Class Cacellelation Assignment

The information in the article "7 billion people fuel concern over world" has interesting complications.  I believe that such a growth in our population was inevitable from when humans began reproducing.  Once there is more offspring there are more people to continue and make more offspring. In addition the more people the more minds that create technology which expands our life span.   Increasing the life span of a particular group has the consequence that we see today with over population.  The children born are not replacing those who have perished but rather are adding to the number of living.  Although people are born and die each day it is not proportional so instead of having a fairly stationary population which increases at reasonable intervals we have overpopulation.

Regarding the video "Tribal Natural Resources" I found it interesting how much is being done in terms of using our natural resources in a positive way, but it is not exploited as much as other things are.  I believe that these efforts should be widely spread in order to replicate them and make the Earth we live in as it once was, pure.  The “spiritual connection to the land” that is emphasized on the Iowa State University ranch may be hard to relate to in our time and age since we come from a completely different culture and raised in completely different ways.  I believe it is a very good idea to have open enrollment for kids in this setting in order to broaden their minds to the actual potential of nature and to remove any fear they might have of nature.  Although this type of program is not ideal for every child it never hurts to try it out because you never know what a child is thinking.  Feeling secure with nature is a very important step in protecting it.  I loved the idea that everyone owns the ranch all, the kids own the horses not one particular person claims ownership of either the land or the animals reconstructing the  ideas that Native Americas had about the land.  The garden part of the video is also interesting in that their goal is to not only bring the community together but also to increase food supply which is likely healthier than buying something at the grocery store which you don’t know where it came from.

The TED talk titled "How big brands can help save biodiversity" I found extremely interesting.  I feel that he communicated his thoughts efficiently and that the solutions he proposed are very possible.  He provided different options that ranged from their complexity until he introduced one that is completely plausible.  He went on to state how this solution is being implemented and the current and future affects this solution provides. 

Thoreau...
The writings of Thoreau both intrigued me and humored me.  I found it interesting that a lot of the things he viewed as issues in his writing are bigger issues today.  I believe that Thoreau would be very disappointed if he were to see what "modern improvements" have taken place since his time.  His fear of transportation via air is a reality along with other means of transportation and communication.  The definition of nature has changed with the times and it defers depending on whom you ask.  If we were to drop Thoreau in the middle of New York he would have an automatic heart attack, all of the noise and commotion would be overwhelming.  If he stayed alive long enough to learn about the events of 9/11 and how people mourn about this event I believe he would blame those events on the "modern improvements", if it wasn't for airplanes then no one would have been able to hijack an airplane.  As a matter of fact, if it wasn't for architecture then the buildings wouldn't have been so tall and close to the sky.  As he stated in Walden, "A great proportion of architectural ornaments are literally hollow, and a September gale would strip them off...They can do without architecture...".  In addition, in one of his journal entries written on December 30th he tells how he witnessed two axe men chopping down a tree, he expresses how the animals that once used that tree as refuge will look for that tree in vein, and no one around is mourning this tree which once gave a home to animals and beauty to nature, but they mourn buildings (not just the people who's lives were lost that day).  No one even notices that the tree is gone or that it even existed.  To Thoreau the earth, "is a body--has a spirit--is organic--and fluid to the influence of its spirit" and we, "belong to the community".  His belief is that we cannot live alone without the help not only from others, but especially from nature.  If we don't take care of nature, nature will not take care of us.  The simple circle of life is what keeps us alive, but only we can determine how we live it and living it in a world full of things that harm the Earth will ultimately harm us in a deadly cycle.  Although some of Thoreau's thoughts were absurd and created humor I cannot help, but to see the seriousness of the issues that he writes about.  The fact alone that his writings are timeless should open our eyes to what we have done in our quest for easiness for our lazyness.