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User:EmSkib/sandbox

=Key Readings=

Component I: Overview of the Sonoran Desert
Many people are misguided in their perceptions of the natural world, or have no regard for it at all. It has become increasingly apparent that many are ignorant to their impact on the environment. Every day humans consume and produce waste at an alarmingly high rate. Without an understanding and willingness to improve the way we think about consumption, waste, and the environment, our beloved biomes and communities are sure to deteriorate completely. /Emily

Component II: Developing a Sense of Place
It is easy to write off the diminishing of plants and animals or the multiplication of pests as feats of the evolutionary process; however, there is an explanation to this phenomenon. The fascination humans have with curing something sick, especially the land, has counterproductive consequences. Our efforts to fix nature is indicative of our misunderstanding of the interconnectedness and reliance one thing in nature has on another. Ultimately, we lack an understanding of why pests multiply or why plants and animals diminish and we must look past what appear to be obvious explanations and look deeper. To create a land that is healthy, we must focus less on doctoring certain areas of the land and look to how we can encourage land health—long term solutions not temporary fixes. /Emily

Component III: Geology/Geography
If the geologic history of the Sonoran Desert did not occur the way it did, we might not have the settlement patterns we do today. Changing one part of geological history has effects on other aspects such as species survival and settlement patterns. /Emily

Component IV: Water (Gregory McNamee and the Gila River)
Despite cultural, societal, and environmental differences, the ancient human experience tells a story that is clear and leaves modern humans with much to think about in terms of our connection to each other and in maintaining a connection to the environment, a closeness and respect for the land, to survive the whims of nature. /Emily

Component IV: Water (McNamee & the Gila cont.)
Most human intervention into nature does not work or help in the way we think it does; in fact, we do more harm than good most of the time. Unless we figure out how to stop intervening where it is not necessary, our wrong actions will lead to the extinction of environments and ourselves. /Emily

Component IV: Water (Sevigny and the Rights of Rivers)
The movement toward local water and community focused living is the way Sevigny proposes we may be able to sustain the water we have. We have industrialized so much that there will come a point when it is too much to sustain (as history has proven time and time again). We have been trying to thrive on the false idea of “new” water when these policies have made the environmental situation worse. The more people who unsubscribe from the lifestyle we are currently living, the more we can change our mindsets and (hopefully) the environment for the better. /Emily

Component V: Human Ecology of the Sonoran Desert
Through continual domination and ownership humans have proved that it is an integral part of our existence and survival; however, it is not really necessary, we have just made it so. There are ways to survive, while maintaining and cultivating a relationship with what we find beautiful, specifically in nature. We know there are ways to survive without this domination and ownership because humans of centuries past were successful at it. Our over-eagerness and abundance of technologies to broaden our survival to areas we could not survive otherwise has resulted in a larger population, in turn, weakening our ability to sustain ourselves in the long run. If we lived as the humans of the past did, with little material possessions, smaller communities, and respect for nature, we might be better off than we are now. /Emily

Component V: Conservation Practices
It is surprising to learn that there is “no place left on Earth that the activities of humans fail to touch, in one way or another.” I would have never thought this statement to be true, but the more I think about it, the more I see why it is true. Honestly, it is a disappointing truth because while we are small and insignificant in comparison to the universe, we have such a large impact on our only source of life. So far, there is no other place we know of where it would be possible for humans to live, yet we continue to disrespect the Earth to serve our superficial needs. The most important thing we need to learn in regard to conservation is not restoration or preservation because there is nothing untouched to be preserved or restored. Rather, it is imperative that our solutions to this global problem “assure a healthy landscape that maintains biological diversity and functioning ecosystems.” Our current efforts to restore and preserve are often counterproductive and there are healthier, more efficient ways to help our planet. /Emily

Component IV: Water, redux (Salton Sea/Colorado River articles)
While the Salton Sea has been dangerous for many years, not much has been done about this environmental problem. The ball was going to get rolling in 2020; however, we had to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic instead of environmental issues. This is just one more thing COVID-19 has taken from us. Growing global population and climate change are two issues that exist and will only cause more problems in the future; if we recognize this, we must recognize that we must stop simply planning and debating what to do, we have to actually do. Over the last twenty years, the problems with the Salton Sea have been vaguely planned; however, no major progress has been made towards solving the problem. /Emily

Component VI: History & Culture (from McNamee's "Desert Reader")
There is definitely a major difference in how Native Americans viewed the land in which they lived versus how Europeans viewed that same land when they initially colonized it and not much has changed in how modern Western Civilization views the land either. It is evident from our readings and discussions that Native Americans have a reverence for their land and although they used it to survive (because no living person or thing could survive without using the land), they respected it and did not really take more than they needed and they had patience when they did not have what they needed, hoping that a higher power would provide it for them. /Emily

=Local Luminaries=

Jan. 28, 2021: Professor Brad Pease on the photography of the Baja Peninsula
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Feb. 2, 2021: Professor Emerita Nancy Meister on Environmental Day at the capitol
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Mar. 2, 2021: Dr. Joel Diamond on Bats and Conservation Issues of the Sonoran Desert
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Mar. 11, 2021: Professor Monica Ketchum on the Columbian Exchange in the Sonoran Desert
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Mar. 18, 2021: Cary Meister on Water Issues in Arizona
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Mar. 23, 2021: Dr. Ellen Riek on "Sense of Place" in education
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Apr. 8, 2021: Cary Meister on Water Issues in Arizona (pt. 2)
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Apr. 13, 2021: Gregory McNamee on The Gila: The History of a Southwestern River
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Apr. 22, 2021: Morgan Moore of Audubon SW
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Additional Thoughts
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title: User:EmSkib/sandbox


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Cookbook:Mint Tea

There are two ways to make this awesome mint infusion. You can either use dried up mint leaves or fresh mint leaves.

Ingredients

 * Dried or fresh mint leaves
 * Water

Equipment

 * Kettle
 * Teapot

Procedure

 * 1) Boil the water in a kettle.
 * 2) Pour the boiling water into the teapot.
 * 3) Put the mint leaves in the teapot. Let steep for several minutes.
 * 4) Pour some hot tea in a cup and dilute with additional water. Even if it starts to look transparent, the taste is still there.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Cookbook:Mint Tea


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User:SSalvadorV/sandbox

HON-280-001 Discussions
Wikitext Basics & First Entry

Component I: Overview of the Sonoran
I don’t really know much about myths or legends but I do know that many of them are either to try and teach a lesson or explain something that people do not understand. The connection I see with this legend is that it tries to explain the changes that the region underwent as well as why there is the plant life that there is. While I cannot say what specific connections it may have with other myths, it is similar to others that it tries to explain something.

What makes the word “desert” when talking about the Sonoran bioregion destructive and misleading is the fact that when people think about a desert, they think of an arid, empty land with no life. This cannot be further from the truth. Apparently according to National Geographic, this only describes about 10% of the total deserts in the world. When people have this idea that the desert is uninhabited, they probably think that there is not much harm done by taking water from the rivers. And they also don’t think of the huge wildlife they are harming by taking this water. This lack of awareness makes people less likely to fight against movements that only make the situation worse.

Component II: Developing a Sense of Place
I think that the change in our mindset that people need in order for projects like these to take place is to give wilderness areas more importance. I think the reason why so many people do not give importance to these projects is because they are at such a disconnect from them. Many do not even know the challenges these wild areas are facing, myself included. People need to think more about nature and the role that they play when it comes to preserving it. More importantly, they have to realize that nature is a part of them, and that without it, we would not be able to survive.

I think that in practicality, most of his solutions are actually plausible as well as not extremely difficult to achieve. Many of these solutions just involve taking more precautions as well as being more environment friendly. Unfortunately, this also means lowering the production levels of businesses that deal with this stuff, which would be extremely difficult to convince them to do. So while it would be possible, it would require a lot of convincing companies to trade money loss for the environment.

Component III: Geology/Geography
This story about the biological community of the Sonoran desert flips almost everything I thought about the Sonoran desert upside down. In my mind I had always pictured the desert as just that, an inhospitable land where only species that have adapted to live there can survive. ''It feels pretty weird to think that this same place was once a densely wooded forest. But I guess it makes a lot of sense considering that it is also full of fertile soil.''

This does change my sense of time about the desert since apparently since millions of years ago, the desert we speak of was once a forest. And there were multiple times that it transitioned from a thriving forest, to a lifeless tundra, to an arid desert, and back to a forest. It is not very frequently that I stop to think that the world we currently live in was wildly different millions of years ago. It is also very weird to think that the current community living in the Sonoran Desert was reformed recently, a few thousand years ago.

Component IV: Water
Many portions of this reading can be connected to our previous readings. One example would be when the author is talking about the formations of the “desert” and how many of the rivers and mountains were relatively recent in geological terms. Even as far as calling them infants. It also touches on the subject of rainfall and the rivers, and how people are slowly deteriorating the integrity of such important rivers. With time people are stopping the flow of the river which not only affects the life of the region but also the people that live within. By using both information as well as a descriptive narrative, McNamee is able to help the reader imagine the scenario more than if they just talked about it’s history. This is something that I personally struggled with a lot when reading the scientific articles. Even when it explained how the area looked and how it changed with time, it was difficult for me to actually imagine such changes. It also makes the article more easy to read and makes it feel more grounded. When we can actually see what is happening in front of us, even if it is just in our imagination, we can actually think how the changes have impacted the region.

