Monticello to Walden

Blog News

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 09:14:00 +0000

Hey people!

Blogger has undergone some small changes, apparently. This is the good news:

You can now again watch my blog on iPad and tablets! The new "Dynamic Views" style has now been made possible on tablets too. Hurray!
I hope you can now also watch the new layout on smartphones too. Is there someone who can confirm this?
On the right side of our screens, four small tabs have appeared. When you move your cursor over them, you'll see they are pretty useful. The first tab shows you the subscribed "readers", formerly called "followers". The second tab shows you what used to be called "archive", the chronology of blog posts by year and month. Thirdly, there is a tag overview. I had been waiting for this! I am really glad it is back. The new tag cloud is just like the old one: sorted alphabetically, with the most frequent tags in a larger font. Finally, there is a tab to subscribe to the RSS feed. Is anyone using that here?

Best,

Dimitri

your blog host

Muir, an Eager Scholar

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 08:59:00 +0000

When reading John Muir's My First Summer in the Sierra, I was startled by how eager and joyful Muir was. He was then in his thirties. What is very much evident, is that Muir was very eager to discover it all. To know all the things of nature. To find out how glaciers formed the landscapes, how squirrels and ants and bears live, how trees respond to forest fires, what the peculiarities of certain plants are. He was eager to find out these things and he acknowledged that he was still rather unknowledgeable in many cases. The Muir we encounter in these pages in knowledge-humble and yet eager as a first-grade student.

Some quotes to back this up (taken from the Library of America edition):

"These I thought would be good centers of observation from which I might be able to make many telling excursions within a radius of eight or ten miles of the camps to learn something of the plants, animals, and rocks;"

"This noble tree is an inexhaustible study and source of pleasure. I never weary of gazing at its grand tassel cones, its perfectly round bole one hundred feet or more without a limb, the fine purplish color of its bark, and its magnificent outsweeping, down-curving feathery arms forming a crown always bold and striking and exhilarating."

Manzanita

"I must try to know them better."
That's what Muir says after a rather long paragraph in which he describes the manzanita brush (a favorite of both Muir and I) in great detail. With this, he acknowledges that for them too, they're still mysterious. It's no false modesty on Muir's part. A young man, trained a bit in the natural sciences, he surely knows that he is not entirely ignorant in these things - but he also knows that nature - to him - will be a contant study. He knows some things, but is ever eager to find out more and more and more. "I must try to know them better."

"A fine discovery this."
Concise. Proud yet modest.

"Glorious days I'll have sketching, pressing plants, studying the wonderful topography and the wild animals, our happy fellow mortals and neighbors. But the vast mountains in the distance, shall I ever know them, shall I be allowed to enter into their midst and dwell with them?"

"Winter storms in the Yosemite must be glorious. May I see them!"

"Perched like a fly on this Yosemite dome, I gaze and sketch and bask, oftentimes settling down into dumb admiration without definite hope of ever learning much, yet with the longing, unresting effort that lies at the door of hope, humbly prostrate before the vast display of God's power, and eager to offer self-denial and renunciation with eternal toil to learn my lesson in the divine manuscript [= nature]."

"I should like to know my hairy brothers [= bears] better."

"How the sound is made I do not understand."
But he will try to, that's for sure. Constant observation is the key to understanding, for Muir.

"What questions I asked, and how little I know of all the vast show, and how eagerly, tremulously hopeful of some day knowing more, learning the meaning of these divine symbols crowded together on this wondrous page."

"How much I should see, and how delightful it would be!"

"[...] all of which I may know better ere long."

"How grateful a task it would be to trace them all and study them!"

"Hope I may climb them all."

"How glad I should be if free to pursue such studies!"

"How interesting everything is! Every rock, mountain, stream, plant, lake, lawn, forest, garden, bird, beast, insect seems to call and invite us to come and learn something of its history and relationship. But shall the poor ignorant scholar be allowed to try the lessons they offer? It seems too great and good to be true."

"[...] with never a thought or dream of fame while humbly trying to trace and learn and enjoy Nature's lessons."

Epilogue on my First Term

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:20:00 +0000

The first term of this academic year came to an end last week. We had exams in January (January 10th through February 3rd in my case) and received our marks last Friday. That really concludes the term.

My results were very satisfying. I was especially glad with my mark for "Comparative Linguistics: Indo-European Languages". The exam was oral and did not go very well, I thought. I actually believed I would get a fail, but it turns out I didn't. Hooray for that!

What also made me very happy, was my 14 (out of 20) for my option course in conservation biology. When one steps into a field one is not familiar with, it is hard to estimate the standards and requirements. Fortunately, all went well!

I am now four days into this year's second semester. I will tell you lots more about it in my next (or one of my next) blog post(s). If you have any questions, feel free to use the comments section. Suggestions for blog posts or updates about related or relevant news are always welcome too.

American Air Pollution, European Losses

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 08:01:00 +0000

I don't usually cover Dutch-language news messages in my blog, but this one was too interesting to ignore. "Amerikaanse luchtvervuiling kost Europa miljoen ton graan", it reads. In English that is: "American air pollution costs Europe one million metric ton of wheat." (For readers of De Morgen: they feature the same article.)

Apparently, the news - a new study at the University of Leeds revealed the extent of cross-continent ozone pollution impacts - hardly got picked up by the mainstream media.

