Outdoor Reflection -- Observing Tava Quad

 For my outdoor time this week, I decided to sit under a tree on the quad to observe how people engage with the green space that is a centrepiece of our campus. I sat by a tree on the east side of the quad, giving me an all-encompassing view of students leaving classes, heading to the library, or walking to Rastall’s. 

What I noticed most as students were moving through the space was how little they were looking up. People were looking on their phones, or making eye contact with friends but did not seem to attend to their surroundings. These observations made me think of my outdoor time from last week, where engaging my senses made me feel a much stronger sense of place and peace on my walk. I, too, have had rushed walks across Tava Quad not really looking around, and often do not feel very connected to the space when doing so. 

I also thought about how while there are numerous paved or gravelled paths across the quad, many people were walking straight across the grass as a means to get to their final destination. It seems as though people make the decision almost mindlessly, with no second thought about whether it would cause harm. This observation reminded me of discussions in class about whether plants feel pain and how to morally account for that. One of the passages that has stood out to me the most from this class was from the Engel piece, where he states that “you walk on grass, mow your lawn, and trim your hedges without any concern that you might be causing plants pain.” I doubt that anyone walking across the grass considers if it is causing it pain, reminding me how consideration of plant pain is so unassumed. Moral consideration of plant pain would require an immense paradigm shift and would shift our relationship with nature greatly, but could also induce a more respectful relationship. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Reflection on the Outdoors -- A Porch Evening

Image
  With warmer weather and the bittersweet chaos of the last block of the year, much of my time spent outside this week has been on my porch. I live on a busy intersection right off campus, but somehow my college house porch has been a source of peace for me all year, especially in busy times where calm is not the easiest to achieve. This week, I spent one particular evening out on the porch observing my surroundings and reflecting deeply about what it is about my porch that grounds me so meaningfully.  It was around 8pm that I was sitting outside, and the sky was painted that perfect shade of deep blue that often happens at dusk this time of year.  My porch faces west, giving me a great view of the sun setting and all its effects . Since reading Joan Didion ’s  Blue Nights  last year, I always react to this shade of blue, thinking of Joan’s introspective words when seeing the springtime blue night that she describes. I realize that my porch is a perfect place to...
Read more

A Reflection on my Environmental Values

  Growing up in urban areas, with my time outdoors being spent more in urban parks than in vaste, mountainous areas, I often thought of nature and the environment as a distant concept that I did not feel very connected to. It was not until I began my journey of studying environmental science and studies that I rethought my relationship with and definition of the environment to one that I believe is more holistic and inclusive. Now, I see the environment as a space where people live, play, work and learn, and I value an approach to environmental care and protection that prioritizes collaborative commitment to allowing all inhabitants to thrive. Recognizing that my approach to environmental care is largely oriented around humans   Because of my own exposure to the environment as a child and how important broadening my definition of the outdoors has been to me in terms of developing a sense of place, I am particularly interested in urban green space as a means of community-buildi...
Read more

Kantian Ethics, Animal Rights and Vegetarianism

  For class today, we read materials that focuses on Kantian ethics. Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher and a central Enlightenment thinker, importantly sees rationality as a core element of humanity. He argues that being rational beings is what makes humans unique, and that this rationality marks out both the class of moral agents (those who are capable of acting morally) and moral patients (those who we have moral obligations towards) (Hourdequin 48). Following the textbook chapter introducing Kantian ethics, we also read some of Kant’s work directly, as well as an exploration of why Kant excludes animals from direct moral consideration by Dr. Holly Wilson. The theme of non-human animals and morality greatly stood out to me from today’s pieces. I saw paralells between a Kantian approach to anthropocentrism and arguments from other EV classes I have been in, and thought deeply about how Kant’s views of animals as means rather than beings with rights apply to some of my own person...
Read more