After finishing my homework for the day, I celebrate by numbing my mind to social media. Tik tok provides the perfect escape from reality. Animals doing funny things, people cooking interesting recipes, jokes and silly skits…everything you need to dissociate from reality. Time flies by as I scroll through video after video. Each one may be only a few seconds or minutes long, but it feels much longer. Impatient, I skip through some videos to the end, not even wanting to wait ten more seconds. Although the amount of information being consumed is extensive, I feel relaxed. I send some videos to friends so that we can laugh about the content together later. To some friends I send videos of cute animals, to others videos about decorating apartments, and to some I send videos of people doing stupid things with the message “this is you”.
It is cold outside, I do not like the cold. I would normally go inside as soon as possible if the weather is under fifty degrees. Sometimes my knees even hurt when it’s too cold outside, but not today. I sit on a bench outside my apartment building, watching life around me. Although the busy street is nearby, I notice bird songs and the sound of wind in the trees. The more time I spend out there, the more I notice that I hadn’t before. Animal tracks in the snow, squirrels running through the trees and digging for nuts, the sun reflecting off of the ice, even the crunch of humans walking through the snow is a lovely sound. But it is too cold just to sit around and observe. I try to keep active and walk around until I go inside.
Overall, this assignment has taught me to spend less time on social media/the internet and more time exploring the “real world”. While media may provide a temporary escape from reality, it becomes overstimulating and can eventually cause stress. In moderation I believe media is a healthy outlet, especially if you seek out useful information rather than nonsense. For example, some videos I saw taught me new recipes and cooking techniques. There is nothing wrong with media if you are consuming useful information and/or consuming in small quantities. Even though I dislike the cold, it is still an enjoyable experience to be outside in nature. This exercise also made me think about how we as a society view nature. Most of us take for granted all the things that occur in our environment. As someone who enjoys hiking and camping, I realized that even in those situations we focus on getting to the destination rather than enjoying the journey. When we take the time to notice all the little details it’s not only enjoyable but also educational. Animal tracks in the snow can be traced back to the type of animal, where it’s headed, and much more. In the past noticing these tracks could mean the difference between no dinner and a hearty meal. Maybe this is not necessary today, but the focus of all of our senses on the world around us allows for new experiences and a heightened sense of appreciation.
For the first half of this exercise, I spent my time in the food court area of the Johnson Center. I put my earbuds in and watched/listened to a youtube video of renowned psychologist Jordan Peterson. As I listened to his perspective on many aspects of our society, I went on instagram and quickly got bored. I was inundated with ads and suggested accounts for things I was both interested and uninterested in. I looked around at my surroundings, and noticed the immense amount of people in the food court, walking around, waiting in line, student organizations with their tables, etc. Even with the earbuds in, I could still hear conversations around me, and the intense overall noise of a few hundred people being in the same area. As I approached being there for an hour, I was anxious and ready to leave, I needed some peace and quiet in order to focus and not feel overwhelmed. It was much harder to actually gain anything from the video I had been listening to.
For the second half of this exercise, I spent my time in a forest on the outskirts of my neighborhood. I approached the treeline, set a timer for an hour, put my phone on silent, and took my first step into the forest. I wanted to immerse myself fully for this hour, I let my thoughts wander the same way I was wandering through the forest, I let my eyes wander to view as many details as I could. I had nothing distracting me, and thus my thoughts were clear, I felt much more analytical of my surroundings, much more intuned because all I could do was be a part of nature for this hour. I noticed the finer details, I looked at the patterns of tree bark, the occasional chittering of squirrels, the songs of birds in trees, a rabbit family running to their burrow. These are small details that add to the overall bigger picture of nature, these finer details give that big picture an intricate and awe-inspiring beauty that is unmatched by anything unnatural. This time in nature gave me a greater appreciation for nature, from the small harder to notice things, to the things that are obvious. Disconnecting from technology, and immersing myself into the forest community, made it easier to focus, to feel serenity.
This expierience of both environments was very interesting. Both parts of the exercise were polar opposites, and I personally enjoyed my time in nature better. However, technology although distracting, is necessary at this point for humanity. I had a realization that I immerse myself too much in technology, and material and societal things, rather than also things of the natural world. I had a change in my perception, I need a balance between technology and nature. They both have their pros and cons, but if I can take from the pros of both, I think I could be a more efficient person in the things I want to work towards and achieve, as well as a better overall quality of life.
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Unification & Religion
by: Irene M. Slusher
Harari et al. (2015) in the book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, have written with focus on imagination in the building of history. It is not written with the idea of documenting every statement in parts of history that are mentioned. It is written with the theory that certain events may have led to a certain human evolution or other events. Also, the personal thoughts of the author(s) was included on what they noted in history and the human situation, while it also is noted it includes predictions as to where the human race will end up in the future. It is classified non-fiction but should be read with the idea that statements are not always verified and could be inaccurate to some degree. In my opinion, it also includes group think, that could need more evaluation. I say this because the species of humans that are written as extinct and on the evolutionary scale can be seen today in humanity, including babies born with smaller brains (ABC News, 2016), some with extra limbs or fewer limbs (DW, 2019), children born with “tails” (Mukhopadhyay et al., 2012), conjoined twins, humans who cannot walk erect due to medical conditions, etc. (CDC, 2020) In fact, albinos are born to black humans even to this day, whereas, this means humans are really more unified than we even realize (ABCNews, 2017).
From my assigned reading of the fourth section of Sapiens, Unification, I was interested in the elements that created a religion and what might have been the reason(s) religion survived through human history in a very hostile earth. An example of a human-environment interaction that is interesting is the diets of the hunter gatherers before they actually became farmers. In choosing this topic it is relevant because Harari et al (2015) reports that diet is critical in the survival of humanity and humanity has suffered since grains were farmed to support the increased population also concluding that disease has been a negative result of this farming.
Unification and Religion seems to occur during the same time period allocated to Homo Sapiens, or roughly 100,000 years ago, as the author (Harari et al., 2015) mentioned. This leads the author to seem to discount existence of religion prior to this or simply does not choose to mention it. This is applicable to the theme of “unification in the book Sapiens.” According to Harari, et al (2015) Homo Sapiens appeared only in the last 100,000 years and were preceded by organisms and or animals that had far less creativity, imagination, brain size and function.
What occurs after Homo Sapiens appearance leads the authors to analyze the effects of a specific human appearance on the physical environment of the earth and or the living systems. The effects of farming of grains, though it was theorized as disease producing, increased the population and potentially led to organized secure societies that were very religious. What was not mentioned was the affect of this diet on birth defects or anomalies in the physical appearance of homo sapiens. The author(s) did reflect on the power of Religion. Religion on this larger scale was, according to the authors, a unifying force for humanity. So this was the noted affect of this physical environment on humans.
The changes in human-environment interactions could improve nutrition but according to Harari et al (2015) due to shifts in either social or ecological systems presented by farming, humans became less healthy. The author feels this unhealthiness promoted diseases, but this might have included over-population as more likely to harbor diseases, unsanitary conditions and over-eating in these areas due to communities banding together into larger and larger communities to protect themselves. Not really mentioned, but also critical evaluation of the farm community scenarios, is that pollution could cause birth defects and medical conditions that are perpetuated further by the foods eaten. On top of all of this, radiation and disasters from natural events also caused physical changes to the humanity born during these times. It will even occur today and in the future.
Resource characteristics can be described as the nutritional food, non-nutritional food, farming food from grains (etc.), natural resource wealth units (stocks) in the Loopy systems diagram.
Governance/user characteristics can be described as stocks in the framing, education, and also related wealth.
Social/economic/political settings or related ecosystems include the Secure Society which evolves from Religion noted by Harari et al (2015). It is apparent that social context of Economic development, demographic trends, political stability, resource policies, & market incentives played a role in this system . Climate patterns, pollution patterns, & ecological flows in/out of the SES are part of the Disasters that affected the system. (McGinnis and Ostrom, 2014). As needed, they were entered into my systems diagram.
Interaction(s) are interesting to view in the Loopy presentation. I can describe the human-environment interaction(s) as increasing negatively when negative events are at their height and the flows and the feedback show that Religion, as the topic of unification, shows strength despite the negativity of atheism., upon placement of arrows between the different stocks in the system. The outcomes are observed to be, from the beginning of Creation, following inadequate nutrition, disasters and radiation, as leading to birth defects. However, when religion is involved in the secure society, farming, and education it presents more security and eventually leads to atheism. When points are diminished it presents strength in religion, which lends to the theory that Religion is strong when disasters, birth defects, food shortages, etc are scarcer.. These are the outcomes of the interaction in the system when the model is run. This is validated in the report, because Harari et al (2015) recognize the importance of religion as a unifying force but acknowledge humanity has the free will to choose to be part of religion or choose atheism.
ABCNews. (2017, December 29). Tanzanian children lost limbs in brutal attacks for having albinism: Part 1. YouTube: Tanzanian children lost limbs in brutal attacks for having albinism: Part 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PKWoW0ZzIk.
Harari, Y. N., Harari, Y. N., Purcell, J., Watzman, H., Harari, Y. N., & Harari, Y. N. (2015). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind ; Homo Deus: A brief history of Tomorrow. Harper, An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.
