Original version

The following essay focuses on different environmental issues, how I found myself immersed in my own experiences when talking about nature, the different outcomes caused by human actions, and what I am willing, as a person, to share with others about the multiple concerns that affects the life well-being of the environment we all live in.

Mia Peña
Prof. Carpenter
Composition of individual
Sept 15 2025

Ecoliteracy Narrative

I have grown up in a country that enjoys great biodiversity, a place that offers us an abundance of nature, but I did not always feel connected to it. To be honest, it was not something that caught my attention enough; In fact, I was simply unaware of the impact my own existence had on it.When I entered third grade, I was able to take classes related to nature, classes that gave us a better perspective on how nature worked and how the world functioned. These lessons sparked some curiosity in me, but not enough to make me feel truly connected to or interested in nature, I have always loved animals. Many times, I used to tell my mother that I would rather spend time with animals than with people. Often, animals behaved better than humans, and sometimes it was even easier to get along with them. During quarantine, I often watched TikTok videos about how animals were returning to their habitats because of the isolation of humans, and how vegetation began to grow again. This started to increase my interest in the environment. Seeing how often humans deprive nature of growing and being itself in its own habitat whether through exploitation or pollution made me reflect deeply. After a while, I continued seeing videos about how marine animals became entangled in plastics and how beaches were full of pollution, affecting marine life. Watching this broke my heart: seeing defenseless animals, unable to speak or act for themselves, suffering from our actions. Many of these animals were endangered, many no longer lived in their natural habitats, and some could not even survive anymore. It was heartbreaking.

A friend at school always defended and spoke out about environmental pollution, and I began talking with her. Each day, my interest in the environment and its care grew stronger. We often talked about different methods to prevent pollution. In class, we were often asked to make posters about environmental pollution for the school, and this made me happy because it gave us the chance to encourage people to have empathy for our planet to make them feel that they should stop harming the environment and start protecting it. Today, there are irreversible damages we have caused to the environment, and while there may be no way to fix them, we can still prevent future harm.

This experience made me begin to appreciate more what surrounds me, to value the beautiful moments that nature has given me. I value every moment I’ve interacted with it: picked a fruit from a tree in my country, every time I played with animals there, or when I raised my grandfather’s chickens, which I enjoyed feeding. I cherish all those times when I enjoyed the shade of a tree to protect myself from the sun and the refreshing breeze it provided in the heat. I treasure every time nature gave me peace and unforgettable moments. These experiences allowed me to value nature more deeply and encouraged me to begin caring for it. Whenever I can, I try to reuse things, thinking about the damage I would cause to the planet otherwise. I try to teach my nieces to be grateful to the environment, since it gives us so much and, without it, we cannot live. I show them how to recycle and reuse things that might otherwise be thrown away but can serve another purpose. I simply try to prevent future harm, even if my contribution is small compared to the millions of people on this planet. After all, change always begins with one person.

Revised version

Mia Peña
Prof. Carpenter
Composition of individl
Dec 19 2025

Ecoliteracy narrative review :
I grew up in a country rich in diversity, a place full of natural beauty and abundance. However, for a while, I never felt truly connected with nature. To be completely honest, it was never a topic that sparked my interest, and I wasn´t aware of the impact that human existence had on the environment, how any action or decision, right or wrong, can have such an effect on the world. 
My junior year of high school, I started taking classes related to nature and which consisted of teaching students about the environment, like how it develops and works as a whole. Before this class, my interests wasn´t the most notable on this topic, but thanks to this class, I grew more curious and had the desire to learn. Though I never had a lot of interest in the environment, animals always amazed me. I felt like I always had a connection with animals, and it was better off to live in the animal kingdom rather than with humans because they seemed to behave better than most human beings.
During COVID-19 in 2020, as a society, we suffered through a long process of quarantine which we stood locked indoors 24/7 to prevent the spread of COVID-19. During this time, we had been glued to our phones most of the time, and the platform TikTok had skyrocketed, making it one of our number one entertainment during that time. Videos were being published of more animals returning to the wild and showing how much contamination we humans actually put out into the world. This was one of the main reasons my interest in nature sparked inside me, and it made me realize the big impact humans have on the other living things on this planet. We were preventing them from living the life they were meant to live, and started destroying their homes to build homes and buildings. 

The more I enrolled in these environmental classes, the more interest I had. In this class, i met a friend who shared common interests and opinions about the environment with me, so our conversations were always tense and debatable. This helped my interest grow even more to the point where I wanted to make a difference and protect the environment. I had chances to make posters about environmental pollution to present in front of my classmates or even display them in the school hallways. These types of activities always excited me because, thanks to these posters, I was able to raise awareness and let others know about the negative effects humans have on the environment and how we can change to make a difference for wildlife. Enrolling in these classes was bittersweet, and it helped me realize how important it is to speak out on worldly problems. At first, before these classes, I didn´t take the environment very seriously, but as time passed the more my interest grew in how I can take care of the environment. I was able to start valuing the simple moments nature has gifted me throughout my life, such as the air, the fruits, and simply enjoying a sunny day with your family under the shade. 
Now I can finally say that nature brings peace not only to my life but also to others, because of this, I try to raise awareness to every person I can, so that they will also pass it on to people they know, so we can take care of our environment. Even if it´s just a few of us, our contribution can be as big as millions of people living on this planet. The truth is, real change always starts with one person.