Intro to Environmental Studies 23

  I believe that The Ecology of Eden is an overall exploration of humankind's place in nature, both the real, and the imagined. The Ecology of Eden can act as a balancing act so to speak and in order for an individual to to stand in relation to wilderness, the individual must stand in a right relation to civilization first. Eisenberg encourages deep thinking, understanding, and reevaluation of ourselves and our relationship with Nature and encompassing religious attitudes. Eisenberg also aims to explore our troubled relationship with the pristine, asking why our every attempt to return to it, preserve it, revere it, takes us ever further away from Eden. A quote from Eisenberg that stood out to me states, "many of the species we have trampled underfoot did jobs that we have not been able to take over." Eisenberg is depicting that over time society has taken advantage of our abundance of natural resources and we as humans cannot replace nature. I can confidently say that t...

 Today while I was at the gym I listened to a TED Talk about a new plant in Iceland that has the ability to suck CO2 out of the atmosphere and turn it into rock to be stored underground. At first, I was amazed that we are finally coming up with technology that has the potential to fix our climate crisis issues, but then I realized that the goal of the plant is to get to net zero, not 0 emissions. While of course reversing climate issues as they have advanced so far is going to require more than just consuming fewer fossil fuels, the machine gives people the misconception that we can continue to use our nonrenewable resources just because it "won't be as harmful" for the planet's atmosphere if we have the kind of CO2 transformative technology all over the world. The machine works by a system of fans, heaters, and filters powered by a local geothermal plant in Iceland that separates CO2 from the air and heats it to be mixed with water, then it is pumped underground wher...

 For the past couple of days, I have been inspired by the beautiful weather to read Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. While I've had this book sitting on my shelf for a few months now and I already know a lot about it and Carson, I've never read the whole thing through. I'm only about 60 pages in, but I love how it has already caught my attention with the amount of shocking information that she jumps right into at the beginning. It is so hard to grapple with the fact that Carson's research and knowledge were so overlooked for so long, even after the book was published. I really like so far that she has dedicated different chapters to talking about how the effects of DDT have impacted different factors of our environment, such as water systems and soil, and how they both lead DDT to make their way into humans. She starts by imagining a world that is contaminated by dangerous chemicals and then explains how this is actually happening as DDT became more widespread. It forms ...

  Today Dr. Redick’s son presented to us about ecological restoration. Particularly from anthropocentric design to design for the ecological community. In terms of anthropogenic land use, it can correlate directly to the simplification of landscape. Biodiversity, geographic diversity, abundance of organisms, and nutrient cycles are all related terms. Now that the way that forestry has changed over the years, there has grown a deeper and more complex goal in terms of lesser human impact, disturbance, and effects. By taking maritime forests and turning them into plantations, it truly depicts how these complex systems are difficult to control. Additionally, the removal of various individuals, species, or characteristics negatively affects the environment as a whole. An interesting point that Caleb made was that the phrase ‘let nature run its course’ which is a very broad statement due to the fact that it could take hundreds of years or even generations for that to happen. I had never ...

      The topic of sustainability and the environment tends to be a polarizing one. People stand strong in their beliefs and values and compromise tends to be rare. Often, the debates are divided between two sides, the economic and the environmental. This can be partially attributed to the effects that environmental protection measures have had on businesses. These effects tend to be mainly negative and effect smaller businesses most heavily. One example of this can be found in the Rotten: Cod is Dead Documentary that we watched in class. The government implemented specific caps on how much fishing boats could catch and bring in. This ended up not effecting the larger fishing enterprises much, but it put the majority of smaller fishing companies out of business. This allowed the larger businesses to take over the areas and fish quantities that the smaller companies had previously had.      So how can we shift the perspective to a non-polarized one? The...