Mukhopadhyay, B., Shukla, R. M., Mukhopadhyay, M., Mandal, K. C., Haldar, P., & Benare, A. (2012). Spectrum of human tails: A report of six cases. Journal of Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons, 17(1), 23. https://doi.org/10.4103/0971-9261.91082
McGinnis, M. D., & Ostrom, E. (2014). Social-ecological system framework: initial changes and
Social/economic/political settings: monarchies looking to extend their rule and their religion, merchants and tradespeople looking to secure a living and survive in a middle class life, societies developing new beliefs and philosophies
Interactions (human-environmental): greater understanding of outside climates, cultivation of land in producing products for trade, taming environment for transportation
The cognitive revolution occurred from around the time of ancient empires to the Age of Exploration, with the time period of 5000 BCE to the 1600s constituting an era where civilizations formed and interacted with one another to form empires. According to Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, the first three actors to spur the Cognitive Revolution were merchants, conquerors, and prophets (Harari, 2011). This became the case as a result of monarchies looking to extend their rule and religion, of merchants and tradespeople looking to secure a living and survive with a middle-class life, and of societies developing new beliefs and philosophies. In order to support the spread of innovations, products, and ideas that came with the Cognitive Revolution, people had to forge means of transportation, means of passing knowledge, and means of securing exchanges. Consequently, old forms of transportation such as animal-drawn carts were utilized while new forms of transportation were developed, alongside currency for efficiency of trade and written texts for the transmission of ideas. Environmentally speaking, this era fostered a greater understanding of outside climates and environments, greater cultivation of land in producing products for trade, and greater domestication of land for developing travel routes. The main outcomes of the Cognitive Revolution involved conflict due to clashes between cultures, cognitive dissonance as part of settling differences, and globalization as seen in the era of ancient empires and continue to see today.
Yuval, H. N. (2015) Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind
Unification of Mankind
By: Artem Protsenko
Time Period: 2250 BC
Resource characteristics: As post agriculture revolution period takes place, human race starts forming a more complex society introducing artificial instincts and certain standards of behavior which allowed millions of strangers to cooperate effectively. Population is the key foundation resource of the mankind. Growing population is driving the demand for more material and non-material resources. This demand stimulates economy growth through production increase (agricultural and crafts), trade, transportation system, monetary system (Ancient, 2014). All these resources are interconnected and only synchronous development of them let the empire to demonstrate a sustainable growth.
Governance/user characteristics: The governance systems varied in both ancient empires and more modern ones. Rome empire went through the transformation from democracy in its early centuries to autocracy during its latest years (Brown, 2016). British empire on the other hand always existed as a mature democracy. The unification of all areas of people’s life was the main principle – from religion to trade rules (Britain’s, 2021). “It’s thanks to these two characteristics that empires have managed to unite diverse ethnic groups and ecological zones under a single political umbrella, thereby fusing together larger and larger segments of the human species and of planet Earth.”
Social/economic/political settings or related ecosystems: All kinds of imperial governances followed the similar sets of ruling principles for their empires: establishing unified legislation, same monetary system for all territories, development of transportation system, establishing same trade regulations. All those measures had to stimulate economic development and growth of population of the empires. Being diverse by its nature, empires benefited from multi-culture population – different nations and groups of people exchanged elements of culture from each other and such exchange stimulated economy growth and bonded the empire population (Foley, 2011. An example can be when British empire brought tea to India in 19th century and made it popular. It changed Indian agriculture and as a result, India became one of the world’s largest producers of tea.
Interaction(s): “An empire is a political order with two important characteristics. First … you have to rule over a significant number of distinct peoples, each possessing a different cultural identity and a separate territory…. Second, empires are characterized by flexible borders and a potentially unlimited appetite. They can swallow and digest more and more nations and territories without altering their basic structure or identity”. Cultural diversity is fed by constant expansion of borders. It improves the quality of elite and governing class, though it may bring tension in the religious unity of the empire, causing religious conflicts (Repez, 2020). Growing population and development of new territories stimulate the production of goods and food, transportation system and trade. All those can’t be achieved without strong governance via adopting the same legislation, polices and rules for trading, monetary system (Foley, 2011). Accumulating and distributing resources from the whole empire, the government invests in culture, science and other non-material assets that can drive society development, enhance production.
Outcomes: Every empire has a life cycle. The presented diagram shows the phase of empire’s growth and becoming mature. With proper governance it may be a very stable form of state as it’s fully self-sufficient and sustainable. The risks for empires are usually associated with external invasions and degradation of governance system. Ecological disasters may be also a serious threat – scientists are still discussing the reasons of Maya civilization sunset, but natural disaster is considered as one of priority reasons.
Brown, Zachary S. “How Democratic Was The Roman Republic? The Theory and Practice of an Archetypal Democracy.” Inquiries Journal 8.11 (2016). http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=1492.
Foley, R A, and M Mirazón Lahr. “The evolution of the diversity of cultures.” Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences vol. 366,1567 (2011): 1080-9. doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0370.
Repez, Filofteia. “THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE PRACTICE OF INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS.” Bulletin of “Carol I” National Defense University, vol. 9, no. 1, 2020, pp. 68-73. ProQuest, http://mutex.gmu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/importance-cultural-diversity-practice/docview/2387129336/se-2, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.12753/2284-9378-20-10.
The Rise of Common Currency in Complex Economies
By: Jasmine Padgett
Time Period—The earliest known form of coinage as common currency, the Mesopotamian shekel emerged nearly 5,000 years ago around 650 – 600 BC. As Harari states, money was created in countless places at countless times throughout history to place systematic value on commodities.
Resource characteristics— Following the Agricultural Revolution, people continued to live in small self-sufficient communities which served as isolated economic units. As smaller villages grew and transport infrastructure expanded, people became aware of outside villages which held reputations for higher quality products. Due to environmental advantages such as soil type, climate, as well as technical insight, specialization was made possible giving people a reason to travel outside of their home village for commodities, losing their set relative exchange rate.
Governance/user characteristics— With the pool of producers and consumers expanding and cities forming networks of connections through improved transport infrastructure, a need for a common currency arose. Complex economies were formed as a direct result of product specialization and relative exchange rates. Because individuals could no longer find common value in differing commodities, common coinages were trusted to hold their value and be used as fair trading tokens. Through universal convertibility and universal trust, people give their governments and economic markets the power and responsibility of maintaining the value behind their currency on an inter-societal scale.
Social/economic/political settings or related ecosystems—As civilizations moved toward more unified, centrally led empires, complex economies developed to enable transactions across increasingly vast physical boundaries. Markets incentivized individuals to specialize in producing commodities in which they held competitive advantage. Those with access to environments conducive to wine production, focused on honing their technique and utilizing their surrounding resources to their fullest potential to motivate people from near and far to come buy their high-quality products. A common currency and coin-based economy aided these bargains since bartering exchange rates were not interchangeable or transferable.
Interactions—Humans began to shift their interactions with their environment due to changes in social systems. As the use of common currency and product specialization increased, individuals were less inclined to produce items fulfilling all of their needs independently. This put less stress on the immediate surrounding environment since more uniform means of production were employed.
Outcomes—Through increased transport infrastructure, growing cities and kingdoms, and thus an influx of consumers and producers interacting, product specialization and relative exchange rates led to the widespread use of money across numerous civilizations. Through this phenomenon, complex economies were formed, leaving behind simple, isolated economies based on barter and trade and the assumption of reciprocity.
Harari, Y. N., Harari, Y. N., Purcell, J., Watzman, H., Harari, Y. N., & Harari, Y. N. (2015). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind ; Homo Deus: A brief history of Tomorrow. Harper, An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.
McGinnis, M. D., & Ostrom, E. (2014). Social-ecological system framework: initial changes and
continuing challenges. Ecology and Society, 19(2), 30. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES06387-190230
The agricultural revolution began around 9500 – 8500 BC and the rise of farming was gradual and spread over centuries and millennia. It began in south-eastern Turkey, western Iran, and the Levant. The agricultural revolution was a turning point in human evolution.
The stocks of crop domestication include land ties and crop production. When the domestication of crops began, this substantially increased land ties. When farming, Homo sapiens needed to be able to tend to their crops, therefore necessitating proximity. Better farming therefore prompted increased crop production.
Governance characteristics influenced by crop domestication include community, classism, human violence, and intelligence. Land ties and farming led to community building. As crop production increased, food security also increased, but those left with less or no food experienced classism. Classism was also driven by the hard effort to grow crops and achieve further luxuries to live a pampered lifestyle. As classism rose and surrounding communities experienced food insecurity, human violence also rose as invasions of farmlands began; Homo sapiens were driven to violence by the need to survive and attempts to overpower and take what they required. While foraging increased knowledge of the natural world, it also allowed farmers to better learn how to cultivate crops and tame animals. Though while knowledge expanded, as time passed intelligence did not increase for Homo sapiens.
There were several social contexts that were impacted by crop domestication and all interconnected. As crop production increased, food variety also expanded. A variety of staple grains became important to the human diet, and this was also directly linked to human health. Human health increased because food security became more reliable, and better human health also meant less starvation, malnutrition, and disease. Lessened hunger and illness led to lower mortality rates and longer lives, also contributing to population increases.
While humans succeeded in growing crops to harvest and called it domestication, plants were the ones who in fact domesticated Homo sapiens. Humans had to adapt to their agricultural production and the work that it required. Homo sapiens experienced an excess of effects of their bodies in attempting to do the essential work; Spines, knees, necks, and arches were especially affected with slipped discs, arthritis, hernias, broken bones, and more. Human bodies were accustomed to foraging, not the demands of farming.
The pursuit of farming came in stages and varied by location and time, yet still involved small modifications in daily life. These modifications are what made agriculture actually domesticate Homo sapiens. Farmers drove themselves to do more difficult work that left them less satisfied than foraging. Essentially, farming was not necessary and was a trap, and in chasing an easier life from domestication of crops, it ensued in considerable hardships.
