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Sustainability and Sense of Place in the Sonoran Desert/Sense of Place

=Component One – Sense of Place= The Discussion forums for this Component were based upon excerpts from the course textbook, A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert, 2nd Ed. (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum; Dimmit, Comus, Brewer, eds.; 2015). Our guest lecturers in both years were AWC Professor of Art Brad Pease, who has made regular extensive explorations of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico, taking numerous photographs and interacting with the population, and Professor of English Ellen Riek, who has a very extensive history in developing and implementing Sense of Place curricula across several post-secondary institutions.

Guiding Questions
What did you find in these readings that directly contradict common assumptions about what a desert is?

Do the readings imply that many of us have a limited or even wrong view of the relationship between humans and nature? Do they seem to be promoting a particular world view or ideology? If so, what kinds of adjustments to our current practices might we need to make in order to match the suggested outlook?

In what ways is our understanding of the natural world deepened by the insight that "some widely distant parts of planet Earth show certain broad-scale similarities"? In what ways is our understanding deepened by the insight that these identifiable regions themselves contain examples of "global-scale habitats called biomes" and they they, in turn, are subdivided into smaller categories called communities?

Student Discoveries 2021
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.

The readings imply that we as humans tend to not connect to nature or even realize that there is more to nature than what most realize and that our ignorance to it has affected and harmed nature. Even they mentioned in their first books they also misjudged nature and did not find it to be as wonderful as they do now, but now they realize that humans blind relationship with nature is killing it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The desert is home to many animals and plants, and it could be our home as well. As stated earlier, I feel like the readings imply that we do not comprehend the shared relationship humans have with nature. I do not think it is their ideology, but instead, they promote us (the readers) to look at the bigger picture and not be so close-minded and notice the little details that make, for instance, the desert.

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, the 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.

Student Discoveries 2020
What makes a desert a “desert” is determined with the Potential Evapotranspiration (PET) which is a test that determines the amount of rainfall that an area gets and how much of the rainfall is evaporated.

The desert is more than what most people think it’s not just a dry, desolate wasteland, or has water available for short periods. The desert is more than that, a more positive definition could be “ a biological community in which most of the indigenous plants and animals are adapted to chronic aridity and periodic, extreme droughts, and in which these conditions are necessary to maintain the community’s structure.” Many people imply that living things, such as animals and plants, struggle to live in the desert due to their harsh conditions. In reality, these beliefs are inaccurate.

I believe the book is trying to capture the beauty and essence that the Sonoran Desert represents and the animals that live within. Therefore, promoting the readers to explore the Sonoran Desert and see the beauty for themselves.

Taking this class has lent me a greater appreciation of the similarities and differences of these biomes, how animals evolved in them, and how we all evolved in turn. Knowing there are different regions, with different but strikingly similar life, has made me feel more connected to these global communities and makes me feel even more compelled to help preserve them.

It is true that a desert has a lot of areas with mostly sand and dry but it does have a lot of life that thrives there and are adapt to its characteristic arid climate.

The insight stating that “some widely distant parts of planet Earth show certain broad-scale similarities” broaden our understanding of the natural world in the sense that it opens the start of the idea talked about in the book about how different elevations and latitudes have different impacts. This alluding that similar latitudes and elevations will produce the same or close to the same biomes even if they’re across the world.

We are under a common misconception that the climate in the desert is harming life forms. In reality, the species that reside in the desert have adapted to the hot, dry climate. Being oblivious to these details limits our knowledge which is affecting the way we treat our environment.

In the first chapter “Welcome to the Sonoran Desert” it gives an overview of what the Sonoran Desert is, what it contains, and who it contains, culturally.

A lot of people have this well known misconception that a desert is simply sand and cacti. A desert is much more than what we can visually see, it has a whole ecosystem growing within it. The fauna and flora that flourish in the desert are those of a special kind. Not many animals can survive in the blazing sun and heat, but those that can, thrive on the desert's conditions that they like to call home.

To be honest, whenever a cartoon or show would have a desert setting, I would skip the channel as I viewed the colors as dull and boring. Even when traveling across certain parts of Arizona, I would never take the time to look out the car window and observe the desert in which I live in. However, reading "A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert" challenged what I knew (especially the second chapter), and made the Sonoran Desert more interesting to me.

The misconceptions about the Sonoran Desert being barren and lifeless underestimate and do not do it justice.

There are so many different aspects to the Sonoran Desert and many people don't see what an extraordinary place we live in. In the Sonoran Desert almost every binome is represented and that is a very important thing. Learning about these different aspects of the Sonoran Desert has enlightened me on what I have been missing out.

One of the most common assumption of desert is that deserts are dry and sandy and there is almost no type of rain fall so the plant and animal or any type of life in the desert suffers because of this. But this assumption is far from the truth. According to the book, “Although many people visualize deserts as dry, desolated wasteland, the term actually defines a wide spectrum of landscape and plant and animal population density.” And what we have seemed to have forgotten is that these animals do not suffer from the extreme heat they either adapt to the heat or they are made for it.

One of the most common assumptions that contradict about what a desert is that it is the driest with their being close to none existence of life. This type of assumption is quite common and to some degree can happen if we continue to abuse the environment the way that we have been doing. However, while this may be true the desert has an abundant amount of life with one possible possibility behind that assumption being due to the decrease in the animals and plants that our in our habitat. I do believe that the readings do suggest that we have a limited view of the relationship between humans and nature because much of the population doesn’t treat nature with the amount of care that it needs. One of the things that needs to be different from the current practices that we do is using a smaller quantity of the resources we do have but most of all finding different resources that can be used instead of using nature all the time. On one final note the way that we treat the environment affects the way that we function as a society because the resources that we use comes from the environment so if it continues to be neglected we will not have any resources left to use.

Guiding Questions
What special significance does a riparian community have within a desert that it perhaps doesn't have in any other bioregion? What does that special status imply in terms of choices that humans must make on behalf of such communities? Can you think of any particular examples of ongoing inappropriate choices?

The northern and southern halves of the Sonoran bioregion are both desert areas - but for different reasons. What are those 2 reasons? What are the 2 different types of rains that fall on the region?

Do these readings say anything surprising about the classification of any of the subregions of the Sonoran Desert? Do they imply anything surprising about the general enterprise of classifying bioregions, or even more broadly about scientific classifications?

Student Discoveries 2021
An important aspect to the desert that is instrumental to the existence of life-forms is the riparian community. The riparian community is commonly found along the banks of rivers; however, these zones are also found in marshes, lakes, and washes...without mindfulness and active protection of these communities, the accumulation of human waste and no rain fall may have detrimental impacts on them and the life-forms they protect.

The lower Colorado part of the Sonoran desert is very dry and what we experience here in Yuma with only 3in of rain annually, while the Arizona upland experiences more rain and colder temperatures which  makes sense because much of it is at a higher elevation.

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.

The idea of biomes as presented in the readings portrays a sense of connection not just to the place where we reside but to the places that are similar all around the world and the care they must be given to preserving what makes them unique and characteristic, it also shows that the interactions between the different elements on a biome are so intricate that they must be divided even further to illustrate an accurate understanding of our surroundings.

The most surprising thing about the Sonoran Desert's subdivisions is that Arizona uplands are described as thorn scrubs rather than deserts and it is the only subdivision that experiences hard winter frost, making it hard for low-elevation species to survive.

These readings say very interesting things about the classification of the subregions of the Sonoran desert and it is amazing to know how intricate these classifications can be. Usually when thinking of a dessert, all people think about is a land full of sand, but there is so much more.