 In class on Thursday, February 16th, we watched a documentary about the causes and effects of overfishing. While this information is extremely important to understand, sometimes it can feel a bit hopeless- like there is nothing we can do except sit back and watch major corporations destroy fish populations and the planet's future. Due to this feeling of helplessness, I decided to look up some of the things that we can do, or things that need to be done, in order to help fish populations. There are 10 solutions that seem to be continuous on multiple different websites, and all have good justifications and logic as to why they would help. These 10 solutions are: Rights-Based Fishery Management- fishers are guaranteed a certain portion of the catch if they adhere to rules and regulations that include the quantity of fish they can catch and what time of year they can fish. In this system, each member has a stake in the fishery that grows when the fishery does, and this stake can be pa...

In class on Feburary 16th, 2023, we watched a documentary on the fishing industry, highlighting how important it is, and the issues it is having. The fishing industry is a HUGE industry. Honestly, before this documentary, I had no idea how essential it really is. Billions of people around the world rely on fish, and fishing puts millions into the US economy annually. There is about 5 billion pounds of seafood in the US alone, as the US is the 2nd largest seafood consumer next to China. due to the amount of people relying on the fishing industry to survive, this industry is an extremely delicate and fragil system. if one thing goes wrong, it all goes wrong.  New Bedford, MA has been the biggest US seafood port for hundreds of years. It is so important, that if anyone puts any garbage or pollution into these waters, it is felt by people all over the world. But this is only one glimpse on why the fishing industry is so so delicate. New Bedford sells to the global market, and because o...

  This week we read more about human domination of ecosystems and how one of the most striking disproportionate aspects of environmental studies is the role of humans on planet earth. The author acknowledges how humans can be seen as insignificant figures in the grand scheme of the natural world. This led into the exploration of how hurricanes or earthquakes or other natural disasters can destroy cities and land while also depicting the strength of nature. In this chapter, the author also acknowledges how environmentalists tend to see the influence of humans as a hazardous thing. This was interesting to me but I understand the insight due to the power of humans and how we always talk about how we can learn to better interact with nature and our species. One aspect of this chapter that was really interesting to me was a graphic found on page 129 that depicts the generalized pyramid of energy flow in the biosphere. This is something that I had learned about previously but it was inte...

I found the private versus public topic in Chapter 3 very interesting. I never realized how the threat of privatization of the commons has severe consequences for the environment and the communities that rely on them. It makes sense because private entities are often motivated by profit and prioritize short-term gains over long-term sustainability, resulting in the depletion of natural resources. When resources are privatized, the control of these resources is transferred to private entities, which may not have the interests of local communities in mind. This can result in the displacement of local communities and the loss of access to natural resources that are essential for their livelihoods. I also found it interesting that it was mentioned that social expectations can influence the maintenance of the commons. I only ever really thought about official policies and regulations as what maintained the commons. I didn’t think about how social expectations can help to reinforce responsib...

“Into Thin Air" is a non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer, which describes the author's own harrowing experience of climbing Mount Everest in 1996. While the book mainly focuses on the events that led to the tragic deaths of eight climbers on the mountain, it also touches on various environmental issues that are relevant to mountain climbing and outdoor adventure. One of the most prominent environmental issues discussed in the book is the impact of human activity on the natural environment. Throughout the book, Krakauer highlights the detrimental effects of human activity on the fragile ecosystem of Mount Everest. The overuse of climbing trails, the accumulation of garbage, and the lack of proper waste management all contribute to the degradation of the mountain's environment. Moreover, the book also touches on the issue of climate change and how it has affected the world's tallest mountain. Krakauer describes how global warming has led to the melting of the glacie...

For many people, a lush green lawn is a symbol of suburban perfection. It’s a place where kids can play, families can gather, and homeowners can show off their pride and joy. However, the pursuit of the perfect lawn has come at a cost. One of the most significant issues is the amount of water and resources required to maintain a perfect lawn. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 30 to 60 percent of residential water use goes to outdoor watering, with much of it being used to maintain lawns. This is a significant drain on resources, particularly in areas where water is scarce. Additionally, many homeowners rely on chemical fertilizers and pesticides to keep their lawns looking green and weed-free, and these chemicals can be harmful to the environment. The idea that a perfect lawn is necessary or desirable has become very dominant in our society. I personally live in an area where there are not any manicured lawns because the main vegetation is sand, and there is not much g...

