Battered agriculture

Battered agriculture: Complexities of food production

By Denise Scammon

 

The rise of agriculture parallels the growth of complexity in the social organization of human civilization. In Maps of Time (2004), David Christian details a timeline that states early forms of agriculture appeared between 10,000-5,000 years ago, during the Holocene era, and that “there are early signs of complexity and hierarchy, as large communities require new, more complex forms of organization” (p. 501). State systems and social hierarchies developed in the early agrarian era for agrarian communities to exchange farming products with nomadic foragers who survived as hunter-gatherers, and, later, with traders. The transition from a nomadic existence to agrarian occurred over several thousand years. As agrarian communities spread and took over fertile lands for crops, foragers were squeezed into smaller parcels of lands, and social hierarchies became more complex and multi-layered with the top layers extracting resources from the labor of workers in the bottom layers.

 

Those farmers who were able to extract more resources from their environments stood a better chance of surviving than did foragers. About 5,000 years ago, according to Christian, “powerful elites [controlled] resources through tribute-taking” (2004, p. 501). Over time, the power within agrarian communities became lopsided as farmers with a good harvest reinvested their profits by expanding their control over more farm land and implementing the latest farm technology to garner even better yields. Farmers with a poor crop harvest dropped from the top layers of the social hierarchy to one of the bottom layers – they became employees rather than employers – in order to survive. As this cycle repeated, there were fewer small-scale farmers in the top layers. Christian states that “for most of the agrarian era, the balance of power between agrarian civilizations and other communities was much less uneven than it has been in the modern era… casualties of the Modern Revolution” (2004, pp. 341-342).

 

The Modern Revolution brought with it accelerated population growth and yet more complexity to the organizational layers of human civilization. Christian explains that, “Instead of living on the land and producing their own food… typical modern households live in urban environments where they earn incomes through some form of wage work and buy food produced by others” (2004, p. 348). Industrialization became part of the global economy and offered new sources of income for non-farmers. As the global economy fluctuates, farmers are often forced to sell out to greedy biotechnology companies. These companies have a stronghold on the agricultural community because these companies not only sell the crop seeds, but they also sell fertilizers and weed killers. Often these three products – the seeds, fertilizers and weed killers – are patented; purchasing the seeds means you must purchase the fertilizers and weed killers for the seeds to germinate and grow. Legislation has been impotent in protecting the farmer against the constricting power of the monopoly created by these giant biotechnology companies. Giant corporations – the top layer – can easily invest millions of dollars in the research and development of their own products, making it harder for the small-scale farmers – bottom layer – to compete. Christian states, “Productivity in agriculture has crossed the decisive threshold beyond which a minority on the land can support a majority off the land” (2004, p. 346). These companies hold the power over the foods that make it to market.

 

As a member of society who purchases food produced by others, the power of a few companies to determine what foods are available for my consumption worries me. Permaculture may be a simple solution in the future to the complex problems associated with the state of agriculture today. According to David Ransom in his essay, “Edible Earth,” the production of farm crops today uses “a third of all the vanishing, non-renewable energy” found on this planet. Not only that, but Ransom also states that the food produced is partially wasted and whole regions of society are starving to death (2007, p. 4). By incorporating permaculture into every aspect of technologies that sustain life, it stands to reason that humans can create sustainable, efficient methods of farming. In Jaman Matthew’s article, “Coming Full Circle: Integrated Farming in Vietnam,” the theme of efficiency continues – every inch of land and water is used, and nothing goes to waste in integrated agriculture. Farmers “reduce expenses and increase productivity by finding multiple uses for everything including fields, crops, animals and water.” Unlike industrial agriculture which is linear, integrated agriculture connects the inputs and outputs inherent in agriculture.

 

Oil is an agricultural input. An emerging crisis in agricultural production is the looming oil crisis as outlined in the film, A Crude Awakening, directed by Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack. The oil crisis threatens agricultural production because of the industry’s dependence on oil-run machinery. The film explores the worldwide catastrophe and collapse facing industries that run on oil and that includes agriculture. According to experts interviewed for the film, there is nothing – not a single resource – presently available to replace oil in the quantities needed to run our modern, industrialized world. Permaculture and integrated farming may be solutions that start on a small-scale and, according to experts, it is important to start making changes in our oil-dependency now before the world’s oil supplies are depleted.

 

From the film, A Crude Awakening, we learned that oil is a magnet for war. The authors of Chechnya, the Caucasus & World Justice (2008) write that “Chechens provide produce from their warm and fertile homelands for public markets… with the rise of the Industrial Revolution and petroleum use, the Caucasus became an important part of the modern world.” In a region that bases its prosperity on commercial oil, Grozny became linked by a “network of pipelines and highways” to all areas of the Middle East, Russia and Central Asia. As an example of complex social organization, countries dependent on the resources of Chechnya – particularly oil – were opposed to its declaration of sovereignty. “In order to fund their newly proclaimed nation, the Chechens began selling their oil outside of the Russian market. All this contributed to the Russian invasion of Chechnya in 1994” (pp. 7-10). In The Oath: Surgeon Under Fire, Khassan Baiev writes about the Russian bombs that decimated Grozny, “The first ones had been directed at strategic targets on the outskirts of the city such as factories, bridges, and oil refineries” (2003, p. 95). Macedonia, after its secession from Yugoslavia, accepted help from NATO and the United Nations to prevent civil war. In Macedonia: What does it take to stop a war? the authors write that after giving up its army, Macedonia “took a leap of faith that the international community would help protect its fragile peace” (p. 153). The complexities of social structures dictate control over resources and, where there is a lack of trust among the countries involved in that control, an outside entity forcing cooperation is what is needed to keep the peace, as NATO/UN did for Macedonia. Great benefits to mankind would be the result of peaceful relations among nations and working together to solve global problems that result from unequal access to, overuse and mismanagement of our resources by a few.

 

There are many examples of the abuse of our natural resources including that of two groups: the World Bank and IMF, which are pushing deregulation and privatization of water services so as to put control of the access to water in the hands of transnational companies looking to make a profit from water services, according to the series of articles found in Water: Every Drop Counts. The film Flow: For Love of Water, describes threats to the global water supplies: overuse, drought, pollution, privatization and unequal access. Pollutants find their way into our drinking water in the U.S. where we have the technology, money and intelligence to know the effects of these chemicals in our water. According to Fred Spier in “How Big History Works: Energy Flows and the Rise and Demise of Complexity,” humans have always used resources found in the environment, but today’s humans also create waste matter that is not biodegradable; the low levels of radiation energy created by humans has always been dispersed in the “cosmic trash can,” but the “material entropy” created by humans today cannot be disposed of in the same manner (p. 12).

 

The film, The Future of Food, has examples of the misuse of resources that destroy complexity in nature including the implementation of new agricultural technologies – genetically engineered foods. The biotechnology companies, particularly Monsanto, have been destructive forces against nature because their GE seeds and pesticides have created a loss of complexity, increased costs, polluted environments and destroyed an American way of life – farming. We once thought that Earth was at the center of the Universe, that humans were specially created by God and that human history notes our progress, such as the development of agriculture. Jared Diamond’s essay, “The Worst Mistake in Human History,” points out that some beliefs held by humans have been proven false. Diamond’s position is that agriculture is actually the cause of “gross social and sexual inequality, disease and despotism” rather than a sign of positive progress (p. 64).

