Energy & Place
The main purpose of this project was to educate us on the environment and to be able to determine was a sense of place was and how we might find ours. The main part was the essay that everyone had written, where we were to figure out what our sense of place was, and then write a story about it, be it fictional, non-fiction, or maybe even a guide on how to figure out what your own place is. Prior to starting this project, our class had done several activities regarding energy and how energy production can affect an environment, as well as finding out what different environmental ethics were and which aligned to ourselves the most.
When we first started this project, I was really skeptical about the whole idea of place, and kinda thought it was silly, but as we progressed throughout it, I started to realize that it is actually a very cool concept that's completely relevant to how some people choose to live their lives. I never thought that I had a place, and I never thought it would've been what it turned out be. Overall, I thought that this was a great learning experience.
I think that I am most proud of my essay. I had chose to write about an ancient forest that replaced the ocean, and how a boy and his friends went on a dark adventure within. I told the tale from the perspective of the young boy thinking back on it and recalling what had happened within, when he finds himself wanting to go back despite what happened. I had a really great time writing this story and thought it was a really fun experience to be able to write this.
A Sea of Trees
Ethan Lotfinia
Abstract
Everyone has a sense of place - it doesn't really matter what it is though. In fact, it doesn't even have to be a place, it could be an object for all the idea cares for. One such simple example of place for someone could be Earth. Yes, just Earth, as if being on any other planet but Earth would give an incredible feeling of uneasiness or that something just isn’t right, which it wouldn’t considering they’re somehow on another planet. A more complex example could be that feeling of uneasiness as stated above. To say that some people can find comfort in that feeling, although I have no clue how that could be done. My place is a more fictional place, rather than somewhere I could actually visit, but it has the potential to actually become a reality, kinda. It's someplace that I'd more likely find myself trying to paint a picture of, and while it's not my own idea, I read a short story (with doodles) about it and almost immediately became infatuated with this place. “I was never afraid while in there, as I recall, none of us were. This place was peaceful, really”.
I think that my environmental ethic is more so oriented towards conservationism. As much as I would like a place like this to exist, I think it’d be better if it stayed fictional. I say this because my place is a forest, and with the way that it is, people would most likely cut it down so fast with all the trees available that no one would actually be able to take in its glory.
*****
It had started out as a dare - just for me only - while my friends were planning to watch from the edge of the area, but I guess this place had piqued everyone's curiosity. Caution signs and barbed wire warned us to keep out, although as far as I can remember, not one of us paid any mind to them. Ahead massive trees towered over our small selves, calling us towards the dark forest. Ominous sounds creaked out of the woods, coming from creatures unknown.
We don’t have oceans anymore. Emphasis on anymore, because they were overgrown. I’m not sure how, but at some point along the line of Earth’s long history, people say, enormous seeds started falling from the sky one day, like rain. It had apparently lasted for at least a month straight, non-stop, all over the world. By the time it had stopped, everything was in ruin from the size and sheer force of the seed’s impact, and it was reported that the sea level was becoming lower and lower by the day. No one knew why, but for some reason no one bothered to find out, until at some point people started to notice the tops of what looked like peaks emerging from beneath the sea. They grew higher and higher as the sea receded, taking the form of trees. We’re still not sure what they are, really. They share most of the properties of any normal tree, they emit oxygen, take in CO2, anything a normal tree does, really, but you can’t cut them down, they don’t burn, and they don’t seem to stop growing.
How we ended up in this quarantine zone is still beyond me, but that didn’t stop us from going in. “Curiosity killed the cat”, they say, or in this case “cats”. I still regret saying that I never turned down a bet. If it weren’t for that dumb statement, we’d all still be here, probably.
While I’m not sure that we were the first ones to go in, I think I can say with certainty that I was the first to actually come out.
Inside the forest was dark and murky, and smelled of rot. On the outside the sun was shining bright, but any trace of light was quickly replaced with shadows the deeper we went in. I say shadows, but after a short while we noticed that occasionally, if we were quick enough to look, they would move. Not just sway because of a draft or something, but actually dart between the trees. This place was weird. Nothing was like it was supposed to be. At least I didn’t think so, and it seemed everything was several times larger than it would normally be, even the animals, and the deeper we went in, the larger everything became. It kinda reminded me of a place I heard about - the name was really weird but it was in history books and whatnot - Charitable or something. Anyways, it was described that life there grew rapidly and much larger than normal, and people who were affected reported deformities and sickness in children, if they weren’t killed by the radiation from the nuclear meltdown. This forest seemed like it was showing similar signs of radiation in the area, but there wasn’t any, and I think I have an idea as to why that is. It’s because this forest has been left to grow and flourish, and as a result, has come alive, growing, feeding off of what is left of the ocean.
