Reflections on Literature, Sustainability, and the Power of Storytelling

I sit here now in one of my favorite positions: tucked away at the corner of the couch, next to the window, a steamy cup of tea for company, and my computer on my lap. A blank page open. Endless possibilities for my imagination to soar. All is quiet and still, but for the humming of my thoughts and my tapping at the keyboard. In my favorite of his essays, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote “I am not solitary while I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars,” and I quite agree with him.

I’ve heard many times that being outdoors helps to clear your mind and sharpen your focus, optimal circumstances for writing, so whenever I have any free time, I go on walks around my neighborhood. These walks provide much scope for the imagination, and at the same time, make me feel more grounded. I look around at the columns of trees, covered in intricate marks of wisdom, as they frame my path. The blue sky peers through the autumnal tapestry of leaves that completely engulf me into a land that feels so distant from our shiny, virtual world we have come to rely so much upon. These walks allow me to leave behind the stresses and worries of that world and focus on what is right in front of me: our beautiful earth. To breathe with our breathing planet.

So, recently, I have decided to appoint myself as a modern day Transcendentalist. I feel a connection to nature that I have only found paralleled in the works of greats like Emerson and Thoreau, especially in my favorite piece, Nature by Emerson. Transcendentalists reflected about themselves as ones with the earth, not the almighty human rulers of it. While I cannot deny that the world is very different from what it was almost two centuries ago as Transcendentalism first took root, I believe the principles of their craft may still apply to modern issues.

This year, I am taking AP Environmental Science, a class whose impact on me I could not have predicted when I registered. Although I had heard about problems like global warming and overpopulation, this course has opened my eyes to the true urgency and utmost importance of environmental sustainability and conservation. It has also helped me finally grasp the size of the human ecological footprint, and I now realize that our place in our planet can no longer be romanticized as it was in the classic transcendental essays.

In my experience, literature creates emotional connections that help us gain a deeper curiosity for learning about the world around us. As a Transcendentalist, I want to meld my love for stories and my interest in the environment. I want to continue exploring both disciplines and write imaginative and philosophical pieces that will connect our human emotional needs to nature, as the great Transcendentalists did. But with a modern lens, I want to highlight the critical necessity of the sustainability movement and the steps we can take as a society to make a positive change. I want to strengthen our connection with our breathing planet.

Now, when trying to explain my reliance on my own imagination, I turn to another philosopher. Socrates once said that “wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”  I believe we are here to seek knowledge, to hang onto our curiosities and never let go, and to evolve our thoughts along with society. In our ever more complicated world, we must be creative in the ways we approach problems. And if we ever have trouble finding an answer, we must look to the stars.