A Disappearing Act

Being that I grew up in a house not 20 yards away from a thick forest, I have had many small encounters with wildlife in my life. We have deer, turkeys, and rabbits running through our backyard frequently, and I even find the occasional garden snake in the woodpile or under the heap of old cement blocks leftover from when we redid our landscaping. These encounters help to remind me how simple life can be, or should be. However, advancement in our society results in a growing population, and a growing population calls for more houses, more businesses, and more landfills for all their trash. Unfortunately, the habitat for these animals continues to disappear by our own hand. We continue to tear down the habitat of these simple creatures for our own use with no regard for the preservation of our earth, and someone needs to put a stop to it.

Of course we benefit from the growing development of our society, which is great, but at what cost is that benefit coming? Is it worth destroying the earth and all of its other inhabitants? People have lost sight of the value of these more simple creatures that we live with on our wondrous planet. Deer, elk, turkey and many other wild game animals can be hunted as a source of food, as well as the fish in the rivers, lakes, and seas. Predators such as bears and mountain lions help keep these animals populations in check, so they don’t overrun the forest. When all these animals die, their bodies decompose and replenish the nutrients of the soil to help plants grow. The vast and complex ecology of our planet keeps our environment balanced the way to should be. The more we desecrate the habitat that these animals call home, the further we damage the ecology that keeps the environment in shape.

Besides the scientific reasons for needing to preserve the habitat for wild animals, we also get a sense of perspective on life from these creatures that goes greatly underappreciated. As hectic as our lives tend to be these days, it can do the soul a great deal of good to just relax under a tree watching a deer waltz through the woods. They don’t have anywhere near the same worries or stress that we do. They just walk peacefully from one bush of berries to the next, getting a snack, not a care in the world. The only time they aren’t at complete ease is if they sense danger, perhaps in the form of a natural predator or a hunter. Although, even in these brief moments of peril, the deer can simply run away to where it feels safe. Such events are relatively rare anyways. Taking in that kind of serenity from another living creature can change the way you feel in a heartbeat. An instant calm comes over you in the realization that life simply does not have to be complicated. Yet we continue to destroy this gentle deer’s home.

What a shame it is that we continue to rip down forests for new housing developments and strip malls, when there are clear alternatives to this destructive pattern. We have the technology and intelligence to build skyscrapers nowadays, so why build out, over the forests, when we can build up where we aren’t hurting anyone. I’m not saying we should build skyscrapers everywhere, but even multi-floor apartment buildings that house multiple families can do a great deal to save the forest. Why build eight new homes on their own lots when you could build a four floor apartment building that will house all eight families on only two of the lots? Sure, saving six lots worth of land doesn’t seem like much, but when you multiply that to consider the thousands of new homes that are built each year, it could save acres upon acres of natural wildlife habitat. The solutions prove to be very feasible, so why not see them through?

After housing developments, the other major contributor to the destruction of wildlife habitats is the growing need for landfills. With our growing society comes a lot of garbage, and we are running out of places to put it. My freshman seminar class recently took a field trip to the Arden Landfill in Washington County, run by Waste Management. I had never seen a landfill before, and I was amazed by the size of the fill as well as the entire process. Federal regulations are a lot stricter for landfills today than a decade ago, and this particular fill was a shining example of that. The fill must first be approved by the government before anything can be done. The fill is first dug out then covered in six, 12 inch thick, plastic liners in order to prevent any waste from reaching the soil. Then, they begin loading in the trash. It can take nearly twenty years to for a fill to reach capacity, and over the course of those twenty years, a lot of methane gas is released from the degrading garbage. In the past, they had just put pipes in the fill to let the gas out into the air, but the air pollution resulting form this is awful. So in recent years, Waste Management has developed a system where they pump the methane out of the fills and into electric energy that is sold the surrounding homes and businesses. Basically, they have created a mini power plant at the landfill that helps stop air pollution while turning a profit for the company. Also, once the landfill is capped, they cover it in another set of plastic liners and topsoil, then replant grass. Many of Waste Management’s retired fills are now parks where animals live or golf courses which would have otherwise been built on natural habitats. The steps they have taken to preserve the environment and habitat are great, but not all landfills across the country do the same. If Waste management can do it, then everyone can do it, and we need to hold other landfill companies to these same standards.

