PH246 Evan Rao Blog

My outdoor reflection this week was in an unconventional location; in the cabin of an airplane thousands of feet in the air. I always choose the window seat when I’m flying because I enjoy looking outside at the networks of houses and roads and forests, the interplay between human made structures and the sparse patches we have left for other things. Flying over Chicago, I was struck by the sheer scale of our communities, grids upon grids of neighborhoods stretched for what looked like an eternity to me, with the city itself looming over it all. But, as I looked for longer, I began to realize just how small Chicago looked compared to the vastness of the landscape and the sky. One of the largest cities on earth seemed like nothing but an anthill compared to the even larger stretch of the horizon, and for a moment I felt as if we humans are not as dominant on this planet as we think we are. Flying over Nebraska, and then into Colorado, I was struck by the dryness and loneliness of the ...

  Old Growth Children is one of my favorite chapters in Braiding Sweetgrass. The Pacific Northwest has a special place in my heart; I treasure the memories I have made amongst the dampness and the fog and the towering trees. Kimmerer opens the chapter with an ode to the ancient rainforests that used to spread across the continent. I can only imagine the beauty and splendor of those unspoiled forests, how vibrant and teeming with life it must have felt. The trees, Kimmerer describes, served the native people as sources of boats, medicine, clothing, and spirituality. I found myself reflecting throughout the chapter about the many ways trees serve both human and nonhuman species. The uses above hold cultural meaning, and so I believe do the uses which the trees serve for animals. Marbled Murrelets were found to nest in the overstory of the old growth forests of the pacific northwest, a shocking discovery to scientists who had assumed that the seabirds must be near their coastal haun...

  Warren, in The Power and Promise of Ecological Feminism, outlines the intriguing concept that a truly comprehensive environmental ethic is incomplete without a feminist perspective, and likewise true feminism requires an environmental perspective. This argument is sure to ruffle some feathers, particularly I would imagine amongst groups which hyperfocus on one of the issues in question. Whether Warren’s assertion is applicable to every instance is something I am still grappling with personally, but I can understand her underlying motivations. The true power and purpose of interdisciplinary and integrative approaches like the one Warren is advocating for, in my opinion, is in their effectiveness at identifying institutional issues. Warren makes it clear that the patriarchy, and its culture of domination, is what props up the “twin oppressions” of both women and nature. Assuming this, it is obvious that the issues are interlinked, and therefore it logically follows that organiza...

My outdoor reflection for this week took place this morning. I had just showered and dressed, and had begun to make some breakfast. I had been feeling anxious for much of the morning, for no obvious reason other than the fact that I had stayed up late and didn’t sleep particularly well, and felt the need to step outside of my apartment to get some fresh air. The back of our apartment isn’t particularly picturesque or beautiful; open our door and you are greeted with a parking lot, wire fence, and gravel alleyway. But there is a pretty cottonwood tree, and of course you can see the sky and the clouds and hear birds calling. I took particular notice of a tree several yards down, turning a vibrant shade of red. I find the changing of the leaves during fall to be a particularly quiet and reflective sight. The year has been long, and it is an annual comfort to see the leaves changing and signaling that the quiet of winter is imminent. What would I do, I wonder, in a place without seasonali...

Considering the many implications of bringing an extinct species such as the Woolly Mammoth back to life is a fascinating and complicated endeavor. Sherkow and Greely in “What If Extinction Is Not Forever” provide a useful discussion of the pros and cons of de-extinction. The benefits, to them, include “scientific knowledge, technological advancement, concrete environmental benefits, justice, and wonder” (33). They see the risks as including “animal welfare, health, environment, political, and moral” (32). I personally find myself intuitively against the idea of bringing back extinct species from the dead, and had previously considered many of the risks involved, including that of animal welfare/morality and the potential effect such an action could have on the broader environment. But what I hadn’t considered as much, and what Sherkow and Greely bring up, are the legal and political risks associated with such action. I personally am very interested in the applications of the Endange...

  Taylor, in “All Animals Are Equal (But Some Are More Equal Than Others)” provides an interesting criticism of Singer’s arguments about the worth of a life. She focuses on his concept of a “life worth living”, disagreeing with his stance that disabled people live less fulfilling and meaningful lives than able bodied individuals due to their relative lack of ability to value their existence. Singer’s is clearly a problematic stance. It seems to me that his effort to try and create a unifying theory of how to value life is clashing with how we tend to value the lives of humans in a different way than how we value other animal life, and by extension perhaps how other animals value each other's lives. For example, I don’t think it would be particularly controversial amongst a pack of wolves to leave behind one of their own if that individual is physically incapable of keeping up with them. In contrast, humans tend to take care of our sick and elderly in such situations. I don’t thi...