Biophilia: We're all connected

Biophilia is the connection between people and life in the natural world. I have been recently reflecting on how my biophilia has grown throughout my life and why I joined the environmental education field. I am lucky enough to have spent much of my childhood outdoors. My siblings and I would spend much of our time in the summer playing in the creek that ran through our backyard, and we spent our weekends camping in our little pop-up camper. After high school, I went to college for an environmental science degree even though I did not really know what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I liked the outdoors and Environmental Science seemed like a good fit. My first semester we had an assignment called the 5 whys. During this activity you write down your major and 5 reasons why you chose your major. I do not remember my exact words, but one of my reasons was to give people the opportunity to enjoy nature the way I did as a child. 

This “why”  led me to Dunes Learning Center. I am now lucky enough to spend my time at work helping kids explore the natural world like I did as a kid. This has been one of the most rewarding things I have done in my life. Just as the kids are improving their biophilia, they are helping improve my biophilia. Something I see everyday like a squirrel or a robin might light up a kid’s eyes, and it helps me appreciate the things I might call common. When watching these animals with kids, I learned so many things about the natural world including the behaviors of these animals I never thought about before. Over my past two years at the Dunes Learning Center, kids have taught me over and over again that just by taking a step back  you can realize that every organism is cool in their own way. So the next time that you go outside, try to appreciate the common things like the kids do. It can teach a lot about nature and yourself!

Alex Butina, Third Year Environmental Education Fellow