Project 3: Proposal

As I thought about everything we have studied to prepare for this project, it dawned on me that we may not consider nature as a dominant part of our lives because we are so sheltered from it. Therefore, for this project I propose two ideas:

1) Part of the reason that we are not aware of nature is because we can escape it so easily. We eat indoors, learn indoors, sleep indoors. Although this is quite comfortable, this is also sometimes unnecessary. I would like to be subject to the elements for one whole day. Rid myself of every unnecessary indoor luxury and remind myself and others that we may abuse nature because we have the choice to participate in it.

2) Another way of bringing us as a community back to nature is to bring it into contact with people unexpectedly. I see our greatest avoidance of nature on the paths at Elon. Around the college there are many brick walkways that sometimes are not even logical to walk on, but are used anyway because it keeps us sheltered. What if those walkways became one with nature once again? I would like to pour large mounds of birdseed in the middle of the major walkways around campus. This would include crossways, intersections, or in front of buildings, in order to attract nature and distract humans. Forcing people out of this pattern would prove that they have become accustomed to a luxury that is severely temporal.