Shiva: Biodiversity

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       In this excerpt, Shiva discussed biodiversity and its erosion because of mankind’s domination. Shiva believes that biodiversity is very important for maintaining and creating life. Even the smallest microbe “plays a critical role in maintaining the ecological processes that create the conditions of life for all species, including, of course, our own” (Shiva 41). Each organism was put on this earth for a reason. Every single living thing has a role to play in the ecological system. Some of these roles may not be obvious or seen with our eyes but that does not mean they are not there. Even insects have an important role in the cycle of life. We need diversity in life to survive. A species may not seem necessary to us, but it is to some other species. Tampering with the cycle of life and biodiversity can be a dangerous move, which is something many do not realize since it is all about us in today’s world.

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     I support that all living things do have a reason even though people, including me, may not personally see the reason. Especially with insects, I have trouble seeing their reason for existence. I do admit this is mostly because I hate bugs and do not want them near me. With that being said, I do not believe that all life forms have “a right to evolve freely on their own terms” (Shiva 40). Pertaining to insects of all kinds, if their own terms involves being a bother to me, I do not hesitate to kill them. The fact that there are 950,000 species of insects repulses me. It makes it hard to agree that they all have intrinsic value, but I know they do.

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     According to Shiva, one of the causes of the loss of biodiversity arises from the assumption of empty land (Shiva 56). This assumption is that simply because the land is empty, it is free for us to take over and do with it what we please. This assumption causes us to deny the fact that there were prior inhabitants that had prior rights (Shiva 56). Mankind has always believed that land is theirs for the taking. This is seen since we first started colonizing America. We disregard the prior life that lived in the area and make it our own. We claim the land as ours and establish boundaries. We destroy the land so that it suits our own needs. Most of what we do with the land lacks all consideration for whose home it was before. This is because we believe we are superior; our superiority makes it okay to take what we want.

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        The second cause of biodiversity being lost is “monoculture of the mind” (Shiva 57). This is simply the idea that one way is best. Shiva states that the “shutting out of alternative ways of knowing and making leads to the assumption that the dominant knowledge and techniques are the only option” (Shiva 57). I do not believe that we as a society have one way of thinking and operating. We still have both diversity in general and biodiversity. With this statement, Shiva makes it seem like our biodiversity is inexistent. However, there are a huge variety of species alive and well in the world today. In addition, we know the being diverse is better than being single-minded. We would not have made progress if we did not value the importance of diversity.

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Carson Silent Spring

    

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       In Carson’s first excerpt, she describes a town in America where all life flourished; then, an evil spell came and killed all the beautiful life forms. At the end she states that that this town was not exist but it is similar to what happened all across America. She states that “no witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this world. People had done it themselves” (Carson 151). This was a powerful statement because her whole story was about an evil spell, and we find out that this “evil spell” was actually our own doing. Mankind has destroyed nature and its beauty in many ways. We had the need to control and tame every aspect of it and that it what we have done. However, destroying life is a natural effect that has come out of that. Life in many different species is faltering, plants, animals, and insects alike. Because they cannot survive in this new deadly environment we have created with all our buildings, technologies, chemicals, and pollutants. It is sad how much natural life we have lost in the progress of mankind. The more development, the less natural beauty remains. 

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Mankind has not only destroyed natural life but has polluted both the land and water with dangerous materials. This pollution is essentially irrevocable because “the chain of evil it initiates not only in the world that must support life but in living tissues is for the most part irreversible” (Carson 153). The damage that we have done cannot be undone. The destruction can be fixed, but it will never be back to its original, natural state. The development, pollution, and other harmful damage we have done to the environment has either completely eliminated species or fundamentally changed the way they live. Certain ecosystems cannot be brought back naturally, but they can be artificially made. We can change the way we selfishly use and waste earth’s resources but the damage we have done is indeed irrevocable. The earth’s life can and will never be completely restored to the way it was before mankind. 