 

Unrestrained consumption of the resources on Earth has raised global concern about its impact on human survival and our ability to find alternate sources of energy. In “Protect biodiversity hot spots and the rest will follow,” Edward Wilson states that focusing on saving our physical world will not save the living organisms, but if we first focus on saving living organisms, the physical world gets saved at the same time (2008, p. 32). I think that idea stresses the precarious balance we experience through the misuse, and overuse, of our natural resources. Agriculture gave early humans food for survival, which led to population growth, which led to the development of states and complexities of social organization. The social organization is flawed in that the top layers – the most affluent – exert their power over natural resources, not for the protection of those resources, but for profit. The first losers are the bottom layers – the poor who do not have access to resources needed to survive. There is a resource imbalance among people, the affluent versus the poor, with poor people losing out, even though there are enough resources to save everyone: “The poor … have little chance to improve their lives in a devastated environment. Conversely, the natural environment where most of the biodiversity hangs on cannot survive the press of land-hungry people who have nowhere else to go.…” (Wilson, 2008, p. 32). That’s an excellent point to remember – that there are enough resources to go around.

 

 

References

Amenga-Etego, R., Godrej, D., Narain, S., Seitz, C., Stronell, J., et al. (2003). Water: Every Drop Counts [Electronic version]. New Internationalist, 354, 9–28.

Baiev, K. (2003). The Oath: Surgeon Under Fire. New York: Walker.

Christian, D. (2004). Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Diamond, J. (1987). The Worst Mistake in Human History [Electronic version]. Discover, 64–66.

Gelpke, B., McCormack, R. (Directors). (2006). A Crude Awakening [Electronic film]. Switzerland: Lava Productions.

Koons, D. (Director). (2004). The Future of Food [Electronic film]. California: Lily Films.

Matthew, J. (2007). Coming Full Circle: Integrated Farming in Vietnam [Electronic version]. World Ark, 6–19.

Pekar, H., Roberson, H., & Piskor, E. (2007). Macedonia: What does it take to stop a war? New York: Random House.

Ransom, D. (2007). Edible Earth. New Internationalist, (402), 4-5. http://search.ebscohost.com.prxy3.ursus.maine.edu

Rodrigue, B., Lawless, G., et al. (2008). Chechnya, the Caucasus, & World Justice. Lewiston: International Student Organization of Lewiston-Auburn.

Spier, F. (2005). How Big History Works: Energy Flows and the Rise and Demise of Complexity. Social Evolution & History, 4(1), 1-23.

Wilson, E. (2008). Protect biodiversity hot spots and the rest will follow [Electronic version]. Science News. 32.

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Growing up female in Iran 1979-1989

Historical background

By Denise Scammon

http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhm54zt9_257h5wxpdc

Collective learning and manipulation

Collective learning and manipulation
By Denise Scammon

Fred Spier writes in “How Big History Works: Energy Flows and the Rise and Demise of Complexity,” about matter, energy and entropy regimes, “structured processes that make up big history.” He reiterates information from earlier class assignments about the big bang, differentiation and complexity. In his essay, Spier goes into detail about how the highest forms of complexity can be found on surfaces, margins, edges of non-living entities, but in living entities the highest forms of complexity can be found in the centers. The reason for this difference is that the highest complexities of a biological nature are DNA and brains, both of which nature has placed in protective areas of the living entities. Spier compares this protection to protective gear: “Life has created a space suit for its own highest complexity” and “terrestrial life has turned the biosphere into a spacesuit” (2005, p. 1).
In addition to the complexities of non-living and living entities, Spier writes about the complexities of culture. He notes that human brains are “cultural software” which not only allow humans to communicate, but also to “adapt to the environment and adapt the environment” for survival purposes. In regards to the importance of human communication, Spier agrees with David Christian’s view that “collective learning operates for humans in ways similar to how natural selection works for the rest of nature” (p. 11). In order to survive, humans, like other living things, seek out matter and energy. I like the phrase “to survive and thrive” in which “thrive” can be replaced with reproduce. It’s a mnemonic to use a rhyme scheme. For survival purposes, early humans used matter and energy found in the environment. Modern humans use matter and energy found in the environment, too, but also have created waste matter that is not biodegradable. Spier notes that the low levels of radiation energy created by humans can be dispersed in the “cosmic trash can,” but the “material entropy” cannot be disposed of in the same manner (p. 12).

David Christian writes about “Intensification and the Origins of Agriculture,” in his book Maps of Time. He defines intensification as “new technologies and lifeways that enabled humans to extract more resources from a given area of land” (p. 207).  This ties in with Spier’s essay about the complexities of living things and culture. Christian details the appearance of agriculture and the factors that brought hunter-gatherers to become agrarian such as climate changes and sedentism. In the chapter, “From Power over Nature to Power over People,” Christian explains social complexity.

There seems to be a cycle of tool-making and tool-use with a “simultaneous development of language and thought” among early humans, according to Spier. As human brains developed the capacity for language and thought, human brains become bigger and more complex. Spier links bigger, more complex brains with the appearance of two new human species 500,000 years after tools were first used by humans.  One of those new species, Homo erectus, discovered fire, which then started another wave of brain growth and development and another new species, Homo sapiens, emerged 200,000 years ago. The importance here is that humans began to use energy and matter sources and flows in ways that created or destroyed complexity in the environment (p. 12).

In the film, “The Future of Food,” there are many examples of humans destroying complexity in nature with new agricultural technologies – genetically engineered foods. One example is the dwindling varieties of farmed foods that is a direct result of GE technology. Once there were 5,000 varieties of potatoes, but today there are only four varieties. The film states that 90% of plants and vegetables that existed in the 19th Century are extinct today. The reasoning behind GMO and GE technologies is that these seeds will have higher yields, are cheaper to produce and more readily available than native seeds. The biotechnology companies, particularly Monsanto, have been destructive forces in nature because the GE seeds and pesticides have created a loss of complexity, increased costs, polluted environments and destroyed an American way of life – farming. One particularly sad case is that of Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian farmer who was sued by Monsanto because some of their patented seed crops pollinated his field of crops, unbeknownst to Schmeiser. Crazy logic.  Biotechnology companies have, according to the film, interfered with basic human rights by patenting life. The film details the strong arm tactics used by these companies to take control of the food we eat by getting around the FDA and EPA. These companies also threaten to withdraw research funding at universities that discover and publish research refuting the companies’ claims. Monsanto and other biotech companies that threaten to withdraw research funding are contributing to a loss of intellectual diversity, in addition to a loss of genetic diversity. It appears that the one item that would make a dent in the biotech companies’ monopoly is money. Greenpeace International notes that the European public do not want GMO foods. Japan won’t take the word of the biotech companies that GMO food is safe and instead have said that they will watch U.S. children for 10 years to see if GMO food causes health problems in our children. Mexico has made it very clear that maize – corn – is its national product and part of its heritage and that it does not want to lose its native strains to GMO products. Unfortunately, GMO strains have appeared in Mexico. This issue relates to big history as it is an example of artificial selection and how it destroys diversity and complexity.

Another important trend noted in Spier’s essay is that after humans began to use tools and fire to alter the environment for survival, the next step came about when humans “gained control over the reproduction of plants and animals to harness and manipulate energy and matter flows.” This was the beginning of the agrarian regime and a sedentary lifestyle. Since people were no longer moving around in order to farm the land, they started building more permanent houses, better storage and cooking (ceramics) creations for food. Spier wrote that “the world of the teacup had begun” (p. 14).  What does that mean? I interpret it to signify cultural complexity at the human level. No other living organism uses a teacup, only humans. Again, what does this mean? A teacup is used to hold a beverage ingested by humans. Is the significance in the shape? I think the significance of “teacup” by Spier is to illustrate that the agrarian lifestyle created a need for more permanent items that could be re-used, whereas nomads travel light and use resources available in the environment. This difference is an example of the material goods produced by humans which then create more entropy.

