8% TreeHugger

The breeze rustles through the tops of the trees in a small wood, as the brook below winds through the lush undergrowth. A small American family has escaped their chaotic lives in the busy city to enter this lovely haven. The sound of birds float on the wind, feelings of security and belonging surround the beholder.

Although the surroundings appear unchanging, they can drastically differ in only moments. This beauty is not always peaceful and calm. Nature is a deadly murderer, yet at the same time a refuge. Every year millions of people die from causes of nature. Tornadoes, hurricanes, sandstorms, tsunamis, mudslides, volcanoes, avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and drought, just to name a few; these have claimed lives of our loved ones and friends for centuries. Is this why we have begun to fear nature itself?

In “Life in the woods”, a man named Henry Thoreau goes to live alone at Walden Pond. He leaves his former life behind him as he starts fresh without anything but the woods. While in solitude, he learns a lot about nature and life. He develops a love for the world surrounding him. Through struggles, he survives and gain understanding about how alive and un-wild the wilderness is. It is my opinion that we should all escape to nature and its healing powers from time to time. Most of our comforts of life are indispensable. The wise learn to live without such luxuries. The more we have does not mean we will be more happy. The wealthy are killing themselves by separating themselves from the growing experiences of real life. Such vacations help renew our physical, mental, and spiritual beings.

While reading “Landscape of spirituality” I began to wonder what I myself was doing to protect God’s many creations. Although wilderness has been characterized as a fearful place, we still retreat there during confusing times. “The love of wilderness represents a powerful homing instinct we will never relinquish.” It is the window to creation. The place where Jesus went to fast for forty days and forty nights is a colorless bland place; yet the Savior loved it.

Anti-environmentalists say that earth will be destroyed before Christ comes, so why preserve it. The Mormons believe God mourns when even a small bird dies, so they do their best to preserve life. The wild can bring us strength and vitality. The extraordinarily beautiful places in our state need to be preserved. We need to protect nature and build our big, land-hogging homes in urban areas.

Because man enjoys the relief nature gives, we try to capture some of it to save it for later. We usually do this through a variety of art forms. Taking photographs, painting, composing, and writing is just a few techniques we use. To reach the vital experience we each need to grasp for ourselves, we enter nature and create art within the art of nature. We need to do this rather than believe we are masters over it.

We must take care of the nature we have so our children may enjoy it as we have. Collectively, Americans need to take better care of our world. With practices such as recycling, using solar power, picking up trash and not wasting water, we can do our part in saving beauty.