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The pollution that Carson focuses in on is insect spray and its horrible effects on the environment and the entire living species. She questions how intelligent beings could seek to control a few unwanted species by “a method that contaminated the entire environment and brought the threat of disease and death even to their own kind” (Carson 156). It is a bit dramatic to make such a strong statement. Human beings are stronger and more adaptive than she is giving credit. Even through all our research, we have not figured out the complexities of the human body, its genes, and the brain. I am not saying that pesticides are not bad to use, but I am saying that I do not think they bring a huge threat of death to our kind. Carson gets too intense with this statement, but her passion for the environment and all living species is clear.  Carson is right, however, in her frustrations with how we need to control everything. Our need for control is excessive and is a huge contributor to all the development and destruction of the environment.

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            Carson, in her dramatic streak, further states that we have subjected a huge amount of the population to contact with these poisons, often without their knowledge (Carson 160). And according to her since the Bill of Rights contains “no guarantee that a citizen shall be secure against lethal poisons distributed either by private individuals or by public officials”, it means our forefathers, despite their considerable wisdom and foresight, did not conceive of any such problem (Carson 160). Our forefathers did not conceive of such a problem because it was a completely different age. No one could predict how technologically advanced we are today. It is not fair for her to state that our forefathers were smart enough to know something like pesticides should never be created. They were creators themselves. She cannot compare their age to now and predict what their views on pesticides would be.

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Nature of the Everglades

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Immediately in this excerpt, the first section stood out to me. Douglas starts off with “there are no other Everglades in the world” (Douglas 104) and proceeds to glorify the Everglades unique beauty. She boasts that nothing is like their vast glittering openness, massive winds, and dazzling, great blue sky (Douglas 104). This section starts off the excerpt and it is a capturing, alluring beginning. It drew me in immediately and piqued my interest. It is clear from this section that Douglas both admires and loves the Everglades in its natural beauty. I enjoyed reading about what is clearly Douglas’ passion, for it is always inspiring to see an individual so passionate about what they love. I do not the Everglades or know much about them, but Douglas captured me with her strong emotions for the Everglades. Passion is a value that is really important to me.

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          Nature can be great in both its good and its bad. Although nature can be great, sometimes its greatness affects us negatively. An example of this is an event that is well known to Floridians: hurricanes. Hurricanes are famous acts of nature; however, they can be extremely destructive and even deadly to not just us humans but all the other species in this habitat as well. Douglas describes the occurrence of hurricanes as “rising hot air [that] is flung into circular motion by the immeasurable spinning power of the world” (Douglas 118). It is said that the velocity of the spin has been recorded at 200 miles an hour, but no one knows their great speed because recording instruments are blown away before that (Douglas 118). The fact that a hurricane can spin over 200 miles an hour is crazy to me. Nothing is powering it except Mother Earth herself. It is a complete natural power. Hurricanes are huge, violent storms and prove that we cannot ever completely conquer nature. We can destroy the land but hurricanes prove that nature cannot be tamed, and like hurricanes, nature is not to be messed with. 

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           On Douglas 124, she describes the water in the rivers and bays as being clean and clear with only natural discolorations from either mangroves or shimmering light. She mentions the “sand reefs, sea gardens, and acres of clean green weed” (Douglas 124). This stood out to me because it made me sad to realize how much damage progress and pollution has done to this simple statement. As this work was published in 1988, there was nowhere near the amount of pollution as there is today. Now, just about every body of water is tainted because of humans. It is not natural discolorations. It is pollution and death of species because of all the pollution we make every day. Douglas was so proud when talking about the clean, clear water, and it is disheartening to know that we cannot make simple statements like this anymore. Our touch has tainted every pure water we know.