Harari, Y. N., Purcell, J., & Watzman, H. (2015). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. Harper, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
The Domestication of Wheat and Humans
By: Malia Stephens
Resource Characteristics:
The most precious natural resource for ancient humans was for tile land and the ability to grow crops. The land available to ancient people was not always prepared and ready for agriculture. This meant that they had to till and turn the soil until it was ready to grow wheat.
Governance/User Characteristics:
One of the governance characteristics of agriculture in ancient societies was The class divide that came from the social structures of communities. hierarchies were created to divide and classify people which then affected their social standing and their ability to access certain things within the community. This meant that those who are higher in the hierarchy had more access to food and care than those who were at the bottom of the social structure.
Social/Economic/Political Settings or Related Ecosystems:
One of the settings and ecosystems of ancient agriculture was less variation in the diet. As ancient people began to focus more on growing and consuming wheat, The lifestyle and diet of hunter-gatherers began to dwindle. The lack of variety and their diets and the consumption of mainly wheat, placed a great amount of stress and importance on growing wheat. This meant that the success and survival of the population depended on the growing of wheat. wait and also the land that it was grown on was susceptible to disease and other environmental damages, such as flooding or drought. The destruction of a wheat field was a death sentence for an ancient human population. The importance placed on farming wheat also meant that the farmers were connected and bound to their land. Farmers were the sole protectors of the only food source in a community, which meant that they were also a target to outsiders. When other communities or groups of hunter-gatherers could no longer find or grow food they would resort to violence and would attack the farmers to steal their crops. As human society progressed and farming became a main component of it, Farmers became attached to their land and would fight to the death to protect it. This led to human communities and populations having permanent settlements, which led to the development of major cities in the future.
Interaction(s):
The main interaction in agricultural development in human history is largely dependent upon the relationship between humans and wheat. Humans used and cultivated wheat to ensure our survival and to allow for our communities to grow and flourish. Wheat also did the same thing to humans. As humans domesticated wheat, wheat also domesticated humans. The domestication of humans happened at the same rate as the domestication of wheat. There were many physical changes to ancient human bodies, such as injuries which can be seen mainly in the spines, knees, necks, and arches. The growing of wheat also changed human routines. They no longer went on long journeys to forage for food, but instead stuck in one place for long hours under a hot sun to cultivate and protect a plot of farmland. wheat also changed human society. It placed an importance upon farmers and the growing of wheat, which led to communities being centered around farming and wheat fields.
Outcomes:
Ancient people took this plant and grew it close to their communities and harvested it for sustenance. The wheat plant uses humans to spread itself across the globe. Before the domestication of humans, wheat was a grass plant that grew in a small area of the Middle East, in modern times wheat is found throughout the globe.
Harari, Y. N., Purcell, J., & Watzman, H. (2015). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. Harper, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
The impacts of the Agricultural Revolution on Humans
By: Jamileth Picavia-Salazar
To change and constantly adapt to situations on hand, is something humans have constantly been doing. In the beginning humans mostly relied on gathering and hunting animals and plants; any resources that were available for them to use was fair game. Homo sapiens traveled far and wide, starting from East Africia to then eventually ending up in North America, however their habits and way of life did not change during this time. Wherever they went, their instinct was to rely on the resources they had access to: wild animals and plants. Although this began to change 10,000 years ago when homo sapiens began to devote efforts to manipulating some of the wild animals and plants. They began to plant and sow seeds, as they grew understanding that the work they were doing would eventually provide more resources to them in the long run, thus the agricultural revolution began.
The Agricultural revolution emerged around 9,500- 8,500 BC, wild animals and plants began to be domesticated. This included wheat, goats, lentils, olive trees, horses, and grapevines. Agricultural farmers now were able to provide plentiful resources and food for their given communities, as they expanded their knowledge on what resources were best and which were to be avoided. However, there were some complexities that arose with this revolution.
Before the agricultural revolution, as stated, homo sapiens were hunter gatherers. Now that they were able to manipulate which goods they wanted to focus their attention to farming. This meant that they were able to create large sums of food to be able to use, but this did not mean because they had more resources that they had a better diet or easy time. Malnutrition and bad harvests impacted their food sources. Additionally, some governance systems that arose from this revolution involved a class system. The agricultural revolution provided opportunities that created crowded cities and large empires. Thus, this is where stems of class systems developed since some were able to take advantage of the power that comes with plentiful resources and create control. Overall, the agricultural revolution provided opportunities for humans to expand their knowledge and skills, but there were still challenges when it came to providing resources, as the fight for resources created systems of class and power.
Harari, Y. N., Purcell, J., & Watzman, H. (2015). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. Harper, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
The Agricultural Revolution
By: Carl Malinsky
While the exact time period of the agricultural revolution is not known, it began somewhere around 12000 BCE and lasted until around 500 BCE (Harari 2011). The agricultural revolution was based upon the transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a farmer lifestyle. This began was the domestication of certain plants and animals so that Homo sapiens would no longer have to travel for food and could settle down in one place. This way, they were able to rely on the food they grew or raised if the environment could provide. The main stocks of this time were crops such as wheat, corn, rice, and barley and domesticated animals such as pigs, cows, sheep, and chickens (Harari 2011). The users of these resources were the farmers who took care of them as well as their families or other members of their village or community. However, due to the lack of an early legal system and zero policies regarding ownership, crops and animals were free game and anyone could attack these farms in order to obtain their resources which often created conflict during the earlier days of the revolution. In this system, environmental factors caused by drought, pests, and fungi all have the potential to negatively impact the domestic stocks needed for the society. In a social or political setting, we see the transition from a hunter-gatherer society to a farming and somewhat market based one where the market incentives of needing these stocks can create conflict between farmers if one group is lacking in resources. This leads to a struggle for land and resources amongst one another.
With the Loopy model, I started with the spread of humans as this would have portrayed the late hunter-gatherer peoples before the start of the agricultural revolution. From there, domestication of plants and animals begins which sees a decrease in the hunter-gatherer civilization and the rise of farmers. Domestication the leads to the spread of domestication and the establishment of permanent settlements as well as the need for protection for these settlements. As the yield of domesticated crops and animals increase, the population of farmer begins to reproduce more, causing an increase in children in population. This then has a negative effect on the yield of resources because there are more mouths to feed, creating a loop between children, population, and yield. When the yield is high, there is a larger amount of preserved food which increases the amount of enemies and human violence that the population faces which also creates a stronger need for protection. Along with violent enemies, the population must also deal with disease and injuries caused while farming. Finally, the yield of resources can also be negatively impacted by random events such as droughts, swarms of locust, or fungi. The final outcomes are that the amount of hunter-gatherers decrease while the amount of farmers, injuries due to farming, domesticated plants and animals, permanent settlements, and overall spread of domestication increase. The population, amount of children, yield of crops/meat, amount of preserved food, amount of enemies and violence, and need for protection all fluctuate and depend on one another as well as the random environmental impacts.
Resource characteristics: The natural resource units in my essay include pasture land and amount of wheat produced. The amount of pasture land decreased after the domestication of wheat due to changes in land use. Land that was formerly pasture land was converted into areas to grow domesticated agriculture and support developing communities. The amount of wheat produced experienced a drastic increase. Going from only appearing in places it had been sewn naturally to being cultivated increased the amount of places wheat was grown and increased concentration.
Governance/user characteristics: The governance/user characteristics in my essay include class divide and specialization. There was a increase in class divide and specialization. Since everyone was no longer needed to hunt and gather individuals were able to find other positions within the community.
Social/economic/political settings or related ecosystems: The Social/economic/political settings or related ecosystems include variety in diet, food security, ties to land, violence in the face of invasion, community, population, and spread of disease. Variety in diet decreased with the domestication of wheat. When plants were domesticated there was no longer a need for forging so agriculture was specialized leading to less diversity of plants in diets. The loss of variety of diet decreased the level of food security within communities. Since a more limited amount of crops were being grown harvest was more susceptible to being compromised. Community members began more tied to the land they resided on. Before the domestication of agriculture communities would move around as they foraged. After domestication people settled where their crops were being grown. Because of increased ties to land violence in face of invasion also increased. Since the lands were settled upon communities were more committed to defense of their land when attacked. This also increased community and spread of disease. Communites were built on setteled lands and the grouping of people made it easier for disease to spread. Population also increased due to the heightened acsessiblity of food.
Interaction(s): As people began to domesticate agriculture they began to become domesticated themselves. Because of the stability of crops being confined into specific areas people settled down and the way that society operated went through a transformation. Many of the flows and feedbacks are interconnected.
Outcomes: From the domestication of wheat the structure of society changed along with it. Communities were established and there was more time for livings to be made in places beside hunting and gathering.
Harari, Y. N., Purcell, J., & Watzman, H. (2015). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. Harper, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Society during the Agricultural Revolution
By: Gillian Garnett
Human interactions with the environment during the Agricultural Revolution changed from using what resources that were available to manipulating those resources to fit human needs. Before the revolution, Homo sapiens were hunter-gatherer societies consisting of no more than a few dozen individuals (Harari et. al 2015). A major factor in hunter-gatherer societies was the need to be nomadic in order to find food and other resources. This limited the ability of these societies to care for small children as well as their ability to have materialistic goods (Baker 2020).
