Whether we intended to or not, many of us celebrated Earth Day this past Sunday by simply spending some time outdoors in the fresh spring air. Perhaps you looked at a tree and thought, rather introspectively, “I appreciate you.” Others of you might have cried a tear for polar bears that no longer have ice to hang out on. I celebrated Earth Day by taking a walk through the University of Wisconsin’s Arboretum and exploring nature. I underwent this adventure with my patient boyfriend who fortunately had a nature observation to write for his biology class (#collegehomework?). The following is our encounter with the real world:
To begin, we biked for 20 minutes on what seemed to be an all-uphill path, only to get to what is considered to be the main part of the Arboretum. My legs had turned to jelly at this point because we were feverishly trying to keep up with a threesome of vintage clothes-wearing, narrow-bicycle riding hipsters. They were beautiful; a sight to be seen, really, and many of you know that I aspire to be one someday.
After the third hill of avid hipster chasing, I was done for, but we still had to walk deep into the Arb to find a good place to sit for some natural observation.
Let me pause here to say that everyone needs to get their ass over to the Arb and enjoy what nature has to offer. Few other places in Madison feature so much green grass, beautiful, tall tress and plants of all kinds (I think I may have just defined the word “arboretum”). Our campus is amazing, but it is refreshing to see something other than concrete buildings looming above you.
OK, back to my story: Venturing through the natural landscape, however, it became clear I was either developing a cold at an extremely rapid pace or was falling victim to awful allergies. Still, even though nature was trying to kick me in the ass, I persevered and plopped myself down amongst the birds and the bees (except it was really spiders and flies) and tried to let myself become a part of the nature around me. Within minutes life opened up to us, Snow White style; I was able to enjoy the environment despite my allergies. Butterflies were hanging out on tree trunks, turkeys ran by us without abandon and the clouds passed above us with the cold, spring wind. I felt refreshed, slightly stuffy and fairly connected to the planet.
This left me asking why I only observe Earth one day each year? Why not go out on a limb (get it?) and sit in nature more often? I plan to stock up on allergy medicine for the summer, pump some more air into my bike tires and buy a picnic basket. Any patch of grass I can find will become my second home. While you may want to call me a tree hugger just to spite me, I cannot guarantee that I will not try to hug a tree at some point this summer.
The next few weeks are going to be tough for all of us, so I urge everyone to take a break from pretending to study at College Library by laying in the grass every once in a while. You might catch a few weird looks if you are too good at doing the corpse pose in public, but at least you will feel a bit more in line with the rest of the world. On another note, I firmly believe every cheesy, cliché phrase has a very solid, real-life application. In this case, “stop and smell the roses” is ideal. Although I could not find any rose bushes in the Arb, I made due with a nice, flowering shrubbery and thus the point stands. Happy belated Earth Day everyone! Keep on celebrating.
Do you make a mean chicken salad and want to bring it along on a picnic in the Arboretum with Emily? Send an invitation to elindeman@wisc.edu.
