So I'm at a computer at the Gatlinburg library, and they have computer access for 30 minute increments and there is this little timer at the top of th screen that is counting down. It's pretty frustrating. I'm at 9:33 right now. And counting. So this post will be short (whatever I can write in 9 minutes). I'm not sure if I have a lot to write about, but I potentially do. I guess I'll start with my quest to get down here.
Took the Greyhound, which left at 11:00 pm Friday night from Cleveland (more like 11:30 because Greyhound tends to be late). It was definitely interesting. It wasn't too bad, but more "stressful" than flying. Not that I was super stressed. It was just an "oh this is kind of sketchy and nobody is really that friendly and it's crowded and I'm tired and what if they forget to load my checked bags when we transfer" etc. It all worked out fine though. Cheaper than flying.
I'm living in a log cabin, which is pretty nice inside. There's a huge common room, and then on either side is a doorway onto the girls side or the guys side. Each gender specific side has a kitchen (bigger than the one I have at home), a bathroom, and two shared bedrooms. The bedrooms each have two sets of bunk beds (so they can each accomodate 4), but supposedly there probably won't be more than 2 to a room. I already have one roommate, and the guy in the other room (Paul, the air quality intern) still has his own room.
I guess I'm not sure how much more I want to go into the living situation, because I'm still not sure how I feel about it. But it will definitely suffice for the summer.
Yesterday was my first day "on the job," but since there are two more interns coming in over the weekend (they will be in my cabin), orientation was postponed until next week. So I'm just doing stuff that doesn't involve pesticides basically. Yesterday I planted native grasses in the increase fields at Cades Cove (if you want to know what an increase field is, then just ask and I'll explain but as of now I have less than 3 minutes left). Today I looked for Ash trees to set up Emerald Ash Borer traps in. There are very few Ash in te park, and th EAB hasnt' come here yet, but this is the most visited NP in the country and people will inevitably bring firewood.
Ok, I'm gonna cut this short. I might write more if I can get more time.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Nature and Human Economy
I've spent a good portion of the morning reading a topic on a backpacking forum that I sometimes frequent on trapping. Obviously a topic such as this spurred some debate. There were contradicting statements made by different people, all claiming to have had experience trapping. Much of the arguments focused on whether or not trapping was cruel. That particular topic is not one that I will address here, as I do not know enough about the practice even after reading about it, and more importantly I've never witnessed it. However, an interesting aside was mentioned a few times in the debate. Basically, when public trapping is banned the government gets to go in and trap for "management purposes" anyways. So instead of selling trapping licenses (I know that hunting licenses benefit conservation, and even if the same isn't currently true for trapping it could certainly be set up in the same way) our taxes are used to fund government trapping. One (or a few, I don't remember) forum members mentioned that much of this "predator management" occurs in order to lower livestock mortality. Though I've certainly read about alternatives to minimizing livestock mortality in areas with predators, I don't remember the specifics and would need to research that a bit more in order to talk about it. Essentially, it comes down to the government trapping in order to cater to large scale ranchers. Agribusiness on the large scale, which has obviously been so extremely harmful to the environment and our economy, as well as the livelihoods of small, local farmers and ranchers.
I've been thinking a lot lately about whether or not our economic system is viable. Everyone knocks communism/socialism, saying that it's a good idea in theory but it's proven ineffective in practice. Well, unfortunately here is where some historical knowledge would help me, but from what I understand it was socially ineffective. Rebellions and dictatorships and such resulted from it. Please correct me if I'm mistaken, or comment with specifics if you know them.
Capitalism, however, is socially more effective but it's fairly clear that it's unsustainable in the long term, and on a large scale. Sure, it's taking more time to prove capitalism's ineffectiveness, but the result is even more dangerous. Large scale agribusiness has mostly taken over our food industry. I'm not going to go into a long rant about why it's so bad because I would probably rant for far too long and that's not really the point. In short, monocultures are unstable, genetic diversity is reduced, they are only useful for their single purpose (no habitat value), our soil is being depleted, government subsidies for large scale agriculture are driving small, sustainable farmers out of business, and the low cost of mass-produced food is exacerbating the problem. Not the mention the atrocious effects of fertilizers and pesticides/herbicides. The point is, if large scale agriculture continues we will destroy much of the natural world. Eutrophication and coastal dead zones will develop from runoff (a severe blow to fishing/fisheries), chemicals will accumulate in ecosystems, poisoning organisms from insects to ourselves, our soil will become barren resulting in a need for more fertilizers (compounding the problem), a greater population and lower production efficiency of the land will result in more habitat being lost, and eventually desertification will probably result. Look at the Middle East. That place used to be the Fertile Crescent. It's desert now because of how many large civilizations have abused the land in that region. North America certainly hasn't been utilized for as long as the "Fertile" Crescent, but our population (and the world population in general) is larger than it's ever been and growing. So yes, the destruction of the land that we depend on certainly could happen on a shorter scale. I'm not saying that it will, because as a society we could change our infrastructure and values. But if we keep going on the current track that we're on, then we're going to doom ourselves. And destroy a large chunk of the natural world in the process. A 6th mass extinction indeed.
