Texts and Treks

          This Monday I went for the last weekly walk of the semester and, comparatively speaking, it was easily the coldest. I am extremely happy with the way this course has developed my enjoyment of the outdoors. These walks along the Trinity have become habitual and are a great way for me to clear my mind when there’s a lot going on. This final’s week has been extremely demanding and it felt really good to take an hour for personal time outdoors.  Pictured below is a mallard duck that I saw on my walk this morning. The sheer number of different animals that I have seen on the Trinity is astounding. In fact, I was grabbing lunch with a few friends at the Woodshed the other day and noticed a large group of probably 30 white heron’s, all grouped together on the same section of trees along the river. Unfortunately, it was getting dark and I was unable to snap a photograph of the tree. To be honest, it was one of the strangest phenomenon's I have ever...

          I embarked upon one of my last weekly walks of the semester this Monday, and once again was provided a meaningful, exciting journey along the Trinity. I paced down the sidewalk at around 8 AM and eventually came across a group of ducks swimming amongst each other on the edge of the river. I walked closer, hoping to get a better view and a photograph of them if possible. I eventually realized that within this group of ducks was a male, a female and a group of younger chicks. It was an entire duck family just out for a morning stroll.           I snapped a picture of the family of ducks and decided I would write my blog about them. What specifically, I did not know and began to wonder on the way back to my car. A few minutes down the trail I saw a group of three  birds flying relatively high in the sky, eventually landing on a tree down the river. I was curious to find out what they were doing, so I paced my way d...

  I was going for a walk outside the other day and came across a deceased squirrel on the side of the road (pictured below). I decided that I would write my blog post about the squirrel this week, in part because it made me think about the impact that humans have on the environment, even on a small scale. We tend to jump to the big picture and associate our impact with climate change and other large-scale, overarching issues. This squirrel reminded me that our impact on the environment starts with everyday actions.           The decisions we make each day influence our collective impact on the environment overtime. Squirrels are hit by cars seemingly all the time, approximately 41 million squirrels are killed by cars each year. For an animal with a common presence, we often overlook the impact that killing “one squirrel” has on their population. Because in this case, killing “one squirrel” adds up to many when basing it on the entire world population...