Ecology camp reflections Summer 2010
Winner of the Essay Contest

Ecology. The air, water, plants, minerals, organisms and all other external factors surrounding and affecting a given organism at any time is known as the environment. When I talk about environment, I really like to include an environment that is natural because other than natural environment, nothing is edible to describe the concept of ecology. While thinking about environment, lots of things come into people's brain. Some of the very serious concepts are to protect the environment, care about the environment and mainly to dream about the environment. So, why should we wait if the environment is really important to us in the present and in the future.

I have always dreamed of an environment the minute I turned a 13 (teenager) years old boy. However, my dream really began when I first got a wonderful job in an ecology camp from the MSYEP.

Even though if you dream about an environment, it's totally different when you really go to an environment that is very much natural. Maybe you don't know what I am talking about, but I would love to introduce to you one of the most startling environment in the world, The Alewife Brook Reservation. When I first went there, I was so amazed and couldn't believe that, there is a forest just right beside my apartment that I have never visited! I think I have seen the most number of different animals and plants in there than any other reservations. Red tailed hawk, falcons, foxes, coyotes, sparrows, robins, bluejays, morning dove, turtle, beaver and many other types of macroinvertebrate animals took my mind away to somewhere that taught me everything about what an environment really is and how much we all should care about it. Lots of invasive and native plants are the buty of the reservation. Some of my favorite ones are staghorn sumac, silver maple tree, purple loosestrip, knotweed, oak tree, red maple tree etc. So, I think this entire reservation is a wonderful natural environment to fill up all my dreams that still exist in the present and will exist in my future life. .

As I talked about protecting and caring about the environment earlier, I think its extremely important to do the same in the Alewife Brook Reservation for my future as well as the other people's future. Nowadays protecting the environment is very important as the world is changing in many tropical ways as well as the disasters happening to the world, such as- climate change, global warming, sunami, tornado, earthquakes etc. Tropical forests are being destroyed to make furniture, sculpture and many other type of living things. But, trees are one of the main organisms that helps us breath. So, if we keep on destroying trees then one day, we will not going to be able to breath anymore because oxygen only comes from trees. One another important consideration is to clean and keep the environment healthy. People are spitting, throwing bottles, papers and other organisms on the street or on a trail of nowhere which is bad for the environment. So, to protect the environment, we should compost and recycle all the time. Water pollution is a huge part of the disasters in the world. People are polluting the water by garbage, human waste, oil, gas etc. Maybe we don't understand how the water is affecting our daily life because we are using water everyday for many different reasons without understanding where it's coming from, but what about he people who doesn't even get a bottle of water in a day. Do we even think about how they suffer each day of their life? At least caring about those people, we should always use water wisely. It might happen to any place at any point. So, please try to protect the Alewife Brook Reservation because that reservation is the key to your life in the present and in the future. That's why the time said, "Don't blow it - good planets are hard to find."

Overall, we all should be lucky that we have a good environment like the Alewife Brook Reservation. So, let's all work together and protect this reservation. So, my dream in the future would look like people are working in the reservation, people are planting trees, people are composting and recycling, people are watering trees, people are catching huge fish in the river and most importantly, people are having a great life with all the plants and animals surrounding them and also loving them. In my future ahead, I hope I can come back to this fantastic reservation at least 4-5 times a year to make this world survive for a long time.

Sincerely

One of the Participants of FAR 2010

Nazmuz Shakib Pranta