This post is due by Tuesday, September 10 @ midnight. No credit given for late posts.
Read the assigned chapters above, and then:
1. Provide 3 SPECIFIC observations about Ethics and the Environment, using 2-3 sentences combining the book and your own IYOW analysis.
2. Finally, ask ONE specific question you have of ethics and the environment after completing our reading.
1. Provide 3 SPECIFIC observations about Ethics and the Environment, using 2-3 sentences combining the book and your own IYOW analysis.
2. Finally, ask ONE specific question you have of ethics and the environment after completing our reading.
Blog here, please, EATErs. Thanks, W
ReplyDeleteChapter 1 Observations:
ReplyDelete1. Environmental historians are very interested in what people think about nature and how they have expressed those ideas in folk religions, pop culture, art and literature. They study these specific areas to get a better understanding for what we think about nature and how it relates to our daily lives.
2. Ecology points out the value of biological diversity, which helps to maintain balance and productivity of an ecosystem in reaction to moderate stress. They look at other species, which are increasing at the human rate and predict what will happen to that particular species in relation to environmental factors and resources available.
3. The human species evolved within the community of life by competing against, cooperating with, imitating, using and being used by other species. The human race has learned a lot of things from other species, which has helped us, learn the way of life and better develop.
Chapter 2 Observations:
1. Before humans were on the earth, it was a place of much biodiversity and dynamic balance among species as well as elements. Everything worked together and balanced each other out.
2. According to the new views of cosmological physics, natural laws may change as the universe unfolds. However they do not make exceptions for individuals or species. Naturally it will not take into account the living species, it will just change without question.
3. Human development has been so affected by interrelationships with other forms of life during the course of history. It can be described as a process of complex coevolution, genetically and culturally.
Question: If humans can’t exist in isolation from the rest of life and cannot exist alone, then why do we continue to treat our environment the way we do and kill these animals that play such a vital role in our lives and the entire ecosystem?
Chapter One
ReplyDelete1. I can't help but think of Hughes work as reiterating the ideas that were covered in Ishmael. Hughes speaks of the way our ecosystem is affected by increases in human population; the ways in which the environment becomes affected by human actions and the ways we need to adapt to these never ending changes.
2. This text provided me with more of an understanding as to what the study of environmental history is and all it encompasses. I am now more aware of the ways in which humans impact our environment, and found it both interesting and sad, the ways in which Hughes broke down specific effects based on different scales, yet all equally devastating to our environment.
3. Many of our attempts to become more sustainable are trial and error and as we try to make positive changes, we are not always doing what is best for the environment regardless of our good intentions. It scares me to think of the lasting impacts some of these attempts may accrue and the ways in which they may challenge my daughter's generation, similar to those we currently face from many years ago. I can only hope that we can make the younger generations more aware of our relationship with the environment sooner than later and that they will be more conscience about their use of natural resources and their preventions to help make the environment better.
Chapter Two
1. The Leavers recognized Earth to be a living organism and respected it. By hunting and gathering rather than feeling the need to produce more and more foods and not living in a manner that was greater than need be, all the while having life's necessities, the Leavers enabled the environment's well-being to continue forth. The Takers have sucked the life out of so many beautiful things before us.
2. Humans continue to endanger protected lands by spreading agricultural production too close to the borders of reservations. If we must continue to produce crops, we should be able to do so with much respect to the precious lands that are not yet as tainted as is much of the land that has already been destroyed.
3. It amazes me that we question the relationship between humans and animals when human life is dependent on animals and plants. Humans are closely connected with the Earths life forms, in the sense that we too breathe and reproduce just as plants and animals do, and so many of our actions came to be through observation of animals.
Why did our human interactions with animals ever change? Is there any area that is really considered off limits to agricultural growth and production?
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ReplyDeleteChapter 1:
ReplyDelete1. In the past, history has positively encouraged human mastery over other life forms and the natural environment, suggesting a very Taker oriented perspective concerning our status of dominance over other living entities. With a history that portrays the environment as a backdrop, humans collectively adopted the Taker mindset of manipulating the earth to serve their own needs. In contrast to older history, environmental history looks at the land in a much more holistic manner, with all organisms occupying a changing world in space and time. This is much more of a Leaver oriented perspective in comparison to our previous historic view of the environment.
2. Humans have never existed in isolation from the rest of life, and could never survive alone. As Ishmael explains to the narrator, humans have come to the misleading belief that they are separate from the environment and the forces that govern the rest of nature. Hughes, similarly to Ishmael, illuminates the fact of human survival depends on our ability to shed this myth, and operate within the principles of the environment.
