Blog #3: What is the Anthropocene?

And we are back with the Anthropecene.  What is the Anthropecene, you ask?  And how do we affect it?  How can we help?  How can it change? Well these are good questions you may have over a topic that is very interesting and it was also what we have talked about this last week.  All these points are great starts to this issue that we call our home.  And how does that fit with deforestation you ask?  Well we will explore that in a little.  Right now lets just take it one step at a time.  Let us venture onto this topic together now, shall we?

Anthropecene: an informal geologic chronological term for the proposed epoch that began when human activities had a significant global impact on the Earth's ecosystems.

So pretty much when humans started destroying the world that we live in and started cutting everything down to build things for us and all that kind of stuff is when everything started to go down hill.  

There are three stages on how everything went down, according to some people.  Stage one: regular growth.  That is when everything was normal and we were advancing at a regular pace and everything still wasn’t that bad.  Then we moved onto stage two which was right after World War 2, The Great Acceleration.  This is when things started to get edgy.  Everything went up really fast and we started doing all kinds of things to the environment and industrial revolution hit hard here too.  This started causing the downfall of the environment and the rise of population, industries, and deforestation.  The last stage is where we currently stand, 2015.  We have three options in this last stage.  Business-as-usual, with this we would just keep going as we were, not really change anything too much.  Keep living life as we are.  Or we could start mitigation, which is the futuristic flying cars, teleporting kind of stuff.  Or lastly, geo-engineering.  This sounds fancy but its not.  If this happens then we will start fixing everything that we have messed up and the things we can but it eventually will not do anything.  This is a baby step that will help us move along but not at a fast pace, which sometimes that is what we need, baby steps to keep us going. 

In my opinion, I have a feeling we are going to keep inventing new things when maybe we need to slow that down a little and think about the old things we can fix and make better and think a little bit about the world we live in and the environments around us and help fix those before we keep inventing things for the future.  That is the thing, things will break but the environment is always here for us no matter how much we mess with it and try and break it.  That is our true home and we need to start realizing it so we can take care of it and help it live longer.  For example, trees.  They help us breath and if we keep cutting them down and using them for other things then soon we will not have anything providing us oxygen so therefore we will not need to keep inventing things because we will probably not be here anymore.  With how many people that are on Earth, we need all the oxygen we can get.  

I think that we will keep doing what we are doing (business-as-usual) and then it will come to a point where we will need to start fixing things even if it does not make that big of a difference (geo-engineering) because it is the thought that counts and if we are thinking about helping the world then maybe we can get other people to do the same thing so everyone can do it.  Then lastly I am thinking that mitigation is going to happen.  It will also happen throughout the other two but it will sky rocket here for sure.  We have some brilliant people on our planet and they will keep inventing incredible things because they have the drive to.  They will keep exceeding everyone’s expectations in a matter of time, so just sit back and wait for it to happen.  

Well, the last of it has come to a conclusion about the Anthropecene.  It is an incredible place to live and to watch grow, but just remember about those trees that help us live and what all we can do to help them live.

Number Two

Hello, and welcome back!  So glad you could join us on this wonderful snowy day.  Today we’ll be talking about political ecology along with cultural ecology and their effects along with some possible solutions that go right along with those issues.  Also the chain of explanation in political ecology might be mentioned as well.  This is a very good representation on how it all goes down and who we could target to help us with our goal.  Speaking of goals, ours today is to spread the word and to become more informed about the little things going on right now.  Okay enough talk, lets go dig some dirt on all these things and let us go and help save the little things in life!

Political Ecology, environmental destruction and construction.  Why Destruction?  Why environmental destruction?  Why not just construction?  So many questions but I sure do not have the answers to all of these questions.  Political power plays a very powerful part in this issue.  Most people, when thinking about political ecology, deforestation is not the first issue that comes to mind.  There are so many other things going on in the world today that deforestation seems like a minor one to be talking about, but that is why you are reading this.  To learn more about the little things, the things that do not have a voice.  Remember, we speak for the trees.  

So now what can we do to help prevent political ecology to take over the little things.  Spread the word! Go to those who are in politics and talk to them.  Give them an idea of what we are against here and try to convince them to help us out.  The more people know about it the easier it will get, eventually.  Make videos, flyers, put it in a newspaper, go and host lectures about the issue even.  Anything that you would think could help right now.  Even the littlest thing can turnout to be the greatest help.  