 The Invention of Agriculture I can recall during an introductory level world history class we were tasked with choosing an invention that we thought was the most important event in history and I chose agriculture, so this chapter was very agreeable with what I've learned already in history. Agriculture allowed hunter-gatherer type nomadic people to become stationary, and "the plow tied the farmer to a place," according to Joel Cohen (p. 136). From this, specialized roles and so many other things flourished. Government, jobs, social class and hierarchy, religion, philosophy, art, music, writing took off, and other technological advancements, because people were able to remain in one place. People segregated into those who farmed, those who performed civil jobs for the community, and usually some form of ruler or government to organize people. It's no question how important agriculture actually is, so it should be of utmost importance to protect these farms, their righ...

 I read "Earth Day When the People Spoke" recently, the point of Earth Day at first seemed to be a way for politics to address the publics' growing concern for the environment. This is a time period where people could "taste pollution" birds were dying from DDT, and Lake Erie was dying. After it become almost a grassroots movement that caused people all over the U.S. to donate, or get involved in different ecological concerns. It promotes stewardship of the environment and encourages people to make changes, everyone has things that they do that arent completely beneficial for the environment, but making sacrifices where it's possible contributes. The idea is that it raises awareness for people to make these contributions and eventually public opinion will change, along with how corporations and political entities operate.

 After watching the film on water privatization I had several realizations. Water is being treated as a commodity, and corporations are taking advantage of it, how is corruption so bad to a war is fought for water. It's definitely a scary idea that I would like to know more about. I did enjoy at the end the little water reservoirs that were made that take water back in the soil, and the infrastructure designs that allow water to flow through cities into the soil underneath. It does make me wonder what has been done since the video was produced, and what will happen in the future.

  In the beginning section of John Muir’s essay titled Wild Parks and Reservations , he goes into depressing detail about noticeable changes in landscapes, particularly plant life, in many different regions of the United States. As I read this section I found myself thinking that it seems somewhat similar to something you would see in an essay on the environmental changes induced by climate change today. One connection between the text and modern-day was between ecotourism and the quote "Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity, and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers but as fountains of life." (721). Muir has taken the ideas of simplicity in life suggested by philosophers such as Thoreau and embodied them, although I think that Muir is a well-educated man that understood the complexities that exis...

   While doing the reading for this week, what first stuck out to me is how the author described that all biological energy on Earth is essentially solar energy, because it originates through photosynthesis and travels through food webs. This makes me think of when we talked about how humans have a responsibility to nature because we are actually one with it; the fact that we get our energy from the sun on the most basic level should be proof that solar energy would be a sufficient source for our other needs like electricity. It's a good way to think about how we are not above nature, even in our developing technological and industrial world.     I also think it was cool to think about how humans' ability to use both plants and animals for energy and nutrients inherently puts us at the top of the food chain. We are tertiary consumers, which means we consume organisms from practically all of the lower levels of the food web. I've never thought about how much adva...

 While searching for an internship opportunity this summer I came across a company called Synagro. The company specializes in waste water treatment, where laborers take out human biohazards, run it through dewatering presses and then take the product and spread it onto farmland. The water left over from the sewage is then turned into purified drinking water. Upon further research, I came across a couple articles that caught my attention. There was conflicting articles on this type of fertilizer, along with benefits. It was suggested that using this type of fertilizing method causes runoff into our major waterways containing human feces, while the company argues that under the Chesapeake Bay Water act it is perfectly legal and beneficial to use this type of fertilization. I thought this topic was interesting because I never thought about where our waste goes and what is done with it after flushing the toilet. It broadened my knowledge in the field of wastewater, and I feel that this...

 The Guest lecture on Brooke's bees opened my eyes. I never truly thought about how important bees are, along with other insects who help with the pollination process. I grew up in a very heavily farming area, and I can remember as a young boy when pesticides were being abused how that affected the farmers. The area in which I lived corn crops were very weak and the amount of bushels per acre were way down. I did not put two and two together until hearing Brooke's lecture when I realized that maybe the cause in the lack of corn crops for this period was due to the heavy use of pesticides crippling the bee population. From what I can remember the weather was great for corn growth, and there was no frosts harming early germination. There is no way for me to prove this theory, but I have to wonder if the reason was due to the lack of bees. 