3. Hughes makes an interesting point that many humans in positions of power decide that values such as profit are more important than sustainability and long-term survival. Ishmael points out that man has become the world’s enemy, and I think it makes sense to identify how Takers keep this a reality by following leaders who regard economic growth as the highest concern. This belief relates to the creation myth of how man’s destiny is to rule over the earth, giving reason to our ever-expanding population and obsession with economic profit.
Chapter 2:
1. The earth can be viewed as something that is alive – a whole entity made up of smaller ecosystems just as our live bodies are made up of smaller living cells. This idea of interconnectivity amongst both human and nonhumans, and the larger environment as a whole is something Leavers continue to believe and abide by, whereas Takers see such a belief as a limitation, instead choosing to operate separately and independent of responsibility.
2. Since humans have lost sight of the knowledge gained from interactions with animals and plants, loss of such interaction has and will continue to affect us more than we are aware. Hughes highlights the fact that human minds and bodies have been impacted and influenced by our encounters with the environment, giving us an important sense of who we are. By separating ourselves from the rest of nature and believing we are transcendent creatures meant to dominate the rest of the earth’s inhabitants, we are alienating ourselves against the very creatures that led us to our current existence.
3. When humans were still hunters and gatherers, their health and livelihood depended on the condition of the ecosystem. If hunters killed too many of a certain species, they were in danger of starvation. With the development of agriculture, humans have removed this direct dependence on their environment, and are instead able to manipulate their surroundings to most benefit themselves.
Question:
If the agricultural revolution was actually one of the most destructive movements started by humankind, why do we continue to teach it as one of the most glorious and beneficial times in human history? Why do we describe it as a positive phenomenon when in reality it has led to our destruction of the environment?
Chapter One:
ReplyDelete1. No resource is unlimited. Humans seem to think that they can just take whatever they need, or seem to need, and it will always be there, but that isn’t the case.
2. Humans and the environment are linked in a form of coevolution. The way humans live influences the environment, but also, the way the environment is requires humans to adapt as well.
3. Development can be both positive and negative. When it’s a development such as extreme population growth, it’s negative, but when it’s development for the greater good such as realizing ways to rebuild our environment, it’s positive.
Chapter Two:
1. Humans need other living things. In the hunter-gatherer times, they used animals and plants for food and wood from trees to make tools. Even now, we eat plants and animals and use wood to make a majority of things that we need.
2. Be aware of your surroundings. So many ancient civilizations were considerate of the environment they were harming by being aware of how many animals they were killing and the kind of pattern they were making fires in. Our society now needs to learn how to live that way.
3. Humans domesticated not only animals but land as well during the agricultural revolution. It was a clear disruption to the environment and it would have been the most harmful thing we’ve done yet.
Question:
1. Would we ever be able to go back to a hunter-gatherer way of life (or something similar), or are we too far gone?
Chapter one:
ReplyDelete1. Human intervention can really harm the Earth's natural ecosystem. Humans harm ecosystems both knowingly and unknowingly, whether its by direct attacks or by inadvertent negligence.
2.Human life is connected to the integrity of our environment more than we think. The reason for having this connection is because the environment has shaped human life through evolution making it possible for us to keep living.
3.Humans are threatening their own sustainability for the future. Humans need to change their ways and stop thinking short-term (moneymaking) and start thinking long-term (sustainability).
Chapter two:
1. There needs to be a balance in place to sustain the Earth. Humans need to stop taking so much from the Earth and start looking for alternate means to relieve the stresses and reliance put on the Earth.
2. Everyone is connected to each other on the Earth. No living organism is alone and every organism relies on another for survival.
3. Humans need to relate back to earlier practices when it comes to accomplishing tasks. The work may be harder, but the payoff will be sustaining the Earth for future generations.
Question: What needs to be done to make a sustainable Earth?
Chapter 1:
ReplyDelete1. Taker civilization has influenced the world and its ecosystem in what seems to be a negative way. An example of this can be seen on Madeira, the Wooded Isle. In the 15th century, Portuguese settlers started a chain reaction of what I would call an invasion on the fragile structure of the island’s ecosystem. By introducing new plant and animal life as well as stripping the island of its natural resources, settlers wiped out many species and endangered the island’s ecosystem.
2. Humans have evolved and competed in the community of life. While it seems a forgotten fact, humans were originally part of the ecosystems in the biocenosis but with time, we have not only separated ourselves from this community but have become a part of what effects and changes it. This change is similar to how Ishmael says Takers are trying to control the everything and things in their more competent hands.