Man-made ozone pollution mostly comes from coal plants and automobile traffic. The pollution arises when the contamination close to our Earth's surface reacts with sunlight. Not only do the pollutants damage our personal health, they also hinder crop growth. A new study, led by the University of Leeds, for the first time show the extent of the Northern Hemisphere's intercontinental crop losses caused by this ozone pollution.

Dr Lisa Emberson, a researcher at the University of York, says: "This study highlights the need for air pollution impacts on crops to be taken more seriously as a threat to food security. Give the sizeable yield losses of staple crops caused by surface ozone, there should be greater coordinated international efforts focused on reducing emissions of ozone-forming gases around the globe."

Because, pollution is not just crossing the Atlantic from West to East. Air pollution from Southeast Asia actually causes enormous losses globally: 6.7 million tonnes of wheat and about 11.6 million tones of rice - each year.

Read more about it (in English):
"Ozone Pollution Damage Crops Across Continents" (Pollution Online)
"American ozone depletes European wheat" (Futurity)
"Long distance pollution impact" (The Scottish Farmer)

Thank You!

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:26:00 +0000

Hi dear blog readers!

"Monticello to Walden" has seen a massive growth in visitors since we made the move to the Dynamic Views layout. By far, January 2012 has been our best month since this blog kickstarted in August. Thank you all for visiting so frequently!

With the increase in visitors, the readers' demographics have also shifted. While in the early days most visitors came tuned in from Belgium, there has been a sharp increase on the other side of the Atlantic. In the last month, Americans came by more than three times as much as Belgians. You say: well, of course, there are 300 million Americans and 30 times less Belgians. Still, it means that people other than the Belgians who follow my blog through Facebook are reaching "Monticello to Walden". I think that's great news! I hope more and more people will find their way to this blog. Feel free to share the link with other friends from all over the world!

Beside the United States and Belgium, the following nations deliver most visitors to "Monticello to Walden": (3) the Netherlands, (4) the UK, (5) Russia, (6) Canada, (7) Germany, (8) India, (9) France, and (10) Australia.

Furthermore, I have seen a rise in Google Chrome use among the blog's visitors. Since August 2011, 66% of all visits were made using Chrome. Only 12% used Firefox and 8% used Internet Explorer. Safari (including Mobile Safari) compromise roughly 7% of all visits.

To make the demographics complete: most of you use Windows. 81% of all visitors are on a computer with a Windows operating system. Linux accounts for 6%. Macintosh is 5%, but that does not yet include the iPad (2%) and iPhone (1%) users. I think the Apple aficionados could do better than that!

Best,

Dimitri
student and blogger
currently enjoying a one-week break from college

Save the Redwoods

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:45:00 +0000

"Save the Redwoods" is an essay by John Muir that was found after his death and then published in the Sierra Club Bulletin in 1920. It perfectly exemplifies how Muir can combine activism and literary style in one essay and how he can mix humor and seriousness in a way that seems to stress the absolute urgency of the matter.

Save the Redwoods

We are often told that the world is going from bad to worse, sacrificing everything to mammon. But this righteous uprising in defense of God’s trees in the midst of exciting politics and wars is telling a different story, and every Sequoia, I fancy, has heard the good news and is waving its branches for joy. The wrongs done to trees, wrongs of every sort, are done in the darkness of ignorance and unbelief, for when light comes the heart of the people is always right. Forty-seven years ago one of these Calaveras King Sequoias was laboriously cut down, that the stump might be had for a dancing-floor. Another, one of the finest in the grove, more than three hundred feet high, was skinned alive to a height of one hundred and sixteen feet from the ground and the bark sent to London to show how fine and big that Calaveras tree was—as sensible a scheme as skinning our great men would be to prove their greatness. This grand tree is of course dead, a ghastly disfigured ruin, but it still stands erect and holds forth its majestic arms as if alive and saying, “Forgive them; they know not what they do.” Now some millmen want to cut all the Calaveras trees into lumber and money. But we have found a better use for them. No doubt these trees would make good lumber after passing through a sawmill, as George Washington after passing through the hands of a French cook would have made good food. But both for Washington and the tree that bears his name higher uses have been found.

Could one of these Sequoia Kings come to town in all its godlike majesty so as to be strikingly seen and allowed to plead its own cause, there would never again be any lack of defenders. And the same may be said of all the other Sequoia groves and forests of the Sierra with their companions and the noble Sequoia sempervirens, or redwood, of the coast mountains.

Sequoiadendron giganteum
Giant Sequoia

In a general view we find that the Sequoia gigantea, or Big Tree, is distributed in a widely interrupted belt along the west flank of the Sierra, from a small grove on the middle fork of the American River to the head of Deer Creek, a distance of about two hundred and sixty miles, at an elevation of about five thousand to a little over eight thousand feet above the sea. From the American River grove to the forest on Kings River the species occurs only in comparatively small isolated patches or groves so sparsely distributed along the belt that three of the gaps in it are from forty to sixty miles wide. From Kings River southward the Sequoia is not restricted to mere groves, but extends across the broad rugged basins of the Kaweah and Tule rivers in majestic forests a distance of nearly seventy miles, the continuity of this portion of the belt being but slightly broken save by the deep cañons.