Component V: Human Ecology of the Sonoran Desert
While I do not wish to say that it is part of human nature, it is definitely prevalent in our history. Humans always find a way to capture or seek control over what they love the most. I think that not only will it be possible but we're going to be forced to suppress that impulse when our survival depends on it. '''Of course this will be only when the problems are apparent enough for everyone to recognize it is a problem. If it were so easy, we would have already suppressed this “Instinct” since our survival already depends on it.'''

''One direct approach that mining had on the plants and animals of the population is the transformation of the land. In order to extract the minerals from the earth, large amounts of land had to be excavated and moved from its place.'' This only became worse as the need of minerals for industrial use increased as well as technological advances that made digging large areas faster and easier. An indirect effect mining had was the large amount of people that it  brought to the region. '''People came to make a fortune digging precious metals and with more people came more settlements and need for food and resources. This caused stock farms to grow bigger and land was taken from the wildlife for cattle and agriculture.'''

Component VI: History & Culture
What makes the Salton Sea different this time around is that from 1905 to 1907, when the current water filled the Salton Sea, an engineering mistake caused it to fill with agricultural runoff. This caused the river to fill with all types of pesticides making the water and land it sits on poisonous. The reason people do not want it to dry is because the more the water dries, the more loose sand full of dangerous chemicals can drift into the wind which has harmful effects on the people that live nearby.

The ways that the pandemic has affected the Salton Sea is by not only lowering the funding to fix the problem, but also lowering awareness of this issue in the legislature. Emergency response in California and combined with the impact that the pandemic had on our economy, the legislature was more inclined on dealing with the current problem and leaving environmental issues such as the Salton Sea for later. This also means that less people in the legislature talk about such issues so not only does it lack money but also less people talk about it.

title: User:SSalvadorV/sandbox


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Women's Writing Before Woolf: A Social Reference/Margaret Tyndal Winthrop (c.1591–1647)

= Margaret Tyndal Winthrop (1591-1647) = Margaret Tyndal Winthrop (1591-1647) was one of the founding members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and a seventeenth-century Puritan who gained prominence for her enduring love-letters between herself and her husband, John Winthrop.

Biography
Born Margaret Tyndal in Great Maplestead, Essex County, to Sir John Tyndal and Lady Anne Egerton Tyndal. She became John Winthrop’s third wife in 1618. Her exact year of birth is not known, but is estimated based on her husband's presumption that she was 56 when she died. Little is known about her early life, or indeed her physical description, except through her husband's writing: John described her as “a very gracious woman” of “sweet face” and “lovely countenance” surrounded by “sweet and smiling” children.

Sources note that Margaret's father was murdered in 1617. John Winthrop visited the Tyndal home to pay his respects to the family, where he and Margaret may have first met. After her marriage, Margaret moved to Groton Manor in Suffolk County. Her new husband John Winthrop was an attorney from a family of wealthy merchant standing, and he was an advocate for creating a Puritan colony in New England. He led the first wave of colonists to New England and became the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Margaret and John had eight children together, of which only four survived past childhood: Stephen, Adam, Deane and Samuel.

John sailed to New England in 1630; Margaret joined him in 1631. John was elected governor of the Massachusetts colony of Boston twelve times in total, making Margaret its First Lady. In 1647, a sickness broke out in the Boston colony, reportedly among the Native American population, but it quickly spread to the settlers. Margaret was among the forty settlers who died; she came down sick on June 13, and died the next morning.

Works
Both Margaret and John shared Puritanical attitudes to hard work and intense religious devotion, and upheld these values in both their work and writing. While John worked as a London attorney and Margaret managed Groton Manor, they were often separated, and began writing to each other during this time. When John sought to sail to New England with the first wave of colonists in March 1630, Margaret was pregnant and remained behind to give birth to their daughter Anne and settle the family estate; they were separated for two years before Margaret could join him in November 1631. Margaret and John's frequent correspondence focused on religion and their love of God above any other kind of love, including marital love.

Throughout their letters to each other there is an emphasis on family and sadness at the death of their children. During John's trip to New England, one of their children Henry had attempted to retrieve a canoe and drowned. “Winthrop poured all of this emotion into the letters he wrote home. In the letters, he revealed his sadness, his hope for the new colony, and his desire to see Margaret again.” The daughter Margaret had remained in England to give birth to, Anne, died during Margaret and Anne's own voyage to the New World.

The bulk of their surviving correspondence was from the time when Margaret had not yet joined John in the colony, with Margaret’s letters being very rarely dated. The letters appeared in published form for the first time in 1825, when twenty-seven of them were in the appendix of Governor Winthrop’s Journal, then later in their entirety in the Honourable Robert C. Winthrop’s Life and Letters of John Winthrop.

Margaret's own letters from the time of her courtship and early marriage, through to the colonies, tend to contain mundane domestic details such as errands, sicknesses, and family greetings. But "above all, these are love letters", containing such personal adorations as follows:

 * "My good husband, your love to me doth daily give me cause of comfort, and doth much increase my love to you, for love liveth by love."
 * "I were worse than a brute beast if I should not love and be faithful to thee who hath deserved so well at my hands."
 * "What can be more pleasing to a wife, than to hear of the welfare of her best beloved, and how he is pleased with her poor endeavors. I blush to hear myself commended, knowing my own wants; but it is your love that conceives the best and makes all things seem better than they are."
 * "I wish that I may be always pleasing to thee, and that those comforts we have in each other may be daily increased as far as they be pleasing to God. I will use that speech to thee that Abigail did to David: I will be a servant to wash the feet of my Lord; I will do any service wherein I may please my good husband."

As Margaret and John had little reason to travel outside Boston, they lived more closely together during this period than any other in their married life, and so letters were often unnecessary. Margaret wrote to her husband only rarely, but more often to her surviving children or step-children.

Reputation/Legacy
Margaret Tyndal Winthrop was the first lady of the colony for sixteen years and was integral to the foundation of the Massachusetts Colony. She was also rumoured to have been friends with Anne Bradstreet, the North American poet, as Bradstreet was also part of the Winthrop fleet of Puritan emigrants, and the two families shared well-water.

Her legacy as a good and Godly woman is made plain in the inscription to the published collection of the letters, where it is written of her:

This volume is inscribed,

In memory of the name she is privileged to bear, which will ever be

associated with all that constitutes the grace of

CHRISTIAN WOMANHOOD

In his introduction to the same collection of the Winthrop’s love letters published in 1893, editor Joseph Hopkins Twichell refers to the letters as "simply a correspondence of domesticity and affection in the atmosphere of religion of the Puritan age."

Although the Winthrop’s surviving children went on to have purposeful and fulfilling lives, Margaret was deeply affected in her lifetime by the death of her four children. She herself died aged fifty-six in Boston in 1647.


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Digital Signal Processing/Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) Algorithm

The Fourier Transform (FFT) is an algorithm used to calculate a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) using a smaller number of multiplications.

= Cooley–Tukey algorithm =

The Cooley–Tukey algorithm is the most common fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm. It breaks down a larger DFT into smaller DFTs. The best known use of the Cooley–Tukey algorithm is to divide a N point transform into two N/2 point transforms, and is therefore limited to power-of-two sizes.

The algorithm can be implemented in two different ways, using the so-called:
 * Decimation In Time (DIT)
 * Decimation In Frequency (DIF)

Circuit diagram
The following picture represents a 16-point DIF FFT circuit diagram:

In the picture, the coefficients are given by:

 * $$W^k = e^{-j \cdot k/N \cdot 2\pi}$$

where N is the number of points of the FFT. They are evenly spaced on the lower half of the unit circle and $$W^0 = 1$$.

Test script
The following python script allows to test the algorithm illustrated above:

It has a special parameter,, which allows to determine the calculation results for a circuit using only integer numbers.


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Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...Nf6/2. c4/2...g6/3. Nc3/3...Bg7/4. e4/4...d6/5. Nf3/5...O-O/6. Be2

The main line of the King's Indian Defense. The main line continues 6...e5, attacking the center. White usually castles kingside, and the main line continues 7...Nc6 8. d5 Ne7. White has a space advantage in the center and will try to attack on the queenside and prepare a pawn break, c5. Black will attack on the kingside, by advancing his pawns to f4 and g5, preparing the g4 pawn break.


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Professionalism/Dr Daniel Merenstein, Medical Screening, and Professional Discretion

Biography
Dr. Daniel Merenstein is a tenured professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine who studies antibiotics, probiotics, and HIV. He is also the director of research in family medicine and has worked on grants totaling over $100 million. He has published over 100 articles and has been cited over 7000 times since 2008. However, in 2003, near the beginning of his career, Dr. Merenstein was sued for medical malpractice for failing to order a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test for a former patient.

Background on Prostate Cancer Screening
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States and seldom produces symptoms until it is incurable. Due to the nature of this disease, there is a need for accurate diagnostic tests for prostate cancer. PSA testing was developed and became widely employed as a diagnostic method starting in the 1990s, and throughout the 1990s to the 2000s, it was estimated that PSA testing reduced the prostate cancer mortality rate by greater than 53%.

