Forum Reflection and Google Alert Find

The forum we had in class on Friday caused me to think about water in ways I never had before.  Our professor asked us if we thought that Americans using water in such wasteful ways is a moral issue.  I pondered that for a while, and came to the conclusion that using water is not a moral issue.  We are not morally obligated to use minimal amounts because it is available to us freely.  We are, I believe, obligated to help the less advantaged.  That means building wells, and giving (and teaching) the disadvantaged ways to help themselves.  Desalinators can be very expensive, and I'm not exactly sure why... Why is there such a high price for having clean water?

On a different note, I found this article in one of my Google Alerts.  It wasn't exactly what I was looking for when I set up the Alert, but it's pretty cool!  It's about Cargo bikes. Have you ever heard of them?

https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSJQ

GBpYPjbafjtE9aTzwBzEDyJZw5xKewa7P1_vC1CfhgrdnKq

You can read the article at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/green-motoring/9032822/Cargo-bikes-and-tricycles-for-the-school-run.html

These bikes can be used instead of cars to carry your children in the "box" in front.  They are supposedly a very smooth ride, and very environment-friendly.  When you start to have trouble going up hill, there is a button you can press that takes the pressure of the cargo off.  It looks like fun!

El Rio Colorado Pollution!

Check this out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeA8Xs6BlEA

This video shows the disastrous effects of human waste.  El Rio Colorado undertakes massive amounts of pollution.  Plastic bottles, bags, beer bottles, and Styrofoam cups are washed into the river every week.   The good news is that biologists, engineers, and ecologists are all working towards cleaning and maintaining the health of the river.  Trucks sweep the roads nearby to rid of trash that could potentially be washed away in a heavy rain.  Filtration systems are becoming more advanced and reliable as well.  I believe that communities near other rivers will take action to fight pollution, too, once they see the benefits reaped here.

Not Just a Bug

Not Just a Bug

I used to love riding the school bus.  Shiny yellow paint, giant wheels, and no seat belts were all it took for my six-year-old mind to scream adventure.  My sister and I grinned as we took our seats at the front of the bus.  After a few minutes of chatting with the other kids, I felt a pinch on my arm.  Slightly alarmed, I looked down to see the most disgusting, hideous bug I had ever seen in my entire life.  I smacked at it and it landed on the bus floor, squirming around like a worm half fried on a sidewalk.  “It’s a bee!” an older and wiser 4^th grader declared.

“Eww!  Squash it!” I whined. 

“There’s no use in squashing it,” the 4^th grader replied.  Once it stings you, it’s gonna die anyway.”

“I’ll kill it!” exclaimed a skinny boy with glasses.  With one loud thunk he stepped on the bee with his shoe.  We all circled around the bee and leaned in to observe the tiny mound of guts that remained. 

Ten years later in my high school biology class, I thought about that day in the first grade.  We had been studying plant evolution and reproduction, and I began to wonder exactly what role and impact bees had on the environment.  

I realized that many people, like me and the other children in the story above, think little of bees.  It doesn’t take long for people to start swatting once the annoying buzz tickles their ear.  But before we pull out the fly swatter, maybe we should consider everything that bees provide us, as well as their current stance in the world. 

Since winter 2006, the bee population has been declining at an unusually fast rate.  Over the next 6 months 80% of bees went out in search of plants to pollinate and never returned.  Panicked beekeepers termed the disappearance as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).  Because bees have been around for 130 million years, you might wonder why they are disappearing now.  Researchers believe that harmful pesticides, deforestation, global warming, and mites might be factors contributing to CCD.  Industrial agriculture might also play a role. 

CCD is a problem because honey bees are the most important pollinator in the ecosystem.  Although some plants rely on wind or self-pollination, most plants require bees to cross-pollinate for them.  This includes a third of the food that we produce in the United States.  In a world without bees, plants that we take for granted will die, as will the animals that eat those plants. Fruits, vegetables, and even nuts may disappear before our very eyes.  We would have to rely on a diet consisting of mainly corn, wheat, and rice. 

Bees contribute to a plethora of other items that you might not expect them to.  Their wax can be used for candles, cosmetics, furniture and shoe polish, as well as hair removers and many other household products.  Honey is also a beneficial product that bees produce.  It contains calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, copper, and other essential minerals.  Vitamins and healthy amino acids are also found in honey.  It turns out that honey is not just a delicious and healthy spread!  Putting honey on a cut or burn will speed up the healing process.  It can also act as a cough suppressant when ingested. You can help protect the bees by planting flowering plants, fighting against pesticide use, and limiting your participation towards global warming by walking or biking to work or school.  If we all ban together to take steps toward a cleaner and environmentally-conscious world, we can prevent critical species loss from happening again.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/silence-of-the-bees/full-episode/251/

 Works Cited

"Honey - The Healthy Choice - BeeMaid Honey." Beemaid Natural Honey Products Are Proudly Owned by Canadian Beekeepers - BeeMaid Honey. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://www.beemaid.com/honey-the-healthy-choice>.

"Honeybees, Colony Collapse Disorder | Silence of the Bees: Introduction | Nature | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/silence-of-the-bees/introduction/38/>.

"Video: Full Episode - Silence of the Bees - Colony Collapse Disorder, CCD, Honeybees | Nature | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/silence-of-the-bees/full-episode/251/>.

Haikus

One percent farmers

Resources are limited

We must make a change

The planet we live

Is not what we think it is

Forever changing

Yum bread tastes good

We are hungry and need food

Kansas please grow wheat!

