Journal #3

After reading Richard Louv”s article, I feel so enlightened. This particular passage was of interest to me, not because I have ADHD, but because I’ve worked with kids who have had it. I used to nanny for 3 small children, all who were diagnosed with this disorder. When they would come home from school I would be the one to help them with their homework. It was a disaster. They could never focus. They were always jumping up and down in their seat, and took forever to accomplish one single task. When reading about how something so simple such as nature could help improve an ADHD child’s behavior, I was shocked. Shocked and bummed. I wish I would have known this years ago! It would have saved me from loads of frustration and stress. I would never have thought to take the kids outside to do homework. They were the kind of kids who always owned the latest in technology, therefore they were constantly inside watching T.V., playing video games, etc. Maybe that in itself was the problem. In today’s world with all of this technology around us, it really is important to expose our kids to nature. Not even neccesarily the children with ADHD, all of them. It is so easy for a parent with a child with ADHD to simply put them on medication such as Ritalin, when on the other hand you could just make an effort to take them outside for 20 minutes. I mean, nature is all around us. We, in Florida, have it a lot easier because of the simple fact that the weather is mostly warm year-round. So theres no excuse for “it being to cold out to go for a walk.”

Journal #2

Fortunately I was born in Naples, FL where  palm trees, gumbo limbos, and pine trees are my backyard. In the 21 years of living here I’ve been exposed to all kinds of animals and wildlife. Black bears, possums, skunks, alligators, and several indiginous snakes to name a few. I was born with an education of what it is like to live in the woods. I was brought up to know things like, “red to black friend of Jack, red to yellow, kill a fellow,” referring to the bands on a coral snake. And if I were to see the trash cans knocked over in the morning, I would know it was the family of black bears living in our backyard, just searching for their dinner. Living in the woods has taught me a lot. Not only about what kinds of creatures are all around but about people and customs, that just aren’t that familiar. For example trick or treating. Wasn’t an option. I mean of course we weren’t deprived of a childhood, we just had to beg for candy at our friends neighborhood, or go down town. People around these parts of town don’t even know their neighbors names. But how can you? Right next door isn’t someone’s house, its all woods. Growing up in the woods has made a very big impact on my life. I know that I take it for granted sometimes when I take vacations, and go out of state. This Christmas I went to New York City. I couldn’t even imagine how it’d be if someone from the city and myself were to change places. They would freak out if they saw a corn snake in the yard, let alone a bear. They’d be amazed at all the roadkill in the street while driving. 

Journal #1

Vadana Shiva’s article about the importance of biodiversity made me realize how many various species are involved when it comes to this thing called life. After all, the term biodiversity means the diversity of life. Since biological diversity and cultural diversity go hand in hand with one another, it is beneficial to understand how this can affect humans. For centuries we have hunted and gathered many different kinds of plants and animals for our food source. Isn’t it crazy to think that without these 80,000 types of edible plant species available to eat, we might not have gone on to survive? Today in some parts of India, 7,500 of those plant species are used for medicinal purposes. I was shocked at all the different uses of plants the locals use to cure ailments. David Suzuki says “ We owe practically all life to bacteria.” Its funny to think that things like bacteria are why we go to the doctor, to get rid of them- when in actuality they are the reason we are all here to begin with. 

When I started to read the Protectors of the World of Plants article, the first sentence made me realize something. In the past when visiting a zoo, I would always hear the tour guide talking about all the different endangered species that are out there. Naturally, when thinking endangered species, I would think of tigers, gorillas, pandas, etc. I never even thought about endangered plant species. It’s not as if there would be such thing as an endangered plant exhibit.