However, PSA testing has drawbacks as well, as elevated PSA levels can be caused by other conditions besides prostate cancer. PSA screening is also unable to distinguish between low-risk, indolent tumors and more high-risk, aggressive ones. As a result, widespread PSA testing has led to concerns about over-diagnosis and over-treatment of prostate cancers that can lead to side effects like incontinence and impotence. In response to these concerns, the US Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended against PSA testing in the early 2010s and PSA testing declined by 25-30% during this time period. However, in 2017, the USPSTF backtracked on its earlier recommendation, instead advising that clinicians inform men 55-69 years old about the potential benefits and harms of PSA screening and that shared decision making should be employed. ,

Evidence-Based Medicine versus Standard of Care
Two concepts that are at odds in Dr. Merenstein's malpractice suit are evidence-based medicine (EBM) and standard of care. EBM is a medical concept and is defined as "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence, combined with individual clinical expertise and patient preferences and values, in making decisions about the care of individual patients." Standard of care is a legal concept, and is defined as "that which a minimally competent physician in the same field would do under similar circumstances."

The Malpractice Suit
In July 1999, Dr. Merenstein, then a resident in Family Practice, saw the plaintiff, a healthy 53 year old male, for a physical exam. Dr. Merenstein discussed the risks and benefits of prostate cancer screening with the plaintiff and together they decided to not undergo testing. A few years later, the plaintiff saw a different doctor who ordered PSA testing without discussion of risks and benefits. The plaintiff's PSA level was elevated and he was diagnosed with incurable advanced prostate cancer.

In 2003, the plaintiff sued Dr. Merenstein, alleging that he "did not practice the standard of care in the Commonwealth of Virginia." In response, Dr. Merenstein wrote that "one may have argued that we were practicing above the standard of care, but there is no legal precedent for such an argument."

Ultimately, Dr. Merenstein was exonerated but his residency was found liable for $1 million. In this specific case, the idea that physicians should practice the standard of care was upheld, even if it conflicts with "evidence-based medicine."

Professional Discretion
Discretion is defined as the power of free decision or latitude of choice within certain bounds. Professional discretion is when discretion is applied in a professional capacity.

Principles of Medical Ethics
Decision making in medicine can be guided by the four principles, described below, that were first outlined by Beauchamp and Childress in 1979. These principles are one of the factors that doctors have to take into account when exercising professional discretion.

Autonomy
Ultimately, treatment decisions are made by the patient

Beneficence
Physicians have a duty to provide the best care for their patients.

Non-maleficence
Physicians are obligated not to harm their patients.

Justice
Medical decisions must be made fairly. An illustrative example is a list of patients that need a scarce resource, a set of lungs for transplantation. How should these people be prioritized in the list? Moral conventions, legality, and personal rights are a few points that must be carefully considered to reach a justifiable policy in high stakes decisions.

Evidence Based Medicine (EBM)
Evidence is gathered from research and eventually forms the basis of clinical practice guidelines (CPG), which are frequently used when establishing standard of care in legal cases. Developing a CPG can take years. Physicians are compelled to give patients the best care, but this is constantly evolving. When is evidence sufficient to recommend a course of treatment that diverges from guidelines? This is a grey area left to the discretion of clinical professionals. Ethical principles like beneficence and non-maleficence must be a factor in these decisions.

EBM is based on the supposition that the evidence is produced from reliable research. However, many medical schools are focusing on teaching students how to incorporate evidence into their practice rather than appraising soundness of evidence. Als-Nielsen et al. (2008) found that “conclusions in trials funded by for-profit organizations may be more positive due to biased interpretation of trial results.” A study by the ESHRE Capri Workshop Group posits “It has been estimated that 85% of all research funding is actually wasted, due to inappropriate research questions, faulty study design, flawed execution, irrelevant endpoints, poor reporting and/or non-publication.” It also concluded that “much of the published medical research is apparently flawed, cannot be replicated and/or has limited or no utility.” The clinical professional must decide on what evidence they will base their practice.

Defensive Medicine
Physicians can practice in a manner that is legally safer by reducing the involvement of the patient in their care and ordering potentially unnecessary tests and referrals. This choice implies reduced patient autonomy. Defensive medicine has been estimated to add $45 billion (in 2008 dollars) to the cost of healthcare. After Dr. Merenstein's lawsuit, PSA screening increased. These cases influence decisions that clinical professionals make when providing care to patients.

Other Professionals
Other professionals had to make ethical choices related to Dr. Merenstein. For example, Dr. Merenstein's insurance adjuster, Bill Rigsbee, encouraged him to settle in court. Rigsbee told Dr. Merenstein that the settlement would not affect any future insurance coverage, so Dr. Merenstein settled and the case was dismissed. But, what Rigsbee said was wrong, and Dr. Merenstein had trouble practicing medicine afterward because nobody wanted to insure him. While what Rigsbee did was probably beneficial for the insurance company - settling a lawsuit that could get larger if Dr. Merenstein was found guilty - it was dishonest to claim that settlement would have no adverse effects.

The legal professionals also faced ethical gray areas. When Dr. Merenstein sued his insurance company, a lower court dismissed his fraud claim on the grounds that Rigsbee's assurances were just his opinion. While they may not have been legally binding statements, they still greatly impacted Dr. Merenstein, and the dismissal was later reversed after Dr. Merenstein appealed. In the original malpractice case, the plaintiff's lawyer successfully fulfilled his professional duty to argue for his client. However, according to Dr. Merenstein, he "had the recommendations from every nationally recognized group supporting [his] approach and the literature is clear that screening for prostate cancer is controversial, [but] the plaintiff’s attorney argued otherwise." Lawyers have to walk a fine line between arguing for a client and arguing against experts or cherry-picking information to fit their case. Dr. Merenstein pointed out that what he was doing was in accordance with newer guidelines and "above the standard of care," but the plaintiff's lawyer brought in doctors who were still following the older methodology - ordering tests without consulting with patients. Whether or not new medical guidelines should be followed is certainly something that should be discussed, but it should be discussed among practicing doctors and researchers and not by lawyers in a courtroom.

Aftermath
Shortly after his trial, Dr. Merenstein reflected that because of the courtroom attack on evidence-based medicine and shared decision making, he was unsure whether or not he wanted to continue practicing medicine. However, his recent articles mention such things as the need for "clear, evidence based communication to consumers" and whether or not doctors' recommendations are "concordant with contemporaneous and current... guidelines." In a 2019 interview, he highlighted that he tries to "teach students importance of critically examining what is often taken for granted and to look for ways to improve our knowledge base." While Dr. Merenstein has remained committed to his original values, he also critically examines evidence in order to help doctors and patients make the best decisions.


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User:Jesus LunaR/sandbox

Discussion board phrases:

-Overview of the Sonoran Desert

The readings promote an ideology of place since often humans tend to observe themselves as independent beings from nature, the reading attempt to illustrate that there exist other lives on earth that directly or indirectly interact with us and that even the smallest actions have a large impact. It attempts to make us become a part of nature, and specifically in this case be a part of the Sonoran Desert and accepting it as a defining trait of our identity as this could lead to a big impact on the care we put in our ecosystems and to reflect on the steps humanity is taking towards the depletion of natural resources.

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. (2015). A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert (Second Edition). Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Press.

-Developing a Sense of Place

There are two things that humans are ignorant of and as a result, rare patterns in wildlife are displayed: the first one is that there exist unexpected chains of dependency in nature that have wide prevalence, and secondly, the actions to help the wildlife are often superficial and as a result, its effects do not create the original harmony of the species and biomes that was normal before the beginning of the anthropogenic mass extinction.

-Geology and Geography

More than changing my sense of time it makes me aware of the many factors that influence the evolution of the Sonoran Desert, the fluctuations in the weather, the volcanic activity and the rise of the mountains, the glacial melting, the spread of the fault of San Andreas, so many intricate factors that have come to create a different view from the Paleocene epoch. It makes me scared that millions of years of adaptation, and change will come to an end due to the hedonic and egotistical sense of our species.

-Water I

Desert is synonymous with depletion, abandonment, emptiness which leads ironically to the depletion of that biome, it doesn't recognize its richness, its story, and the cultural value it has. Can you destroy what is already unexistent? This is an important idea since it's often a rationale used by many corporations to justify their industrial and agricultural expansion and be oblivious to the consequences, this is something that can easily be refuted by explaining the intricate biological community and its many geological factors.

-Water II

The origin of most things is found in nature, our curiosity as a species worked as an instrument to interpret the intricate interactions on the environment and this gave place to new ideas, many western civilizations had a close relationship with nature and it helped them establish what we call now a society while also placing the foundation for many of our beliefs and ideals.

-Water III

Sustainability refers to a balance between two elements, the way in which she questions emphasizes the idea that balance is not enough it should be given even more room for nature to expand and grow, to have the opportunity to adapt, and to give nature the fundamental rights of any human, as its integrity should be respected, it should develop, and prevail overtime not being sublimated. The current societal standards propose an ideology in which nature is our slave, not an invaluable component of the existence of any species.

