While I've always had an interest in all-things-outdoorsy (except maybe the aspects that involve certain death, i.e. scaling sheer cliffs of ice with no safety gear or having a pool party with piranhas), because of my work at Nature's Classroom this last year, I've become somewhat obsessed. I have become a person who not only watches the BBC series Planet Earth on an almost-daily basis, but who takes notes. Recently, D and I splurged and purchased a few new games - card games with earth science trivia. Whew-whoo! Let me tell you, we were the life of the party on New Year's Eve with that game. I carry around old middle-school environmental science & biology textbooks, since that is the age I work with most. So yes, I've become slightly obsessed. But in my post-college years, the one thing I have missed most is the opportunity to learn something new every day. Yes, I know, these opportunities surround us all the time, but I think it's much harder to recognize them outside of an educational setting. So I'm taking full advantage of my job and shoving as many useful and useless facts about nature into my head as possible. And now I'm sharing them (hold onto your hats there, friends). Here are three facts/stories - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
THE GOOD
Okay, I'm not very good with politics. I think that the whole bill-passing process is slightly outrageous, what with random amendments and such tagged on that have nothing to do with the bill itself. And I'm sure that's what has happened here - however, since that happens with EVERY bill, I'm going to go on the face value of this one and say "YAY!" The Senate is moving forward with legislation to set aside more than 2 million acres across the country as wilderness. (You can read about it here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/12/national/main4714088.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._4714088) The article does mention that there are "pet projects" and such tucked into the bill, but as I said, that's not much different than any other bill passed in the last couple decades. It's just encouraging to see that members of Congress recognize the need to protect some of the very quickly dwindling land and habitats. This is a great example of "stewardship" to me.
THE BAD
I could go on and on about the coal ash disaster in eastern Tennessee, or any number of stories out there describing numerous ways in which our environment is being damaged. But to keep this short, I'm going to stick with a simple fact. Out of all of the animals that God has put on this planet, one of my favorites is the frog. There are over 6,000 species of frogs, all of varying sizes, colors, habitats, behaviors, etc. I just find them incredibly fascinating. Unfortunately, because of their amphibious lifestyle, frogs are more susceptible to pollution and habitat destruction - both of their land habitats, and also of their water habitats. Because of this, over 1/3 of all frog species - that's 2,000 species - are listed as endangered. Some have already disappeared completely. Okay, so they're just silly frogs, right? But regardless of how small or remote they might be, every creature on this planet plays a vital role in its own ecosystem, and all of the ecosystems on earth work together. So the possible destruction of 2,000 species of frogs would effect the lives of humans. First, there's the obvious way - what do frogs eat? Exactly. There are already billions of insects roaming the planet - do we really need billions more unchecked? Really? Also, the loss of one species not only affects its prey, but also its predators, who will either start to die off due to lack of food, or will turn to alternative food options, thereby disrupting another food chain, and creating a cycle that continues on and on and on...
THE UGLY
Earlier this week while driving behind a little red Ford pick-up truck, a McDonald's bag flew out the window. It was about 20 degrees outside, so it clearly just didn't randomly fly out the open window on its own - the driver distinctly made an effort to roll down the window and toss it out onto the road. I was a little shocked, as I've never really seen such blatant littering. Unfortunately, because there were cars behind me and no way to pull off to pick it up, I had to leave it there. About five miles further down the road, the window went down again and out came a box of fries and a drink! I was so mad. D was with me and we tried to think of a possible solution. Even though there's a hefty fine for littering, this guy's actions didn't exactly warrant a call to the police; but we were both too mad to let it go. So, we followed him. Just to see where he was going. Luckily, he was going to the exact same place we were heading - Walmart. We had some errands to run, and apparently so did he. So we waited until he left his truck, and then we left him a little note on his windshield. We debated for a while about all of the awful things we could write, but eventually settled on something relatively calm - "What part of 'Keep West Virginia Beautiful' don't you understand? Love, the Earth." Yep, so this is me, Ms. Passive-Aggressive Activist. But it made me feel a little better, at least.
THE GOOD
Okay, I'm not very good with politics. I think that the whole bill-passing process is slightly outrageous, what with random amendments and such tagged on that have nothing to do with the bill itself. And I'm sure that's what has happened here - however, since that happens with EVERY bill, I'm going to go on the face value of this one and say "YAY!" The Senate is moving forward with legislation to set aside more than 2 million acres across the country as wilderness. (You can read about it here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/12/national/main4714088.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._4714088) The article does mention that there are "pet projects" and such tucked into the bill, but as I said, that's not much different than any other bill passed in the last couple decades. It's just encouraging to see that members of Congress recognize the need to protect some of the very quickly dwindling land and habitats. This is a great example of "stewardship" to me.
THE BAD
I could go on and on about the coal ash disaster in eastern Tennessee, or any number of stories out there describing numerous ways in which our environment is being damaged. But to keep this short, I'm going to stick with a simple fact. Out of all of the animals that God has put on this planet, one of my favorites is the frog. There are over 6,000 species of frogs, all of varying sizes, colors, habitats, behaviors, etc. I just find them incredibly fascinating. Unfortunately, because of their amphibious lifestyle, frogs are more susceptible to pollution and habitat destruction - both of their land habitats, and also of their water habitats. Because of this, over 1/3 of all frog species - that's 2,000 species - are listed as endangered. Some have already disappeared completely. Okay, so they're just silly frogs, right? But regardless of how small or remote they might be, every creature on this planet plays a vital role in its own ecosystem, and all of the ecosystems on earth work together. So the possible destruction of 2,000 species of frogs would effect the lives of humans. First, there's the obvious way - what do frogs eat? Exactly. There are already billions of insects roaming the planet - do we really need billions more unchecked? Really? Also, the loss of one species not only affects its prey, but also its predators, who will either start to die off due to lack of food, or will turn to alternative food options, thereby disrupting another food chain, and creating a cycle that continues on and on and on...
THE UGLY
Earlier this week while driving behind a little red Ford pick-up truck, a McDonald's bag flew out the window. It was about 20 degrees outside, so it clearly just didn't randomly fly out the open window on its own - the driver distinctly made an effort to roll down the window and toss it out onto the road. I was a little shocked, as I've never really seen such blatant littering. Unfortunately, because there were cars behind me and no way to pull off to pick it up, I had to leave it there. About five miles further down the road, the window went down again and out came a box of fries and a drink! I was so mad. D was with me and we tried to think of a possible solution. Even though there's a hefty fine for littering, this guy's actions didn't exactly warrant a call to the police; but we were both too mad to let it go. So, we followed him. Just to see where he was going. Luckily, he was going to the exact same place we were heading - Walmart. We had some errands to run, and apparently so did he. So we waited until he left his truck, and then we left him a little note on his windshield. We debated for a while about all of the awful things we could write, but eventually settled on something relatively calm - "What part of 'Keep West Virginia Beautiful' don't you understand? Love, the Earth." Yep, so this is me, Ms. Passive-Aggressive Activist. But it made me feel a little better, at least.