The creatures that live in the world around us have just as much a right to this planet as we do, and we need to recognize that before it is too late. There are plenty of ways to change our destructive ways, and many are trying, just like Waste Management, to do so. Unfortunately those many are still not the majority. People need to realize what they are doing to their fellow inhabitants of earth and take stand to stop the disappearing act.

Appreciating My Home

Throughout my life, I have lived in a relatively small community in western Pennsylvania, and as such I have always been accustomed to being in and around nature. There are acres upon acres of forest behind my house, and in this area, we see every kind of weather. We have some very hot summer days, rainy months in spring, the changing leaves and brisk wind of fall, and some harsh winters, some worse than others. What we don’t have is a whole lot going on, but I never really minded that. I love it here, though it might seem a bit boring to some people, and I never realized how much I love it here until I saw the other side of things, life in the big city.

I have lacked any variation in my living situation in lifetime. I have lived in a smallish, somewhat rural area for my entire life. Some might find it a bit boring, what with no crowded streets full of shops and markets and people buzzing about everywhere. My hometown is almost always quiet, and any kind of major event is somewhat rare. Being that nothing ever happens in my hometown, I was very excited when I decided to go on a week long filed trip to New York City with my high school journalism class. I wanted to experience the hustle and bustle in the big city, where there are different, interesting people everywhere, street vendors on every corner, and anything anyone could ever want available to purchase within walking distance. I wanted to see a Broadway show, tour the Statue of Liberty, walk down Wall Street, and experience all the fame and historical prowess of the greatest city on earth. Who wouldn’t be excited about such a wonderful opportunity? I finally got a chance to expand my perspective on what makes a good hometown.

I had very little experience with the city life before this trip. I have been to Pittsburgh countless times, but never for more than a day. Usually my trips there are to see a sporting event or spend a day at my cousins’ house just outside of the city. I had seen the city, but I never lived in the city, and the two are entirely different. Living in the big cities with pavement and buildings as far as the eye can see is entirely different from just seeing it. I was in New York for only a week, and in that time I toured the Statue of Liberty, perused the markets of Little Italy, Chinatown, and East Village, saw a hockey game at Madison Square Garden, strolled through Times Square, attended the musical Spamalot, visited the Coney Island Aquarium and Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs, took three classes at Columbia University, stood atop the Rockefeller Building to see the whole city before me, and meandered through Central Park. I have never had more fun and excitement in a week of my life. Yet, there’s so much more to do in New York that we couldn’t get to. Just think of all the thrills to be had.

Living in the city is just as glamorous as it seems, but I have to admit that after one week of being right in the middle of all of it, I was utterly exhausted. I just can’t live like that. I have a definite limit to the exhilaration I can handle in a day. They say that the city never sleeps, and they aren’t kidding. It is a nonstop flow of noise and excitement, and quite frankly it seems as if no one ever takes a second to relax. I find it hard to make it through a day without a few minutes of relaxation. I need just a few brief moments to stop whatever I’m doing and take in the scenery. That’s what I was missing in New York, and it’s what comes so easy at home.

At my home, I can detect the scent of pine trees and blossoming flowers wafting from the forest behind my house. I can stand in my backyard and feel the blades of grass bending under my feet, hear the birds calling to one another, and snatch a wild onion from the soil to savor its sweetness later on. In the city, all I could smell was polluted air as I walked across the cold, hard pavement, trying to ignore the countless beeps and bangs and bellows of the people and machines around me. Granted, I was distracted from the lack of these things by all the action and anticipation of what was next on our full agenda, I still noticed quite easily the difference. Sure, the city may have countless people, shows, events, and opportunities, but I’d rather go without those things because what I want more is to be able to walk outside and see beauty in everything around me. I want to be able to slow down. Even after all those things, by far the biggest difference is that when I walk through the woods, I can’t help but get an unexplainable warm feeling inside me, knowing that everything around me is living. The grass I tread across, the trees that shade me from the sun, and the gorgeous ferns that line my path, are all very much alive. The people that pass me in the city, upon further examination, are cold, mechanical, ugly, simply trying to hurry on to wherever they’re going. The woods are beautiful, calm, content, me.

My home is nature, and I can’t get enough of it. It contains countless wonders, and sometimes one has to leave them to appreciate how much they really mean to them. Sure, I need some excitement in my life every now and then to keep me on my toes, but I only want it in small doses. I learned that well on my trip to New York, and should I ever feel that I’ve lost my sense of appreciation for the home I love, I’ll know exactly where to go to regain it.