 When I was completing last week's reading, pages 100-126, there was a section in particular that stood out to me. This was the section that differentiated weather and climate, which I feel get mixed up a lot. Weather is driven by the sun's energy and the planet's rotation, and is atmospheric changes that occur below 30,000 feet. Water in the atmosphere transports heat from the sun, and on the way produces weather. By contrast, repetitive patterns of weather over decades and centuries is climate. Climate is a product of 2 factors: long term patterns in circulation of atmosphere and oceans, and topography (the slow changing shape of the land surface). Because of this, climate patterns depend on geography.  The reason why this stood out to me is I feel like this distinction is very important, yet few people understand it and are apt to discredit climate change because of this. Climates do change, as the book says, and they have changed in the past causing many life forms to g...

I really enjoyed the class when Brooke came in to present to class, and showed us her video about honey and native bees. Before the video, I honestly didn't know much about bees at all, other than they were necessary for the survival of flowers and other plants. I didn't know the extent of the importance of bees, and it was really interesting to learn about. I had no idea that all plants and all crops would be brown if we didn't have bees. And, I also learned about bees social behaviors which was fascinating, who knew that bees have a little dance called the waggle, in order to communicate with the rest of the hive.  Leading back to the lecture of environmental aesthetics, its interesting to think about how different the idea of environmental aesthetics would be if we didn't have bees. There wouldn't be nearly as much color in the world, as flowers rely on bees to survive.

     I’m currently doing a paper on water quality in Virginia so this week has been very informative and inspiring for me. I found it really interesting that France has had private water for ages, through the means of the French government, and how there are pros and cons to both privatization and public access. It would be interesting to look into how privatization is successful, how public access is successful, and find a way to intertwine these processes. The documentary we watched described a need for a partnership between government agencies and these companies privately owning water.       Although we can pinpoint who is the largest polluter, who commits a crime, who exceeds what safety limits, etc., there is an essential requirement for change. The people being affected most have a lot of impact. I was very moved by the story about Lee Kyong Hae and farmers’ riots due to privatization of water. Speaking up, being proactive, voting, and communica...

 I read the article The Climate Legacy of Racist Housing Policies to better understand the impacts of environments. This article shows how redlining that happened during the 1930's still affects communities today. Redlining was how the government would rate certain areas for real estate investing with a grading scale. Racism caused areas of minority groups to be less funded and seen as dangerous based off of race. This article had appalling findings with the long term effects this caused. Redlining has caused these areas to be hotter, harder to live in, harder for people to get to places, and an increase in health risks for people. Richmond is a prime example used in this article. The asphalt from the roads absorbs heat and causes these areas to be 2.5 degrees hotter. This increases the amount of heat exhaustion emergency calls and decreases the livelihoods of these neighborhoods. Children are struggling to play outside too because of the lack of shade due to less greenery in these...

 I read a scientific article on air and lead pollution in low income areas and their effects on children. This article was written by Dr. Manduca and Dr. Sampson on how these two pollutants are causing an increase on children having a higher risk of becoming teen mothers, incarceration, and intergenerational low-income. Data for these low income neighborhoods were used from the American Census on linking pollution to various regions. This data showed a significant amount of black children have an increase in risk amongst all three issues. These areas are a result of past redlining of minority communities. The government and communities all around the country need to start making an effort in funding these low invested areas. These areas are a result of low funding and thus are being taken advantage of for placement of toxic waste and unhealthy environments. Having healthy local areas will benefit everyone in the economy and these struggling communities. This article does a great jo...

 Reading the first chapter of our readings had made me realize the disconnect we have from our local environment. No longer were our clothes matching the local resources around us or even in our countries. Our clothes are being outsourced mostly from the other side of the world like China. People such as the Inuit or tribes in Africa wear clothing that come from their local areas. Fur from local animals hunted, food locally hunted, habitats made from local resources, etc.. Now we are using resources that are harming the environment in order to meet our new standards of living.      I found the interlinked stories of invasive species caused by our doings to be very interesting. Urbanization brought the gold eagle to the islands which overtook the american bald eagle and then the fox population decreased. Feral pigs and the gold eagle decreased due to human intervention. Scientists then brought in the bald eagle again and the fox population increased again. Human inter...

