At least when it comes to how farmers in the United States pollinate their crops.
According to a NY Times article, last March a "mysterious malady" had caused nearly 50 percent of the bee hives needed to pollinate crops to die out. I repeat, NEARLY FIFTY PERCENT. Even though there's been a rise in bee ailments and deaths since the mid 2000's in the United States this number baffled scientists. One possible explanation is that certain pesticides had recently increased their toxicity, creating a new class of pesticides called neonicotinoids.
Here's the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/science/earth/soaring-bee-deaths-in-2012-sound-alarm-on-malady.html?smid=pl-share
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Eustace Conway, The Little Prince, and Fahrenheit 451
Just kidding! Eustace Conway didn't mention anything about novels in his presentation on October 9th. I just like thinking about books. a lot. Some of the things that Mr. Conway talked about were living sustainably and spiritually with nature, knowing hunger and quiet, and the current disconnect he sees in contemporary American society.
Eustace Conway is a homesteader known as "The Last American Man" who makes his living almost entirely off of the land (he also obviously gives presentations like the one I saw a couple of nights ago). Mr. Conway's been living in the forest since he was 17. He said that one of the things he valued most about his time in the woods was that he had the opportunity to take a step back from contemporary American society and analyze its negatives and positives. His catchphrase of the night was "disconnected". People don't know where their food or clothing comes from and they don't understand how one beautiful, perfectly swirled chocolate ice cream cone can have negative effects on ecosystems by eliminating the natural landscape and replacing it with a contrived one for human purposes, in this case a dairy farm. (I think about food a lot too. Sorry not sorry).
Some of the things he said made me think about some of my favorite novels.
In elaborating on the contemporary American's disconnect from the Earth he talked about how he knew everything in his forest. He said that he saw a tree grow up from a little sapling to a giant thing. This made me think about the part in The Little Prince where the fox tells the little prince about the power of friendship. Until you get to know something wholeheartedly it's just like a thousand other things. It's not unique. When you get to know it, it becomes precious.
This made me think about a part in Fahrenheit 451. When Montag has just burned a woman alive for having books in her house. The woman preferred to be burned with her books in protest than to leave the house. Montag is sharing his concern with his wife and she doesn't want to think about something so disturbing. Montag lashes out by saying: "We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?"
The way Mr. Conway talked about the disconnect between modern human beings, the land they live on, and the resources they use made me realize just how little people seem to care about something so important. I noticed people distractedly looking at their phones and yawning throughout his entire presentation.
Eustace Conway is a homesteader known as "The Last American Man" who makes his living almost entirely off of the land (he also obviously gives presentations like the one I saw a couple of nights ago). Mr. Conway's been living in the forest since he was 17. He said that one of the things he valued most about his time in the woods was that he had the opportunity to take a step back from contemporary American society and analyze its negatives and positives. His catchphrase of the night was "disconnected". People don't know where their food or clothing comes from and they don't understand how one beautiful, perfectly swirled chocolate ice cream cone can have negative effects on ecosystems by eliminating the natural landscape and replacing it with a contrived one for human purposes, in this case a dairy farm. (I think about food a lot too. Sorry not sorry).
Some of the things he said made me think about some of my favorite novels.
In elaborating on the contemporary American's disconnect from the Earth he talked about how he knew everything in his forest. He said that he saw a tree grow up from a little sapling to a giant thing. This made me think about the part in The Little Prince where the fox tells the little prince about the power of friendship. Until you get to know something wholeheartedly it's just like a thousand other things. It's not unique. When you get to know it, it becomes precious.
This made me think about a part in Fahrenheit 451. When Montag has just burned a woman alive for having books in her house. The woman preferred to be burned with her books in protest than to leave the house. Montag is sharing his concern with his wife and she doesn't want to think about something so disturbing. Montag lashes out by saying: "We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?"
The way Mr. Conway talked about the disconnect between modern human beings, the land they live on, and the resources they use made me realize just how little people seem to care about something so important. I noticed people distractedly looking at their phones and yawning throughout his entire presentation.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
So I've been really lazy lately...
I haven't actively posted anything for a while so here goes:
The fourth task was to walk/bike a lovely paved off-road trail to a cafe off campus. I, having neither a bike nor the time to run/walk/limp 5 miles, haven't gone on the Swamp Rabbit Trail and thus haven't completed the task yet. I really want to though! Just when midterms are over and I don't have to worry about the chain rule of derivatives and Descartes' theories about the existence of God. Okay? Okay.
The fifth task was to volunteer for one to two hours at the Furman Farm. To successfully complete this task you also have to have a picture taken of you at the Farm. Well, I never got a picture of myself taken there, but I spend about 8 to 10 hours a week working at the Farm. I get paid in delicious fresh produce (and dollar bills) so it's technically not volunteering. Anyway I don't know what I'm supposed to blog about the Farm. I love all of the people that I'm working with! Bruce Adams, the Farm Manager, says we have an awesome hardworking "Farm Team" this year. Almost all of us are underclassmen (there are 6 freshmen and 2 sophomores) but there's also a senior who worked with the Shi Center over the summer. Oh and we have a cat. His name is Tink and he's an adorable chipmunk killing machine. Last weekend we cleaned out the garage and then had lunch where we had a salad mix directly from the garden. It was the freshest salad I'd ever had in my life! It had probably been off of the plants for about three days. The funny thing is Bruce said it was gross and he couldn't eat it because it wasn't fresh enough. Pretty soon there will be a farm stand open on Wednesday afternoons where any student who wants fresh produce can come by to purchase some.
This Wednesday I'm going to complete task six and get this blog back under control. The task is to go to a Cultural Life Program (CLP) about Eustace Conway, "The Last American Man", and his adventures living off-the-grid. I'm sure it'll be interesting.
The fourth task was to walk/bike a lovely paved off-road trail to a cafe off campus. I, having neither a bike nor the time to run/walk/limp 5 miles, haven't gone on the Swamp Rabbit Trail and thus haven't completed the task yet. I really want to though! Just when midterms are over and I don't have to worry about the chain rule of derivatives and Descartes' theories about the existence of God. Okay? Okay.
The fifth task was to volunteer for one to two hours at the Furman Farm. To successfully complete this task you also have to have a picture taken of you at the Farm. Well, I never got a picture of myself taken there, but I spend about 8 to 10 hours a week working at the Farm. I get paid in delicious fresh produce (and dollar bills) so it's technically not volunteering. Anyway I don't know what I'm supposed to blog about the Farm. I love all of the people that I'm working with! Bruce Adams, the Farm Manager, says we have an awesome hardworking "Farm Team" this year. Almost all of us are underclassmen (there are 6 freshmen and 2 sophomores) but there's also a senior who worked with the Shi Center over the summer. Oh and we have a cat. His name is Tink and he's an adorable chipmunk killing machine. Last weekend we cleaned out the garage and then had lunch where we had a salad mix directly from the garden. It was the freshest salad I'd ever had in my life! It had probably been off of the plants for about three days. The funny thing is Bruce said it was gross and he couldn't eat it because it wasn't fresh enough. Pretty soon there will be a farm stand open on Wednesday afternoons where any student who wants fresh produce can come by to purchase some.
This Wednesday I'm going to complete task six and get this blog back under control. The task is to go to a Cultural Life Program (CLP) about Eustace Conway, "The Last American Man", and his adventures living off-the-grid. I'm sure it'll be interesting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)