Christian states, More productive technologies and larger, denser communities created the preconditions for the emergence of states” (2004, p. 259). Spier states that the agrarian lifestyle led to innovations in tools, homes and food storage. After 5,000 years of living an agrarian lifestyle, social changes also occurred because as people settled on farms near each other, boundaries had to be formed. Connecting paths became streets. Clusters of farms became towns, villages, cities, states. The early agrarian societies were egalitarian, but when states formed they became hierarchical. The elite not only controlled the harvesting of energy and matter flows, but at this point in time, we see humans exploiting other humans as sources of matter and energy. Exploitation of humans by humans took place through disinformation, by stealing and by force (Spier, 2005, p. 15). This reminded me of discussions in last semester’s Science, Technology & Society class with Professor Coste in which we learned that prior to a written language, mnemonics were used to memorize and share information. Spier illustrates how the written language was used by the elite to withhold information from the working class. In the film, “The Future of Food,” these different layers of society were noted, too. The film noted that a multilayered culture has a top layer consisting of the elite who manipulate the bottom layer of workers. The small group of elite extract more from the energy and matter flows of the large group of workers because the elite have the power and the money to do so. Spier briefly notes that today’s e-communication has made the sharing of information and disinformation easier and widespread. Widespread communication shrinks our world and makes the world a global village. Spier writes that globalization leads to global cultural complexity. Global cultural complexity includes “the emergence of a worldwide division of labor” created by the middle classes who are not tied to the land (p. 16).

The third great ecological transformation is industrialization featuring the use of fossil fuels as energy sources, according to Spier. Nationwide complexity increased, but local complexity declined. Industrialized nations were generally wealthier than non-industrialized nations, and gained control over matter and energy flows, which led to global power divisions. Spier states that industrialized nations fought over these resources forming the basis for several world wars. The importance of these fossil fuels is that they allowed humans even more control over their environments with artificial microclimates. Humans could create cold or hot appliances as needed, for example, to heat homes or chill food (Spier, 2005, p. 17-18). In Macedonia, by Harvey Pekar and Heather Roberson, the story features a college student who visits Macedonia to find out how war can be avoided when different regions want control over something – land, a resource. Does this book relate to the other reading/film assignments? I think so, but I can’t say that if any one organization had stepped forward that World War I or II would have been prevented. I have read two-thirds of the book.

Jared Diamond’s essay, “The Worst Mistake in Human History,” reminded me of the Creative Critical Inquiry course I took a few semesters ago. Diamond notes beliefs humans have had that show errors in critical thinking. We once thought that Earth was at the center of the Universe, that humans were specially created by God and that human history notes our progress, such as the development of agriculture. Diamond’s position is that agriculture is actually the cause of “gross social and sexual inequality, disease and despotism” (p. 64). Like Diamond, Christian states, “Civilization is often taken as a synonym for progress” (Christian, 2004, p. 248). Life may appear better because we have found easier ways of doing things, such as farming rather than hunting-gathering. Diamond points out that it is a mistake to think that agricultural society is better than the hunter-gatherer lifestyle with examples that compare the few remaining hunter-gatherers in existence today with farmers. The Kalahari bushmen have plenty of leisure time. They work less than farmers. They also appear to have a more nutritious, varied diet and thus are healthier than farmers. I was curious as to what Diamond meant at the beginning of his essay when he wrote about sexual inequality. Some societies use women as “beasts of burden” (Diamond, p. 66).

From the film, “The Future of Food,” I learned of the Web site http://www.thefutureoffood.com and in visiting that site came upon other sites which I browsed and bookmarked. I want to go back and read about the honeybees. One of my friends started bee keeping last summer. It was interesting to see what the different universities felt was important enough to highlight on their respective homepage. One university had an article about crop rotation, while another university had an article about two new wheat varieties. On the Rodale Institute site, I participated in this poll:

What is the most important issue for the new administration that impacts agriculture?
Your vote was recorded.
Making U.S. agriculture competitive globally: 6% (177 votes)
Supporting sustainable farm practices that do not harm the environment: 50% (1499 votes)
Encouraging farming practices that increase access to organic, nutritious food for all people:             36% (1078 votes)
Converting more farmers to organic: 9% (260 votes)
Total votes: 3014

Because of what I learned in this class, I chose “Supporting sustainable farm practices that do no harm the environment.” What would you choose in the poll?

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On being and becoming American

To be American: Immigrant writers and stereotypes
By Denise Scammon
In Bharati Mukherjee’s novel, Jasmine, the titular protagonist complicates any fixed notion the reader may have of a Third World woman as Jasmine moves from one location to another, selfishly changing her identity multiple times along the way in attempts to shed assigned subjectivities attached to being a Third World woman. Deepika Bahri (1998) notes in her essay, “Narratives of Nation and Self,” that Mukherjee has portrayed Jasmine as determined to elude classification as a Third World woman typically stereotyped as “passive and victimized” and as a migrant Other (p. 138). When telling Jasmine’s story, Mukherjee uses a chaotic shifting between Jasmine’s identities, perhaps as a literary device that solidifies for the reader the upheavals and chaos in Jasmine’s life.

 

The escape routes taken by Jasmine as she sheds her Third World identity allow her to shift from her birth identity, as Jyoti, to an immigrant in America, last portrayed as Jane/Jasmine on the move to yet another new identity in the novel’s last few pages. Born female in the small village of Hasnapur, and without a dowry, Jyoti is doomed to a fate from which she cannot expect to deviate if she stays in the village. Jyoti escapes her fate in the village with her marriage, at the age of 14, to Prakash and a move to an Indian city. Prakash is described as liberated, yet still a conservative man who teaches Jyoti  independence and self-reliance and who changes her name to Jasmine. Bahri notes that it is through Prakash that Jasmine learns “the pleasure of having multiple identities – of always becoming,” which leads to her craving for movement and a resistance to crystallizing, to a permanent identity (1998, p. 146).

 

Following the murder of Prakash, Jasmine returns to her village in body only. She is determined to not become Jyoti again. She searches for an escape route that will bring her to America, if only to commit Sati – suicide – a cultural expectation placed on young women who are widowed at a young age. Already, Mukherjee has brought to fruition two life-changing events that were foretold to Jyoti at the age of seven – that Jyoti would be a widow and live in exile (1989, p. 5). Jyoti liked becoming Jasmine; going back to her life as Jyoti was very difficult for her. In this instance, Mukherjee reinforces the stereotype of the Third World woman when she writes that Jasmine’s widow status meant loss of personal freedom due to her expected cultural conformance. J silently suffers an inner turmoil as she shifts her outward identity to that of an Indian widow.

 

Back in Hasnapur, Mukherjee contrasts the future in America that Jasmine had planned with Prakash, to the cultural expectations of Jyoti as a widow. According to Indian culture, there could be no other husband for a widow and it would be acceptable for a widow to commit Sati. If she didn’t commit Sati, a young widow, according to Indian culture, was to spend her days with other widows, which typically meant older women who had lost husbands to old age. J thought of a life like that as a living hell. Mukherjee represents J as a Third World woman who desires to be a person with the ability to make personal choices and to have personal freedoms. J is desirous of leaving her native country and culture for a new identity in America, not necessarily to become American. Immigrants like J – looking for new identities – find America attractive because it is a land of diversity and opportunities, less culturally constrictive than their native lands.

