Concerns have been expressed in England recently over potential “bag rage” regarding a new charge for plastic shopping bags. However, I find it encouraging to see such firm action being made at this level. Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Bangladesh, Rwanda, and parts of the United States have already implemented charges or restrictions on plastic bag use. It is crazy to think of how these bags end up everywhere, polluting the environment and killing wildlife regularly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/07/world/europe/plastic-bag-charge-england.html?ref=earth

I saw something that was pretty interesting to me the other day.. As Autumn approaches we’ll start to see leaves changing colors and began falling from the trees.

Walking by Hugel this past week I saw something that got me thinking. One of the trees had already lost all it’s leaves.

The tree, which I believe to be a Little Leaf Linden (Tilia Cordata) is apparently dying and creating a sad sight along the walk to class in front of Hugel.

I looked up the school’s planning site and found a list which boasts almost 90 different species of trees on campus. The list, which was compiled in 2011, included a brief history of the College’s Arboretum. Beginning in 1840, it used to be tradition for the graduating class to plant a tree at commencement however not formally organized until many years later. About 120 years later, the college made it an initiative to beautify the campus grounds and began to assemble the collection we have today. So while it might be too late for this young Little Leaf Linden, next time you’re walking across campus try to take a moment to appreciate the ecological diversity we have on our hill.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/science/a-shifting-approach-to-saving-endangered-species.html?action=click&contentCollection=science&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

I came across the article and found that I had very different reactions to what I was reading. At first, I was frustrated by the government’s ruling to not add another species to the endangered species list. I was then surprised that many environmental agencies actually supported this action by the government. I shifted back to being annoyed as the author wrote that typical species conservation focused just on that one species but not the “larger needs of human society.” I was shocked by that quote, because we are there reason that there even is an extensive endangered species list. I grew more accepting of the article again as it transitioned to a point of looking into cooperation between humans and the ecosystems, including businesses such as farming.

The article continues from there but definitely brings up some interesting points. I recommend that if you have the time you should check this out as well!

While our class will be going to the Nurture Nature Center in Easton for the first time tomorrow, I went for my first a week ago to begin my work volunteering there. As background:

“The Nurture Nature Center, located in Easton, Pennsylvania, is a dynamic center for community learning about local environmental risks. NNC is housed in a beautifully renovated, historic, 30,000 square foot facility, where the staff uses a blend of science, art and dialogue programs to get the community talking and thinking critically about the local environment.”

When I went to the NNC the thing that intrigued me the most was the different artwork and photographs around the building. I wondered why the center had chosen those specific photographs and whether research had been done to see if the photographs chosen connected individuals with the environment similar to the murals we discussed in class. When we visit tomorrow everyone should try to look at the walls and try to determine the motivations for selection.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/16/science/gopro-balloon-footage-of-earth.html?WT.mc_id=2015-KWP-AUD_DEV&WT.mc_ev=click&ad-keywords=AUDDEVREMARK&kwp_0=45522&kwp_4=256068&kwp_1=191479&_r=0

I stumbled across this video and accompanying summary this morning and was pretty amazed. I feel skeptical about it’s legitimacy but that may just be me. Regardless, very cool, I hope that more videos like this surface in the future. I would like to see one of certain parts of the ocean or perhaps of the Himalayas or something like that.

Today I was reading the news and came across this article about how eBay is aiding the spread of invasive species. Below is the link to the article. In the article, they talk about how over a 50 day period researchers were able to monitor from the supply side (they didn’t have access to private information like geographic location information to confirm regions actually doing business) of the sale of invasive species, in which countries they were being offered from and how often they were available. One of the invasive species they found was up for sale most often was the passion fruit, which is highly invasive in the tropics.

This article particularly interests me because in my conservation biology class we have been looking at the impacts of invasive species on biodiversity and ecosystems. We did a lab where we went to Jacobsburg Park and went to an edge (where the park meets the parking lot). We identified the invasive species, saw first-hand the impacts the invasive species were having on native species (ie crowding out and the suffocation of native species). We then went out in the field and had the opportunity to remove purple loosestrife. I also have come in contact with invasive species in this class- seeing the Japanese Knotweed on the Delaware River and the purple loosestrife when we went with Professor Brandes to Sullivan Park. In reality ever outing I go out on whether in this class or any of my other courses invasive species are present.

