Monthly Archives: March 2019

Why Are We Getting So Fat? Documentary Review….5/5 Stars!

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This was a fascinating documentary on why people might be becoming obese.Dr. Giles Yeo from the University of Cambridge argued while some people argue that it might have to do with being lazy, not caring, and simply eating takeouts, he claimed that it might be genetics. He has dedicated his entire life to testing different genes and trying to figure out a pattern between them.How is it possible that one twin could be so lean while another fat? Does genetics play a role? How come not matter what diet an individual tries, it does not work for him or her? There could be many other reasons, but this entire documentary mostly focused on genes and diet. Some individuals that were interviewed stated that they eat for comfort while others stated that they just did not feel full and had to consume more. One guy, named Les, in pain said that he would take food to his bedroom, lock himself up in his room and just eat. He dealt with being bullying by eating and now after losing his wife , he dealt with his loss by eating take outs. He could not exercise due to his arthritis and other health conditions. Dr.Yeo  throughout his journey too relied mostly on fast food because like he stated “that is what’s available” (Why Are We Getting So Fat). This wouldn’t have happened ten years ago.To burn the fish burger, large fries, and apple pie he would have to walk four hours but he could not because he had to drive for four hours, to get to his destination. Dr.Tony Goldstone, who was an obesity expert, did an experiment with a group of people who were trying to lose eat, by giving them an option to eat whatever they want. In the end, Dr.Goldstone told the participants that since they had two strands of an FTO gene, it was making it harder for them to lose weight. In essence, it was not because they were not eating and exercising enough, but rather their genes preventing them from reaching their goals.Some doctors were trying to give patients a shot containing hormones that would make them have less of an appetite, that way people would eat less. On the other hand, other doctors were trying to find ways to use human feces to make people lose weight.

I thought this was a great documentary because it goes well with what we are currently watching in class (Food Inc). I thought it was very interesting because what we eat and our own biology could play such a crucial role in this , it’s just astonishing. So many of us do not realize that the food chains have expanded to other parts of the world and it for the most part is causing more harm than good. It made me question life and how  we underestimate the value of healthy eating. I feel like we need to go back to growing our own food and appreciating the process of doing it.

 

I don’t know how to add a Netflix link but you can find this documentary on Netflix. Just type Why Are We Getting So Fat?

define “nature”

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I believe I am intimately apart of, and inseparable from, the natural world, in the sense that I believe the natural world is the only world that exists. To me, everything is natural because it is a product of nature; myself, a cell phone, or a book included. But nature, in the sense of what is divorced from human creation, is something I wish I was more connected with. Each time I spend time in an environment free from much human intervention, I feel calmer, happier, and humbler. It allows me to step back from the nitty-gritty stresses of everyday life and witness systems of earth that have been functioning for millions of years. As cliche as it sounds, it is so easy to lose sight of what really matters when you are stuck in the same cycle of life. Being outdoors, to a greater or lesser extent, puts life in a different perspective and often jars one’s sense of what they value. Camping, for instance, can shed light on things often taken for granted such as food, water, shelter, and going to the bathroom. And hiking, or any outdoor activity really, can leave one awe-inspired to the beauty and complexity of nature. This is why spending time in nature is so important; because it re-calibrates your values and your emotions. It allows one to reside in an habitat where our bodies were selected to live through hundreds of thousands of years of evolution by natural selection.

As a child, I spent innumerable hours rolling in the sand, rinsing in the ocean, and drying in the sun. In other words, I loved the beach and being out in the sun, I still do. I used to go home, rummage around around the woods, and make lean-to forts on the trees. This sort of childhood primed me for a livelong fondness of the outdoors. For obvious reasons, things have changed a little since my childhood and I haven’t been able to get outside as much as I’d like. In turn, I decided to do something about it and join the College of Charleston Outdoors club. And though I still don’t get outside as much as I’d like, the club has provided me with amazing experiences. Our most recent trip was to north Florida in Osceola National Forest. Simply being out in the woods with nothing else to do but converse and sit by the campfire was a feeling that assuaged all my petty stresses and worries. It was a wonderful trip consisting of pitcher plant sightings, hikes through the palm fronds, and cooking over an open fire. One of the things I noticed though was while we were driving to the National Forest the surrounding towns were very poor by American standards. Dilapidated houses, abandoned stores, and fast food chains lined most of their streets. It was a reminder of how millions of people in this country, and billions around the world, live in poverty. It’s easy to forget about the inequality facing our country going to such a privileged school and living in downtown Charleston.

