In Class Response to Bio-Quiz/Eaarth

        Bill McKibben, the author of Eaarth, has a podcast available on the Internet that is very convicting. In this podcast, McKibben talks about the way that humans use the planet Earth. McKibben also gives advice on how the Earth should be used and how to grow crops and such to avoid the overuse of land and resources. McKibben says many times that if these ways of farming and industry aren't corrected or fixed, the world may collapse sooner than expected. An interesting fact from McKibben's podcast was that "less than 1 percent of Americans are now really farming at the moment, so there's twice as many prisoners as there are farmers in the United States". Basically, the author is saying that these "go green" campaigns are going too slow. Another resource that is convicting and has pointed out human's unawareness for Earth is a simple Bio-regional Quiz. Many of the questions in the quiz go unanswered or end with the reader being dumbstruck. This hesitancy is an easy indicator of how much humans can ignore what is going on around them. Naturally, the human race would rather consume than conserve any day of the week.

Response to Bill McKibben’s Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

            After listening to the two podcasts between Bill McKibben and Mark Fischetti, I feel very more informed on the view that McKibben holds. The main point of his book and he repeatedly brings up in this interview is that although we might not have an exact plan or a "utopia" for our world yet, we need to be conscious and aware of what direction we are headed in.
            Another point McKibben made was that we need to localize things more. This doesn't neccesaritly mean staying in your "own little box" all day. McKibben mentions that in the past couple years in his life, he has stayed at home but is still able to connect globally and such through the progression of technology. He also states that:

"And so what is it that does work for poor and vulnerable people? I think the evidence is pretty clear that for instance, local, labor–intensive, low-input agriculture is the smartest option from much of the world, both in terms of providing jobs, security, stability and food, and in making those ecological systems robust enough to withstand the damage that's coming, that's already here."

            I think this ties right in with his localizing theme, as well as provides a semi-solution to the poverty issue. 

            I think one of the positive things to take from this interview and/or book by McKibben is that we are starting to slowly progress into the kind of country that we need to be. However, we might be moving to slowly. Although we are individually trying to do our best to "go green" by looking up how to "double-dig" and stuff, we need to come together and change the way we do things, store supplies, and clump tasks together as a nation.
            In closing, I'll leave you with an interesting fact that McKibben makes in his book: "Less than 1 percent of Americans are now really farming at the moment, so there's twice as many prisoners as there are farmers in the United States".

Feel free to listen to the podcast yourself, and form your own opinions at
Part 1: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=bill-mckibbens-eaarth-10-04-21
Part 2: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=bill-mckibbens-eaarth-conclusion-10-04-22&WT.mc_id=SA_emailfriend

The Purple Haze Aka Smog

As most people in China today look into the sky, they can barely even see its blue color or the funky looking clouds. This is created partly because of a thing called smog. According to Webster’s Dictionary, smog is: a fog made heavier and darker by smoke and chemical fumes. The word smog first came from the combination of the words “smoke” and “fog”. This smog, which has seemed to create a permanent yellow haze in their air, has become an extreme health concern for our environment today. Several factors play a role in creating this smog, such as automobile exhausts, certain VOC’s, and power plants.

In places where the most smog occurs, there is usually heavy motor vehicle traffic, high temperatures, sunshine, and calm winds. This is because all of the exhaust, heat, and steady winds build up and clutter the air. So with this “smoky fog”, also comes a variety of health issues for all ages. These health problems include asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory problems as well as eye irritation and reduced resistance to colds and lung infections. All of these problems would be eliminated with the theory of “island civilization”.

In “island civilization” less people live in each area, which would greatly reduce smog. Since only a limited number of people live in each part of the world and each country, that means there is only a limited amount of smog for each country. This would not only slow the destruction of the earth down, but it would also eliminate the health issues we have with smog today.

At this moment, the city with the worst smog levels is Beijing, China. As you could probably guess, the reason that smog is such a problem in Beijing is overcrowding. If too many people are in a concentrated area and all these people are producing exhaust or VOC’s, then the smog is going to be pretty bad. Also, there are many nuclear plants and factories in China, which contribute to the smog levels as well. It was recorded that the smog in Beijing got better during the 2008 Olympics, but only because the city banned half of the cars from driving around. However, after the Olympics left, the smog returned to normal levels. Another location where smog is a problem is in my hometown, near the high school I graduated from. The primary reason for the smog around our school was because of the neighboring landfill. Known as “the dump” to the students, the landfill created smog which was visible in the mornings walking into school and in the afternoons walking out of school. Also if the smog wasn’t enough, the landfill was one of the highest elevated areas in our city. This helped carry the stench of the heated garbage for about a mile.

In conclusion, smog is a very harmful environmental issue that, if not fixed, could endanger the lives of humans and other organisms. One easy solution to the problem at hand is “island civilization”. If “island civilization” was introduced then the amount of smog would be cut down tremendously. If you want to learn more about smog and its effects go to http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/PROGRAMS/OzoneActionProgram/OzoneFactsandExperiments/WhatisSmog.aspx.

Island Civilization Blog

             In the essay Island Civilization, Roderick Frazier Nash paints many pictures of what the Fourth Millennium could look like. Before he explores the many options of the Fourth Millennium, Nash challenges the reader to reflect on not only the Third Millennium (the current one), but also past millenniums. In Nash’s opinion, humans have greatly contributed to the downfall of the planet Earth, and he believes that at this point there are only four possible outcomes for the next millennium. The four outcomes that Nash thinks could exist for the Fourth Millennium are the wasted scenario, the garden scenario, the future primitive, and the island civilization.

            First, Nash describes, in my opinion, the worst possible outcome of Earth, the wasted scenario. Humans have neglected every other species on the planet and have essentially driven it into the ground. Since everything is basically destroyed, we can either continue to live in this landfill, or travel to another planet to destroy. I think that this could very easily happen to the Earth today. If we as humans aren’t careful and don’t take care of the planet, it will be cluttered before we know it.

            The second scenario is the garden scenario. It describes a world where the human race perfects every weather process or natural thing. In this reality everything revolves around humans and we have complete control over everything. Although it is more efficient than the wasted scenario, I don’t think the garden scenario would work because there is no diversity between organisms. Also, it seems too good to be true for humans.

            The next scenario is called the future primitive. This scenario would happen if the human race completely did away with all the technological advances that we have made in the last ten-thousand years. Some of us would resort back to the hunting and gathering style of survival, while others would fend off for themselves for awhile. I don’t think this scenario would prove productive because it would be doing away with everything we have accomplished so far. All of the innovators and geniuses creations would be lost forever, and their work would be for nothing. Also, I feel that we would eventually invent things we had in the future to make jobs and survival easier.

            Finally, last scenario proposed by Nash fills in very nicely with the title. In the island civilization outcome, humans would find the perfect way to coincide with nature, without destroying or controlling it. Instead of limiting the wilderness, we would limit our expansion as civilization. I feel like this would mean less highways, restaurants, and gas stations outside of the main designated towns. In my opinion, this civilization would work pretty well because nature and humans would live in harmony. The only setback would be the possibility of running out of room to contain the human race.

            In conclusion, all four of the scenarios for the Fourth Millennium proposed by Nash in this essay have their advantages and disadvantages. However, I feel like these situations don’t matter all too much. I think the purpose Nash wrote this essay is to make the reader think and understand that no matter what scenario the Fourth Millennium turns out to fulfill, the only thing we can do right now is take care of the planet we live in.

Test Blog

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