Working on the Nature Paper

            I find that the hardest part about writing is finding what exactly to write about. This was my initial dilemma when thinking about what to write for the final paper. There were a few ideas floating around in my head: there were the excursions in class, past trips I’ve taken in the past year with going up to Colorado and hiking around in Boulder, and smaller trips like going on the trails by the Trinity River. When thinking of the overall class, however, I decided to focus on the canoe trip. It happened back in September when hardly anyone knew about the class and all the readings, but when I look back on my experience there are things that strike me.

            For one, although we constantly hear about the Trinity River not being nice (no one goes to the Trinity River to swim in it or anything like that), it was appalling trying to canoe and having to navigate not only the current but the various pieces of trash floating around in the river. It is highly unlikely that people view littering as a good thing, yet there was so much of it in the water. The sad part about it is, even looking back, if you showed the majority of the people who litter around the area the scene pictures of what the river now looks like, they probably wouldn’t even bat an eye. I wanted to pair this experience with some of the readings we’ve had since the trip, since we’ve read many things about human society and how consumerism does not seem to take nature into account besides our own use for it. In this way, I would not be surprised if some people viewed the Trinity River as a dumping ground for trash. However, having more of an awareness of the consequences humans have on nature, I think this is frustrating and people should take better care of the environment. It is also frustrating thinking that Texas even has the littering campaign “Don’t Mess with Texas” but even after thirty years of it being around people still continue to litter.

            Overall, because of this class and working on journals, I feel like I have a better grasp of nature writing, even though I will probably continue practicing nature writing after the class is over. Although I feel more comfortable with it now than at the beginning of the semester, I know with being a writing major that writing takes time and practice in order to perfect it and I am determined to practice journaling and writing about nature more on my own.