In these noble groves and forests to the southward of the Calaveras Grove the axe and saw have long been busy, and thousands of the finest Sequoias have been felled, blasted into manageable dimensions, and sawed into lumber by methods destructive almost beyond belief, while fires have spread still wider and more lamentable ruin. In the course of my explorations twenty-five years ago, I found five sawmills located on or near the lower margin of the Sequoia belt, all of which were cutting more or less Big Tree lumber, which looks like the redwood of the coast, and was sold as redwood. One of the smallest of these mills in the season of 1874 sawed two million feet of Sequoia lumber. Since that time other mills have been built among the Sequoias, notably the large ones on Kings River and the head of the Fresno. The destruction of these grand trees is still going on.

On the other hand, the Calaveras Grove for forty years has been faithfully protected by Mr. Sperry, and with the exception of the two trees mentioned above is still in primeval beauty. The Tuolumne and Merced groves near Yosemite, the Dinky Creek grove, those of the General Grant National Park and the Sequoia National Park, with several outstanding groves that are nameless on the Kings, Kaweah, and Tule river basins, and included in the Sierra forest reservation, have of late years been partially protected by the Federal Government; while the well-known Mariposa Grove has long been guarded by the State.

For the thousands of acres of Sequoia forest outside of the reservation and national parks, and in the hands of lumbermen, no help is in sight. Probably more than three times as many Sequoias as are contained in the whole Calaveras Grove have been cut into lumber every year for the last twenty-six years without let or hindrance, and with scarce a word of protest on the part of the public, while at the first whisper of the bonding of the Calaveras Grove to lumbermen most everybody rose in alarm. This righteous and lively indignation on the part of Californians after the long period of deathlike apathy, in which they have witnessed the destruction of other groves unmoved, seems strange until the rapid growth that right public opinion has made during the last few years is considered and the peculiar interest that attaches to the Calaveras giants. They were the first discovered and are best known. Thousands of travelers from every country have come to pay them tribute of admiration and praise, their reputation is world-wide, and the names of great men have long been associated with them—Washington, Humboldt, Torrey and Gray, Sir Joseph Hooker, and others. These kings of the forest, the noblest of a noble race, rightly belong to the world, but as they are in California we cannot escape responsibility as their guardians. Fortunately the American people are equal to this trust, or any other that may arise, as soon as they see it and understand it.

Sequoia sempervirens
Coast Redwood

Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot defend themselves or run away. And few destroyers of trees ever plant any; nor can planting avail much toward restoring our grand aboriginal giants. It took more than three thousand years to make some of the oldest of the Sequoias, trees that are still standing in perfect strength and beauty, waving and singing in the mighty forests of the Sierra. Through all the eventful centuries since Christ’s time, and long before that, God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand storms; but he cannot save them from sawmills and fools; this is left to the American people. The news from Washington is encouraging. On March third [1905?] the House passed a bill providing for the Government acquisition of the Calaveras giants. The danger these Sequoias have been in will do good far beyond the boundaries of the Calaveras Grove, in saving other groves and forests, and quickening interest in forest affairs in general. While the iron of public sentiment is hot let us strike hard. In particular, a reservation or national park of the only other species of Sequoia, the sempervirens, or redwood, hardly less wonderful than the gigantea, should be quickly secured. It will have to be acquired by gift or purchase, for the Government has sold every section of the entire redwood belt from the Oregon boundary to below Santa Cruz.

----

This text was taken from the website Yosemite.ca.us, a website that offers many, many texts by John Muir for free. I read the essay in the Library of America edition of John Muir's Nature Writings, published in 1997 and for sale on Amazon. This wonderful edition includes The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, My First Summer in the Sierra, The Mountains of California, Stickeen and seventeen selected essays.

My Companion

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:31:00 +0000

This little fellow will be my companion for the next five months.

Romney Leaves Gingrich Far Behind in Florida

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:51:00 +0000

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney took Florida in the Republican primaries with 46.4% of the vote - a major win. Florida is a "winner-takes-it-all-state" so Romney is awarded each and every one of Florida's 50 delegates.

This time, Florida saved Mitt Romney (c) Politico

Newt Gingrich ended a rather distant second with 31.9%. Newt says he's not ready yet. He's moving on to Nevada, the next primary state, where Sarah Palin is sort of unofficially campaigning for him.

Is it over for Newt Gingrich? Romney's win may have been decisive. If Gingrich - or any of the other candidates: Santorum and Paul - can't take Nevada or Maine, I think the race is over and Romney is practically nominated. Whereas Super Tuesday and the late primaries were heavily fought over in 2008 and the decision fell rather late, it may be very different this year.

(I am sorry for the somewhat limited coverage of these events - I am currently short of time due to my exams. They will be over by February 4th. If you have any news to share with our readers, you can post it in the comments section or send me an e-mail. I'll happily accept your writings and post them as a guest blog!)

O Captain! My Captain!

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:48:00 +0000

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
       Where on the deck my Captain lies,
          Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
For you the bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
    This arm beneath your head!
       It is some dream that on the deck,
          You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
    But I with mournful tread,
         Walk the deck my Captain lies,
          Fallen cold and dead.

— Walt Whitman
Leaves of Grass (death-bed edition)

"O Captain! My Captain" is one of the most anthologized American poems. Walt Whitman, an iconic figure in American literature, produced it in 1865, the year in which President Abraham Lincoln was shot to death. The poem is an extended metaphor concerning this tragic event. The captain is Lincoln, the ship the US.

