A Walk to Remember

Lately, I have been taking walks without my AirPods or phone in order to fully immerse myself in the surroundings.  During this change, I have felt that walks are more head-clearing and relaxing. I spend my time thinking about my day, planning for the week ahead, and taking notice of my surroundings. While I don’t live near any “wilderness” areas, I have enjoyed walking through Overton Park. I usually walk either early in the morning or in the evening, and I tend to notice more animals out. I see a ton of bunnies in the mornings but never at night. I’ve also seen an armadillo and a possum, which I found strange. This drop in technology has truly changed my life. Before, I was so focused on the podcast that I was listening to that I rarely noticed anything besides the sidewalk in front of me. I had also planned to visit the Fort Worth Nature Preserve, but my car broke down, and I could not drive there. Thankfully, I have a bike that has allowed me to travel to most places without issue. I originally purchased this bike for a race, but it has quickly become a vital part of my daily routine. Instead of driving everywhere, I am now able to bike to the rec center and almost everywhere else. While it is brutal to ride when it is cold, the warm evenings coming in make up for it. I enjoy biking with the warm breeze, hearing the birds wind down, and observing people out walking their dogs. While I didn’t have any true wilderness experiences this last week, I am thankful for the small bites of nature I get to see every day. The attached picture is a sunset over my house.  

Turtle Tour

This weekend, I took the time to see how the rainstorm had affected the Trinity Trails. The trails themselves were clean in the main areas, but the river crossings were covered in dirt and debris. In addition, the trails were filthy once I got past the trailhead. Since I was on my bike, I had to slow down significantly to avoid falling. During this ride, I thought about Abbey’s anti-car talks within the Industrial Tourism Chapter. On my entire 4-hour ride, I was never on a trail or in an area for a significant amount of time that didn’t have a view of a road for cars. While I understand this is extremely hard in such a large metroplex like DFW, it would be nice to fully immerse in nature while biking. I don’t think that is easily possible while on a road bike, but some paved trails away from main roads would be nice. That being said, I noticed an extensive trail network for horseback riding over by Benbrook Lake. They had a map of a few different routes people could take alongside a rural road. Due to this, I became convinced that Benbrook Lake is a good example of Industrial Tourism done well. They have plenty of roads, so people who may have a hard time walking can easily access the lake or camp sites. On top of this, they have more secluded trails for horseback riding and hiking. While this isn’t exactly something that would please Abbey, I think it is impressive that we can accomplish things like this right next to one of the largest metroplexes in the county. I noticed wild turkey, turtles, hawks, and deer, so they have not been driven away...yet? 

 

 

Turkey Trot

This weekend, I had an amazing 67-mile bike ride past Benbrook Lake and back. While on the Trinity Trails I kept thinking how thankful I was for such a long-paved route that allowed me to use my road bike and stay in nature. I prefer to start on the trail by HG Supply, and I get off briefly at Trinity Trails Southwest 183 Trailhead. This is my least favorite part of the trinity because it doesn't feel like you are actually experiencing nature. That being said, the sun rise over the river is consistently impressive. Once I get off the trailhead, I briefly ride on a main road then join back on the trail. My ride from this point on is really great. I particularly enjoy the windy trail and all the native Texas plants alongside the trail.  

Something I noticed was the increase in developments along this route. When I reached Bear Creek, I noticed new developments and construction that I had not noticed when I did this ride in September. In terms of nature, I made a lot of observations. First, I saw a flock (rafter?) of wild turkeys. I was super pumped about this because I saw them in September and was hoping to encounter them again. Secondly, I noticed that nearly every sign and post by Benbrook Lake had a bird house on it. This led me to start noticing the birds in my environment. I saw quite a few vultures, but I cannot remember if they were Turkey or Black vultures. I also noticed quite a few birds of prey circling above me. While I could not figure out their specific species due to distance, I concluded they were birds of prey due to their behaviors. Lastly, I noticed so many Cardinals. I am not sure if this was a Baader–Meinhof phenomenon (frequency illusion) or if there were just a surplus. I point this out because I see them all the time. When I started seeing Cardinals, I tried to look for Blue Jays, but I did not see a single one. 

I finished my weekend by walking my friend's dogs at the South z Boaz park. During our walk, I headed down to the creek bed to do some fossil hunting. While some rocks were promising, I was unfortunately unsuccessful. I noticed a lot of grass lying flat a few feet above the current water level which caused me to admire how much this creek fluctuates in water level. 

