Almost there!

This week I've been hard at work writing papers and taking finals and packing!

I got these huge plastic tubs at Target so I can store all my stuff,

cardboard boxes are apparently very expensive? It was cheaper to buy these!!!

Oh well, I can use them for years.

Remember these? They got me through the whole year, very sturdy.

Sadly they have hardly any paper left, so I'm going to recycle the covers.

And, of course, tissues.

Another cold, perfect timing.

OH WELL.

Taking lots of cold meds.

One final tonight and a take-home final due tomorrow at 4:30.

THEN I'M DONE.

(I've almost made it through freshman year!)

Obama gets tough

The view from my dorm room

Obama got pretty tough today and got serious about the oil spill:

read on here

Practice

So, for my Environmental Ethics class, we are each writing a paper about an environmental issue and it's ethical implications. No surprise, I'm writing about the ethics of GMOs, especially plant crops.

Generally these are the 4 things that I am discussing

-The ethics of actually genetically modifying them- changing the telos (interdirectedness) of a plant

-Biopiracy- patenting of genes

-Sustainability- (it's not...)

-Loss of biodiversity (uncool, folks)

We all had to put up our abstracts on a class blog and everyone asked everyone questions about them. Our final is to choose 2 to answer, along with one from our professor. Here are the questions I've chosen:

“Have you though about investigating the corporations that are supporting and producing GMOs, such as Monsanto? Also, have you considered the ethics of companies patenting these newly genetically modified seeds and how this effects farmers and they way they conduct their business?”

In response: Monsanto tries there best, I really do believe they care about farmers, but they are also all about profit. They are patenting these genes so they can be the only ones to make the money off of them, which implies they are putting money ahead of their farmers, who are paying more for the seed and aren't allowed to save seed, either. It is causing a gap in farming- there are LARGE (huge, really) monoculture farms on one side, and small organic on the other, with very little in between. Only about 1% of food is grown organically in the U.S.

“If GM plants are stopped what effect would this have on other nations struggling to produce food? If GM planets were being developed in a 3rd world country or a country struggling to produce food would GM planets go against the utilitarian point of view in their mind?”

In response: GM plants are undermining the sustainability of our food system. Conventional farming degrades soil, produces "super-pests", uses more water generally, and increases the pesticide use. So if we really want to make sure that we can feed everyone in the world, an unsustainable farming method is not going to get us anywhere.

Rough responses, but I am excited to finish this paper.

He did it!

Jordan Romero summitted Everest!

Frustration...

Some things might not happen by the end of the year- for example- declaring my major. I don't think I can get it together in time, sadly. Too many things to get signed and I'm trying really very hard to not go insane with papers and finals.

PROGRESS REPORT:

Paper for Intro to Globalization: done.

Paper for Macro: done (feel accomplished, didn't scream once, probably didn't fail!)

Paper for Environmental Ethics: due Friday, haven't started but have been THINKING DEEPLY (that's some sort of progress, right??)

Volleyball and Lifting: done.

Finals: YET TO COME!

Packing: my walls look sadly empty and I am buying boxes after class today to pack up odds and ends to put in storage. My giant duffel is ready to get stuffed full!

End of the year... bittersweet. Good friends here, but good friends to see at home. I will miss everyone but I am definitely ready for a break from school, and a summer full of smiling kids at Farm and Wilderness!

Good luck to this kid!

A 13 year old named Jordan Romero has just started his attempt at climbing Everest! I'd read that he was thinking about it in Outside magazine, but here is a New York Times article. Very interesting, it has definitely kicked up the debate about age limits on certain types of extreme activities. How young is too young?

Well, I definitely would NOT have wanted to do this when I was 13, so good luck to him!

Farmer Suicide

Cheery topic, I know... But I've been working on a paper for my Introduction to Globalization class. We have to take an issue in the news and examine it in terms of globalization.

Here's a bit from my paper, its' ALMOST done!

Please pardon any grammatical mistakes or poorly written sections, I haven't had a chance to proofread yet!

"Farmers are an integral part of global societies. They sustain the rest of humanity and play an important role in the development and sustainability of communities. Therefore, the health of farmers can be a good indicator of the health of a community. However, food production and farming have become globalized- in many parts of the world, individuals can find any produce 365 days a year. If many farmers in many parts of the world are suffering, our overall food system will suffer.

Local food systems are losing their individuality and biodiversity. Agribusinesses go into an area (including Monsanto, DuPont, Dow etc) and begin to market their seeds. This crowds out local seed and degrades the genetic history of the area.

