TLC
An hour of media
“And if it’s Sunday, it’s Meet the Press.” This has become a Sunday tradition for my family. Every Sunday around noon my dad always turns on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd. Even when I’m not at home I tune in online in my dorm. There’s something comforting about watching this show. Even if the world is falling apart, if Meet the Press is on and making sense of the news from that week, then somehow everything feels like it’s being worked out. I chalk this up to hearing from professionals in the fields being discussed. The show makes me feel like there are educated people and groups working on pressing issues rather than ignoring them like most politicians seem to. I also enjoy listening to the discourse and discussions while reading up on headlines I care about. I usually have to look up environmental updates myself since the environment is a topic even Meet the Press doesn’t cover as often as I would like. This Sunday, I’m scrolling through my Twitter feed reading tweets from some marine biologists I follow about coral recovery programs in Indonesia. Chuck Todd starts off with, “This Sunday: abortion backlash… Republican concerns grow as Democrats show election strength after the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion…” [Clips of republican senators and President Biden are played between announcements of today’s topics.] “Documents found at Mar-a-Lago… Trump team attempted to obstruct justice… Also, war in Ukraine… [clip from Vitali Klitschko plays] … and return to the Moon… conversation with NASA chief Bill Nelson about tomorrow’s unmanned Artemis I mission and a new era of U.S. space exploration…” Announcer: “From NBC News in Washington, the longest running show in television history. This is Meet the Press with Chuck Todd.” On Twitter: Article on scientists recording unusual fish sounds in recovered reefs in Indonesia, sign of ecological recovery. Special guest, Kimberly Atkins Stohr, senior opinion writer for The Boston Globe: “Republicans are realizing that they are not doctors. They are not physicians. And they didn’t realize the consequences of what they were supporting…” On Twitter: Article with updates on coral restoration project in Indonesia. Chuck Todd: “We’re going to turn to what we learned from Friday’s release of the Mar-a-Lago affidavit.” On Twitter: Article on Great Barrier reef recovery being slow after 2020 mass bleaching event. Special guest, Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill): “I think you look into the intentionality of that… He claimed he either didn’t have them… And we know he didn’t. There is intentionality there.” On Twitter: Article on kelp forests and climate change’s negative impact on their ability to trap carbon. On Twitter: Article on extremely Dangerous Heat events set to become common. Special guest, Amna Nawaz, PBS NewsHour Chief correspondent: “It does not bring down the soaring cost of college… But it will make a difference in millions of Americans’ lives… The question is does it make a difference in the longer term and does it bring them out to vote.” On Twitter: Coral bleaching continues as ocean temperatures spike. On Twitter: Article on returning to the Moon. On Sundays, I catch up with the news cycle and the pressing environmental issues. My media consumption spikes on these days. I like using my Sundays to update myself and reflect on what is going on in the world, but I’m always left with a feeling that I still am not up to date on the pressing issues. I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the problems of the world and binging media in this way can feel stressful. That’s why I rely on my trusted news sources like Meet the Press, CNN, and NBC to keep myself updated when I feel like I can emotionally handle it. Being able to take my mind off these issues throughout the week and then catching up in one day seems to help.
An hour in nature
I live thirty minutes from Shenandoah, and I grew up hiking the trails in Shenandoah National Park. I wanted to go hiking on one of those trails for this assignment. Unfortunately, I didn’t recover in time to be able to go on a real hike and I didn’t have access to a car. Fortunately, I live pretty far into the forest that surrounds Shenandoah, so if you know the right walking trail then you can have some of the experience of being in the park without actually going there. I ended up choosing a trail that I used to explore as a kid. Something about reconnecting with nature where I first learned to love it felt poetic. The walking trail I chose is a deer trail that naturally stays partially clear enough to walk. I ended up going on a rainy day, but personally I feel that makes walks and hikes even more enjoyable. The rain brings out all sorts of interesting things that are easy to miss. It’s also easy to miss subtle changes in the forest if you familiar with the area. The bird songs are different. Snails and frogs that would normally hide away on a hot summer day are out in abundance. The forest seems to become more alive in the rain. Even the colors on the leaves seem to pop as soft light filters down from the overcast sky. I took the deer trail until it became almost impassible with encroaching brush and thorny vines. I back tracked some along the trail where there’s an off-shoot path that heads up a large hill. I took the path up to a small clearing where you can see the valley between us and the Blue Ridge. At this point, I felt myself hitting my limit because of Covid and couldn’t justify going any further. It was disheartening to hit my limit so soon. I’ve hiked entire canyon rim trails (>11 miles) while sick before. I’m fully vaccinated so I couldn’t believe Covid was able to stop me from going any further along this simple trail. However, I’m smart enough to not push myself when walking/hiking alone so this was as far as I went. The small clearing was made up of a slightly open area covered in tall grass and large boulders protruding from the side of the hill. I climbed up on a rockface near to the natural clearing in the trees, pulled my knees up to my chest, and sat there for a while. The rain had lightened up and the visibility had improved just enough to see a decent view across the valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains had become fully visible again. Large, rolling clouds completely filled the sky and a fine, light haze from the rain hung in the air. I never think to take pictures of these things. Usually, the pictures turn out nothing like the actual experience of seeing those views firsthand. I find it best to just sit and take in the view. I reflected on all the little things I noticed on my walk, like the deer tracks I saw, the frogs, the snails, the little brooks, the flowers, the interesting rock faces, the way everything changes in the rain, and the simple beauty of being one of the few people to see those things that day. I wish I had been well enough to take a hike. Blackwell falls are a beautiful hike in the rain, especially in an Autumn rain. The rain is such a lovely, beautiful thing and I find it sad that so many people never go hiking in the rain. Eventually, I tore myself away from my little viewing spot and headed back.
Reflection
My day-to-day routine is so fast paced that I barely get to spend time outdoors anymore. Sometimes I can get so caught up in current events, media access, my course assignments, and studying that I forget to take time to appreciate the natural environment. I’m an avid hiker when I have the time to go on hikes. Hiking and spending time in nature feels rejuvenating. There was a huge difference in how I felt after spending an hour catching up on the news and an hour enjoying a walk through the woods. After my time catching up on the news cycle and current events, I felt stressed. Any binge media consumption like that leaves me feeling stressed and exhausted. It’s good to stay informed but even when I’m catching up for the week I might need to pace my media consumption a little better. If I spent most of my days like this, I would probably have an extremely stress filled routine. When people consume media like this they can accidentally fill their life with stress and still be uninformed on important topics that don’t receive as much media coverage. To access all those environmental articles I had to search for specific updates on news articles. I had to know what to look for. The average person has very little access to updates on these topics because of the lack of media coverage and not knowing what to look for. Spending more time searching for this information each week would definitely increase the stress in my life. After spending an hour in nature I felt like I was able to reconnect with my passion for the environment. I’m extremely passionate about environmental conservation and protection. I first found a love for nature while hiking as a kid. I feel that same passion any time I spend out in nature. However, I hear about a similar experience from people who aren’t studying environmental science. In every National Park I’ve been too, most people there are incredibly respectful of nature and the environment and these people come from all walks of like. I feel that anyone can appreciate nature and benefit from it. When reflecting on my hour walking in nature I realized there is an inherent intrinsic value to preserving parts of the natural environment that everyone can experience and realize by being surrounded by nature. I think that it is one of the most natural things for us to appreciate the environment when we can connect to it in this way. It makes me wonder if environmental issues would be much more prominent in the media if everyone had access to nature in a way that allowed them to make valuable connections with the natural world.
References
Meet the Press—August 28, 2022. (2022, August 28). NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-august-28-2022-n1298390