Hello everyone. Glad you could make it. As mentioned in the introduction, we will be talking about cycles and stages. It is definitely spring here in Colorado, and about to become summer in the Midwest.
Spring is symbolic of birth and infancy for many plants and animals. The dawn of a new day begins with the sun in the east. In the human life cycle (as well as for other organisms), spring may also be a period of heightened vulnerability. Therefore, my first installment for examining cycles will focus on hazards that a curious naturalist might face.
Hazards may include venomous animals, poisonous plants, hypothermia, dehydration, etc. Prevention is a tool that (ahem) should far outweigh crisis management, as it is something that should come first. Through the art of questioning, one should rationally ask themselves "What are my hazards?" The key word here is "rationally".
Well, that leads us to question what is hazardous. Of course spiders, snakes, and plants can all be venomous/poisonous, but which ones? How do we weed out fact from fable? The answer is research (of which you will find I do a lot). Through understanding hazards, we can understand what is safe and towards what we should express caution. Caution is an extension of respect, and therefore, I urge all of you to respect what you interact with, whether it be a wild animal, a household appliance, or an automobile.
Let's start with an exercise.
Say you live in the midwest and were wanting to research poisonous spiders. What are the most dangerous spiders in North America? Can any of them actually kill you? If you were to look at a range map for something like Black Widow or Brown Recluse, would they be in your area? What is their habitat? Do they live in swamps, woods, or tight places? What are the symptoms? What does the bite mark look like? Who do you talk to to find out symptoms as well as possible treatments?
If prevention does not work, we are only left with crisis management. Still, research is useful in these events. Why? In order to prevent panic. Panic is your worst enemy in any emergency, and counteracting that with facts, knowledge, and awareness of your situation will only work to your advantage. Let's say I ate something poisonous. What should I do? Should I induce vomiting? Contact a poison control center or hospital? Because the plant may be one that would be potentially more harmful if I induce vomiting, what will happen to me if it were to stay in my system? Would I have seizures, go blind, hallucinate, or die?
Research may happen in multitude of ways. For this blog, much of that research is done through hands-on experience or through field guides, such as Peterson or Audubon, and I cite my sources.
The next blog will be about a potential hazard that you may encounter as well.
