Happy 2020! It’s a brand new year, a brand new decade. Full of promise, hope, anticipation, perhaps a little anxiety, or a whole lot of ambivalence. Maybe you’ve made some new year/new decade resolutions. Maybe you’re still looking for inspiration. Well, you’re in luck: read on!
The suggestions below are based around the goals of getting yourself more into the outdoors (literally and figuratively!) and being a more mindful steward of the natural world around you. Pick one, pick multiple, or let your imagination go crazy and do something more!
5 great ways to be more nature-minded this year
Now here’s a Wisconsin sit-spot! Yours doesn’t have to be so established or picturesque, however. Just choose a spot that makes you smile. Photo by Brenna Marsicek
1. Sit spots: find a spot in nature that you can visit regularly. It could be a chair in your backyard, your walk to work, or a natural area near you. Each time you visit this spot, try to focus carefully on what you see, hear, and feel. Take note of what is different from the last time you were there. Let go of the rest of your life (stress, to-do lists, tension) for a few minutes. Set goals for visiting your spot: once a month, every day, or something in between - just create a ritual. Read more about sit spots here.
We often use sit spots in our education programming for a variety of reasons, but most importantly, because it creates time and space for a child to learn to slow down and tune what’s happening around them, outside of their bodies. It’s almost meditative (and the benefits of meditation in children are abundant!).
2.Nature journaling: drawing nature has SO many benefits! It causes you to pause and really absorb the world around you, it forces you to look at things through a different lens, and it helps you to learn new things about your subject. Phenology is tracking the way the earth changes throughout the seasons. Keeping a phenology journal is an amazing way to sink into the year as you progress through it. Try to make one drawing each week of something natural that you find. It should be something representative of what’s going on in nature that week: plant, animal, weather - whatever! It doesn’t matter what the art looks like, as long as you’re growing and learning. And with practice, the art will get better too! Read about phenology journals here.
Over the last couple of years, we have hosted a variety of nature-drawing classes at Madison Audubon. It seems the community’s interest in this activity is boundless! Stay tuned for new Audubon Naturalist Series adult education classes in 2020 to sign up for one.
A phenology sketchbook or journal is a gratifying way to take note of what’s happening around you! Artwork by Carolyn Byers
3. Earth-friendly goals: Pick one thing that you could change about your life that would benefit the earth. Maybe you could bike to work more, or drink bird-friendly coffee. Maybe cutting back on plastic or try to eat more locally excites you. Remember, you don’t have to be perfect, and you don’t have to change everything immediately. But if you pick one thing to change this year, and build a healthy lasting habit, you can focus on another area next year. Lasting, lifelong changes will make a big impact on our earth!
Backyard composting is great for the planet, with great benefits to you (no more stinky garbage can! free fertilizer!) MPCA Photos
4. Nature-mentor: Are there people in your life who are interested in nature, but don’t know where to start? Maybe they’re a little nervous about snakes, bugs, or tricky terrain. Find those people, and be their nature mentors! If those people are kids, it might be as simple as offering them a ride to a cool place they otherwise wouldn’t have access to. Want to learn more about becoming a nature mentor? Our education department or this website are great places to start.
Two youngsters goof off in the woods. Madison Audubon photo
5. Nature defender: Get involved & get active! Join clean-ups, volunteer at your favorite natural area, dive into citizen science! Check out some ways you can get involved at Madison Audubon.
There are so many ways you can bring nature into the line of vision this year. We’d love to hear from you — what are your plans, what are your favorite ways to keep nature on the brain? Whatever they are, we hope they lead to a meaningful, wonderful 2020!
Written by Carolyn Byers, Madison Audubon education director, and Brenna Marsicek, Madison Audubon communications director
Cover photo by Jeff McDonald
