by Ricky Treadway
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| Pedernales Falls State Park |
Since I was a small child, the
outdoors soothed me. I could return home from a terrible day at school, drop my
bags at the front porch and just disappear in the woods until just before dark.
It was a place I could be myself and find peace and quiet amongst my usually
hectic days. During our library visits in English, I would check out every book
I could on the animals from my area. When I read all those, I would ask for
more.
My quest for knowledge of the
world around me couldn’t be sated enough as a child. When I look at where I am
now, I am disappointed and taken aback at the blatant disregard for simple
knowledge that lies quite literally at our fingertips. I found everything I
needed to know in an Encyclopedia Britannica as a child where as now, both children
and adults fail to learn even the basic information before word vomiting on a
social media post or talking to their neighbor about what they saw on Fox News.
Educating others on the outside
world around them has become a passion. Since moving to Texas in 2010, I’ve
come to realize that despite the neighborhoods like mine (Spring Trails) being
advertised as “Bringing you close to nature…” the residents don’t understand
that you can’t pick what parts of nature you get to see. You can’t expect to
live in a home that borders a creek or patch of trees to be barren of all
wildlife except the occasional bird.
After witnessing this mentality
throughout Spring Trails, I began to do something about it. I took it upon
myself to post on Nextdoor, Facebook and other social media outlets about what
you can find amongst our homes and yards here. I started educating people on
what a Copperhead actually looks like and how to keep them out of your yard.
Many of the neighbors still believed that mothballs worked without realizing
that the EPA regulations specifically state that it’s illegal to place them
outside in the open. It poisons animals, children and our groundwater, not to mention,
it doesn’t deter snakes because they don’t smell the mothballs like we do.
After two years of offering classes and services to help people learn, I myself have learned a
valuable lesson. The old adages, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t
make it drink” and “Can’t teach an old dog new tricks” rings truer than ever
when it comes to offering free education. Some people thrive off of grandpa’s
old stories of being chased by a nest of Cottonmouth, Milk snakes drinking from
a cow’s udder ,and Coachwhip snakes rolling themselves like a wheel to escape
predators. They never stop to think about how outlandish they sound or how hard
it is to actually prove any of those are real when the accurate information is
right in your pocket.
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| Birthday party educational program |
