Dan's Nature Walk

It took less than forty-five minutes during my walk to realize what I have been missing out on lately. I walked though a combination of parks and urban neighborhoods. My short trip started at 16th Street and Indiana and lead me to Jackson and Michigan and back around to State Street. I meandered through a few ritzy neighborhoods which eventually led me to Grant Park. I chose this path because it offered a combination of green-space and urban buildings. Plus I wanted to see how the city developed and maintained its green space.

From the very start I encountered nature attempting to sprout through a bed of mulch. The mulch bed was a buffer between a sidewalk and a parking lot. I thought, “Wow, how persistent nature can be.” My walk then took me through small park in a private neighborhood. People were laying on the grass and dogs were playing with one another. People were just happy to be there, as was I. 

No matter if I looked at trees, flowers, grass, birds, or buildings; I was able to see that nature is all around us. It was only natural for me to look at the trees, flowers, grass, and birds as nature, but I soon looked at the builds for the same. While looking at the high-rise buildings that create a wall bordering Grant Park, I found myself looking for a connection. How we, as humans, gravitate towards the beauty of things natural or created to simulate nature. In this case, the parks and Lake Michigan. While walking through Grant Park I kept thinking about the design of the city and parks. I noticed the perfect line and wall the buildings on Michigan Avenue make is like a large picture window for the city, which looks outside to our most valuable natural assets. In this case the parks and the lake. 

I took many pictures while on this walk. Each one meant something different. A picture of buds sprouting on a tree, let me know leaves will soon appear. A picture of berries on the paved sidewalk in Grant Park is a reminder that seedlings cannot penetrate their roots through what we have created. A picture of my of shadows from trees on the pavement with me standing between them is a reminder of potential energy, the energy of would could be put in place of this pavement that absorbed our shadow. For example, the pavement could be replaced with the same thing that was creating a show, in this case, trees and me. Lastly, the photos of a park, a new green-space being built on State Street is a reminder of the much needed therapy nature provides us. It was quite pleasant to see that a new park is being made where a building once stood. 

My walk was a pleasant reminder that I need to walk more. I was charged up with energy and love for what nature provides us. I appreciated the parks being created and I thought about the buildings as a best used for overpopulation and prevention of sprawl. I thought about the city recycling bins that were loaded with trash; which reminded me of how much more energy and research of humans and our effects on nature we must do to prevent our own demise.

See below for further images from my walk!

From Environmental Science Spring 2009

From Environmental Science Spring 2009

From Environmental Science Spring 2009

From Environmental Science Spring 2009

From Environmental Science Spring 2009

From Environmental Science Spring 2009

From Environmental Science Spring 2009

Nature Walk

A friend of mine from Michigan came into town last weekend so I decided to take her for a walk on our side of the lake, both as a way to complete this assignment, and also because it was nice out and a walk sounded like more fun than sitting In my apartment and watching “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” on television. 

I normally walk down Fullerton to the lakefront but we met up with a second from of my (one who lives in the city) and walked a different way that, consequently, took us past a bunch of statues I’ve never noticed before and a park. I like parks. They are a nice way to make up for all the cement and asphalt of the city—which I don’t necessarily hate—I mean, I did choose to live here, in Chicago, rather than by the redwood forest, or something. Nonetheless, I do think that there is a forced quality to the nature that exists in cities, such as in parks. Here, nature is planned and redirected. Trees are spaced out evenly a long the sidewalk and gardens occupy neat fenced-in squares and window boxes. The nature we find here, in many ways, is manipulated and controlled so that it doesn’t interfere with our lives unless we want  it to (weather excluded, of course). Even as my two friends and I walked through this park and a long the edge of a pond, I swear a school of fish and a couple of ducks were swimming a long side us, eyeing our Starbucks iced-coffees.

We finally arrived at the lake (one of my favorite parts of this city.) It was beautiful and calm and I was in an obnoxiously good mood as my vitamin D deprived body greedily soaked up as much sunlight as it could. Looking out at the lake I saw the black silhouettes of the water intake cribs, which have had to be moved out farther and farther to access clean water and I realized that we have not only manipulated nature, but that the damage done goes beyond a few ducks with a taste for people food. 

Nature walk

I chose to walk from my apartment on Diversey and Oakpark, which is the northwest side of Chicago, to Reese Park. Reese Park is on Fullerton and Narraganset. I walk down Diversy Avenue and its an area where there is heavy traffic. I cut through the brickyard mall and arrive at reese park. Reese Park is a very green area that a lot of trees. It is alot more relaxing to be there than to be across the street where I just saw two teenagers smoking a joint while waiting at the bus stop. But as I got deeper into the park, I saw children playing at the playground while their parents watched them from the bench. Then I started walking towards the parking lot and thats where I saw a bunch of older men geeting wasted off of some sort of liquor bottle. When I'm in the downtown area, I don't see much of this going on because all I see is high rises, but then again, downtown is more populated with a different segment of people.