So that's largely why I've been thinking about how our economic system is inadequate. But I wish I'd taken an econ class, because I really don't understand our economic system that well. I'm aware of its inadequacies, but could capitalism be made to work sustainably? Going back to the forum topic, someone mentioned that agriculture should once again be placed into the free market (then there was a snappy comment about how the demand for food certainly isn't going to go down). Would something like that even help? Obviously local, sustainable farms that do not grow crops in monoculture would greatly help this problem, but would capitalism allow that? Wouldn't we just get big big "Wal-Mart" style farms that were privately owned instead of given government subsidies? Hell, large chain stores are running small businesses out of business. Is this an inherent failure of capitalism? Would some variant of socialism be more sustainable? Were the failures of socialist systems simply due to the fact that the social timing was not right?
Any comments by anyone who has any idea of what they're talking about when it comes to things like this would be more than welcome. I guess a liberal arts education gave me just a taste of certain fields, but not enough to make me feel confident and/or knowledgeable. Or maybe I strive for too great a knowledge of the big picture, and the details of all of its components. Should I be content to focus on the scientific aspects of ecology and conservation? How can I best preserve the natural world and work towards creating a sustainable society using my field? Am I trying to do too much? Taking on for myself the work of what needs to be our entire society? Well that's an obvious question. Of course it needs to be our entire society, or at least a great majority.
I'm going to end with an article that someone posted in the trapping topic.
It talks about how language perpetuates our perception of nature/economy as a society. The article itself is a little extreme (nobody thinks completely like that), but I think the extremity is necessary. As a society, I think that we do use language that justifies or desensitizes our effects on the environment. And in the context of this language, I think that the points are valid. I thought it was an interesting read in any case.
I've been thinking a lot lately about whether or not our economic system is viable. Everyone knocks communism/socialism, saying that it's a good idea in theory but it's proven ineffective in practice. Well, unfortunately here is where some historical knowledge would help me, but from what I understand it was socially ineffective. Rebellions and dictatorships and such resulted from it. Please correct me if I'm mistaken, or comment with specifics if you know them.
Capitalism, however, is socially more effective but it's fairly clear that it's unsustainable in the long term, and on a large scale. Sure, it's taking more time to prove capitalism's ineffectiveness, but the result is even more dangerous. Large scale agribusiness has mostly taken over our food industry. I'm not going to go into a long rant about why it's so bad because I would probably rant for far too long and that's not really the point. In short, monocultures are unstable, genetic diversity is reduced, they are only useful for their single purpose (no habitat value), our soil is being depleted, government subsidies for large scale agriculture are driving small, sustainable farmers out of business, and the low cost of mass-produced food is exacerbating the problem. Not the mention the atrocious effects of fertilizers and pesticides/herbicides. The point is, if large scale agriculture continues we will destroy much of the natural world. Eutrophication and coastal dead zones will develop from runoff (a severe blow to fishing/fisheries), chemicals will accumulate in ecosystems, poisoning organisms from insects to ourselves, our soil will become barren resulting in a need for more fertilizers (compounding the problem), a greater population and lower production efficiency of the land will result in more habitat being lost, and eventually desertification will probably result. Look at the Middle East. That place used to be the Fertile Crescent. It's desert now because of how many large civilizations have abused the land in that region. North America certainly hasn't been utilized for as long as the "Fertile" Crescent, but our population (and the world population in general) is larger than it's ever been and growing. So yes, the destruction of the land that we depend on certainly could happen on a shorter scale. I'm not saying that it will, because as a society we could change our infrastructure and values. But if we keep going on the current track that we're on, then we're going to doom ourselves. And destroy a large chunk of the natural world in the process. A 6th mass extinction indeed.
So that's largely why I've been thinking about how our economic system is inadequate. But I wish I'd taken an econ class, because I really don't understand our economic system that well. I'm aware of its inadequacies, but could capitalism be made to work sustainably? Going back to the forum topic, someone mentioned that agriculture should once again be placed into the free market (then there was a snappy comment about how the demand for food certainly isn't going to go down). Would something like that even help? Obviously local, sustainable farms that do not grow crops in monoculture would greatly help this problem, but would capitalism allow that? Wouldn't we just get big big "Wal-Mart" style farms that were privately owned instead of given government subsidies? Hell, large chain stores are running small businesses out of business. Is this an inherent failure of capitalism? Would some variant of socialism be more sustainable? Were the failures of socialist systems simply due to the fact that the social timing was not right?
