My first impression of Koyaanisqatsi was in the form of a sensory overload. I was so overwhelmed as the film panned over various sped up  and slowed down visuals. Additionally, the loud music that played in the background contributed to my sensory overload. After getting past all the fast and slow moving videos and the music, I was able to appreciate the visuals that the director chose to use. Every shot of the natural environment that was selected was stunning while nearly every shot of civilization was dreadful.

I think the point that the film was trying to make is that there is starting to become a defined line between humans and the natural world. What use to be two entities that coexisted, is now no longer. The title of the film highlights this phenomenon, “life out of balance” or “life disintegrating.” The film highlights some pressing issues like those associated with urbanization, industrialism, commercialism etc. One of the most memorable moments for me in the film is when you see the people all laying out on the beach and as the film zooms out you are able to see reality. The people are lying on a beach that is directly adjacent to what appears to be a factory, perhaps a power plant of some sort. Highlighting the ‘life out of balance’ phenomenon.

I think that art is potentially something that can save the world, and this is something that I would never of said a semester ago. Before the start of this semester and before I started to volunteer at the Nurture Nature Center, I wasn’t the biggest fan of art. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should have. Since I started going to the Nurture Nature Center on a weekly basis I am regularly exposed to local artist’s art and have seen art about a topic that I am passionate about, the environment. I have created more of an appreciation for it. What I have come away with at the near conclusion of the semester is that art is something that once you are able to interpret on your own, find meaning and find your own value in, it has a sort of strength and power that can move you. A power that excites you and makes you feel passionate. Art is something that has the ability to eventually become so powerful to a person that once you find value and meaning it can potentially move you, inspire and push you to ‘save the world’.

Upon arriving to Hawk Mountain, you could tell that it is a popular tourist destination. Immediately as I stepped out of the van I was trampled over by a bunch of young Boy Scouts hastily making their way to the visitor center. By the time I made it to the visitor center it was packed with people every which way you looked. As I walked around the center I was able to learn a lot about the sanctuary, its history and its governing principles and ideals. The mountain used to be a spot where people go together and killed mass amount of raptors, as the public saw raptors as vermin and thought they would cause a great threat to their populations of livestock. In 1934, Rosalie Edge, an advocate for birds of prey bought the mountain and it became a sanctuary to conserve birds of prey. Rosalie saw the importance of raptors to the ecosystem and understood their role as indicators of ecosystem health, as they point out the underlying health of ecosystems. They also benefit farmers and their farmland because they prey on mice, voles and insects. Later, in 1962 Rachel Carson use Hawk Mountain as an example in Silent Spring to raise awareness about birds of prey. In her book she talks about how while sitting up on the North Lookout fewer and fewer eagles were being seen. She emphasized the negative impacts of DDT on the bird populations.

Today, according to the sanctuary, they feel it is important that research, education, training and environmental advocacy are emphasized. These four aspects are evident not only in the visitor center but also while at the North Lookout point. While sitting at the lookout point there was an incredible atmosphere. With everyone working together, people sharing equipment and the usuals helping the newcomers, it was a great environment to be in. There were people off all different backgrounds. One side of the mountain was occupied by clearly more experienced watchers, people from the sanctuary who were keeping the official bird count, and people who are at home citizen scientists. On the other side there was a mix but mostly everyday people taking day trips up to the mountain wanting to learn about birds of prey. While sitting on the mountain as people would see birds they would yell out the location, high or low and what type it was, allowing everyone to learn and experience. However, it was clear while up at north lookout point that Hawk Mountain is a tourist destination and it was definitely not an experience of solitude and reflection, as there were people every which way you looked.  

We ended our time at Hawk Mountain with a showing of a golden eagle from a local educational center. As soon as the bird handler removed the eagle from the van the whole crowd gasped, it was beautiful. As the handler chauffeured the eagle to the front of the crowd, every single person (except the members of our class) took out their phones and cameras to snap photos the magnificent creature. The whole time the bird was in front of the crowd, it was clear that it was anxious. As the bird was perched in front on the handler’s arm, it let out an uncomfortable groan, and it did not stop. For 20 minutes straight. As they opened the discussion up for questions, the crowd was so curious, asking so many questions that they had to cut the session off and not everyone got to ask their questions. It was really nice to see how curious all the people there are about birds of prey and educating themselves. Although the presence of the golden eagle did provide an element of education that I didn’t get from sitting on the north lookout, it was at the same time a very sad experience. It was clear that the bird was uncomfortable and had had enough. The handler noticed the bird was starting to get antsy and needed to go back in the van, but he gave us a couple more minutes to get some last minute pictures of the bird’s wing span- and not but a few minutes later did the bird jump off the arm of the handler and head straight for a woman’s head.

