It's the Time of Year for Getting Outdoors
Soak up some fresh air and improve your health with this one activity
Don’t you simply love the cooler days of fall? The swish of leaves as they shift colors and begin to dry out, in preparation for their winter abscission? The fall is so short. Don’t miss these magical days between the heat of summer and the long bleakness of winter’s chill.
Listen. .
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from
the trees
And fall.
- Adelaide Crapsey
Here at the coast of NC, I’ve been enjoying weather ranging in the 70s to low 80s, during the day and 50s to 60s at night—which may not feel like fall to you but that’s plenty cool enough for me to want to spend a little more time outdoors.
(I won’t mention that my AC is currently whooshing out cool air into my apartment.)
And the few extra pounds I picked up over the summer are inspiring me as well to get back to a walking practice. I can feel my health and comfort devolving from all the sitting I do for my job. Sometimes, it’s hard to turn off the computer, step away from the work and get out there in nature and fresh air, where my body and mind thrive.
In fact, three Saturdays in a row I’ve booked time to go to Holden Beach where I’m told it’s a haven for shellers to find the BEST shells. And three weekends in a row my plans have gotten shoved aside so I could catch up on more writing work that was facing deadlines.
The first Saturday I had planned to go shelling, I got up early, packed lunch, and hand-made a small netted bag for shelling out of an old laundry bag, and went out to the car and found that I had a flat tire. I called emergency roadside services and they sent a tow truck to haul my car over to the tire shop. Then, the tow truck driver proceeded to damage the front and underbelly of my car while loading and unloading my car. Actually ripped the bumper off. So now, I am in a rental car while I wait for the repairs to be done to my car.
I have, once again, marked off this Saturday for shelling. And the rental company says I have unlimited miles on the rental and I can drive it to the beach if I want. Fingers crossed nothing goes wrong this weekend and I can get down to Holden Beach.
Consider this a friendly reminder to take a walk today. If you have the time; walk. If some jerk-wad tow truck driver screws up your car and you’re upset; walk. If you feel stressed or anxious or even jovial and thankful — get outside, while the weather’s nice, and walk.
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
- Robert Frost
I’ve also done a little nature writing lately, which is kind of like getting outdoors, even if it’s done within the confines of the creative writing areas of my brain. It still feels really good to me to immerse my mind in the outdoors, even if my body’s sitting in my office chair.
Recently, Thomas Gaudex (Sribe’s editor-in-chief) reported that a recent piece of mine has gotten the attention of his contact within the WWF. The piece was written in response to Thomas’s poetry writing prompt inspired by the WWF’s Living Planet Report for 2022.
My poem begins by discussing a fact reported in the Living Planet Report:
WWF publication reveals an average decline of 69% in species populations since 1970. While conservation efforts are helping, urgent action is required if we are to reverse nature loss. — HOME | WWF (panda.org)
Here’s the quote I referenced from the report that should stop you in your tracks:
The Living Planet Index (LPI)—which tracks populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians—reveals an average 69% decrease in monitored wildlife populations since 1970. The 2022 LPI analyzed almost 32,000 species populations. It provides the most comprehensive measure of how they are responding to pressures in their environment.
If you care about this big beautiful planet we live on—then that kind of statistic really hurts. I decided to write a poem response to Scribe’s prompt. I spent a few days mulling over it, waiting for inspiration—and when it came, it hit me pretty hard.
I decided to open my poem with something shocking that related directly to this fact—69% decrease in monitored wildlife populations—then continue the metaphor throughout the poem—a strategy that produced a poem that’s impressing readers to read, share, and comment on the piece.
Consider some of what readers are saying about Lest We See:
I hope you’ll do three things today:
Get outside and take a walk. Do it for your mind. Do it for your body.
Think about the impact and relationship you have with this beautiful planet.
Thanks, dear reader, for being a part of my journey as I am a part of yours. Now, let’s celebrate this autumnal season with gratitude and awareness that we are all—you, I, and all the intricacies of this planet— interconnected, and interwoven into an intelligent and wondrous design. Let’s not muck that up.
Christina M. Ward
Freelance writer