The wilderness is many things for many people. With concrete replacing grass and skyscrapers replacing buildings, the wilderness is something that every single person needs to fight to preserve and to protect. You can’t make mountains like you can make buildings. Glaciers are melting and forests are being destroyed. Some things are natural and some things are not. Change is inevitable in life--it is the consistency. Nature will always have the last word, but if people continue to recklessly deplete the natural beauty of the planet, something will leave us as humans. Whether it’s through photography, life experiences, stories, personal experiences, or resources, the wilderness acts as an extension of the human soul and of so much life.
I, personally, do not want to have to tell my children or grandchildren of looking up at the sky at nighttime and viewing the milky-way and how your entire existence is put into perspective. I don’t want future generations to have to be told stories of mountains that change lives. It is the job of every human to try to protect the planet to the best of our abilities. We learn so much from the wilderness. To live a life where there is no escape from stacks of paperwork, four walls, and packed streets would be a tragedy and an injustice to the experience of living. The wilderness is many things for many people. To feel freedom as the breeze whips through your hair and you can only see green and splatters of natural color for as far as the eye can see as a physical manifestation of freedom.
We learn how to live better through the wilderness. The leaves change and old trees burn down and new ones grow. Winter brings death and spring brings life. The wilderness makes sense of change and of death--two things we as humans tend to resist, fear, and become confused by. America’s national forests are something so unique to this particular region of the world. Most parts of the world plow instead of protect. Could you imagine a world without mountains, fresh air, trees taller than you can see, and wild flowers scattered vibrantly throughout? Could you imagine what would go out of us as human beings to no longer have that anywhere in the world? It is an infinite source of inspiration, resource, perspective, and so much more. Here are some things that you can do to help protect the wilderness:
- Donate to a national forest and learn more information at: http://www.npca.org/protecting-our-parks/
- You don’t have to just think nationally, you can volunteer at a state or local park, too! Here is a website to research parks near you, where you can volunteer: http://www.nps.gov/getinvolved/volunteer.ht
- Tweet, text, Instagram, Facebook--you name it! Get the word out about protecting this world and our parks! Education and awareness is necessary to help our planet.
- Go outside and appreciate this world! What better way to protect this planet than to appreciate it fully?
