RESEARCH

Current Research:

Astronomy and Physics:

A Brief History of Time by Stephen W. Hawking

Death by Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson

The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene

The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene

The Pluto Files by Neil deGrasse Tyson

The Privileged Planet by Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards

The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen W. Hawking

Red Moon Rising by Matthew Brzezinski

Richard Feynman Lectures

Trailblazing Mars by Pat Duggins

13 Things That Don’t Make Sense by Michael Brooks

Biology and Medicine:

The Demon Under The Microscope by Thomas Hager

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

The Undead by Dick Teresi

Why Do Men Have Nipples by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg

Zoobiquity by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers

Environment:

Moby Duck by Donovan Hohn

Evolution and Paleontology:

The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins

The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins

Fossils by Cyril Walker and David Ward

Neurology, Psychology, and Behavior:

An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Gifts of the Crow by John Marzluff and Tony Angell

Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond

Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman

The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris

The Portable Atheist by Christopher Hitchens

The Science of Evil by Simon Baron-Cohen

The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell

Podcasts and Media:

American Public Media: www.publicradio.org

Freakonomics: www.freakonomics.com

Intelligence Squared: http://intelligencesquaredus.org/

National Public Radio: www.npr.org

Radiolab: www.radiolab.org

Shrink Wrap: www.shrinkwrapradio.com

Start Talk: www.startalkradio.net

MFA Thesis Research:

According to a recent study conducted by the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the earth is currently experiencing a human-induced extinction. In 2002, biologist Edward O. Wilson approximated that in 100 years, 50% of all species, including vegetation, would become extinct if humans continued on the current path of environmental damage and population expansion.

Entomologist and biologist, Edward O. Wilson was best known for his research of social animals specifically ants. He once said that " Karl Marx was right, Socialism works, it is just that he had the wrong species” (www.encyclopedia.freedicitonary.com). Humans are reproductively independent; they are able to choose their partners and survive in family groups. Humans use society and the environment for the benefit of themselves and their children. As innovative survivalists, people prioritize self-need over community need, and human need over environmental need. It is our survival instinct in combination with media, culture and society that keeps us in a very human centered world (The Third Chimpanzee P. 67-84).

Wilson also wrote a book about human nature, titled Evolutionary Epic. In his book, he discusses the human need to feel a meaningful purpose for life (www.encyclopedia.freedicitonary.com). Religion and spirituality fuel this desire and lead us to believe that there is something greater than ourselves. We are also taught to think of ourselves as separate from the animal kingdom and removed from the environment; that we are better and smarter than animals. With time, people have begun to recognize and understand ecological limits, human responsibility, as well as the intelligence and value of other species.

Governments around the world have attempted to pass laws that protect endangered species, limit pollution, and slow habitat destruction. However, some destructive acts are actually encouraged. For instance, the slaughtering of thousands of whales for “research” or the hunting of dolphins as “pest control”. The Japanese government blames dolphins for the depletion of fisheries. One dolphin sells for $150,000 alive and $2,600 dead. They are sold to trainers and used in amusement parks. They are also sold for food and labeled as whale meat in many Japanese groceries for a higher financial gain. Despite Japan’s efforts to eliminate the dolphin, the fishery population continues to rapidly decrease. If this continues the world’s fish stocks will be completely drained by 2043 (The Cove). Other governments cover up the truth and manipulate the laws to keep a progressive appearance. For example, the grey wolf was recently taken off the endangered species list not because their population has increased or even stabilized, it is because a law was passed to lower the population requirement to 1,600 (www.defenders.org).

Since the industrial revolution, mercury, an extremely toxic element, has been increasing by 1-3% each year and showing up in our seafood. Also, in the past 150 years carbon dioxide in our atmosphere has increased from 280 parts per million, where it has been for thousands of years to 392.40 part per million as of March 2011. Methane is actually a much more dangerously influential greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “two of the most important climate change gases increased last year… researchers measured an additional 16.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) a byproduct of fossil fuel burning and 12.2 million tons of methane in the atmosphere at the end of December 2008. This increase is despite the global economic downturn, with its decrease in a wide range of activities that depend on fossil fuel use” (www.climateprogress.org).

