Inquiry Blog Post #7: “”How do human efforts and attempts to fix nature compare to letting nature heal itself?”

Hi there! This is my last blog post of the year. In this blog post I will be reflecting on my inquiry post and addressing some questions surrounding it.  

Firstly, I will explain why I selected the question “How do human efforts and attempts to fix nature compare to letting nature heal itself?” I chose this question because it outlines environmental science that interests me. Since I observed ongoing discussions about climate change and environmental degradation, I’ve become more and more curious about whether human intervention is better than natural healing processes or whether it does the opposite. 

Now, I will be answering the following questions: 

a. What challenges did you overcome throughout this inquiry project? How did you go about 
overcoming these challenges? 

Throughout this inquiry project, one of the biggest challenges I faced was realizing how complex my question truly was. At first, I assumed that comparing human efforts to natural healing would be more of a straightforward question, but as I researched more deeply, I found that it was actually much more complicated. I had to examine a lot of different perspectives and angles, such as case studies of human intervention, examples of nature recovering on its own, and expert opinions on nature-based solutions. Another major challenge of mine during this inquiry project was finding credible, up-to-date sources. Some articles were not very reliable, so I had to develop a more critical way of searching for sources. I overcame this by organizing my research into three different steps: analyzing human intervention, exploring natural recovery processes, and collecting opinions from experts. This helped me find the most important and reliable sources.  

 
b. How did this inquiry change the way you think? 

This inquiry project has changed the way I look at the relationship between humans and the environment. Before this project, I mainly thought that human efforts such as reforestation or renewable energy were always going to be the best solution to environmental problems. But through this project, I have realized that when given the chance to, nature is able to heal itself quite effectively. For example, in Blog Post #4, I learned that processes like revegetation, soil formation, and the biodegradation of oil all occur over time. This made me learn about how important it is to balance nature-based solutions with man-made ones. I also learned through expert studies that nature-based solutions are often more cost-effective than man-made ones. 

 
c. How did this investigation impact your future decisions? 

This research changed how I think about my daily choices and lifestyle. This topic has made me learn to be more aware of how our actions can sometimes hurt the environment, even if we’re trying to help. Now I’m trying to be more careful about supporting things that actually work well for nature. I want to make choices that help nature heal itself instead of getting in the way. This could mean joining local environmental groups, being smarter about what I buy, or just talking to friends and family about how nature is fixing itself when we give it a chance.  

 
d. What impact will this investigation have on others locally and/or globally? 

I think this investigation could have a great impact on both people locally and globally. This investigation could really help other people to think differently about how we deal with environmental problems. In my school and community, it might help my classmates, and their families find a better balance between taking action and letting nature do what it does best. 

Globally, this way of thinking could change how we handle huge environmental challenges like climate change or when forests get destroyed. Instead of always jumping to massive construction projects or high-tech solutions, maybe governments and big organizations can try more nature-based approaches first. These tend to work better in the long run and don’t cost as much money. 

I hope this research gets people to not just care about the environment, but to really think about whether what we’re doing is actually helping nature or if we’re making things worse. Sometimes the best help we can give nature is knowing when to step back or when we need to help it.  

These are all the answers to my inquiry project. Thank you for reading!