Now on to cultural ecology.  Cultural ecology is defined as, studies that dimensions of culture that interacts more closely with economy and the environment.  When I read this I think of The Forest Man.  For those of you that have not heard or seen this, it is a mini documentary about a man and how he has built a forest on this island off in Asia.  This forest in now bigger then central park and he has taken care of it all on his own.  This is his creation, his baby and he has watched it and helped it grow to become something beautiful and something he could be proud of.  Now some might ask how does this story fit with cultural ecology, well this is what I think.  These two tie together because, in my mind, is it kind like his culture and his personality is interacting with the environment.  He was told to protect the forest and so he has, and has let it grow and expand as well.  He is a perfect roe model for this situation.  He can teach us so much if we set forth to go and save the earth.  

The chain of explanation in political ecology, what is this you may ask?  Well I am here to tell you.  It’s a list of steps showing how political ecology travels and works in its own way.  From the top down, the first one is Landscape/ecological systems.  This is more like just the environment and the trees or the grass, plants flowers, etc.  Everything to do with that which leads to producers/communities.  Here is where we get to the people that go and destroy or protect everything from above.  This is an important step because here is where you spread the word and from here is where if more people and communities know the better the outcome will be.  The third level is local/regional institutions.  This is also important because this is one where you still don’t have a big group but its beneficial for people to know what is going on and have them all informed.  Next is the state, where politics comes into play and where we meet those who are in charge of the country and what it stands for.  The last level is transnational firms/finance; these is where we go and help the others in the world and get to know what is going on globally and what we could do to help those who need it.  All these levels tie in with history and have a little part of history and how it will affect it and relate to it in some way.  

Well this is all for now.  Until next time friends.

Blog post #1: Deforestation and Our Behavior

Why is deforestation such a big issue?  Why do we care so much about it?  Deforestation is an issue that is going to pretty much dictate our world in the near future, at least in my opinion.  Trees are the ones that let us breath and live, they keep us going.  “I speak for the trees,” Dr. Seuss wrote in The Lorax, which is going to be me here.  About 60,000 square kilometers of forests are being cut down each year.  That is due to many reasons.  We need trees for paper at schools, offices, etc. also for wood.  You can find wood in almost everything that you touch and see.  It is in the furniture you sit on, the things you write with, the things you eat out of and use to make meals with, and it is even what you live in.  Trees are a major part of our life, not just because of wood and paper but also because of the air we breath.  They provide us with oxygen and if we continue to cut them down at the rate that we are we will not be living as long as we should.  

            Cultural ecology is a good example on how the environment we live in and the ones we don’t know about.  The first step is when technology effects the environment.   For example when we come up with new lawnmower or car, you go and test it outside.  So you would take this lawnmower out and test it on your yard and see if it cuts well or if you like the way it works.  Or if you have a new model of a car that you really like, so you take it out for a spin and you are out for a good thirty minutes you are polluting the air because of just driving around for fun. These are both examples on how technology is effecting the environment.  This same technology affects our behavior because we become curious when we see something new that we want to just try it out.  When you see that a new iPhone or computer comes out you want to go and test it out or see if you want to buy it.  That is what we are best at, buying and relying on technology.  Finally, our behavior can affect the rest of the world.  If we are buying things like crazy then the producers of those things are going to take that into account and keep producing more of the things that will sell the most.  Also the fact that we want to keep building houses, offices, and just buildings everywhere doesn’t help the fact that we are destroying someone else’s home when we find the land for these future buildings.  

            On the other hand ethno ecology comes in handy when you are going out and teaching or even just talking to people about what Deforestation and our behavior towards it is.  You have to be interested in people’s point of view to that subject and then their known knowledge but also the knowledge that they still do not have.  Not a lot of people know the hard facts about this issue.  They just know that yeah, we have been cutting down a lot of trees lately wonder why? Or they know very minimal on the affects that cutting down all these rainforests can have on the environment on that part of the world.  There are so many factors that go along with deforestation.  You have to keep in mind the animals that live in those rainforests and then the oxygen sources that you are cutting off by killing that many trees at once. 

