Imagine being on top of a mountain.  The air cool, the landscape below lush with alpine trees, wolves prowling in the distance for their next prey.  A light snowfall begins to lightly dust the rocky terrain around you, the world seems limitless.  The scene changes rapidly.  You’re standing on the roof of a nuclear power plant, smoke billows from the pillars above you, dissipating into the atmosphere.  Rusting metal coats the earth like an armor of shame, cities stained black, gas masks are advised.

    What if you’re we’re a wolf, would adapt to the lifestyle the latter scenery has to offer?   Of course not!  How do you survive?  How do you grow?  In our everyday lives we don’t see how our impact affects not just ourselves but the natural order of the earth around us. Are we meant to live life in a concrete jungle in replace of a natural one?  The debate continues on, but maybe we should take a look outside.

    Threats of pollution loom in the distance, yet within the comfortable limits of our cities, the reflection off the glass blinds us from the truth.  Our bright lights and flashing signs may attract our eyes, but disrupts the circadian rhythms of not only animals, but humans as well, and brings the world out of balance.  Ecosystems are being tainted by the litter we generate excessively in our day to day lives.  Toxic chemicals are being found deep within forest, and in the blood of arctic animals, due to this massive outpour of garbage.  It’s much easier for us to throw something away, because we know next week, it’ll be taken out of sight, therefore out of mind.  But we don’t live where Philippine coastlines are caked so thickly in what we waste, that locals struggle to reach their homes from the water.  Clean waters being polluted by toxic chemicals spread like a disease, carried across the land, and by the birds in the sky.  It’s unavoidable, but it’s not an end. 

    The simple choices we make everyday define not only our own lives, but the lives of everyone around us. Each year, Americans throw away 100 billion plastic bags, and only about 0.6 are recycled.  Every step you take toward helping your environment, is one more advancement to the betterment of our future, even if it means bringing bags to the grocery store.  Being a part of the beautiful world you live in is a blessing onto itself, and it’s not just a symbiotic relationship you gain with your environment, but peace you gain yourself. Positive change brings back positive reaction, and if everyone believes in how important their role is in the world, a domino effect will begin.  And slowly we are becoming aware of the importance of what we do, because people do want to learn how to DIY, and garden on their own.  There are countless young adults and adults alike wanting to build ‘Tiny Houses’, and travel back out to nature, so we can bring it back in.  We’re not there yet, but we’re getting there, we’re beginning again.

So, are you ready with your climbing gear?