Owarish Nature Appreciation Project (ONAP)
The purpose of this project is to promote appreciation of nature albeit the marvel of nature all around us that we often take for granted. This also means protecting and preserving nature The Owarish family has donated several plots of lands of different shapes and locations in an effort at nature conservation. I, Frank Owarish, am glad to be the Project Coordinator. The project is dedicated to Noel Brown, colleague and friend, who served as Director of UNEP in New York at the UN headquarters for several years. Credit to John Denver who came to see me at the UN where we discussed nature in general, in particular conservation. Nature gives us humans a sense of well being both physical as we walk or jog around and psychological a sense of being in harmony with nature improving our mental balance; we do find peace. Beyond nature I wish to promote a philosophy of life, that is to enjoy everything positive out there, for example that wonderful bridge, marvellous creation of human beings; it is there for our convenience and also for us to be amazed at such as its exceptional aesthetic attributes. Another example is the so-called Eighth Wonder of the world in Madagascar where we humans have built around nature the most beautiful entity combining the beauty of nature with the marvel of human creation. We also marvel at what us humans do such thing as waltzes in Vienna and elsewhere and tango in the streets of Buenos Aires. This blog provides practical information about wonders of nature out there all around the world for us to go and see and explore; it also provides a virtual world to explore the beauty of nature with music adding another dimension on your computer. With this broader philosophy in mind, I have to share a powerful lesson I learned from my youngest brother Sam Owarish; he is considered to be the ‘genius’ of the Owarish family, in fact a genius for our community at large; proof is his recent contribution to a video on climate change prepared for the BAASANA academic conference at the University of Exeter. His lesson is that there are more important things in life than running in the fast lane and chasing the moon for more and more; rather to be contented with ‘enough’, ‘sufficient’ and to devote time to caring for family members, our loved ones, helping others in need whenever we can and to contribute to the betterment of society such as nature appreciation albeit conservation; he is a constant source of encouragement to me and here is my debt of gratitude to Sam Owarish. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=waldo+de+los+rios+tchaikowski+symphony+in+re&&view=detail&mid=F58C26280E495D1622C6F58C26280E495D1622C6&&FORM=VDRVRV/
| With a busy life, most of us fail to stop and look and admire the beauty that nature has to offer. There is so much taken for granted. You may recall this citation: “What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare” (William Henry Davies, Leisure, Songs of Joy)
Tribute to my father and mother for teaching me the abc of nature appreciation and human beauty; here is a sample to honor you (credit: panflutelistener, youtube, vangelis) John Denver came to visit me at my office at UNITAR; he was interested in efforts to promote an awareness of the environment and related issues; there is no better way to accomplish his wish than to promote nature appreciation; here is a tribute to him (gone too soon): Nature at its best (credit: youtube, vangelis, oneil1969) Grew up in Ile de France then went and study in France, often discovering beautiful places all around the country: |
It is worth remembering that “nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own” (Charles Dickens)The intricacies of life: Life is a journey with ups and downs. My wife Jocelyne and I did our best to hold on together :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DloYHlh8dhE
This is where I grew up and started to appreciate nature, often listening to Tchaichowsky on the portable boombox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AADyKAByY5c This clip pays a special tribute to my little sister Shireen, who has been a constant support in my life; she and her husband built a resort by the seaside where I often go to keep on appreciating the nature we grew up with; credit youtube, vravishing We lost our daughter Clarel, gone too soon (tribute on the main page) here’s one of here favorites, remembering the good time at our country house (credit youtube, chiedina)More tribute to Clarel: |
| Nature appreciation 101: Frank and Jocelyne finding their way to the Owarish Brook, Lovers’ Lane/Peekskill Hollow Road, Putnam Valley (sight and sound: credit Richard Clayderman, youtube, supermanurugyayo)What better way to appreciate nature than through the flowers (credit Clayderman, gyorlida9, youtube)ONAP in a nutshell (credit youtube, bratschman) | Nature appreciation thanks to all my friends at “L’Assistance publique” hundreds of them, in particular Marie Josee Camille, Lise Dodin, Rajen Ramnauth, Joanna Emilien, Jocelyne Precieux, Jeanne Samtoy, in memoriam Denise Monty; they all loved me; I do not know why? I walked to the altar with Jocelyne; in fact, went on to the ‘Romeo and Juliet Story’ of modern times (possible book, possible movie): France aka Frank (credit: youtube, luisquepa) |
| Nature appreciation and more (credit youtube, pavel1811971) | Nature appreciation 103: Location of other ONAP sites (details, soon) |
| Nature and love and music blend (credit: Youtube | Nature appreciation with music MY WAY (credit youtube, clayderman and Mate85774) |
| Often nature provides the perfect setting for us, through music, to express our deepest feeling, in this case Frank’s to Jocelyne (credit youtube, andre rieu, Thelodestar) | More nature and music (credit youtube, waldo de los rios, claudiogregoriano)
Remembering our cruise on the Volga and the midnight sun |
Visitors will be enticed to come and admire nature of these green areas through the four seasons.
Here is this web site, in addition to providing information about nature appreciation in general; there will be information about the different green areas forming part of ONAP along with other relevant information (historical and geographical) including maps with directions. In addition, there will be an opportunity for you, the cyber-visitors, to indulge in virtual tours.
Educators teaching courses on environmental/ecological matters may find it useful to direct their students to this web site and also to go and visit specific areas of interest. Some of these have interesting geo-morphological properties. Above all, it is an opportunity to be surprised by what nature has for us to enjoy, from the various types of trees to the variety of birds and other natural species (squirrels, deer, wild turkeys, etc) and to brooks and waterfalls.
| Professor Sheila Lintott started a very interesting debate worth pursuing.In “Adjudicating the Debate Over Two Models of Nature Appreciation” Sheila Lintott stated that “it seems commonplace to point out that we aesthetically appreciate a wide variety of objects: that is, art objects are not the only good candidates for aesthetic appreciation. We know from experience that one can aesthetically appreciate not only Georgia O’Keefe’s White Trumpet Flower, but also a white trumpet flower. Similarly, we can aesthetically appreciate both a pictorial representation of the human form and that form instantiated in certain prime specimens. We do so, moreover, without classifying either flowers or human beings as art objects. Yet, the paradigm of aesthetic appreciation today, in both everyday life and in educative contexts, is the appreciation of art, which explains why we tend to try to understand what makes aesthetic appreciation appropriate in terms of what makes art appreciation appropriate. This approach may not be entirely mistaken, for beginning with the familiar is always a good plan. However, it must be done with care, otherwise important differences between our relationships with the art we appreciate and with the nature we appreciate may be overlooked, thereby obscuring salient differences in the appreciation of each.” (see The Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 38, No. 3, Fall 2004, pp.52-72 for full text). |
| A related concept is that of nature conservancy; in fact there is an organization by that name quite active on the subject; to start with, you may wish to look at Nature Conservancy’s work in New York as an example. |
owarishnatureappreciationproject 