-Human Ecology of the Sonoran Desert

I would restructure the phrase to "Man always kills the things humanity said to love" First, love to nature is substantially different from love to a person as it is often impossible for most people to give this deep, understanding, and complex appreciation to something that does not have sentience. Humanity is an animal species, it doesn't matter how much people dislike the term it is a fact. What makes us different from other animals? It is clearly our advanced rationale, however, this possesses a dichotomy, do we respond by instinct or by thought? I would say that when talking about nature our first response is the systematic decomposition of our environment to find what has utility, an expression of curiosity, and rationale as a species this defines what "humanity said to love". Then it becomes our task to subjugate and exploit nature, as an attempt to become the dominant element in the environment, we continue to push our surroundings to their limits as if we were slowly pushing a knife against the person we love till it becomes lifeless and many questions arise as it is obvious we have killed it but we refuse to let it go. We slowly killed our world by instinct and rationale, and at that point, we became conscious and attempted to refrain from such primitive impulses it was practically impossible to stop everyone from doing it.

-Conservation Practices

I think it represents that there is a story left to be written and that in the near future there will be a new chapter in which there will be one of the following titles either "The destruction of Quitobaquito Spring" or "The new hope of the Sonoran Desert" it is left to us to choose by our actions which title do we want, history is in our hands.

-Water, Redux

It is a symbol of our arrogance, and of our bland human desires such as greed. Humans often have a need for some sense of power, as species, we have learned that power cannot be exerted over our own as it is immoral, so we decided to exert it over nature, an ambivalent point in which many people differ in opinions however nature cannot speak to the ears of the ignorant, and that's why we keep harming it, we ignore the systematic destruction of the habitats, of wildlife, of everything that was so beautiful and complex just to satisfy our unending wants.

-History & Culture

...a reflection on the land of perfect ideals that allow for the union between humanity and nature, and that, as a result, allows for the appreciation of nature to extend to appreciating life and therefore every person is seen as having equal value this in term reduces many of the problems present on modern civilizations such as discrimination, she believed that regaining the gift of appreciation we would achieve a change from self-centered attitudes to being just a small part of nature that must be together to allow for the greater good to prevail.

Journals:

-Brad Pease

One way in which I was fascinated is his process to decide which areas to explore, he mentioned that he focuses on different places every year mainly the ones that are deserted and represent his intrepid spirit, in addition to that the way in which he captures the world with his images reflects humanity leaving behind nature. Nature becomes just an object left aside the memory which resides in it lost its value in the eyes of an ignorant world that focuses on an illusionary and superficial level of progress...

-Nancy Meister

Environmental Day not just what happens on that day, but what that day represents. Did something special happen on that day? Did a largely recognized historical event took place? Why is that day specifically Environmental Day? The incredible thing is that on that day nothing significant occurred, and I think that makes it so special, you might wonder, why? And it is because that means that people united, and are trying to find ways to protect, and preserve nature they are so passionate about it that they created a day in which to advocate for legislation on environmental issues, standards, and so much more. What makes that day special is that is a day in which everyone accepts that we are not a citizen of our country, but a citizen of this world and I am excited to be a part of that.

-Dr. Joel Diamond

I would say the moment in which my curiosity arose was when he talked about the misconception that bats don’t have sight when they in fact do, and after some research, I actually found that two subdivisions of bats that rely on vision for social interactions, and predator detection are megabats which are fruit bats, and microbats which are smaller species that eat insects...this presentation showed the power of curiosity, and how much it could affect our perception of the world if an hour increased so much my awareness of a species, I did not know practically anything then I can only imagine what fomenting such a basic characteristic of humanity can do, it would most likely lead to the flourishing of an environmentally aware world.

-Monica Ketchum

whether or not is there a similar notion about wilderness in actuality, is there some kind of modern myth of pristine wilderness related to the state of the environment? And if so, why? I thought about this as she gave the presentation, and the basis of them was that a large group of people not only in the United States but in the whole world not believes in climate change, even though the evidence pointing at it states that is a fact.

-Cary Meister

I wonder if we have reached our potential as a species, as I look at the facts it just becomes more apparent that we might have been the biggest mistake of nature. That idea is quite existential; however, I want to believe that the best is yet to come, and we will reach our true potential when becoming one with nature.

-Personal Entry

Throughout this entire semester, we have evaluated the relevance of a sense of place in the formation of us as people, however, we ignore that maybe other species of not just animals but also plants have this conception of identity, of having a sense of place where they reside and that this forms in part who they are. They won’t have a complex ideological system regarding their identity as a human would do, but it is not our duty to underestimate the capacity of others it is to protect them and these ideas they can form independently of how primitive they are.

-Dr. Ellen Riek

The reason why I believe this was so important is that it perfectly showed us who we are and how those places we have visited, those in which we grew, and those to which we desire to go form a large portion of who we are, our aspirations and purposes. It makes us conscious that some of the things that make us unique or even allow other people to identify us are a result of the prolonged interaction with those places, and that is what we often call a sense of place. Which is a simple yet beautiful definition.

-Cary Meister

In terms described by Immanuel Kant humans are the subject of unsocial sociability. This refers to our propensity to enter a society that is threatened by our mutual desire to act only taking as a reference our needs. By accepting to enter a society it is the acceptance that other beings have the same types of needs you have, and therefore interdependence is accepted as a result. In a case like the one shown by Cary Meister on the different conflicts that have arisen as the fight for essential resources and scarcity is made larger it is shown how individuals representing their respective states are unable to give even the slightest control of water to others even if they need it the most. It is a conflict of power, not of necessity at this point. This is something that threatens us as a society. The fact that at the same time we recognize and have a need to cooperate, our desire personal interest must prevail above everyone else’s which destroys the entire purpose of living as a society.

-Gregory McNamee

We desire to take some kind of evolutive revenge on nature. It seems like an irrational idea, right? Well, because it is. It is an irrational idea for beings that most of the time are more irrational than they are rational. This desire to dominate nature because we once feared it, when it was something divine that was entitled to our allegiance and our prayers. By our actions it can be inferred that we want to say that we are not scared anymore, we are now the ones that deserve the allegiance of nature, and everything it offers, we are entitled to it. Humanity has what could be considered a “God complex.” As a species, we have lost the basic ideal of our sense of place. We are forgetting that those places we destroy, subjugate, and disappear are a large part of our identity they contain our history, the memory of millions, many socio-cultural practices, everything will be lost because we are destroying ourselves, humanity and nature are two inseparable entities. The moment when the last tree falls, we will no longer be humans. This is the reason I firmly believe we must do something to change, because it is our duty to preserve nature and when doing it preserve ourselves.

-Morgan Moore

Something else that this presentation reiterated to me is how connected everything is. Since I have always tried to create conscience in the people around me and even those I don’t completely know about the struggles and treatment for psychological disorders. I have been diagnosed with clinical anxiety, and to some extent, I know how hard it is to recover, to become functional once again after everything you suffer, and something that helped me was reconnecting with nature. People should know about how creating a stronger bond with the environment is something almost magical that can allow you to relax, to slowly breathe as you find something in which to redirect your energy and thoughts.

title: User:Jesus LunaR/sandbox


text:
User:Rochafab/sandbox

Japanese Canadian Resources: an Annotated Bibliography [under development]
This is an annotated bibliography that will continue to grow with the help and expertise of the Japanese Canadian researchers community. Please feel free to enter annotations of works you are familiar with references to relevant sources.

Annotations
Ayukawa, Michiko Midge. Hiroshima Immigrants in Canada, 1891-1941. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2008.

 * Here we put the annotation for Ayukawa's book

Blakey, Lillian Michiko, and Bryce Kanbara. On Being Michiko : a Sansei Artist’s Journey. S.l: [s.n.], 2012.

 * Here we put the annotation for Lillian Michiko Blakey's book

Fujiwara, Aya. Ethnic Elites and Canadian Identity : Japanese, Ukrainians, and Scots, 1919-1971. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2012.

 * Here we put the annotation for Lillian Fujiwara's book

title: User:Rochafab/sandbox


text:
Cookbook:Strawberry Pie

| Desserts

Ingredients

 * Pillsbury pie crust

 * 1 cup sliced strawberries

 * ¼ cup water
 * ⅔ cup white granulated sugar

 * 1 tbsp lemon juice
 * Whipped cream

Procedure

 * 1) Place your strawberries in a saucepan and add water, sugar, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally until thick and syrupy.
 * 2) Arrange the pie crust in a pie pan (unless the pie crust comes with a pan). Pour filling into the pie crust.
 * 3) Bake in the oven at 350°F for 60 minutes or until golden brown. Remove pie, and let it cool.
 * 4) Serve with whipped cream on top.

title: Cookbook:Strawberry Pie


text:
User:SalazarNadia/sandbox

"Welcome to the Sonoran Desert"
The desert is not simply a sandy place, but it encompasses a wide variety of characteristics that are unknown to others. As humans, we have a limited understanding of the relationship between humans and nature./ Nadia

"Biomes and Communities of the Sonoran Desert Region"
The implication of how the classification of bioregions work and how scientific classifications work, imply just how broad and diverse nature can be interpreted due to the great diversity of geography and biota found here./ Nadia

"The Upshot"
The right to existence should be granted for all living species, not just those who represent a meal for us. Preservation is a crucial part in our ecosystem, and getting rid of predators can only damage the cycle in which in entails./ Nadia

"Wilderness"
Nature has its own way to work, and its own means to why it does such actions, but if we interfere with them, we interfere with the cycle of life that comes along with it./ Nadia

