User:Jesus LunaR/sandbox

Discussion board phrases:

-Overview of the Sonoran Desert

The readings promote an ideology of place since often humans tend to observe themselves as independent beings from nature, the reading attempt to illustrate that there exist other lives on earth that directly or indirectly interact with us and that even the smallest actions have a large impact. It attempts to make us become a part of nature, and specifically in this case be a part of the Sonoran Desert and accepting it as a defining trait of our identity as this could lead to a big impact on the care we put in our ecosystems and to reflect on the steps humanity is taking towards the depletion of natural resources.

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. (2015). A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert (Second Edition). Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Press.

-Developing a Sense of Place

There are two things that humans are ignorant of and as a result, rare patterns in wildlife are displayed: the first one is that there exist unexpected chains of dependency in nature that have wide prevalence, and secondly, the actions to help the wildlife are often superficial and as a result, its effects do not create the original harmony of the species and biomes that was normal before the beginning of the anthropogenic mass extinction.

-Geology and Geography

More than changing my sense of time it makes me aware of the many factors that influence the evolution of the Sonoran Desert, the fluctuations in the weather, the volcanic activity and the rise of the mountains, the glacial melting, the spread of the fault of San Andreas, so many intricate factors that have come to create a different view from the Paleocene epoch. It makes me scared that millions of years of adaptation, and change will come to an end due to the hedonic and egotistical sense of our species.

-Water I

Desert is synonymous with depletion, abandonment, emptiness which leads ironically to the depletion of that biome, it doesn't recognize its richness, its story, and the cultural value it has. Can you destroy what is already unexistent? This is an important idea since it's often a rationale used by many corporations to justify their industrial and agricultural expansion and be oblivious to the consequences, this is something that can easily be refuted by explaining the intricate biological community and its many geological factors.

-Water II

The origin of most things is found in nature, our curiosity as a species worked as an instrument to interpret the intricate interactions on the environment and this gave place to new ideas, many western civilizations had a close relationship with nature and it helped them establish what we call now a society while also placing the foundation for many of our beliefs and ideals.

-Water III

Sustainability refers to a balance between two elements, the way in which she questions emphasizes the idea that balance is not enough it should be given even more room for nature to expand and grow, to have the opportunity to adapt, and to give nature the fundamental rights of any human, as its integrity should be respected, it should develop, and prevail overtime not being sublimated. The current societal standards propose an ideology in which nature is our slave, not an invaluable component of the existence of any species.

-Human Ecology of the Sonoran Desert

I would restructure the phrase to "Man always kills the things humanity said to love" First, love to nature is substantially different from love to a person as it is often impossible for most people to give this deep, understanding, and complex appreciation to something that does not have sentience. Humanity is an animal species, it doesn't matter how much people dislike the term it is a fact. What makes us different from other animals? It is clearly our advanced rationale, however, this possesses a dichotomy, do we respond by instinct or by thought? I would say that when talking about nature our first response is the systematic decomposition of our environment to find what has utility, an expression of curiosity, and rationale as a species this defines what "humanity said to love". Then it becomes our task to subjugate and exploit nature, as an attempt to become the dominant element in the environment, we continue to push our surroundings to their limits as if we were slowly pushing a knife against the person we love till it becomes lifeless and many questions arise as it is obvious we have killed it but we refuse to let it go. We slowly killed our world by instinct and rationale, and at that point, we became conscious and attempted to refrain from such primitive impulses it was practically impossible to stop everyone from doing it.

-Conservation Practices

I think it represents that there is a story left to be written and that in the near future there will be a new chapter in which there will be one of the following titles either "The destruction of Quitobaquito Spring" or "The new hope of the Sonoran Desert" it is left to us to choose by our actions which title do we want, history is in our hands.

-Water, Redux

It is a symbol of our arrogance, and of our bland human desires such as greed. Humans often have a need for some sense of power, as species, we have learned that power cannot be exerted over our own as it is immoral, so we decided to exert it over nature, an ambivalent point in which many people differ in opinions however nature cannot speak to the ears of the ignorant, and that's why we keep harming it, we ignore the systematic destruction of the habitats, of wildlife, of everything that was so beautiful and complex just to satisfy our unending wants.

-History & Culture

...a reflection on the land of perfect ideals that allow for the union between humanity and nature, and that, as a result, allows for the appreciation of nature to extend to appreciating life and therefore every person is seen as having equal value this in term reduces many of the problems present on modern civilizations such as discrimination, she believed that regaining the gift of appreciation we would achieve a change from self-centered attitudes to being just a small part of nature that must be together to allow for the greater good to prevail.

Journals:

-Brad Pease

One way in which I was fascinated is his process to decide which areas to explore, he mentioned that he focuses on different places every year mainly the ones that are deserted and represent his intrepid spirit, in addition to that the way in which he captures the world with his images reflects humanity leaving behind nature. Nature becomes just an object left aside the memory which resides in it lost its value in the eyes of an ignorant world that focuses on an illusionary and superficial level of progress...