Currently, oil is at a 9% decline rate, which is 8 million barrels per day. Our desperation has led us to undersea mining and offshore drilling. We depend on oil for technology, transportation, medicine, and agriculture. Oil has allowed the human population to reach 6.5 billion. Even if we completely stopped the use of fossil fuels tomorrow, there would still be an environmental retaliation (Collapse). “Antarctic ice cores reveal there’s more CO2 floating around today than at any time in the past 650,000 years. If people cease to exist tomorrow and never send another carbon-bearing molecule skyward, what we’ve already set in motion must still play itself out” (The World With Out Us P. 39). Global warming is inevitable; the tropical and coastal regions could see a doubling of carbon dioxide resulting in the extinction of 56,000 plants and 3,700 animal species. Imagine the effect this will have on the human population (www.encyclopedia.freedicitonary.com).

Normally oceans absorb CO2 and push it down to the seafloor, however the oceans are warming up and absorbing less (Natural Hazards and Disasters P. 270-274). Plastic debris only adds to the problem. In the Pacific Ocean, there is a floating plastic trash accumulation larger than the continental United States. The plastic is being worn down into small particles and poisoning birds and fish. These particles are now starting to wash up on the shores of Hawaii as artificial sand (Discover Magazine).

On land, overgrazing and excessive harvesting are dramatically changing what’s left of undeveloped land. In Middle America land is cleared and used to grow food. At one time, every growing season the crops were rotated to replenish the nutrients in the soil. Modern agriculture calls for petroleum based fertilizers and pesticides without crop rotation. Without human manipulation, nothing would grow in the regions for several years because of how depleted the soil is. This will also cause desertification (Collapse).

Maine, while seemingly beautiful, is undergoing some radical environmental changes. Corporate freshwater mining and non-sustainable tree harvesting has been going on for years. This extracting and deforestation will cause an extreme loss in biodiversity as well as water shortages. Maine is not the only place this is happening, it’s going on all over the United States. Water mining removes the moisture from the ecosystem, dehydrates plant and animal life, and encourages desertification (Tapped). Deforestation leads to soil erosion, climate changes, and ultimately results in desertification, population displacement, and extinction (Natural Hazards and Disasters P. 216 and P. 359).

Extinction is both natural and unnatural, and is caused by drought, competition for food, natural disaster, disease, hunting, pollution, and intentional extermination. Often when one species is eliminated, the surrounding species depending on that plant or animal will also become extinct. This event is known as co extinction. There are no isolated species in our ecosystem; every life form hinges on another. According to the geologic time scale, 99% of all life on earth is extinct, and what is alive now is only 1%. This goes to show the expansion of our planet’s biodiversity and inconceivably long history. Natural extinction occurs on a much smaller scale. Natural disasters are the exception, and can wipe out massive populations. Without relentless human exhausting of natural resources, these populations would have a fighting chance to increase their numbers (www.encyclopedia.freedictionary.com). Humans, being part of the ecosystem, are susceptible to environmental changes. The devastation of extinction is felt by the surviving species. In addition, extinction diminishes biodiversity and erases possibilities of evolution.

One possible resolution is if people limited themselves to eating beef only once a week, we could “reduce C02 emissions by 3,028 pounds and save 207,920 gallons of water… according to New Scientist Magazine, every 2 pounds of beef produces the equivalent of 80 pounds of C02. By eating beef only once per week we would be saving 3027.85 lbs of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere… and saves 207,920 gallons of water each year… 2,500 gallons of water are used to produce one pound of beef… statistics show that America's 300 million people, about 5 percent of the world population, consume 15 percent of the world's meat and a whopping 25% of the world's beef, by growing and slaughtering 10 billion animals per year… the energy, money and trees (cut down to make room for grazing) needed to raise cattle is nothing compared to the annual 75 million tons of methane burped up by the world's 1.3 billion cows...and methane traps 23 times more heat inside the Earth's atmosphere than carbon dioxide. United Nations' scientists conclude that eating animals causes 40 percent more global warming than all planes, cars, trucks, and other forms of transport combined” (www.creativecitizen.com) (Food Inc.).

Works Cited

Text:

Diamond, Jared. The Third Chimpanzee. New York: Harper Collins, 1992.

Weisman, Alan. The World Without Us. New York: St. Martins Press, 2007.

Hyndman, Donald, David Hyndman. Natural Hazards and Disasters. California: Brooks/Cole, 2009.

Kostigen, Thomas M. The World’s Largest Dump: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Discover Magazine July 10, 2008

Internet:

www.noaa.gov

www.creativecitizen.com

www.defenders.org

www.climateprogress.org

www.wikipedia.com