 

 

S(no)w class

 I had an extremely jam-packed snow week. I started off weary of the snow due to my planned long run on the Saturday before snow week. I decided to move my long run to Friday instead and had a great 24 mile run with my girlfriend.  The snow did not affect me much besides the fact that my car couldn't handle it and I couldn't drive anywhere. The people who live above me had lost hot water, which was sad. 

 I believe the snow also helped my dog walking business take off. Before this week, I had zero bookings and I started to lose hope. Then, out of nowhere, I received 3 bookings! One of them was to walk two dogs twice in one day, another was to dog sit over the weekend, and the last starts 2/4 and is to watch two Irish setters for two weeks. I was extremely excited about all of this because I love dogs and it has been fun to meet new dogs. 

Lastly, I had the chance to see Zootopia 2. I thought this was a great movie and I think I liked it more than the first one. I had the option to pick between Housemaid and Zootopia, overjoyed that I picked Zootopia. 

Overall, it wasn't too bad of a week. The worst part was the overcrowded rec center. I hope I live in an area with no snow in the future. 

Nature observations

After our class today, I decided to walk part of the TCU tree walk and visit the pollinator garden. I have observed these areas and enjoyed them since my freshman year. I appreciate that they are deliberate conservation and nature space efforts.

The environment has always been a passion of mine. Because of this, I’ve tried to take steps to make a tangible difference, and I’ve experienced environmental issues firsthand.

The first that comes to mind occurred during my time as my high school’s environmental club president. The club was mainly focused on building air gardens, recycling, and other small projects. My goal was to educate our members on real issues and expose the hard topics. Unfortunately, this led to a decline in membership that only came back when we did “fun” things. Here, I realized that it’s hard to get people to change their habits and focus on real, difficult issues.

A more recent example has come to me in the last few days. I just started reading “The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America.” This book has opened my mind to the history of conservation efforts and the backlash they have faced. I think a large issue with protecting the environment is that it often becomes political, which can cloud people’s judgment. I believe this is one of the largest issues facing conservation movements, as it restricts them from making progress.

This is a class I’ve looked forward to since sophomore year, and I am looking forward to the semester.

Student Survey

 

Here are the results from our on-campus survey. I found this to be fun and interesting. My favorite part was talking to people about the conspiracies that they believed. While I only recorded the ones we talked about as a class, I entertained people's opinions. I think a lot of people tend to say they believe in a conspiracy, but they don't with their full heart. People tend to say "well it just makes sense" and don't necessarily have the facts to back it up. I would love to do a survey like this again with short answers to see what people truly believe or to hear their rational. A survey like this is difficult because people have differing definitions of things like cheating, so it is hard to standardize answers. I would also like to see what wild conspiracies people truly "believe" in or will talk about when given the opportunity. 

If I were to do this again, I would try to find a way to send this to people completely anonymously.  People may feel a bit awkward saying the truth to a stranger on campus. While I didn't include them in this survey, I took the time to talk to some of my family and friends about these questions. I seemed to get more "realistic" results as I had less people say "Not sure" or related answers. I also got exposure to some crazy and funny conspiracy theories because I think they felt more comfortable sharing with me. 

Wristful Thinking

 Our final discussion over swindlers reminds me of a time that I was tricked as a kid. 

While attending a race expo for a nearby marathon, I came across a Power Balance Bracelet booth. This silicone wristband with a small hologram claimed it could “improve balance, strength, and flexibility” by interacting with the body’s natural energy field. As a 6-year-old, this blew my mind. I walked on balance beams, jumped on one foot, and did other balance exercises to prove that the bracelet worked. I will never forget falling off the beam then putting the bracelet on and successfully navigating it. After, I turned to the salesperson and told him that it really worked. He gave me a look like I was a complete idiot. I have never forgotten this because it seems like he would be ecstatic that he claimed another victim, but maybe his conscious caught up with him. My mom laughed the company off and we moved on, much to my dismay.

This ended up becoming extremely popular, with celebrities and athletes endorsing it. This hype only lasted a couple years before independent studies showed zero performance difference between the bracelet and a plain rubber band. In 2011, the Australian government forced Power Balance to admit publicly that there was no credible scientific evidence behind any of their claims. The company faced multiple lawsuits for false advertising and eventually filed for bankruptcy. What I didn't know until just now is that their famous “balance tests” were revealed to be done using subtle shifts in pressure by the demonstrator. 

I think this is such a funny example because they were forcing results in these tests! Thousands of people took these balance tests and felt the "real" improvement. Looking back, this is extremely dumb, and I cannot believe I fell for it. I think this experience shows that if something is too good to be true, it probably is. 

Link to their site: About Us - Power Balance