 

“Chasing Coral” Review – 5/5 stars

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After hearing about the documentary “Chasing Coral” for months, I finally decided to sit down and actually watch it. The documentary starts out with the narrator, Richard Vevers, telling us how after spending ten years in advertising, working with some of London’s top agencies, he felt that there was something more he was meant to do with his life and later found himself in Australia doing underwater photography. Over time, Vevers noticed some of his favorite sea creatures were disappearing, which lead to the curiosity of what else was disappearing in the rest of the world’s oceans. In the last 30 years, the world has lost 50% of its coral reefs. Vevers acknowledged one of the biggest issues with the ocean being that it is “out of sight, out of mind” for the general public, which he called an “advertising issue”. The purpose for this documentary was for an assembled team of scientists, divers, engineers, and photographers to study and document the disappearance of corals in order to show the public what’s happening in our oceans. The ocean has an important role in our source of life; it controls things such as the climate and oxygen we breathe. With the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, more heat becomes trapped in our atmosphere and the majority is absorbed by the ocean which leads to an increase in water temperature. Throughout the documentary, Vevers traveled to meet with different scientists to learn more about the biology of coral and ended up exploring coral reefs that had turned white. After conducting studies with a team of coral reef biologists, they discovered turning white was a stress response to a 2˚C increase in temperature and ultimately ended with death. What was most interesting about this documentary was that this was the first time someone had captured this anomaly. In recent years, more people have learned of the damage several name brand sunscreens have on coral reefs and some cities have started enforcement of alternative sun protection methods. Like Vevers said, the ocean has an “out of sight” issue, so while people may know of the damage happening to corals, it is completely eye-opening to see the damage for yourself. Coral reefs are living organisms that provide habitat for many different species that becomes a resource of food for humans. For some countries, coral reefs play a big role in the economy because of the tourist attraction. The disappearance of coral reefs would completely disturb the oceanic ecosystem and the economic and social aspects of human life. The documentary ended with sharing the possibility of restoring the coral reefs through changes in human behavior. Overall, I believe the message of the documentary was necessary to share in order to get the attention of the general public and work together toward solving the issues of climate change. I highly recommend this documentary to anyone; it’s very informative and each scene is more captivating than the last.

https://www.chasingcoral.com/

 

Litter Sweep

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Over spring break my roommate and I decided to do a litter sweep at our apartment building. We had noticed that even though the maintenance crew routinely cleans at the apartments, there was still constantly trash laying around the parking lot, stairwell, by the dog park, and by the dumpster. The trash by the dumpster is the most annoying to me. It is right next to the place where you are supposed to put your trash, yet there were all kinds of litter sitting all over the ground and not in the dumpster or the recycling bins. For the sweep, we took two bags, one for trash and one for recyclables. We both wore gloves and my roommate was the one who wrote down our observations. We started out by walking around the parking lot area and collecting trash. In this area we found typical trash that was most likely things people had in their cars such as plastic and Styrofoam cups, food wrappers, napkins, straws, and aluminum cans. We also found many unused plastic dog poop pickup bags on the ground. There are many dog pick up areas around the apartment buildings. All the areas have trash cans and a dispenser for these plastic pick up bags. We found most of the unused bags laying near the trash cans. After sweeping the parking lot area we walked around the inner court yard and the pool. In this area we found plastic water bottles, aluminum cans, paper towels, and plastic straws and cups. The last area we swept was the area around the dumpster and by the dog park. This is actually the area we found most of the trash we picked up. In this area, we picked up water bottles, plastic cups, food wrappers and containers, paper towels, and plastic wrap. Also in the area by the dumpster there were 3 large garbage bags sitting on the ground. This is frustrating because since they were not in the dumpster they would not have been picked up by the garbage truck. Bags sometimes sit by the dumpster for weeks without being thrown into the dumpster. I am not sure why no one just picks it up when they take their own trash but I always try to do it if I see any sitting outside the dumpster. The bags were full of all kinds of trash including things that could have been recycled. We sorted through the bags as best we could and removed some of the recyclable items and we threw the rest of the garbage in the dumpster. The most surprising thing that we found all over the apartment complex was cigarette butts. While normally this would not be a strange thing, our apartments are a non-smoking community. If you are caught smoking on property they can fine you $1,000. However, we found cigarette butts laying on the ground in many places. Doing this litter sweep showed me how much pollution people can create in a small place. We picked up all this trash but this was after maintenance had already come through and cleaned the property. Picking up your trash does not take much effort and can make a big difference in how a place looks. I wish more people realized how harmful just dropping their trash on the ground and walking away can be. This makes me think about what we discussed in class that because people are not seeing the consequences of their actions when they are doing it, they don’t care. Dropping their trash on the ground means nothing to them at that moment, so they continue to do it.

