12th Grade: Nature

Very evident connections can be identified when given the specific texts on the 12^th grade unit of nature.  The immediate theme that I was able to notice is the beauty and destruction of Mother Nature. Not only were natural disasters analyzed, positive and negative views on nature were seen through the effects of humans, and how we have interacted with these disasters in the past. Within “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek,” the author compares the dangers of Mother Nature (natural disasters) between a third person account of the avalanche experience of a professional skier with a first person account of the destruction at Tunnel Creek. Through this article, we are able to see that humans are always taking risks when nature is the supplier of what humans call fun.

            Not only is Mother Nature the cause of some of the disasters that harm us, we sometimes control our own fate. For example, the Gasland movie trailer explains that hydraulic fracturing blasts a mix of water and chemicals deep into the ground to create a mini earthquake to free up gas. Whether humans receive gas or not, our groundwater aquifers are becoming contaminated. “What takes Mother Nature millions of years to build can only take a few hours of machinery to destroy.” This quote can directly relate to the trailer by Spike Lee. To me, Hurricane Katrina is almost a lash back at what humans are doing to destroy our habitat and beauty of a world. Although majority of people see our nature as beautiful and forgiving, we ultimately are in control of what comes next. Not just creating disasters, we are in a sense creating nature’s death by pollution. As humans, we are blind to why natural disasters happen. To me, it is a direct reflection of what we are exactly doing to her (Mother Nature).

            Although the videos can be connected through the analysis of human and disaster interaction, the poems by William Blake take on a new direction. We not only see the interactions between nature and humans, but also with the interactions of animals as well. I read this poem as if William Blake was questioning why all three of God’s creations are fighting. I see connections between the images within the art gallery of Vanishing Ice to this poem, “The Tyger.” As humans are all very beautiful and unique in their own way, God created thousands of animals and hundreds of naturist elements to all be set apart in unique ways. Whether or not we are dissimilar or unique in our own ways, we find it within ourselves to destruct each other, and yet we “weep” when we are the ones being targeted.

            It is a love/hate relationship, nature and humans. Whether we as humans value nature as beautiful and can never resist the urge to take a picture of a scenic sunset, a helping hand is never offered when nature is calling. “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek” is a perfect summary of how when nature is knocking on our front door, however, only few people take the risk to lend help that nature is always seeking.