3. “Human population growth tends to multiply effects on ecosystems” (Hughes 8). Hughes talked about this phenomenon as a ripple in the ecosystem in which the human population is living. While some cases are sustainable and the ecosystem survives and remains healthy, often this is not the case. Humans, through technology and an ever growing population have caused a large ripple in the earth’s fragile ecosystem.
Chapter 2:
1. In the chapter, Hughes talks about the ecotonal, or the place where the first familiest of Homo Sapiens evolved. He says that the environment the early humans lived in was not much different from the Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem. An important point he makes when talking about this is the fact that humans have never been alone and that we too are part of the ecosystem and have evolved in the same ways as plants and animals.
2. Humans used to treat animals and plants with deep respect as shown with the Kakadu aboriginals. They would only kill what is needed and had many ceremonies to show their respect for the animal they had killed. They also maintained identification with the land and other living things. Big Bill Neidjie put this connection in a fascinating way when he said “That tree same as me. This piece of ground he grow you” (Hughes 20).
3. Hughes also showed how humans have used their knowledge of their environment and the land to help sustain themselves and the ecosystem. Through a system of trial and error over a millennia, humans have learned methods to help keep themselves in accord with nature’s cycles and to help sustain the ecosystem. Rather than destroying everything, everything they do is to benefit the well-being of the environment.
Question: The environment relies just as much on us as we do on it. If this is the case, then why have we turned our backs from the deep respect and preservation of nature that we once had?
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete1. It is an ecological belief that the ability for a species to increase in number is limited by environmental barricades. The first and foremost of which is the availability of resources required for that species to live. If there isn’t enough food or a large enough inhabitable area then any species that rely on those factors to survive will diminish and, should the resources decline too much, become extinct. In addition, many species depend on each other’s existence for survival.
2. The diverse web of relations between species is necessary for survival. Humans are no exception, we need other species in order to survive. Without insects to pollenate our crops we would have difficulty farming just about every crop. Even the ancient hunters relied on the existence of their game to survive. Throughout human history our species has relied on each other for survival. Humans do not and could not exist in isolation, we have always relied on each other; from the clan of hunters, the farming village, to the city.
3. This relationship between species is known as an ecosystem. It does, however, encompass much more than just the species themselves. The physical factors required to form the home of all species are a part of the ecosystem. This includes the water we drink, the air we drink, and the ground we walk on. Ecosystems can be of varying sizes, environments as small as a forest or as large as the entire planet can be classified as an ecosystem.
Chapter 2
1. The ancient hunters and gatherers viewed the Earth as a living organism because of how all life of Earth is linked together. Each ecosystem is a part of something larger than itself and these relationships make the Earth a single ecological organism.
2. Old human civilizations held the Earth and its inhabitants in high regard. Animals and plants were treated with reverence and were only killed when necessary for survival. The Native Americans upheld these traditions and would often say prayers for the animals which they hunted and killed for food.
3. The agricultural revolution vastly changed the ways in which humans live. With it, humans began to take control of the world and its other inhabitants. Animals and plants were domesticated and raised by humans for the purpose of being food or assisting human life in some way. Being able to produce food in these ways meant that humans needed to settle in one place to be able to maintain their farms. It was at this time when humans decided that they wanted more. Old farming implements were inefficient and did not produce a surplus of food necessary for them to live off of. Because of this, new farming machinery was created and it greatly contributed to the decline of the land.
Question:
The agricultural revolution was perhaps the turning point where humans decided to claim mastery over the world and other life forms. This created an enormous shift in the way which humans lived and how they viewed the world. In what ways can we work towards returning to a lifestyle that is less controlling and has less of a desire to reap profits from the Earth?
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete1. One of the main points of chapter one was that humans have made significant changes to their environments on a global and local scale. It was interesting to find out that most of our changes had negative effects on the environment but these changes would help sustain communities.
2. “Every environment struggle is, at its foundations, a struggle among interests about power” – Douglas Weiner
Since the 20th century, governments have been focusing on economic growth as the most important thing in a community. This could be why there hasn’t been a greater push toward the research and use of renewable energy products. As long as there is still oil and the gas companies are doing fine we will not see an urge to change to renewable energy.
3. Ecological process was a unique term I learned about that says the relationships between humans and the environmental undergoes continual change. This is sort of a no brainer but this term can help us examine the past to explain the present in regards to why certain things have changed in our environment.
Chapter 2
1. The earth is alive. Time lapses from satellites overtime show earth’s movements. The seas circulate, etc. This is an interesting concept to think about.
2. For the human race to continue to live we must coexist with the environment and other animals. We need other living things as much as we need humans to live and vice versa.