Arts & Culture Blog Post

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https://www.google.com/search?biw=1440&bih=721&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=NYWbXOLIMI__5gK-4p3ABQ&q=climate+change+art&oq=climate+change+art&gs_l=img.3..0l10.4025.7287..7408…2.0..0.93.1246.16……1….1..gws-wiz-img…….0i67j0i7i30j0i10j0i7i10i30j0i19j0i7i30i19j0i7i10i30i19.38OyAngWVno#imgrc=6narYBQPEc1F1M:

These two paintings are extremely meaningful in present day discussion of climate change. Unfortunately, even if the entire planet stopped producing green-house gases right this second, we would still experience consequences of climate change. This is why we must make changes now to minimize the future effects of climate change. The comparison of the paintings provide a look into the future based upon how we act now.

The picture on the left portrays our future if we continue on the path that we are on now. The Statue of Liberty is covering her face because the air is so polluted that it is hazardous to breathe. In her left hand, she holds a barrel of gasoline because this is the main cause of climate change. Humans have been using fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution in the 1800’s, and tons of carbon dioxide is produced as a byproduct and pumped into the atmosphere.  In her other hand, she holds a gasoline bump to show once again, we must step away from fossil fuels because it is a limited resource, and the byproduct is harmful. The background is a musky brown, and even the clouds are dark. Smoke stacks produce large clouds of dark smoke that will increase the rate of climate change and the consequences. In addition, vultures are circling the Statue of Liberty symbolizing death. We are currently experiencing the Anthropocene Extinction, the sixth mass extinction. It is called the anthropocene because all of it is due to human activities. Biodiversity is plummeting, and species are going extinct before humans can even discover them.

The picture on the right is a different story. It gives hope that maybe humans will change, and there can be a positive, bright future. The air appears to be clean because of the blue sky and white clouds. In her left hand, the Statue of Liberty holds a solar panel, a renewable energy source. In her other hand, she holds up a wind turbine, which is another renewable, clean energy resource. This shows the future if humans make the change from fossil fuels to clean energy. In the background, it looks like little green bushes are growing, which shows life is thriving. Bald eagles are flying around the Statue of Liberty instead of vultures.

These paintings are powerful on their own, but when put side by side, it is appalling. Humans are going to have a frightening future if something is not done very soon about climate change. We are already past the window of completely avoiding the long term consequences of climate change, but we can control how bad the consequences are. These paintings only take on one of the harmful effects of human activities, and unfortunately, humans affect the environment in many more ways. There is a solution to this wicked problem, but people do not want to break away from fossil fuels. If we want a future for our planet, we need to make extreme changes right now, or we will end up like the left picture.

Silent Spring – The ongoing story of dumb science

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Rachel Carson famously published her cry of reason, the book Silent Springs, back in 1961 and in doing so provided one of the foundational pieces of literature for the ecological movement. In her time, a horrifying and disproportionate crusade was being fought on many of nature’s common creatures, leading to millions of pounds of deadly poison being indiscriminately airdropped on to forests, farms, pastures, rivers, lakes, homes, and even cities. Many will know that it was the popularity of this book which ultimately lead to the banning of several chlorofluorocarbon pesticides such as DDT, and some of the negligent practices used to spread them. This book should be history, yet in reading it 60 years later today the attitudes from those times and the natural destruction they cause still feel so familiar.

Though many harmful actions were curbed by this book, it is clear that we still suffer from the root cause; ecological ignorance, the belief that we can manipulate or eradicate an element of the environment without it effecting all other interconnected components. This is evident in the things we feed our food, the materials we still put in the environment, and the way we still see ourselves as separate from nature. For a more light-hearted example of this, I have the ecological research of Dan Flores who is famous for his work with coyotes. When the state of California made an effort to reduce coyote populations to reduce the deaths of pets and livestock, what they found is a paradox. Coyotes having evolved along side another effective apex predator besides humans, the grey wolf, are adapted to increase their rates of reproduction and spread themselves to new locations once even a few coyotes start disappearing. What this means is that not only is it almost impossible to reduce coyote populations manually, but that attempting to do so causes their population to drastically rise. When humans try to change nature without understanding how its balance is maintained, things will never go our way.