Before the Agricultural Revolution, humans hunted wild animals and foraged for wild plants. Over time, they learned which plants were good for consumption and which plants were to be avoided. There has been evidence that foraging societies would set up temporary “camps” where resources were plentiful or use caves they found within their territory as a temporary shelter (Barker 2020). Some wild resources that foragers may have gathered are mushroom, nuts, wild grasses, deer, wild pigs and goats, and rabbits. Wild grasses, such as wheat before it was domesticated, were very rarely part of a forager’s diet due to the need to process wheat to make it edible (Harari et. al 2015). The domesticating of wild animals was gradual and brutal, with selective breeding used.
Once the Agricultural Revolution was under way, farming societies began to form. Despite the increase in food supply, life did not necessarily improve for humans. The human body at this point in time was not used to doing back-breaking work such as plowing and sowing seeds. With food becoming plentiful, women began having more children (Harari et. al 2015). This led to population explosions. Conflicts between neighboring societies also escalated, with the need to guard fields and pastures being life or death for farmers. Also with the surplus of food came the development of class systems, with superior individuals ruling over the peasants and farmers.
Social structures began to form as the revolution progressed. Harari et. al (2015) compares human societal structures to a beehive. The authors explain that in the millennia between foraging societies and farming societies, the human genome did not adapt to allow for mass cooperation. Bees are encoded with social jobs in their genome to allow the hive to exist, and their queen does not cheat them out of food that her workers need. Humans do not have this aspect in the genome (at least at this point in time), so it is easy for a leader of a society to unfairly cheat the lower class out of what they deserve.
Barker, G. (2020). The Agricultural Revolution in prehistory: Why did foragers become farmers? Oxford University Press.
Harari, Y. N., Purcell, J., & Watzman, H. (2015). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. Harper, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
The Domestication of Wheat by Homo Sapiens (Natufian People) since 9000 BC
By: Michael Sengmong
The Natufian people lived in Syria since about 9000 BC. These people mostly relied on the production of wheat for their diets. Wheat was one of the earlier plants that was domesticated by early civilizations. Wheat is also used in many dishes like breads and cereal that these people would eat. The natufian people were actually one of the first groups of people to start cultivating plants. Since they learned to cultivate plants, they also started to create settlements near the farmed areas. Wheat had to be broken down and stored in certain places so they also created new technologies. One of which was the stick and mortar, which was used for grinding down the wheat, and another one was a silo which they stored the extra wheat in. The Natifians also had to create tools in order to maintain the crops, so they made sickles to help. Even with all these new tools, the human body was not adapted to this kind of labor. We used to be hunters and gatherers not farmers. The long days of watering, picking out weeds, harvesting, sowing seeds, etc took a big toll on the human body. It would cause arthritis, soreness, broken bones, dehydration, etc, so many human health problems that people were not used to. A good thing that came from the new technologies was the surplus of food available. This meant that they would be able to use more energy and do more activities. One of which was to have more kids and the creation of more farms or houses. But with the increased amount of kids and people using their energy, the food surplus turned into a regular amount because there were more mouths to feed and people had to make their energy go back up. This led to a scarcity of food and an increase in child mortality because they were not able to be fed. While the population spike happened it also meant there were more people to help maintain the farms. But with more people, there was less land available for everyone. This started up arguments between neighbors. People would fight over land and people would be killed. There were also people that did not own any land and would have to work for others to make sure they could survive. This would then create a pyramid of levels between peasants and elite members like chiefs or priests. Nature is also unpredictable at times and it would cause natural disasters that would harm the production of wheat. There could be plant disease that kills off a whole farm’s plants, or there could be a swarm of locusts that come and eat everything. Events like these would just further the demise of the Natufian people. The increased amount of wheat farms and people growing had a negative effect on the environment. The soil from the farms would be overused eventually making them less fertile, making it hard for plants to survive. Many of these people already settled in these areas making it hard for them to just pack up and leave. All the negative impacts ultimately led to their people passing because of the lack of awareness and knowledge of what wheat production could do to growing populations.
Bar-Yosef, O. (1998). The Natufian Culture in the Levant, threshold to the origins of Agriculture. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 6(5), 159–177. https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1520-6505(1998)6:5<159::aid-evan4>3.0.co;2-7
“Which animals kept at either the Western or Eastern Settlements were the easiest and hardest to maintain?”
According to bones found in garbage piles, only the richest could afford to keep cattle. Beef was so rare because cows were hard to maintain, due to their diet consisting of large volumes of only grass that they were able to eat. Unlike the cows, goats could ingest almost anything and were more suited to Greenland’s climate. After cows, the second-best delicacy was caribou. Poorer folk fed on seal in times of hardship and goat and sheep were most common. Sandnes was the largest farm in the western settlement, and Gardar was the largest farm in the eastern Settlement.
“How did the Norse and the Inuit or Dorset peoples fair? What attitude did the Norse have that kept them from learning from their neighbors?”
The Dorset people had moved on by the time the Norse had settled there. As for relations with the Inuit people that came a few decades after the Norse, they saw the Inuit as trespassers. The Greenland Norse were a violent, combative people prone to killing each other, who were also very conservative. Part of the reason this society collapsed was because they failed to adapt to their surroundings or learn from their more successful neighbors. If they weren’t so aggressive, they could have better sourced food, built better home structures that took less resources, built kayaks, or used fat for fuel.
“What happened to the rate at which the crops were growing on the hillsides?”
This question is important because the steady decrease in available hay for the livestock was part of the reason the Norse starved to death. Environmental degradation, though overgrazing and turf cutting, on top of climate change, the beginning of the “Little Ice Age” which caused long cruel winters, together accounted for the starvation of the western and eastern settlements and the collapse of the colonies as a whole.
“How did you respond when the ships stopped coming”
The Norse people depended on imports such as iron, lumber, and tar to survive. Their chief exports were rare commodities like ivory. When the ivory trade opened back up in North Africa, walrus tusks became too much work to produce, and ivory fell out of novelty. The cease of ships also cut the Greenlanders off from European and Norwegian culture. The reading talks about how the Norse tried to keep up with European fashion and piety. Because of Norway’s stress on the importance of Christianity, hard labor and necessary materials which could have been used elsewhere for tools, a few large cathedrals like Gardar Cathedral in the Eastern settlement were erected.
“How did Christianity play into your culture”
As mentioned in the last question, religion and eurocentrism walked hand in hand throughout the daily lives of the Norse people. Even the attempt to raise livestock like in Europe even though the landscape couldn’t sustain it shows this. Also, funds were put into churches which should have been put into the community. Lastly, during the steady collapse after the last bishop died, (bishops had always come from the mainland) there were no priests, and without priests there were no baptisms, burials, or marriages. People lost composure after this, with the addition of raids on the last available farms got rid of the last available food sources and the Norse starved to death.
Character 1: My name is Ahnah, a native Inuit, and wife to Tulok, a hunter in our tribe. We live in a small house far North of the Norse’s Western Settlement. While my husband is hunting, I am home caring for our 3 children, preparing and cooking the food that he brings home, and sewing skins for myself and my family as I learned to do since I was a child.
When the Norse first arrived, we were hesitant to interact with them, and rightfully so, because they attacked a group of us to see how we bleed. Over the years we have tried to be peaceful and offer to trade with them, even teach them how to use our technologies, but they reject our offers. Our way of life has been very harmonious with nature: we only take enough from the environment to provide from ourselves while still trying to give back to the environment. We see the Norse trying to build their communities and support their people, but they are often taking so much from the environment that it can no longer produce what they need. They have been clearing the forests and cutting down our trees for centuries now, and we don’t have many trees left. It reminds me of when I saw the last tree on Easter Island die, it was like I could see that happening to our home, and now it is. We can see that they are struggling and hurting our environment, I wish they would let us help them.
While the Norse have become more accustomed to the cold weather shifts, they haven’t changed their practices to adapt like we have. We know how to live in the cold and still collect food, but they are beginning to starve. It is clear that the reason they haven’t changed because they want to express their European culture, even to their own downfall. And while most of our food comes from the hunters in our tribe, some of the other mothers and I create small gardens in some of the warmer months of the year. Within recent years we have been experiencing some soil erosion which is decreasing our crop yield because the soil is dried out. Even though we haven’t been yielding as much, we are still largely successful in hunting, not struggling with providing enough food for our families. We enjoy our ways of life, we know how to survive and thrive. If the Norse were more friendly, then we could help each other.
Character 2: The character I decided to choose has a traditional and a very distinct role in Norse society. He is a young farmer living in a longhouse (a small farm with several animal pens near it). His primary duty is to keep animals fed and grow enough crops for his family and cattle. Some of the farmers were involved into other activities such as: hunting, fishing, and harvesting. Norse farmer usually was standing on a good position in a hierarchical society. Being freeman granted them an access to the raw material and economic surplus that they gained from their fields and territory.
Hello, I am a Norse settlement living in the harsh arctic land named Greenland. Life here can be cruel and challenging even for the strongest of us. With severe climate and temperature changes varying from negative 50 during winter and positive 15 during the hottest days of summer. Our primary source of food includes hay, barley, rye, and oats during the warm seasons when the earth is suitable for farming. And animal meat during the cold seasons. Although, during the past several years the climate change started to emerge causing the temperature to fall. Making the farming season even shorter and leaving us with shortages of food and crops for animals. Outside of the farming concern we have faced another large-scale issue threatening our dominance in these lands. With an extreme depletion of natural resource our settlement soon ran into a problem of shortage of wood and lumber without which a production and extraction of iron bogs which were preserved in the ground would be highly problematic. By losing an ore deposit our people and territory became vulnerable to the Inuit invaders originating from Siberia and conquering territories of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland at fast rates. Soon we were exposed to regular raids and plundering. Some say Inuits were massacring the entire communities.