We wandered around for what seemed like hours but it looked like the sun was still overhead; at least there were slight glimpses of light from above, but honestly, that could have been anything. Low growls kept erupting from the darkness that surrounded us, but we pressed forward, not even willingly anymore, like something was drawing us to it. Every once in a while we’d come across some form of animal, although they were more often than not at least 3 times bigger than they should be. Like the deer - the deer were like giants, at least 30 feet tall, and they didn’t run when they saw us (luckily) but they would just watch as we slowly backed away.
I was never afraid while in there, as I recall, none of us were. This place was peaceful, really, aside from the “shadows” leaping about. They were much easier to spot now, as if they’d stopped caring about any harm we may pose, not that we would, but would watch from around us with what felt like could be curiosity.
That’s when we realized it, though too late to do anything, that we were missing a member of our group. That the shadows weren’t following us out of curiosity, but instead out of hatred. Once we’d noticed, everything went sour. Panic ensued and we found ourselves running in all directions. That’s when they actually started chasing us, almost as if to drive us away from something. Out of their forest.
I had no no sense of direction or any idea where I was going but I knew I just had to keep running. My friends were missing but that was just an afterthought at this point.
“Keep running, keep running.” I thought. I could hear them flying through the trees and along the ground after me, coupled with a blood curdling scream that could have only come from a child. I took the chance to glance back over my shoulder and noticed that they weren’t even shadows at all. They had arms and legs, and what I could only assume were eyes, glowing in the dark of the forest. That’s what the light was before, not sun, like we’d thought - like I’d thought.
I kept running as fast as I could away from whatever was chasing me. Ahead I thought I saw sunlight and hoped I wasn’t just seeing things from being light headed. I closed my eyes and ran with all I had left - and came flying out head first into an open field.
*****
I can’t get the feeling out of my head that that place is calling me back to it. It was nice there, and I can’t honestly say that I don’t want to go back, but I know what awaits within. The atmosphere there was just so still. I can remember almost everything clearly, up until we had to run anyways. There was green everywhere, and water streaming down the slope of the ocean floor. Life was thriving all over, probably due to no human interference because everyone was afraid of this place. While thinking about how amazing it was there, I realized that I had gotten quite lost in thought, and was absentmindedly packing up a backpack with camping gear.
There wasn't really any reason to not got back there, and I really wanted to. Everything that I might need is in the backpack that I just filled up, and I don't really feel like getting it all back out and putting it away.
I kept going back to the idea of going out there, but couldn't actually bring myself to get up and go. It was kind of spontaneous and really reckless, but the thought wouldn't go away.
“DAMN IT!”, I stood up and yelled, grabbed my pack and went sprinting out of the door.
I’ll be back.
When we first started this project, I was really skeptical about the whole idea of place, and kinda thought it was silly, but as we progressed throughout it, I started to realize that it is actually a very cool concept that's completely relevant to how some people choose to live their lives. I never thought that I had a place, and I never thought it would've been what it turned out be. Overall, I thought that this was a great learning experience.
I think that I am most proud of my essay. I had chose to write about an ancient forest that replaced the ocean, and how a boy and his friends went on a dark adventure within. I told the tale from the perspective of the young boy thinking back on it and recalling what had happened within, when he finds himself wanting to go back despite what happened. I had a really great time writing this story and thought it was a really fun experience to be able to write this.
A Sea of Trees
Ethan Lotfinia
Abstract
Everyone has a sense of place - it doesn't really matter what it is though. In fact, it doesn't even have to be a place, it could be an object for all the idea cares for. One such simple example of place for someone could be Earth. Yes, just Earth, as if being on any other planet but Earth would give an incredible feeling of uneasiness or that something just isn’t right, which it wouldn’t considering they’re somehow on another planet. A more complex example could be that feeling of uneasiness as stated above. To say that some people can find comfort in that feeling, although I have no clue how that could be done. My place is a more fictional place, rather than somewhere I could actually visit, but it has the potential to actually become a reality, kinda. It's someplace that I'd more likely find myself trying to paint a picture of, and while it's not my own idea, I read a short story (with doodles) about it and almost immediately became infatuated with this place. “I was never afraid while in there, as I recall, none of us were. This place was peaceful, really”.
I think that my environmental ethic is more so oriented towards conservationism. As much as I would like a place like this to exist, I think it’d be better if it stayed fictional. I say this because my place is a forest, and with the way that it is, people would most likely cut it down so fast with all the trees available that no one would actually be able to take in its glory.
*****
It had started out as a dare - just for me only - while my friends were planning to watch from the edge of the area, but I guess this place had piqued everyone's curiosity. Caution signs and barbed wire warned us to keep out, although as far as I can remember, not one of us paid any mind to them. Ahead massive trees towered over our small selves, calling us towards the dark forest. Ominous sounds creaked out of the woods, coming from creatures unknown.