 I read Water by Ralph Waldo Emerson and thought that the poem nicely talks on the beauty and destruction of water. As we talked in class with our guest speaker on water I thought that this related nicely to that discussion. Water is essential and can be used for so many things. Whether it be power, irrigation, a spiritual connection to entities, and it's importance in the survival of everything. My favorite part was how he says "Well used, it decketh joy...Ill used, it will destroy"(lines 7 and 9) this speaks on both the beauty and pain that water can be used. The hoover dam failed bc of the water levels decreasing below the required amount to produce power. This caused the dam to be rendered almost useless and now several dams across the US are being dismantled. These dams have caused lots of issues for surrounding areas as they pug up water access to other areas. Water was used unwisely here and the costs are being paid for. Like Emerson said, if its ill used it will d...

 Today I read an excerpt from Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. Between 1952 and 1957 about eighty percent of eagle nests failed to reproduce. All over the world reports of unexpected bird deaths were being recorded. They always died in the wake of pesticides. DDT was being sprayed all over the world and causing detrimental effects to the biotic systems. Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring and began by describing a town that didn't exist, that experienced spring with no birds. DDT caused major health issues in humans, animals, and the environment. 

  I attended a talk about the interconnection of sustainability and environmental science. This talk was given by Dr. Atkinson, a biology professor, and Dr. Manning, a communications professor. A lively discussion ensued about the UN’s sustainable development goals and I learned about the many connections of each goal. They talked about the interconnection of the two subjects in careers. Environmental science is needed for work to be done in sustainability. Scientists provide the research and evidence, communication specialists relate science to the public and legislation can be made that aligns with sustainability goals. Specific goals that stand out to me are life on land, life below water, and climate action. These three goals align with my personal interests in forest ecology and wetlands. The conservation and sustainable management of these ecosystems is something I hope to have a career in. Environmental Studies requires collaboration between hard and soft sciences as well as...

I recently read Man and Nature by Marsh in which he discusses, in length, the lasting negative impacts Humans have had on the land, plants, and animals. We disturb the land by domesticating, exploiting, deforesting, irrigating, ditching and damming all for human needs. Unlike animals we act with foresight to a end product. We do not act on instinct like animals and therefore we over exert nature past the balance. Native plants and animals exist in nature with the balance but we have evolved to push nature past that limit because of our intellect of the future. We interact with nature in a mediated way, while animals interact with nature in an immediate way. Humans alter the landscape and nature cannot return. Reading this puts the way humans describe progress and civilization in a harsh light. We degrade nature all in the name of human progress and innovation. For years nature and natural resources have been seen as an economic commodity to be exploited. I appreciate that in the world...

 I read chapter 6 of First Along the River which was about the 1940s  through the 1960s. This chapter began talking about the increased realization that Americans had that the land had to do more than just keep us alive, we can't destroy it.  New innovations such as pesticides and manufacturing plants damaged the land, and the air quality of many areas. In 1961 California lost * million dollars of crops due to air pollution. During the post war era Americans began to take the national parks for granted, lousy management and overuse became the main problems. As items were becoming mass produced garbage was accumulating in junkyards more than ever before. Rachel Carson became a prominent figure showing the dangers of DDT in her book "Silent Spring". Television was used in the 1960s for the first time to broadcast environmental issues. In 1967 auto emissions were noted as a serious problem. Also at this time the population boom was occuring. In 1970 president Nixon declared ...

 I read the Sand County Almanac, which is about how ethics correlate to land. The text begins talking about how Odysseus came back from war and killed several slaves due to suspected misconduct. The slaves were considered property much like the anthropocentric view of land. Ethics revolve around the premise that an indivudual is part of a community, and the individual needs to compete for his place in the community, but the need to cooperate with the community is an example of ethics. A land ethic confirms the right of other species to exist. Self-interest tends to take precedence over how the land is cared for, over using the land can and will degrade it. Lack of economic value will cause misuse of different landscapes such as marshes, bogs, and deserts. Economic self-interest will cause a lopsided land ethic, which allows economics to be the largest obstacle for the land ethic. 

