Christina Vrooman - Portfolio 6
From Drmills
Blog Contribution:
Personal Pep Talk:
Ignorance is bliss! Unfortunately, I'm no longer ignorant to all of the crazy shite that's about to go down. I really wish I did not have to know this stuff. It's not good for my health... but I guess it's good for my future if I actually start to prepare now (unlikely). I'm a greedy little animal and right now, I want money - lots of it, so I can buy things now to have when money is just paper a no longer works. I want that machine that was featured on Colbert that turns swamp water to drinkable water. I want solar panels and a farm somewhere far away from everyone to put the solar panels on. I want a new, fuel-efficient car and enough gasoline to last me for a century. But what I want and what I can get right now are so different it makes me sick with worry. Instead of working to secure a future for myself, my money goes to rent, food, gas, debt and even more debt when my student loans come back to get me in the fall. I guess a lot of people are in my situation, but f*ck!
Ok. Worrying is no good. There are things I CAN do. I need to move to that suburban city in northern California (starts with a W) that is becoming completely sustainable. There, I won't be alone in my worry, and I'll be in a place where the people might be ok when shit hits the fan. This is definitely something I can do. I just need two years. I think things will hold up for that long. It's going to be OK...
Cvrooman 14:04, 1 April 2008 (EDT)
Hybrids of all Types If I was going to get a car anytime soon I would definitely get a hybrid. However, that will not be happening anytime soon as to the expense that cars are. Lucky for me I get good gas mileage. My dad on the other hand recently totaled his car and is on the search for a new one. My dad usually is a money saver. I took this opportunity to try to get him to buy a hybrid, saying everything good I know about a hybrid. I told him how he could save so much gas money which is now increasing at a scary. Little did I know he knew his answer from the very beginning. He says, “You know your sister told me to do the same thing, but why should I get a hybrid when I can get a race car.” Since my dad likes to drive fast cars(which many people do) I decided there needs to be a fast, racing-like hybrid. I mean they have already accommodated with SUV hybrids, so shouldn’t sports cars be next? Bcouture 4-10-08
Personal Reflection:
My dad died when I was twelve, and my brother was ten. Each one of my family members was closer to him that we were to each other. My mother is an amazingly kind, wonderful person, but she (especially) really fell apart after my dad died. She would show my brother and me letters that my dad was writing her from the grave. The letters mainly said all of the things she wished he could still say. They were nice, but of an extremely religious nature, reflecting her own beliefs. "My dad" would reassure her of many positive things to come and provide words of comfort. Anyway, you get the idea. So I had to see many counselors and psychologists as a result of his death. They all seemed to be the same person to me at that age, and they all seemed to be full of shit. I would always ask them who had died in their family, or how they knew how I was feeling. They would always refer to a grandparent or some other more distant family member. I couldn't stand having to talk to these strangers who had no idea how I was feeling about something so personal. So... I grew up and eventually wanted to be the psychologist who wasn't full of shit. I wanted to be available to just listen and provide support if it was wanted - to be someone kids could talk to who HAD experienced death first-hand. This is where I was before taking this class... I was actually planning on getting my doctorate in psychology to be able to do what I just mentioned.
Now, everything has changed. Instead of studying psychology, I wish I had studied agriculture or something much more useful. Instead of learning how psychology can address ecological issues, I feel like this class has taught me more about how it can't. I really need to start dedicating more time to learning survival skills... I feel like the hour is later than it seems and that I might have found out about all of this a little too late.
Unfortunately, my boyfriend (we might as well be married) isn't entirely convinced. I'm not even sure if I am, but I do know that I'm not prepared to risk it.
How long do you think you can live on just rice and vitamins? How long can you store rice for? Now that I think about it... I'm kind of excited for this. I don't really feel like I've worked hard for anything in my life = this mild sort of depression. Looking around me, all I see are obese, sad, lonely people. No one seems to have a purpose anymore - and nobody has a tribe/clan.