            I think that this destroying rainforests and habitats of other animals and sometimes even humans will take a turn soon enough and will lead us all down a path to where we will look and just think, why did we ever think this was a good idea.  I do not believe our world will be over ruled with technology before we will run out of fresh air to breath.  There is only so much you can do to try and help this issue.  Try and not use so much paper for anything you do.  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, the three R’s that you should always follow.  So what, maybe it won’t get you so far right now but just think in the long run you will be thankful because you would have created a better life for those after you.  Just keep that in mind.

I could be Superman, but I don’t want the responsibility

As is already well known, I love geoengineering. When I decide to talk about geographical concepts, it is one of my favorite to soapbox on. So when I see an opportunity to bring it up, I do. (If you don’t actually know how I feel about is, go ahead and look at my previous post over it. It’s the one with the word “Geoengineering” in the title. Sorry, I’ll try to be less sassy from now on.) Another friend of mine (as opposed to the one in my previous post. Yeah! I have more than one friend. Take that, parents!) and I were talking about negative externalities, and I saw my chance to enlighten another person. After finishing my diatribe, I was shocked with what he said. He told me he was glad that I was paying attention to this kind of stuff, because he had no idea about it. I was like David Keith, telling others about the dangers of geoengineering (if you haven’t seen that TED Talk yet, I highly recommend it. Again, it’s in the post with “Geoengineering in the title). Most importantly, I was becoming the change I wanted to see in the world. I was becoming my own Superman, or possibly Batman, since he’s cooler. Regardless, I was the person in my friend group that could make a difference. They are all cool guys and gals, my friends, and they aren’t against the trying to improve the world. I would argue that they all are actively for improving the world. But, as most of my friends and I are strong Christians, saving the environment was not necessarily on our minds. This has changed thanks to my picking geography as my major, and taking several meteorological, climatological, and environmental classes. It still isn’t, frankly, something I consider important, at least not in the same way as other people might view it. I want the environment to be safe so people can be safe. There are seven plus billion people on the Earth, and I consider each of them important, but I am only one man.

I help out with the food pantry at my church. That feeds about 10 families regularly. On one hand, it is great that the hungry of Manhattan are being fed. On the other hand, I have done next to nothing to truly stop world hunger. What am I to do?  What is the director of the Flint Hills Breadbasket to do, when there are homeless and hungry in Topeka, Lawrence, Wichita, KCK? There is simply too much to do. Have I shattered your hope yet? Well, I haven’t shattered mine. I’m not saying I can plant a forest by myself, but I am uniquely qualified to change the world around me in ways that no one else, including me, could imagine.

I have already mentioned that I am religious. I am also interested in going to grad school, with climate or atmospheric science being a possible point of emphasis. I’m starting to sound like a smaller, albeit taller and male, Katharine Hayhoe. And like Dr. Hayhoe, this puts me in a unique position. I am in no way trying to compare my body knowledge and grasp of understanding with hers, but like her, I can communicate with in-groups that other science oriented people may not be able to enter into. It’s not because I am some gifted writer or great orator or spectacular word-smith (I am not any of these things). It is merely because I have the knowledge I have learned, and am an excepted member of my friend group. They listen to me and what I have to say because I have earned it, because I share the same basic beliefs and ideologies that they do. The science and the facts haven’t changed, just who is presenting them. The response, however, can be radically different.
All of us are uniquely qualified to make an impact wherever we are. And the most wonderful, beautiful part of this is that, just as are qualifications are unique, so too are our impacts. I personally enjoy gaining knowledge and sharing it. That’s why I want to be a professor. But nothing is going to happen if we have a bunch of smart people (the only dumb people are those who support geoengineering) sitting around teaching others. And some people aren’t really comfortable doing that. They want to go out and do something. These go-getters are great as well. The world needs them just as much as the mobilizers who can inform them of what changes are needed. Combined, it is easy to see how just one person can make a difference.