For instance, I understood the differences: one visually where the “dominant elements of the landscape are two life forms…. legume trees and large columnar cacti.” and it also supports many other life forms species. The two different types of rains are equipatas (winter rains) and las aguas (summer rains). The reading does mention some reclassification of part of the Sonoran Desert as thorn scrub.

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.

Student Discoveries 2020
The Sonoran Desert is broken into 7 subdivisions being the Lower Colorado River Valley, Arizona Upland, Plains of Sonora, Central Gulf Coast, Vizaino, Mangdalena and Foothills of Sonora to each have their similarities and differences.

The significance of the riparian community is that they include "dry washes." These dry washes in the Sonoran Desert take up less than five percent but hold ninety percent of birdlife in its region. This special status implies that we need to help protect these small communities. Some examples of us destroying these communities are when the government starts constructing in these regions. There are two halves for the Sonoran desert because from December to March, the storms hit the northwestern half; and from July to mid-September, they hit the southeastern. The two types of rain that fall are " gentle rain to the northwestern," and "violent thunderstorms to the southeastern."

Reading about the characteristics of each subregion, it was quite surprising to discover that the Arizona Upland is the coldest and highest part of the Sonoran Desert. In fact, it is the only region that experiences hard winter frosts making it impossible for many lower-elevation species to survive in this area.

Along wetter climates riparian communities exist but perhaps play a less vital role in the biome. The glaring elephant in the room regarding these communities would obviously be our choices surrounding climate change.

Understanding that regions are divided into biomes shows us how diverse a place can be. How different climate and vegetation can be in a region shows us that biomes are unique in so many ways. Then dividing those biomes into communities shows that the lives that live there are adapted to that specific region.

The riparian communities have more of an effect within a desert because they are along a flowing stream which is a water source to the life forms that live in the desert. This community allows for the population of arid species to grow despite the extreme climatic conditions.

I think the most interesting this I read thus far was the statement, “Almost all of the world’s biomes occur in the Sonoran Desert Region.” (page 6, paragraph 2).

Each biome has within it, different environments for different types of species. The desert, in this case, has few to no trees, tons of woody shrubs, and none to many succulents, despite what people may think. Unfortunately, at the rate humans are destroying the earth, it doesn't seem likely that many of these things will be around much longer. The impact us humans have on the planet has been increasing for years, but quite recently it has sky rocketed and we are close to no return. We need to take responsibility for our actions, before it's too late and start picking up the pieces now.

When people hear desert they think of dirt, rocks, snakes, lizards, lack of water and a hot climate. What people don't know is the desert is so much more. There is a wide variety of plants, animals, and weather conditions that a desert can have. The book gives a different look at the ecological and cultural patters that shape one of the most complex deserts and that is the Sonoran Desert. Reading about the different biomes and communities this particular desert has is proof of what a complex region it is. Interestingly, all of the worlds biomes occur in the Sonoran Desert. This is very interesting because the Sonoran Desert is actually small compared to all the biomes in it. The reason so many biomes exist here is because of two reasons. First is because the region is on the West side of the continent near 30 degrees latitude and most biomes occur in this close proximity. The second reason why the Sonoran Desert has all of the biomes is because the great topographical relief here that creates the cold, wet climate that allows biomes in the North to come farther down South. From December to March storms originating in the North Pacific bring occasional rain to the Northwest. Starting in July and ending in mid-September is the monsoon season that brings surges of violent thunderstorms in the Southeast. The two names for these are equipatas (winter rain) and las aquas (summer rain). The damage humans are doing to this planet will have a costly effect on all parts of the different environments here. If we are to make a change it needs to be now and everyone has a part to play in making the world a more healthy place to live in for future generations.

From what I understood, the northern half of the Sonoran bioregion is classified as a rain shadow desert, while the southern region is a horse latitude desert. Because the southern region stands on the 30 degree north latitude, it is considered a horse latitude desert, and the northern region is a rain shadow desert because mountains alter the winds direction which causes the wind to warm and dry the area. Due to the conditions of each halves, violent thunderstorms fall on the southern region, and gentle rain falls on the northern region.

Due to the fact that these riparian communities vastly differ based on the elevation, latitude and dry conditions they cannot be classified as one community but rather multiple communities with similar characteristics.

The fact that riparian community also contain dry washers in deserts might be one significance.

The northern Sonoran bioregion is considered a desert because of its frostlike temperature which is due to the mild winters that it experiences as well as the animals originating from the southern area of the Sonoran Desert. In regard to the subregions of the Sonoran Desert I believe that they all hold a similarity in some way or form due to them all experiencing a type of weather whether be a cold or a hot one. It was also interesting to see the way that the plants and animals of those regions experience and deal with the weather changes

Description 2021:
Professor Brad Pease knows that sense of place is often connected to people and he ensures he has a distinct memory of the people he meets. His camera is perfect for capturing each person he meets in his journeys throughout the Baja Peninsula.

Professor Brad Pease’s experiences with the Sonoran Desert, specifically with Baja California, brings about an interesting factor that I did not know exists in the desert. His explorations, discoveries, connections give an insight on the many wonderful things that the Sonoran Desert holds.

He focused on the elements that made his journey and adventure, his jeep with which he shared many experiences, his camera that represents a passion to capture the world without altering it which is what I could consider one of the most ideal ways to appreciate and interact with nature, and lastly the people he encounters throughout the way.

Brad Pease gave us a presentation that gave us a better idea of what Baja California is like. Throughout his adventures and the people that he has met, Pease is a well of knowledge about the land and has first hand experience with a lot of it.

Reflections 2021:
A sense of place does not even have to be the place you consider your home, or where you have lived the longest. It can be anywhere and it can have memories tied to it through the objects you carried with you along the way or used at a particular time, but it can also have memories tied to it through the people you encountered and got to know along the way.

the Sonoran Desert is so diverse in its terrain and ecosystem it hard to imagine how they decided what was part of the Sonoran Desert and what is not. Also, the question of what classifies a land as a desert because some of their terrain shown in his phots go from sandy desert to a beach to some areas that are more grassy and full of trees.

The beauty within the desert not only comes from its wondrous landscapes or its captivating wildlife, but from the rich culture that lives within its land.

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...

Watching the presentation made me want to take a trip to Baja California. I don’t think that I have ever gone that far down, I only ever remember going to Acapulco and Mazatlan. And even those are big cities that have nothing to do with actually exploring the land and getting to know it’s geography and history. I hope one day I can be like Prof. Pease when I'm driving somewhere and I see a path that diverges from mine, I can take just for curiosity.

Professor Pease visited places where tourist do not usually go to and was able to explore these less traveled destinations. Which I have noticed is something that most people do not commonly do. I think that Mexico has one of the greatest landscapes in the world and the fact that other people are able to engage and appreciate their beauty makes me feel happy.

I honestly have always thought of the earth change as just a typical climate change and during his presentation he mentioned how it also changes the chemical components of the earth. It left me wondering how is it that earth changes could change the chemical components of the earth when they are deep within the soil? Would it be possible that it is changing slowly and that just when there is a drastic change in temperature, we notice it?

As someone who mostly travels to Baja California, some of the pictures professor Brad showed were very familiar. The locals at the beaches are always friendly and willing to help in case anyone gets stuck in the mud. It’s truly a beautiful place to visit during the summer. The food and weather are the best during this time. After the pandemic is over, I will defiantly visit again. This time I try and take pictures of the landscape and nature. I find it interesting how professor Brad was able to gift locals some pictures of themselves after years have gone by. One day I will make an effort to travel and make good memories and experiences like professor Brad.

Description 2020:
What our guest speaker Brad Pease spoke to us is about his own experiences he had in the Sonoran Desert and also how on the Mexican area of the Sonoran Desert there is a very strong culture that protects and respects nature.