-Nancy Meister

Environmental Day not just what happens on that day, but what that day represents. Did something special happen on that day? Did a largely recognized historical event took place? Why is that day specifically Environmental Day? The incredible thing is that on that day nothing significant occurred, and I think that makes it so special, you might wonder, why? And it is because that means that people united, and are trying to find ways to protect, and preserve nature they are so passionate about it that they created a day in which to advocate for legislation on environmental issues, standards, and so much more. What makes that day special is that is a day in which everyone accepts that we are not a citizen of our country, but a citizen of this world and I am excited to be a part of that.

-Dr. Joel Diamond

I would say the moment in which my curiosity arose was when he talked about the misconception that bats don’t have sight when they in fact do, and after some research, I actually found that two subdivisions of bats that rely on vision for social interactions, and predator detection are megabats which are fruit bats, and microbats which are smaller species that eat insects...this presentation showed the power of curiosity, and how much it could affect our perception of the world if an hour increased so much my awareness of a species, I did not know practically anything then I can only imagine what fomenting such a basic characteristic of humanity can do, it would most likely lead to the flourishing of an environmentally aware world.

-Monica Ketchum

whether or not is there a similar notion about wilderness in actuality, is there some kind of modern myth of pristine wilderness related to the state of the environment? And if so, why? I thought about this as she gave the presentation, and the basis of them was that a large group of people not only in the United States but in the whole world not believes in climate change, even though the evidence pointing at it states that is a fact.

-Cary Meister

I wonder if we have reached our potential as a species, as I look at the facts it just becomes more apparent that we might have been the biggest mistake of nature. That idea is quite existential; however, I want to believe that the best is yet to come, and we will reach our true potential when becoming one with nature.

-Personal Entry

Throughout this entire semester, we have evaluated the relevance of a sense of place in the formation of us as people, however, we ignore that maybe other species of not just animals but also plants have this conception of identity, of having a sense of place where they reside and that this forms in part who they are. They won’t have a complex ideological system regarding their identity as a human would do, but it is not our duty to underestimate the capacity of others it is to protect them and these ideas they can form independently of how primitive they are.

-Dr. Ellen Riek

The reason why I believe this was so important is that it perfectly showed us who we are and how those places we have visited, those in which we grew, and those to which we desire to go form a large portion of who we are, our aspirations and purposes. It makes us conscious that some of the things that make us unique or even allow other people to identify us are a result of the prolonged interaction with those places, and that is what we often call a sense of place. Which is a simple yet beautiful definition.

-Cary Meister

In terms described by Immanuel Kant humans are the subject of unsocial sociability. This refers to our propensity to enter a society that is threatened by our mutual desire to act only taking as a reference our needs. By accepting to enter a society it is the acceptance that other beings have the same types of needs you have, and therefore interdependence is accepted as a result. In a case like the one shown by Cary Meister on the different conflicts that have arisen as the fight for essential resources and scarcity is made larger it is shown how individuals representing their respective states are unable to give even the slightest control of water to others even if they need it the most. It is a conflict of power, not of necessity at this point. This is something that threatens us as a society. The fact that at the same time we recognize and have a need to cooperate, our desire personal interest must prevail above everyone else’s which destroys the entire purpose of living as a society.

-Gregory McNamee

We desire to take some kind of evolutive revenge on nature. It seems like an irrational idea, right? Well, because it is. It is an irrational idea for beings that most of the time are more irrational than they are rational. This desire to dominate nature because we once feared it, when it was something divine that was entitled to our allegiance and our prayers. By our actions it can be inferred that we want to say that we are not scared anymore, we are now the ones that deserve the allegiance of nature, and everything it offers, we are entitled to it. Humanity has what could be considered a “God complex.” As a species, we have lost the basic ideal of our sense of place. We are forgetting that those places we destroy, subjugate, and disappear are a large part of our identity they contain our history, the memory of millions, many socio-cultural practices, everything will be lost because we are destroying ourselves, humanity and nature are two inseparable entities. The moment when the last tree falls, we will no longer be humans. This is the reason I firmly believe we must do something to change, because it is our duty to preserve nature and when doing it preserve ourselves.

-Morgan Moore

Something else that this presentation reiterated to me is how connected everything is. Since I have always tried to create conscience in the people around me and even those I don’t completely know about the struggles and treatment for psychological disorders. I have been diagnosed with clinical anxiety, and to some extent, I know how hard it is to recover, to become functional once again after everything you suffer, and something that helped me was reconnecting with nature. People should know about how creating a stronger bond with the environment is something almost magical that can allow you to relax, to slowly breathe as you find something in which to redirect your energy and thoughts.