We don’t have oceans anymore. Emphasis on anymore, because they were overgrown. I’m not sure how, but at some point along the line of Earth’s long history, people say, enormous seeds started falling from the sky one day, like rain. It had apparently lasted for at least a month straight, non-stop, all over the world. By the time it had stopped, everything was in ruin from the size and sheer force of the seed’s impact, and it was reported that the sea level was becoming lower and lower by the day. No one knew why, but for some reason no one bothered to find out, until at some point people started to notice the tops of what looked like peaks emerging from beneath the sea. They grew higher and higher as the sea receded, taking the form of trees. We’re still not sure what they are, really. They share most of the properties of any normal tree, they emit oxygen, take in CO2, anything a normal tree does, really, but you can’t cut them down, they don’t burn, and they don’t seem to stop growing.
How we ended up in this quarantine zone is still beyond me, but that didn’t stop us from going in. “Curiosity killed the cat”, they say, or in this case “cats”. I still regret saying that I never turned down a bet. If it weren’t for that dumb statement, we’d all still be here, probably.
While I’m not sure that we were the first ones to go in, I think I can say with certainty that I was the first to actually come out.
Inside the forest was dark and murky, and smelled of rot. On the outside the sun was shining bright, but any trace of light was quickly replaced with shadows the deeper we went in. I say shadows, but after a short while we noticed that occasionally, if we were quick enough to look, they would move. Not just sway because of a draft or something, but actually dart between the trees. This place was weird. Nothing was like it was supposed to be. At least I didn’t think so, and it seemed everything was several times larger than it would normally be, even the animals, and the deeper we went in, the larger everything became. It kinda reminded me of a place I heard about - the name was really weird but it was in history books and whatnot - Charitable or something. Anyways, it was described that life there grew rapidly and much larger than normal, and people who were affected reported deformities and sickness in children, if they weren’t killed by the radiation from the nuclear meltdown. This forest seemed like it was showing similar signs of radiation in the area, but there wasn’t any, and I think I have an idea as to why that is. It’s because this forest has been left to grow and flourish, and as a result, has come alive, growing, feeding off of what is left of the ocean.
We wandered around for what seemed like hours but it looked like the sun was still overhead; at least there were slight glimpses of light from above, but honestly, that could have been anything. Low growls kept erupting from the darkness that surrounded us, but we pressed forward, not even willingly anymore, like something was drawing us to it. Every once in a while we’d come across some form of animal, although they were more often than not at least 3 times bigger than they should be. Like the deer - the deer were like giants, at least 30 feet tall, and they didn’t run when they saw us (luckily) but they would just watch as we slowly backed away.
I was never afraid while in there, as I recall, none of us were. This place was peaceful, really, aside from the “shadows” leaping about. They were much easier to spot now, as if they’d stopped caring about any harm we may pose, not that we would, but would watch from around us with what felt like could be curiosity.
That’s when we realized it, though too late to do anything, that we were missing a member of our group. That the shadows weren’t following us out of curiosity, but instead out of hatred. Once we’d noticed, everything went sour. Panic ensued and we found ourselves running in all directions. That’s when they actually started chasing us, almost as if to drive us away from something. Out of their forest.
I had no no sense of direction or any idea where I was going but I knew I just had to keep running. My friends were missing but that was just an afterthought at this point.
“Keep running, keep running.” I thought. I could hear them flying through the trees and along the ground after me, coupled with a blood curdling scream that could have only come from a child. I took the chance to glance back over my shoulder and noticed that they weren’t even shadows at all. They had arms and legs, and what I could only assume were eyes, glowing in the dark of the forest. That’s what the light was before, not sun, like we’d thought - like I’d thought.
I kept running as fast as I could away from whatever was chasing me. Ahead I thought I saw sunlight and hoped I wasn’t just seeing things from being light headed. I closed my eyes and ran with all I had left - and came flying out head first into an open field.
*****
I can’t get the feeling out of my head that that place is calling me back to it. It was nice there, and I can’t honestly say that I don’t want to go back, but I know what awaits within. The atmosphere there was just so still. I can remember almost everything clearly, up until we had to run anyways. There was green everywhere, and water streaming down the slope of the ocean floor. Life was thriving all over, probably due to no human interference because everyone was afraid of this place. While thinking about how amazing it was there, I realized that I had gotten quite lost in thought, and was absentmindedly packing up a backpack with camping gear.
There wasn't really any reason to not got back there, and I really wanted to. Everything that I might need is in the backpack that I just filled up, and I don't really feel like getting it all back out and putting it away.
I kept going back to the idea of going out there, but couldn't actually bring myself to get up and go. It was kind of spontaneous and really reckless, but the thought wouldn't go away.
“DAMN IT!”, I stood up and yelled, grabbed my pack and went sprinting out of the door.
I’ll be back.