In an era where countries all around the world are looking to implement more sustainable energy solutions, Iceland is ahead of the game. Iceland works to harness the elements like wind, sun, and even ocean waves to utilize all of its natural resources to its full capacity. One of the goals Iceland’s government strives for is to live in a society with zero waste and sustainable development. One of the ways Iceland utilizes the magma from their volcanoes is to harness the immense amounts of heat and utilize it for energy. There are roughly seven major plates that make up the continents and the many minor plates that fill up the rest of the Earth. These tectonic plates are constantly spreading apart from each other at a rate of about two and half centimeters per year. Plate tectonics is the theory that our planet’s surface is broken up into several rigid sections of thick rock. The friction between the shifting North American and Eurasion plates releases magma which causes an immense amou...

So today in class,  Dr. Redick had his friend and colleague Charlie as a guest speaker. He is from Wisconsin & his wife Shannon live in New Mexico on the Pueblo. Charlie gave a presentation titled “Water in the West” which relates the complete reengineering of western water. It is important to acknowledge that when we are talking about energy or water we are talking about different nexuses that contribute to better options - wind turbines (1888), electrical cars (1839), solar panels, etc. The easy way to understand this is you need to heat up water, which turns to steam, which then turns into energy. In developing the west, hydroelectricity became the main source of energy which completely re-engineered western water. Charlie pondered the question of mutuality between landscapes and cultures and how they are both scaled and influenced. ~15,000 years ago (13,000 BCE) to present focused on biocentrism and ecocentrism. Both biocentric and ecocentric perspectives placed an emphasis...

In my Writing about the Environment Class, we had to read the EPA Report, “Newport News and environmental justice.” It was the Newport News collaborative initiative to assess their environmental health. This initiative involved “listening to residents to understand their needs, working with the local, state, and other federal partners to leverage collective resources more efficiently and effectively in support of local goals.” In this report, they began by saying “people are at the consequences of their environment.” That is something that is very true and a main factor of environmental justice. In the beginning, it talked about how they got the community's feedback and what they were most concerned with which was: port and terminal operations; an interstate highway; a wastewater treatment facility; stormwater and sewer line breaks, and access to healthy foods and transportation. I knew that this area of Newport News was greatly affected by the environment surrounding it, but I did...

I really enjoyed Brooke’s presentation about her short film that highlighted bees. I never knew the difference between native bees and honey bees, so it was interesting to learn the different roles they play. I really didn’t have a lot of background knowledge on bees, so most of the information was entirely new to me. I figured that honey bees were not native to the United States since they weren’t considered a “native” bee, but I didn’t think about the correlation to crops being the reason they were brought to the country, since certain crops are cultivated by honey bees. Something else that really stood out to me was the difference in behaviors and community systems between honey bees and native bees. I was surprised to learn that honey bees are the only bees that live in hives, and native bees live alone or in solitary units. Honey bees’ method of relocating is also interesting as it involves pretty complex behavior. Learning about Brooke’s process that led her to where she is at t...

When reading Chapter 2 of Humans in the Landscape and Dr. Redick’s chapter excerpt, I was intrigued to learn about the different ways that aesthetics can affect peoples’ interactions with the environment. I found it interesting that some aesthetics could be considered monologic while other aesthetics are seen as more experiential. I understand monologic aestheticism to be one-sided; humans are looking out onto nature and are using it for their own pleasure. While this aesthetic brought attention to the wilderness and began the movement of creating national parks, it’s almost as if this aesthetic only focuses on what can be deemed “beautiful.” It does not highlight every aspect of nature, but only the parts that are pleasing to the eye. On the other hand, the experiential aesthetic allows us to appreciate the environment for what it truly is, the beautiful and the not-so-beautiful. When experiencing nature through this aesthetic, humans are fully immersed in the environment and have the...

