WRITING NATURE: 
DISCOURSES OF ECOLOGY

In writing this Walking Meditation piece, my writing helped me to re-envision my home during winter. It made me recall all the details I usually overlooked in thinking about the snowfall, such as the blackbird, the jogger, and the snow's relationship with our destruction of nature. I would like my essay to make the reader think about humankind's effects on nature, be it pollution from cars, killing species, etc. The pristine snowfall is contrasted with my first "scarring" of that surface with the snow shovel. This is analogous to our intrusion on nature's rainforests, waterways, and so on. I hope that by reading this essay, the reader will think about our effects and see that as much as we would like to have all of our conveniences, they do come at a price&emdash;both short-term and long-term.

I organized the essay in basically a chronological fashion, starting from the top of the driveway, and closing the essay after finishing the shoveling. Throughout, I infused various elements that would make the reader think&emdash;in the paper, I am prompted to think because of certain events. The style is a blend of short and complex sentences. I use the short ones to make a point or simply describe something. The short sentences help to emphasize particular points and add variety.

The mood of the piece is reflective in that I am looking back on a moment and now trying to remember what was happening and what I was thinking. The voice is a personal one&emdash;my own. I am attempting to show my emotions, my thoughts, and what I saw, heard, and felt during the scene. The structure and organization of the essay are important to emphasize different points. The introductory paragraphs place the reader in the environment with all the snow, the winds, and the frigid air around. The next paragraphs give a sense of my shoveling, but at the same time, of the things going on around me.

I think that the description in the beginning to set up the scene is important so that the reader is immediately placed within the context of my essay. The movement of shoveling down the driveway lends itself to the overall movement of the essay from the initial sight of viewing nature unscathed, to seeing the jogger and thinking of nature as a cycle and of our effects on nature. The transition from the reflection of nature due falling snow on my head provides a nice way to incorporate the oak tree in our yard, and also to contrast the winter setting to the summertime birds and the activities I would do&emdash;climb into the tree as my release from the world. When I finally finish the shoveling, I put a city snow plow into the picture as a contrast from the snow shovel--> snow blower --> snow plow. This highlights greater levels of our destruction of nature and makes for a good closing image of the conveniences we enjoy are all at a price.

I think the overall structure and style of the piece is good for this essay because the reader is taken into the writing, and moreover, the images are powerful enough to trigger reader responses and thinking. The mood and voice are appropriate in that the essay is reflective and contemplative as to what we should feel and do for the future. This piece was meant to be both personal to me and also applicable to any reader. I feel that this paper achieves that and more: it draws the reader into my world, makes them think, and should compel them to re-evaluate their actions and how they perceive our daily conveniences.