Nature is art.

But who is the artist?

Who inspires nature?

True art is channelled through the loving heart, guided by emotions that stir the soul to loving bonds and the sort of imagination that is free and child-like in its sense of wonder and joy. Art is not a technical skill, but something that comes from within

We are artists. 

We are the ones who draw nature.

 How?

By our actions!

Isn’t that nerve wracking to know that we inspire something that provides healing in a thousand ways? Everyday when we leave the house going outside we are all carrying an invisible pencil which we can choose to use or not. It is not a burden if:

We are environmental stewards.

We are practicing reafforestation.

We don’t pluck out a flower unnecessarily.

We don’t run over our wildlife.

The list goes on but we are the spark in this ecosystem because we help it thrive. But have our actions been exemplary in nature? Are we conscious of how we take care of our surroundings?

As any great artist, our pieces are very valuable because we spend a lot of time drawing them.Our creativity brings our dreams to life; inspiring, enchanting, bringing us closer to nature. In art our spirits rise, in stories we are enthralled and elevated. With creativity we make connections between disparate nature, we learn that through our many lenses we are seeing the same whole, only the path before our feet is still blurred. Life should never be nature vs humans, but a beautiful marriage of the two. I look forward to the day l attend the wedding of nature and humans!

Today l take you on a journey to my homeland!

A place where nature exudes a peaceful aroma. 

A place where nature sings to you all day. 

A place where nature is the hallmark of our existence.

Growing up, every holiday we would take that 12 hour journey to travel to my rural home. I looked forward to that journey because the experience was something that l can never trade the world for! On the way,we would see a dozen people parading their homegrown fruits and vegetables on the streets selling them for a decent price. We would see herdsmen cheerfully and patiently waiting for cattles and goats to feed on uncurated grass. We would see old men and women carrying on their heads baskets of their harvested produce. We would see young adults in a line waiting to draw water out of a clean well which they had dug out and built themselves. We would see young girls lighting up the fire in fireplaces they had built themselves.

 We did not only see people but the experience that left a treasured mark in my heart was when I would see a zeal of zebras fleeing from a pride of lions. We knew it was a taboo to travel at night because you were most likely not to make it home safely because of the dangerous wildlife. Sometimes we would be stuck in traffic of a herd of elephants that would be having a chit chat in the road for hours! We would be told not to climb trees because you would end up being entangled in a relationship with Mr. Snake. 

This is just a snippet of my experiences growing up but the reason why it holds so much importance in my life is because of how nature defined most of our actions. I appreciate how we fed from nature and how we respected it. It was a two way relationship and this is something that every human should have. Before we speak of strengthening our relationships as human beings we should find ways to strengthen our relationship with mother nature!

Hello World,

Last week, I sent my advocate to speak to you about how l felt. I hope she was able to convey my message with not too much emotion. I thought as your professor l should also tell you things I admire about you. As a mother (recycle bins, picking up papers) I thought l should tell you what keeps me going every morning. And as a protector (trees, flowers,I thought l should tell you where l get my super powers to shield you every second of the day.

As a professor l admire how you observe the Earth day every year to demonstrate your commitment to protect the environment. I am moved when l see you advocating for nature protection using all that I taught you. I look forward to reading the various projects that you are working on to preserve nature.

As a mother, I have run out words. The joy of every mother lies in seeing her children prosper and lead a life of victory. It lies in seeing them as stewards of good causes. I have seen that most of you now are recycling various materials. Recycling has so many benefits. It saves energy, reduces pollution and increases economic security by tapping a domestic source of materials to mention a few. 

As a protector l am proud of how you have been planting trees all over the world. It makes it easier for me to give shed to you, to clean the air for you, to supply wood for various things you need to use it for and to provide food.

Endure the race of preserving nature and keep on running the good race!

Have you noticed how we have built our world to keep nature away from us? We put fences to keep wildlife away. I know it can be scary to see a lion or bear roaming about in your yard.But how many people actually take out time to attend mother nature’s endless free class? She speaks but her voice has been silenced. She has been screaming on top of her voice but a few can hear because most have been deafened by thinking she doesn’t add much to their lives.You never realize how loud nature is when you never pay attention to it. You never realize how much she bears just to sustain our livelihood on his earth. She offers a new song every morning through different songs directed by the birds’s choir. The natural aroma of those flowers is a total mood changer. Nature echoes so many lessons that can change lives in this crooked world.She offers free endless classes every second but very few sit down and listen to her. She produces great results in the form of her beauty but most of us take that beauty for granted. She goes on to teach what she is not paid for despite of our ignorance.She has a natural healing to everything that is soothing and anyone can easily get mesmerized in this if they only lend her an ear. She doesn’t speak to please the world but speaks to educate and build. She shares unfiltered stories as they happen but she is now pregnant with anger. Global warming is her nemesis. It’s destroying her ecosystem. Her wildlife is going extinct. She needs our help but unfortunately 911 can’t help.She cries copiously for our help because we are suffocating her!