Fast forward just one hour and there I was standing among hundreds of animals, ranging from everyday animals like deer and raccoons to polar bears and elephants. All dead. All stuffed. It was quite the opposite experience from Hawk Mountain. As I stood next to the huge mountain in the middle of the store I examined the taxidermy. When you look at each individual animal there is a plaque in front of it that says the specie name, who ‘took’ them and where they were taken. It is an understatement to say that I felt a little bit out of place, “Hi, my name is Jackie Cirincione, I have been a vegetarian for about 5 years and grew up in a household that rehabilitated wildlife.”  

I continued walking and I arrived in a room called Deer Country where there are hundreds of deer packed into one room. Hanging on the walls are the ‘world record breaking deer.’ On each individual plaque that hang on the there is a description that glorifies the best deer that have ever been  killed and a news article about the killing and who did it. As a stand there it was very interesting to me to hear the people talking about all the different types of deer. Listening to a father explain to his son the types of deer, their defining characteristics etc. Continuing on my journey through the store, I encountered the Africa section where they have zebra, hippopotamuses, elephants etc. all displayed. Next to the elephant there is a photo of Cabela himself next to the dead elephant with the location of where in Africa he was when he killed the elephant. While I was in each of these exhibits the interactions between the consumers and the exhibits was fascinating. I saw many people taking selfies with the animals. One little girl and her mother took a selfie in front of the elephant and when the were looking at it daughter said to her mom, “It’s cool because it looks like we were in the jungle!”

Cabela’s is truly an experience, between the taxidermy displays, the interactive games, the restaurants and the gift shop. However, at the end of the day it is a retail store that sells hunting, fishing and camping supplies. There are plenty of everyday household goods to buy but almost all of them have a connection with hunting. For example you can find couches (in a camouflage design), chandeliers (made of deer antlers), seat covers for your car (in a camouflage design) etc. While browsing the racks you can see popular clothing brands like The North Face and under armor but with a Cabela’s twist. I would go as far to say that at least 80% of the apparel, gear and household items come in a green camouflage for men and a pink camouflage design for women. Whether it’s a fleece jacket, Philadelphia Eagles apparel or car mats they all have the pink option. No one who is actually going to go out to hunt is going to wear pink to camouflage themselves, perhaps Cabela’s is contributing to a whole other conversation about gender and gender roles. Additionally, they also have a bunch of products that I have never seen before, such as a game strap (which comfortably holds 23 birds).They have a product there called ‘Gulp! Alive!’ which is a mimic of an actual fish. The fish you can buy is a natural presentation of a real fish in action, scent and taste and it lives longer and is more durable than a real fish.

Like I said before, the atmosphere at Cabela’s is much more than just a store, they create an experience. Not only do they have their merchandise for sale but they also provide customers with displays, interactive games and exhibits, restaurants, a gift shop. You don’t plan to just run into Cabela’s and just grab something, you plan to stay for a few hours. Although I did not particularly enjoy my experiences at Cabela’s I did learn a lot and it did cause me to think from another perspective and think about the different cultures of nature. After my visit I concluded that I do think that there is a value in taxidermy, in the form of educational experiences. A person can learn a lot about an animal from seeing it in person and being able to visually explore.  However at Cabela’s I found the amount of taxidermy to be excessive and not used for an educational purpose. I felt like that the taxidermy and the atmosphere and experiences in the store were there to emphasize the thrill of the game and the desire to kill for the take home trophy. I felt similarly with the way in which they define nature. In Cabela’s nature can be seen as a trophy, a sport and a game. At this store man dominates nature, “it’s in your nature” is their slogan.  Many of the consumers at Cabela’s are people who are going there to buy guns which they will use to kill and catch their own food, people who find nature to be a commodity and something that they should be using. What it comes down to between me, and I can assume the people Hawk Mountain, having different values of nature than the people who shop at Cabela’s. Who is to say that my values are right and theirs aren’t? I know that I will never agree or find value in killing for the take home trophy or killing for my own food but after this field trip my eyes were opened to a different lifestyle and set of values that I can do nothing but acknowledge and understand as a reality in our country.

