Iraqi Marshes

After hearing about the drained Iraqi marshes in class, I decided to search the topic in the New York Times for any updates. I found this article from 2005.

What Hussein did was an attack on the people and the land. While the people could relocate temporarily, the land was irreversibly damaged. After the fall of Hussein in 2003, the people of the town broke down the dike Hussein had installed. Just like the miraculous rejuvenating capabilities Wilson wrote of, the plants and animals started to return. Still, the marshes are nowhere near their past vibrancy, and some spots remain dry. An Iraqi marine scientist (who is part of a team of researchers monitoring the ecosystem’s renewal) estimates the marshes can make an 80 percent comeback. It goes to show that nature has some amazing capabilities when you give it a chance to rejuvenate, but still, you are left with an ecosystem fatally crippled by human intervention.

Getting Away

I just got back from the EASL (Ethics and Servant Leadership) retreat, and I feel so refreshed! I have gone on a number of weekend retreats, but this one definitely was one of the best. This weekend we went to the Nannahala River in North Carolina. Although I knew a couple of people going on the trip, I was still a little nervous at the beginning about meeting new people and spending an entire weekend with strangers. How foolish I was for being nervous! Not only did I meet incredible people, but I was in the North Carolina mountains away from everything! It is really interesting how easy it is for people to come together when they are taken away from the chaos of everyday life and put in a natural setting. On the EASL retreat, it literally took a day and a half for all 13 of us students to feel comfortable enough around each other to crack jokes and poke fun at one another. We all commented at the end about how awesome it is that thirteen random students could become so close after only a couple of days. I think it has a lot to do with getting away. In going to the mountains like we did, we were able to forget about the worry and stress of our lives and focus on not only each other, but also on the beauty surrounding us. Personally, I felt more relaxed than I have in a long time. I realized as the weekend progressed that in getting away from campus and from my friends, I was able to simply be me. A large part of that, I concluded, has to do with the fact that at school I am constantly busy- always thinking that I should be doing something at all times even when I have nothing to do. It is quite ridiculous, actually. At Oxford, I was extremely involved on campus and had meetings all the time. Even though I am not as involved, at least yet, at main campus, that feeling of inadequacy- of worry that I am forgetting something or am screwing up- has followed me. I hate the fact that I can’t relax at school. I find myself partying in order to get stress out, even though I know that partying is definitely NOT the way to relieve stress. But mentally I just can’t go without constantly thinking I should be doing something when I am at school. I guess that is why I really love retreats. When I was on the EASL retreat, I let everything go. On the first night we had some down time and I went with a couple of the guys to the edge of the river. Although we all had just met that night, as we sat by the river in silence we all looked at each other and smiled- each absorbing the peaceful sound of the running water and letting loose the built up stress. It is moments like these that I realize how much we are missing out by being constantly on the move. We have separated ourselves from nature, and in doing so are missing out on so much.

Old age I think is nature’s way of saying “You’re no longer welcome to pollute Earth’s surface, it’s time you exchanged your body for its nutrient content.” That’s where the saying “dust be to dust” comes from. Nature has its own mechanism for maintaining energy equilibrium—to only let a human live to the point that his energy use during his time on Earth is fully refunded to the Earth when he dies, in the form of nutritional content to the soil and other animals. But man has devised a way of cheating nature, of taking what he needs on a daily basis but for a prolonged period of time: nearly a century instead of a couple decades. Our innovative discoveries are a result of mental evolution—a concept that Paul Ehrlich attributes to the ecological crisis. Our minds are producing technological ideas for which an individual would need at least twice the average (read: normal) body mass in order to function on its own. For example, if the average American were to incorporate into his own body (physical evolution) the manufacturing equipment used to produce only the food he would eat in a day, as well as his laptop, his phone, and his shelter, the average American would be much larger than he is today (that’s a scary thought). Yet, the body mass we return to the Earth is only a fraction of this.
I think there are many other factors contributing to this “biomass imbalance,” like how much energy does a single person use to survive one day using the convenience of gasoline-powered transportation today versus the energy a Neanderthal used to walk from a cave and kill a Wooly Mammoth (which would hopefully feed him for several weeks). That is, what is the base energy used per day considering a hunter-gatherer lifestyle? And, if we calculated this value today, would it be skewed because of a shift in NPP due to climate change?
My conclusions about solutions for problems like this always seem to be pessimistic, that there will never be a solution, except for more chaos and entropy, which will eventually lead to catastrophic destruction and population crashes. If the theory of conservation of energy holds true for the Earth’s ecosystems (considered a closed system), then where in the world is all the extra mechanical energy humans expend going? With an exponentially growing world population, it would make sense that plant and other animal populations are being extirpated in order to make room for our increasing biomass, and if our exponentially increasing energy consumption places a great enough force on ecosystems to produce more than they can inherently supply, then they will exert an equal and opposite force on the human population—likely one we cannot resist.

