Blog Entry #1

Textbook Summaries & Critical Thinking
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Going into further detail about perhaps future and past abandonment's and people inadvertently destroying the environmental resources on which their societies depended on for so many years as a consequence of deforestation and habitat destruction, soil problems (erosion, salinization, and soil fertility losses), water management problems, overhunting, overfishing, effects of introduced species on native species, human population growth, and increased per capita impact of people. Rethinking the decisions and solutions that had worked in the past to preserve and perpetuate the earth for future years.

What does it mean, according to Jared Diamond, to say that a society collapses?
According to Jared  By collapse, he means a drastic decrease in human population size and/or political, economic, social complexity, over a considerable area, for an extended time.
Sources: J, Diamond. Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed, Selections in Environmental Science P, 184-189

Human Carrying Capacity
 History of Easter Island, the Polynesian residents maintaining life,isolated from everywhere else in the world and their struggle with the environment and declining resources. Likewise, estimates of the human carry- ing capacity of the Earth are indicators. They indicate the population that can be supported under various assumptions about the present or future. Human carrying capacity is more difficult to estimate than some of the standard demographic indicators, like expectation of life or the total fertility rate, because human carrying capacity depends on populations and activities around the world.
J.E. Cohen. Human Carrying Capacity, P 169-172
What is "Carrying Capacity"?
The maximum amount that a specific ecosystem can support, without being overworked or overused, in this case "human carrying capacity" related to the planet earth.

Tragedy of the Commons
 Hardin relates a nineteenth-century tale about a common pasture becoming overgrazed and destroyed because each of the herdsmen whose animals grazed on it considered only the advantage to his own family of increasing his herd. From this parable, Hardin draws a general conclusion: that all resources, such as the oceans, which are held in common and are therefore not anyone’s private property, will be overused and ultimately degraded.
G, Hardin. Tragedy of the commons, P 24-28
What promotes human connection to nature?
This includes understanding nature, and caring about it to let it positively influence you throughout life. Learning and connecting with nature through classes, or seeing a documentary on television can all help to get a better perception of the environment.
What promotes human disconnection from nature?
Modern technology and development of commodities to take our eyes away from nature, some may not see a trace of nature throughout their day if it were not to be on a desktop screen.
Is there a danger to growing disconnection from nature?
A disconnection take the focal point away from what we need to survive, if we're too busy worrying about keeping society running, we aren't paying attention to what our actions reflect on to the environment.
Where do your environmental ethics lie?
-Anthropocentric?
-Biocentric?
-Ecocentric?
We need to consider the non-living world as incorporated with the way that we live and everyday life. Humans have become so abundant around the world and we are so caught up in modern day technological advances, and life within our city bounds that we have lost track of the one essence that's keeping us alive and well, the environment. It is around it everywhere we go, the ground we tread and the air we breathe.

HOME  
This hour and a half long film gave the realization of what the earth has become from what it was billions of years ago, growing up and living the city life for most of my years gave me an appreciation of the sights an d landscape that is unique to earth. It is a true wake up call. The film injected an essential sense of wonder within the tragedies ensued among the earth. Watching even the first 10 minutes gave a certain uneasiness that rarely develops realizing that this is our home that is slowly getting ripped apart, we have caused more damage within the lifespan of one human than the entire planet has caused in a matter of centenaries. If humans keep growing at the rate which we are this planet is going to be desiccated to the point o no return.


Student #7777649