 

Mukherjee keeps Jasmine on the move throughout the novel, always looking for a new identity while trying to remain invisible to immigration services due to her illegal status. Determined to dump her cultural fate as an Indian widow, J enlists the help of her brothers to acquire forged visa documents that make her “feel renewed, the recipient of an organ transplant” (Mukherjee, 1989, p. 101). J is aware that like her, people from other countries have taken flight from their native lands and are traveling incognito. She uses her body and charm for food and other essentials to survive the flight. Her fellow travelers are described as “outcasts and deportees, strange pilgrims” belonging to a “shadow world” (Mukherjee, 1989, p. 100-101). J’s hellish flight from Hasnapur continues with her first sighting of America described as an Eden surrounded by garbage. During her first night on American soil while being raped by Half-Face, J falls back on her native culture and prays to the figure of Ganpati to give her “the strength to survive, long enough to kill myself” (p. 116). Though J is moving toward a new American life, she is bringing her Indian culture with her when she “becomes Kali, goddess of destruction” from which she draws the strength to kill the rapist (Bahri, 1998, p. 147). Here, Mukherjee demonstrates that chaotic upheavals in J’s life interfere with a forward-moving, linear path toward a new identity in America.

 

In murdering Half-Face, Jasmine is overtaken with a sense of power from which she draws the strength to become a survivor, and the seeds of a new identity are planted. Mukherjee blends the two cultures – Indian and American – at this point of the story. Praying to Ganpati is evidence of J reverting to knowledge from her native Indian culture. J could have walked away after the rape when Half-Face was sleeping, but she didn’t because of an internal decision to find the strength to survive the rape in order to carry out her mission. Bahri notes that “the reader of a postcolonial novel has preset ideas of culture and how people act because of their culture … immigrants, especially ones bucking the trend throw that idea off course” (1998, p. 138). After the murder of Half-Face and her resolve to create a new life in America, J makes an effort to appear American in dress and action. In Florida, J’s new savior, Lillian Gordon, explains that the shoes Jasmine wears reveal her culture, “Undocumented aliens wear boxy shoes with ambitious heels” (Mukherjee, 1989, p. 132). Americans wear t-shirts and running shoes. Lillian helps J with her next identity by naming her Jazzy and sending her to Flushing, New York.

 

Mukherjee has J on the move, but not necessarily forward. Indian culture is portrayed as a suffocating element that J, once again, needs to escape from on her way to becoming her next incarnation. In New York, Jazzy finds herself in a caregiver position at the home of immigrant Dev Vadhera in an apartment building in which live many Indian families, a small society of neighbors that creates a cultural ghetto. In this atmosphere, J begins to lose touch with the American culture she thinks she wants membership in. She feels the expectations of the Indian culture among her neighbors as a suffocation, closing off any possible escape route to her dream of an American life. Jazzy does not want to revert back to the conditions of her life as Jyoti from Hasnapur. Bahri points out that Mukherjee falls back on the popular belief that “Americans are superior” and “the novel makes us look at how an immigrant survives in America rather than how America saves immigrants” (1998, p. 142). One of the problems that J faces in America is being an illegal immigrant. Through all her incarnations, through all her “becomings,” J is an illegal – she is not “becoming” an illegal, she is an illegal. Already having been on the move several times in search of new identities, the fact that she is an illegal immigrant keeps her on the move.  When she comes across the reality of Dev’s job, that of selling Indian women’s hair and not that of a professor or scientist, J selfishly uses that information in a form of blackmail. According to her plan, if Dev gets her a green card, J will move out of Dev’s apartment and not reveal his secret to his friends and family. She desperately wants to leave the life in Flushing, New York before the cultural ghetto smothers her, and move on to a new life.

 

Moving from Flushing to New York City, J is once again in a caregiver’s position, this time as a nanny to the daughter of Taylor and Wylie. The couple offers a safe haven for J to test a new identity, this time named Jase by Taylor. Jase would love to do a lot of things in America – attend school, have a driver’s license, get paid legally – that require she have legal immigrant status. But, legal immigrant status is not high on J’s list of things she wants to accomplish as an American. Is her constant movement from one location to another the result of trying to hide her illegal status? Or is her constant movement really a symptom of an inborn desire to constantly reinvent herself? That could by why, when her life becomes too settled in any location, J looks for an escape route. Mukherjee has told Jasmine’s story in an interrupted manner parallel to J’s many moves and identity changes.
If the reader is looking for more evidence that J is adverse to a fixed identity, what she does when Taylor asks her to stay on as Duff’s nanny is yet another example of her using an escape route to flee a potentially permanent or long-term situation. Before she moves out of the apartment, and the marriage, Wylie makes J realize that J is in love with Taylor. This occurs before he professes his love for J. Once the separation between Taylor and Wylie takes place, the reader might wonder if, this time, the situation might be different than other instances of impending identity permanence and that J will settle down. But, instead, Mukherjee gives J a catalyst to continue moving in search of identity – J sees Sukhwinder, her husband’s murderer, in the park. This sighting reinvigorates her fear of having her illegal status detected by  Immigration and Naturalist Services and being deported back to Hasnapur. J is aware that in America nothing lasts and that politically she is always the Other. J avoids the fate of most Others by being constantly on the move, which Bahri likens to birds that migrate to survive (Bahri, 1998, p. 149). Because of her fear of Sukhwinder, J abandons a potentially fulfilling life with Taylor and flees to Iowa.

 

Once again, Mukherjee uses movement as J’s solution to true identity detection. As long as J keeps moving, her true identity will be protected and she can continue to reinvent her public persona. It is in Iowa that Mukherjee continues the contrast between J’s Indian culture and the American culture into which J is assimilating. Bahri (1998) argues that assimilation in America is a “two-way street.”  While J is becoming an American, America is taking on the attributes of J’s Indian culture (p. 144). Mukherjee uses food as an example of how cultures may adopt each other’s way. Every time J shares an Indian dish with her American friends, the food becomes part of America’s melting pot. This melting pot is comparable to a campfire soup pot in which the host asks all attendees to bring a can of soup. All soups are emptied into one pot and stirred over the heat. The number of different soups emptied into the one pot depends on the number of visitors to the campfire. The result is a soup of many flavors, much like immigrants in America. The United States attracts a great number of immigrants each year and each one adds to the flavor of American culture. Who can say what the face of America looks like? As Bahri notes, Mukherjee makes the reader think about what it means to be American (1998, p. 141).

 

J settles into her life in Iowa, catching the eye of Bud the banker and becoming his common-law wife. He renames her Jane. Bud’s ex-wife calls her a tornado, a destructive force that destroys lives in her way. Mukherjee reminds the reader that J isn’t plain Jane, she’s Calamity Jane, and that Jane is just another identity, another role, another part to play (Bahri, 1998, p. 150). The role J takes on in Iowa is as Bud’s wife, but she won’t marry him to make it legal. She is his wife, but she isn’t. She is mother to their adopted Vietnamese son, but she isn’t. She is in a state of in-between-ness, still avoiding detection from INS.
What Mukherjee offers the reader of Jasmine appears to be, on the surface, a realistic novel about a Third World woman on the move as an illegal immigrant in America, trying to avoid detection from INS. However, J is so much more than that description. She is a chameleon, adapting to survive, drawing on her native Indian culture while assimilating American culture. Yet, J’s assimilation of American culture appears to be in external things: names, food, mannerisms. The one part of American culture that J seems to truly embrace is freedom of choice. As an immigrant writer, Mukherjee has a responsibility in regards to stereotyping Third World women because a reader may not be able to differentiate between realism in a novel and literary devices. Knowing the historical background of a novel, as well as the author’s biography, may be helpful to the reader in making that determination. In conclusion, Mukherjee depicts Jasmine as a Third World woman who undergoes inner turmoil when restricted by cultural expectations and who thrives through chaotic upheavals in her search for identity.