If you have seen Dead Poets Society recently, you may recall that Robin Williams tells his students that they can call him "O Captain! My Captain!". The memorable final scenes of that film... well watch for yourselves! It is very enjoyable.

Druid Heights

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:41:00 +0000

"Oasis for Resisting Status Symbols Just Might Get One"

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/us/historic-status-weighed-for-druid-heights-a-countercultural-oasis.html

This is a very interesting article from the New York Times about an old hippie settlement in Muir Woods, in California's North Bay Area. I would very much recommend to skim through it, as I did, and take a look at the Slide Show that accompanies the article.

Any thoughts on this topic? Be sure to share them with the rest of us!

State of the Union 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:02:00 +0000

Watch yesterday's State of the Union Address. This is the "enhanced version", showing pictures and relevant side info on the side of the screen.

Any thoughts on what Obama says? Do you have a favorite (or least favorite) part?

Want to know more about the Station of the Union Address: check this page.

Books for my Bachpap

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:56:00 +0000

Click to enlarge.

This, my friends, is my stack of primary and secondary sources for my B.A. thesis (bachpap) on Muir, Burroughs and the environmental politics of the Progressive Era. Yes, it is A FUCKING LOT. (I have to read through most of these books, you know.) Most of these books I ordered through Amazon.com and they were all delivered very quickly.

My thanks go out to my parents, who have financed this stack of books!

What is what? Top down:

- selected letters and speeches by Roosevelt
- selected nature writers by Muir
- concise biography of Roosevelt
- full biography of Roosevelt and his nature causes
- the Ecocriticism Reader

- edition of academic papers on Burroughs

- selected essays by Burroughs
- book on Burroughs and the nature writing movement
- biography of Burroughs
- full biography of Muir

Three States, Three Winners

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:03:00 +0000

Primary season officially began on January 3rd as the Iowa Caucuses were held. Although Mitt Romney was first proclaimed winner, it was later revealed that Rick Santorum had slightly more votes than Romney did. In the meantime, however, Romney had already gone on to win New Hamsphire. His victory was not at all a surprise. Then, last weekend, Newt Gingrich took South Carolina by a wide margin.

Gingrich swept South Carolina, upending the G.O.P. race

So where the hell are we?

(1) The field has become significantly smaller. After disappointing results at the Iowa caucus, Michele Bachmann gave up her campaign. Rick Perry said he would reconsider his campaign. He did and decided to go on for a while. On January 19th, then, he quit and endorsed Newt Gingrich. Former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman gave up a few days before that. His results for New Hampshire were not bad (he came in third), but the outlook for the rest of the rest was not very promising either. Quite expectedly, he endorsed the most moderate candidate, Romney.

Bye bye Perry

Who's left?

Mitt Romney, the extremely wealthy, moderate Republican and former Governor of Massachusetts
Rick Santorum, gay-bashing conservative and former Governor of Pennsylvania
Ron Paul, idol of youthful libertarians whose second presidential campaign this is
Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House with a mixed record: more of a pragmatist than a true conservative - although he would argue against that

(2) What are the odds? I have been told that it is historic that three different Republican candidates won the first three primaries. Gingrich's surprising and massive win in South Carolina must have hurt Romney seriously. Had Romney won South Carolina, the primaries would have been practically over. Now, the race is still open.

That doesn't mean all candidates have the same chances, though. Ron Paul, however enthusiastic his supporters are, makes no chance at the Republican nomination. He consistently earns a nice percentage of the votes, but is unlikely to win in any state. He's too much of a fringe candidate. Rick Santorum - don't think so either. His Iowa win was impressive, but the polls are currently not so favorable. I suspect he will announce that he's out after one or two more primaries.

(3) That leaves us with two candidates. On the last day of this month, they will have their chance to show off their popularity in the Florida primary. Currently, polls suggest Romney and Gingrich are equally popular in this state. But as we know, a week is a very long time in election politics. Will Gingrich further surge in the polls thanks to his South Carolina victory? Will Romney force a Florida win with his unlimited financial power? Will Paul or Santorum make it to a surprising second place?

"Gingrich and Romney Trade Jabs as G.O.P. Race Rolls On" (NYTimes)

"G.O.P. Ventures Into Florida, a State Harder to Pigeonhole" (NYTimes)

SOPA and PIPA: the Magic Trick

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:42:00 +0000

The SOPA and PIPA legislation rapidly found approval among both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. However, something weird happened on January 18th, that changed many minds...

Thanks to Arne Klempert for sharing on Google+!

2008 Nostalgia - continued

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Dearest readers,

Thanks for checking into Monticello to Walden every now and then! I regret that my posting rate has been a bit lower lately. January is exam period at university, which explains 90% of why I have not been blogging so much lately. (The other 10% can be explained by my recent interest in Wikipedia editing. I have reassumed my hobby of writing and editing the Dutch-language Wikipedia.)

I have heard from quite a lot of you that you have enjoyed the election game I shared with you. Some of you already knew it and if you didn't, you began to like it quickly, didn't you? (I even heard it has been taking up precious study time from some of you, which - of course - I would never encourage ;).)

As a matter of fact, I know of another election game that was published during the 2008 election cycle. It's a good deal of fun - I have played it hundreds of times already - but perhaps not as good as Battleground States 2008. Be sure to share your thoughts on this game! Do you like it or not?

Campaign Game: General Election (link)

Campaign Game allows you to choose one of two candidates: Barack Obama and John McCain. (The choice is obvious.)

