When I watched the Skype presentation with Professor Glenn McClure, my view of Antarctica was completely changed. I saw Antarctica as only a block of ice that was way too cold for humans to inhabit, but Professor McClure is using Antarctica to live his passion which is music. He is taking the sounds of Antarctica like the crunching of the snow and the noise of the ice and composing these noises into melodies. A goal of Professor McClure’s is to write music from these sounds and eventually share this music with the public.
Professor McClure is having an amazing experience at Antarctica, but he also mentions many hardships that can be deadly. One thing that McClure talks about is how when one is navigating, GPS is an essential tool. One can easily get lost in the identical world of Antarctica and McClure describes Antarctica as a “terrible beauty.”
Appendix I in The Heart of Antarctica starts out with the image that no life is present in the researcher’s surroundings on Antarctica. Finally, many different variations of algae are found and a very interesting organism called the Rotifer is found in a frozen lake. The Rotifer is a microscopic, worm-like creature and is fascinating because it is unique in its temperature adaptation. The Rotifer can survive in extremely cold temperatures and then it can immediately be placed into a boiling environment and still function properly. Many organisms can withstand harsh temperatures, but the Rotifer is different from other organisms because its body temperature will adapt to the temperature of the environment.
This piece does a great job showing the relationship between the arts and sciences because the magnificent pictures taken of the wildlife in the Antarctic show the beauty of the natural world. A question that I had when reading this piece would be what is the researchers primary focus when studying the Rotifers and what they plan to do with the findings that they have recorded on the Rotifers.
Singing is a pastime that many people enjoy, but according to the National Institute of Health music can help combat neurological disorders. I found this piece extremely interesting because I have never viewed singing as being physiologically beneficial. This piece magnificently demonstrates the relationship between the arts and sciences because it shows how singing can directly impact the personal health of someone. An example of this is that singing has been proven to enhance the fluency of individuals who stutter because of the increased duration of phonation. Singing is so effective against stuttering that it reduced the stuttering of the participants by over 90%. I really enjoyed this piece for the reason that while I was reading this piece it was very easy to sense the author’s enthusiasm and passion for the studies that have been conducted.
In “Whisper of the Wild” written by Kim Tingley, Tingley centers her piece around how humans have altered the natural, acoustic ecosystem of our planet and how ecosystems have adapted to the world of artificial instruments. Also, Tingley talks a lot about how majestic it is to hear solely nature, but in an extremely urbanized society this sensation is very difficult to achieve.
I can connect this piece to a personal experience of my own because I remember that there was a massive blizzard a couple of years ago and I went to an open, snow-covered plain to meditate. I was very at piece during this experience and the only thing that I could hear was the swooshing of the winds from the powerful snowstorm. A belief of mine is that society must become less urban and focus more on preserving the natural world. When I read Tignley’s piece it reminded me of how important the beauty of the natural world is to us and how we must utilize it to obtain peace of mind. An experience that I would love to create for myself would be to travel to Antarctica and be all alone with only mother-nature and my thoughts.
Gaza is a country situated between the countries of Israel and Palestine and is greatly suffering from lack of freshwater supply. Gaza does not have a lot of freshwater because the country is forced to dump tons of sewage into the Mediterranean Sea, which then pollutes their aquifer. The aquifer is the country’s main water supply and the raw sewage is contaminating the water with many dangerous microorganisms and parasites. The water crisis is so bad that 26% of disease in Gaza is related to contaminated water. Gaza is reaching out to Israel for help, but Israel is refusing because Israel is afraid that Gaza will try to build tunnels to carry out deadly terrorist attacks.
I found this piece to be very intriguing and I was curious to why Gaza was acting so reliant on Israel. I personally think that Gaza must find new ways to get funding and electricity, instead of relying on a country that they are in conflict with. This piece is a great message to the entire world because it is telling us that if we keep disregarding our planet and destroying its natural resources, every country will eventually have limited resources just like Gaza.
The family of Terry Tempest Williams was severely crippled by the devastating disease of breast cancer and Williams did not know why breast cancer was killing her family. The government was testing nuclear bombs near her town and the radiation was having devastating effects on the town. Eventually, a lawsuit was filed against the government, but the government pleaded for “sovereign immunity,” which meant that the king can do no wrong. Williams was raised as a Mormon and a big law in her family was to not ask questions or “not to rock the boat.” Finally, after William’s father had confirmed that a flash of light that Williams had saw was a bomb being tested, she knew it was time to speak up. She did this by writing a book, The Refuge, and in March 1988 she crossed the Nevada Test Site line and entered the town of Mercury.
I can relate to the experiences of Williams because I witnessed a couple of my family members pass away from the disastrous effects of smoking cigarettes. I can relate to her because when my family members smoked, cigarettes were not yet known to the public as harmful carcinogens.
It is well-known and scary to know that when one’s spine is sever all function from that point and down the body will be lost forever. This statement fortunately may no longer be true. Nathan Copeland is a victim of paralysis and is now the first paralyzed person to ever gain a limited sense of touch. He has gained some of this crucial sense back because an electrical implant has been surgically placed into his brain and this allows him to feel pressure-like sensations through the use of a robotic arm. This discovery has had such a great impact that Dustin Tyler states “a significant and crucial advance and a step towards restoring sensation in people with paralysis.” The discovery is highly promising, but there are currently some limitations because Copeland cannot feel: movement, temperature, or pain with the robotic arm. Scientists say that this obstacle may be able to be overcome by using implants that contain a much more significant number of electrodes. Paralysis victims are now being given the chance to have a limited sense of touch when at one point this thought was viewed as impossible. It will be very interesting to see what will be discovered next to better the lives of paralysis victims.
My essay is on how The Greek Tree on the SUNY Geneseo campus is related to William Cronon’s ideas in “The Trouble with Wilderness.” I wrote about how The Greek Tree in many ways agrees with William Cronon about how nature should be appreciated and admired by all. The Greek Tree is in the perfect location for everyone on the SUNY Geneseo campus to see and appreciate nature.
For every piece of writing or for everything in general there will always be people to give criticism and to put one’s work down. I think that skeptics would say that my writing does not have enough of my own ideas and does not give enough examples to back-up my most critical points in my essay. I can respond to the skeptics by seeing if I did have enough of my own ideas and that I did provide enough examples. Finally, I would say “so what” and “who cares” what the skeptics say.