People that live in Baja California just dump the dead animals, and they don't bother to bury them. Mexico has been really good at protecting areas. Brad Pease gives an example of when camped too close to a protected area, and they made him move locations to help preserve the land.

Brad Pease talked about the many trips he has made to Baja California and what he has seen.

Professor Brad Pease focused on the environment, culture, and ways to protect certain places. This presentation gave us a better understanding of Baja Californias as a whole.

He talked to us about how he would take pictures of the people and places in Baja California and would then return the pictures years later to the people in the photos.

Professor Brad Pease travels to and from Baja California. He takes his jeep and explores the peninsula. He explained in great detail, some of his adventures and the discoveries he's made.

Professor Brad Pease went into great detail about his adventures in Baja California. One of the adventures he mentioned was driving out in the desert and coming across an area of animal bones scattered across the area. Pease mentioned that many animals that weren't up to standards to sell or kill for meat were left in the desert to die. Many of the animals were left tied up and did not have a chance to escape. All throughout his journey Pease ran into a variety of different people. He had to learn how to communicate and respect the area he was in. For example, in one town there was a group of men who were in charge of watching over the waters to make sure people weren't taking more than what was allowed. Hearing about his different adventures helps put together images of what the area is like and how people can do a better job at trying to protect the environemnt.

I especially found one story he told to be very heartwarming. He takes photos of people he meets on his travels, develops them when he goes home and when he eventually returns to the area, he looks for these people and gives them the photo.

What left a profound impact on me was when the speaker talked about the "descansos" which are the memorials placed across the roads of Mexico to remember those who lost their lives in a crash.

Reflections 2020:
Brad Pease is a brave explorer of Baja California, Mexico. He goes where the wind blows and may encounter problems along his journey, but that is not going to stop his thrill for adventures.

Pease conveyed a very genuine sense of awe and respect for the Sonoran and approached it with both wonder and an adventurous nature.

Building a wall can restrict plants and animals from being in their natural environment. Professor Pease also shared his story of how Mexico cares very deeply about protecting the restricted habitat areas. Tourists don't always respect the preserved areas and it can cause a great deal of harm to the ecosystem there.

Brad Pease said "All roads end up going to the same place, I like to call it the magic of the Baja", spoken as a true adventurist. I hope one day I too can go about and explore new places. Off of his presentation Brad Pease has learned so much through eating to know the locals and learning he just of each area. It was truly inspiring.

After the Brad Pease presentation it showed me how involved people like Pease are. Learning about the different people and communities in Baja California was very interesting. It was also fascinating to hear about the different interactions he had with people in the community.

Brad Pease presentaion was about his journey through Baja California and honestly his presentation did not show the amount of courage it takes to keep going back with his little Jeep after having died on him multiple time. Brad Pease is on brave man, he saw a lot of difficulties in Baja California and amazingly that was the least of his concern, instead he talked more about the community and the people, and the pictures he took of them.

Other areas across the world have always been more interesting to me than the Baja California region - places with more green and water. However, after Pease's presentation I respect Baja California and it's culture surrounding it way more. There was something beautiful and poetic about Pease's presentation that won me over.

Brad Pease has had the pleasure of being able to be able to go to Baja California in Mexico in which he always loved to do and likes to visit most often. He also has a jeep sheep in which he always takes with him when he goes to Baja California by which is a protected area. One interesting fact that I thought was interesting was that Valle de cirlos is a native protected area and that Baja California is cooler at night but it is advised not to drive due to animals grazing at night.

Description:
Dr. Riek explained what “Sense of Place” means to her and how Flagstaff, AZ, is the first place she thinks of. She explained that all of her children were born in Flagstaff and this has tied her and her family to this place. Even though they do not live there anymore, they have this permanent connection to this city.

Dr. Ellen Riek put into perspective the way in which we, as humans, perceive the world. She brought a different light to the subject and reinforced the teachings that we have been receiving from our Honors Colloquium course.

Dr. Ellen Riek gave us a presentation titled “Identifying, Development & Nurturing a Sense of Place” which without a doubt was my favorite presentation for the following reason. This presentation focused on memories, who we are, what is important to us, and why it is important to us.

I think that we already had a similar talk about Sense of Place, maybe in one of the discussion boards. Dr.Ellen Riek told us to take a picture of a natural place the students cared about and put it as our background. She taught us about the importance of these connections to our environment.

Reflections:
...we tend to separate ourselves from the landscape and nature when in reality, we are very much a part of it. When we separate ourselves from nature in this way, we choose to ignore nature and use it for our own benefit. However, not everything is meant to be used up, many things are meant to be preserved. When we stop thinking about nature as something we can take from, we will be better off and so will the planet.

I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we are not just trying to survive anymore. When we are camping or in a survival situation, I think we more so think of ourselves as a part or a pawn in nature and have to work alongside it to survive, but when we no longer need to survive because there are others who do that for us, we then think of ourselves as not living with nature but just in it.

Many times we feel as though nature is here to work for us, that nature should be the one to change its ways in order to accommodate us, when in reality it should be the other way around.

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.

I still believe that it is very important for people to be able to develop an understanding and attachment to nature that is always surrounding them. It is difficult for people to speak out and fight for a cause that they themselves do not really care about. I feel like if everyone had a special place for them that they wanted to protect, ti would make fighting these climate issues much easier.

Understanding the importance of a sense of place can help us appreciate some of the ecological aspects of our city and community. These aspects do not only provide meaning to place, but they also help differentiate it from another area. As far as I am concerned, we should be able to care about the architecture, landscape, and cultural representation of the place we live in because this is what makes it unique and special.

She afterward shared with all of us her motto/favorite quote, which I believe stated the following, "You cannot know who you are until you know where you are." She mentioned how part of the problem we have with our relationship with the environment is that we tend to separate ourselves from it. I believe she is right, even if we hate to admit it. Every day we become less engaged with the environment because "we do not have time" or to some people simply not caring but mainly as one of our previous presenters mentioned the lack of information, they have regarding the topic is the main issue.

For many years to come, Dr. Riek encouraged her English honors students to complete an environmental research project they would be tied to their majors. Students would model their project and just tell what they know without sources out of the top of their heads. When Dr. Riek moved to AWC she had her students record this 3–4-minute podcast at the radio station. Dr. Reik believes we can’t be a writer unless we know who we are. Currently, she wants her students to have a rich description when describing their sense of place. Several students are doing their projects on the Yuma, Winter haven, San Pascual, and across the border. They are working on the achieves to cite their sources. They will also complete a webpage and a podcast to go with this assignment. We can adapt and apply these skills in real life.


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Sustainability and Sense of Place in the Sonoran Desert/Biodiversity

=Component Two – Biodiversity= Our readings in this Component came from the seminal masterpiece, Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac. These particular essays are essential reading for any dedicated environmentalists, and they go to the heart of our goals for this course. Our guest speaker was Dr. Joel Diamond, a biologist who has spent the past 30 years working with bats and who offered an impassioned explanation of the importance of this animal in the broader ecosystem.

Guiding Questions
If Leopold could speak so strongly about the extreme depletion of wilderness way back in the 1940s, then what would he say on the subject if her were alive now?

To what degree should humans be expected to give up their recreational pleasures - like hunting, fishing, skiing, golfing? What about mechanized sports like jeeping, boating, duning, What "use" are remote wildernesses, like the arctic tundra?

What does it seem to indicate that plants and animals sometimes diminish without any obvious cause (trees or bees), or that pests sometimes multiply even though we try to eradicate them (invasive plants, ticks)? What should our response be to such situations? What likely will be the result of treating specific "deficiencies" in nature - stocking ponds with fish, controlling floods, trucking in water for wildlife?

In general, what is your reaction to Leopold's writing style? What does he mean when he says that "raw wilderness gives definition and meaning to the human enterprise"?