Then you choose your staff. There is the Spinmeister, the Hatchet Man, the Fundraiser and the Operative. What they do becomes clear when the game begins. I usually take one Fundraiser, one Hatchet Man and one Operative.

You and your staff will then be placed across an abstracted map of the United States. If you play in Hard mode - which is feasible after you've played Easy mode a couple of times - the opposition will have one more staff member and will already possess one "region". The US, as you can see, are divided into regions rather than states. By moving your people around during your term, you claim parts of those zones. Each character has a different reach, as you will find out.

Click on your staff to move them. The area they will take will be marked. Click "end move" to finalize your move for that character. The best thing to do in the beginning is to make sure you have at least one region that is totally yours. It then becomes dark blue (or red if you're a redneck) and will earn you money. Money that is hard needed to fight your enemy or to get new staff members if needed.

Then, as the game moves on, your opponents will attack you. Sling mud at you, hit you with a bag of money, do a "scathing attack", wave flags, etc. Not all attacks are equally powerful. Attacks will eventually kill your staff, so be careful! The trick is to make sure you kill McCain's people before he does your people in. The tricky part is to both make sure you keep at least one or two regions ánd to kill McCain's people so he does not kill you in the end.

If your opponent has a staff of four people and maintains five regions, while you fight with one person to maintain your last region - you're doomed.

Play: http://www.kongregate.com/games/thup/campaign-game

Players' question: What is your favorite staff member?

Obama State Pins (!)

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:41:00 +0000

You have absolutely no idea how amazingly awesome and supertastic this is to a pin collector slash Obama supporter!

Pity that it's 450 dollar for the entire set.

Ecobama Saves the Grand Canyon

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:01:00 +0000

"Obama rescues the Grand Canyon" reads South Africa's Mail & Guardian.

The Obama administration has formally banned new mining claims in a very large area (400.000 hectares) surrounding America's most famous natural wonder, the Grand Canyon. A victory indeed for Obama and the environment!

Last semester I wrote an opinion piece on this matter as part of an assignment for my course on Dutch language proficiency. The reason I chose the topic is because I was 100% behind a ban on mining activities around the Grand Canyon.

Here is, in short, what I argued in my essay.

In 1872, President Ulysses Grant signed a mining bill that allowed companies with a claim to dig up gold and other precious metals on grounds that were owned by the federal government. Congress wanted to lure adventurers to the Far West. And it did. The 1872 act is still in place, with only a few adjustments. The mining industry, however, has evolved into a billion dollar industry. Mining companies that have a claim can still dig up precious metals, but also uranium, on land owned by Uncle Sam. With rising prices for metals, requests for new claims have risen exponentially. The Democrats have twice tried to put an end to this awkard situation, but were unfortunately unsuccessful.

The current situation (pre-ban situation) is untenable and unjust. It is especially striking that miners can make a claim on federal lands that are actually protected. The United States is a natural treasure chest, with beautiful and varied forests and grasslands currently under the protection of the National Forest Service or another government agency. Their value is obvious. These lands have an immense ecological value! Many natural areas in the West also have a historic and cultural value, as the habitats of Native Americans and as the background of a unique migration movement. It is self-evident that the United States has the moral responsibility to take care of such an ecological and cultural treasure.

We should of course appreciate that there are limits to the protection of natural areas. Not all public land is equally valuable. They cannot all contain the same plant and animal diversity. I think it's reasonable that some of those less valuable lands can be used for mining purposes. It is, however, absolutely essential that a federal agency takes a close look at all proposals and options and reviews them thoroughly with special attention to the possible consequences for both man and the environment. Uranium mining, you can imagine, comes with risks. Several agencies and authorities have already expressed their concern, also about the finances. Cleaning up a uranium mining site, for example, is massively expensive.

The strangest thing remains that this is federal land. It is land owned by the government of the United States, and by extension by 300 million Americans. They pay taxes to maintain and protect these lands. The resources extracted from those lands belong to the American people! The wickedest thing though: mining companies don't pay royalties for the resources they extract! They don't! Oil companies do. It makes sense that they do. And so should mining companies who dig up expensive materials on federal land! It is baffling.

The loss of potential income for the state (they could be mining themselves, after all), should be compensated for. That's what happens in the oil and gas industries. That's what happens with mining companies who work on private lands. It should be the same on federal land. The royalties could be used by the government to invest in environmental protection programs, alternative energy or scientific research.

Thus, it is evident that:
(a) uranium mining around the Grand Canyon is unethical. It should be banned, mostly because it is too risky.
(b) the 1872 law has to be repealed or heavily amended to include:
- royalties on mining activities on federal land
- review of mining proposals
- prohibition of mining activities in protected or ecologically important areas

Obama's administration has done the right thing to block future mining proposals. It was Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, who announced that the government would impose a ban on new mining claims around the canyon for the next 20 years.

I would hope that the Democrats would also change the 1872 law I talked about, but I'm afraid that won't happen any time soon. The House is currently held by Republicans and they seem to hate the environment...

This week, President Obama visited the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the "ministry of the environment" of the United States. (Apparently, even Belgian newspapers reported on it, which I found rather surprising.) Obama's visit was another move to show that he cares about the environment. It also a way of showing the Republicans that they are losing the environmental battle. The G.O.P. would love to cut down the EPA or abolish it rightaway. Obama, however, thinks EPA is "vital" and expressed his thanks to the agency's employees.