I had one more major realization from reading this book, and it’s much more grim. When people think of interesting and beautiful animals, places such as Africa and the Amazon often come to mind. Compared to the squirrels, few birds, and domesticated pets most of our daily exposure to animals in the west is comprised of, living along side monkeys and elephants sounds like a fantasy. It may seem that this is simply the natural order of things when we are taught in kindergarten that elephants live in the savannas, and monkeys in the jungle, but what is left out is that at one point in time America too had great beasts and vibrant birds. Though it may seem like the natural 0rder to assume colorful dancing birds only taken place in tropical areas, everyone should remember that dozens of species of birds in America were rendered extinct only 100 years ago so their beautiful feathers could be made into hats. Remember that our majestic herds of bison were wiped out to cause the starvation of native Americans. Remember that our nature feels less exotic, less diverse, less beautiful, only because we killed it.

Nature Inspiration: Beaches

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I have always been one of those people who would say I do not like nature. Whether it be because of terrifying animals like snakes or things like pollen that make me extremely sick. My mom would always sit outside or take a walk when weather permitted, and I was always against it. I even hated the sand on the beaches because it was so messy and made me itchy. Just like everything else, nature has both pros and cons, but I only seemed to notice the negative things associated with nature. Now that I am older, I realize that nature is such a beautiful thing and we as people, take it for granted. We liter and pollute on a regular basis and this is extremely harmful to nature. Lately, especially since I live on the coast now, I have grown to love the beach and ocean in general. I have come to find out that being by the water is so peaceful. Whenever I am having a long or stressful day, I love to walk down to the waterfront and just sit, watch the waves and sometimes the dolphins if they are out. It amazes me how that body of water stretches to various continents.
I recently, over spring break, took a five-day vacation to Miami beach, Florida. The water in Miami was ten times prettier than the water here in Charleston. It was so clear and just a beautiful, bright blue color. I was in awe when I first spotted the water while riding from the airport to our hotel room. When I finally got the chance to go to the beach it was like love at first sight. Even the sand there was pretty and white, unlike ours. I stayed out there for hours, laying on the beautiful sand in which I once despised. The entire time I was on the beach, I was stress free and nothing, but good vibes were in the air. This is when I realized that I am now in touch with nature and nature is such a beautiful thing.
I also could not help but to think back to our first activity in class, and the picture of all of the plastic in the ocean. To think that pollution is even a problem in the ocean is baffling. Why would anyone want to cause harm to such a beautiful creation? Anybody willing to throw plastic or any other pollute in the ocean simply just can not be in touch with nature. The feelings I get when I go to the beach would never allow me to do such things. I believe that everyone needs to be in touch with nature. Everyone should take time out of their busy schedules and simply enjoy the beauty of nature. I believe this will bring lots of peace and relive stress in many people’s lives. I also believe that everyone must be educated on the harm pollution has on nature, people not knowing could also be the reason behind their actions.

Realization of Transportation

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Even though I have taken public transport, the HOP bus, a few times to get to and from class, I certainly prefer and more commonly drive. I’m sure many other people in our city, state, and even country relate to this. Since we discussed our unit on carbon emission and the amount of Earth’s people need, especially citizens of the U.S, I have thought about public transport more and more. Although, just thinking about when walking around campus or when driving has not necessarily made begin using it anymore than I was before. I went somewhere over spring break that somewhat changed my mind towards its usage even more.

Over spring break, I traveled to Spain. While in Spain, I had no choice but to use public transport everywhere I went. At first, being a newbie to this hectic and at first confusing idea, I was very annoyed at finding my train, the correct stop, connection, and the right bus blah blah blah. After about three days of use, along with learning the language better, it was not very difficult at all and I felt somewhat natural at it.

During my stay there, I was with multiple sets of friends that have been there for an extended period of time. I was constantly confused as to why so many people who are from Spain and live there continue to travel by public transport through their whole like instead of just driving a personal car. Even though, I didn’t really get a solid answer to it, I learned that they did. And in doing this, it is lessening the amount of fossil fuels that is released by cars tremendously it seems. This is due to not only citizens of Spain using the public transport for so long, but all of Europe has a wonderful, simple to use public transport within each country and between countries. You can travel all over Europe without renting a single car. Not to mention I traveled all over Europe and even to souther Spain for about 10 Euros. Renting a car plus car would have easily been 5x this, likely more.

I realize that our country is much more vast and open than Europe, but creating quick, easy to use, and cheap public transports across the East and West coasts could be extremely beneficial in the long run.

This trip allowed me to realize two things: having to take public transport really is not that bad of thing and automatically resorting to renting a personal vehicle in my travels should not be the first option. I believe that I will start looking to take more public transport even around Charleston when needed (avoids parking tickets too) and also when I travel to other cities within the U.S. Even before I arrived in Spain, I was already thinking of renting a car to travel around. This was purely due to the want of convenience. I believe I will now begin with first looking into the amount and price of the public transport offered in the desired city before heading straight to the Enterprise counter.