"The Deep History of the Sonoran Desert"
The Sonoran Desert is enriched with much environmental and climatic history. The land holds the many stages that the Sonoran Desert has undergone to become the ecosystem we know of today. The biological community has had to adapt to the various changes the Sonoran Desert has gone through, from tropical to glacial ecosystems to the present day desert./ Nadia

"The Geologic Origin of the Sonoran Desert"
When speaking about a desert, one tends to immediately picture a dry, flat land. A place that seems incapable of sustaining any form of life. However, in analyzing the landforms of the Sonoran Desert, that image begins to vanish./ Nadia

Gregory McNamee, Life and Death of an American River
Legends have come to show the efforts people have put to place an explanation for what has happened in nature. It comes to show just how much the human race has made an effort to connect with nature, and to bring in a sense of familiarity with it./ Nadia

Chloe Sevigny, The Rights of Rivers
N/A

Human Ecology of the Sonoran Desert
Throughout history, mankind has been known to dominate and own everything that surrounds them. Humans tend to act without taking into consideration the long term consequences that such actions may have. Instead, the focus is placed on the benefits of the moment. However, this nature has come to be changed as time progresses. Little by little, human nature becomes more aware of the land and its surrounding. It will be possible to suppress the impulse that we have as humans in order to survive./ Nadia

Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum, "Conservation Issues"
The fundamental purpose of conservation efforts is to save humanity. The damages that have been done on the planet can heal within the course of a million years. Planet Earth would still continue on without us. It is us who will now longer be able to survive./ Nadia

Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum, "Biodiversity"
Restoring biodiversity comes to a big expense for people. It becomes very difficult to restore biodiversity if we don’t have the resources to properly do it. Instead, the focus should be on all the human population to preserve biodiversity and not have to be placed in the situation of having to restore it./ Nadia

"Will California finally fulfill its promise to fix the Salton Sea?"
If an action is not put into practice, we will be faced with repeating the same story in regards to environmental problems; as resources are beginning to be focused on environmental problems, something happens that we did not plan for, and those resources are taken away. If we continue this pattern, when will environmental issues be given the attention that they need? Are we going to wait until a massive climate-change issue occurs for there to be an emergency response?/ Nadia

"Will the Climate Crisis tap out the Colorado River?"
Adapting to change is not easy; it takes a lot of effort to achieve…To change that idea will take time, however, it could eventually be achieved. People can adapt to change, but the effort must be practiced in order to achieve it./ Nadia

Mary Austin, "Land of Little Rain"
Water sustainability is a big concern within the desert, and the problem of disappearing water has been present throughout time./ Nadia

Yuma Folklore, "Why the Desert is Hot"
The Yuma Folktale seems to particularly emphasize the sunniness of Yuma, after all Yuma is the sunniest place on Earth./ Nadia

Carl Lumholtz, "The Pinacate"
For those who don’t live in the desert, their imagination runs wild in efforts of interpreting McNamee’s writing, but for those who have lived in the desert, it enriches their appreciation of the area in which they live in./ Nadia

Tohono O'odham song, "Salt Gathering"
In the Native American folklore, there always seems to be a direct relationship with man and nature… Nature is represented not only as it is but through various representations of higher power./ Nadia

title: User:SalazarNadia/sandbox


text:
User:Justine027/sandbox

 Component I: Sense of Place

Before reading “A natural history of the Sonoran Desert”, I thought deserts were mostly deprived of life. I never really took the time to appreciate and learn more about the environment that I live in. When I think of desert, I think of the flat plains made up of dry sand and land. Turns out I was completely wrong. There are many different climates, types of plants, freshwater fishes, and insects at all live in our desert. Depending on the region you live it can even get so cold not plant can grow there. I’ve always thought rainforests were the most diverse regions. I no longer have the same views after doing a bit of research.

As someone who’s lived in the desert all her life, I believe most humans have the wrong views of nature especially the desert. Often most movies don’t depict the brewing life the desert has to offer. The promotion of certain biomes and communities over others leads many people to have a certain idea that the desert is always hot and dry. For example, desert is one of the most well-known biomes. By learning more about grassland, chaparral, forest, tundra, and woodland people will learn to appreciate the beauty this place has to offer.

Because the Sonora Desert has many different types of latitudes it has a variety of species, plants, and climates. Due to the high elevation, the Tundra has extremely cold winters for which ground-hugging woody shrubs are adapted too. There are certain plants and animals from the rainforest that are also able to survive in the Sonoran Desert. The seven subdivisions were classified based on diversity and vegetation.

Riparian communities can occur in any biome depending on whether there is ever-lasting water near the surface. For example, banks of rivers, shorelines, marishes, or lakes. This type of community is special because it contains a huge source of water and nutrients. Some inappropriate choices concerning the riparian communities would include the over-pumping of groundwater.

One of the characteristics of the Sonoran Desert is the amount of rain and what season it falls on. The North Pacific bring “widespread, gentle rain to the northwestern two-thirds" (pg.13) from December to March. While Summer monsoon brings wet tropical air resulting in aggressive thunderstorms to the southeastern two-thirds. In Spanish, the winter rains are called equipatas and the summer rains are called las aquas.

I was surprised by some of the classifications because I didn’t know some of biomes and communities could even be considered a desert. I never knew the Sonoran Desert contained tropical forest. Although, this place can go through a dry season when it rains many plants prosper creating foliage. It is the only of seven biomes/communities to grow flowering epiphytes.  Component II: Biodiversity

Leopold describes how times are changing like modern transportation and growth of human population are contributing to nature's downfall. If Leopold was worried about those small changes then he would definitely be upset about how the world turned out. Our world now is more polluted than ever coral reefs are dying, deadly gases are in the air we breathe, wildfires have killed thousands of animals, etc. Because humans were never able to find their balance with nature and governments refuse to put protection policies in place, we may never better the place we live at.

Leopold observed that humans find when taking part in outdoor recreations such as hunting, fishing, skiing, golfing, and photography. He noticed that people often want something in return and their appreciation of nature isn’t genuine. He mentions deeply appreciating nature can lead to a better motivator for its conservation. Mechanical sports such as jeeping, boating, and duning are usually for the thrill not to deeply become one with nature. The Arctic Tundra has a low human population many people come here to enjoy the scenery that has been well preserved. Although, in recent years more constructions and residential areas have been added. Makes me think that the same people who live and build there are the ones contributing to its destruction.

One indicator why plants and animals disappear is the destruction of their habitat (deforestation). Some invasive species are introduced via humans. Somethings we could do to stop this is set certain policies to protect endangered environments.

According to Leopold, he gives some solutions on how we can appreciate and preserve nature at the same time. We can start small by observing the smaller parts of nature such as a flower in a field and learning about ecology to enhance perception. Also, thoughts who own lands should leave some wilderness as is.

In general, Leopold's writing was well thought off. You could tell he wrote about his own experiences and compared that to his own self-research. He gives both an informative and argumentative view and in the end he offers solutions. What he means by “raw wilderness gives definition and meaning to the human enterprise” is humans who are not able to see nature in its true form and beauty are those who pollute it the most. For example, people use raw materials and use it to harm the world (oil industry).

Leopold states that wilderness plays a huge role in the development of human society. Wilderness provides us with a sense of comfort and enjoyment when one is not working. It also provides us with resources that helped us become the diverse society we are today. The author mentions how humans have become greedier in the way we use raw materials. We dictate where we can grow land, over fish, cut trees, drill for oil, etc. These overindulgences are self-defeating contributing to pollution.

Leopold explains how studying nature helps people understand the consequences of their actions. Those who remain ignorant will make more mistakes than those who have a more evolve (educated) perception. For example, people who are aware of how water waste affects our oceans will try to use less water in their everyday lives.

The U.S. is very spaced out compared to other countries. Place's people choose to live in are extremely far apart. Public transportation (bus and trains) isn’t as popular as it used to be. When one place gets full they open up another one and take up the wilderness. For example, building cabins, resorts, and hotels resulting in mass destruction of the natural environment.

I think there should be a place in this world for animals that are not ones we like to eat because those animals also contribute to the ecosystem. Without these animals, the animals we do like to eat may become endangered. We need a balance of a multitude of species in order to thrive.

Ecological footprint

It would take 4.1 earths if everyone lived like me. The component the contributes the most to this is carbon footprint. Using renewable energy lightens the impact. It surprises me how much I depend on my car to get to school (I live 40 minutes away). This results in a bigger carbon footprint. After reading the chapters, I realized how much of a contribution to nature's pollution I make and how I should learn to appreciate the wilderness more.  Component III: Geology

In the beginning, I didn’t realize that the Sonoran Desert didn’t always look as diverse as it does today. The development of plants and animals are believed to have contributed to this biological change. With climate change also came expansion and changes in land. After reading the chapter, I have a better understanding as to how the earth constantly adapts to seasonal and environmental changes.

Knowing about the different kinds of plants that grew millions of years ago gives us a sense as to how the vegetation and climate was. Thorn scrubs developed to be able to withstand dry areas. Baja California used to be a part of the Mexican mainland until it drifted apart a couple million years ago. During the Miocene era, volcanic eruptions were able to change the climate in the provinces of North America.

I personally think that the author's use of grandma to describe other ecosystems offers an understanding as to how some other ecosystems are the way they are because of other ecosystems. For example, thorns curbs are a transition between tropical deciduous forest and the Sonoran Desert. The grandma is a tropical deciduous forest because it's older and less of now due to the dry climate. The story alters my sense of connection between the Sonoran Desert and other regions because the author mentions how they influenced a change in each other. For example, the expansion of the modern Sonoran Desert in Arizona and California resulted in modern communities and plants.