I haven't always been 100% happy with Obama's environmental record, but his recent moves have made me very enthusiastic! Go Ecobama!

2008 Nostalgia

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:01:00 +0000

The 2008 Presidential Election was something of a milestone in my life. For the first time, I had followed an international election up closely. Every day of 2008 I visited CNN.com, NYTimes.com and a number of other news sites - reading through articles about Obama or his opponents. I loved it.

The most fun, however, were the games. The 2008 election spawned a number of free online games that are actually a good deal of fun. Here is my absolute favorite!

Battleground States 2008 (link)

Battleground States is basically like the board game Risk. In Battleground States you chose one of the parties/candidates of the 2008 election. These are the options:

Democratic Party: Obama
Republican Party: McCain
Green Party: Cynthia McKinney
Libertarian Party: Bob Barr
Black Panther Party
Boston Tea Party
Communist Party USA
"Create Your Own" (your icon will be an alien)

Then you choose how many opponents you want: anything from one to seven. Ready to rumble!

This is how it begins if you chose 8 players.

Each player gets a turn (you are always first) to "fight". Like in Risk, you fight with a number of dice, indicated by the little number next to the icons. The more dice - obviously - the greater your chances of beating your opponent in any of the neighboring states. Let's say I'm the Boston Tea Party. Texas (white state, down in the middle) can attack any of its neighboring states. Attacking New Mexico is too tricky (McCain has five support down there), so let's begin with Louisiana.

Louisiana lost, that means we take the state. One supporter stays in Texas, the three others move to Louisiana. And that's how you will slowly conquer the map. When you click "End turn" you get reinforcements, based on the number of states you have at that moment. Your reinforcements will be distributed randomly among your states.

This is what the map looks like after my first round. Now, it's Obama's turn. As you can imagine, after all the other players have had their turn, my territority may have shrunk drastically. The trick is to maintain at least one area where you're rather strong - where your opponents will most likely not interfere too much. (Tip: take the South (Mississippi through the Carolinas), it's the safest area.)

You should really try it some time! The game can be quite lengthy, especially if you play with 8 players.

Play: http://www.addictinggames.com/funny-games/battlegroundstates2008.jsp

Players' question: Which state is the last one you take before you reach the 50?

Proto-Environmentalists

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:38:00 +0000

In the sixties and seventies, caring for the environment became a national concern in the United States. Scientific research established that we were well on our way to destroy our natural environments. We would not just lose wilderness and forests and merry birds and fluffy animals, we would actually harm ourselves irreversibly. A notorious and influential 1962 novel called Silent Spring raised awareness about the dangers of spraying DDT without proper knowledge about health and environmental risks. Since then, “the environment” and “environmentalism” became household words practically overnight.

But well before that, the United States had already seen a first wave of environmental concern. It goes by the name of conservationism, but you could also call it proto-environmentalism if you’re into long and fancy phrases.

The roots of this movement go back, at least, to the mid-19th century. Some people, intellectuals from the East mostly, began to appreciate that nature was being threatened by a rapidly progressing civilization. Before that, Frontiersmen believed the opposite was the case: wilderness was the Devil’s den and what better to do than bring civilization to the wild? It was a big step, intellectually, to see nature as something that was valuable in itself. From then on, some people actually wanted to preserve wilderness. Fence it off, figuratively and literally if it must, from the industrial, utilitarian society!

These Easterners, often writers and artists, were inspired by one great American author: Henry David Thoreau. His writings, and those of his contemporary and friend Ralph Waldo Emerson, expressed a longing for what was still wild. “In Wildness,” Thoreau famously wrote, “is the preservation of the World.” Thoreau believed that Man had to get in contact with the Wild to be fully alive. Society makes us passive – nature can strengthen us, make us moral beings, let us feel the great force of nature deeply. This intellectual revolution thoroughly influenced Thoreau’s readers and made them yearn for Nature and its preservation.

One such person was the Scottish-born John Muir. Having hiked for long periods of time through the truly wild regions in the Far West, Muir was enthralled by nature. His passion was enormous. Muir, the great conservationist, did everything in his life to ensure that the beauty of America’s wilderness area would be preserved for future generations. Muir wasn’t a sit-still philosopher. He pro-actively lobbied for the preservation of the Yosemite Valley. Thanks to him, Yosemite became America’s second national park in 1890 and one of the nation’s most cherished places. Muir was also the founder of the Sierra Club, the oldest environmental organization in the States.

In the early 20th century, the conservation movement was incredibly popular, considering how early it came about. For the first time in history, thousands of people were actively involved with the preservation of natural landscapes. At one particular occasion in 1913, one Senator concerned with the question whether to dam a valley in Yosemite or not, received an estimated five thousand letters (!) opposing the dam. Although their attempt eventually failed, it was a huge symbolical achievement for the conservation movement.

At least sixty years before the tree-hugging Hippies first celebrated Earth Day in 1970, American people championed the conservation effort, establishing national parks and an independent agency devoted to the preservation of them. The conservation movement of the early 20th century was not a mature kind of environmental concern: most people would not have understood the intricate workings of ecosystems or biodiversity. But it most certainly was a sincere attempt at doing what is good. Good for Man, and – for the first time – good for Nature.