Student Discoveries 2021
We often think of recreational activities in terms of becoming one with nature or unplugging from day-to-day life. We think how it is replenishing to go outdoors and participate in outdoor activities. As the self-interested beings that we are, we think in terms of what will be in our own best interest, what will make us feel the best about ourselves and for many, recreational activities provide this comfort. However, we as humans fail to realize our gain is the wildernesses loss.

I also don't think we need to give up fishing, boating, and camping. But we should make sure that when we are engaged with nature that we don't just trash it. When leaving a campsite, everyone should not leave trash and leave the area looking the way it did when they got there. Besides that, if humans do continue to live in nature, we should focus funding towards renewable solutions to pollution.

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.

The implementation of social media has made humanity a narcissistic machine, which often leads to a change in conduct for vanity not because they have prevalent individual values which are quite distressing as future generations will not learn habits and ideologies that include the self-preservation of the individual through the preservation of nature. Which raises an ethical question: Does the motivation of the actions benefit the preservation of wildlife matter?

Wilderness areas are one of the few remaining places on Earth that are usually free of any human disturbance and hold onto their primordial character. Given that the author intends to communicate the importance and value of the wilderness areas, he would be extremely upset about the extensive loss of wilderness in these past few years if he were still alive.

I think that if Leopold was alive today, he would be a huge advocate for protecting wilderness and be enraged by recent events. If he believed that the depletion of wilderness in the 1940's was bad, what has happened in recent years would be considered to be catastrophic.

I understand self defense but it would not be necessary if we were not invading its home in the first place (hunters should not even be in wild). Though I have also read about hunting being done to protect animals if that is what they really want to do well at least I think there are other methods into protecting animals species rather than killing another.

Leopold describes how times are changing like modern transportation and the growth of the 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. 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).

Student Discoveries 2020
When a predator in an area is becoming a “problem” they let hunters hunt those animals to lower the number of them. This does help with the predator’s prey like deer in because less of them are getting killed more of them are existing in the area. In which is a positive because there is now more of a specie that was getting killed off but also it has its negatives. Its negatives now will be will because there is now less predators more and more prey are populating the area.

Aldo Leopold's point of view of the depletion of the wilderness was eye-opening. Being able to see that this issue was a concern back in the 1940s says a lot about how terrible humans are with the earth. If Aldo Leopold were to see how much the world has changed from the 1940s to 2020, he would be devastated. The fact that we are increasing the amount of trash on this planet, and destroying our atmospheric ozone layer is disappointing. We are the reason global warming is where it is at the moment; the fact that polar bears are swimming miles to reach a small iceberg to rest on is the most tragic thing I have ever seen. Humans need to stop doing some of their recreational pleasure for many reasons.

If Aldo Leopold was alive right now, I think he would be disappointed to see how the world remained today. With the over pollution of humans in the world consuming more of the earth than is sustainable, they are cutting down more trees to make room for themselves, and not taking account of the wildlife they are damaging. After reading about Leopold’s thoughts on the grizzly bear issue, I assume he would be devastated to find out about the extinction of the Mexican Grizzly Bear in 1964. Also, since climate change is the universal symbol of the problem, it is causing the extinction of the Polar Bears. This brings me to Leopold’s quote “...and each generation in turn will ask: Where is the big white bear? It will be a sorry answer to say he went under while conservationists weren’t looking.”

Remote wildlife areas have multifaceted use. As Leopold mentioned, they are havens for science, places scientists can go to learn more about our world and the life on it. Moving beyond that, I believe nature has a fundamental ethical reason to be preserved. I am not a species egalitarian, however, like Leopold I see this land as a valuable home to wild animals that have a right to live there. Furthermore, I am an ecological holist and believe the preservation of the lands who have moral standing to be an ethical issue as well as a pragmatic one. The rapid diminishing of life in a biome indicates that, as Leopold said, there is a sickness of the earth. I also liked that he wrote that deserts had probably been left alone more because of, “that under-aged brand of esthetics which limits the definition of ‘scenery’ to lakes and pine trees.”

People collect 'trophies' to show that they have been in the wilderness instead of appreciation it and leaving it how it is meant to be.

Leopold indicates that animals and plants sometimes diminish without any obvious cause referred to as earth sickness. I believe that in this phrase “earth sickness” he implies that we, humans, are the cause of the extinction of animals and plants. They slowly die and disappear do to our actions, even if we don’t realize the consequences our actions with having on nature itself.

Leopold speaks strongly about the extreme depletion of wilderness back in the 1940s by stating, “Many of the diverse wilderness out of which we have hammered America are already gone…” (page 161). If Leopold was still alive today, he would be extremely disappointed and concerned with what has been done to nature. The wilderness has been taken over by extreme civilization, thus killing off many species and their habitats.

Remote wilderness is something that many people feel is a waste of space since no humans can live there, but many animals can and do. In the arctic tundra, many animals live there, unbothered by human touch and flourish there. These areas have a crucial role in our society, in order to keep these animals alive and well. Hunting and fishing aren’t the only issues caused by humans doing recreational pleasures, but they are becoming a major concern.

If Leopold were still alive today and got to see the life people live now I think he would be very disappointed in what it has become today. Being in the 1940’s and voicing concerns about what was going on then was very important because if people had listened things would have been a whole lot different today.There are tons of animals that are killed so humans can eat. Stopping hunting and fishing is not ideal but adding more regulations and laws could help protect the animals and lean people into doing other things. Leopold really had strong points in his readings and everything he talked about was and is still so important. Humans are causing these environments to become ‘sick’ as Leopold mentions and I think that in order to change that it needs too start with everyone taking a stand and changing their everyday routines to help protect all the life earth has given us.

If Leopold were alive now, I believe he would be even more adamant on protecting the environment. Leopold argues that we should protect wildlife because it gives meaning to human life. However, now an environment issue is now an existential issue. Climate change poses a bigger threat than ever before, and it seems that little to no effort is done to prevent this. The Trump administration prefers to focus on increasing the GDP or building a meaningless wall than focusing on protecting the future of humanity.

Leopold claims that human efforts to conserve wildlife are simply not working. Our attempts to find solutions to the problems we caused are only “superficial,” not resolving the actual issue. He compares our solutions as “local alleviations of biotic pain,” tying it back to the comparison of humans and the Earth being sick.

Leonardo writing about the depletion of wilderness in the 1940s seemed concerning for the time it was written at. I would expect that level of concern right now when you can physically see our negative effect on our planet. If Leonardo was here right now, I think the tone of his writing would be a little different. I think it would change from concerned to demanding some action.

I do not think we should ban recreations like fishing, hunting, skiing, golfing, etc. I think banning them will create a stronger desire for people to practice in this sport. It's like "A forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest." It's a very common human behavior to want something we can not have, and this might even turn into distraction more than recreation if we ban it completely. In my opinion, the best way to resolve it is to have a few locations around the world practice this sport. Make this recreational pleasure a high-end luxury where not everyone can afford to practice it. Leonardo mentioned something to the extent of how many plants and animal life is coming to extinction without our knowledge. It is our action that is negatively affecting this wildlife and leading it to extinction. But what is even more mind-boggling is how we humans are part of this nature, but we do unnatural things. We are part of this ecosystem, and in a perfect world, we are supposed to co-exist together. But our desire to create man-made items which symbolized civilization and knowledge, our greediness to have everything whenever we desire it, which symbolizes freedom will soon bring this world to an end.