References
Bahri, D. (1998). “Always Becoming: Narratives of Nation and Self in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine.”
Women, America, and Movement: Narratives of Relocation. Ed. Roberson, S.L. Columbia:     U of Missouri P. 137-54.
Mukherjee, B. (1989). Jasmine. New York: Grove Weidenfeld.

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Tie together cosmic origins with human development

Timeless questions about the big bang: Will they ever be answered?

By Denise Scammon

Interpreting the Big History – how stars and planets formed following the Big Bang, how life originated on our planet and how our solar system supports that life – gives me a greater appreciation of the complex interactions that occur at all levels and scales of matter and energy. About the big bang creation myth, in “Maps of Time,” David Christian states that “the universe was created at a particular time, that it has a life story of its own, and that it may die in the distant future” (p. 23). The life story of the universe begins with that big bang followed, within seconds, by incredible changes that formed particles, then atoms, followed by stars and galaxies. The stars were composed of heavy elements which became the building blocks of life. Those building blocks evolved, somehow, into life. Linking cosmic origins to human development and exploring what this means in my own life has raised questions in my mind and the realization of my need to better understand the available scientific research. What I have found is that researchers are still trying to uncover how the building blocks of life evolved into actual life forms. Paul Patton writes in “One World, Many Minds,” that science theories are popular for a while and then become questionable when refuted by a new scientific discovery. Even when there is no replacement theory, the original theory is no longer popular. Out of all the questions that could be asked about life, I think the most important question still remains unanswered, “What caused life to appear on Earth?”

Following the big bang, the intense heat of the universe kept particles from forming into atoms. Christian states, “At this temperature, matter and energy are interchangeable” (p. 24). The universe expanded and as it did, it cooled enough so that particles could form into atoms; the first two elements were hydrogen and helium. I wonder if the universe will continue to expand and cool forever. Won’t the universe come to a point where it can no longer expand? Will it then contract? Conditions in the universe are not the same now as when the galaxies first formed – we don’t have that same level of heat and energy that followed the big bang. But, stars are still being formed in galaxies. Gas clouds swirling around in the galaxies clump together due to gravitational pull and become stars. The importance of understanding star formation comes from the fact that the components of stars are the building blocks of life, and thus the popular statement “We are all made of star dust.” I think teaching Big History to people with a casual interest in it is best done with anecdotal examples of scientific research. It has become obvious the further into the course I go that Big History is an interdisciplinary course that integrates knowledge from many sciences. One person can’t be expected to have deep knowledge in a multitude of sciences. I expect to rely on scientists who specialize in a specific area of science for my information. Partaking in an interdisciplinary course such as Big History offers me a lot of scientific information all rolled up in one course, an extremely important feature in a busy world.

How do physicists explain time and space? After reading the book “Einstein’s Dreams” by Alan Lightman, a novel about theories of time and space, I came away with a better understanding of the possible theories of time and space and a reminder of the importance of critical thinking skills. Imagine 30 different possibilities that explain abstract ideas such as time and space. The scale of the universe is so great that it is almost unfathomable. I particularly liked compressing the actual time that has passed since the big bang into a 24-hour day because it places the large scale view into perspective. Christian used this method and so did the NOVA film “Origins: Earth is born.” The 4.5 billion year history of Earth is described as if it occurred over 24 hours – Earth was born at midnight.

Our sun is a medium-size star, meaning it will “burn [its] fuel more slowly than the giants” (Christian p. 49). It’s been giving off energy for almost five billion years and it is expected to continue to do so for another five billion years. The sun is our source of heat and light on Earth. When the sun nears its death, it will flare, possibly engulfing the planets closest to it, including Earth. Our solar system is in the Milky Way, a galaxy of more than 100 billion stars held together by gravity. There are billions of other galaxies beyond the Milky Way. The Hubble Space Telescope Web site states that plans are in the works to create a “census of the population of Kuiper Belt objects at the fringe of our solar system, hopefully witness the birth of planets around other stars and investigate the composition and atmospheres of other worlds.” Further away from Earth, the Hubble will take a “portrait of the universe in near-infrared light and probe the behavior of dark energy.” That sounds fascinating. Dark energy is the force that is causing the universe to expand. It is like anti-gravity.

It is also interesting to know that light from stars in our own galaxy and other galaxies travel at a specific rate of speed. In “Follow the Energy,” Eric Chaisson states that “it’s precisely because light speed is finite that we can discover a fascinating record of many past events, including perhaps knowledge of our own cosmic origins.” Knowing this rate has helped scientists track galaxy movement away from Earth: “not only are the galaxies receding, but they recede at velocities proportional to their distances…. The greater the distance of an object from us, the faster it recedes” (Chaisson).  It is also interesting to note that by the time the star light reaches Earth, “we are seeing objects that existed early in the universe’s life” (Christian p. 47). We are looking back in time. We are looking at the past.

How did the planets form and why did life appear on Earth? “Chemical processes may have generated life elsewhere in the universe, though at present we do not know if this is true” (Christian p. 80). Planets formed from chunks of gas and dust which collided and stuck together forming larger masses. Depending on the distance from the sun, the planets were either rocky or gaseous. Conditions in the early universe have erased the evidence of Earth’s birth – erosion, volcanoes, collisions with meteorites. Earth was lifeless, had a poisonous atmosphere, and without an ozone layer, the Sun’s radiation was intense. Eventually, Earth was positioned in the solar system that made it amenable for life to appear. Christian states that “Earth’s temperatures were suitable for the appearance of the complex and fragile molecules that made up the earliest life forms” (p. 63). Simple chemicals became complex; the building blocks of life combined in complex ways to form life. One-cell organisms appeared 3.5 billion years ago and became more complex two billion years ago. Single cell organisms combined into multi-cell organisms one billion years ago. Complex organisms continued to evolve, but only those organisms that could adapt to the changing environment  survived the changes. Sid Perkins wrote in “The Iron Record of Earth’s Oxygen” about the study of banded iron formations on Earth which is an important study because iron has been linked to oxygen formation on our planet. When photosynthetic organisms first appeared on our planet – a blue-green algae – the oxygen they produced was absorbed in rock – bands of iron in Earth’s rock. The oxygen continued to be absorbed by the rock until the rock became saturated, at which point the oxygen released during photosynthesis stayed in Earth’s atmosphere. This change in the atmosphere led to the evolution of life forms on Earth. Through fossils, scientists can follow how life on Earth spread and how it diversified. Humans appeared in the last few million years, modern man in the last 150,000 years.

While people adhere to a religious belief that God created the universe 6,000 years ago, science provides evidence that it took eons for some geological formations to occur on Earth – much longer than 6,000 years. The theory of plate tectonics gave a boost to the modern creation story. Maps on the Paleomap Project site show configurations of ancient continents and seas, an excellent tool to study where life forms evolved and what role atmosphere and climate played in evolution and how these patterns will continue in the future. The film,  Origins: How Life Began, NOVA, explains that the living organisms that we see today take up a very small segment of time in the timeline of life. Bacteria, on the other hand, have been here since the beginning of living organisms on our planet. That brings the study of how life first appeared on Earth down to the microcosmic level. In “Maps of Time,” Appendix 2, Chaos and order, the importance of patterns is stressed. The first law of thermodynamics is the law of the conservation of energy. The second law of thermodynamics states that in a closed system the amount of free energy or energy capable of doing work tends to dissipate over time (Christian p. 507). Patterns help us predict possible scenarios which allows us to plan for the future. What can be changed and what is unchangeable?