Any comments by anyone who has any idea of what they're talking about when it comes to things like this would be more than welcome. I guess a liberal arts education gave me just a taste of certain fields, but not enough to make me feel confident and/or knowledgeable. Or maybe I strive for too great a knowledge of the big picture, and the details of all of its components. Should I be content to focus on the scientific aspects of ecology and conservation? How can I best preserve the natural world and work towards creating a sustainable society using my field? Am I trying to do too much? Taking on for myself the work of what needs to be our entire society? Well that's an obvious question. Of course it needs to be our entire society, or at least a great majority.
I'm going to end with an article that someone posted in the trapping topic.
It talks about how language perpetuates our perception of nature/economy as a society. The article itself is a little extreme (nobody thinks completely like that), but I think the extremity is necessary. As a society, I think that we do use language that justifies or desensitizes our effects on the environment. And in the context of this language, I think that the points are valid. I thought it was an interesting read in any case.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Day after graduation
As the title indicates, I graduated from Denison yesterday. And summa cum laude at that. It all happened very quickly, and even today I'm not sure that I've processed everything yet. Overall it wasn't really what I expected. I didn't get super emotional. Although it didn't seem like many people did. Shannon was the only person who cried that I saw. I just couldn't really focus in on any one emotion since I was feeling so many of them. I thought that the goodbyes would be rough. And they were sad, but not overwhelmingly so. I know that I'll see almost everyone again. And probably sooner than I think. I also actually didn't get to say goodbye to a lot of people. With the confusion it's understandable though. Seems like that happened to a lot of people.
Commencement itself was long. Cicerone was a great speaker though, and I'm glad that our class got to have him. I found myself spacing out a lot as the B.A.s were walking the stage. There weren't very many B.F.A.s (5, I believe) and most of the people that I know got B.S.s (and there really weren't that many of them either). So after that I would read ahead in the program until I found someone's name that I knew, and that would give me an indication of how much time I had to try to focus my thoughts. It worked only moderately well. I was in such a haze through the whole thing that I didn't even know if they'd pronounced my name right (I was told later that they did). I feel like the day would have been much more enjoyable overall if the stress of cleaning the apartment and moving out by 7 wasn't there. That really is the stupidest thing ever. I know that we should pack during senior week, and I largely DID pack during senior week. But loading can still take quite some time, and packing stuff that is used until the last day. And of course cleaning took by far the longest time. Mike left more than his share of stuff/mess behind, but Josh, Reyan and I all worked together and cleaned the place up fairly quickly. It was still stressful though, because I just kept thinking about whether people had left already and when/how I would track people down. I guess that just reinforces the notion that I will definitely miss the people more than anything else.
I am so thankful that I lived in Morrow freshmen year. Not only were a lot of my current friends fellow Morrow residents, but I really think that it helped my social life freshmen year. Even with the close atmosphere of Morrow I was anti-social until Anne made me hang out in the common room. And I'm so glad that it was a nerdy north-quad dorm, because that was also integral in forging relationships with people living there. Saturday night before graduation Liz and I were toasting buildings with a bottle of wine, and I regret that we never got around to north quad to toast Morrow. When I think of Denison, the innards of that building are still often the first thing that comes to mind.
Going back to commencement, President Knobel's class charge to us was to experience ubuntu whenever we could. At first I thought that that was sort of a weak charge for our class. But I guess it's sort of fitting, and my first act of ubuntu (is ubuntu a verb? I should research the word later) is really the solidification of my intent to remain friends with as many people as possible. I've largely lost touch with people from my High School, and if I get around to talking to people it doesn't happen very often. I feel like it's easy for me to do things like that, but I should really work hard to not make the same mistake twice.
I'm not sure how coherent this post was, but that may reflect my current state of mind. Then again, a few people have mentioned that their thoughts probably weren't coherent and they seemed fine to me. Anyways, I think that's it for me right now. I still have to wrap my mind around the fact that I'll be in Tennessee in less than a week, after I let all of this graduation stuff to sink in.
Commencement itself was long. Cicerone was a great speaker though, and I'm glad that our class got to have him. I found myself spacing out a lot as the B.A.s were walking the stage. There weren't very many B.F.A.s (5, I believe) and most of the people that I know got B.S.s (and there really weren't that many of them either). So after that I would read ahead in the program until I found someone's name that I knew, and that would give me an indication of how much time I had to try to focus my thoughts. It worked only moderately well. I was in such a haze through the whole thing that I didn't even know if they'd pronounced my name right (I was told later that they did). I feel like the day would have been much more enjoyable overall if the stress of cleaning the apartment and moving out by 7 wasn't there. That really is the stupidest thing ever. I know that we should pack during senior week, and I largely DID pack during senior week. But loading can still take quite some time, and packing stuff that is used until the last day. And of course cleaning took by far the longest time. Mike left more than his share of stuff/mess behind, but Josh, Reyan and I all worked together and cleaned the place up fairly quickly. It was still stressful though, because I just kept thinking about whether people had left already and when/how I would track people down. I guess that just reinforces the notion that I will definitely miss the people more than anything else.