After human population started increasing the desert became dryer and warmer. New plants started to adapt such as thorn scrubs. Although, many people still debate whether the change in climate was caused naturally or due to pollution we can’t deny that humans brought over toxins, land waste, deforestation, etc.

The Basin and Ranges landscapes formed over a series of events spanning millions of years. In the past, active volcano explosions left huge circular basins (calderas) which can be seen today in “Chiricahua and Superstitions mountains”. What surprised me the most was not the explosions but what was happening below the earths surface. The heat to the earths crust was what made lands extend and move apart from each other. As a result of faulting due to intense heat, mountains made of granite rocks began to form. With land, stretching came sinking in settlements. When the crust finally cooled valleys started to settle. About 6 million years ago, the San Andreas fault resulted in the separation of Baja California.

With the development of mountains millions of years ago and different altitudes the Sonoran Desert’s climate began to change and become more diverse. Reading about the land formations gives us an idea of how the land came to form its mountains and vegetation. I never learned to what extend the earth’s crust played a role in changing modern earth. Now the changes in the Sonoran Desert have to do more with human pollution than natural occurrence.

A bajada (slope) forms from by a combination of alluvial fans. This is located next to mountains and is made of loose settlement like debris that move down the mountains making cone-shaped lumps. Light rainfall does not have enough force to move the debris down. Heavy rainfalls is able to produce mud, move rocks, and help with vegetation down the mountain canyons. Which is how heavy rains are able to make alluvial fans. The area needs to be wetter. I didn’t know how greatly heavy rain were able to change the way the desert looks.

Dunes are created by an accumulation of sand due to wind. Various dunes of the Sonoran Desert come from the sand of the Colorado River Delta. This area has help contribute to the deserts changing environment. From a satellite view we can see the how delta of the Colorado River land looks to be branching out throughout the land bringing various resources to animals and plants. Humans settlement patterns in the Sonoran Desert have depended on the weather and environment. The formation of mountains and lands is very important to humans because with that came the presence of water. Now and days we greatly rely on technology and imports to survive. C omponent IV: Water (Gregory McNamee and the Gila River)

After reading chapter 1, I came to understand just how important the Gila River is not only for humans in Arizona and California but for the ecological system. The new Arizona bills on our water and where it's going suddenly made more sense. While listening to the presentation on current events, I didn’t understand why a bill that dictates how our water was being used would be so important to our community. Also, learning about the geology of the Gila River helps orientate me and understand what location/place the author was describing.

Like Aldo Leopold, Mcnamee’s style of writing contains many personal experiences and detailed descriptions of the environment. Mcnamee's descriptive writing helps visualize the Gila River over the course of millions of years. He explains how the river came to be formed and how both animals and humans depend on it to survive. At the beginning of the chapter, the author writes using all his 5 senses to help give the reader a sense of place. Imagining ourselves being at the Gila River not only grabs our attention but gives the place some significance.

The storyteller Anna Price tells a flood legend story on the Gila River giving us an inside into its history. The flood took many plants, animals, mountains, people, and resources leaving a plain desert in its wake. Just like this story many legends have a sense of accuracy and exaggeration to them. Many stories also like to depict humans as the creators of everything in order to explain how something came to be. The lesson of the story is to never underestimate nature and the natural disasters it may bring.

Over the years the Sonoran bioregion has many names depending on the climate, era, diversity, etc. McNamee believes that the word “desert” is misleading and destructive. He mentions the word desert is a linguistic misunderstanding. Yes, the Gila River is a desert river but not a desert. The Latin word means an abandoned and uninhabitable place. Because the Gila River is vital for the survival of plants, animals, and humans it can’t be an uninhabitable place. The Europeans used the familiar term and ignored the large population of indigenous people living and depending on these thriving drylands. They just saw these places as an obstacle that needed to be conquered.

 Component IV: Water (McNamee & the Gila - cont.)

In this chapter, McNamee talks about the conservationist Aldo Leopold and his efforts to preserve the Gila wilderness. Because of Leopold millions of acres of land remain protected years later. Leopold believed that wilderness should take up as much space as possible. People have abused the Gila Rivers and Sonoran Deserts resources for years now. It is wrong because we aren’t doing much to help restore and protect it. I was reading an article on the reason why the Gila River is so polluted. They mention how between Phoenix and Painted Rock dam the river is contaminated with pesticides. This makes aquatic wildlife dangerous to eat.

St. Bernard believes that going out into nature and experiencing everything first-hand will teach you much more than textbooks or teachers. Unfortunately, I believe this does not fit the western civilization as well as it used to. Now, we have every resource at our fingertips. If we don’t know something, we will just google it and millions of websites will tell us what we need to know. We could also do online classes for many careers without having to leave our homes. Technology has altered the way we critically think and learn. McNamee mentions how scientists will look through textbooks instead of going outside. Because the book was published in 1994, many people didn’t turn to computers as they do now. That’s why the 21st century western civilization does not fit into these concepts.

McNamee mentions how some people like Dave Foreman call to establish millions of acres of wilderness. Because projects like these are really big, a big change in thinking would need to take place in our government. We need to think not about how many resources we will lose but about how the earth will benefit. Protecting nature will help us rid the air of pollution, protect vital water sources from drying up, and protect our wildlife.

McNamee wants us to question our government. Are they really doing what's best for the environment or what's best for them? He says that they should be reeducated and the new rules need to be updated and quickly. The Forest Service for example counsel on the use of trees needs to be discarded. They want to add thousands of roads and cut down thousands of trees. The Bureau of Land Management who have yet to remove cattle that has been destroying public land of the west.

Personally, I don’t think McNamee's solution to reversing the destruction of the Gila watershed is practical. He explains how instead of using the “depleting” supply of plant’s supply of fossil fuel we should use oil produced by whales. Whales are endangered animals abusing their resources will do more harm than good for the environment. As the years go in, I’m sure scientists will find a much more sustainable and less invasive way. McNamee believes trees and rivers should defiantly have rights. These rights should be deemed important and protected in court. Unfortunately, the government believes that the health of the fish population isn't worth putting in the effort. The river also isn’t worth considered wild. Up until this day, there are still pollutants that are dangerous for fish.

I’m very surprised about all the different components of the ecosystem and how many things can disturb that special balance. For example, I always thought cattle were very good for the environment but apparently that can destroy thousands of acres of land. I’m also surprised that even back then the government did very little to protect our environment. It makes me think that if there weren’t people advocating for the protection of our land just how much worse things would be.

 Component IV: Water (Sevigny and the Rights of Rivers)

Personally, I think Sevigny’s style of writing is very informational. She thoroughly explains how we use the Colorado River’s water throughout the years. The purpose of her style of writing is to make the reader understand that the Colorado river’s resources won’t be there if we continue abusing it.

Over 100 years ago, the mouth of the Colorado river was flourishing and filled with water. As human population grew, the river’s resources started to deplete at a fast rate. Now, the mouth of the Colorado River is nearly drained, it’s a mud field, and you can no longer row your canoes like the Leopold’s once did. To me, despair means that you have given up. I don’t we can afford that mind of thinking. We need to put policies in place to protect the land we depend on. In 2012, the USBR predicted that by the mid-century the river's flow would diminish by 10-20% with a 3.5 million acre lost every year.

In order to prevent the Colorado river from completely disappearing within the next 40 years, we must stop proving water to a city as large as Phoenix. Realistically this cannot happen, so we need to come up with other more long-term solutions. In the past, the USBR has suggested unrealistic ideas such as covering reservoirs with chemical films to stop the water from evaporation. As the organization grew, they mentioned, “the reuse of wastewater, rainwater harvesting, and conservation by cities, farms, and powerplants” (Sevigny 231). Implementing these ideas and making new policies may help us prevent the river from disappearing. At this point, more people should be made aware that we won’t have this river for long. I live in Arizona and didn’t even know this was a problem. Maybe if more people knew they would start conserving water.

I think the quote, “The crisis we face is not one of water scarcity but rather a diminishing of the human spirit” means that humans don’t appreciate nature enough. We do whatever is convenient for us instead of the earth. Like Sevigny mentioned, we destroy our land and only think about what's good for us. What will sustain and help us survive at that moment? We need to think more about our future and form connections with nature to give meaning and happiness to life.

The author mentions how there is no foolproof solution to restore water. Does need mean we should stop sustainable practices to help prevent the river from drying up? Implementing sustainable practices will help buy time. It is an acceptable goal because we can’t continue to abuse the earth’s natural resources at the rate we are going.

Standing allows the government, scientific organizations, and nonprofit organizations to have the authority to speak for the trees. If this was the case, then any damages would be compensated by those in charge. Stone believed that the ecosystem should have a right to defend itself even if that means the quality of life for people decreases. He uses using moral imperative and intrinsic values (to be valued for their own sake) to argue these claims.