“Human history marks the sudden and unexpected emergence of a new level of complexity,” explains Christian (p. 139). What differentiates humans from other organisms? What is the new level of complexity? I understand the answer to be a combination of several factors. First, humans have the ability to harvest energy: “humans seem to constantly develop new ecological tricks, new ways of extracting resources from their environments” (Christian p. 145). Second, the human brain increased in size, evidence of which is seen in fossils. Third, humans adapted to changing environments and went from nomadic living to farming lifestyles. Fourth, and I think most importantly, humans have the capacity for language and collective learning, unlike animals: “animals without symbolic language may lack the ability humans have to deliberately think about the past and imagine the future” (Christian p. 146). I found this incredibly interesting and think this information may be useful to me in the future. How can I share this knowledge with others?

Regarding whether plants can think in the same manner as humans, Susan Milius writes in “No Brainer Behavior,” that “Plants behave and misbehave as dramatically as animals” (p. 16).  The way that humans acquire knowledge is unique, some knowledge is intentionally pursued and some knowledge is a by-product of linking new information to knowledge that is already understood. Small bits of information join together and form the larger picture, a deeper understanding. I loved reading about the power of collective learning: “processes of collective learning ensure that humans as a species will get better at extracting resources from the environment, and their increasing ecological skills ensure … human populations will increase” (Christian p. 147).

How did humans acquire the language skills that make them unique among other living organisms? Could the evolution of hearing-related genes have played a part in language development? This is important to know because evolutionary changes have occurred to the eight hearing-related genes over the last 40,000 years, some as recent as 2,000 years ago.  Bruce Bower, in his essay “Evolution’s Ear,” states that science now “challenges the idea that language and speech developed rapidly 50,000 years ago due to a single genetic mutation” (p. 23). Fossil evidence shows that Neanderthals and Stone Age humans spoke, but their speech would not have been as clear as modern humans, and it would have been slow.  Jumping from human language to intelligence, can physics explain whether or not everything that has occurred in the universe since the big bang is the result of intentional design? “Today’s physics has nothing to say about the intentionality that has resulted in the existence of such objects, even though this intentionality is clearly causally effective” (Ellis p. 743). This eternal question is closely followed by “How fragile is life on Earth?”

In “Protect biodiversity hot spots and the rest will follow,” Edward Wilson writes that focusing on saving our physical world will not save the living organisms, but if we first focus on saving living organisms, the physical world gets saved at the same time. I think that highlights how fragile life is on Earth. He further states that “the natural environment where most of the biodiversity hangs on cannot survive the press of land-hungry people who have nowhere else to go.…” (ScienceNews). There are enough resources to go around, but we need a better distribution system. By learning how the universe was created, and how life appeared and how it survives, I am becoming more aware of the effects of everything I do to the environment. After reading Wilson’s article, I am now aware that saving the living and saving the environment are simultaneous activities.

How many people have listened to the sounds made by Earth? The sounds of Earth recorded simultaneously all over the world with seismographs in John Bullitt’s “Hearing Earth: Rumblings of a Complex Planet” on NPR’s site was very cool – the natural background noise of Earth, made up of the sound of waves and swells crashing on the Earth’s crust. I also enjoyed listening to the “Rumblings of Underwater Giants,” but especially liked Mr. O’Connor’s theory that whales find their way from Alaska to Hawaii by listening for the underwater volcano rumblings. Nature offers us underwater rumblings that are like a GPS system, and similarly, nature offers us cosmic radiation that can be used for imaging purposes. In Betsy Mason’s “Muons Meet the Maya,” she writes that “high-energy particles known as muons, which are born of cosmic radiation” are being used as an imaging technique to study pyramids, volcanic activity and detect nuclear materials (p. 361). I feel fortunate to have listened to cool recordings of Earth noises and then to have read Mason’s article. She writes that combining physics with archaeology (interdisciplinary) by using muons for imaging will possibly prevent destruction of the pyramids while studying them. Equally important is the use of muons as an imaging technique that could safeguard against nuclear devices and that could forecast volcanic eruptions. What do I take with me from these recordings and this article? I have so much to learn about what’s going on around me, on all levels. I thought the recordings were cool, but they were so much more.

Science has provided evidence to support how planets and stars were formed. But, I have come to the conclusion that there are many unanswerable questions about our cosmic origins. Will the universe continue to expand and cool or will the anti-gravity forces weaken causing the universe to contract like an elastic that has been stretched and then reverts to its original form? Can we explain abstract ideas like time and space with scientific evidence? Why did life appear on Earth? I think we haven’t been able to answer certain questions because we either don’t have the right tools yet or we have the tools, but haven’t used them in a way that would reveal the answer. “We do not know what laws are involved in creating life” (Christian p. 511). What have cosmic patterns revealed about our future? It will be interesting to continue learning from future Big History assignments how our cosmic origins tie into human development. As humans continue to evolve, genetically and intellectually, it would benefit mankind if everyone participated in saving the living, while saving planet Earth.

References
Chaisson, E. (2005). Follow the Energy: Relevance of Cosmic Evolution for Human History [Electronic version]. Historically Speaking 6 (5).
Christian, D. (2004). Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Ellis, G. (2005). Physics, Complexity and Causality [Electronic version]. Nature, 435. 743.
Harper, A. (Director). (2004). Origins: Earth is Born [Television broadcast]. NOVA: PBS.
Harper, A. (Director). (2004). Origins: How Life Began [Television broadcast]. NOVA: PBS.
Lightman, A. (1993). Einstein’s Dreams. New York: Random House.
Mason, B. (2007). Muons Meet the Maya [Electronic version]. Science News, 172 (23). 360–361.
Milius, S. (2009). No Brainer Behavior [Electronic version]. Science News, 175 (13). 16–19.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2009). Hubble Space Telescope. Retrieved October 5, 2009 from http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html.
PALEOMAP Project. (2002). Retrieved September 17, 2009 from http://www.scotese.com/climate.htm.
Patton, P. (2008). One World, Many Minds [Electronic version]. Scientific American, Mind, 19 (6). 72–79 (e-reserve).
Perkins, S. (2009). The Iron Record of Earth’s Oxygen [Electronic version]. Science News, 175 (13). 24–28.
Wilson, E. (2008). Protect biodiversity hot spots and the rest will follow [Electronic version]. Science News. 32.

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Just a funny, yo.

I have the funniest story, maybe other parents can empathize. We watched an old video – 16 years old – and the kids were on the floor, Christmas eve, listening to Tim read Twas the Night Before Christmas. Tim got to the part “And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.” Jeff looks up at the camera, pounds his fist on the floor (he’s 8 years old) and says “Asses!” and then goes back to listening. Tim never stops reading and I never stopped taping and it wasn’t until last summer that we realized he had said that word. I guess I should have paid attention more?