This weekend I watched a movie called, “Don’t look up,” it was about two low-level astronomers spotting an approaching comet that will destroy planet earth. They go to the white house, in newspapers, and in the media, to try and tell the world and no one believes them. They brush it off and act like it is nothing to be concerned about even though multiple scientists confirmed the data. It was not until they hired their own scientists, that they ended up confirming the legitimacy of the results. The president makes a statement and plans to send rockets into space to destroy the comet until a billionaire tech engineer finds that there are trillions of dollars of materials on the comet that can be made to make new technology. They ditch the plan to destroy it and instead make a way to break it into pieces. The astronomers warn them and say of the chance it will not work but they do not believe them. I will not say what happens in the end in case anyone wants to watch it, which I highly re...

 What makes a forest so intriguing to people? People often go into the woods and feel comforted by being around nature. Often there is an awe to how massive and majestic it can be. People can be captivated, lost, and enveloped by being outside of society. It can be terrifyingly beautiful. People have said to have seen God in nature. Forests are necessary to allow us to feel this way, a way of  being out of control. Humans need to see natures paintbrush in  the most magnificent way possible.   

 This post is from reading chapter 5 from "First Along the River" by Benjamin Kline. Chapter 5 was about the realization as America turned into the 20th century that the resources that were once thought to be endless were not. After President McKinley's assassination in 1901 Theodore Roosevelt took over and focused efforts on conservation movements, along with preservation. National forests went from 42 million acres to 172 million acres preserved. After World War 1, attempting to meet with demands of new technology and production standards eventually led to the Great Depression in the 1930s. Pinchot and Muir were leading naturalists at the time with opposing views. Muir believed that preserving nature so every one can enjoy it was the most important thing. Pinchot believed that conserving nature was most important so it can be utilized to develop society. Eventually both took precedence in their own way , arguably conservation had more interest than preservation. This wa...

In my Writing Intensive class, Writing about the Environment, we had Chief Fire Marshal Jeff Senter come into our class. In this class, we are partnering with the Newport News fire department to help them develop policies that could be implemented for the health and wellness of the people in Newport News. The main question I had when I heard that we were partnering with them was “why is the Newport News fire department interested in the environment?” Through this discussion, I found that the department does much more than just fight fires. Every year there are only about 200 fires, while there are hundreds and hundreds of cases of hazardous materials spills. Along with the environmental hazards, Jeff Senter said, one issue he was most concerned with was social cohesion. He said that you are a consequence of your environment. Environment affects behavior and behavior affects cohesion.  I really enjoyed his talk to our class because something I did not know was that hydrocarbons, in ...

  I want to incorporate the cosmic web metaphor into this blog platform since it is something I have discussed in the past semester in my Religion and Ecology class with Dr. Redick. The metaphor depicts mainly that humans have a complex relationship with ecosystems.This relationship can be examined of course from many different viewpoints as inferred as a web. It is important to acknowledge that this relationship has taken much time to evolve. Dr. Redick used the phrase, “cultural elaboration” to explain this complexity I just mentioned of the relationship between humans and their corresponding ecosystem. From a religious perspective, these elaborations may be understood to be implicated in the alteration or creation of worlds. To make a connection with one of my previous course readings, the main similarity between the cosmic web and the Ecology of Eden is that Eisenberg’s central argument is that our relationship with nature cannot help but be complicated. This message is frequen...

     Recently I've been reading a book about the Buddhist view on environmental conservation called "Our Only Home: A Climate Appeal to the World."  It is by the author Franz Alt and includes an interview with the current Dalai Lama. Although I am not religious and don't practice, I relate a lot to the beliefs and structure of Buddhism, so reading this book has been especially interesting. I grew up Christian and we didn't talk much at all about the environment and respecting it as "holy land" as Buddhists do in daily practice. This is one of the reasons why I really respect Buddhism as a religion and a culture because of how grounding it is to your relationship with the environment, and how it emphasizes that we are inherently what we surround ourselves with. The Dalai Lama speaks a lot about humans' connectedness with nature and our responsibility to protect nature, which relates a lot to what we're talking about in class. He also touches on hu...