The Bioblitz at Central Park was a rewarding experience for me. It was a nice, warm morning, and honestly, I hadn’t taken advantage of such beautiful weather in a little while at that point. I truly love getting out and enjoying the wonderful plant life, especially in the summer. So in this simple respect, the Bioblitz was a treat to me. I was reminded of how gorgeous Central Park really is—I hadn’t been there since last spring, and I’ve only been there about a handful of times despite being a New Yorker my whole life. I’m definitely inspired to explore more of the park one of these days, hopefully before it starts to get cold.

I was actually assigned to the plant group at the Bioblitz. I didn’t mind that at all. We took a pleasant, slow walk around the southern end of the park. I don’t think I’d ever explored that area before, so that was nice. I definitely had the sudden desire to lie down and take a nap under a tree a few times during the walk—but I had to resist until at least noon. It was very warm and a little breezy, perfect day to be at the park.

Along the way, we took note of a good number of different species of plants. In the beginning we came across a tomato vine in an unexpected area, with the fruit still bright green. Further on, we encountered and identified several different types of plants that I hadn’t ever fathomed a name for in all my years of arbitrarily examining these backyard organisms. Meanwhile, the botanist we were with recited the Latin designations off the top of her head. It was an enjoyable experience for me. I rarely ever take the time to study different plant species side-by-side and take note of their subtle differences or similarities, so I took the opportunity to pick the leaves and fruits off the plants we stopped to record and examined them carefully. For example, I momentarily learned how to differentiate between a few species of maple—by now, however, the specific information has drifted from my mind and the different leaf shapes have coalesced in my imagination to once again form a more general impression of treetop matter.  Regardless, I was genuinely interested as I listened to the botanist explain the complex and efficient functioning of the different plant types. I did, at some points, contribute a few tidbits of knowledge that I retained from the AP Bio class I took in high school—that felt slightly satisfying. As we continued our walk in the park, I took pleasure from the different aromas that surrounded the area. If I wanted to zone in on something, I picked it off the stem and brought it close to my nose. I never did have a fear of pollen.

It would have been nice to examine some of the other ecological aspects of Central Park, but overall, I would say I had an enjoyable experience studying the plant life. It was definitely a great opportunity to wind down and closely examine the beauty around us—something that we as humans dedicate less and less time to as the centuries pass. A lack of appreciation for nature has undeniably contributed to an unnatural and alienated relationship with our beautiful earth. It’s no wonder that so many feel free to trample on what many would have called a paradise. Not only are we making our home less and less of a paradise, but we have also come to the point of threatening the existence of habitable conditions on our planet altogether. How much further will the chaotic, greed-fueled brawl for our earth’s resources continue? How much more unremitting devastation will we bring upon our planet? I don’t think any human is capable of answering that question . . . but I do think that if it wasn’t abruptly stopped we would ultimately come to our end in a relatively short amount of time.