Exercise with Google Alerts and Twitter

Although initially doubtful, I have come to the conclusion that Google Alerts and Twitter CAN be useful in gianing information.  I had never used Twitter before, so it took me a while to get acquainted with it.  I decided to follow National Geographic because I love viewing their pictures.  They also post a lot about the environment and how plants, animals, and people are responding to it.  I found out that National Geographic does not only talk the talk; they walk the walk.  About 60% of their waste as a company is recycled/composted!  They recycle batteries, DVDs, office materials, and even toilet paper! 
I also found that Google Alerts is a fun tool.  It is convenient and easy to use.  I asked for articles relating to "carrying capacity" to be sent to my email daily.  I learned that there is a limit to all species populations.  Many species have already hit that limit, but humans never have.  There is no question that we will one day reach that mark.  The question is when will we hit it.

Environmental Issue and "Island Civilization"

                As decades go by, extinction is becoming a larger and larger issue.  As houses, schools, stores, and office buildings are built, animal habitats and plants are eradicated.  Oftentimes, species are overhunted without hunters even knowing the species is struggling.  The introduction of non-native species is also proven to be destructive.  For example, the infamous vine, Kudzu, was brought from Asia to the United States in 1876.  It grows on trees and bushes until its leaves block out sunlight and oxygen to the host, essentially killing it.  This vine grows extremely vast in the South East and is difficult to get rid of. 

                Roderick Frazier Nash’s “Island Civilization” idea could potentially solve many of these problems. If humans isolated themselves in the way Nash proposes, animals and plants could live freely in their habitats, away from human impact.  Also, since the population of humans would be dramatically reduced by then next millennium, the resources that are needed from the wilderness would be much less than that of today.  This future diversity would allow us to achieve more medical advances, as a large percentage of plants are yet to be studied. 

 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060705172308.htm

Summery/Reflection of "Island Civilization"

                In his essay, “Island Civilization: a vision for human occupancy of Earth”, Professor Roderick Frazier Nash explains the importance of taking a new approach towards the environment.   For thousands of years, he argues, hunters and gatherers lived harmoniously with nature.  It wasn’t until people started to try to control nature that it became more of a nuisance than a friend.  Man began to work against the “wilderness” by building fences, clearing out trees, and herding animals to name a few.  Furthermore, technology reinforced the separation through the emergence of railroad tracks, bridges, tunnels, dams, and pavement. 

            Nash informs his readers that there are four directions in which the fate of the earth can go.  Think of it as a road with four paths branching at a single point.  The single point is where we are presently.  The paths are the different future scenarios that may occur within the next millennium.  The first path, he says, leads to what he calls “Wasteland” Earth.  Imagine a mundane, depleted Earth exhausted of its natural resources that is only able to support a few species.  It is the road that our growing population and continued mistreatment of flora and fauna will cause.  To avoid a future like this, he argues, we must take proper steps towards change.   

            The second path Nash describes is called the “Garden Scenario”.  This seems to be an approach that we might expect to come out of a science-fiction book.  In this illustration, the earth would be under control of the human species.  We would use technology to operate the planet instead of letting it run its natural course.  The earth would be far less diversified, but the water would be clean, and food plentiful.  Large animals would only exist for us to eat because the wilderness would be nonexistent.  This world that is described is one fully centered on us.  

            “Future Primitive” is what Nash calls the third path.  In this course, groups of humans revert back to the hunter-gatherer ways of their ancestors.  Technology is considered an enemy and discarded entirely.  People would have to learn how to live side-by-side with nature as an equal instead of fighting it.

            Lastly, Nash describes the path he feels is best suited for our future.  He calls it “Island Civilization”.  Instead of fencing in the wilderness, he says that we should fence in human settlement.  Imagine little bubbles of human communities scattered across the world.  In these “bubbles”, humans can still enjoy the same artificial comforts we have today (think of air conditioning!).   With technology, we could trade the harsh lands we’ve pushed wild animals into and turn them into comfortable places for us to live.  He says that if people want to opt out of these highly populated communities, they can live in the wilderness as long as they agree to live as hunters and gatherers.  They can never settle; they must only take what is needed to fulfill their daily needs.

            While I can agree with Professor Nash’s urgency to persuade people to take steps toward protecting the environment, I feel like his solution is much more drastic then necessary, or even possible.  I believe it is safe to broadly say that most people know that we could take better care of the world in which we live.  The fact is, however, that people have worked long and hard to obtain comfortable homes and safe environments for their children to play and grow up in.  Our society’s standard of living is much too high to achieve either the “Future Primitive” scenario or the “Island Civilization” scenario.  If either were to occur, I believe that both would be a desperate effort to save the human species.  The “Garden Scenario” would probably be most preferable and easiest for us to head towards.  Even so, much of this illustration relies heavily on faith that we will come up with the technology in the next millennium to make it possible.  Also, might arise when people realize the ethical issues involved in this plan.  One might argue that taking such control might be interpreted as “playing God”.    

            Looking at our advances in the past decade or so, I would say that we are naturally taking steps toward the right path.  With technology improving, we can now use the internet in replace of paper and pen.  Also, through things like email and instant messaging, texting, video chatting, and voice messaging, we can potentially save ourselves a drive.  Technology is only getting more eco-friendly, now that consumers are more conscientious of the environment.  I encourage people to take small steps every day towards making the world a cleaner and more beautiful place.