India is an example of what is happening to farmers in an increasingly globalized food and crop system. It has even gotten to such an extreme that farmers are committing suicide due to issues related to the globalization of food production and the increased influence of agribusiness.

In this particular case, the crop causing the most problems is Bt cotton, which is sold by Monsanto. In summary, what has been occurring in India since around 1997 (around the point Bt cotton was introduced) is that representatives sell seed to Indian farmers on credit. They promise a high yield, which is mostly true, but only if farmers are also willing to spend on the larger amounts of fertilizers and water that these crops necessitate. Because the whole process is so expensive, the farmers don’t end up making a large profit. Because of intellectual property rights, the seed companies can require farmers to re-buy their GM seed every year, forbidding them to save seed as they have for centuries. Eventually farmers go into so much debt that their land is repossessed. Many farmers have been farming for generations, refining seed and growing a connection to their land. Too ashamed to live with losing their farms, they turn to the deadliest thing on their property- pesticides. Vandana Shiva reports that “According to official data, more than 160,000 farmers have committed suicide in India since 1997”."

End of term...

I just keep telling myself

"Two more weeks"

two more weeks and I'll be home in the mountains of New England!

The end of term...

I know college is important, but some days I just want to sit in the woods and play guitar and eat fresh veggies and sing and breathe.

Some days I wonder if I'd get more out of reading what I want- Michael Pollan, Wendell Berry, Vandana Shiva, Thoreau, Muir, all the people we talk about in class but don't always get to read. I'm tired of thinking about environmental issues instead of living the life I want to live- I know I can do some of it now, like working in a garden every Sunday or reading some Wendell on the side, but some days I feel powerless and am wasting my time. I want to be getting my hands dirty!

Education is great but sometimes I wonder if college is right. Perhaps it's the end of term talking, and they three term papers I really don't want to write and the 2-3 hours of physical activity I'm doing every day and ensuing exhaustion. I need it to be summer and recharge my batteries in the woods!!!

On the road!

I'm heading off to Indiana tomorrow to my sister's graduation from Earlham College! It will be fun to see the whole familia and celebrate wonderful Hannah!

In other news:

My school takes a few dollars out of every student's tuition to put in a fund called the "Green Fee". Students can apply for this money and use it for sustainability projects. Last term they had students sign a pledge not to drink or buy bottled water in return for a reusable water bottle! They just got here this week: they are pretty cute! Bottled water really isn't any better for you, ya know! Tap water is generally safer than bottled water in the vast majority of the US. So just fill up your water bottle at the sink, or use a brita filter of something, people!
A girl from my old high school is doing her SIS (Senior Independent Study) project about not creating waste for 6 weeks. CHECK IT OUTTT!

From Four Forms of Ecological Consciousness Reconsidered by John Rodman:

"Ecological Sensibility, then is 'holistic' in a sense beyond that usually thought of: it grasps the underlying principles that manifest themselves in what are ordinarily perceived as separate 'social' and 'environmental' issues. More than any alternative environmental ethic, it attains a degree of comprehension that frees environmentalists from the charge of ignoring 'people problems' in the preoccupation with saving nature."

Environmental Ethics has been an important class- I'm learning the real words to describe the environmental philosophies I've had for years! I have 3 huge term papers due in the next few weeks and I was starting to freak out a little until I got my Ethics paper topic back with a big fat A and a "Very Good" underlined TWICE:

"I propose to write my paper about the ethical implications of genetically modified organisms. This will go into the realm of discussing Monsanto specifically, since they have led the way to GMO crops and are at the forefront of Intellectual Property discussions. This issue is close to my heart since I want to be an organic farmer and Monsanto and GMOs are making it difficult to preserve varieties typically grown on small organic farms. But overall, I will be discussing the mechanistic worldview of GMO producers and the overarching concept in our society that food crops only have instrumental value."

I'll let you know how it goes!

Procrastination

"We have to reclaim our right to save seed and to biodiversity. We have to reclaim our right to nutrition and food safety. We have to reclaim our right to protect the earth and her diverse species. We have to stop this corporate theft from the poor and from nature. Food democracy is the new agenda for democracy and human rights. It is the new agenda for ecological sustainability and social justice."

-Vandana Shiva, Stolen Harvest

I strongly suggest taking a look at Daniel Imhoff's book

Food Fight: A Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill

It is a good crash-course in our food legislation.

And it makes me angry.

But a very good kind of angry :)

Did you know we grow about 63% of the global land area planted with GMOs? That's 105.7 million acres, folks.