3. It’s interesting how some scholars believe the agricultural revolution is one of the biggest mistakes humans have made. I see it as a way everyone has food and as a positive thing. This course will probably give me insight on other opinions and information to allow me to understand why some feel this way.
Question
Is it possible that our culture in America is past the point of becoming leavers? Are we too technologically advanced or have we destroyed our environment to such extent that we can’t bounce back from?
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete1. Mankind treats the world and its resources as if every aspect of it renewable. If our habits of ‘mastering’ the world are not broken soon it will be beyond repair. Collectively we are driving many species (including our own) into extinction.
2. The “human community” and the “plant and animal community” are barley aware of one another anymore. History and ecology must take one another into account. Modern history is written as an incomplete life support system and this ecology neglects historical change.
3. The ecological process says that the interrelationship of mankind and the environment is always changing. But the changes that we’ve already seen help us today and help us predict what’s to come in the future.
Chapter 2
1. Many ecologists say that we should preserve part of the environment for both the animal’s sake and to see our affects on the part that are not preserved. However I believe that nothing is truly preserved in this world, what with our mass amounts of emissions and climate change, even the untouched parts of the world are affected.
2. Humans, naturally, wouldn’t even be alive if it wasn’t for other animals. To go even deeper, we wouldn’t even be as well developed in culture, technology, and art if it wasn’t for observing how other beings lived. This is where bio-mimicry was born, we wouldn’t have velcro if it wasn’t for burrs, or office buildings if it wasn’t for termite dens.
3. Reading about early farming and harvesting makes me think about how, even though it’s still manipulating the environment and would be classified as a “taker” practice, it wasn’t very harmful. However this is comparing to agriculture today and all of the pesticides and mass products we put the environment through. If we made our need less and bought local foods we could possibly go back to smaller yield and less damage.
Question: Humankind has advances so greatly but to the expense of our environment. It is, in my mind, impossible to convince people to go back to the “leaver” ways so is the answer to our environmental problems more advancement? Could bio-mimicry be the answer?
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete•History in the world is created from challenges that communities face in the world. These challenges can occur from natural disasters that threaten the lives of the people in the community, or even from economic or cultural challenges that disrupt the ability to provide what is needed for survival.
•Environmental history is used to study the relationships between humans and their natural surroundings, as well as how certain changes affected their relationships. Environmental history can also be used to understand human history. It studies the effects that species and natural forces have on one another.
•How people express their views on the environment through pop culture, literature, and art, is another thing that environmental historians are interested in. It can be the history of culture and ideas, as well as the attitudes that people have to natural phenomenon’s.
Chapter 2
•On Earth today, there is no place that remains unaffected by the human race. Every area on Earth has been affected by air pollution, acid rain, radiation, and ultra-violet rays.
•In theory, Earth is a living organism. It operates through change, and adapts depending on the change that it is thrown its way. Thus, helping it maintain its ecological balance.
•Before humankind made its mark on Earth, it was not just a barren “Eden”, change like erupting volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes, forest fires, floods, and droughts, affected Earth and forced it to adapt to itself essentially.
Question
•Is there a way that we, as humans, could decrease the effect of acid rain in the world? Also, where are the places less affected by us located in the world?
Chapter One:
ReplyDeletePage 1
“Challenges appear sometimes in the form of natural catastrophes that threaten the survival of communities, and other times in the form of cultural and economic choices that threaten the ability of natural systems to endure and provide”. Here the author highlights two main challenges to human societies, one being natural disasters and one being humans themselves (more specifically their choices). It’s important to understand that nature is constantly changing, destroying, and rebuilding. I see this comparable to the human species as we too contribute to changing, destroying, and (sometimes) rebuilding nature. I see how when a natural disaster occurs, humans tend to unite and help those affected, whereas when human disaster occurs (air pollution, land clearing, ect.) we seem to ignore the affect on the environment. Maybe if we somehow could relate the environment destruction to human struggle and hurt, more people would attempt to solve the problem as it seems hurting the environment doesn’t mean enough yet.
Page 3
In Egypt the Nile river and its floods provided the people with a rich layer of soil each year perfect for farming. However, a man made high dam in Aswan ended flooding. The consequences included native Nubians having to relocate as well as devastated farm systems. In this instance nature provided a necessary disaster to which humans adapted to survive. However, when humans attempt to adapt nature to their life styles, it cause many more problems. It seems Taker lifestyle to make everything else change to your pleasing where as Leaver lifestyle advocates changes your lifestyle to sustain.
Page 8
“Ecological process is a dynamic concept, it implies that the interrelationship of humans and the natural environment undergoes continual change”. Understanding that humans and the environment are always changing, and thus reacting teaches us so much. If we are able to use past changes to help us understand the present, then we can look back at what worked and what didn’t. Using history as a guideline we can mold a world where the human species doesn’t conquer or destroy, but rather lives as a caring neighbor to the environment.
