Biodiversity Law in Paradise

Today was exactly what Saturdays should be.  This morning CJ and I got up and cooked breakfast together, followed by a hike by the Kaw River (where we saw mountain UNICYCLERS... Just like mountain bikers, but with only one wheel.  Maybe among the top ten most impressive things I've ever seen).  We spent the afternoon grilling lunch and doing homework on the back patio in the unseasonably warm temperatures.

Warm sunshine on my face reminded me that I should reflect on my recent Caribbean excursion before it gets too far back in my memory.  This semester for me began with a 10-day trip to the US Virgin Islands for a class called Biodiversity Law.  Biodiversity is a word created a few decades ago to refer to the biological diversity of species, ecosystems, and genetic variation.

As a class, Biodiversity Law related to our current system of protecting biodiversity through laws and the court system, and discussions of what could be done from a legal standpoint to more effectively protect biodiversity.  It was very worthwhile to take this class on-location in the Virgin Islands, a place with both unique biodiversity and unique pressures from human development on its biodiversity.

Below are some pictures I took during our class excursion to Botany Bay on St. Thomas (check out  my professor's description of that day), with some facts, thoughts, and quotes (taken from my lecture notes) thrown in between each picture.

Biodiversity loss is an environmental issue, but it is qualitatively different from other environmental issues such as air and water quality.  Air can be cleaned up, and water can be purified, 

but injury to biodiversity cannot be un-done.  Once the genetic information evolved over years is lost, 

it cannot simply be recovered. 

"Managing the natural resources of the earth and conserving biodiversity are the major intellectual challenges of the 21st century. ...Unfortunately, the political battle for the environment will occur in courtrooms, senate subcommittees, op-ed pages and press conferences.  How well equipped are ecologists to inform the debates in these trenches?" Dobson, 2000

 The acronym "HIPPO" describes the current main causes of extinction in order: 

Habitat Destruction (usually by human development), 

Invasive species (often introduced through human activity), 

Pollution (by humans), 

(Over)Population (of humans), 

and Overexploitation (by humans)

"How much structure is needed? Imagine if the only function of this article was the transfer of information.  Many of the words could be deleted and you would still get the message.  It would (we hope) be less pleasant to read... But how many of the words could you delete before the meaning starts to get lost? ... [C]onserving one population of every species is rather like having one of each note in the Mozart concerto... How many species can we lose before we start to affect theway ecosystems function?" Purvis and Hector, 2000. 

The world's biological history exhibits an overall gradual rise in biodiversity punctuated by mass extinctions.  We are currently experiencing the 6th great extinction in the history of the world, 

and it appears to be entirely human-made.  

Do we, as humans, 

want to go down in history as being the "asteroid" 

that caused the 6th great loss of biodiversity?  

Making Christmas

 In my last post I mentioned how incredible it is to spend some time on projects and activities that don't involve reading, writing, or my computer.  Here are some of those projects...

First, I replaced my broken-zipper wallet with one made from scraps of a skirt I made last year.  The inside of the wallet is gloriously full of pockets, if only I could figure out a way to keep things from sliding out of their places... still working on the concept, maybe I'll get it right next time.   

 

I also took the big step of retiring my old versatile herringbone bag, which has seen me through many a good time and a long travel.  It had surpassed my ability to patch it up, so I saved the bits I thought I could reuse and said goodbye to the rest.  I lit some candles to help myself say goodbye :P

Below is an example of one of the trips it made with me, 

to visit my dear sister Rachel studying in London...

 I whipped up some cute stockings for Christmas time in Indiana... As you can see below, they were indeed hung by the chimney with care;.

 While in Indiana I got the chance to play lots of games with my fun new family.  Below is Jeremy winning the game of life as a teacher.  That's talent.

Also while in Indiana, my industrious sister-in-law Jenny held a soap-making workshop.  We kicked all non-goggled members of the household out of the kitchen, and emerged four hours later with four batches of soap. 

 We also took advantage of the fresh snowfall to go sledding on the hills of Goshen. 

And my final pre-Spring-semester project is this journal I made today.  My new years resolution is to keep a journal this year (which I haven't done regularly since before college) but with a twist: my journal entries will consist of my favorite memory from that day, and one thing I'm thankful for from that day.  And I'm going to try to write my entries in cursive, in the hopes that my current 4th-grade cursive will turn into something like my mom's lovely penmanship by next December.  Now I have a nice brand new journal to (hopefully) inspire me to keep up the habit. 

And that's that.  End of break.  Tomorrow my classes start again... sort of.  At least one class does: Biodiversity Law, which takes place in the US Virgin Islands.  I know, bummer.  I'm not sure what to expect, but my bags are packed, including two swimsuits, hiking boots, snorkeling gear, and a 1000-pound 1000-page textbook.  I fly out tomorrow!