Write about a specific, broad-reaching "system" that you learned about in this class (either you had never heard of before, had heard of but never contemplated, or knew a little bit about). In whichever case, choose something that stood out and has some relevance to your personal life/interests.
1.) Choose a complicated, far reaching topic (i.e. the carbon cycle, the agro industry, consumerism, biodiversity, Haber Bosh process, evolution, CAFOs, GMOs,... really anything from the class that most profoundly affected your way of looking at the world).
2.) Explain your topic, (give it's history, definition/description, why and if it's controversial, etc.). Then explore what other systems it affects, including your relationship to it.
So if you talk about logging, you might start by talking about a general historical overview, explain what logging is (what's the process), why it's done, pros and cons, and importantly, what are the farther reaching ramifications (or indirect effects) of the logging industry? (erosion/ loss of bio diversity/ reduction in land's capacity to absorb melting ice/ the watertable lowers/ more CO2 in the atmosphere because fewer trees/ on the other hand, it provides jobs, timber, cleared land ready for agriculture or development, etc. Then you can talk about how this may affect your particular community/ family/ self.
Good luck and it's been a pleasure getting to know all of you!
Reed
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Weekly Response 12
Levester Williams
Reed Esslinger-Payet, GSI
ADP 250: Technology and Environment
Ecocide
Since foreign countries have colonized other developing countries in the past, those countries may have been introduced a problem that disrupts the biota of that region: the introduction of foreign species. Introduced species may sometimes outcompete indigenous species since the native species have not encounter those species before. Those introduced species may prey on the native species, who have not evolved or adapted to avoid such predators; therefore, the predation leads to decline or the extirpation of native species. Furthermore, those introduced species may outcompete natives in food and territory resources. Current examples of this ecocide and its consequences on that society can be found in Australia and United States.
Introduced species may be implemented in an environment out of ignorance or carelessness. When British colonized Australia in the 18th century, they incorporated their lifestyle into the lives in Australia. However, both environments have significant differences since Australia has low soil productivity (Diamond 390). Even though the sheep provided the export of wool, the sheep deprived the soil of its few nutrients. Also, foxes, who have no predators in Australia, eats native species while rabbits eats vegetation of the Australia’s native species (Diamond 392). In Montana, the introduction of foreign species has decrease the commercial fishing due to the decline of native species and the infection of disease from foreign fishes. Also, chronic wasting disease is a fatal disease that can be transmitted from the nonnative elks and deers into human (Diamond 54). In addition to that, Montana has weeds that efface much vegetation. To overcome this issue, Montana must buy expensive herbicide (Diamond 55). This is an ecocide since this issue affects biodiversity: it may cause the extinction of native species. Biodiversity is healthy to our system, and without it, biota of all regions will be disrupted and will lead to a chaotic phenomena. An example of how drastic that introduced species may affect a biota is the migration of the Asian carp in the Mississippi River. The fear of this carp in Michigan’s Great Lakes has urged the government to poison two miles of the Chicago River to stop its entrance (Trumpey).
Works Cited
Diamond, Jared M. Collapse How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Viking, 2005. Print.
Trumpey, Joe. "Biodiversity." Art & Design III: Technology and Environment. Univeristy of Michigan Ann Abor, Stamps Auditorium, Ann Arbor. 2 Dec. 2009. Lecture.
Reed Esslinger-Payet, GSI
ADP 250: Technology and Environment
Ecocide
Since foreign countries have colonized other developing countries in the past, those countries may have been introduced a problem that disrupts the biota of that region: the introduction of foreign species. Introduced species may sometimes outcompete indigenous species since the native species have not encounter those species before. Those introduced species may prey on the native species, who have not evolved or adapted to avoid such predators; therefore, the predation leads to decline or the extirpation of native species. Furthermore, those introduced species may outcompete natives in food and territory resources. Current examples of this ecocide and its consequences on that society can be found in Australia and United States.
Introduced species may be implemented in an environment out of ignorance or carelessness. When British colonized Australia in the 18th century, they incorporated their lifestyle into the lives in Australia. However, both environments have significant differences since Australia has low soil productivity (Diamond 390). Even though the sheep provided the export of wool, the sheep deprived the soil of its few nutrients. Also, foxes, who have no predators in Australia, eats native species while rabbits eats vegetation of the Australia’s native species (Diamond 392). In Montana, the introduction of foreign species has decrease the commercial fishing due to the decline of native species and the infection of disease from foreign fishes. Also, chronic wasting disease is a fatal disease that can be transmitted from the nonnative elks and deers into human (Diamond 54). In addition to that, Montana has weeds that efface much vegetation. To overcome this issue, Montana must buy expensive herbicide (Diamond 55). This is an ecocide since this issue affects biodiversity: it may cause the extinction of native species. Biodiversity is healthy to our system, and without it, biota of all regions will be disrupted and will lead to a chaotic phenomena. An example of how drastic that introduced species may affect a biota is the migration of the Asian carp in the Mississippi River. The fear of this carp in Michigan’s Great Lakes has urged the government to poison two miles of the Chicago River to stop its entrance (Trumpey).
Works Cited
Diamond, Jared M. Collapse How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Viking, 2005. Print.
Trumpey, Joe. "Biodiversity." Art & Design III: Technology and Environment. Univeristy of Michigan Ann Abor, Stamps Auditorium, Ann Arbor. 2 Dec. 2009. Lecture.
Week 12
Yu-Jen(Chris),Tsai
Diamond talks a lot about the factors that are causing the collapsing societies over the times; he also made several lists to clarify his point. In the online video, Jared brought up several examples that explains particularly on the five-point frame work he came up with, which can be related to many other ecocide elements and factors in the book Collapse. For example, the soil problem and the deforestation issues are part of the first list of the five; that is the human impact on the relied resources. During the lecture, Diamond discussed some of the problems Montana has gone through and need to be prepared to solve and face, which is also one of the main theme stated in the first part of his book. Firstly, the human impact on the environment of Montana State is mainly due to the toxins due to the mine waste, causing many severe damages on the land. Irreparable economic loss then emerged. Pollutions made Montana lost billions of dollars annually in that the condition of the land is so used up by the toxins and human wastes. Forest management then came up as another serious issue that needs immense improvement. Since the climate change phenomenon in our environment, one other list of the ecocide, depends generally on the plants that recycles the atmosphere and keeping the system running, the weather in Montana has changed from cold and humid to warm and dry, which bad news to the agricultural business in the particular areas like Montana. Despite this is an example happened back a few years ago, many other areas in the world are encountering the same harsh condition of either weather or the pollution in general. For instance, China need to figure out a way to manage the resource recycling since in the future, they will no doubt be one of the biggest countries that is responsible for massive use of environmental resource.
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