CHAPTER 2:
Page 12
“Earth before mankind appeared was a place of abundant biodiversity and of dynamic balance among species and elements”. Although this quote seems to deem humans as the cause for which this bio diverse world changed, its important to realize that humans have great potential to repair and impact. Although Ishmael portrays humans as captive to a society in which destroying the environment is a way the way of life, I disagree. I think the key trait to captivity is not having the option to escape. As humans, we aren’t bond by any physical barrier or laws compelling us to spew gases into the air, rather we are bond by arrogance and indifference. Knowledge and perspective seem to be a proper medicine accompanied by an acceptance of caring for the environment.
Page 17
When the author mentions Aristotle and how he believed rational is the unique possession of humankind it made we wonder if rational should be associated with all humans. Rational beings would understand that for their species to survive, its needs a place to live. That being recognized, a rational being would ensure its survival by sustain its place of living. Yet everyday we destroy planet earth. Thus I believe rational is a higher concept that is earned as opposed to being an inherent trait.
Page 22
ReplyDeleteHopi Arizona
This part of the chapter stuck out to me being of the peoples reliance, or even faith in nature to provide for them. Their prays are their way or impacting nature and what it does for them. Rather then physically amend the world to satisfy them, they base their existence off the belief that earth will provide, and the acceptance that it may not. What matters is the survival of the community, not the individual. If we were able to truly adopt this mindset, and accept it, I believe the world we be less consumed with conquering and more interested in sustaining.
Question: How will we make saving the environment relevant to our societies cuture
ReplyDeleteChapter 1
ReplyDelete1.” Change is an inescapable phenomenon and in human societies and the world of nature and in the relations linking them (p1)” Whether good or bad, change is going to happen and adaptations are going to have to be made. This relates to what we are learning in class because the world around is currently changing, quickly too. These changes are challenges for the human race and it is up to us to understand them and learn from them.
2. “Growth is limited by the least available factor, and no resource is infinite (5)” In the world we currently live in, we are beginning to run out of resources that the human race has been using for years. This is the theory that no resource is unlimited. We as a society need to learn ways around the limited resources we have and learn new ways to utilize what is available to us
3. “Past changes help to explain the present and lead us to expect further changes”(8). Like I stated before, the world is ever changing and the way we can learn to survive is by looking into the past and finding the ways in which they resolved things. We can then incorporate that to what we need to do now. This is also true for the future with the idea that things have changed we know to expect that things will change again. We don’t know what will change but we can expect it to come and we can be proactive about resolving the issue whatever it may be.
Chapter 2
1. “It is increasingly apparent that no place on earth is really unaffected by human activity (12)” The world is no longer the place it once was. It no longer operates the same way due to human invention. This means that is important as a human kind to know the effects we have on nature. We haven’t paid attention to nature in the past and the world is now suffering due to that fact. If we know the effects we have we can learn what we can do to reverse these effects.
2.“Humans have never been alone on the earth. Their lives, culture, technology and art have been immeasurably enriched because they learned to watch, listen and imitate (16)”. Humans have learned from animals from the very start. However we have reached a point in our society that we cannot learn from animals very much any more. This means humans as a whole need to figure out how to fix the messes we have created over time. Other wise the only lesson we will be learning from the animals is seeing them die out and when enough of them die out so will humans.
3. “Hopi cultural attitudes held that humans are a part of a community of living things and must strive to cooperate with other members of that community in order to thrive (18)”. The Hopi is a community that not only survived off the natural land but did it in a way that was non destructive. This means there are ways of humans surviving that do not mess up the natural flow of the land. It is something that is important for our society to know and learn from that because if we can incorporate that into our society we will be able to turn the world around.
Question: is our society considered a proactive society meaning when things change we act quickly and resolve it or are we a reactive society meaning instead of going out there and fixing it we wait until it really starts affecting us negatively and then try to fix it.
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete1. Bananilha is an invasive species on the island of Madeira, and one of the first examples that Hughes uses in his book. Humans have caused major changes to the environment which they have to attempt to live with, or be defeated by their own actions. Bananilha is a modern example of humans’ effect on the environment, despite their settlement occurring in the 1400’s. It’s a good example of why making informed choices for the future is important, as the environment can be affected for a long time coming.
2. Besides humans affecting the environment, we’re actually affected by it as well! Interacting with the environment made us what we are today. We would have never been able to survive without the rest of life. This is because humans and other life are in a process of coevolution.
