No more Nemo...

While we've been discussing "nature" in class, I've usually been picturing forests and other parts of "wilderness." But today when Clara told me about the coral reefs in Florida where she lives, I remembered that "nature" encompasses underwater life as well.

If anyone's interested in oceans, check out this report about the problems humans have created for coral reefs: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/programs/coral/threats.htm

Here's one of the main sources: "Beach nourishment projects, in which large volumes of sand are re-located from offshore to onshore, can cause severe impacts to reefs." (I owe Clara for letting me know about this)

Does anyone think that humans, because they need to keep dumping sand on the coasts, shouldn't be allowed to live so close to the shore?

The way I see it, it's a shame to destroy the incredible diversity of animals in the reefs. ):

Primitivism isn't all it's cracked up to be!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Set-r53xvBI&NR=1

As pretty as the Hudson River School makes it look, nature has a dangerous side....

Sr. Wendy!

Here is Sister Wndy- the famous art historian. The interview is not the best quality, and there is a slight delay, but its worth a watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UounpN_ga7o&feature=related

Indian View on Owning Land

This is a link to a letter sent by the native american, Chief Seattle, to the president of the United States in response to an offer to purchase his land. It addresses the idea of property and the native american view that land cannot be owned (we briefly touched on this during discussion today). The famous quote, "How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land?" comes from this letter...

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2578350/How-can-you-buy-or-sell-the-sky-the-warmth-of-the-land

Thoreau, for kids

And yet not to be underestimated. Author DB Johnson has written and illustrated three Thoreau-inspired children's books which NPR's Scott Simon and author Daniel Pinkwater read out loud. A real treat. Bonus points if you can match the books with Thoreau's works.

From these links you can download the podcasts, about 8min each...

Henry Hikes to Fitchburg

Henry Builds a Cabin

Henry Climbs a Mountain

Persistence hunting

Here is a video of persistence hunting. This is one of the methods described by Louis Liebenberg in his book The Art of Tracking: The Origin of Science.

Bruegel's Games

This website describes 20 of the major games depicted in the picture "Children's Games" if anyone's interested. I thought the Knuckle Bone game and also Who is to be my Love? were especially interesting! 

http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/VirtualExhibits/Brueghel/imgmap.html 

Is Robin Hood Real?

Since we were talking about this in class, I googled it and got this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/robin_04.shtml. According to the BBC, "we would be fully justified in saying that Robin Hood was active during the reign of King John, but that his fame and popularity were such that within a generation his true identity had been obscured by legend." So we have no idea who he was, but he was probably a real guy. The article also acnowledges the impact of the forest, and the medieval game laws, on the legend of Robin Hood. Ironically, the king's forest, which was vast and protected for royal hunts, sheltered Robin Hood and his fellow outlaws. They used the king's own land to evade his game laws.

ape man lyrics

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/k/kinks/apeman_20079017.html

here are the lyrics to ape man!!! best song ever

here is ape man video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HmaAPaP-h0&feature=related

Debate between "environmentalists"

As a case in point of in-fighting between people who are probably interested in the same end goals, here are Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger on NPR literally saying "look in the mirror" to critics of their strategy for addressing global climate change (the strategy is itself an interesting story).

Gotta be careful calling these guys "environmentalists" though... they made themselves known a few years back with a provocative piece called Death of Environmentalism. A productive critique, or no?

natural burial

http://naturalburial.org

A local landmark, one of just a very few in this country (although arguably not a phenomenon worldwide). If you're interested in why someone might choose this option, the FAQ section... will also give a perspective on what, as implied in contrast, is currently the trend in "unnatural" burial. The landscape in the Photo Gallery is worth a view, too.

Gaston de Phoebus

Here's a link to a nice article about Gaston de Phoebus and Livre de Chasse titled "Art in Pursuit." The author does a good job describing the content and significance of the text, and she also discusses the "sporting" aspects of medieval hunting and the ideas of fair play that governed the activity.

Kids raised by animals

http://www.feralchildren.com/en/children.php?tp=0

here is a link about what we were talking about in discussion today. They are kids raised by animals BUT they are not healthy, have illness. Look at it its very intresting.

Excellence in nature reporting

hard to know if this is for real (reporting-wise, that is). Enjoy.

Welcome to Summer College!

Hi everyone,
I am looking forward to meeting you all and to reading your posts over the next several weeks. Welcome!

Jim

thanks for a great semester!

thanks everyone for a great semester. The blog is always up and running, and I probably won't delete you as members until next year, so if you see interesting items you'd like to pass along, by all means, share!

thanks again, and enjoy your summer!

Baby Mammoth!

Oh, and I just remembered one other thing I'd like to share. A few weeks ago my dad sent me this link, regarding the discovery of a baby wooly mammoth, perfectly preserved! Pretty cool!

http://www.comcast.net/video/find_of_a_lifetime/1103413921/

all feet in the air at once?

Hey everyone. I realize it's probably past blogging time, but I have one interesting tidbit of information that I would like to share anyways. In one of our classes when we were talking about film, there was a short discussion about whether or not horses are ever completely airborne when they are galloping and how this was discovered. I did my term paper on mustangs and one of the sources I used talked briefly about this.

Here's the story (paraphrased) from  (Stillman 2008, 196-198):

After completing the transcontinental railroad in 1869, the financier Leland Stanford was burnt out and his doctor advised him to spend time outside and with horses. Stanford got involved in the racehorse industry and became intrigued with the popular question of whether or not when a horse galloped, there was a point at which all four of its legs were off the ground. Stanford sided with those who said there was indeed such a moment, but there were plenty others who argued that a horse would collapse without the support of at least one leg. According to legend, Stanford placed a twenty-five thousand dollar bet that horses do in fact become completely airborne at some time during the gallop, and he convinced the landscape photographer Eadweard Muybridge to rig up an experiment that would show once and for all that horses do in fact leave the ground completely in the gallop.

On a June morning in 1878, racing fans and reporters gathered at Stanford's estate to watch the demonstration Muybridge had prepared. The first horse they used was the trotter Abe Edgington. Muybridge had set up twelve wires under the track at twenty-one-inch intervals, each connected to a camera. The horse was pulling a sulky, and as the sulky wheels ran across the wires, the shutters were tripped and twelve photographs were produced. As Stanford expected, the horse did leave the ground, even at just a fast trot. The experiment was later conducted with Stanford's horse Occident carrying a jockey at the gallop and the same results were recorded.

Stillman, Deanne. 2008. Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Rights of Communities

So, I haven't read the Sagoff article yet but I wanted to take issue with the premise that rights accrue only to individuals. Better I think to allow for this, obviously, but also to acknowledge that hierarchies exist and that there should be no logical fault in assigning rights to communities of individuals. To the extent that we as individuals rely on support of other individuals, then we should care about the rights of others as well as ourselves. Further, to the extent that communities of individuals rely on the support of other communities of individuals (and I don't think this is an unreasonable assumption), then we should also care about the rights of communities (access to markets, modes of education, etc.) because this will affect how our societies interact. Sure, there is a difficulty extending this to future generations. But if we care about the human traditions and cultural institutions currently in place and care about the human condition, assuming it is in some way affected by the environments we live in, then we should also care, I think, about making sure our actions in the present foster and preserve these things we find important, allowing for the right of later communities of individuals to extend and elaborate upon them. Every generation has an anguished group of soul searchers that think differently or are somehow uncomfortable with the status quo. We should at least care about those individuals in future generations and make sure they still have the option to work toward some resolution, if only for themselves. Anyway, ill formed thoughts.