Note: this article was written for 'Simile' magazine, the student magazine of the English Department at Ghent University. It will probably appear in 'Simile' in early 2012 as part of a column on environmentalism and the United States.

Dynamic Views Style

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

Hi dear readers!

"Monticello to Walden" has made the move to the new Dynamic Views blogger style! Pretty, isn't it? I hope you like it!

The Dynamic Views are very easy to navigate. Standard style will always be "magazine", but you can browse through different views using the button on the left of the black bar that says "magazine". Feel free to discover which one you like most and be sure to share your thought with us!

I have heard that Blogger will - in the nearby future - allow various apps and tools on the Dynamic View blogs. I am hoping for a tags list and a chronological archive in the future, but I think we'll manage perfectly well in the meantime!

Thanks for your continuing visits to "Monticello to Walden"!

Best,
Dimitri

Hope you like it!
Suggestions for improvement? Shoot!

Warfare in Biodiversity Hotspots

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:16:00 +0000

Conservation efforts are only as sustainable as the social and political context within which they take place, the authors of an essay titled "Warfare in Biodiversity Hotspots" argue.

Historically, war has often led to abuses of wildlife and natural areas, the suspension of conservation activities, and less international aid going to conservation efforts. On the other hand, war can relieve pressure on biodiversity.

Map of the world's biodiversity hotspot regions

Biodiversity hotspots
The concept of biodiversity hotspots was pioneered by the British environmental scientist Norman Myers. To qualify as a hotspot, a region must support 1500 endemic plant species and it must have lost 70% or more of its original plant cover. These biodiversity hotspots serve as a template for setting global priorities.

The actual, remaining natural areas within these hotspots amount to only 2.3% of the Earth's surface but they contain at least 42% of vertebrate land species and 50% of known plant species! They are particularly sensitive to human disturbance and many of them lie in the centers of political volatility.

Hotspots in war zones
There is a highly significant spatial overlap between war zones and biodiversity hotspots. The research performed by Hanson et al. (2009) takes into account all armed conflicts between 1950 and 2000 that made more than 1000 total casualties. The results: 146 conflicts.

The researches determined whether a war occurred within a hotspot region with the greatest specificity possible. If the armed conflict plays out outside of the region covered by the hotspot, it was not included.

They found that 118 of 146 conflicts (that is 81%) took place wholly or partically within such hotspots. That is indeed a very startling observation. As far as I can judge, most overlap was in East Africa, the Middle East and Indochina, but we may not forget the various conflicts in Middle- and South America or Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.

Map of the biodiversity hotspots (gray zones)
and armed conflicts (dots). Source: see bottom of post.

Consequences...
Since the earliest military histories the impacts of war on natural landscapes have only increased over time. The potential harm has dramatically expanded with the introduction of chemical, nuclear and biological warfare.

Modern wars, especially guerilla warfare, are often played out in remote, forested areas of the country. When that happens, protected areas over there lose their effectiveness. Staff has to be evacuated and conservation activities temporarily cease. Poachers and hunters can cause incredible harm during conflicts. During Uganda's volatile 1970s, the populations of elephant and hippo were totally decimated.

Military expenditures often go at the expense of other government programs, such as natural resource management or wildlife conservation. In the United States, for example, the budget of both the Forest Service and the National Park Service shrunk seriously when military spending increased during the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.

Insurgents can make "good use" of the natural resources in their territories. Unfortunaly, timber, diamonds, wild animals, and illicit drugs provide rebels with money, at the expense of biodiversity.

Of course, the humanitarian crises cause by war can have devastating impacts on wildlife and natural resources. When you are escaping your war-torn homes, you're in no position to guarantee that you don't kill Red List animals or build encampments here or there.

And opportunities?

Korean DMZ, a involuntary park

Sometimes conflict creates opportunities for biodiversity to recover. Think of buffer zones between opposing forces. These "no man's lands" can become reservoirs for biodiversity. Probably the most famous example is the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas. An extremely long 4 km-wide strip of continuosly uninhabited land -- a de facto nature reserve. Old military bases are another example.

When economic activity decreases and/or people move away from a dangerous area, biodiversity usually benefits from that. During the World Wars, the population of the European plaice (known as "schol" or "pladijs" in Dutch) in the North Sea rebounded after commercial fishing reduced.

All of this is of course very case-specific and complex.

Policy implications
Hanson and his colleagues find "2 clear and important policy implications":

Conservation organizations must develop programs in war-torn regions if they are to be effective in conserving global biodiversity.
Biodiversity conservation should be integrated into military, reconstruction and humanitarin programs.
This includes support of national and local institutions, collaboration with military professional to reduce negative consequences, natural resource management training for soldiers, promotion efforts, the creation of peace parks, etc.

This case study exemplifies what can happen:

Rwanda has four protected areas within one of the biodiversity hotspots, the Eastern Afromontane hotspot. During the civil war, international NGOs continued their support for local staff in the Volcanoes National Park and a forest reserve. In the National Park, the boundaries maintained intact and wildlife populations were stable or even increased - despite the unrest. After the war, the NGOs helped restart tourism and research. Two smaller and less-known parks, however, did not receive attention for international organizations. A survey of 2000 found that one of the parks was almost completely deforested, another was reduced to more than half of its historical extent. Obviously, wildlife populations suffered an enormous deal.