I think it will be very hard to be depressed when you have to work for every meal. The food will probably be so much more satisfying as well. The one thing I think I'll really miss is warm showers everyday. I really don't like being dirty, but I guess we all might have to deal with that. Ok. enough rambling for today. Cvrooman 13:48, 7 April 2008 (EDT)
e-mail contribution:
This isn't that relevant, but I wonder when they're going to be able to make a robot that isn't creepy. Maybe we'll all get to see it if we keep on the Calorie Restriction diet... or maybe they'll always be creepy.
Check out: http://thoughtware.tv/videos/watch/1860
www.thoughtware.tv has a lot of cool videos about stem cell research up right now as well. I guess they're using stem cells to repair and clear out blood vessels in the heart... crazy! So, we'll either live forever or die en masse... awesome!
Cvrooman 12:45, 26 April 2008 (EDT)
book wiki contribution:
Biophilia and the Conservation Ethic - Edward O. Wilson Summary
Have you ever awoken from a dream involving snakes, or any other animal you would not come into contact with in your daily life? In his essay, Biophilia and the Conservation Ethic, Edward O. Wilson explains that this may be a result of biophilia. Translated literally, biophilia is the love of life or living things, but in Wilson's essay, it involves one's direct, emotional involvement with other living things. In his essay, Wilson argues that biophilia is a part of our evolutionary history, and thus a part of human nature. Though his writing is disorganized, it is clear he is presenting the case for the biophilia hypothesis, which "suggests that when human beings remove themselves from the natural environment, the biophilic learning rules are not replaced by modern versions equally well adapted to artifacts. Instead, they persist from generation to generation, atrophied and fitfully manifested in the artificial new environments into which technology has catapulted humanity"(Wilson, 1993). Here, Wilson does not see biophilia as a single instinct, but as a set of learning rules that he intends to dissect and analyze.
He begins by taking the reader through humanity's evolutionary history and is able to demonstrate that, "for more than 99 percent of human history people have lived in huntergatherer bands totally and intimately involved with other organisms"(Wilson, 1993). At the time of the brain's evolution, humans lived in a biocentric world, not the industrialized world of today. It makes sense, then, that our brains would still be hard-wired for survival in that environment and would still be inclined to recognize other living organisms as an integral, often pleasant, part of life. Wilson argues that one century of industrialized life is highly unlikely to be able to erase the rules learned over many millennia. To answer the question of how these learning rules evolved, Wilson offers an explanation of biocultural evolution, "during which culture was elaborated under the influence of hereditary learning propensities while the genes prescribing the propensities were spread by natural selection in a cultural context"(Wilson, 1993).
In other words, Wilson believes that biocultural evolution and geneculture evolution influenced each other. During this process, "a certain genotype makes a behavioral response more likely, the response enhances survival and reproductive fitness, the genotype consequently spreads through the population, and the behavioral response grows more frequent"(Wilson, 1993). Here, geneculture coevolution is presented as the most reasonable explanation for the origin of human biophilia. According to this explanation, the snake in your dreams is a direct result of recurring exposure to snakes in evolutionary time, which has been translated by natural selection into an innate aversion that still exists despite its lack of reinforcement in the current, industrialized setting.
Throughout the remainder of the article, Wilson berates cognitive psychologists for not addressing the mental consequences of humanity's rapid and constant degradation of the natural environment, and then goes into many details regarding the extent to which our environment has been diminished. He mainly considers the loss of biodiversity and the potential effect it will have on humans. According to conservative estimates, "if the current rate of habitat alteration continues unchecked, 20 percent or more of the earth's species will disappear or be consigned to early extinction during the next thirty years"(Wilson, 1993). The things we have done and are doing in one century are robbing all generations of humans to come. The species that are likely to go extinct as a result of our negligence "are an untapped source of new pharmaceuticals, crops, fibers, pulp, petroleum substitutes and agents for the restoration of soil and water"(Wilson, 1993).
While Wilson's essay is dedicated to addressing the problem a degraded environment poses to the mental states of humans with regard to the biophilic instinct, it is ultimately a last call for action to ensure a future where our innate love of all living things can still be expressed. Cvrooman 01:01, 27 April 2008 (EDT)
Wilson, E. O. (1993). Biophilia and the conservation ethic''''. (Dr. Mills, I need the correct citation - sorry so late to ask'''').'
Grade: A-
'
'