Sevigny suggests investing in the usage of local water can benefit us in the long run. However, limiting our supplies locally may not be ideal. Although, the author mentions how this isn’t an expensive goal there are still places that don’t have the funds or resources to make it possible. Sevigny proposes some solutions to the overuse of water. One of those solutions being the rise in prices to discourage people from wasting too much water. I don’t think this is very practical because people who have money continue using the water however, they want. It the people who struggle to pay the water bill every month who might have to go without this essential resource that will mainly suffer. While we can’t continue to abuse our water source it is a basic human necessity. For some tribal people like Tohono O’odham, the land is a part of his culture, and protecting it means a lot to them.

If by worshiping water we mean taking care of and using the water with care then yes, I agree we could worship it. But if you mean worshipping water as is using more of then no it’s a bad idea. Maybe instead of just worshipping water, we could worship the earth as a whole because we need its resources to survive.

 Component V: Human Ecology of the Sonoran Desert

Throughout the years, the Sonoran Desert has changed greatly as a result of human interference. Have all these changes been for the good? As Aldo Leopold once mentioned, “man, always kills the things he loves”. Our natural need to dominate has driven animals such as the great Pleistocene mammals of North America to extinction. I think in some instances we can help but put our needs above everything else. Thousands of years ago people were hunter-gathers. Now that we have domesticated animals and build stable agriculture, I think we should know better about the impact we have on this earth.

The mining industry brought many workers and wealth to the Sonoran Desert. The discovery of silver in 1683 led to the building of Alamos and investments in the land. With the promise of labor and “precious” metals, many people moved to the desert. Demands for firewood, salt, timber, charcoal, etc. began to rise. In order to keep up with the rapidly growing mining, population hillsides were stripped, streams rerouted, water polluted, and agriculture communities changed.

Over the years, various groups of people and cultures have occupied the Sonoran Desert. Some have treated it better than others, but I think they all have one thing in common. It is that many were acting out of pure survival. I don’t think this way of thinking will ever change in the years to come at least for the majority of people because it's in our genetics to do what’s best for us. I particularly liked reading about how people survived living in the desert thousands of years ago.

By the time the Europeans arrived in the 1600s, the Hohokam civilization (survived into the 15th century) had fallen down. Some say that it was due to political conflict. Others believe it was due to mineralized irrigation water ruining the fields they produced crops in. With the arrival of Europeans came new diseases which may have played a role at the end of the Hohokam civilization. Europeans also brought new crops, tools, and animals which transformed the desert's agriculture.

The frontier came to an end when Geronimo surrendered to General Nelson Miles for one last time. With this Arizona and Sonora became the extraction of natural resources for the industrial world. These resources were shipped to many places. At the time, Arizona dominated in copper, cattle, and cotton resources.

The major extractive industry is copper mining. So much land and time were dedicated in order to mine these resources. Thousands of miles of  tunnels burrowed and railroad tracks build underground. The rise of agribusiness brought jobs, business, and people into the Sonoran Desert. In the past, Arizona used to be mostly rural. Now urban expansion is quickly taking over. Large cities were built and are only getting bigger. The author believes this new Urban life is quickly taken over our desert and the population will only get bigger.

Agents of the Soil Conservation Service introduced South African grass (Lehmann lovegrass) to help with erosion. Now, that plant covers 400,000 acres. Scientist introduced buffelgrass resulting in more than one million desert and thorn scrub scaped off due to the plant. Introducing any kind of plant could lead to serious consequences to the ecosystem.

 Component V: Conservation Practices

Conservation issues

It crazy to think just how different the Sonoran Desert used to be. Before changing in the 20th century, the desert used to be filled with plants and wildflowers. This greatly changed after humans started disrupting the natural balance of the ecosystem. Humans have done this by introducing invasive species, climate change, and direct human impact. I think the most shocking way something could go extinct is by introducing invasive species. For example, the Sahara mustard first contaminated crop seeds in 1927. By the 1970s this plant quickly spread to the lower Arizona desert where its dense strands restricted sandy soil. Soon it would invade rock soils and wildflower fields.

Because humans have disrupted the ecosystem's stability the new places, we have built are far less inferior when compared to the old habitats. There is currently no place on earth that has been changed by human activity in one way or another. The collapse of biological communities is due to the aggressiveness of some invasive species. Without predators or diseases, they have in their native species they are able to thrive and multiply in just a few years. In order to reverse our drastic impact, it would take humans to completely disappear. Because this will never happen humans can try to limit their ecological footprint but limit land conversion, vehicle traffic, habitat destruction, etc.

The problem with alternative energy farms is that they take up space and lead to land destruction. While solar energy farms cover areas with mirrors or panels wind farms kill a large number of birds. Wind farms have a large number of toxic materials. The author suggests alternative models in place of these problem farms.

I’ve always had a love for seafood even as a little girl. However, after reading this chapter it made me more self-aware of where my food is coming from. I had no idea that the Gulf of California was depleting resources. The poorly regulated fishery, overharvesting, killing of mammals and nontarget species have negatively impacted the environment. Will I stop eating fish completely? No, because I’ve cut down on my red meat consumption and eating fish is how I cope. In the future, I will be more conscious of where I get my food.

The author mentions, “natural habitat should be the matrix in which islands of human habitat exist, not the other way around”. This means that humans should be living in accordance with animals and their habitats. Species shouldn’t have to adjust to our growing population we should be the ones adjusting. When fragmentation of habitats occurs that makes populations more “vulnerable to extinction”. The smaller a population is the more chances it has to become extinct. For this reason, there should be large areas that are legally protected by the government.

Personally, I plan on getting more involved in the environmental policies the government tries to pass or dismiss. The government controls many of our resources and how they are being overused. If we pressure and show them that we care about how our resources are used then maybe they will start to find better environmentally friendly ways to get the supplies we need. All these conservation efforts are in hopes of stopping the alteration of the global economy before it is no longer able to support human life.

Biodiversity

I think people don’t restore biodiversity because places which have high ecosystem diversity aren’t as vulnerable as places with very little variety. It’s better to focus resources and efforts to help places that have a higher risk of suffering from pollution or human activity. The author uses a small sanctuary as an example to explain this idea. Sure, the sanctuary helps preserve a single endangered species but what about the food source it needs to survive in the wild. Conserving a large area of wildlife will ultimately help more species in the long run.

The fact that they are using Quitobaquito Springs as a symbol of biodiversity is very ironic. The fact that the author thinks of this place as a “desert oasis” says a lot about the world we live in. If this place is still considered to be thriving when it is being destroyed at this moment what does that say about our definition of “biodiversity”? Nabhan does however mention that human occupation has posed danger to this place since prehistoric Hohokam and Patayan. Quitobaquito has hundreds of species of plants, birds, and insects due to the moist harbor. When thinking of desert, we think of dry plains this is why the word “desert” is not appropriate to describe this place.  Component IV: Resource Use & Policy

Will California finally fulfill its promise to fix the Salton Sea?

For thousands of the Colorado River filled the Salton Sea. In 1905 and 1907, an engineering disaster redirected the river into the basin. It would soon become apparent that the salinity levels would continue to rapidly rise. A 2003 agreement on water usage would result in a drop in lake levels. With the rise in salinity and drop in water levels, the lake became toxic and dangerous to be around.

Great economic emergencies have puts a halt on funding and efforts to stop the environmental issues. In 2007, the Great Recession put a stop on Salton’s lake rehabilitation-restoration projects. More recently, the money was used for emergency response for Covid-19. The pandemic halted Gavin Newsom's $20 million dollar bond. He mentioned he will reintroduce this bill in 2021. However, I personally think that this will not be possible. The disasters the pandemic caused will not just go away in the span of two years. The government has been mass-producing masks and sending out stimulus checks in order to help combat covid-19's many growing lists of problems.

For years the Salton’s lake has been on an environmental decline for years. This isn’t a recent issue. The government could have prevented the majority of the damage if only they would have taken the time and efforts at an earlier date. This approach doesn’t come as a shocker to me. Us humans don’t take problems seriously until it’s so bad we can’t ignore it anymore. Take Covid-19 as an example. If we would have gone into quarantine before the disease arrived in the U.S., we would have prevented hundreds of thousands of deaths. Now that residents of Salton City are showing concerning symptoms such as respiratory problems but hardly anything is being done. How many innocent people must die before something is done.

Being a local issue, their health problems will be pushed aside. The feds and state refuse to spend some money on a “small population”. A large number of people need to come and protest this issue. I live in San Luis Arizona. The issues we face here such as air pollution caused by burning trash and dangerous pesticides used for agriculture will never willingly be addressed by the state because we are considered “local”.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services refuse to attend a September hearing in concerns to Saltons toxic lake hearing. This is a huge political issue since people’s lives are literally in danger. People such as Miriam and her children are suffering for allergies and dust fights have to get checked every 6 months due to their declining health. If this issue was not as short-term and threatening to the respiratory system, then it should not be pushed for later times. The government will continue to stay stagnant until the problems get from local to a statewide issue. After this the damages will be too expensive and irreversible.

Environmental problems of Salton Sea bring up issues that may occur in other places. The government had to be held responsible for their lack of action and funds. As of 2020, the Imperial County Air Pollution gave violations to the state and feds for failing to perform dust-control projects. Problems like the Salton’s retreating lake will arise and maybe in the future we can take better examples of how to handle the issues. Learning how to deal with toxic lakes will help us with other similar clean-up projects.

Will the climate crisis tap out the Colorado River?