Overall, the Greenland’s End was a series of events.
Character 3: Hello, I am a member of the Norse society within Greenland. My family and I live on a small farm that is in charge of providing food for most of the people that live around me. While everyone does their part in growing food for their own families, our farm is the largest and most well kept out of everyone’s. Due to this a lot of other people come to me to trade crops with other substantial items.
Something that I have noticed while farming recently is that my crops are not being held well within the soil and they seem to be drying out. My land does not have many trees or shrubs on it due to them being consistently harvested for houses and basic tools. Personally, I do not own much lumber except for the tools I use to farm my crops. These days when I look around outside there does not seem to be many trees at all, just grass. This is really unhelpful because I had to do some recent repairs on my house by digging up nearby turf and placing it on my roof, due to the fact that I did not have any lumber to fix the holes that needed to be covered up. Recently my neighbor has been bothering me because they have been letting their sheep graze onto my property and they are trampling my crops and already terrible soil. A solution to this could be to build a fence around my property, but I do not have any wood to do so. When the sheep step on the soil it breaks up my grass and blows the grass and dirt all over the place. I am running out of healthy places to plant my vegetables. Although that one neighbor sucks, I have a few that really help me out when I am having bad growing seasons by giving me food that their family has hunted. Because of this I usually give them extra vegetables when I have a good season. Up until recently, I have had nothing but bad growing seasons due to the fact that the land is slowly deteriorating.
Character 4: My character is a young girl who has a lot of responsibility in the Greenland society despite her age. Young children had to learn many abilities in their childhood to be able to help their families and pass on as they got older.
Wondering if we would be able to eat everyday was always a thought that we had. It was hard enough already for us to get food for ourselves but having enough food for the cattle was just as hard. The cattle liked to eat grass, but my brothers and all the other men here were always cutting the turf from the ground to put around our house to keep us warm. We did not have good materials to make a strong, warm house. So, after some years, my brothers would have to put new turf on our house since the old turf would break down after a while. Keeping the cattle healthy was always a big responsibility. Once I milked the cattle, I would store the milk to help my mom make cheese. To keep the milk from going bad, we had to wash the milk twice a day by boiling it with water. Learning how to weave and spin wool, care for the cattle and sheep, and make butter and cheese was something I have been doing for a long time now.
We only had a few cattle and sheep, unlike the wealthier people of our village. Therefore, my brothers were always hunting seals, however, after a while, it was hard for my older brothers and father to even catch any seals, let alone find any. I think their method of catching seals could have been better. They could have started hunting other animals like fish or different types of whales. My brothers were also responsible for resharpening knives, even if they were already so small. This is because we did not have enough iron, as well as lumber. Many of the trees had already been cut down for firewood. They then had to start using turf to use as fuel. The vegetation was ruined and the soil was bad. If my brothers and father had learned new ways to hunt, taken care of the vegetation better, or started trading with other people near us, maybe we could be in a better position.
Character 5: My Character in the Norse society was a woodworker with a small family. He came from a family of woodworkers and the skills were passed down from my father. He is trying to teach his son the same skills his father taught him.
As a woodworker in the Norse village, I spend most of my time helping build houses and furniture for the rest of my village. My father had a much easier time than I did because of the decreasing supply of timber in our village. The moment we decided to burn the trees down to make room for farms and pastures I knew we were making mistakes, but that’s what the clergy and chiefs wanted. The lack of wood also made it hard to heat our homes because it always seemed to get colder and colder. I often had to decide between using driftwood for making money and keeping warm in the cold season. I often wondered whether the chiefs and clergy knew what was best for us, I knew I shouldn’t think that way but sometimes it was too hard not to.
I always thought to myself that maybe I could trade my crafts with the nearby natives, but our chiefs were always against that idea and would always rather trade with Europe but never traded the things we really needed, it was always luxuries and jewels. But over the course of my life the trade with Europe slowly stopped and our lives became more and more difficult. The Natives were always nice to us and always offered to help me when our paths crossed, but our society’s rules were strict, and my superiors never wanted their help.
Character 6: My name is Estrid Johansen. I came with my husband, Ragnar, to the New World. We are part of a settlement to establish the Norse people in the New World. As a housewife, I tend to the household duties. I milk the cows, graze the sheep, spin wool, and make the food. I also have the duty of showing the young girls in the settlement how to become proper wives by teaching them the necessary skills.
Our hardships began when Ragnar came back from a hunt with the rest of the men. He described these skraelings that they encountered. They had boats made of skin, weapons with sacs on them, and sharp stone tools. He stabbed one of the skraelings and told me with uneasy that they do not bleed unless they are fatally wounded, that the wounds turn white. The skraelings became aggressive, and the men retreated back to the settlement.
Soon the men began coming back with less food. They could not find any caribou, only hares. The weather here does not allow for good farming; we were running out of hay for the livestock. The men attempted to hunt into the fjord for seals and fish, but the skraelings prevented them from going any further. We had to resort to eating the livestock, and even out own hunting dogs. Now, we have nothing left. We are starving. We were promised ships from our homeland, but it has been years since the last one. We are losing hope.
What part of the Mayan area did you live in? And how did that affect your life?
The environment for the people living within the Mayan civilization varied depending on the area. The Mayan homeland is placed in a seasonal tropical forest because there is a rainy season from May to October ( the area could also be considered a seasonal desert because there is a dry season from January to April). Within the Yucatán Peninsula, rainfall varies from 18 inches to 100 inches from north to south. On the contrary, the northern region was lower and closer to the water table and the southern region is higher and further from the water table. This caused the southern regions to experience more water scarcity than the northern regions even though they got more rainfall. This extreme difference in water abundance would affect the people’s lifestyles and how they adapted.
How did the farming techniques seen in ancient Mayan agriculture affect your lifestyle?
Mayan society consisted of at least 70% peasants who would all farm about 2 times the amount of food needed to sustain their lifestyle. This would allow for non peasant consumers to live a life without farming their own food. Agriculture in Mayan civilization relied on crops domesticated in Mexico. The most abundant crop would be corn followed by beans. The assumed farming style the Mayans would have used is the slash-and-burn technique but this would not have accounted for the large amount of food needed to sustain cities with approximately 250 to 750 people per square mile. Therefore, farmers used a variety of techniques to increase food production such as terricing of hills, irrigation systems, canals, and raised/drained fields. All of these techniques were labor intensive and time consuming.
How did you witness your city destroy the surrounding environment? What actions were destroying it the most?
Agriculture in Mayan civilization caused a large amount of environmental degradation through deforestation and depleting the soil of nutrients through over farming. Other places had caused deforestation through using the wood to create structures and the production of plaster. The deforestation on hillsides also caused erosion of soil which would have significantly changed the landscape and changed the lives of its inhabitants.
How did Mayan conflict between people groups and cities affect your life?
The Mayan civilization was previously thought to be a peaceful society but archaeologists now know that Mayan warfare was intense, chronic, and unresolvable. Conflict arose for many different reasons and it sometimes wiped out an entire city and sometimes citizens of a city would revolt and sometimes there would be a civil war.
What were the likely factors that caused the collapse of your city/area?
The Mayan civilization experienced a few collapses that were all staggered and all happened in different ways. Some of the areas were wiped out by warfare, others through drought, and others through higher death rate and lower birth rate.
Character 1:
During the year of A. D. 650, the population of the hill slopes in Copán started to rise and farmers became extremely necessary. I worked tirelessly to produce enough food for the soldiers and bureaucrats that I barely had enough to feed myself. Throughout my time working in the slopes, I have noticed that each year brings more infertile soil and less tree coverage. My role as a farmer is progressively becoming useless because it is getting harder and harder to find viable soil. I may even consider heading down south of the hills to see if I can find any useable soil, but I know that the valley farmers are indignant towards us hillsiders.
Brief essay:Environmental damage and Hostile neighbors
The environmental damage within the hillside of Copán became alarmingly visible within my last few years of farming. I watched as the rich pine forest that once protected my soil became a field of stumps. Each tree hauled away either became fuel or plaster, and each structure needed a thicker and thicker layer of plaster to protect it. Something tells me that we are the cause of this drought and not the king “breaking his royal promise” of rain and prosperity. I would never actually have the courage to tell anyone that, but it seems that once the forest was removed, the rain fall became minimal.
Our valley inhabitants now have no access to wood, and there is obvious sediment accumulation on the valley floor. In addition, us hillsiders have moved down to the valley because many of us are dying from malnutrition and disease. The valley farmers now have the burden of feeding for a larger population and there is some tension between the two different residents. Farmers started fighting other farmers for the areas of land that weren’t covered by acidic infertile soil. Fighting between our neighbors didn’t last long because the lack of food disabled us greatly
Character 2: My character is a soldier from the Mayan city of Copán. With only a small minority of kings and noblemen having an elevated status in Mayan society, my character’s role as a soldier makes them a commoner. At this status, my character played a part in harvests alongside other farmers as needed, and also had to go off and fight in the many conflicts that arose between Copán and its neighbors. This likely gave my character a unique dual insight regarding the environmental issues leading to food and water shortages in their society as well as the battles and how this fighting impacted the Mayans as a whole.