The last section of the paper starts with quote from the study’s author, Franziska Humair, “To put it briefly, the vast majority of invasive species can be easily obtained with just a click of the mouse.” A frightening idea, given how harmful invasive species are and how now they are being spread by everyday people over the internet without any monitoring.

http://www.futurity.org/invasive-plants-ebay-1018652-2/

“Every mountain has its steepest point, which is usually near the summit, in keeping, I suppose, with the providence that makes the darkest hour just before day. It is steep, steeper, steepest, till you emerge on the smooth level or gently rounded space at the top, which the old ice gods polished off so long ago” (Burroughs 29).

I really like this quote from Burroughs because I think it is actually a metaphor for something much greater than just the experience of hiking. The image it paints to me is this idea of a personal problem, or challenge and being able to eventually push past it and find yourself on the smooth part of the mountain. This notion also goes in line with Thoreau as it really details finding, or solving one’s self in nature.

“The ordinary citizen today assumes that science knows what makes the community clock tick; the scientist is equally sure that he does not. He knows that the biotic mechanism is so complex that its workings may never be fully understood” (Leopold 205).

I have read the land ethic before, and this quote really caught my attention this time round. The commentary, Leopold uses is beyond his time and really relates to the current problems facing society’s fight against anthropocentric climate change. This arrogant perception, or as Leopold puts it “assumption” that technology will fix everything is simply a misconception that people refuse to acknowledge. Science is always discovering new niches and information to better understand the physical world, but that does not mean we should continue putting all our eggs in one basket; that would be senseless.

In the older clearcuts I can see a fuzz of seedlings. They are all Douglas fir, since the other less profitable species that might grow there have been poisoned. When they are mature they will not add up to a forest, but to something like a gargantuan cornfield, with each tree the same size and shape, placed a scientific distance from its neighbors (Feasting on Mountains 61)

I completely agree with Sanders that nature cannot be copied through human efforts. What I see above is not nature. It is not a interconnected ecosystem, it is calculated and separate. The only way humans can recreate nature after it is destroyed is to leave it alone.

This summer I listened to a lot of podcasts, and a lot of my favorite podcasts are the TED radio hour compilations. If you haven’t listened to them, I highly recommend them- each one is a collection of segments from TED talks on the same topic with follow-up conversations with the people who originally gave them. One of the best ones that I listened to this summer had to do with humans and our physical interactions with technology. The most memorable of the talks featured in the podcast was by Hugh Herr, a mountain climber who lost both of his legs from the knees down after he was caught in a storm on Mount Washington in New Hampshire. As he had been an avid and gifted climber prior to his accident, he refused to accept that he would have to surrender a recreational escape that had been so meaningful to him so he worked incessantly to develop prosthetics that would allow him to return to the activity he loved. He jumped off from this point and now works to create comfortable prosthetics for all kinds of people so that amputees no longer feel they are less-than, and are allowed to feel again that they are wholly human, if not more.

Aaron’s comments on hiking and the challenge triggered my memory of this TED talk because I believe Herr says something about how it had always been a challenge to climb and his recovery had been a challenge to return to being able to tackle those cherished challenges again. Definitely worth checking out:

“At the beginning of the trail, brain and heart both are crammed with the debris of living among too many people. My mind careens from one human concern to another, from the dangers of plutonium to a leak in the gutter, like a pinball trapped in its labyrinth of posts” (Feasting on Mountains 58)

I love hiking in the mountains. It is one of my favorite past times and my camping trip in Alaska was the most memorable because of the plethora of mountains we traversed. I can relate with this quote directly as it is a feeling which I have experienced many times. You never realize how much is swirling around your head until it all dwindles out and you are simply left with what is around you.

“When the exercise of your limbs affords you pleasure, and the play of your senses upon the various objects and shows of nature quickens and stimulates your spirit, your relation to the world and to yourself is what it should be- simple and direct and wholesome” (Burrough 21)

This quote drew to me as a response to the quote above. I feel like they go hand in hand and lead into each other. As the civilized word drifts from your mind, you more able to gain this “relation to the world” Burrough describes.