Leopard would say that the wilderness depletion now is manmade due to the constructional land that we have made in which is our ultimate point of destruction. He would also say that our means of building new roads and among other things could possibly be the end of the forest entirely if it is not fixed upon soon. When it comes to recreational pleasures and whether it should be given up, I believe that it is fine as long as it is done with an equal balance or with a good portion that wouldn’t affect the forest in their sustainability. As far as mechanized sports goes, I have always seen it as a luxury rather than a need in which I think that it is unnecessary to have when there are other ways to have partake in a pleasure such as board games, sports, etc. The problem we have with plants and animals diminishing or other situations that deal with this is the result of climate change being at its worst as well as manmade destructions that have caused plants and animals not being able to adapt to their habit as they once did. Our response should be that we try to find the reason behind these types of incidents and possibly cutting back on the constructions that we build such as recreational facilities, houses, roads, etc. If we continue to treat deficiencies in nature the likely result will be the restoration of nature due to the attempt of trying to keep everything in balance. While this may help it is a small dosage of what needs to be done in order to restore nature as much as it originally was but we need to also cut back on the ‘’luxury’s’’ that we have as well. I thought Leopold’s writing style was a good viewpoint on the destruction of manmade constructions that affected nature in the way that could result in even destruction if it is not mixed as soon as possible

Guiding Questions
In what sense does Leopold say that the designation of wilderness, as practiced, is self-defeating?

What does he mean when he says that "nature study...constitutes the first embryonic groping of the mass-mind toward consciousness"? What, to him, is a primitive/undeveloped, as opposed to a grown-up/evolved form of perception?

Leopold describes a runaway cycle of road building to get deeper into the wilderness, only to need more roads to get away from the crowds that have formed at the end of the roads just completed. The great wilderness becomes a crowded lot of motorized vehicles and outhouses. Have you observed this anywhere? Should there be any places where motorized recreation is not allowed?

Leopold describes a wildlife management practice that was common during his time whereby fish populations were artificially increased by systematically killing other animals which ate fish. This state sponsored wildlife genocide team aimed at nothing short of wiping out entire colonies of herons, egrets, pelicans and other birds. Typically by targeting them at their most vulnerable stage in life- while they were raising their young. And not just fish predators, the wildlife management agencies of Leopold's era were busy eradicating all predators. Should there be any place in this world for animals that are not ones we like to eat? Should the only right to existence in this world be granted to those species who represent a meal for us?

Student Discoveries 2021
The abundance of travelers and adventurers who seek to escape to nature do so with the enjoyment of modern mechanization. The person who craves something more cannot help but be appalled by the recreation encouraged by society. Our idea of wilderness has been commercialized and capitalized. Resorts and activities plague the wilderness; however, we think of them as part of wilderness, in fact, we need those activities to go out to the wilderness because we lack the ability to simply admire the wilderness in its natural state.

The more we want to explore nature, we do it in a way that is damaging like building roads through it so that more people can easily experience nature. But in doing so we kind of slowly deteriorate it. The more we meddle in it, the more room there is to potentially trash it. The general public should find a way to regulate these visitations a little more.

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.

It is self-defeating in the way that any of the sensations that could be looked at by many people from the wilderness are diluted by the mass movement of people and disrupting the interaction of human activity with nature such as the management of wildlife, the introduction of new species to an area, any aspect that interacts directly and alters the ecosystem makes what they look for impossible to find, in most cases a direct trophy.

In "The Upshot" reading, Leopold mentions that recreation has become a "problem with a name". It has become an action of desideration that slowly turns into something self-destructive. In many cases, recreation is viewed as an economic resource in which the only reason for the existing human-environment relationship is to derive pleasure from them. From the author's point of view, nature study will help develop and awaken our minds to understand nature itself.

There is no way that the only right to existence should only be given to the species that provide meals for us. To do deny such a thing would not only be inhuman but also go against nature. Nature is a balanced ecosystem where every animal plays a role in it, and by messing with it, it will only lead to more problems that we are not able to handle and shouldn't have even created in the first place.

As for the "Upshot" I think the fact that we (I'm generalizing) often put our own satisfaction before thinking of the consequences. I am saying we because sometimes we do it without realizing it since we often do not stop and think of the consequences and rather focus on how it could help us. I completely agree no one has the power to play god and chose who lives and dies.

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.

Student Discoveries 2020
A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold

The way in which the author explains each thing is very clear, we are the supreme creature on the planet who instead of making an improvement, we take advantage of the weakest.

Aldo Leopold believes that recreation is the problem of the self-destruction process of the wilderness. With all the building of roads in the countryside, it's destroying more land every time. With the construction of new roads, the increase in the number of people that travel in these areas. There have been a couple of places where motorized vehicles contribute to the destruction of the wilderness. One time we went camping in the mountains. The scenery was beautiful, for example, horses were running in the green fields, and cows eating grass. As we passed close to them, they would run away. A couple of years ago, my family took another trip to these mountains, and it has changed so much. Places like these shouldn't have motorized vehicles running, biking or hiking would be the most beneficial option. There should be a place for these animals to live without being killed for trying to survive. It's not our right to kill an animal that's trying to survive just like us. It's disappointing to see that wildlife management is trying to eradicate animals that prey on fish.

All animals should have the right to live and their habitats should be preserved. Every wildlife species is precious and were put on this earth for a reason.

I believe nature has a fundamental ethical reason to be preserved. I am not a species egalitarian. However, like Leopold, I see this land as a valuable home to wild animals that have a right to live there. Furthermore, I am an ecological holist and believe the preservation of the lands to be an ethical issue as well as a pragmatic one. A species can not survive on its own and has other different species help it survive.

Leopold states that the current designation of wilderness is self-defeating because designing certain habitats to certain animals does not always work out. For example, the relocation of animals to a place where their food does not grow. It defeats the purpose designation of wilderness since certain species are adapted to where they live. If these places are removed their food source is no longer there.

I have not observed it because we do not live in a very wilderness enriched area with trees and species habitat. However, I have seen this done in Yuma where desert is turned into neighborhoods or stores. Yes, there should be places where motorized recreation is not allowed for the sake of keeping habitations alive for species and the overall well-being of the earth. If Leopold was still alive today, he would be disgusted with how the human race has treated our planet. His belief that the wilderness has such an important role in our world. It’s truly devastating to see how his beliefs are still true to this day.The amount of damage that we as humans have done to a planet that has done nothing, but provide us a home, is truly heart wrenching. Unfortunately, the many species mentioned in “Wilderness” won’t even exist by the time our children and grandchildren enter this world.

There was something very interesting that Leopold said, “It is clear without further discussion that mass-use involves a direct dilution of the opportunity for solitude; that when we speak of roads, campgrounds, trails and toilets as ‘development’ of recreational resources, we speak falsely in respect of this component. Such accommodations for the crowd are not developing (in the sense of adding or creating) anything. On the contrary, they are merely water poured into the already thin soup.” No matter how many accommodations people try to make to justify their damage to the environment it doesn’t help at all. Campgrounds take away land from animals and potentially kick them out of their homes. Toilets just leave waste everywhere and isn’t fair to the animals living in the area. All of these different developments continue to hurt the environment. When Leopold mentioned “they are merely water poured into the already thing soup” he means these developments aren’t helping they are just adding to the damage we are creating in these environments. I have been camping a couple times in my life and every time I have gone the area was always a mess. Camping ground areas have dirt roads for people to use their cars. Over time these roads took over the landscape and vehicles were driving all throughout the area. All vehicles should be left in a certain area to not damage the surrounding area and possibly left where there is already a road instead of having to create more. In my opinion I think all animal life is important. Who are humans to judge if an animals life is more important because we think we could make a meal of it. All lives human and animal matter and I think it is important for people to remember that in the future.