3. The ecological process says that the human and other life relationship continually changes. It seems that when changes occur humans have taken the change to past the sustainability point. The study of environmental history and the ecological process can help humans go toward a better future.
Chapter 2
1. Hughes starts out the chapter by outlining that humans have created a great impact upon the environment, even going to say that there is no place on the earth untouched by humans. He depicts to us how the Earth was before humans had evolved, that everything was in balance and abundance. Hughes says that there were immense changes prior to humans, such as tornadoes and earthquakes, but that “the wounds left by these traumas healed, as life, often finding the devastated areas enriched by mineral and organic deposits, reclaimed them in the states of natural succession,” which suggests that the damage humans have wrought won’t heal as easily. A nuclear devastation, which is caused by humans, doesn’t leave a lot of life, but it does help mutate and evolve.
2.Hughes shares with us the beliefs of the leave tribe in Australia, that everything is spiritual. They say that hunters can hunt, but only when necessary and they should treat everything with honor. These types of attitudes help humans to be in balance with the environment. These beliefs helped encourage conservation and sustainability, which shows a huge contrast to today’s world.
3. Due to the agriculture wave, where we domesticated animals and learned how to plant crops, these animals and crops grew in different ways, such as maize. However, at the beginning of the wave people were still respectful of the balance of the environment, and their beliefs still caused them to worship and respect the food and animals they affected. Additionally, they tried to allow animals to be sustainable by making sure the ones left could mate and make more. This is completely different from today where we see people cutting fins off as many sharks as they can get their hands on, uncaring for their lives.
Q: If all plants were farmed by subsistence farmers, who allow soil to restore its fertility, would people be able to live the same way as today? I suspect we won’t have such a large population.
Chapter 1:
ReplyDelete1.) History is history, it can't be changed but we have to learn from it to survive and adapt. And when I say adapt, I mean adapting to the changes we have made with the mistakes we had but use that to create new ways to treat the environment since nature is inescapable. For example, the meltdown of the nuclear power plant Chernobyl. The damage was intense but since then, life has regrown (but with mutations). The perfect example to show how nature will always triumph.
2.) Not only do humans have a history, but so does nature. Environmental history study explores the causes and effects that nature has on humans and visa-versa. Part of environmental history is to recognize the implications of ecological sciences for understanding the history of humans.
3.) The ecological process is something that you could describe as one of the most important parts of world history, A balance must be made during the process of evolution. Either naturally or what we make for ourselves as a species.
Chapter 2:
1.) Before humans, Earth was a place filled with endless biodiversity that had the perfect balance with the elements to survive. Earth was at its natural state. No human interference. It is what the earth needs and it could be that way still if we didn't develop so much.
2.) There are settlements throughout the world that have developed to work with nature to live and survive. Kakadu, Australia for example, is a place where the people use nature to their benefit, and to the environments. They have uses for a wide range of plants and insects. From making food to medicine and even things like paint. The primal traditions of humans is the culture of hunting, fishing, and gathering. Using every part of whatever is collected so nothing from the environment is wasted.
EATE Question:
What would the world--environment and our species--be like if never recorded or learned about and from our history?
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete1. "The older history saw no important relationships beyond those within human society, but environmental history emphasizes in it narratives the importance of the interrelationships of the human species to other species and the conditions that make life possible. The older history, when it recognize that nature and the environment were present, treated them as a backdrop, but environmental history treats the as active forces" (5). I feel as though this quote really encompasses what we have discussed in class as well as the beginning of Ishmael's teachings. It shows that in old history, which I believe relates to a Leaver lifestyle, life continued on without worry of how humans were affecting the world around them, but now as the knowledge about the environment increases and Takers have in fact taken over, we have become more aware of how we are affecting the other species we live with and share the earth, be this negative or positive.
2. "Ecology describes nature as consisting of complex systems with many parts and reciprocal functions. Among these are biological communities, which are interacting groups of organisms, and ecosystems, which are biological communities together with their nonliving environments" (7). This description of ecology reminds me of all the bad things humans have been doing lately to the environment, which we discussed in class. Destroying the rain forests and luscious soil by putting up dams, mining for oil in the ocean and on land, as well as many other things. Humans have forgotten this definition of ecology and how much it applies to us. We are not the only organisms living on this earth, but our actions seem to show that we think we are.
3. “Human population growth tends to multiply effects on ecosystems. In some cases it may carry changes beyond the point of sustainability” (8). This quote is something that I have been pondering for quite some time. As the amount of people increase on the earth, the more natural resources are being used up each day. These resources are continually decreasing in the amount available, so I still question if we will run out of space for everyone, and if we will actually have enough resources to account for everyone in the future.
