The Natural World And Education by Emma

The Natural World And Education by Emma - April 2020 Scholarship Essay

Blessed with the diversity of land and wildlife, I shared my home with sugar maple, beech, and yellow birch trees where the blue jays perch their feet to sing. The amazing wonders of the woods were sacred to me, and as I watched the new neighbors come in with their bright orange machinery, I was devastated for the life being destroyed. Every week, more and more trees were gone, until every possible acre they owned became extinct; leaving the forest floor almost bare besides the stumps marking what had once been home to many-- home to the pileated woodpecker, for instance. The property they cut down was old and rich with mature trees, the kind of trees that are required for these woodpeckers to feed and nest in. Now, it will take years until new trees sprout, and it may be centuries before the pileated woodpeckers ever come back. This is just one of the species of birds that have lost their homes; hermit thrush and the black-throated blue warbler were also popular amongst those trees, and now they were being forced to find shelter elsewhere. How could the loggers not consider this? Didn't they know they were tampering with a whole ecosystem? With what I knew about these woods, it was hard to not be affected.
The land around me has taught me most of what I know, making these deciduous, hardwood forests of southern Vermont my greatest familiarity. The more I learn, the more I appreciate the complexities and importance of every living thing in the biosphere. The loggers did not just take wood from the forest, they took homes. They stole from the pileated woodpeckers, black-throated blue warblers, and hermit thrush mentioned, but also some finches, bark beetles, eastern chipmunks and a feeding ground for white-tailed deer. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for all of the flora and fauna because I have spent my whole life studying and surrounding myself with the beauty of the natural world.
I looked over the deserted land, and I realized I did not hold resentment towards the loggers or the property owners. It is not that they don’t care, but rather they just don’t know the woods well enough to hold appreciation. Seeing what happened has made me value the importance of education, especially Environmental and Social studies. I learned that education not only enhances the mind; but ethical values, too. After the loggers came, took, and then left, I then found my greatest certainty in life; I need to learn as much as I can about the biosphere, so I can help protect and conserve the natural world. I believe that going to college is the best way to help me achieve this goal of educating myself to help protect the natural world.