Guest Blog: Developing a Passion for Protecting Landscapes

I grew up in the very busy metropolitan city of Bogota, Colombia, and the majority of my time was spent going to the mall or school. Once in a while, my family and I would take trips to the countryside to see beautiful scenery and enjoy the wonderful biodiversity, but as a kid, I was more interested in my Nintendo than engaging with the nature around me.  

Eventually, my mom and I migrated to the United States in pursuit of a better future for our family. We moved around many times, to places ranging from Florida to New Mexico, and eventually ended up in a small town in Wisconsin. In my town, I was the only person that spoke Spanish and the only person that came from a different country. I never saw myself reflected in my friends, peers, or anyone around me. I felt very alone and began to slowly lose my culture, my Spanish, and most importantly my connection to my native country. Eventually, senior year arrived and I had to choose a career. I didn’t know what to choose so I asked the person who knows me best: my mom. I was expecting her to suggest medicine or law like any parent would do, but to my surprise, she told me I should be an environmental scientist. She believed that if I truly wanted to help the world and the people who lived in it, I should work on protecting the land that we reside on. At the time I didn’t understand what she meant, but I took her advice and moved to San Diego to study environmental systems. 

During my first year, I did not resonate with the classes I was taking or my peers around me. My classes talked about the environment in a scientific way, one which saw humans as separate from nature. I thought about changing my major and trying to pursue a different career; however, that summer I was accepted to be part of the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program at Northern Arizona University. During my time with DDCSP, we went on many outdoor excursions around the Colorado Plateau. It was the first time I ever “recreated” outdoors or even put on hiking shoes. I was blown away by the beauty of all the places we went to, like the Grand Canyon and Bears Ears National Monument. It was the first time I truly felt immersed in the nature around me. Even so, the most impactful part of the summer was learning the various ways that the guest speakers felt connected to the natural world, and how they saw themselves as part of nature rather than separate from it. Each guest speaker would talk about their experience with the environment and how their fondest memories were in places like the ones we were exploring. Their memories and experiences are what fueled their desire to come together to protect their homes. I wanted to feel that way too, not only about the places I was discovering but also about my home country. I wanted to feel this connection to my environment and have the same passion and drive as the individuals I met. I also realized that sharing our experiences and stories is as powerful as creating our own. The narrative that individuals provide serve as learning tools by giving us an insight to places and feeling we might not have had the chance to explore ourselves.  

When I came back to campus the following year, I joined our school outdoor program and became a wilderness guide to take students on trips to participate in different outdoor activities such as kayaking and hiking in the Southern California region. I became a guide because I wanted to strengthen my relationship with the nature surrounding me and also help other people develop that same connection and feeling of stewardship that was building in me. As I engaged with the outdoors and the community that surrounds it, I slowly began to gain the sense of self and belonging that I lost when I moved to the U.S. I began to feel part of a community of like-minded individuals and I began to understand my surroundings in much more depth. I finally understood the importance of nature not only as a concept, but as an essential part of our human existence and wellbeing. 

The rest of my career thus has been to pursue a deeper understanding of the connection we have to the land. I got the opportunity to work in St. Paul Island in Alaska, where I worked on a capstone project to understand the non-bio-physical benefits of consuming traditional food. During my time there, I saw how close-knit the community was, and how the foundation for such was their relationship with the land and the animals that inhabited that place. For them, conservation and legislation not only impacted their environment and their ability to engage with it, but also their mental and physical wellbeing.  

As more time passed, I began to understand what my mother meant when I was in high school. Conservation of the natural world around us is the foundation for the well-being of all humans on this planet. The sense of belonging and the connection we have as individuals to the land is what makes human existence real and meaningful.  

For this reason, it is important to be actively involved in our local and state politics to push for the conservation and future of our natural surroundings, especially with the increasing pressure of climate change. It is crucial to uplift our voices, highlighting BIPOC voices that have been historically suppressed in the conservation movement, in order to push for this change so our future generations can continue to live healthy lives and continue to find a sense of belonging in the world.   

Laura Torres is HECHO’s Fall/ Winter Intern for 2021. Read more about Laura by clicking here.