Title: Don t Touch It, Word Count: 634

and other simple, nature-friendly advice

Summary: Each summer, I visit the Chequamagon National Forest in Wisconsin. An amazingly beautiful and lush forest, this place is my sanctuary. I stay at a low-key resor t, in a cabin overlooking Lake Namekagon. It s a breath of fresh air - quite liter ally - to spend two weeks each year at this place... Keywords: environment,green,plants,garden,global warming,pollution,harmful,gree house gass es,world,planet,family Article Body: Each summer, I visit the Chequamagon National Forest in Wisconsin. An amazingly beautiful and lush forest, this place is my sanctuary. I stay at a low-key resor t, in a cabin overlooking Lake Namekagon. It s a breath of fresh air - quite liter ally - to spend two weeks each year at this place, away from bustling streets an d busy people. It s like a different world. Or, at least, it was. I had a very different experience this past July. Upon ent ering our cabin, my fiance and I were greeted by a large television, equipped wi th Direct TV. Don t get me wrong: I m a TV-lover, through and through. There was, ho wever, something strange about having to look around the television to see the l ake. We overlooked this; after all, we don t own the cabin. Some resort-goers might cra ve 500 channels before they crave hiking and fishing. Convinced that the TV (bot h the sight of it and the temptation to watch it) would put a damper on things, we went out on the water. As I started the old, rented pontoon boat, something occured to me. We were no b etter than the TLC, MTV, and MSNBC addicts. Yes, our boat was used for the enjoy ment of the outdoors; however, it left a muddy, green wake behind it. Yes, we ca me to the resort to get away from everyday conveniences and to surround ourselve s with nature, but we were staying in a cabin - not a tent or a sleeping bag. We cooked our breakfast every morning on a fairly modern stove, we drank coffee ma de in a Bunn coffeemaker, and we turned on the electric heat if the cabin got to o cold. It turns out we weren t roughing it; we were faking it. Since this realization, I ve been troubled. I don t understand where our appreciatio n for nature went. I don t understand how misguided travelers - myself included consider themselves to be experiencing nature, when really all we re doing is glan cing at it between commercials. Granted, everyone experiences nature in a differ ent way. For some, glancing at it through a window - or on a TV screen - might b e enough. I m concerned, though, that by accepting this as a legitimate way to experience na ture, we are missing something. Or, perhaps, we are missing everything. On a bas ic level, there is something satisfying about feeling a different kind of air on your skin, and about feeling the crunch of leaves and dirt beneath your feet. W here city lights don t corrupt the night sky, we can see stars in a new way, and t he level of darkness is foreign and exciting. There more to this simple human/nature combination than deep satisfaction, thoug

h. There is a danger present in the ways we currently explore nature. It is comm on for travelers to hop on boats, jetskis, waverunners, or ATVs to travel throug h lakes and forests. In these cases, vacationgoers are experiencing nature - whi le leaving a trail of pollution behind. And what about our cabin? Built in the middle of the forest, trees had to be rem oved in order for the resort to exist. There is an inherent disconnect, here: th e resort was designed to house nature-loving travelers who want to see the fores t s natural beauty, and yet in order for the resort to exist, some of the forest h ad to be cut down. Instead of experiencing untouched and unscathed nature, vacat ioners are experiencing a forest marred by human interference. This is the way with us. We, whether intentionally or accidentally, can t help but tinker with nature in its natural forms. Even when we attempt to truly experien ce it, we are also hindering it. So, we must consider some simple pieces of advi ce if we wish....(read the full article at the link below)