Whether it is fair for other animals that we don't eat to be spared is an interesting point. I eat meat almost everyday, and I have made no efforts to become a vegan or vegetarian. Perhaps I am not convinced yet that I am contributing to a much bigger problem, however I will admit I am starting to question whether I should still be eating meat. Eating carne asada tacos with my family in Mexico brings a lot of pleasure to not only myself but to everyone else involved. However, if these eating habits lead to negative impacts in the long run, like climate change, perhaps it is time to reconsider my diet.

Altering the means of predator vs prey for our gain is wrong. An example that is used in the text is when overfishing occurred with trout. Effects on both the trout and its environment were shown, the stream ceasing to have the capability of “natural trout production,” as well as pollution to its water and deforestation around the site. I think the main point Leonardo is trying to make here is the consequence of "development," a concept that we, humans, are proud of. He also talks a lot about recreation; he says, "it is clear though that this economic and ethical manifestations are results not causes of the motive force. We seek contact with nature because we derive pleasure from them." This statement tells us our connection with nature and the route we took to approach them, pleasure, and recreation. What is even more contradicting is how people justify hunting for food. And we teach the same thing in school by saying human beings are at the top of the food chain when, in reality, we are not doing anything natural.

Across the U.S I have always thought the wilderness has been overrun by motorized recreation and getting worse by the day with the increased number of roads and highways that is being built for motorized recreation. In Yuma, I especially see this by which in the early days of Yuma there was a lot more desert and open space then how it is now. However, I do believe that in certain places it should be regulated or not allowed entirely such as in Portland, Oregon with the certain areas of the forest. All in all, having roads is fine but I do think that certain areas such as the forests across the U.S should be untouched and instead left in its natural state of habitat. I believe that every animal is important whether or not we dislike eating them it should not matter because if we were to only have animals that represented a meal for us then the animals themselves wouldn't be able to survive. In other words, every type of species has a role and are ultimately a part of an ecosystem that makes sure that there is a balance between everyone. If we were to get rid of one species it could come back and create a conflict that could result in the shortage of a resource that we may need. When Leopold says the designation of wilderness is self-defeating, he meant that the wilderness is still controlled by someone rather letting it rest in its own state. In turn, this is self-defeating because wilderness is still being controlled when it should be left alone and presume to its natural state as it was in the beginning

Description:
Dr. Joel Diamond is definitely an expert on bats and conservation issues in the Sonoran Desert. For the past thirty years or so, he has enjoyed studying rare species of bats and following the trends of bat populations over the course of time.

Dr. Joel Diamond is specialized in studying bats and bat related subjects. Dr. Diamond’s knowledge about bats brought a better understanding of the diverse animal species within the Sonoran Desert.

...this presentation was so much like a documentary in which the issues, effects, and life of bats, as well as the different species, were a topic of discussion...

I actually learned a lot from this guest speaker considering that I never once paid attention to bats when thinking of the Sonoran wildlife. This presentation taught us a lot about the details of the life of a bat in the Sonoran Desert and how they survive.

Reflections:
The way Dr. Joel Diamond focused not only this presentation but also his career on a particular animal is interesting because it allows for focus on seemingly minor details that would get lost in a field that covers many different topics.

It is really interesting every time issues like this are brought to my attention because normally when you think of construction or even tearing down things we have built, its hard to remember all the different considerations that need to be made before deciding to go through with it, like with these bats. When they constructed the bridge, I do not think they realized that bats would make this their home, but after they made that discovery, they now have to take that into consideration even if they need to tear down the bridge as that very construction that interrupted nature has become a part of it and is now a habitat for certain species.

“Bats do not do well with humans.” The statement made by Dr. Diamond puts into perspective what we have learned in regards to the relationship humans have with nature. It seems as though anytime humans are faced with an element or resource of nature, we take minimal appreciation towards it. Bats are animals that are hard to study, and the lack of understanding results in the neglection of not only these amazing creatures, but of everything around us.

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.

Now, we need to be more careful about our constructions and how it affects these bats. It makes me wonder where this bat population would be if humans weren’t here, though to be fair nature now is almost nothing like how it was in the past. Another thing that I found extremely interesting was how viruses work in bats. Apparently Covid did not start because someone ate a bat but the virus spread to other animals. Also how people like Dr. Diamond are worried how the virus can affect the current bat population and possible consequences of catching it.

There are a lot of people just like me that do not know the basic ecology of bats and I think this is concerning. Bats are not like other animals; they do not leave many signs and it is hard to tell where they live. By understanding the ecology, we can more broadly manage the population of this species. Something interesting about Arizona bats is that unlike bats from other regions they cannot transmit the Sars Cov-2 to humans. Ever since the whole pandemic started, humans have been worried about getting near them for fear of getting infecting. When in reality, humans are the ones that present a real threat to their species.

I really love it when people take in consideration animals for instance when they were thinking of tearing the bridge down, they thought of the bat population living under it and were thinking on how to replace their habitat. Some of the threats that he mentioned were habitat loss/modification, white nose syndrome, SARS COVID 2 (I hope I wrote it right), energy development, lack of understanding, and basic ecology.

Dr. Joel Diamond explains the many issues that may lead to the extinction of certain bats in the desert. Because bats react so strongly to their environment any disruption is detrimental to their health and overall survival. There are many families of bats here in Arizona in which people like Dr. Diamond are trying to help conserve. One bat family is called the Mexican free-tailed bat which flies 115-125 kilometers an hour is the fastest vertebra on Earth. Their perception of the earth is much more detailed than humans. This is important because they need to be able to come home and find their youth is a sea of thousand.

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


text:
Sustainability and Sense of Place in the Sonoran Desert/Geology Climate

=Component Three - Geology/Climate= The two readings for this Component are the two articles most directly related to geology in our textbook, A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, 2015). The first, "The Deep History of the Sonoran Desert," is an eloquent rendering of what the biotic communities in the region evolved from. The second, "The Geologic Origin of the Sonoran Desert," is a basic overview of the formation of the basin-and-range landscape.

Our guest lecturer for this Component was one of the College's most accomplished - and the longest serving - among our faculty, Professor of Geology Fred Croxen. Fred actually gave two separate presentations, one on basin-and-range formation, the other on hydrology and water use.

Guiding Questions
In "The Deep History of the Sonoran Desert" the author describes the evolution, and eventual assemblage, of the Sonoran Desert biological community. What about this story changes your understanding about the biological community of the Sonoran Desert?

Does this story alter your sense of time regarding the Sonoran Desert?

The author refers to some ecosystems as the "grandmother" of other ecosystems. Is this idea new to you? Do you think if offers insight? or perhaps an analogy too imperfect to be helpful?

Does this story alter your sense of connection between the Sonoran Desert and the neighboring regions?

Do you find any parallels between the formation of the Sonoran Desert biotic community as a whole and the formation of the human societies that are here now?

Student Discoveries 2021
The analogy of ecosystems as “grandmothers” of other ecosystems is very logical and understandable because everything on the planet has appeared over time and evolved to its state as it is today. Ecosystems do not appear for no reason, ultimately, they are formed when an older ecosystem cannot survive in its state and must adapt to survive.

most people assume that deserts are desolate and that using this land for military purposes won't do harm to the environment. Which from learning in this class, many people would be wrong to assume this which I find interesting. The fact that the desert biomes are no different than any other biome in terms of life yet people only seem to recognize forests as places of life.

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 adaptto the various changes the Sonoran Desert has gone through, from tropical to glacial ecosystems to the present day desert.

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.

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.

The most surprising thing about this story is learning that the development of the modern community of plants and animals took place only 4500 years ago. This shows us that just like any other place in the world, the Sonoran Deserts continues to grow and redefine itself throughout the years.

For instance, again, going for the typical representation of the word desert is hot, dry, waste land, etc. and while reading this chapter it made me realize there was more. Some of the regions (actually most of them) were either cold or wet. It is that simple detail that left me amazed of how little do I know about where I actually live and its origins.

