Topic: ENGL&102 03HY 20920 – F22 – English Composition II. Assignment Details for Discussion Post: In about 300 – 400 words, post some insights into what you have learned through these four links
Topic: ENGL&102 03HY 20920 – F22 – English Composition II
Assignment Details for Discussion Post: In about 300 – 400 words, post some insights into what you have learned through these four links (the first one is the schedule and purpose to help you focus).
I will be looking closely at your organization, grammar, and ability to write a clear paragraph: i.e. your ability to write using a topic sentence with organized thoughts and specific details from the links in this week’s module. You may use “I” in this particular Discussion Post to be specific about what you are learning, what is new to you, and your reaction to the information in the links.
ou have three links to engage with and then write your insights and observations in an organized paragraph or two. Here are guidelines to help you focus.
Your purpose this week is to think about where humanity has come from over the centuries, our growth and impact on the Earth.
As you think about the information, consider not only our past, but our current dominance on the earth and future projections as a species on this planet we share. We are interconnected with all other species, even if we don’t always see ourselves that way.
Click on the “Overpopulation: Exponential Growth” link; then click on the “Real Time World Population Growth” link and look at how fast the world population is growing, even when taking deaths into account. Scroll down on that page to see population broken down by countries.
What do you notice? Scroll down again to see the exponential growth curve. Why has population grown at such a tight upward curve since the 1700s? How might the industrial revolution and medical advancements since that time affected population growth?
The second link on the page in this section is interesting because it shows the impact of the Black Death Plague that supposedly “depopulated western Europe” (quite a small dent, actually, no?).
Then read the “Ego vs. Eco” link and consider how our view of our place in the natural world has shifted as our knowledge in science has grown. How are we interconnected? Do you see examples? I shared a picture and story about my bird friends. Do you have a story you’d like to share? I’d love to hear it. 🙂
The last link is about the current Six Mass Extinction on planet earth. These facts are science, not opinion, and should help you think about humanity’s impact on the earth in a thoughtful way. Also, there are links at the end that show the crisis of the endangered elephants and orangutans, which are possible topics
for you to choose as your research project.
Overpopulation: Exponential Growth
Click on the “Real Time World Population Growth” link and look at how fast the world population is growing, even when taking deaths into account. Scroll down on that page to see population broken down by countries.
What do you notice? Scroll down again to see the exponential growth curve. Why has population grown at such a tight upward curve since the 1700s?
How might the industrial revolution and medical advancements since that time affected
population growth?
The second link on the page in this section is interesting because it shows the impact of the Black Death Plague that supposedly “depopulated western Europe” (quite a small dent, actually, no?).
Real Time World Population Growth:
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ (Links to
(Links to an external site.)
Population Growth Chart:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wVR20-YnMoU/Uma72JbbN8I/AAAAAAAAACE/fJHl1RH3O1I/s1600/World-Population-Growth-Chart.gif
Ego vs. Eco: Where Is Humankind’s Place in the Ecology of the Planet?
Ego Eco.jpg
This “Ego vs. Eco” visual shows a fundamental difference in two ways of thinking about humanity’s place in the world. “Ego” suggests that man (even higher than woman and whales) is the pinnacle of creation, dominant and “above” all other creatures.
This visual was common in classroom science books in schools during the last century. “Eco” suggests that humankind is interconnected with all other living creatures, a part of and not separate from the complex web of life on earth. This type of visual is what we see in more updated science books today.
(Note: this is not a “creationist vs. science” debate but an ecological statement about what we know in the natural sciences as ecological balance of an ecosystem).
If we live in a community of houses or apartments without interaction with animals or nature, we may forget that our reality is much more “eco” than “ego” in the world, from a wider perspective.
Pine Siskin.jpgPine Siskin.jpg
Photo of me in my yard; I have had bird feeders in my yard for years, and the birds born and raised in the wetland behind my house sometimes land on me.
The photos on the main page were taken in my yard as well. While I don’t suggest you try to make friends with wild raccoons, the one in the picture befriended me by the pond in my yard. My lesson: we are not separate from other creatures but interconnected with them.
William Blake (1757-1827), an English poet, wrote this about the creative imagination:
To see the world in a grain of sand
And Heaven in a wild flower,
To hold infinity in the palm of a hand
And eternity in an hour.
One Way Overpopulation Is Impacting the Earth: The Sixth Mass Extinction Is Now Underway
Earth’s sixth mass extinction event is under way, scientists warn.
Researchers talk of ‘biological annihilation’ as study reveals billions of populations o animals have been lost in recent decades. Reflect on how the “ego” pyramid of seeing the world has contributed to this sixth mass extinction.
Video 1:20 min long and an article about this current mass extinction:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/10/earths-sixth-mass-extinction-event-already-underway-scientists-warnLinks to an external site.
How does overpopulation and the mass extinction relate to this class? You need to find an unresolved environmental problem to research.
Overpopulation or the sixth mass extinction are true but too big as topics.
One way to narrow down a topic for this class is to look at how human activities have impacted a specific endangered species, like elephants or orangutans:
Elephants are being hunted to extinction because of the value of their ivory tusks and loss of habitat to human population growth:
10 min film on elephant conservation efforts:
Orphaned Elephants Always Line Up To Hug Woman Who Saved Their Lives
=IwAR3aPSZtqIj8Y0EPmZv1JB0q7dskeRXSpsMyI9bAFqq9UEGx39XU42NLg8YLinks to an external site.
Orangutan’s habitat is being lost.
In Indonesia, deforestation for palm-oil plantations due to human consumption demands is causing environmental destruction of habitat for endangered orangutans:
Orphaned Elephants Always Line Up To Hug Woman Who Saved Their Lives
=IwAR3aPSZtqIj8Y0EPmZv1JB0q7dskeRXSpsMyI9bAFqq9UEGx39XU42NLg8YLinks
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/pregnant-orang-utan-pictured-clinging-final-1896974?fbclid=IwAR1rZPGS6HPeXsYQTL5SZnozwCUFPsZlEY_M-mK_MqAEA-WhheXMAbzUNiw