“Take, for example, running over creatures with motor vehicles. The idea that roads would be smooth enough, vehicles fast enough , and wildlife abundant enough to create today’s carnage on our roadways would have been unthinkable not long ago. Now not only is it thinkable, it has a name, roadkill, that has become the subject of endless jokes, and it is widely thought to be an unavoidable cost of modern mobility” (Sterba, 187).

“Wood and chain link fences mark the boundaries between neighbors, but each neighbors lights here, all across America, are allowed to roam far beyond their boundaries- a perfect example of what dark sky advocates call “light trespass. The lights from these unshielded fixtures not only trespass onto the yards of neighbors and into the eyes of drivers passing through but straight into the sky, their energy wasted” (Bogard, 5).

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put somethings behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him… In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them” (Walden, 351-352).

“We watched the storms of late afternoon. Sun descending in a welter of brawling purple clouds. Spokes of the gold wheel across the sky, jags and jets of lightening flicker from cloud to cloud to earth. Mighty kettledrums thunder in the distance. My wind gauge reads thirty five knots. The trees sway, the wind booms through the forest” (Abbey, 54).

Abbey talks about the role of the watcher. The watcher’s job is to sit and watch nature around them in the context of the wind, fires, weather, birds etc. He talks about Einstein and how he saw the world as comprehensible and because you could understand it because it’s properties could be described in a formula. He also brings us Francis Bacon’s perspective, “knowledge is power.” I like this quote (the quote from page 54) because it represents one of the main points of the paper that you don’t always have to have a technical explanation for everything, or an equation to understand things, sometimes the simple things and enjoying them are just as powerful.

“I could go. I could simply angle off the path, take one step after another, and be on my way. I could walk to Point Borrow, Mount Mckinley, Hudson’s Bay. My summer jacket is put away; my winter jacket is warm” (Dillard, 252).

I like this quote because up until this point Dillard has emphasized the idea of migrating south. She has been talking about the birds, their restlessness and their excitement to migrate south, she has been depicting the weather getting cooler. This is a turning point, the point when she talks about the idea of grabbing her winter coat, setting off and going north.

“”You’re not going to kill it are you?” It was a question he tried to deflect by saying that the beavers were being captured alive in cage traps, treated humanely, and that his methods not only were legal but had won the praises of animal protection groups. His customer, on the other hand, usually didn’t ask. Asking would result in an answer they didn’t want to hear. They wanted to assume that the animals causing their problems would be removed by LaFountain and then relocated to some place where they could live happily ever after” (Sterba, 63).

This quote reminded me of a quote in Tallamy’s piece The Vital New Role of the Suburban Garden. On page 23 Tallamy writes, “We feel completely justified in sending plants and animals that depend on those habitats off to make do some place else. This is partly because no one is going to choose a pollywog over a human if presented with such a choice, and partly because, until recently, there always had been someplace else for nature to thrive.” One of my interests as a environmental major is environmental justice. While reading these quotes I found a connection to EJ because a common problem that we face in America is the idea that we can just ship the annoyances off somewhere else, but when you ship these things somewhere else they become someone else’s problem. And we tend to not think about who we are shipping our problem off to, because as long as it’s not affecting us we don’t care enough to change the decisions.

“Don LaFountain stopped calling himself a “recreational trapper” and started calling himself a “professional wildlife damage controller.” The difference? As a weekend hobbyist, he could sell the pelt of each dead beaver he trapped for $20, more or less depending on the vagaries for the fur auction market. As a licensed professional, he could charge $150 for removing a “problem beaver,” $750 for removing a typical family of five, and $1000 and more for installing “beaver deceivers”” (Sterba, 83).

I thought this quote was interesting because it brought me back to the idea of response paper #2 and the importance of naming. We talked a couple times in class about this idea of how important choosing a name is (ie the names of national parks, wilderness areas etc) and also the importance of knowing the names of things (like types of birds, trees etc), I think this is a clear example.

My parents are down on Sanibel Island, Florida for the week.  Since they bought a house there they have become really into bird watching. I wrote in my second response paper about my family’s bird watching experiences on the beach and the impact that naming has had on my family. To follow up with my response paper, yesterday while my parents were sitting on the beach and they sent me a couple of pictures of the different egrets they saw (the pictures are taken on an IPhone).

