Humans and nature are two things that cannot be separated from each other. Nature needs humans to do smart management activities in controlling it while humans need nature as a place to live. Most people have other perspectives on nature, such as me who thinks that nature is one of the natural doctors that can treat many diseases such as excessive stress or a disorder caused by deep inner pressure.
One day, I received a fieldwork practice as one of the compulsory courses in my college. The theme was to calculate the amount of carbon potential in an educational forest in one of my areas in order to reduce gas emissions that cause the greenhouse effect. I was very excited at that time because outdoor activities were one of the things I had been looking forward to for a long time. I was so bored of spending most of my time inside the monotonous campus rooms.
The educational forest that my friends and I went to was located in Maros City, South Sulawesi province. We brought complete equipment such as tents, supplies, survival kits, first aid kits and carbon-counting instruments. Our task was mostly to conduct inventory measurements of the diameter, circumference and height of several stands in the forest location. The measurement data obtained will be further processed using in-depth data analysis on carbon measurement.
We started our journey at the hall on the side of the road. At that point we were directed to wear safety costume such as helmet and vest. We then walked to find our respective measurement points. I was in group 10 and our destination was a low-density natural forest stand. During the trip, we were presented with natural scenery and abundant vegetation. The sound of birds chirping and insects echoing filled the entire forest space quietly. However, Our favorite thing was the dimly lit atmosphere. When there is only a little light touching the ground because it is covered by the lush canopy of the trees, it gives a picture of a magical fantasy world.
When we almost arrived at our point. Suddenly a technical error occurred, the mapping application we were using at that time suddenly gave us directions to go forward, even though the object in front of us was a large ravine that was very steep and underneath there was a small river flowing. We took the initiative to take another route to reach our point outside of the mapping application's instructions.
"Are you guys tired?" our group leader asked our condition, it was natural for him to ask that question. The route we took was three times further than the normal route. We tried to find the nearest shortcut to avoid the steep ravine ahead. Before long, we finally found a ravine with a gentle ridge, so we could cross it without taking a longer distance. But we still had to pass through the flowing river, and as a result we had to be willing to get wet to reach our point.
After a journey that took almost two hours from the initial point of departure, we finally arrived at our measurement point. Our area was at an altitude of 600 meters below sea level. From up there, we could see the beautiful and charming cityscape of Maros. We also caught a glimpse of the small river that we had passed earlier. Before taking measurements, we took a short lunch break. The atmosphere at that time was really peaceful. The tiredness and burden of thoughts that we had previously felt could be erased thanks to the presence of a gentle breeze and a soothing view.
The feeling of how much we love nature and all its aspects really grew wider after we took measurements and the results we got regarding carbon calculations. The result is that the amount of carbon sequestration in our education forest is really low compared to other forests. The reason for this is the rampant deforestation and forest fires. A group of us were given the additional task of conducting a campaign in order to protect nature from all forms of destruction