P.S. I love my parents, and I know they support me in all that I do
P.P.S. And I love being able to start sentences with conjunctions. Suck it, English grammar rules

Idea o’ log y Ideology

Have you ever spent time with a young child? Whenever anything happens, they always have a question. After the normal “who, what, when, where” they always have a “why.” And they never stop asking. They’re like the seagulls in Finding Nemo: “Why? Why? Why?” Why am I bringing up the incessant questioning of children? Because, just as it is the suffering for babysitters everywhere, it can also become the bane of any debate or discussion between groups of people. Just ask the opposing side why they believe something. Ask them again, and again, and again. Eventually, the interrogation will come to a point where the other side can’t answer. Congratulations! You have just discovered their ideology, their system of ideas and ideals, or more basically, their core beliefs.
I was talking to a friend last Monday, and the subject of ideology was brought up. At some earlier time, we had discussed capital punishment while on our way to Chipotle (the subject had come up because of some morally questionable things my Dungeons and Dragons character was going to do. And yes, I play D&D. I know, I lost some cool points. I’ll live). After sharing our views, of which we sort of agreed, and at the very least we were respectful of each other’s, we came to the conclusion that, even when if we agree, not everyone will. I didn’t know at the time, but we discovered that our beliefs on capital punishment came from our ideologies. Back to last Monday. I had shared with him what ideologies were, and he pointed out that what we had been talking about was a prime example of thinking with them. It was amazing to me to see that I had talked so openly about something, and not realize that what I was saying was qualified by my basic beliefs, my intrinsic values. How often must people overlook these aspects, when they can be the defining character of how we act in a situation? As such, I am now planning on sharing my primary beliefs with all of you, in hopes that my life can be an example, and possibly help you find out what your ideology is.

When people think ideology, politics is what usually comes to mind, so I guess I’ll start there, and we’ll use to discover my core beliefs. I would definitely consider myself to be conservative in my politics, but highly independent when it comes to party affiliation. I think the government should stay out of other people’s business as much as it can, and that it really only needs to have minimal responsibilities to be successful in operation. Libertarians are possibly the closest group I would ally with, but I do not believe that their form of governance is effective. It lacks any good form of collective action. What is really needed is a strong leader. If I’m being perfectly honest, I would most likely support a modern form of feudalism. Go ahead, burn me at the stake. Now, why do I have this political leaning? I would have to answer that it comes from three things: My strong sense of freedom, equality, and justice.
I
f you are using the Merriam-Webster definition, I would be a feminist. In this sense, feminism is defined as: “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.” I am all for this definition, and the thought behind it. The key part of it is the word “equal.” I have a firm belief that all people, no matter their gender or race, should be treated equally. Not live equally, but all humans deserve a common respect from others. It’s a very simple concept, at least in my mind. With all people being equal, that means I want all people to be free, to make choices and live with their consequences. I in essence want people to be able to do what they want to do. It sounds like I support anarchy, doesn’t it. I can’t harmonize that, however, with my desire for justice. If people do something wrong, commit some sort of transgression, a punishment should be expected. If you kill or steal from someone else, you shouldn’t be surprised if you get arrested and have some severe punishment (fitting for the crime, of course). That’s simply just. All these concepts, by the way, stem from the fact that I am a Christian, and I probably wouldn’t hold these views if it weren’t for the fact that God supports them. But that is a discussion for another time.

Energetics, or test number five in your Principles of Biology class

Energetics is the study of energy under transformation. It is also considered the hardest test in the introductory class, to which I can attest (I thought the class as a whole was easy, but that is neither here nor there). The reason I bring this up is because, in biological energetics, food and the molecules that make it up is broken down to create energy. This process involves a physical flow of the molecules for the energy to be produced. Both of these aspects, transforming something into energy and having that energy moved, are extremely important to modern society, at least as far as those who can read this blog are concerned. And, like everything else I seem to post about, the effects and consequences of this energy movement, even from one small area, can become global in scope. Maybe I should have stopped sleeping in class.

Now, I’m going to be talking about oil and coal and other fossil fuels, but by no means should that be taken that I think alternative energy is without fault. I even hate when people call it “clean energy.” It shows that someone failed their physics class in high school. In fact, I have changed my mind. Alternative energy is on the table for discussion. Grab your seatbelts, this will be a wild ride.

