. I consider that to be quite significant.
My final project for the class was a presentation titled "The Blackstone River Watershed: from my house to the sea", but in my mind I thought of it as "on becoming a naturalist. I am currently in the process of adaptation that presentation into a hypertext document and it will be available here in the near future.