Centennial Woods is a University of Vermont natural area. \u00a0This means that there are rules posted at the entrance of the woods telling visitors what they cannot do in the woods. \u00a0These rules curb the behavior of those who choose to enter the woods because there are likely consequences for violators if those rules are broken. \u00a0This brings about an ethical paradox for me when visiting my phenology spot. \u00a0The rules encourage me to stay on the path, yet I must stray from the path to get away from people in the “natural area.” \u00a0This is an ethical choice, for I know that by straying from the path, I am violating the rules, as well as potentially damaging the young plants below my feet. \u00a0My yearning for a quiet, “natural-looking” place in the woods combined with my need for a good grade in the class pushes my to overcome the ethical obstacles of disturbing the ecosystem and breaking the rules of the forest.<\/p>\n
As human beings, we tend to create societal social constructions of our ideal of nature. \u00a0For example, why did I choose the spot I did in Centennial Woods to signify nature? \u00a0Why did I pick an area of the woods off the trail and absent of visible human impacts? \u00a0Why did I not choose a spot closer to my dorm, or even just look out my window to pick a phenology spot? \u00a0Seasonal changes would still be visible, I would not have to travel so far, and I would not disrupt the natural environment of the woods if I had chosen a spot on campus. \u00a0Perhaps it is all in my perception of “nature,” or what I consider to be “natural.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Centennial Woods is a University of Vermont natural area. \u00a0This means that there are rules posted at the entrance of the woods telling visitors what they cannot do in the woods. \u00a0These rules curb the behavior of those who choose to enter the woods because there are likely consequences for violators if those rules are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3326,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/blangton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/blangton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/blangton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/blangton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3326"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/blangton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/blangton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/blangton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions\/116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/blangton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/blangton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/blangton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}