First Day of Class

        After my first Treks & Texts class, I walked over to Sid Rich where my next class was. On my walks between classes, I am usually texting or calling someone on my phone. During this walk, I put my phone in my bag so that I would be able to take in nature and my surroundings. On this quick walk, I observed several things. Although it had warmed up from earlier in the day, I was still cold, and the wind hitting my face did not help. When I heard the wind rustling through the trees, it caused me to look more closely at all the plants and flowers around campus. Although it was the middle of January, most of the flowers were blooming and beautiful. The gloomy, cloudy sky and the small number of people walking around created a calm and quiet atmosphere.

        Nevertheless, that serenity was quickly interrupted by cars honking and racing by on University Drive. All of this noise disrupting the momentary peacefulness reminded me of my Ecology class, where I learned that noise and light pollution are major environmental issues harming animals. Since TCU is in the middle of a big city, there are not many wild animals on campus like there used to be before development, and it is hard to prevent these environmental issues from affecting animals in and around campus.

        Furthermore, it is sad that rural and suburban areas are becoming more and more urbanized, disrupting and displacing wildlife. This made me think about deer whose habitats have been replaced by neighborhoods. Seeing deer in backyards highlights how noise and light pollution affect wildlife that are forced to live near human civilization. Seeing deer in backyards highlights how noise and light pollution affect wildlife forced to live alongside human civilization.