Brief essay: I’ve travelled around Copán and beyond a lot throughout my lifetime. Being a soldier that gets sent out to fight and called back to harvest kind of makes being “well-traveled” a given. But with the way things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised if people like me keep living this kind of life for years to come. It’s how things have been for a while already: the vicious cycle of conquering, being conquered, and then the tides shifting back again. All the while I’m breaking my back when I get home to Copán, where I have to help my neighbors harvest corn and beans. But that farming is hard work, there must be something going on with the environment, because there’s not a lot of water and the crop yields keep going down. We don’t have enough water to grow more either, and now people are starting to fight here to find good areas to grow food. Now I’m fighting while I’m away and while I’m back home.
The drought and all the years of harsh farming, hoping for just a bit more output to help feed ourselves and the noblemen we have to feed, definitely started this cycle. It’s the root cause of all this, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up being the underlying problem that leads to the collapse of Copán. Honestly, these problems will probably be what gets other Mayan cities as well, since a lot of the soldiers I see from other cities look like they’re going through the same things as us. But this warfare with other cities and here at home now too is definitely making it worse for all of us, and could also be another reason why Copán is falling apart. Maybe if I didn’t have to go away and fight so much, I could be around here with all the other farmers and at-home soldiers, and we could figure out a way to manage our water resources a bit better. My neighbors blame the king for that—getting us into all these battles and not focusing on how we’re all going to eat—and for the drought too. There’s a lot of resentment building, and right now all of us commoners are taking it out on each other, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he ultimately suffers the consequences we’re already dealing with.
Character 3: My role in society is very important in keeping the kingdom alive and strong, I am the beloved King of Copan. I own successfully economical agricultural land in Copan that contains excellent and rich alluvial for growing crops. I also am the connection between the Gods and my people, I seek to please the gods themselves in exchang for bringing forth prosperity, good crops, and rain for our crops. In return, the people show their blessings by erecting statues in my honor. They were so enourmous that they looked like they could touch the heavens themselves! Alas, those times of celebrating were beginning to disappear as the “nobles” began to think far to highly of themselves and create their own palaces. Whats even worst is that these noblemen are interferring with my rule over the peasantry on this land, my own land!
Climate Change and Cultural Response: It is an unforunate time for not only myself, but for my people as well to have to be caught in the middle of a conflicting period of living circumstances with our environment. Deforestation is considered our greatest setback as it has not only impacted the hilly slopes where 41% of my people in Copan who resided and lived in, forcibly were left to leave their homes. No, it has also impacted the valley floor where we grow our precious corn yield crops. The soil from the hilly slopes runs off into the lower fields, covering and disturbing the much richer soil with sediment. This is an unforunate situation because the hills contain much more acidic and unstable soil, that is much harder to grow any reasonable crop on it. In addition with this, because of the loss of trees, there is no feasible way for the rain to come. The trees were gifted to us from the gods, to bless us with rain, in which we would be able to grow our crops. Without it, all has become much more gloomier. As a result, my people are absolutely furious with me with not keeping my word for rain and prosperity. Even I myself am worried of the wary outcomes and even fear of a potential riot that could overthrow both me and further split the kingdom apart. Nonetheless, my family name’s connection to the gods will surely save us from these strange and stressful times . . . right?
Character 4: I am Sacniete, a peasant farmer in a Mayan village. Farming was one of the few ways we could sustain our way of life. My options were to be a farmer, a servant, or a laborer and our family sought to utilize our small parcel of land to produce corn. Every day, we would pray to the gods, acknowledging the seven directions of the earth: east, north, west, south, up, down, and center. Those prayers have carried us through the most unforgiving of seasons, with the gods Itzamna, Ah Mun, and Chac hearing our cries.
It was unfortunate to see that the sun had set on prosperous seasons of bountiful harvests, with the fields growing emptier as the seasons passed. There was no way for Itzamna nor Chac to hear us now, the time had come. All this time, we had believed that Itzamna had wanted us to use the bounty of nature to build temples and monuments in honor of them, as well as expand the communal farms and reservoirs. We took trees in service of honoring the gods and maintaining the empire of Maya, but it seems we had taken too many. Soon after, the weather grew much hotter and the rains became far more sparse. We began to take notice that Chac was not as responsive as he once was, perhaps at the order of Itzamna himself.
Because of this, there were nights where our family would be forced to sleep with an empty stomach. Such devastation was brought to our family to the point where my father wondered whether we would eventually be forced to sell ourselves as slaves. Every day, we still continued to pray, and one day I was called upon by an official serving our local elite lord to assist in building a reservoir for our city-state. In hopes that the gods would see our efforts to preserve the water that we wished to receive, we built a reservoir intending to store at least 18 months worth of water. The gods would not relent, and the people grew angrier. If the drought had not gotten us already, we were sure that our way to the underworld would be from the wrath of our own neighbors.
The fields grew emptier and the graves grew deeper. Not even the nobles nor the monarchs were safe from the chaos that ensued from the droughts. The deforestation, the droughts, the violence, and the competition from kings and nobles to erect monuments to please the gods, led to further conflict and our societal collapse since there was no focus on directly fixing the drought. We had damaged the environment and the climate had forever changed, with violence from our own neighbors and the collapse of the social order held by our kings and nobles. To conclude, it was ultimately our slash-and-burn practices that contributed to the environmental damage, climate change, and hostility within villages, with our cultural response aiding the collapse of our greatly beheld Mayan empire.
Character 5: As a peasant farmer in Maya’s southern region in the Copán river valley, it is my hope that our crops will be responsible for sustaining a truly significant portion of the population in the future. With the inconsistent and unpredictable levels of rainfall from year to year, agricultural practices must be performed and executed meticulously in our region by those with years of knowledgeable expertise. Being at such a high elevation in the southern part of the Yucatán Peninsula, irrigation and drainage systems, canals and raised fields are all structures that I have plenty of experience with and have employed in my own fields year after year. Some of my nearby neighbors inhabiting the hill slopes use more unusual means of managing water such as increased field/crop turnover throughout the year, floodwater farming, and even cultivating more than one crop per field per growing season. Although these seem like innovative ways to increase the production of food beyond sustaining just our own families and close neighbors, I believe it is slightly irresponsible to not consider the long term effects they may have on our lands for future generations and the unpredictable conditions they may face.
Environmental Damage & Climate Change: In my years as a farmer, I have witnessed many environmental hardships at the hand of man-made degradation and natural, unstoppable forces. With such hilly terrain, swidden/slash-and-burn agriculture is a very common practice used to clear land and rejuvenate soil nutrition for farming. However useful this process is, it is also exceptionally harmful in that the deforestation has caused considerable erosion, further leaching the nutrients from the soil. This wash of infertile soil from the hills down to the valleys in turn destroys and acidifys my own soil!
Droughts in particular are responsible for much of our trouble, especially in the way of agricultural processes. The rainy season from May to October is much easier to navigate than the dryer months of January through April but the rain is unpredictable to some degree during each season. My day-to-day life consists of tending to my fields and keeping an eye out for signs of rain as it is very important to maintain the health of my corn crop. I grew up hearing stories of the misery and suffering that has afflicted our people by drought throughout our history. I can only hope that we are not due another recurrence any time soon…
Question #1. Why would anyone have built an advanced city in that wasteland (Chaco) , and why, having gone to all that work of building it, did they then abandon it? This question is important because it explores the circumstances that build a society and large population of inhabitants. It then explores what this society does to grow and develop large scale architectural structures and interdependent inhabitants. This question further explores what happens or might have happened to create an unsustainable environment, or environmental damage, for those inhabitants and forced them to leave their interdependent society to find more favorable environment and even leave to create independent communities to establish some survival of these people. The descendants of the Anasazi are thought to be the Taos, Hopi & Rio Grande Pueblo & Zuni. It was also during 1300 that most of the traditional Anasazi villages in the Four Corners area were abandoned, but eastern sites still thrived for some unknown reason.
Question #2. How did violence and cannibalism contribute to the collapse of the Anasazi. This question is important because it explores a point of no return for this society in their current environment. It includes discovering how critical the errors were that created this situation. It, also, explores the hostile neighbors and lack/loss of friendly neighbors (tribes include Anasazi, Kayenta, Mimbres, Hohokum, Mogollon {includes Mimbres – means’little willow’ a river in the area}). Note: Why does Anasazi mean ancient enemy? The term is Navajo (written language by Franciscan missionaries- Navajo code talkers WWII heroes) in origin, and means “ancient enemy.” The Pueblo peoples of New Mexico understandably do not wish to refer to their ancestors in such a disrespectful manner, so the appropriate term to use is “Ancestral Pueblo” or “Ancestral Puebloan (Hisatsinom is Hopi for ancestors),” though scholars use Anasazi for continuity. Indigenous nations hostile to Pueblo people, their enemies before Europeans began to inhabit the area, were the Navajo, Comanche, and Apache tribes. The Zuni were the first to become known to the Europeans in 1539. The first confirmed evidence of indigenous cannibalism was researched in remains of a small Anasazi settlement, Southwestern Colorado mysteriously abandoned about 1150 A.D. The Mohawk, and the Attacapa, Tonkawa, and other Texas tribes were known by neighbours as ‘man-eaters.’both during famines & ritual cannibalism or cultural practice (eating a small portion of enemy warriors).
Question #3. Did climate change occur during the civilization of the Anasazi people and how did it affect or contribute to the collapse of the civilization? This question is important because it explores large scale forces that began a decline in the environment of the Anasazi civilization. It will help explore how the leaders responded to the changes or failed to respond to the changes which then potentially became a critical factor in the decline of the civilization.
Question #4. What resources were depleted by the Anasazi people that were critical to their survival? This question is important because it explores how the people themselves would have had some warning that their civilization was not sustainable by the depletion of the resources required for their very survival. This question would explore the cultural response.