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It’s either brilliance or madness

Denise Scammon
September 24, 2009
Prof. Barry Rodrigue
Global Past, Global Present
Quiz-Essay #2

If someone says “We could play Einstein’s Dreams,” I would like to play because what that would mean to me is that I/we would have to come up with 30 different possibilities that explain an abstract idea such as time and space. Is abstract the right word to use when talking about time and space? If time and space can only be truly explained with mind-boggling mathematical equations that only Einstein could understand, then time and space remain abstract to me. This book by Alan Lightman will be a favorite of mine, friends who have read it say.
Chapter 4, The origins of life and the theory of evolution, in David Christian’s book, “Maps of Time,” opens with a discussion on reproduction, interestingly assigning what I consider a trait found in living organisms to tornadoes and crystals: “Living organisms manage significant flows of energy and matter, so they must have some form of metabolism…. They also reproduce, again like many other complex but nonliving entities from tornadoes to crystals” (p. 79). I like this personification of tornadoes and crystals. Because of this personification, I am imagining the string energy of tornadoes and crystals, so it is accurate to state that they reproduce. This chapter delves into the complexity of structures, the second law of thermodynamics and gravity. I wonder if in my lifetime I will learn that this statement is true: “Chemical processes may have generated life elsewhere in the universe, though at present we do not know if this is true” (Christian p. 80).
I just had a discussion with my 28 year old daughter in which I told her that I was learning things that she hadn’t been taught in school. I wish that somehow learning could be incorporated in everyone’s life after formal education, like a general course that covered all the latest discoveries and kept reading, writing and arithmetic skills sharp. We are learners and explorers: “Living organisms explore their environment in ways that have no parallel in the inanimate world” (Christian p. 80). In the reading, I came across what I thought were contradictions, yet now believe are more like a balance: biology is more complex than physics and chemistry; “gravity can create stars – objects of great density and high temperatures. But the universe as a whole is extremely cold” (Christian p. 81). This balance leads to Christian’s discussion of “adaptation” and “all living things seem to be exquisitely fitted for the environments in which they live” (p. 83). It’s convoluted and twisted, but it is a balance.
Christian’s discussion of Darwin and the natural selection process was a review of what I learned in Biology class last summer. I particularly remember the study of the adaptation of bird beaks depending on what type of food was found in their environments. Weren’t Crick and / or Watson supposedly on an LSD trip when they discovered DNA’s structure? I remember reading the phrase or something similar to this, “Life could be generated only from life” (Christian p. 94). Life comes from life. I also read about the Miller-Urey experiment in Biology class and their experiments in recreating early Earth’s atmosphere to discover how life first appeared on Earth – where did life begin? The three answers are “one) in space, two) on planets, and three) inside planets” (Christian p. 97). This tidbit of information about the clay was discussed in Biology: “tiny crystals of clay may have provided a template for the formation of more complex molecules” (Christian p. 98). Here I am taking a History course and finding that I learned some of the course information in my Biology class. Not only that, but Darwin’s discussion on “why some individuals are more likely to reproduce than others” (Christian p. 104) was also part of my General Psychology coursework. So, Global Past, Global History – the Big History – is a great interdisciplinary course.
Chapter 5, Evolution of life and the biosphere, recounts the origin of life, eukaryotic cells, reproduction, multi-cellular organisms and organisms that join in social groups. Scientific discoveries make a case against the translation of the Bible that states the universe was created 6,000 years ago: “Living organisms probably existed by 3.8 billion years ago, for rocks of this age from Greenland contain a level of the C12 isotope that is normally associated with the presence of life” (Christian p. 109). I had a conversation with my mother about the Bible translators having interpreted the creation of Earth as occurring 6,000 years ago. She said they were wrong. It was very different to be on the same side of a discussion with my mother. I was very surprised that she felt that way. She still believes God created the universe.
I absolutely loved listening to the “Rumblings of Underwater Giants,” but especially liked Mr. O’Connor’s theory that whales have an understanding that in order to find their way from Alaska to Hawaii, they need to listen for the underwater volcano rumblings. It was both eery and beautiful. Nice sound bite to include in the lesson.
As I investigated the Encyclopedia of Life site, I thought to do a search on “global warming” as the group project I am working on follows that topic. I came upon Jesse Ausubel who “has authored and edited more than 150 articles, reports, and books, including Changing Climate (National Academy, 1983), the first comprehensive review of the greenhouse effect, and Toward an International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP), the 1983 Research Council report originating the Global Change Program”(http://www.eol.org/content/page/bio_jausubel). I will search for some of his articles in USM’s peer-reviewed journals. Yay, good find.
The film,  Origins: How Life Began, NOVA, is about how life began and how that question remains a mystery. I think we haven’t been able to answer that question because we either don’t have the right tools yet or we have the tools, but haven’t used them in a way that would reveal the answer. The film is a good reinforcer of what we’ve learned, that the living organisms that we see today take up a very small segment of time in the timeline of life. Bacteria, on the other hand, has been here since the beginning of living organisms on our planet. That brings the study of how life first appeared on Earth down to the microcosmic level.
Susan Milius’s article, “No Brainer Behavior,” takes a light-hearted look about the serious topic of plant neurobiology: plant brains. It was catchy to describe the cuscuta pentagona “five-angled dodder” as a vampire. “Plants behave and misbehave as dramatically as animals” (Milius p. 16). I wasn’t quite buying the personification of the plants as described by Milius until I read her description of behavior: “Behavior is not the same as intent. Behavior can be observed, intent cannot” (Milius p. 17). Milius’s article contained intriguing information that I think would be interesting to follow up on, especially when doing research on plant life.
In  Paul Patton’s “One World, Many Minds,” what stays with me is that science theories are popular for a while and then become questionable when a new scientific discovery pokes a hole in the theory, no matter how small the hole. Even when there is no replacement theory, the original theory is no longer popular. During times when there is no popular theory, science seems to stall. Funding drops off, fewer researchers enter in the field, until a new discovery is made that once again raises interest, or fresh minds bring fresh ideas. It’s like that in my job. We create a product, there’s lots of excitement in selling it. The first year, advertisements support 32 pages which drops down to 8 pages after four years. The product has become lackluster and new ideas have to reinvigorate the product so that advertisers will support it again. The article by Patton starts out with common misperceptions on brain evolution  and how it took 30 years “for research in comparative neuroanatomy to show that complex brains … evolved from simpler brains multiple times independently” (Patton p. 2). It was fascinating to read about Alex the parrot who learned to name various items. I had two parakeets a long time ago and I would start each day trying to get them to talk, but they never did, or at least while I was around.
Edward Wilson’s “Protect biodiversity hot spots and the rest will follow,” bolsters my feelings that everything in the universe exists in a convoluted balance. He believes that focusing on saving our physical world will not save the living organisms, but if we first focus on saving living organisms, the physical world gets saved at the same time. I think that idea stresses the precarious balance we experience. He further states that there is an imbalance among people, with poor people losing out, yet there are enough resources to save everyone: “The poor … have little chance to improve their lives in a devastated environment. Conversely, the natural environment where most of the biodiversity hangs on cannot survive the press of land-hungry people who have nowhere else to go.…” (ScienceNews). That’s an excellent point to remember, that there are enough resources to go around. We need a better distribution system. Wilson stated, “Could we come up with one part in 1,000, to save upwards of half a percent of the endangered species living on the Earth’s surface? That’s the kind of political solution and economic solution which would be impressive.…” (ScienceNews).

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Zoho Show presentation for Global Past, Global Present

Image via Wikipedia

Dancing Strings group presentation on the science behind the movie “The Day After Tomorrow.”

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News agencies have much to offer

By Denise Scammon

Some of the services offered by news agencies:

Marketing

Graphic design

Photography / Videography

Writing / Editing

Courier

Homework helpers

Tour / field trip guides

Historical research via microfilm

Web design

And so much more.

What are your thoughts?

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Exploring the Big History

By Denise Scammon

Regarding the book “Einstein’s Dreams” by Alan Lightman, some people are interested in topics of physics such as theories of time and space, but lack the scientific background to understand scholarly articles. This novel is about theories of physics, namely time and space, but written as a novel, thus making it easy to read and follow. I came away from reading this book with a better understanding of the possible theories of time and space and a reminder of the importance of critical thinking skills.