I am so thankful that I lived in Morrow freshmen year. Not only were a lot of my current friends fellow Morrow residents, but I really think that it helped my social life freshmen year. Even with the close atmosphere of Morrow I was anti-social until Anne made me hang out in the common room. And I'm so glad that it was a nerdy north-quad dorm, because that was also integral in forging relationships with people living there. Saturday night before graduation Liz and I were toasting buildings with a bottle of wine, and I regret that we never got around to north quad to toast Morrow. When I think of Denison, the innards of that building are still often the first thing that comes to mind.
Going back to commencement, President Knobel's class charge to us was to experience ubuntu whenever we could. At first I thought that that was sort of a weak charge for our class. But I guess it's sort of fitting, and my first act of ubuntu (is ubuntu a verb? I should research the word later) is really the solidification of my intent to remain friends with as many people as possible. I've largely lost touch with people from my High School, and if I get around to talking to people it doesn't happen very often. I feel like it's easy for me to do things like that, but I should really work hard to not make the same mistake twice.
I'm not sure how coherent this post was, but that may reflect my current state of mind. Then again, a few people have mentioned that their thoughts probably weren't coherent and they seemed fine to me. Anyways, I think that's it for me right now. I still have to wrap my mind around the fact that I'll be in Tennessee in less than a week, after I let all of this graduation stuff to sink in.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Magee Marsh
Yesterday I went birding at Magee Marsh, and here is the breakdown of what I saw:
Visitors Center:
American Goldfinch
Robin
Red Winged Blackbird
Barn Swallow
White Crowned Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Grackle
Drive to Board Walk
Green Heron
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Great Egret
Coot
Tree Swallow
Lesser Yellowlegs
Boardwalk
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Swainson's Thrush
Yellow Warbler
Palm Warbler
Ovenbird (warbler)
Veery (thrush)
Black Throated Green Warbler
House Wren
Ruby Crowned Kinglet
Swamp Sparrow
Blackburnian Warbler
Lincoln's Sparrow
Black Throated Blue Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Red Breasted Nuthatch
White Throated Sparrow
Additionally, Meredith saw a White Breasted Nuthatch and a Rose Breasted Grosbeak, but I missed them.
Ottowa Wildlife Reserve
Double Crested Cormorant
Killdeer
Magee Boardwalk take 2
American Woodcock!
Least Flycatcher
female RW Blackbird making a nest
Hooded Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Waterthrush (warbler)
Blackpoll Warbler
Whippoorwill!
Ruddy Duck
Baltimore Oriole
Bald Eagle
Additionally, others in the group saw a Redstart.
My total was 43 birds seen, 29 of which were firsts for me. The group list was an impressive 76! Meredith had 44, because she had the White Breasted Nuthatch and Rose Breasted Grosbeak, but she didn't see the Hooded Warbler.
I definitely need to go to Magee Marsh again. I wonder if it would be good during the fall migration? If not, whatever, I can go in some future spring again...
Visitors Center:
American Goldfinch
Robin
Red Winged Blackbird
Barn Swallow
White Crowned Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Grackle
Drive to Board Walk
Green Heron
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Great Egret
Coot
Tree Swallow
Lesser Yellowlegs
Boardwalk
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Swainson's Thrush
Yellow Warbler
Palm Warbler
Ovenbird (warbler)
Veery (thrush)
Black Throated Green Warbler
House Wren
Ruby Crowned Kinglet
Swamp Sparrow
Blackburnian Warbler
Lincoln's Sparrow
Black Throated Blue Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Red Breasted Nuthatch
White Throated Sparrow
Additionally, Meredith saw a White Breasted Nuthatch and a Rose Breasted Grosbeak, but I missed them.
Ottowa Wildlife Reserve
Double Crested Cormorant
Killdeer
Magee Boardwalk take 2
American Woodcock!
Least Flycatcher
female RW Blackbird making a nest
Hooded Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Waterthrush (warbler)
Blackpoll Warbler
Whippoorwill!
Ruddy Duck
Baltimore Oriole
Bald Eagle
Additionally, others in the group saw a Redstart.
My total was 43 birds seen, 29 of which were firsts for me. The group list was an impressive 76! Meredith had 44, because she had the White Breasted Nuthatch and Rose Breasted Grosbeak, but she didn't see the Hooded Warbler.
I definitely need to go to Magee Marsh again. I wonder if it would be good during the fall migration? If not, whatever, I can go in some future spring again...
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