Nature

When I usually think of nature, I don't think of a music festival. However, over the weekend I attended Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival and spent all three days in a park. Most of the space was open grassland but there were some trees that were very clutch when one is trying to escape the tremendous heat. One tree in particular stood out as it's in the middle of the park and the largest tree out of all the surrounding trees. Besides being aesthetically pleasing, the tree served a dual purpose of shade and a meeting point. The group I was attending with got separated multiple times and the best meeting place was the tree. In viewing the park as a whole, I wondered how a music festival as large as ACL invades a natural environment. Is it bad to commercialize parks and turn them into human-focused activities? I noticed how there weren't any animals around and how trampled the grass was... Zilker park is the closest and largest defined nature area to downtown yet it ...

On my walk through Overton Park  close to TCU's campus last week, I noticed many squirrels and small insects, with an occasional bird here and there. The squirrels were just as skittish as the ones at TCU, even more so because the ones at TCU are almost used to people. There were a couple insects that I had never seen before. One looked like a leaf but was completely yellow and was moving like a worm or caterpillar would. It seemed fluffy but I did not want to touch it. The birds were making chirping sounds every now and then as the wind calmly swayed through the park. I pictured the bird sounds dancing on the wind, and it was a truly peaceful moment. However, what truly caught my attention was a trash bag that was hanging on the branch of a tall tree. It almost jumped out at me because it seemed so out of place. In the midst of a walk where I was escaping the city and people, I was suddenly reminded again of man and our effect on nature. How did the trash bag get there? I quest...