Since 2000, the Colorado River has faced a period of droughts and extremely high temperatures. In 2020, during warm springtime, seasonal monsoons didn’t happen. As a result, the basin suffered the consequences of low precipitation. According to the study, nature will eventually tell us what we have to do to live. This means that we will no longer have the choice to ignore the environmental issue like we do in the past. This “new normal” will negatively impact the Salton Sea. With the decrease of water levels, the shoreline will recede at a rapid pace. Leaving sandy playa and windblown dust everywhere. This drought will cause salt to go up in the air and cause allergies and other bad symptoms.

In the past, my biology professor mentioned how grass (lawns) are a waste of water. I never really understood that phrase until I started the discussions related to water usage. Lawns take so much water just to maintain and keep from drying up especially in the desert. It is a symbol of American wealth as it is hard to maintain. Lawns are there to decorate land because it brings aesthetic appeal and a difference in comparison to the dry sandy desert. Because of this, I don’t think people will ever adapt to the idea of ditching lawns.

 Component VI: History & Culture (from McNamee's "Desert Reader")

“Land of Little Rain”

Mary Austin along with Leopold, McNamee, Sevigny all mention how the desert is “never void of life”. They want to address the common misconceptions people have about the desert even way back in Austin’s days. Austin mentions how the weather changes depending on the seasons it’s not just continuously hot throughout the year. For example, June- November is unbearably hot. However, until April comes it is chill and doormat with a little bit of snow. Depending on the altitudes the weather can get to be extremely cold some certain will only grow at high altitudes. Unlike the other authors, Austin talks about Death Valley and how it got its name because of the dangerous hot sink. I think she mentions a little more about the dangers of the desert that can lead to death compared to the other authors.

Some of the plants she focuses on are the Creosote and the Yucca arborensis. The creosote is a shrub that can be found in the Death Valley. This vivid green odorous plant can be used for medicinal purposes. During the springtime, it has a tarry gum discharge which the Indians from that land use to make arrows with. The Yucca trees grow tall and pointy at the end. There are many different types of yucca plants that bloom beautiful flowers in the desert. These plants can get self-fertilized or wind-fertilized but there are many insects here as well. Because there are insects there are birds and other small mammals. Birds such as hummingbirds’ nest in cactus shrubs, woodpeckers’ nest in Yucca, and owls burrowing in the ground in the summer night.

The Yuma Folktale explains why the desert is so hot and why there are no clouds or rarely any wind. According to the tale due to the bitterness and rude behavior of man we are no longer able to live with the privileges of good weather that doesn’t burn our skin when in direct contact. As someone who's lived in Yuma county her entire life, there are many characteristics of this store that are particular to our region. For example, most of the time we see no clouds in the sky and the sun feels like it’ll burn your skin off if you stand in it for too long. However, I feel like we do get a good amount of wind but not when we compare it to other areas. I think the western civilization's view-point of the desert is more technical when compared to the Native American world viewpoint (more religious viewpoint).

The Pinacate

I think McNamee chose to represent the desert of North America in his Desert Reader because of the diversity and versatility the topic can offer. There are many misconceptions about this region McNamee wants to clear up. It is not just a hot dried-up plain that has no thriving plants (flowers) or thousands of species of animals. There is so much to study and see that provides McNamee with many topics to talk about. The story “salt gathering” is about someone who see their guardian who brings prosperity and water to the land. The song mentioned “earth spongy with moisture” by the end meaning in the end they were able to get water from all directions which filled ditches to the brim. As I mentioned, I think the world view of Native Americans is more spiritual. In general, I feel like they are more in touch with nature and can genially appreciate its beauty and use without abusing its resources.

References

title: User:Justine027/sandbox


text:
User:Gloriag05/sandbox

=A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert= Discussion Board Discoveries

Component 1: Sense of Place
Many people have a misconception about what a desert is and usually characterize it as a dry landscape with diminished life. The readings directly contradict the common assumptions about the desert because, in fact, the Sonoran Desert has a great variety of species and habitats within it and on its borders. The reading implies that most people indeed have a wrong perspective of the existing human-environment relationship and makes it clear that the human and plant relationship is able to go beyond the extent in which one can feel part of nature itself.

Component 2: Biodiversity
As mentioned before, the wilderness's value remains overlooked, and for years, humans have been modifying these lands for their immediate comfort. Many of these harmful impacts are widely visible in our ecosystems, and the aimed efforts to control the land's health have not been successful.

Component 3: Geology & Climate
In contrast with the "Deep History of the Sonoran Desert" reading, "the Geologic Origin of the Sonoran Desert" story gave the reader a better understanding of the geological processes that have shaped the Sonoran Desert. The most interesting aspect of this week's reading was the Sonoran Desert fossil legacy. I always like to think that nature has its own unique way of working and reminding us that it has existed for centuries.

Component 5: Water Continued
I sometimes get upsets when I realize that the value of many rivers is still overlooked. The personification of nature is not something new to the world; rivers deserve to have laws and regulations that work to preserve and protect them from being destroyed.

Component 7: Human Ecology of the Sonoran Desert
It is human nature to seek dominance regardless of the effects that it will have on other living things. I do not think we will be able to suppress this impulse, mainly because it depends on our survival. Humans have always used nature’s resources according to their needs without really thinking about the consequences. They have done this for years and will continue to do it for a lot more.

Component 8: Conservation Practices
The purpose of conservation efforts is to protect natural resources. By conserving different species of animals and plants we are also making sure that future generations will be able to enjoy the natural world. Without any protection, the animals and plants that we love will only become a distant memory.

Component 9: Resource Use and Policy
The feds or the wildlife service have not done much to get the lake cleaned. I think that the issue here is that even though the feds and wildlife service have accepted responsibility for restoring the lake, they do not view it as a priority. If the government emphasized this problem just like they do with the rest, there would be real progress.

Component 10: History & Culture
I think that McNamee chose this specific reading to represent the deserts of North America because of the way the author describes the desert. Since McNamee is a person that shows a lot of respect and admiration towards nature, it would only make sense that he would choose a reading that can portray the beauty and history of the region. Lumholtz writing style is similar to McNamee; they both a descriptive way of writing that is able to capture the reader's attention and personify life in the desert.

title: User:Gloriag05/sandbox


text:
User:Owittnan/A little Rust primer

This is a quick primer to Rust, in a similar vein to A Little C Primer. As with that aforementioned document, this is written by a novice, for novices. In this document I may draw parallels to languages such as C and Python, so familiarity with a programming language is recommended.

Prerequisites
Before you begin, you will need the Rust compiler and its associated tools. Visit the rustup site to get an installer for Windows or a command for Unix-based systems. If you cannot install Rust, the Rust playground is an online Rust compiler.

With that, let's get started!

Table of contents
Hello Rust!

title: User:Owittnan/A little Rust primer


text:
User:Owittnan/A little Rust primer/Hello Rust!

Below is the standard Rust "Hello, world!" program.

It's pretty easy to see what it does.

`fn main` defines a function called main. This is the entry point into your Rust program.

`println!" prints a string and appends a newline.

So running this code will print "Hello, world!" to standard output. Cool. Let's do something more advanced.


text:
Active Learning In Virtual Environment/Brainwriting

Activity: #in-class/short-term, #group-work

Outline
Brainwriting sounds very familiar to brainstorming, however this method carries more benefits and provides equal opportunities to all participants. Similar to brainstorming, students propose their ideas and thoughts on a particular subject. But, instead of sharing one’s ideas out loud, students are expected to write their thoughts down. Next, it guarantees all opinions being heard. This technique would benefit introverted or shy students who do not feel comfortable speaking in group meetings. In addition, it gives a person some time to think of their answers and formulate them better.

6-3-5 Brainwriting
6-3-5 brainwriting format is an active and popular way of conducting this technique. During such sessions, brainwriting exercises are divided into several rounds. It is conducted in a way that 6 people write down 3 ideas during 5 minutes. Once the first round is finished, each participant exchanges their papers with somebody else. He then reads what is put down on this paper and adds 3 more ideas. Those ideas can either be new ones or based on other concepts that have already been shared. After finishing all 3 rounds all pieces of papers are collected, ideas are discussed and debated which leads to an agreement regarding the next step. Even though this exercise is originally meant for 6 people, this activity can be held in larger or smaller groups as well. The other factors such as amount of ideas and time can be adjusted to your needs. Nevertheless, it is stated that most people find setting 3 ideas for each round to bring the best results.

Activity arrangement

 * Appoint one person to be a moderator. (A moderator ensures that everyone participates in the session. He is responsible for handing out the brainwriting templates, asking participants to fill them in and general focus on the activity)
 * Decide on the length and number of rounds
 * Begin round 1
 * Exchange worksheets
 * Repeat the process for several rounds
 * Discuss all the ideas

Pointers

 * everyone’s opinion is heard
 * every participant has an opportunity to contribute
 * introverted participants feel more comfortable without pressure to speak up
 * more time to think through your ideas

How to use this method in online class?
Brainwriting activity can be conveniently held in a virtual environment. Firstly, a teacher or a moderator should email every participant a copy of a template: example. Make sure that each template is marked differently so no confusion will occur (e.g. “Brainwriting Worksheet 1”). After each round participants should email the answers to the moderator, marked for example as “Brainwriting Worksheet 1 After Round 2”. However, conducting activity in this particular way may be more complicated. Therefore, as an alternative, students may use shared documents and exchange them after each round in a breakout room.