The population of endangered mountain gorillas
actually increased during the Rwanda civil war,
due to continued conservation efforts of
international NGOs and the Volcanoes
National Park

Source
Hanson, T. et al., "Warfare in Biodiversity Hotspots", in: Conservation Biology 23, 3, 2009.

If you are interested in the original source and have no access to the journal, I can send it to you via e-mail. One of the interesting things about the article is that it includes a full list of the biodiversity hotspots, which countries they are in and what conflicts took place there during which period! Just ask in the comments section if you want the essay!

2012

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 12:55:00 +0000

Happy New Year!

The Iowa Caucus (January 3rd) is getting extremely close now. When I did a forecast of the caucus a couple of weeks ago, Gingrich had taken the lead. Now, he has fallen in the polls. In Iowa, Mitt Romney is currently leading, followed immediately by Ron Paul. Gingrich and Rick Santorum, who has recently climbed up in th polls, fight for the third place.

Meet Shasta Lake

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:50:00 +0000

In one of my previous posts, "Meet Sundial Bridge", I talked about our family trip to the Northwestern states and what a relief it was to arrive in Redding, CA with the most gorgeous weather, after we had been out in Washington and Oregon where we had seen clouds and rain and wind.

Just before we entered the city of Redding, we had set up camp near Shasta Lake, which is a couple of miles north of Redding. Shasta is an artificial lake created when the Shasta Dam was built on the Sacramento River in the 1940s. Now Shasta is a huge lake. It doesn't look so huge when you're on the water because it has several long branches.

"When you're on the water" - yes, we've been on the lake! We rented a small motorboat on the first 100% sunny day in a while. Here are some pictures!

The end of one of the lake's branches. Although there had
been a few clouds that morning, they were soon gone.
We were so happy with these beautifully blue skies!

Boats need gas too, you know.

Driving over the dam.

The landscape around Shasta Lake is gorgeous, partly because
you have trees directly next to the water.

My brother on the "donut", still very much at ease.

Fun? You betcha! Those things can go really fast. The most fun
is when the motor boat makes a partial turn. If you're on full speed
and the turn is sharp enough, the donut will suddenly shoot
away and out of the waves created by the boat.
The result is that your donut will slide (hover) over still water,
which is truly amazing.

Learn more about Shasta Lake on:

Wikipedia, although the article is rather short
ShastaLake.org

One last thing! The creation of Shasta Lake was a bit unfortunate for the people of Kennett, California. Their town was submerged. Here's what happened to Kennett:

The federal government had considered building a dam in the area since the 1870s, and the New Deal gave them the perfect opportunity to do so. In 1935, construction on Shasta Dam began. There is no record of any public hearings to ask Kennett residents their opinion. The diminished population of the town was likely considered too insignificant to matter. Most people sold their land to the government willingly, while some waited until the waters began to rise before abandoning their homes. Kennett was completely submerged by 1944, one year before the completion of the dam.

Until the 1920s, Kennett was once a booming mining town.

In 1944, Kennett was submerged by the rising lake.

Maps Mean the World to Me

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:56:00 +0000

I love maps. They are intriguing. They are beautiful.

My friends and classmates know I constantly draw maps for fun. (That's part of an activity called "geofiction", creating fictional worlds.) I often get the same questions from people who see me drawing maps. Here is my Map Drawing FAQ!

What's that?

That's a map.

Do you know these maps by heart? Are those real countries?

No, they're not. I just invent them. I love to draw geographical shapes and make them look realistic.

Are you nuts?

Not that I know. It's just a hobby.

Do these fictional countries have names?

I almost never give my maps names. Sometimes I do, but mostly not. The real fun is in drawing and imagining the geography: cities and metropolises, regions and districts, highways and airports, dialect areas and isoglosses, natural parks and highlands, etcetera. With the simple power of imagination and some lines and colors, I can actually suggest all those things on a map.

How come they look so realistic? I really thought you were drawing country X or Y.

Landforms are not just random. All over the world the same forces have shaped mountains, lakes, fjords, etc. I don't know much about geology, but I do know what the effects of geology and geography look like on maps. But actually, most things are very obvious. You can draw a group of islands that look pretty round, with an odd shape here and there. Those forms are perfectly possible. Part of the fun, really, is to draw strange places on an otherwise normal map.

Shouldn't you have become a geographer then?

I'm not so very interested in geography or geology, soil and rocks. I love literature and language, I like writing. I also like being creative. As with painting and drawing, making maps is a hobby. It's something I love to do, but wouldn't think of professionalizing - if there even were a way of doing that. I just love it, the same way you like to sing under the shower.

Do you have other questions about drawing maps as a hobby?
Use the comments section!

I would like to share a blog dedicated to "strange maps", adequately named "Strange Maps". It is an amazing blog to browse through. Lots of intriguing maps and charts! This is the blog's latest entry about maps that split up America in zones for the purpose of medical insurance underwriting. Curious as hell!

Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Dimitri Neyt) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:24:00 +0000

I wish all of my readers an exceptionally beautiful holiday period! If you celebrate Christmas and/or New Year - enjoy! My best wishes for 2012!

Have you ever heard of the song "El Cóndor Pasa (If I Could)" by Simon & Garfunkel? It's a beautiful song based on an early folk-influenced Peruan song. The version by Simon & Garfunkel does sound a bit Christmas-like, actually. But very nice! Check it out:

For those interested in the song's history, go to Wikipedia for more. You can find the lyrics here.