Reflection of "Creation Care" magazine

September 25th 

I just finished reading the "Creation Care" magazine. I really like it for a number of different reasons. Firstly, it has an appeal to a large and diverse group of people. There are personal story articles, book reviews, political articles, short informative articles, and also scientific articles that non-science people are able to easily understand, at least based on my own non-science savvy experience. I was able to comprehend all of the science so that I could further my interest in scientific matters such as the environmental crisis. This is really encouraging. The section that Dr. Van Houton writes on extinction and the role that humans are playing in the causes of extinction is really good. I thought the biblical references were really well chosen and relatable. They also might serve to get non-science people interested in the article. It is nice to read an article that explains the way humans are destroying parts of the earth that isn't condescending, but, instead, it is informative. I scanned a copy of it to a few of my family members and they were able to understand it/ liked it also. Furthermore, the "Theology Matters" article by David P. Gushee entitled "The Sanctity of (Human? Created?) Life" was really good. I like the way Gushee presents the traditional Christian view of man having a specific role as a species and also the ways that Christians have typically presented their own Biblical interpretations within the realm of ecology. Whether Christians have conservatively or radically tried to use traditional Christian ideology to become good stewards, Gushee says it isn't working. He proposes a solution that seems to be feasible: he wants a "reconsideration" of biblical sources that leads us to the conclusion that "all created life bears a kind of sacredness" but yet allows humans to still hold a special/ leadership role that leads humans to use but not destroy the earth. This seems similar to the utilitarian way of thinking because it still allows humans to use the earth but calls on them to use it responsibly because of humanity's special leadership status, which is something that the utilitarian ethic fails to do at times. I think Berry might be okay with Gushee's idea because it asks for responsible use of land by humans. Gushee doesn't say how to use it responsibly, so the recommendations that Berry makes would likely be welcome. I think that articles like this in "Creation Care" are good because they get people's attention from a theological perspective but could lead them to look into the issues further (where they would likely encounter science). It is sort of like a gateway to get Christians interested in ecology and other types of science. I like the magazine and think it's really well put together. Maybe the sustainability campaign at Emory could make copies available to students more widely than just our class? I think people would really like to read it. 

From 1st Journal--> God of all things

Since I have been at Emory, I have been running daily through Lullwater park. In the midst of a hectic schedule and constant stress, I find that running, especially in parks and around lakes, clears my mind. At the same time, I also find spirituality in nature. I look at my surroundings as I run and reflect on the beauty of creation. Even though I struggle with religion, every time I run I can’t help but think that there must be a God because of the incredible life that we are surrounded by, yet rarely recognize.
On a run I took today, I caught a glimpse of the sunset. To me, there is something deeply spiritual about watching the sun set in the distance. My freshmen year at Oxford, a couple of my friends and I would go every Friday afternoon to Mount Arabia, a rock mountain about half way to Atlanta. We would climb to the top, about a 15 minute hike, and watch the sunset. Mount Arabia, during the spring, is covered with blooming diamorpha, a very rare and, if I’m not mistaken, endangered plant species. Our Friday tradition was something that I cherished when I was at Oxford because it forced us in a way to slow down. In such a fast-paced lifestyle, I find that being in nature creates peace if you take the time to slow down and see the beauty in everything. Interestingly enough, from the top of the mountain we could see Atlanta in the distance and hundreds of planes flying to and from the Atlanta airport. Even on top of a mountain we couldn’t completely get away from the fast-pace of modern life. But instead of focusing on the planes and the buildings in the distance, we would always just watch the sun setting and the colors surrounding it. Often times none of us could say anything- our words became meaningless in such a setting. Although I rarely take the time to journal about my day to day life, I was compelled one Friday afternoon upon getting back from the mountain to write some of my thoughts down. I looked back on what I wrote and immediately all the feelings that I had that Friday came back to me. In the journal, I wrote how I felt God on the mountaintop. I felt him more than I ever had feeling the wind blow against my face and looking out over the trees and sunset. I felt God in the birds that I watched fly carelessly by. I felt God in the colors and in clouds. My feelings, however, were not necessarily referring to the God of the Bible that was in human form and was watching over all of us. The God I felt on the mountaintop that day was simply the divine presence, or energy, in all living things. I felt connected to the birds and the wind and the sky like I had never been before. I was filled with peace and a joy that I cannot describe in words. I ended the journal entry that day by saying, “God is in all things.” In the context of this class, I feel like by destroying nature we are in essence destroying part of ourselves, for we are connected to each living thing. I feel like, by destroying nature, we are destroying God in a way. When Jesus died on the cross, he said, “Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do”. Even though we are fully aware of our impact on this world, I still bow my head and ask God for forgiveness.

The presidential debate and 350.org

Bill McKibben the well known environmental writer, and Christian, recently began 350.org. It's a new website devoted to action and solutions to the climate crisis. You may recognize his name. In 1988, before most scientists even talked about global climate change, Bill wrote The End of Nature the first major book about global warming. After many acclaimed books, influential articles, and courses taught, Bill has now launched 350.org to inculcate a new sense of urgency and action for changing what no politician seems inclined to. This morning, he posted an interview with Ingrid Jackson, the African-American woman who asked McCain and Obama about climate change last night at the presidential debate in Nashville. Both candidates paid lip service to the problem, but Ingrid says neither addressed the urgency of her question. What does 350 mean? Read for yourself and perhaps get involved. It might affect you and those you care about too.