Brandon's on Board: Intro by my Personal Environmental History

Hello everyone! My name is Brandon Carter and I have just started a fall internship here at Leave No Trace. Originally from Louisville, KY, I now live in Denver and am a student of environmental science. I wanted to quickly introduce who I am by sharing a bit about environmental ethics and how my own have progressed over the years.



When I started to grow older, recognizing that I was a unique entity functioning as part of a greater whole, I felt as if an intuitive fascination led me down the path of environmental stewardship. Although I have always had a deep curiosity for the physical sciences, a great many influences have also helped mold my perceptions. The pursuit of these interests, in concurrence with the life experience it has brought me, have become the building blocks of my environmental ethic. The general progression of my thoughts on environmental issues may be seen as follows:
ignorance, enlightenment, reverence.

Even today, I feel as if outdoor ethics is a topic that is undervalued in most school systems. In hindsight, it seems I entered high school with very little knowledge of the way the world exists on a scientific level. Although I had a considerable amount of science classes in high school, it is apparent now, that, back then, I had never realized that planet Earth was one giant, majestically elaborate organism. I was always thinking in terms of Humankind vs. Environment. Throughout my upbringing its as if a distorted environmental perception was gradually constructed, in that I always believed Earth was a function of humankind and not vice versa. I thought in terms of I-it as opposed to the I-thou mentality. I was ignorant.

Naivety of an ‘environmental conscious’ traveled with me as I journeyed onward to the University of Kentucky. After taking several critical thinking/writing classes my freshman year, I began to open my eyes to the malicious practices that were bringing our planet to such peril. The immensity of our environmentally unsustainable habits suddenly became apparent to me and I spent much of my early college career researching this idea. It was during this phase that I also started to become an avid lover of the outdoors. I had a greater appreciation for natural systems, in that the connection I made while out in wilderness either hiking or camping was much more fulfilling. I started to recognize the ties we had with the natural world; that our outdoor practices will have lasting impacts on ecological processes. The importance of sustainable outdoor ethics could not have been more apparent. Overwhelmed with illumination, I continued to study these ideas until eventually I selected environmental science as the focus of my undergraduate studies. I stress this idea strongly here because I truly believe it was at this phase in my ‘environmental progression’ that I began to switch to the I-thou mentality. I was enlightened.

Here I am today as a graduate student in an environmental science program at University of Colorado Denver. Although not much time has elapsed since I have graduated college, I feel my attitudes toward our American culture and its ‘More is Better’ outlook on life have evolved significantly. To that end, I am very excited to be on board here at Leave No Trace. I am eager to put principles of environmental sustainability in practice. I am starting to see the avenues that environmentalists must pursue if we wish to obtain a feasible, effective strategy for environmental advancements. I am eager to begin my career as an environmental steward, educating as many people I can along the way, so that future generations won't have to imagine how beautiful and pristine our planet actually is.
I am respectful.