#FuturisticFebruary Challenge

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During the month of February, I participated in the social media challenge #FuturisticFebruary.  For the entire month, I collected all of the trash that I created, including recyclables, in order to visualize the amount of waste that I generally produce in a single month.  The idea of the challenge is to save all of your trash created during the month without changing your behaviors. Then, after the challenge is over, you can discover changes to make in your life to minimize your amount of future trash.  This challenge, created by Carly Bergman on Instagram, is very eye-opening, and I highly recommend looking up her Instagram page and the challenge.

I began the month with the belief that I was a conscious consumer who created minimal waste, so I wasn’t expecting to accumulate much trash throughout the challenge.  However, very quickly into the first week or two, I began to realize that my previous assumption was incorrect. By the end of the month, I filled one large Chipotle bag with trash, which, although below average for many Americans or college students, was very frustrating for me.  It was also very humbling because I held the belief that I was creating little to no trash on a normal basis, and seeing how much waste I collected inspired me to try to minimize my trash creation further.

I discovered that the majority of my trash comes from food and its packaging, ranging from Einstein Bros. Bagels wrappers to plastic hummus containers to receipts.  Sadly, a lot of my food comes from take-out restaurants or fast food chains because of my busy college-student schedule, which translates to a lot of waste from meals.  Although I try to avoid plastic packaging as much as possible, trash is trash–whether it is paper, metal, or plastic. It all has an impact.

This challenge also has an impact–although it is a much more positive one.  After analyzing my trash and the behaviors that accompany it, I discovered many ways to limit my waste in the future.  For example, for the past few weeks, I have been trying to not eat out as often, or at least eat in a restaurant to eliminate packaging.  Although I cannot control the upstream waste of my eating habits (such as food growth needs and shipping), I can recognize the impact of upstream waste and attempt to lower my impact.  

As we learned in class, waste is a product of our linear economy.  I should not create waste from my eating habits, yet in today’s society, the majority of my food is shipped to Charleston from across the globe.  A product of not knowing where my food is sourced from is not knowing who grows my food, meaning that my consumption could (and most likely does) harm minority populations that labor in massive agricultural fields.  These fields, utilized for the growing of a single crop, also harm the environment through deforestation and spraying fertilizers and pesticides. These and more issues constitute upstream problems related to my food intake.

Although this challenge only focused on the material trash collected, it uncovered so many more issues and questions that will help me to minimize both my trash and impact in the future.  I highly recommend participating in this challenge because it will change your outlook on your daily habits and inspire you to create better actions in the future.

Nature Inspiration at the Harbor

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My connection to nature goes back very far. As long as I can remember I have been in love with all the green spaces around me. I always loved exploring the beach, going hiking, going camping, going out on the boat or on my kayak or anything that got me outside. I was the kid who would be outside digging in the dirt catching bugs, worms, frogs and lizards just to watch them exist. My connection to nature has changed over time in the way that when I was growing up, it was more of a innocent curiosity. Now, I want to make a career interacting with and learning about all different types of animals, plants and insects. I want to spend my life learning about what makes our planet special and helping others understand it’s beauty too. There is so much life on this planet we might not even know about and that’s what excites me about being alive is knowing that there is so much I get to learn about. I think that is important to have a connection with nature because nature is what keeps us alive. We eat food that comes  from nature, whether it be plant or animal based, we build houses from nature, we essentially get everything we need to survive from nature. We need a connection to understand how to take care of nature so we can have these resources that we use every day for years to come.

To reflect on how connected to nature I am, I went down to the Aquarium and there is a small park nearby called The Charlotte Street Park. It is a beautiful park overlooking the harbor. I chose this place because I feel most connected to nature when I am on the water. I love anything to do with the ocean or rivers or lakes. There is something about the mystery and the creatures that lie beneath the surface that fascinates me and excites me at the same time. It makes me realize how small humans are in the scope of every living creature on the planet and how much more I have to learn about what lives on Earth. While I was there, I thought about a lot of things. Every time I enjoy some time near or on the water, I always think about how we don’t know whats under the surface. Of course we know what COULD be there right now, but we don’t know what is right there, right now. I love that mystery. I also began to think about how much trash must be in the beautiful harbor and this thought saddened me. I saw a chip bag floating in the water. It is crazy to me to think that people care so little about something so beautiful. There is a wealth of life under the ocean and we have yet to discover it. This reminds me about how much life has to give you as long as you go out there and get it. I do know we weren’t supposed to be on our phones, but it was so beautiful out I had to take a few pictures over the harbor.