As you can see from my second Ind. Inq., dams are on my mind. I personally find it funny to think that such large constructs draw little attention to how much they can impact the region around them. Unlike building something of that magnitude on land, which really only effects its immediate area, dams constrict the fourth dimension of rivers: flow. Just like the atmosphere, rivers have mass movements as a natural part of their processes, and disturbing or disrupting these normal fluxes can have devastating results. Obviously, dams create large reservoirs behind them from the constricted flow the river suffers; The Three Gorges Dam project in China displaced 1.3 million people. What many people don’t think about, though, is that every location down river from the dam is affected, as well. Shanghai is almost 1,000 miles away, and it suffers the possibility of inundation because a lack of silt deposits to strengthen the city’s foundation. The interconnectedness of features in the world, again, is something that seems to be quickly forgotten about, but is extremely important.

Mitchell, in his essay Carbon Democracy (2008), posits that modern democratic politics is inextensibly tied to coal, and later oil. The control over the flow of energy is an utmost priority for the societies on which it is the bedrock for their current status. The same could be said for the importance of mitochondria in a cell (mitochondria are apparently so important, they actually contain their own independent set of DNA. The same is true for chloroplasts in plant cells. Even nature understands the implications of having a working energy transport system. And you thought the first paragraph had no relevance).  Many workers rights came about during the Industrial Revolution, when coal was the primary fuel, and coal miners the sole producers of it. This gave the workers and miners of coal plants and mines a great amount of political power. When oil gained dominance as a fuel source, policies were changed, and the corporations who extracted and transported the oil had the power, instead of the common worker. This is how the model works in present times.

It is interesting to bring up how alternative forms of energy would fall into these political processes. Would a new group of people gain power and importance, or would those companies already at the top keep their hold on the market? Evidence does not look good for new companies.  In the solar energy market, this can be seen through the life of the company to Solyndra. The new solar panels Solyndra promised were to be a new era of energy collection, with them capturing 12 to 14 percent of incoming sunlight and converting it to energy. The U.S. DOE gave a $536 million loan guarantee, and the company got $25 million dollar tax break from the state of California. Despite these huge benefits, the company went bankrupt in 2011 amid allegations of accounting fraud. A very inauspicious start to what have a great source of “clean energy,” or at least cleaner energy. It is my fear that the Solyndra scandal is only a prime example for the future of alternative energy solutions. It seems that only those already in power could change the source of energy, and they currently have no incentive to. So the DNA of our society remains with the controllers of energy. No wonder this was a hard test.

Individual Inquiry: Damocracy

Here are four scenarios that result from mega-dam projects

Ilisu Dam, Turkey

Scenario #1; Work continues: The dam is completed as proposed, resulting in about 35,000 people losing their homes. The town of Hasankeyf is inundated, and many archaeological and historical sites are lost to the water, as well as habitats all along the Tigris river. A 1,200 MW power station is attached to the dam, bringing in more energy to help develop this region. The dam adds thousands of jobs, and allows for irrigation easier irrigation for farmers. The region over time becomes wealthier, and better infrastructure is added to the region. Species threatened in the area face extinction, and most likely will die out. Cultural artifacts are saved, but many sites are no longer visit-able, and tourism in the area suffers.

Scenario #2; International pressure: The continued pressure from international sources, including economic sanctions against Turkey, cause the dam project to be stopped until proper environmental impact surveys are accomplished. These result in the dam project being moved upstream of Hasankeyf. The cultural heritage sites around Hasankeyf are kept, but the environment still suffers from the dams construction. Problems come to areas as far as Basra near the mouth of the Tigris.

Belo Monte Dam, Brazil

Scenario #3; Work Continues: 40,000 people from around the city of Altamira will be displaced. The biggest effect, however, is on the indigenous people. Their primary food source, fish, becomes scarce due to the drying of the Xingu river. The primary mode of transportation, again the river, is also lost. Entire villages will have to find new ways to survive or else threaten extinction. The influx of migrant workers to the dam causes an increase in social tensions, and lead to more problems down the road. Energy from a 11,233 MW station in generated for the country, continuing its large expenditure on energy security, and likely leading to more dams in the future.

Scenario #4; Effective collective action: Thanks to dedicated efforts of conservationists, native peoples, and international support, the dam project stops. Workers on the dam strike, halting construction of the dam. Those against the dam continue to protest against it, causing an increase in the notoriety of the project. Large scale efforts by these groups helps to slow down construction, while mounting international pressure results in the Brazilian government to put the project on hold indefinitely,