Chapter 2
ReplyDelete1. “While it is important today to preserve habitats for animal and plant species, it is also increasingly apparent that no place on Earth is really unaffected by human activity…” (12). Although I truly appreciate the beauty of certain areas of nature being closed off to public access, I have always been one to ask why it is necessary. I always thought, isn’t this a free country? Why can’t I go wherever I want? I now realize that without preserving these areas, people would destroy them right away to build neighborhoods and cities. It is sad to think that we will never know what the Earth could truly look like without all of the damage that we inflict upon it. Even those areas that are preserved are affected by the intangible destruction the world’s population has created.
2. “But with agricultural developments moving ever closer, and poachers at their destructive work, the future of the wildlife is in question” (14). I believe that poachers are one of the biggest threats to wildlife. They are killing animals without permits and only to get their fur or meat to make money for themselves. It is much harder to keep track of how many people to in fact have a permit and are killing these animals, to make sure that not too large of an amount of being killed off. There is no benefit to anyone except themselves in their situation and they are killing too large of a number of certain species, even ones that are coming close to being extinct.
3. In the first paragraph of the Kakadu, Australia: the primal tradition section, the author talks about a time when he went there and was brought through a forest in the north. The man he was with explained all of the different plants and insects they found and an artist showed him how to grind red and white ocher on a stone to use as paint. It is very interesting to think about how much we have around us as resources that we do not even use to our advantage. Instead to go to chemicals, which in turn destroy the environment and resources we could have used to promote a much more healthy environment.
Question: How will all of the continents look in 1000 years? Are they continuing to change like they have until the point they are at now?
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete1. When humans move to a new environment they bring plants and animals, the foreign plants and animals cause more damage than the humans would alone. The rats introduced to Madeira destroyed much of the natural seabird population. Other examples are the Malayan ginger that choked out many native plants. People can do incredible harm to the environment by simply planting a seed or accidently transporting a rat.
2. When humans modify an environment, it can hurt the humans as well as the local ecosystem. The damming of the Nile cause Egypt’s fertile river valley to lose so much productivity that Egypt now imports food. When the English penal colonies are still changing the continent of Australia today. The Chernobyl explosion changed large tracts of Russia to this day, affecting where humans can live and the lives of those in the blast area.
3. Humans need to stop looking at themselves as above the natural environment and realize that they are part of it. Similar to Ishmael’s point that the world wasn’t made for humans, humans were made for the world. We watch as invasive species destroy and overtake the native species, but fail to think that it could happen to humans also.
Chapter 2
1. Humans aren’t special. Other animals are able to use tools and communicate, and interact across species. Chimps use tools, and there are many animals that for symbiotic relationships with other animals. Humans are different from but not superior to other animals.
2. While leaver cultures will take from the land just as takers do, they do it without the entitlement of takers. A taker feels that he is entitled to the animal he eats and the food he grows. Leaver peoples have a cultural understanding of the cost of their food, and do the most to make sure they minimize the environmental impact of their existence.
3. Specialization, Animals in the Serengeti are able to share grazing areas because the only eat certain plants, and leave the others to be eaten by animals with a different specialty. Humans a unique in that in the process of agriculture they eliminate all plants they cannot eat.
Question: Is there a way to continue agriculture without infringing on other species food sources?
1.The most interesting world view I picked up on in Chapter one was Hughes idea that humanity is not above the environment or animals but actually a working part of the planet. This idea is strongly connected to Ishmael's theme of the creation myth. In both books, it is alluded to or flat out stated that man must adapt to a sustainable lifestyle or perish.
ReplyDelete2. A rather sickening fact mentioned in the text was that those who are in power tend to forgo sustainable actions in favor of profit. It also mentions that, ironically, the economy is based on the environment entirely. These two statements make me believe that we have two options, leave capitalism behind all together, or put prices on all commonly shared natural resources such as water, air and other pieces of the planet being polluted.
3. Another piece of the reading that interested me was the line about man being the only truly domesticated animal. We have completely taken ourselves out of our natural element for flat screen televisions and micro foam mattresses, No matter what the Earth will be fine again eventually, the question is with or without man?
Do you think the author believes it is possible for humans and our planet to coexist once again?
Chapter 1:
ReplyDelete1. What people often don’t realize is that no resource is completely renewable or unlimited. Human intervention is extremely detrimental to the earth’s ecosystem. We take and take and take, and even when we attempt to give back, in reality and all honestly, we are inadvertently still harming the planet.
2. The environment is what shaped human life. Without it, we would not have the capability to live. Humans cannot exist without the environment but the environment can exist without humans, so we are dependent on the connection and coevolution. Although the environment does make the human race adapt when needed be.
