The Importance of Smelling Roses

Thoughts on why it's important to enjoy existing beauty and nature in the world, even while acknowledging that serious environmental threats loom.

Read enough about the environment, pollution, industrial farming, resource depletion, climate change and other challenges facing nature, and it's easy to start feeling hopeless and helpless. After all, how can one person choosing local produce, sustainable woods and solar power make a meaningful dent in a world of six billion people, a few of whom wield much greater control and possess billions and many more of whom scrape by, barely hanging on day after day, hoping only to create a better future for their children?

Yes, subscribe to enough news services or peruse enough headlines, and it's understandable how one might start to despair. But don't let yourself fall into that state. The world still offers wonders and beauty galore, and every effort you make to help preserve those is a reason for optimism rather than gloom.

Still, you can tell yourself that over and over again, but self-talk doesn't always cut it. So if you find yourself slipping into a mood where talk alone can't snap you back into hopefulness, get out into nature. There is no better healer for the spirit.

Whether you find a quiet spot in a local forest preserve to listen to and watch the bluejays and squirrels, take a long stroll along an unpopulated stretch of shoreline or even sit peacefully in a chair overlooking your backyard, you'll discover that taking a brief break to commune with nature might be the very cure for your dark mood. Better yet, you might realize that you've just experienced a first-hand reminder for why living green and sustainably is so important, so worthwhile: it's for preserving the natural world that nurtures and renews us all.