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        Last but not least, my absolute favorite section of this excerpt was the description of the otters. I love otters and always have. They are such carefree, cute animals, and it disturbs me that they could ever be trapped or hunted by a human. I would never be able to trap, hunt, or kill an innocent, playful, little otter. I really enjoyed the way Douglas describes the otters in the Everglades. The otters “swim and flirt” among the alligators and know how to “enjoy life in the sun better than all the rest of the creatures” (Douglas 145). Douglas expresses how they are extremely curious and friendly creatures that have such lively spirits, playing in the mud and having fun (Douglas 145). How a person could ever trap an otter just to make a profit is beyond me. In my eyes, this description further brought this excerpt to life. The Everglades is clearly such a unique place that is so alive with life in many forms. Humans should not touch or tamper with it.

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A Land Remembered

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In this novel, Tawanda Cypress is a Seminole Indian girl who Zech meets when he is still young and goes with his father to inform Keith Tiger that white men hung his son as well as Tony Cypress’ son. Tawanda is around Zech’s age, and is the second girl that Zech interacts with. Zech’s interaction with Tawanda is much different from Glenda, the other girl, because the girls are opposite of each other, representing two different worlds. Tawanda is a traditional Seminole Indian living in Keith Tiger’s tribe and growing up with that culture in the natural world. She develops close, intimate relations with Zech and has a child with him even though they never end up together. Her role in the novel is to represent the world before so much change and development came into play. Zech has one life with Tawanda, which is hidden and could never be accepted, and another with Glenda that is real. Tawanda is accepting of this and treats Zech with love no matter what even when he stays with her for a night, leaves her with a child, and does not come back until years later. I believe this is to reveal to us that the natural world gives to us without hesitation even though we do not treat it with the care we should. Tawanda represents the old world of coexisting with nature in harmony before everything changed. Just as the old ways begin to die in the novel with the increasing destruction of nature, Tawanda soon dies as well.

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Tawanda coexists in harmony with the environment and the natural world. As an Indian, she uses nature’s resources without taking advantage or destroying them. She lives along the Okeechobee with her tribe. Tawanda loves her natural environment and flourishes in it. She is very accepting of her way of life and sees no other way. She is at peace with the world she lives in. She experiences great joy in the pure, undisturbed nature of Pay-Hay-Okee. She sees the environment as a gift to use when needed but to be given the uttermost respect at all times. She loves and accepts her life the way it is even through all the hardships her tribe had to face involving the white man. She is proud of her life and both cares for and respects the environment.  

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Tawanda experiences a strong sense of place in the great marsh known as Pay-Hay-Okee or the River of Grass. For Tawanda, as well as many of the other Indians, this place is like no other. Pay-Hay-Okee is an escape from the world and its changes. It is a place that is separated from the real world, almost like a fantasy. It is a secret of the Indians that they show very few people and is reached by canoe. In Pay-Hay-Okee, nature is vast and undisturbed. Tawanda leaves a legacy behind through impacting Zech’s life in a positive way by making him realize the value of nature and sustaining it. In addition, she bears a son with Zech and passes her culture, values, and ways of life down through him. Tawanda will always be a reminder of the world before so much destruction. She passes down a positive energy towards nature and its many gifts.

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            I was born in 1994, so I grew up in an interesting time. Technology was certainly a big part of my life; however, it was not nearly as prevalent when I was a child as it is now. When I was a kid, I would play outside all the time whether it was block tag, “Indians”, riding bikes, or so much more. When I was growing up I had a Gameboy Color and then a Gameboy Advance; now there is the Nintendo DS and all these tablets. I still played with Legos, Polly Pockets, and Barbie dolls. I got my first cell phone in high school and it was just a simple call and text phone with no data. In this way, I feel like I can relate to Tawanda. It is a completely different age; however, the situation parallels. In the past 10 years, I feel like there has been a huge change in the level and amount of technology. Kids in middle school and even elementary school now already have iPhones as well as the latest tablet or game system. Playing outside does not happen as often because of all the new, much more advanced technologies. I feel as if the culture that I grew up in as a child has mostly vanished. In the novel, Tawanda is growing up in a time where the world as she knows it is vanishing throughout the years because of the great developments and changes. The way of life that I had when growing up has disappeared as well because of the great advancements in technology.