Last Thought...

I have learned so much in this class and it has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I wanted to add one last thing in regards to one of my things that I learned from this class: 

 No island, is an island. 

I don't know why I was so compelled to make this my last post but this certainly has a lot of meaning.

No To GMO!

Here is something that kind of goes along with my last post... Non GMO Products, you should check this out too and know what's behind your food.

Monsanto

Here's a random tangent... Look at all these Monsanto companies!!!

Beavers.

Somehow I forgot to post this earlier:

While I was home over Easter break, I took a bike ride up my road, down a few back roads, through the next town over and then back up the hill to my house. While traveling by houses, small businesses and farms I began to consider the concept of holism. If we as humans were to look at the world and base our actions upon what would be the best for the whole, would other living beings be expected to do the same? I began to think about the 'destructive' beavers at one of my favorite fishing spots.

(A recently constructed beaver dam)

When they flood out large plots of land with a newly constructed dam and cut down the few shade trees along the pond's shore, are they really doing what is best for this particular ecosystem and the biosphere as a whole or are they simply acting as a self centered being? As I see it, they are simply doing what is best for them. So if this applies wouldn't we have to force all living beings to abide by this holistic perspective? Also, how would we do this? Would we hunt and introduce new species into ecosystems to try to control populations and their activity? But then who are we to decide the overall being for the whole? I just feel very conflicted over the entire holism concept and am trying to decide where I stand on the matter. That's my rant for the day.

My Rant About Eating a Burger

This weekend I went home and found myself wanting to eat a burger, something I had not enjoyed since we watched Food Inc. at the beginning of the semester. Not wanting to give into my craving by enjoying an animal who lived a life of suffering, I decided to look around the meat section at my local grocery store. I was surprised to find the perfect substitute: turkey burger. The turkey was raised on what we might refer to as a good farm and I have come to decided that an animal that comes from that environment is ok for me to eat. I hope I made the right decision straying away from my recently vegetarian ways which I have adapted at school.

Fish Tale

Over the break I took a hike to my favorite fishing spot in Sudbury, VT. (Here's a little picture below)

While there I remembered a great TED talk I had watched not too long ago. How these people managed to change a piece of land into this highly productive ecosystem that is a self susatining food source is incredible. I think this is pretty cool so if you have a few minutes to spare, check this out: How I Fell in Love With a Fish

Speciest... Perhaps.

Now I sit here and ponder

About something I have rarely wondered

The life of the laboratory mouse

Soft, small and fuzzy

Raised, tested and killed humanely

Helping to combat our enemies 

The diseases and the unknown

Which we cannot fend off alone

I do not know just how I feel

About their short lived lives

But overall I think I can accept this 

For this allows for more human life

Thanks little guy! 

Forward on Climate Rally

This past weekend I got to partake in an incredible event in Washington DC. The Forward on Climate Change rally, in protest of the Keystone Pipeline, brought over 40 thousand people to the nation's capital. There were many incredible speakers that spoke on the environment and the impact of the pipelines on the humans, animals and ecosystems around them.

I found it so moving too see all these people, both young and old, come together to help preserve our planet for future generations. I think that there is hope for our planet. I think that people want to change our behaviors to protect what surrounds us. The crowd cheered when the speakers who ranged from Indians, to investors, talked about changing for the future.

After the talks, all 40 thousand of us held our signs high and marched from the Washington Monument to the White House and back hoping to leave a lasting impact on the President (who was unfortunately golfing that day) and the nation, and I think that is just what we did.


For those of you who didn't get to go this past weekend you should check out this link: Forward on Climate Rally 2013

Hunting: My Family's Tradition

I have never thought that hunting was wrong. My grandpa, papa and dad all did it and when I grew up, they taught me all the things I needed to know to be an informed and ethical hunter. When we go out in the woods, we have fun. Walking through the woods, following trails and looking for any sign is something that we look forward to each fall. However, as fun as these  times are, we do not go out there to just carelessly shoot the animal that we are hunting. We primarily hunt deer and when we get one we use all the meat for something, from steaks to hamburger and we take the hide to a guy that lives over the hill from us where he makes it into gloves and hats. The only thing that we do not use are the bones.

My eyes have recently been opened to the concept of factory farming, where animals are raised in crowded areas and fed feed that is unnatural for them. The suffering of  these animals has put a halt to the meat that I previously consumed nearly every day. After learning this I began to question my dietary habits and came to the conclusion that meat that is raised on a 'good farm' or meat that is respectably hunted is acceptable for me to consume. It is natural for carnivores or omnivores to hunt for meat and in my opinion humans are naturally omnivores. So if you chose to eat meat why not eat something that you have worked for and that has lived a good life?

Modern hunting is a way to bring humans back in touch with the natural environment which surrounds them. Senses are heightened and you learn the ways in which an ecosystem functions by carefully observing patterns. I believe that hunters in many cases are the ones that will be the most positive when it comes to protecting the environment that surrounds us. We do not want to see something so beautiful disappear. So do not disrespect someone just because they have the title of a hunter. Respect them enough to learn why they do what they do because many of them will be the ones that protect the land and ecosystems that we love so much.

Overly Active and Under Informed

After seeing Bill McKibben present last night, I wondered; what is it really going to take for everyone to do something about what is going on around us? People act like they know it all but yet we all still know so little. 

We have been told to respects our elders
Generation after generation
Whether you mouth was washed out with soap
or you spent fractions of an hour in a corner
The lesson is ingrained

We all know it
We all accept it
Without question
One day we will be the wise and idolized society members

But we forget
We have forgotten the wisest and most important
of ALL elders

She sits, old and abused for all she has given
All the fruit which she has bared
All the shelter she has given
She sits
Pushed aside and plowed through

She's losing the battle
Too many enemies and not enough friends
The tragic consequence for what she has given each one of them
Are we willing to lose the oldest and wisest elder of all?

Sit down with her
Learn her secrets
but know that she will never tell them all
Know that you need her.

We are still too young
We still need our Mother.
Earth.