Although I am a philosophy major at the University of Vermont, the outdoors hold a deeper meaning in my life. Perhaps it was growing up in Moretown, Vermont on the side of a mountain that introduced this passion. Erecting roofed structures in the woods and racing Odwalla bottles down the nearby stream was my childhood. I’ve climbed (and tapped!) the great sugar maple in my front yard a thousand times. I think, however, my connection with Nature and the outdoors is deeper than this. I know not how to read the planets, but a friend, upon reading my astrological natal chart, said Saturn was in the 12“’ house and was aligned with the Sun at the exact moment I was born. She said this was the reason I love Nature. I like to understand these ways of interpreting life and existence; but I do not think this reasoning is important. What’s important is action. I resonate with Ryan’s core principle: look out for our surroundings, because I’ve always felt that my surroundings, the mountains and valleys in which I spent my youth, looked out for me. Perhaps the purpose in my life is to reciprocate this care and act in accordance. I owe so much to home. I mean, where would I have expended my adolescent energy if not the front yard?