Knowing about the different kinds of plants that grew millions of years ago gives us a sense of how the vegetation and climate were. 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 of 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 the 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.

Student Discoveries 2020
And also how it took about 8 million years for the Sonoran Desert to form it is considered the youngest biotic community.

Throughout all these years, the Sonoran has expanded and changed many different times due to climate changes. The most recent expansion of the Sonoran Desert was approximately 9,000 years ago. This timeline seems unrealistic. When someone sits down and thinks about how long it's taken a desert to be the way it is right now, it is remarkable. The authors made us open our minds and see the Sonoran Desert in a different way. The headline "Whose Child is it," really captured my attention. After examination of fossils of different animals, researchers concluded that the "mother" of the Sonoran Desert is the Thornscrub and that the "grandmother" is the Tropical Deciduous Forest. After reading the reasoning behind this, it made more sense. It's fascinating to think that the place we live in today once contained animals that we would never see in this area anymore.

I was surprised to discover that the Sonoran Desert is actually one of the youngest biotic communities on the continent! The recent expansion of the Sonoran Desert occurred about 9,000 years ago and then it took 4,500 years later for animals and plants to complete their assembly.

I personally liked the “grandmother” analogy. I found it interesting to think of thornscrub as the mother of our desert, and ancient tropical forests as a grandmother, each passing on valuable traits to their genetically similar but unique children. As I thought of this process, I became kind of disconcerted as I thought of what the next generation might be, and what would be left for a potential great-granddaughter. It was also insightful to know that it has always been changing and has taken thousand of years to develop into the place it is now. The formation of the Sonoran Desert and the formation of human society are parallels. The formation of the desert derives from the evolution of the planet creating new and beneficial biomes for plants, animals, and humans. In contrast with humans, our evolution and technological advances usually cause harm to the environment.

Living in the desert my entire life, I can say I thought other climates and biomes derived from the desert but the Sonoran Desert and the other three are among the youngest biotic communities. With this being said, this story altars my sense of time with the Sonoran Desert and when it essentially evolved. I do not think this story alters my sense of connection between the Sonoran Desert and the neighboring regions because I really did have a sense of connection other than the surface of what a desert is and what it provides.

After the many mass extinctions taking place, the desert has gone through many changes and continues to do so as the earth warms and cools over time. I also never knew that the desert took so long to form to what it is currently.

Being able to read about how the Sonoran desert came to be was fascinating. I never really thought about the amount of time it took for the desert to become what it is today. Especially reading about how the recent expansion of the Sonoran Desert occurred 9,000 years ago. Another interesting thing that I read was the formation of the Baja California Peninsula. Even though this even occurred about 6 million years ago it still had an enormous impact on the environment and the landscape of this area.“Whose Child is it” really captured my attention as well because after researchers examined fossils from different animals they found out that the “mother” of the Sonoran Desert is the Thornscrub and the grandmother is the Tropical Deciduous Forest. After reading about the different environment it’s interesting to see how much the Sonoran Desert has changed and to think that different plants and animals other than the ones we have today used to live in the Sonoran Desert.

I didn't mean to get existential, however, even though our lifespans our short, this generation is negatively impacting the climate around the Sonoran Desert at a faster pace than ever before. This chapter even highlights the fact that, "global climate models indicate that temperatures in the Southwest will likely increase by 5.4 degrees fahrenheit to 10.8 degrees..."(pg 69), which is interesting as climate change has been a recurring topic in our lectures.

Reading this made me really think about how long Earth has been around and how it has evolved and changed in those years. The geological time scale that was shown and explained in the reading was very helpful with describing each period and how they transitioned from one another. It was very interesting reading how the vegetation and ecosystems transition throughout time.

One thing that changed my understanding of the biological community of the Sonoran Desert was the different types of regions that there are with the most being the colder ones. However, throughout my whole life I have been living in the desert which brings me to the point that I have always thought that the desert held different parts in the temperature due to the climate change that has been getting worse and worse by the minute. When it comes to the time that is around the Sonoran Desert it did not alter my own because like many other biomes across the rest of the world it made sense that time there had a different schedule. When hearing that some ecosystems were the ‘’grandmother’’ of other ecosystems it did not surprise me because just like other ecosystems that are around us most if not all had to have started with a beginning biome. In other words, every biome that has been created later on must of had a beginning biome that was the first of the next biome that is created. All in all, after reading the chapter I believe that it strengthened my idea of the connection between the Sonoran Desert and the neighboring regions because I originally already had an idea of the connections but with the reading it helped broaden the view, I had on it. I believe that there is a general connection between the Sonoran Desert and the formation of human societies through the similar reproduction process and ultimately the adaption that both sides have when in an environment

Guiding Questions
In "The Geologic Origin of the Sonoran Desert" the author describes the stages of development that led to the formation of the Basin and Range landscapes. What about this story surprised you?

Has your sense of the landforms of the Sonoran Desert altered?

Some landforms, like bajadas are the work of a much wetter climate. Does this "memory" of changing climates change your sense of what the climate of the Sonoran Desert means?

Some landforms, like dune fields, are the creation of the wandering delta of the Colorado River. Have a look at a satellite view of the Sonoran Desert and take a minute to explore the placement of the dune fields, imagining them now as the wandering delta of the Colorado River. Now, has your view of the role of the river in the story of the Sonoran desert changed any?

What connections do you see between the geologic history of the Sonoran Desert and the settlement patterns of humans in the Sonoran Desert?

Student Discoveries 2021
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.

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.

from the initial formation of Earth this specific region has gone through many different climates due to many events that led to the change in the currents of wind, the patterns of rain, changes in latitude and separation from the equator, and subduction of plates all of these factors have made the surroundings take a particular and diverge shape similar to one of the species residing in this areas. I can say with all certainty that the Sonoran Desert is more alive than most of the regions on Earth.

When I thought of different regions, I always thought of them as completely different entities. I thought that with the different climates each species would remain in their respective region and only move if a powerful enough force made them. Reading the chapter made me realize that the separate regions are a lot more connected to each other than I thought.

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.

I always knew there were changes in temperature whenever there was a change in season. One day it could be extremely hot and the next extremely cold. Since I have been living in the desert my whole life, I do not feel the change for other people who might not have grew up living in the desert they might notice the change since they are new and have not gotten used to it.

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.

Student Discoveries 2020
Also I found it interesting how much the Colorado River not only give the area around where it passes water but how canals are made to provide the areas farther from the Colorado River that are in need of water.

The story of the formation of the Basin and Range landscapes is quite impressive. After years of the tectonic plates shifting and wrinkling the earth's crust, the Basin and Range landscape is the way it looks today. It's taken years for those mountains and valleys to form and fill with gravel. What impresses me the most is being able to see how much the landform has changed. The plates underneath us are continually moving or shifting. They continue to form new mountains or volcanoes underwater that eventually can become islands. My view on the role of the river in the Sonoran Desert has changed quite a bit. It's interesting to see that the Colorado River eroded parts of the grand canyon. The Colorado River is an essential source for many other regions because they depend on its water.

Another thing that surprised me about the landforms of the Sonoran Desert was that the mountains in Tucson were once a volcano on the western side of the Santa Catalinas. This finding was discovered by scientists from the University of Arizona!

I find that so often I get caught up in the rat race of my daily life that I tend to think of the desert as the creosote bushes outside. However, the section titled The Sonoran Desert Landscape Today really made me pause and appreciate the totality of what I had learned so far. Thinking about it all, with the knowledge of how it formed, from sky islands to rivers and dry washes, mountains and dunes, I was really proud of where we live.