This is a picture of a great egret:

This is a picture of a snowy egret (if it’s feet weren’t in the water you would be able to identify it by its yellow feet):

This is a picture of an assortment of birds near the water:

As I stood near the cliff I could feel the wind grazing over my nose and I could feel it grazing against my shins. As I stood, I tried to drown out the noises coming from the others standing to my left and to my right. I was standing in wilderness. A designated spot of wilderness, a spot where human impact is supposed to be minimal. And where I was standing, in this designated spot of wilderness, I focused as I attempted to drain out the noises, laughs and comments of others around me.

The view was marvelous. As I looked out it was as if you could see for miles. The mountains stood tall and as I looked they ran continuously. They succession to the horizon line was unbelievable. Spanning from foreground of tress, to the rolling colorful hills of the mountain to silhouette of the blue mountains resting peacefully in the background.  As I continued to observe, I noticed  in the foreground the different clusters of color. As you would look from left to right, from place to place, the distribution of color would vary. You could see bright groups of colorful trees all populated together and then right next to them would be a group of barren trees. This patterned continued for all that I could see. Suddenly, it was back to reality. We were moving on continuing on the path of wilderness to our next destination, the next look out point.

Quotes from Nature Wars:

“Where do most people in the United States live? The answer is just as counterintuitive: They live in the woods… if you draw a line around the largest forested region in the contiguous United States- the one that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean of the Great Plains- you will have drawn a line around nearly two-thirds of America’s forests and two-thirds of the U.S population” (Sterba, 2).

” For many Americans, progress had become a dirty word. Much of the American “wilderness” had been methodically destroyed in the name of progress. Forests of the twenty-first century were being destroyed across swaths of the planet by a human population no more rapacious but far larger than in the past. This, too, was happening in the name of progress” (Sterba, 41).

“Growing populations of wild animals and birds became habituated to life with people or near people. Sprawl became their home. To be sure, many species showed little or no appetite for sprawl, which fragments habitat, disrupts migration and travel patterns, reduces species diversity, and adversely impacts native habitats. For many species, however, sprawl had all the things that they needed to thrive, foremost among them being food, protection and hiding places. Even species known to be people- shy- wild turkey’s and bears, for example- accommodated as their numbers grew” (Sterba, 57).

“If our native insect fauna cannot, or will not, use alien plants for food, then insect populations in areas with many alien plants will be smaller than insect populations in areas with all natives. This may sound like a gardener’s dream: a land without insects! But because so many animals depend partially or entirely on insect protein for food, a land without insects is a land without most forms of higher life (Wilson 1987)” (Tallamy, 12).

“Nearly every creature on this planet owes its existence to plants, the only organisms capable of capturing the sun’s energy and, through photosynthesis, turning that energy into food for the rest of us. Only in the deepest reaches of the ocean do life forms survive that don’t require this food, deriving their energy through chemosynthesis of sulphur’ from deep-sea vents (Ruby, Wirsen & Jannasch 1981: Novomv et al. 2006)” (Tallamy, 15).

“There too I admired, though I did not gather, the cranberries, small waxen gems, pendants of the meadow grass, pearly and red, which the farmer plucks with an ugly rake, leaving the smooth meadow in a snarl, heedlessly measuring them by the bushel and the dollar only, and sells the spoils of the meads to Boston and New York; destined to be jammed, to satisfy the tastes of lovers of Nature there” (Thoreau, 259).

“Some people want to put the forest back the way it was 200 years ago,” he says. “To do that, I tell them, you’ve got to put the Bronx back the way it was 200 years ago” (Weisman, 35).

The other day while I was on youtube I clicked on a video to watch and as usual an advertisement popped up. Now, I usually just hit the skip button when they come on but this ad caught my attention. This video opened with a scene of a beautiful natural landscape. Below is the link to the video:

Turns out it’s an ad for Subaru. Subaru has an initiative which they call “Zero Landfill” in which Subaru works with the National Parks Conservation Association and their already started initiative to become “America’s first Zero-Landfill automaker, with all waste recycled or reused, to our current National Park Zero-Landfill Initiative.” Here is a video describing the initiative in more detail:

Here is a link to a national geographic article about the partnership: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/150629-zero-landfill-national-parks-yosemite-grand-teton-denali/

After reading about the initiative, I am all about Subaru partnering with this initiative and doing what they can do reduce the amount waste they send to landfills, that is huge. However, the main problem with companies like Subaru is their contribution of greenhouse gas emissions and what they add to the huge issue of our time, climate change. Perhaps they should also be addressing that.