In “Maps of Time” by David Christian, religion is brought into discussions about the origin of the universe. I wonder if the translation of the Bible contains errors and that is why the Biblical account of the universe’s creation doesn’t match scientific accounts. The Bible states that God created the universe and that everything is 6,000 years old. However, (author) Christian uses scientific evidence to support the statement that the sun and planets of our solar system were created 4.56 billion years ago (p. 57). The planets’ orbits occur in the space of a flattened disk where they are held by gravity. The inner planets are smaller, rocky and dense, while the outer planets are huge, but less dense (Christian p. 59). In the early days of the universe, soft collisions formed blobs that grew into planetesimals. A scary thought: “If Jupiter had been slightly larger, then the solar system may have had two suns” and with two suns “life may never have existed as we know it today”  (Christian p. 61).

In May 1998, the Hubble Space Telescope took the “first photo of a planet … three times the size of Jupiter” (Christian p. 61) which means there may be other solar systems in our Milky Way, with a central sun and planets that orbit it … and perhaps living organisms. The collisions with space matter, such as meteorites and comets, have created the Earth’s tilted rotation on its axis. The moon’s surface offers evidence of such collisions because the moon does not experience erosion.

The earth was once a blob of molten lava in which heavier metals such as iron and nickel sunk to its core, creating a magnetic field. This field is an important factor in protecting earth because it deflects “high-energy particles … and shields the chemical processes that generate life” (Christian p. 62). Lighter elements floated on the earth’s surface. As the earth cooled, steam formed in its atmosphere which condensed and fell to earth as water.

Interestingly, Christian stated “material on or in the earth has been recycled” so often and for so long that it “gives little information on the earliest stages of Earth’s formation” (p. 67). To determine the age of the universe, scientists study layers of rock and fossils. This reveals the order in which events occurred. With radiometric dating techniques, scientists can determine absolute and relative dates (Christian p. 66).

The theory of plate tectonics gave a boost to the modern creation story. While people cling to their religious belief that God created the universe 6,000 years ago, science provides evidence that it took eons for some geological formations to occur on Earth. For example, “imagining that the Alps were once undersea meant believing in a longer time period than 6,000 years” (p. 68). Volcanic activity created lava floors in the ocean that formed ridges that acted as wedges which sucked part of the ocean floor into the earth’s interior and which also pushed against the continental crust. “The Atlantic is getting three centimeters wider every year” can be better understood with Christian’s comparison “that is the same rate as our fingernails” grow (p. 70). I thought that was an unusual comparison. I didn’t know that GPS was used to measure the movement of tectonic plates. Pangaea was a supercontinent 250 million years ago, while Panthalassa was one big sea. They fragmented and now may be reconverging. Africa and India are moving north to join Eurasia (p. 73).  The reason it is important to know the configurations of the early continents and seas is to learn where life forms evolved and what role the atmospheres and climates played in evolution.

Appendix 2, Chaos and order, stresses the importance of patterns. Religious beliefs are discussed, but this time the question is asked that if a God created earth, who created the God? I wonder if God = energy. The first law of thermodynamics is the law of the conservation of energy. The second law of thermodynamics states that in a closed system the amount of free energy or energy capable of doing work tends to dissipate over time (p. 507). Unusable energy = entropy.

A good summary of the early universe is that it was extremely hot and dense. As it expanded and cooled, its symmetry was broken which created differences in temperature and pressure. This allowed the electromagnetic force to become strong enough to bind electrons and protons into atoms (p. 507). Gravity gathered hydrogen and helium into clouds, which were squeezed, densified, and got hotter. Nuclear fusion reactions lit up the stars which then gave off free energy to surrounding space. “We do not know what laws are involved in creating life” (p. 511).

I like the method used to explain how Earth was born in the NOVA film “Origins: Earth is born.” The 4.5 billion year history of Earth is described as if it occurred over 24 hours, so Earth was born at midnight. Collisions of particles in space formed planets. Gravity held clumps together, and clumps grew. Scientists look for clues to the origin of Earth in the Asteroid Belt, a region of space 100+ million miles from Earth. A study was done on meteorites that fell in British Columbia near Alaska and 90+ elements were identified. Radiometric dating figured that all meteorites have the same age: 4.5-5 billion years. The film repeats a lot of what I learned from “Maps of Time.” From the film I learned that Earth’s molten core is twice the size of the Moon. The core is always spinning which creates an electric current which causes our planet to rotate and gives it north and south poles. The magnetic field fluctuates so geologists routinely search for the precise magnetic north pole to keep track of it. Today, the pole is 125 miles off the Canadian coast.

One piece of information from the film with which I was impressed is the fact that the Moon is 240,000 miles from Earth and is moving away at a rate of 1-1/2 inches every year. I can just imagine in the early days of the universe that the Earth spun around on its axis in six hours and the Moon was closer and looked incredibly huge. I love nights when the Moon is bright orange and huge. I just searched the Internet for the explanation of this phenomenon which I studied in Psychology. However, it seems the illusion is being investigated yet again. Sigh.

Sid Perkins wrote in “The Iron Record of Earth’s Oxygen” that iron can be found throughout our galaxy due to nuclear reactions which caused iron-containing stars to explode. While iron is the most abundant element in our earth, it is found mostly in Earth’s core. “Less than 6 percent of Earth’s crust is iron” (Perkins p. 24). The theme of Perkins’ essay are BIFs: banded iron formations. The source is mysterious, the large size of some bands, puzzling. I was interested enough in Lake Matano in Indonesia to Google it. I looked at pictures and diagrams of it to get a better idea of Perkins’ discussion. Basically, it’s a lake with conditions that could be very similar to the early oceans. It has microbes known as photoferrotrophs that prefer the depths that are rich in dissolved iron and phosphorous, as opposed to the photosynthetic organisms that live closer to the surface.

The Hubble Space Telescope Web site states that the telescope is 19 years old and was refurbished in May 2009. Plans are in the works to create a “census of the population of Kuiper Belt objects at the fringe of our solar system, hopefully witness the birth of planets around other stars and investigate the composition and atmospheres of other worlds.” Further away from Earth, the Hubble will take a “portrait of the universe in near-infrared light and probe the behavior of dark energy.” That sounds fascinating. Dark energy is the force that is causing the universe to expand. It is like anti-gravity.

The Paleomap Project is about plate tectonics and there are interactives and animations to illustrate the concept. Maps show ancient mountain ranges and shorelines, Earth’s climate history and future maps. The map of Earth 50 million years in the future shows a trench around North and South Americas and a ridge in the middle of the Atlantic. Then, 150 million years in the future, the ridge has moved to where the trench was around the Americas. Next, a map shows that 250 million years in the future the continents will have shifted together into what is labeled Pangaea Ultima. The Paleographic Atlas has taken over 30 years to get to this point and is still being updated.

The Web site of The Periodic Table of Videos was okay. I think I will use it as a reference source. I checked out the Hydrogen element video. Basically, a balloon is filled with hydrogen gas which is ignited with a flame which causes an explosion. The interesting tidbit of information from this video is that the explosions at Chernobyl and the space shuttle were explosions caused by the reaction of Hydrogen and Oxygen. I also looked at the Fe, or Iron, video. The speakers in the video pronounced aluminum like ah-loo-min-yum with the accent on the min syllable rather than the loo syllable. That was quite funny.

John Bullitt’s “Hearing Earth: Rumblings of a Complex Planet” on NPR’s site was very cool. The sounds of Earth recorded simultaneously all over the world with seismographs. Since the sounds are too low for us to hear, Bullitt speeded up the recordings. Each second of the condensed recording equals four minutes of real time. I liked the whoosh noise which Bullitt says is the natural background noise of Earth, made up of the sound of waves and swells crashing on the Earth’s crust.

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