Question #5. What can the Collapse of the Anasazi teach society today so that they can use this information to prevent their own demise? This question is important because if we do not learn from the past we are doomed to repeat the errors of the past and possibly experience a collapse of our own society.
Character 1: As a farmer living in the Chaco Canyon, I play an important role in helping feed my people. I am involved in choosing the land and techniques used for farming and must make those decisions based on the number of people I must feed as well as where I am able to most efficiently grow crops. Without me, my people will starve and will either die or will be forced to move to a new location without knowing whether that new location can sustain us or not.
In my old age I worry for my people and fear that we will no longer be able to sustain ourselves in the near future. I have been a farmer almost all of my life and had learned everything there is to know about farming from my parents. However, I no longer know if this land is sustainable enough to continue farming operations for us all. When I was a young boy, the population of this canyon was smaller and less crops were needed to feed my people. Back then, we were able to rely on certain springs to help nurture our crops. As time went on though, our numbers grew and my father said that we needed to expand our farming operations in order to feed more people. At first I was excited to learn that we were going to expand our farming territory and for the first years it was successful, but when that first dry year came, we did not have enough food to feed our people and many starved. There was more water the following year, but overtime, there were too many mouths to feed and we could no longer rely on the old springs due to the dryer years we started to face.
After I had children the population and been larger than ever before. We decided that in order to grow enough crops for our people, we had to be willing to plant our crops wherever possible so that we could attempt to have enough food. Like the last farming process, we started to struggle again and were not meeting the quotas that we needed to feed our people. While some areas were able to have good seasons, others did not. With this, the areas with poorer yields asked their neighbors for help and supplies but typically struggled to receive any as their neighbors needed that food for themselves. Our landscape had been ravaged and there was little land left that we would be able to efficiently use to farm. Along with that and the lack of promise of water, neighbors started to cut each other off from supplies so that they could sustain themselves. From what I have heard, some tribes have started conflicting with one another for supplies. I worry that if this gets too far out of hand, our people will eventually get caught in the crossfire and will have to give up what food we already desperately need.
I believe that the people of this canyon did not consider the issues that would be caused if we increased our population. We went from a small prosperous population that could easily be fed and now we fight one another for what little land and crops that are left. We have exhausted ourselves constantly throughout our time here and I have reason to believe that things will only get worse from here. I hope that the future generations of our people will be much wiser and won’t take chances with nature in hopes that it will always provide.
Character 2: Chaco Anasazi member
Role was to help build dams inside of the canyons to store the rainwater necessary for the tribe. I would describe this character as handy and helpful, seeing as they had to build and help come up with the plan as to how to save rain water.
I dealt with deforestation and water management. It was very hard seeing as the weather would be unpredictable and there was no telling how many times our work would be disrupted. I would describe this period as stressful and time consuming. The packrat midden was a devestating period and took out half of my people. Of course they need a safe place to live and survive, but my people were eating rat feces- which is fatal. There were four middens within months time and it was a great tragedy.
Character 3 : The character’s role in this chapter was a observer and researcher. Also, it seemed as if the character was either a native/resident of the area or possibly had family members that were apart of the Anasazi people that lived near the Chaco Canyon. The character’s role to society would be to educate the public and public officials such as the mayor or governor to bring awareness.
From Diamond’s five explanatory factors, my character observed environmental damage happening to the Anasazi people. From my knowledge, the New Mexico and Arizona area suffers from high aridity which makes it impossible for vegetation to grow or crops to be harvested. The Anasazi people found a home in the Chaco canyon where they used the groundwater table and water channel runoff to yield crops such as corn, squash, and beans. In addition, the population grew larger and demand for food became higher. Eventually, these land practices to grow crops developed a negative response in the environment by causing arroyos. Arroyos are deep cut water stream channels that are mostly found in arid areas. These arroyos left the area’s water level below field level making their irrigation agriculture based on groundwater difficult to produce any vegetation or food. After reading this chapter, the character’s perspective describes somewhat of difficult time for the Anasazi people. It seems as if they settled in area that was not sufficient to sustain a growing population due to the arid climate and lack of source of water. The Anasazi people was not aware that their land-use practices would have such an effect on their environment. Even though they reap the benefits of land, their need for food and shelter lead to depletion of their resources to survive which made the environment inhabitable.
Character 4: I am a Chacoan citizen living in the capital. We oversaw the structure of the country, and in return the people gave us a portion of the harvest.
Collapse: Our nation has been in a drought now for longer than we could’ve ever imagined now. Crops have failed before, but we have been able to make do with the bounties of our neighbors. It seems now no one has food to give. I fear now what used to be a bounty for us has become a wasteland. Maybe it was our doing or maybe this land just wasn’t meant for people. For now, all we can do is flee in hopes that we will find suitable land before we starve
The Chacoan citizens faced all 5 environmental factors during their collapse. The first environmental damage happened when building their homes. Carbon dating shows that pine trees used to be in the valley as well as surrounding mountains. Even today the pines in the valley have never grown back. This is due to harvesting for creating massive communal living structures. Climate change happened when the droughts started occurring. The Chacoans had enjoyed many years of rain and their population boomed. When natural droughts came back the population was too large to import enough food from surrounding areas and their fields were dry. Once food became sparse districts that were once loyal became hostile, defending the food they had. Before times became extremely dire the surrounding communities helped each other. This helped the Anasazi survive a few droughts before the last. The cultural response to change for the Chacoans was to first rely on the surrounding tribes who still had fertile farms, and then eventually flee for more suitable land.
Character 5: The character I have choesen is Mimbres, Their role is how they developed a more conservative way to plant crops in an area that has more relaible springs and groundwater tables. The Mimbres method became dangerous trying to expand agriculture into goof growing conditions to areas that are less reliable. They were able to gamble with gettig their food but when dorught came they collapse under stress.
One of the five factor that I observed in my character is human environnmental impact. We the Mimbres have tried to grow crops and spread among the land. We have thought of a way to first plant on land that has good springs to water the crops. We didn’t think of how the weather would be, as we try to expand it became a lot harder on the areas that don’t have a lot springs. As that happen, my people in that area started dying of starvation due to not being able to grow crops. There were times that we got lucky to get some crops growing but others we grew to struggle. Trying to figure out a way to make growing crops smoothly and being able to have something to eat has been a stressful situation for me and my people since there was a lot more of us then land to grow crops well on.
Character 6: My character is a Hunter-Gatherer and my place in society is very important as I provide the food for the population. My efforts consist of agricultural work, collecting natural foods and hunting animals.
As a hunter-gatherer I also worked on agriculture, and by growing and harvesting crops I used the environment around me. There was low rainfall, so we had to use three ways to solve that problem; there was dryland agriculture, using the water table underground, and collecting water to irrigate the fields. It was difficult to live with the agricultural issues, as if we moved to higher elevations for rainwater, it tended to become cold and then it would be too cold to grow the plants. If we went to the lower elevations, then there would not be enough water. There were many strategies that we tried to create, however there was always one disadvantage with an advantage. What we then did was to move to different areas time after time so we would exhaust all the resources and land, and then move to another area to occupy. We were not able to create established alliances with neighbors due to constantly moving. Once we had a high population it was tough to entirely move our village. There were always risks with every strategy, but our last resort was to live close to a source of water so that we did not have to constantly move around.
By cutting down trees and hunting animals, I did affect the environment. There was damage to the environment because we constantly moved from one location to another and at some point, we even exhausted all the resources. We were close to a water source which affected the animals and the water cycle itself. We must grow crops to feed our people, and we do also have to build our living quarters. There is deforestation and lots of loss of natural landscape due to that.
Easter Island Moai Statues at Rano Raraku under sunny summer sky. Rano Raraku, Rapa Nui National Park, Hanga Roa, Easter Island, Chile.
Moderator:
How would you describe what life was like living on Easter Island?
Since constructing statues were such a large part of the civilization’s culture, a large amount of people were required to build and transport them. Large amounts of wood needed to be harvested so that would require a lot of people doing that as well. Additionally, people had to farm and harvest food for everyone to eat. These were some of the main tasks.
How did you feel about the constant competition between your clan and the others on the island?
There was a lot of hostility between the clans on the island because of the massive competition on who could construct the best statues. This was a major part of their culture and their lives.
Did you notice that the land was quickly becoming desolate from deforestation and how did that impact you?
There were no remaining trees left on the island due to deforestation. Easter Island’s environment was extremely fragile even without human impacts taken into account. Human impacts just escalated the process of degradation.
How did it feel to live on an island so isolated from the rest of the world? Was there ever a time you wish you could just leave your home and hope to find something better out there?
Easter is the most remote island in the world. They did not have any nearby neighbors; therefore, they couldn’t ask for help or resources when they were in desperate need of them. This also could have created even more hostility on the island because there was nowhere for anyone to go to.
What do you think is the biggest reason your society collapsed?
A lot about Easter Island remains a mystery. There are a lot of theories on what went on and how things crashed and how they managed to do things like moving their statues. There can be multiple reasons for their collapse: human environmental impacts, isolation, and political, social, or religious reasons.
Character 1:
My character is a commoner from the Anakena clan, living on the coast of the Anakena beach, with close access to the sea. They are a hunter due to the zone they live in, and their role is to help provide food for the society. Additionally, they are also a stone carver since there is volcanic tuff in the area they lived, making it accessible to create these larger statues and platforms.
