Discussion Question 6

My most thrilling engagement with the non-human world was this past January. I visited Santiago, Chile for a business class. While I was there, I went rafting on a river in the Andes Mountains. The glacial run-off was freezing but the air was beautifully clear and bright in the middle of summer. The day was unforgettable.

I think that saving nature is something important that we need to be concerned with but we also need to take into account the restoration and conservation of what is left. There are many thousands of species of plants and animals that have already been lost and the biodiversity of the planet is decreasing and we need to be concerned with saving and restoring the diversity. The planet cannot survive on monocultures of species because if something happened to them (disease, natural disaster, etc) then there would be nothing to start over with.

The most thrilling experience I've had with the natural world was my trip to Costa Rica in 2006. We did a lot of eco-tourism on the trip and one of the most memorable places was Tortuguero. Tortuguero is unique in that the only way to reach much of it is by boat; there are no roads. It still has dense forests (as shown in the picture above) and lots of wildlife, including white faced monkeys, caiman, and a variety of birds and lizards. One morning many of us were even woken up by the noise of the howler monkeys. We got to go out into the forest on boats and hiking. Though the trip was great, I wasn't able to do much exploring on my own because I was with a group from my high school and we had a schedule to keep to. Still, it was one of my most memorable experiences and I hope to return to Tortuguero when I am back in Costa Rica next semester.

I don't understand how anyone could argue that nature shouldn't be saved. We as humans are part of the natural world. We depend upon the Earth's natural services to sustain us. We use resources that are taken out of nature and would be unable to survive without them. We derive pleasure from nature through simply going out into it and feeling like part of it. When I was younger, I would often wander around the woods near my house or go hiking at the state park so I could get away for a while. Although technology can replicate some things, I truly do not believe that technology can advance so far as to remove our need for the natural world. The desire to save it isn't entirely altruistic as some seem to think. While those of us that want to save nature do think that it is important to maintain and protect the environment and think we shouldn't drive other species to extinction, we all want to maintain nature for ourselves and our children and future generations. As was brought up in our last class, the Earth will survive once humans are gone, but we cannot survive without the Earth. And even if it were possible, would we want to?

The most significant experience I’ve had in nature would probably be on February at Possum Kingdom. PK is a giant lake a little over an hour out from my hometown in Texas. In the middle of the lake there is Devil’s Island with these giant rock formations called Hell’s Gates. You could stand on the tip top of one side of the “gates” and look all the way down to the water. And in Texas we have the best sunrises in the world, I’m sure, so from the top you can see forever.

I do think saving nature is a major concern. I remember driving down to east Texas and seeing the trees get bigger and bigger the closer we got to Louisiana. It’s my favorite thing about the south, thinking that those same trees could have been there since La Salle explored the Mississippi, or when the confederates were fighting the civil war. I used to imagine exploring those woods before anyone had ever been there. Mapping them out when they were virgin forests. I would never want my children to grow up in a place that didn’t have trees or lakes that were safe to explore.

eating like we care

The first thing I always take into account when shopping for food at the local grocery is definitely the tastiness. Sadly, my choices on food for the most part are selfish. I buy 1) what tastes yummy and 2) what's on sale. I do make trips down to the farmers' market occasionally, when I'm craving turnip greens and can't find them in Giant. I avoid grocery shopping as much as possible though, so when I do go I buy everything at once. And when I'm finally starving and sick of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I'll make the stubborn trip to the grocery store. I do make a point of buying fair trade, as Elizabeth does, when I can. But for me too, it's more of a human rights issue than an environmental one.

Of all the things I've consumed in the last few days, the one that probably had the most environmental impact was the biryani my mom made me while she was here visiting. The spices were shipped from somewhere in South Asia, my mom brought the basmati rice with her from Texas (because they don't sell the right brand up here) which I'm sure was produced somewhere else before even that, and who knows where the rest of the ingredients came from. Chicken, potatoes, tomatoes, onions…I don't think many of them were probably grown locally.

Food Food Food

Most of the time when I eat at school, it is in TDR or somewhere on campus. I have to say that I do not think about the environment when I make my food choices for the most part. When I eat in TDR, I feel a little better because Bon Appetit tries to buy locally whenever possible. They also are committed to protecting the environment in other ways. This past week, they did a day with organic food and there were apples from a nearby orchard that were available for students. When I am not eating at TDR, I am mainly thinking about what the food I consume will do to my body, like Sarah. I have severe issues with eating some foods so I am more concerned with health than the environment at that point.

The foods that have the most impact on the environment that I have eaten recently would probably be the apples that come from Eastern Washington and have to be shipped across the country and the Coca-Cola. I am sure that the process for making coke is resource intensive including the use of the aluminium or plastic to make the bottle or can as well as the actual coke itself.

Thoughtful Eating

I sometimes think about the environment when making food choices, but not constantly. I try to buy my produce and some bread and cheese at farmers markets where the food is grown locally and thus has less environmental impact. I try to eat organic when it's available and I can afford it. I am also a coffee drinker, and I try to make a point of only buying fair trade coffee. Although this is largely due to the human rights issues involved, to achieve fair trade certification, companies must adhere to certain environmental standards. Even so, I don't always think about the environment. I go out to eat and go grocery shopping without thinking about how the food came to be there.

Of the foods I ate over those two days, the most environmentally impactful dish was probably a olive/artichoke/cheese dish. (I don't know what it's called; it was part of the only TDR meal I've had this year). While I don't know all the ingredients of the dish, but both artichokes and olives are grown in the Mediterranean and therefore were likely shipped thousands of miles. The cheese also would have come from dairy farms in which cows require a lot of grain and release methane gasses.