Thoughts on a Seedling
A pine cone sprouts from the burnt forest floor the spring after a wildfire. Of all hopeful metaphors, a germinating seed might be the most deeply rooted (pun intended). Yet the metaphor gives a dark warning as well: you reap what you sow. The importance of literally planting good seeds...Read More »
A Living System at Each Level
Image Source: http://www.rnl3.net/ILSDWeb/images_videos/Drawings/Relationships__2.gif
Each component of the global food system depends on a healthy planet. What is a healthy planet? It is not just the absence of air pollution, global warming, landfills, deforestation, oil spills, etc. A healthy planet, and therefore a healthy global...Read More »
Contemplating Climate Complexity
Image Source: http://www.momscleanairforce.org/food-climate-change/
The people that will suffer the most by climate change will have had the least to do with causing it… that is a truly disappointing and sad reality. It is difficult to think about how to place myself within that spectrum...Read More »
Save the Land, Save the Water, Save Everything!
Political Ecology has different levels of definitions depending on the scope of a given perspective. One concept that I find interesting is how we separate the word nature from environment. Essentially nature has a larger scope than that of what is implied by the word environment. Regardless of what word...Read More »
Do Your Part, Help Save The World
(https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/climate-change-yes-global-warming-robin-limb)
Climate Change is a heavily discussed and debated topic, especially in recent years. With terms frequently used throughout this course such as global warming, greenhouse gases, fuel emissions, and much more, it is clear that there is a serious problem occurring as I write this. While this topic is heavily...Read More »
In the Era of Global Warming…We Can No Longer Afford to Think and Act Only Locally
With all the factors that influence climate change and the perception that individual choices have marginal effect in the grand scheme of things, it’s understandable why the issue of climate change seems to be constantly swept under the rug. In northern regions where contributions to global warming have been significant,...Read More »
Denial - Our Most Valuable Renewable Resource
Fossil fuels are everywhere, even in our food. As we learned in week 6, oil is used to power the heavy machinery used on industrialized farms, it is in the fertilizer in the form of petroleum, it is in the plastics that are used to neatly package our food, and...Read More »
We All Share the Blame
Few people want to take responsibility for their actions that cause negative consequences and even fewer would want to take responsibility for someone else’s. Hearing that the U.S. alone emits four times the amount of greenhouse gasses compared to other countries is not something new to me and I have...Read More »
The Pacific NorthWest a Haven from Climate Change?
“North Cascades.” Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail, USDA Forest Service.
Looking back on the lesson 7 contemplative practice on climate complexity I was at first kind of glad to be living in the Pacific NorthWest. As we saw in one of the slides the pacific north west will have increased...Read More »
High and Dry
The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that by the year 2100, approximately 56 to 75% of humanity will experience water scarcity. As Lester Brown points out in Full Planet, Empty Plates, there are no substitutes for water. No other resource, natural or manmade, can replace water as an essential component...Read More »
Should we Stop Eating Almonds?
https://sc02.alicdn.com/kf/UTB8GTLFXT_IXKJkSalUq6yBzVXaA/Almond.jpg
The water crisis in India raises concerns of global climate change endangering not only the availability of water for consumption, but also for agricultural and infrastructure use. Prevalent coal power plants in India rely on water to generate steam for electricity, water needed...Read More »
Blog 6 - Drought
In a world that is ever increasingly subjected to the consequences of climate change, weather patterns have not just become a bigger part of public and private discourse, it is having real effects on our lives. One of the many manifestations of climate change is severe drought. This is evident...Read More »
The Earth Will Survive
The earth is a living system with incredible power to self-correct. Through our collective extraction and consumption of oil, we are accelerating the demise of our culture, at the cost to our survival. The warming of the planet caused by greenhouse gasses are enough that we are beginning to witness...Read More »
Innovation vs. Rural Wisdom
The industrial revolution brought with it numerous benefits for the modern age. Perhaps most significant is the technology that has made it possible to feed 7 billion people worldwide. The improvements in industrialized farming equipment made farming more efficient, producing higher yields while expending less energy for the farmers. However,...Read More »
Water is the new Oil
Water is the new oil…meaning that moving forward conflicts over resources will concern water. The finite amount of water, growing world population and continued climate change will force us to make some tough decisions in the near future. One of these tough decisions involves poppy farmers in Afghanistan. It is...Read More »
Changing Climate Change
With all the change the world has seen over the last century it baffles me that we have yet to put in place safe guards to help maintain the land in which we live. There is little hesitation when it comes to production and even less thought put into consumption....Read More »
The Anthropocene Period
The interconnectedness of the topics discussed in the course thus far offer a thought provoking global view on the future of the human species on Earth. The issues of populations growth, the recognition of the impact that we have on our ecosystem, the global food system, and the water and...Read More »