Brief Essay:
If you look out into the sea, you would see clear blue skies and body of water filled with life. This is what life was like in the beginning. As I fished for food, I would use nets to constantly bring in whatever fish we could, but this was not enough. Since we lived on a rugged coast, it was difficult to catch fish, but we didn’t let that defeat us. We adapted to what was available to us, and that is when the seabirds of the coast became our primary food. Our clan was prosperous for some time, there were plenty of resources and food, and our statues stood tall and proud, always looking over our clans and territories, but then our downfall began.
Being that we, the people of Easter Island were isolated, eventually, competition arose. This along with the extinction of many seabirds, greatly impacted us. Not only did we have to fight with other for resources, but the resources themselves were disappearing. Forests grew smaller and smaller, constantly losing the life it once had, and then the animals we relied on went too. Greediness led to our downfall, we lost land and native species, thus forcing us into difficult positions.
Character 2:
I am a commoner from the Hotu Iti clan, or Tongariki as some call us. In the past we used to spend our days sculpting, building, and transporting our ahu or moai. Today, we’ve abandoned building these. There aren’t enough trees. Previous generations used all the good trees; all we’re left with is a sparse amount of small trees no larger than 10 ft high. My role is to farm what I can; tend to my own hare moa, chicken house; to check the soil and plants growing in our lithic mulches; general maintenance of our sunken gardens and rock gardens. The land is exposed to the sun and wind, so harvests are sparse. Some clans have started eating each other to survive, that’s how bad things are.
We’re located on southern part of the eastern side of the island near Rano Raraku crater. This means we have the island’s best stone for carving that everyone wants to use for their moai. Other clans need permission to transport materials through our land; because we need materials from elsewhere on the island for our tools and transport materials, we also have to get permission from the other clans to transport through their land. Overall, we get along with the other clans. Occasionally, our chiefs tell us to destroy the moai of other clans. We didn’t always do this to our neighbors; competition used to be based on who could out build the other. Hotu Iti has the largest ahu carrying our moai, something we used to be proud of here. Now in frustration with our chiefs and gods we knock them down.
We are running out of food and our land is barren. According to legend our ancestors came from islands lush with food and materials for construction. This island itself used to be full of trees and birds. Why must we anguish here? Our chiefs wanted us to continue building moai, but they can no longer feed us. So, they’ve been abandoned. Our chiefs say because we’ve abandoned construction the gods are angry and are punishing us. But the gods abandoned us before we abandoned them. Many other commoners are renouncing the gods and destroying moai in protest of our conditions. In my opinion, it’s useless to waste that energy.
We’ve become a weak and fragile society. Even our neighboring clans are suffering. The foreigners brought disease that killed many of our people. Some of our people disappeared on a ship, hopefully to a better life. I doubt it though, the people who took them didn’t seem trustworthy. They headed East and that’s the last we’ve heard of them. Families were separated, I lost a friend. Maybe things are better where they are, maybe they are not starving like we are. Our people used to be strong and healthy, we used to feast after finishing moai. Now we are weak, miserable and feast on the flesh of our own. Our land is destroyed, and we are destroying our people. There is nowhere to go. No canoes to sail off to elsewhere. We’ve tried, but we never get far with what materials we have left. Stories and legends talk of other islands 17 days away, we can’t get farther than a mile out to sea before our sad excuse for canoes leak and sink. In this way we waste more energy swimming back to land.
We are a dying people. While we may blame the gods or chiefs, it doesn’t matter who is at fault in the end. Our land is striped dry, nothing left for firewood, canoes, or gardening. Whatever trees are left the rats have gotten to. We are alone and desperate. Why have we been abandoned?
Character 3:
I am an adult female easter islander living in one of the wooden canoe houses. I am a commoner who tends the gardens and the chickens in the hare moa. I make sure the harvests grow and the chickens are tended. I am very important as food is becoming very scarce.
Short Essay:
My people are the last people on our island, and the world. We are struggling to survive as food and resources are scarce. The fish are gone, so are the birds. At least I’ve got my chickens, safe in their hare moa. Apparently, we once had huge trees, some myth that was. Our soil is no good, harvests are failing. Ash and dust don’t fall. Neither does the rain. Maybe our use of the resources has caused this? No, we wouldn’t do that.
Yesterday, Chief knocked over our enemy’s moai. I was so excited because I got to yell at the other clan that “Their mother’s flesh stuck between my teeth”. They weren’t too happy about that. Being one of the last people in the world is a privilege. I help my people build moai to honor our chief. I then help move them to ahu to show ours is bigger than our enemy clan’s moai. It is hard work, but it is worth seeing the other clan’s look on their delicious faces. If you ask me how my life was, I’d say it was hard. I’m always hungry and we are thin. We work tirelessly to keep our harvests going, even though they are depleting. If I’m not in my garden or tending to my hare moa I am helping build the next moai for our next chief.
Character Description 4:
My character is a farmer in the Vinapu clan. She lives near the beach where the seabirds build their nests. Her home is also not far from the obsidian quarry that the Vinapu clan owns and operates. My character grows both crops and livestock. Her products are used to feed the clan and also the livestock that live on the farms. My character’s role in society is a vital one. Growing clans, such as the Vinapu, require a constant source of food. Without my character, the clan would have to focus all their attention on growing their own food which would take away from their tasks of mining and building in the quarries.
Brief Essay:
In hindsight, it was our own greed that was our downfall. We wanted to become powerful and to have the largest Moai on the island. Our clan had both the best quarries for obsidian and basalt. And because of our position on the southernmost end of the island, we also had the best land for agriculture. We were given everything we could ever need from the earth. But we did not realize the gift that we were given. We ripped open the ground in search of the best basalt for our ahu and the best obsidian for our tools. We chopped down trees to clear the land for agriculture and also to aid in the movement of our Moai. We pushed the native species to the far corners and the very edges of our island. The sea birds that were native to our home were pushed out of their natural nesting grounds and were forced onto the beach next to my house. As the years passed, there were less and less birds. These past few years I have not seen any and I fear that they have been completely wiped out. But I am even more terrified that we will suffer the same fate as the seabirds. Our population, shrinking and shrinking until there is barely any of us left. I try to have a positive outlook, but it is hard to see how our story could be anything other than tragic. Our home is now uninhabitable to us. There are no trees, the land is dry and cannot support crops or livestock, and most native species have been reduced to nearly nothing. My land has been drying up the last few years. The nutrients have been completely stripped from the ground because of the increased demand for food from my clan. As our community crew we decided to put up more Moai and because of that the community needs more food resources. The strain of the increased demand for food has completely decimated my farmland. This land can no longer support crops and I fear that in the coming growing season my land will not produce anything at all. We have reached beyond and taken more than what the earth could give us. And I fear that we will not survive long enough to suffer all the consequences.
Character Description 5:
My character is an elite member of society from the Hanga Pokura clan. They live in the coastal zone in a large hare (house) and manage one of the major obsidian quarries. My character manages their land and the commoners like a plantation in order to ensure that there is a surplus of food for the chiefs and the labor force. It is important to my character to be efficient in management in order to be competitive with other clans within the island.
Brief Essay:
In the beginning, resources were plentiful. Trees were used to make boats, build housing structures for humans and livestock alike, statues were moved across the island using entire trunks, fruits were harvested to feed our clan, even wild animals used trees for their own needs. There had never been a lot of fish and crops were difficult to grow but the sea birds were abundant. We adjusted our diets and were careful with our crops. Anything that sprouted was carefully protected with rocks to break the wind and carefully maintained by plantation workers.
The competition amongst clans drove resource consumption. In order to have the largest statues more trunks were cut down for the sake of moving efficiency and more sea birds were hunted in the name of fueling the commoners. Resources were harvested without a plan to replenish them. When the consequences of over consumption began to be felt it was already too late. The island began to look barren. Trees would take several years to reach maturity. Starvation and sickness forced clans into a vulnerable position.
Collapse was written by Jared diamond on how socities choose to fail or succeed by changing any of their ways that are detramental to their lives.
Students used Diamond’s five explanatory factors in thinking about what their characters’ might have experienced during the “collapse”: 1) environmental damage; 2) climate change; 3) hostile neighbors; 4) friendly neighbors; 5) cultural response.
What was it like to see the last tree die on Easter Island? Would you notice if your society’s way of life was out of sync with its environment? If so, how would you feel and who—or what—would you blame?
I open my phone and swipe to what I consider the most mediated environment one can engage in… Tik Tok. Immediately a familiar sound blares through the speakers of my phone. The upbeat song of the summer is accompanied by a video of an influencer making a smoothie bowl. I quickly lose interest and swipe to the next. Now a student from the University of Flordia gives advice to students on where to find textbooks for cheap. NEXT a girl organizing her fridge. NEXT a dog riding a skateboard. NEXT a suggestion on museums to visit in New York. So on and so forth my eyes glaze over until my hour along timer goes off. As I sit down to write my assignment I struggle to remember anything from the hundreds of videos I watched.
My trusty dog Lucy and I set down a familiar path, Huntley Meadows nature trail. Just a few steps into my walk and I’m questioning when the last time I was surrounded by so much silence. Along my walk, I try to enjoy the sounds of nature and appreciate all the plants I pass by. Throughout my walk I encounter several different types of birds, a family of deer, and an entire meadow’s worth of plants. My mind wanders and I get back into my car feeling refreshed.
Being in nature has always been an activity I find extremely relaxing. I like hiking and spending time in parks. Social Media is also an activity I engage in to take breaks. However, this activity really made me recognize how different I feel after participating in both activities for an hour. While I received a lot more information watching Tik Toks I think I retained more walking the dog.