You might be thinking what lessons nature has taught you. Here are a few. Wildlife exudes pure compassion. Ever watched how an eagle will viciously protect its eggs, or even more scary a snake will lookout for its unborn babies? It’s the same compassion that we lack towards each other. Ever watched how birds are a signal to other animals that the king of the jungle is on its way to find its prey? This is so important because the birds alert the other animals and they find their hideout. Birds could have cared less and just not do anything but they are all connected. They are one! Nature has its own ecosystem / economy that is self sufficient and every animal seems to know how to play their role efficiently. It’s the same with us. What if we had compassion towards each other? What if we were each other’s keeper? What if we never judged someone by how they dress, their nationality or their accent? Don’t you all think this world would have been a better place?Human intelligence will never be a race with one track and one golden cup. It is differing as a natural meadow and works like an ecosystem where we all thrive because we understand and embrace our diversity. Some say l speak from a broken heart, yes its sad that nature speaks about this but we do not pay attention. She has set an example of what humanity is. What do you gain from lack of compassion? One lesson that caught my attention was that from ants. I went to my daily spot and like always l notice the most visible things in nature but for some reason on Wednesday l decided to focus on insects. I sat down and put soft music on and the first insects l saw were ants. It’s amazing how many lessons those small insects carry. They are team players because they work together. They are organized, look at how they build anthills! They are hard workers: you always see them up to something. These are some important lessons that most of us take for granted.

The beauty of everything in nature is beyond what a human mind can fathom. There is so much meaning to how every animal or plant behaves, Whoever thought an ant will be a professor for some core aspects of life! Pay attention to is not to go outside everyday and admire it but it comes downs to the actions we make everyday. To not cut trees unnecessarily. To water those lovely plants consistently. To not pluck out flowers without reason. To stop poaching. To abolish illegal fishing. We need every species to play its part in the ecosystem so we should stand together in doing this. There are so much lessons we need to preserve for our unrecognized professor. We need to protect her!

The highlight of my week was when I talked to the safari manager at a local park in Botswana. I thought l was familiar with how nature is back in Southern Africa but he proved me wrong. He talked about all the work they put in just to keep the safari open for tourism and for the animals to thrive. One of the saddest things was when he talked about how tourism has declined tremendously dueto travel restrictions and this has led to poaching. My heart bled because of people’ ignorance towards nature’s call for help. The last thing that should be on our minds during these trying times is invading the source of our wellbeing that is nature. As much as there is a rise in how technology is advancing and bringing a boom to Earth’s economy, nature has a very key role in all this. From an article l read on The Guardian by Tony Juniper, he said “ As we struggle to cut emissions from fossil fuels, one study estimates that the value of the carbon capture services which could be gained through halving the deforestation rate by 2030 is around $3.7 trillion. And the wildlife in the same forests has huge value too – about 50% of the United States’ $640billion pharmaceutical market is based on the genetic diversity of wild species, many of which were found in forests. And it’s not only the genetic diversity in wildlife that brings economic benefits.” This is all just a snippet of how much we could potentially gain from conserving natural resources.

I also managed to visit a lake nearby and that was so fulfilling. I felt calm and ease and forgot about all that was going on around me. Later on after doing some research I found out that going out can be actually a mood booster! I will be going outside more often now.

As said by Syliva Path, ” I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of the scenery- air, mountains, trees, people. I thought this is what it is to be happy”

This quote resonates so much with how l felt about my visit to Cogshall park and a pond nearby. It’s a feeling l am still trying to describe. Nature is like a language that a few can understand. It communicates in a subtle, sly way that a few can fathom.

I made a connection to the ponds and surrounding trees and the first thing that came to my mind was that you reflect what you grow after seeing a reflection of the trees in the pond. The pond natures the trees around it because its a source of the survival. The trees draw energy from the pond to stand upright and bloom in Spring. This analogy relates so much to our daily lives. We are a source of survival of so many things in our lives, be it good and bad emotions. There are some characters that we choose to nurture not only because of how the benefit us but those around us. The pond nurture the trees and when trees bloom with flowers in spring it lightens the world of most human beings.

Upon this realisation l took time to reflect on what has been feeding on me in my life. I let go of some bad characters that depended on me for survival and this has marked the beginning of my growth as a person. I am excited!!

Hello, My name is Ruvimbo Taanarwo. I am in the class of 2023. Nature is a very fundamental part of who l am because l use it to relate to everyday things that happen around us . Take for example an ecosystem is defined as a community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment, interacting as a system. The part that is of interest to me is community which means working together and this is something very essential in our community. Nature has a deeper resemblance of how and why creation functions the way it does but it takes a connection to nature’s lenses to be able to see that. 

My first connection with nature was when I visited Victoria Falls which is one of the seven wonders of the world. Just seeing water flowing carefreely and the same water turning turbines to generate electricity it spoke volumes to me about oneness and help each other thrive which is a key component of the economy of nature.