3. Development is having negative impacts on the environment in the way that humans are developing to accommodate their growth population. The argument is that humans are concentrating on short term advances and should be considering long term advances so that we can become a sustainable community. Considering the ‘ripple’ effect that humans have on the environment, we have to consider out ecosystem if we want to sustain a healthy planet.
Chapter 2:
1. The ecotonal, the place where the first humans evolved, was not too much different than it was before humans came. Animals and planets evolve with time and the changing environment just as humans are coded to as well. We have become a taker culture when we could live sustainable if we lived as leavers with the environment.
2. No living organism is alone, they are all codependent on one another in order to survive. It is both codependency and competition. We do not live like the Kakadu peoples anymore where they would be thankful for what they took and only killed what they need to. We got greedy and over kill.
3. Humans have learned to sustain themselves. They have attempted to sustain the ecosystem but only through years of trail and error, in attempt to kept themselves aware of earth’s natural cycles. But with movements like the agricultural revolution, its hard to see how we are trying to sustain the planet when we are trying to control it.
Question:
How can humans work toward a more sustainable lifestyle when we are so dependent on the results of the agricultural revolution? We are a taker culture and it seems close to impossible to ever return to the times of the leaver culture.
Chapter 1:
ReplyDelete1. Over the years humans have had to change their way of life and adapt to many different environments. Sometimes adapting meant disappearing. “Dealing with the threats of the present and making informed choices for the future both depend on understanding the environmental experiences of the past.” Knowing the history of the environment may help humans make better decisions.
2. With the previous point in mind environmental history is the study of human relationships. Not only does environmental history look at humans but it also looks at the land and the different changes that have come about.
3. Development is huge within environmental history. Development is never ending. Depending on the context of the word human’s use it in many different ways. As we keep moving forward people say that we can never be fully developed so the word just may need to be redefined.
Chapter 2:
1. While some humans are trying to protect and preserve habitats for plants and animals today, it is apparent that this hasn’t always been done in the years past and that there really isn’t one place where humans haven’t affected the earth.
2. There has been a very high degree of biodiversity. This means that there has been a lot of variety of different forms and interactions of life. Humans not only interact with humans but also plants and animals.
3. Throughout this chapter we have learned that humans have adapted to the environment as the environment has changed due to humans changing it. This has a very optimistic outlook on the future of the environment.
Question:
Can humans help reduce the amount of acid rain?
Chapter 1 Observations:
ReplyDelete1. "History is a sage of change" - Change is one of the only constants in life, next to paradox and humor, so it should be natural for us as a species to constant change and adapt to our surroundings in symbiosis rather than trying to change our environment through our own actions. We should respond to the environment, the environment should not have to respond to us. We must remember that we are but one part of the whole.
2. The idea of centralization - We must affect change and work on our own communities, which will in turn affect the whole. Think the opposite of Reaganomics, in context to our own environment. Affect change in front of you, and at the foundation, and this will help build a healthier, more aware, and more involved community centered around cohesion and sustainability.
3. "'Every environmental struggle is, at its foundations, a struggle among interests about power.'"
This idea that we are at war with our environment, and that we essential separate and disparate parts, when in actuality, we are simply place holders in a long natural history of the world. It is our time now, and we are doing irreparable damage to the world in which we live in. We must not only consider our future generations, but the future generations of all living things on Earth.
Chapter 2 Observations:
1. I think all living humans should be presented with the opportunity to be immersed in the natural world, and create personal connections with it, so that they might care about its well-being. We live in a world where it has become uncommon for humans to be familiar with the natural world, and this is problematic, because how can you place value in something you cannot understand.
2. There needs to be less stress on the individual and more importance placed on the community/ies at large. Individualism is important, but the well-being and health of the community is far more important than any one individuals'. This should be taught to youth, to be selfless and consider how one's actions might affect others. It is our own failing that we put so much stress and importance on personal success, that we now have a failing model for sustainable life.
3. Animals and wildlife have many negative connotations currently, and mostly because of fear, stemming from not understanding, and the distant removal of humans from the natural world. People see the differences between themselves and other species, when they should see the commonalities they share. We have this exclusive and self-important blanketing attitude as a species, when we should use our self-awareness and knowledge to affect positive changes for our own world; for the well-being of ourselves and the species we share this Earth with.
Question:
With the dwindling natural world, how can we get youth involved and interested in their environments having them so far removed and separate from it? It is difficult to care about something and affect change in it, if you've never been apart of it/familiar with it.
Excellent blogging, EATE'rs - let's dialogue in class. - Dr. W
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