Science In Perspective Blog #2
Today I realized something, like I do everyday, and that is the fact that everything we are, and everything we have come to be, is interconnected in some way. Its fascinating really because its such a beautiful thing. And what I mean by interconnectedness is that there is life in everything we can imagine. I’ve always been the type of person that truly appreciates the depths of nature, and everything it holds, including us. But it wasn’t until now that I could actually stop myself and really think about everything in a more holistic way, and wonder why a lot of the things I see, are the way they are. Similarly, in “The Light Green Society,” Michael Bess talks about the idea of interconnectedness, and think of it as: far-removed points in a spider web, they are linked across space and time through casual connections that are often extremely complex and hard to discern. In this sense, they constitute large scale natural systems whose integrity, equilibrium or dynamic evolution a patient human observer can reveal (Bess 62).
Throughout the weeks I visited different spots around Angers, France for our assignment, the first was a park that I normally go to alone or with my friend Paola to work out at called, “Parc du Pin.” When I first came here, I knew that I had to come back to just sit on one of the benches and really take the time to admire everything that was going on around me. To make it much more of a productive visit, I first did some exercise and then as my workout came to and end, I started taking mental pictures of what I saw around me. I noticed how gracefully the leaves from the trees would fall, the colors of the leaves (something I’ve never never experienced; seasons, because, TX.), how I found it strange that there were not enough squirrels swarming this park, with the amount of acorns/nuts there were (also the squirrels here are really completely brown unlike in the states where they have tints of black), how every inch of this park was so lusciously covered in green, or by some type of plants (except for the trail of course), even the house had vines covering areas of it. I also noticed that even though this park is in the center of a busy neighborhood, also right next to a primary school, it was considerably well kept (no signs of littering), and just very beautiful despite its small size. Back in the U.S and Mexico, there are big parks near my houses and even though they are in nice communities, there are always signs of ignorance (littering, even if there are so many trashcans around). While being here in Angers, I have noticed that there aren’t people who go to these parks and pick up trash for others, or perhaps there are but I just haven’t seen them.
Another park that I spent an hour in was about two weeks ago when I visited Paris, France named “Jardin du Luxembourg.” This park was way bigger and had many more people. Although its massive size, I don’t think I have ever seen something so beautiful and perfectly color schemed. The amount of plants there were was ridiculous, in a good sense of course. It made sense to me why so many people raved about this park, the combination of trees, flowers, water basins, statues just made this park look so effortlessly elegant, very clean, environmentally friendly (along with the people visiting it), and just overall a great green space and inclusion to the already beautiful Paris.
Two weekends ago, I visited a little town called Sarzeau, which is on the outskirts of Bretagne, France. It was nice to visit the coast while being here. We spent an entire afternoon horseback riding and later that day we went for a stroll on the beach. Here I experienced clean beaches, no trash in sight, crisp air, many people fishing, and overall just so much life. There is beach an hour away from where I live in Houston, called Galveston Beach, and I kid you not, to anyone who is reading this, that this beach is by far one of the most highly unkept beaches I have ever been to. Here, people literally liter (oh tongue twister haha) in front of you, point to the beach when their kids need to go to the bathroom, and I cant even begin to describe how polluted the water is.
(These two pictures in the center and bottom are in Sarzeau.)
Its been almost five years since the last time I went, but these kinds of things make me really appreciate to be able to walk on a beach where there are actually people who care about keeping their surroundings as beautiful now and as in the future. The country side was crawling with goats, cows, horses, a whole bunch of green open range, and ocean that is so unbelievably blue. We passed by a lot farms with rows of sunflowers and corn. Something else that also caught my attention was how many apple trees were grown in this town (they have their own cider). It felt nice to get away from the city for a change; the noise, the constant on the go feels, and of course school plus everything it comes with.
Last weekend I stayed in Angers, and although I didn’t necessarily sit for an hour and take notes, the walking and biking I do around the city, which also makes up for how I spend my day, I would take mental pictures and notes of the things I saw around me. Since my theme revolves around pollution, especially in the cities where I spend most of my time, I found it super cool to see large recycling bins around the city. I spotted these around my house too, and I noticed that people do get a lot of use out them. In the U.S, specifically in Houston, TX, I can definitely say that there is an emphasis on recycling and keeping the city green&clean. Although a lot of people may disregard this important message, there are still many who do live up to the being kind to the natural environment. They use the recycling bins the city provides for each home to use, so that every Tuesday of the week, people from the city come and pick it up.
It’s funny because when I was younger I use to put things in the recycling bin that didn’t belong there and my dad would always get mad and make all of the kids sit down for a lecture on the right way to do it. This form of sustainability I believe will increase the percentage of waste materials that humans recycle. This also explains why, unlike other species, the human species is a major violator of the chemical cycling principle (Miller&Spoolman 56).With that being said, I think that after talking to my professor today about what I could do for my independent project related to pollution, I leaned more towards the idea of finding a way to perhaps bring more recycling bins inside the classrooms and also around the school. This idea came to mind when both me and my professor watched as a classmate threw his bater bottle in a trash can, and there landed the genius idea. I hope to make this idea become a reality because as I have been told and as I have read, it seems as though in Europe it is far easier to channel your good intentions into action (Rosenthal).
Works Cited
“Air Quality Now – Participating Cities – Paris – Environmental Situation.” Air Quality Now – Participating Cities – Paris – Environmental Situation. CITEAIR, 2007. Web. 07 Oct. 2015. <http://www.airqualitynow.eu/city_info/paris/page2.php>.
Althaus, Dudley. “Litter Choking Streets throughout Mexico.” Houston Chronicle. Houston Chronicle, 25 June 2007. Web. 07 Oct. 2015. <http://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/Litter-choking-streets-throughout-Mexico-1824829.php>.
Bess, Michael. The Light-green Society: Ecology and Technological Modernity in France, 1960-2000. Chicago: U of Chicago, 2003. Print.
Graham, Adam H. “Eco-Paris.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Apr. 2011. Web. 07 Oct. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/travel/10journeys-ecoparis.html?_r=0>.
Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment: Principles, Connections, and Solutions. Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole, 2007. Print.
Rosenthal, Elisabeth. “What Makes Europe Greener than the U.S.?” By Elisabeth Rosenthal: Yale Environment 360. Yale Environment 360, 28 Sept. 2009. Web. 07 Oct. 2015. <http://e360.yale.edu/feature/what_makes_europe_greener_than_the_us/2193/>.