I thought that some formations were just naturally there from the beginning of the Earth’s creation. I didn’t know that movement of the earths crust could cause it to stretch or wrinkle.

My sense of landforms has been changed, before reading this I did not think that certain geological changes had much of an effect on how the land looks. I thought that mountain ranges, deserts, et cetera had all been placed in a specific area since the start of time. I think it is interesting to see the aspect of time and see the perspective of others as the story states, “We tend to think in terms of lifetimes or centuries. What can 10,000 years possibly mean to us let alone 65,000 or 70 million?” (page 71).

I never fully understood how the land formed or came to be. The formation of the Basin and Range Landscapes were very surprising to me. I can finally understand how the earth's landscapes came to be and it's all because of the Basin and Range Landscapes. I can for sure say that my view on the earth's landscapes have changed and I am now educated on the formations of many of earth's amazing features.

Reading about the geological aspect of how the Sonoran Desert came from was quite interesting. All over the world there are earthquakes, hurricanes and so many more natural disasters that occur. This gave rise to so many changes in the landscape we see today even though it took millions of years to get here. Reading about the Basin and Range Landscapes it was very surprising to me. Being able to read and understand how earths landscapes formed changed my perspective on this subject and it also showed me how lucky we are to have all that we have around us.

Another interesting subtopic that caught my attention in this chapter was the mention of volcanism in the area. I've always been fascinated with volcanos since a young age due to their destructive, and creative nature, and learning that the mountains of Tuscon are composed of rhyolite is a great detail that I did not know.

It is amazing to think that these dunes have been there for the past 25,000 years and up until this reading I had no form of explanation for why there were dunes. Based on what I read the sand was blown there from the Colorado River Delta which came from the Grand Canyon. Now I have an explanation for how the dunes were made. One thing that surprised me when reading about the formation of the Basin and Range landscapes was how they were formed as well as the amount time that must have taken to build it itself. In addition, it made me realize how significant the Sonoran Desert is in the role it has for other biomes and landscapes such as the Basin and Range one. When it comes to the Sonoran Desert and the landforms of it, I believe that it did alter my sense of it because of the amount of importance there is to it as well as the way that it was formed. When reading about the changing climates it changed my view of the Sonoran Desert and it meaning because in the beginning I had always thought that it had one season or temperature that was all year long but after reading about the climates changing it opened my eyes to new sense of how the Sonoran Desert is and the true meaning of it. I would say that my view on the role of river in the Sonoran Desert stayed the same because I’ve always thought that the river held an important role for all biomes especially the Sonoran Desert. One connection that I did see between the Sonoran Desert and settlement patterns of humans in it was the adaption that they had to face in order to survive in that type of environment. One other connection would be that both had to adapt to the environment as it was changing over the decade in order to have an adequate life suitable enough to the biome

Description:
Around 20 million years ago the Sonoran Desert began to form because of the volcanic explosions in the Pinacate region.

About 12 1/2 million years ago the Baja Peninsula began to separate, and it's continuing to form today. Also 6 million years ago the Colorado River began to grow in size. The North American plate has been moving on top of the frogian plate around the Jurassic era. The ranges have acted as dams from the Colorado River. This occurred long before the formation of the Sonoran Desert.

About 2 million years ago, the Northern Hemisphere was going through a Glacier expansion.

Fred Croxen talked about the geology of the Sonoran Desert region, how the Basins and Range were developed, and what even about the Bouse Limestone dilemma.

Around 6 million years ago, the Colorado River up to the Upland area carved itself. Arriving at Yuma 2 million years later.

Croxen talked about the Grand Canyon and how the formation of it was roughly 6 million years ago and in the 1800's the Grand Canyon was being harmed.

Roughly 15.97 million years ago was when the mountains we see, began to form. The Basin Range created where we live and the mountains surrounding us.

Professor Fred Croxen had a very interesting presentation but one thing that the mentioned was the Bouse Formation. In the last 10 years Lower Colorado Geologists named four classes and the Bouse Formation was among them. This class was formed about 5 million years ago and is still controversial among geologists. This class was first identified by Parker, Arizona in the Bouse Wash. The main issue with this claim is that the wash pointed to a marine background and many researchers said that it is impossible. With a marine background the land would of had to rise a good amount so researchers dismissed the idea because of this.

Juniper in was found in Packrat middens near Wellton hills using carbon 14 which suggests that there was once Juniper near this area, showing how the climate and land has changed in the area.

Croxen's view of the way to which land has been used was interesting with one of the most interesting ones being the bouse formation being named due their being a bouse wash.

Reflection:
Professor Croxen is like a walking encyclopedia for anything that has ever happened in the Sonoran, from ancient geology to BLM wells, he knows it all. Also...possibly the only person alive who could make me feel a sense of rapture at USGS pack rat den data Professor Croxen really gave us a great deal of information to hold onto as we listened to his talk on land. He really knows his way around the desert.

Professor Croxen is very knowledgeable about the Sonoran Desert. He described so many different developments in science regarding the the Sonoran Desert and it was fascinating to learn about these new developments.

The amount of knowledge Professor Fred Croxen has about the Sonoran Desert is truly astonishing. He had files after files of information and he knew them all by heart. He had all the answers to every random question we asked.

Professor Croxen's details about the Sonoran Desert gave me a broadened view on the Sonoran Desert in the way that it functions and the plants and animals that occupy it. The amount of knowledge that he shared with us also gave a expanded view on the impact that human infrastructures have made on the Sonoran Desert which made me realize the amount of damage that is being done and continues to do so I love Professor Croxen's presentations. What stayed in my mind the most about this one was about the fact that geologists can use pack rat middens to find out how old a rock formation is. That absolutely blew my mind, pack rats aren't just some cute little critters, but they're helpful too.

Description:
The Salton Sea doesn't come from the ocean and has its own history; its man-made. Water is constantly being recycled. Fred Croxen mentions that the water in the river has "probably traveled through other organisms." He also told us that there are many myths about water. One of the myths beings that wells do not connect to underground streams or rivers.

Water is being recycled in the Colorado River. If an individual is drinking tap water, it is very likely that the water they are drinking was once consumed by other organisms.

Fred Croxen showed us a brief process of how ground water is found, and how ground water affects the life around it.

The cause of fissures are due to pumping out groundwater, space begins to collapse.

The water we have in Yuma is from the canals which stem from the Colorado River.

Professor Fred Croxen went into great detail about the different ways to get water in our area. In Yuma, Arizona water is supplied through different canals and is taken to the community. In San Luis and Foothills, Arizona their water is supplied through wells. Since agriculture is very popular in Yuma many of the big farms use aqua firms to get enough water for their fields.

Reflection:
His presentation on groundwater and the Colorado River gave a true sense of urgency to how dire our situation is.

I genuinely enjoyed his presentation on water and had fun measuring the water in the well at AWC. We need to be careful and mindful of how much water we are pumping out of the ground because the Earth can only replace it at a certain speed. As Croxen told us the places that used to have water collapse and the basin sinks. Learning about the the different water supplies in the area I live in was really incredible. I also learned about ground water that will stay with me and be useful down the line.

I really enjoyed his presentation even though he talked about a topic that is new to me, he did a great job getting our attention. I really loved our little experiment out by the well measuring the depth of the water. /

Fred Coxen had an extensive knowledge on geology and I enjoyed both lectures he gave. A highlight was when we went outside to test the water level of the well! It was a fun experience and learning how to use one of the tools that is very common to geologists was very interesting.

Professor Croxen always manages to relay so much information in an incredibly engaging way. The top two things that blew my mind were that Somerton, AZ water actually comes from wells and the fact that ground water is always moving. I also got to use the machine to test how deep into the well the water runs (I didn't do it correctly but it was still fun!).