LUCHIN BECOMES AN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGER!!!!!!

The environmental manager philosophy bases on the idea of a balance between the environment and the human specie. We are firm believers that both nature and mankind can coexist peacefully. We understand that mankind has special demands these days and that they are important for our development as specie. However, we understand and recognize the deep relationship we share with the earth. Aldo Leopold believes that our main focus on natural preservation should not be entirely based on our sole convenience. People normally think that the reason for environmental preservation is that all our resources come from there and if we don't have nature, we don't have resources and therefore no money. Another view people have is that nature has a lot of hidden goods for medical purposes for example and if we destroy nature, we might also be destroying something like the cure for cancer or any other thing. The problem with these views is that nature is viewed as another resource to take advantage of. We are entirely seeking for our own benefits. We are using the mentality of a parasite which is to use all we can in one area, and once all we need is over, we move to another area to do the same thing. This mentality has a record from the roman times. They were the ones who started with this mentality and since they became such a big empire, this thought spread all over the world. We shouldn't view nature as just another resource to exploit, but rather as a brother force we shoudln't fight against, but rather work with it. Aldo Leopold is totally right arguing that nature has other big things in it like just a bird song that does so much good to us. It brings peace to our souls, something the system doesn't give us. I know I sound quite a lot as a deep ecologist, but I think the following: The best way to save the environment is to make people love it and accept it as a part of themselves. This can only be achieved by taking people to nature and make them look for ways to benefit from it ( not in a selfish way). I also think that the system provides something good and it is that it can make this idea spread and make people live it. The system allowed us to have all the things we need to go to the environment. Without this, it would be really hard to take regular people to the nature because they are not accustomed to this and for them to take the next step is really hard if it is something so different to their regular life.
"The path to illumination lies in the middle" Siddharta Gautama XD

Deep Ecologists coment on The Land Ethic essay

As deep ecologist we feel we have a spiritual attachment to the environment. We are part of a system where any specie affected affect the whole environment. That´s why we support Aldo Leopold and his essay "The Land Ethic" 

As deep ecologists we agree with Aldo Leopold because we believe and know that the all the environments are interconnected to a point where if something is altered every other part of the environment gets affected. Based on the Gaia theory developed by James Lovelock states that earth is an organism which will attempt to sustain itself. This occurs because it is a closed system therefore anything that occurs inside the system will directly affect and change the system because matter can either get in or out. To prove this point as you could see in the graph below the air currents that cross the globe will drag the sand from desserts such as the Sahara which are supremely fertile are blown into the South American rainforest filling the sand with minerals increasing the Amazon rainforest fertility. Due to these reasons we as humans should protect earth and its natural resources but not because of its value but because of how it is all interconnected and what ever change we do to earth will affect us all and eventually earth won't be able to sustain all this changes. That is why we agree with Aldo Leopold's philosophy that we should protect earth to for the beauty of it and how it is a system, an organism, where it all works together in attempt of survival.
Jorge

Every organism that is part of the food chain has to survive in order for it to not be destroyed. Once a producer, consumer or top consumer organism becomes extinct the food chain brakes and the ecosystems suffers a change in its natural dynamic. It can even end up changing the location to a new ecosystem. Humans are animals; ergo we are part of the food chain. Preserving nature is key for our survival. We depend on the natural resources available in nature to breath, eat, drink water, and more. Once specie of tree becomes extinct other producers will replace it by the process of substitution. This new species may not be as efficient in converting CO2 into O and the amount of oxygen available in that area will decrease for humans to live near.

As the food chain chart illustrates, once a species of animal disappears the one bellow it will increase in population and the one above it will decrease until it finds another source of food or becomes extinct as well. This process if full of positive feedback and this is why once it starts it is hard to find a natural balance. It is important to preserve nature in order for humans to survive as well. 

"Temperate Decidious Group A." Cougarbiology /. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. <http://cougarbiology.pbworks.com/w/page/9016271/Temperate Decidious Group A>.

Mateo Burbano 

As deep ecologists we also believe there is a spiritual connection between all living creatures. This also creates a dependence bond between different creatures and their environments and by affecting any of this creatures there is an instant effect on all the environment. If the whole environment is affected then creatures will be obligated to change their habits. 

Thats why we support Leopold´s theory and arguments. The bond between every living creature has to be respected and as a superior specie we have to respect it even more. Our capacity to analize different situations should help us understand this but our ambition and natural selfishness combined with the power we have can affect many other species and their whole environment. 

In the chart we can see there is a relationship between all living creatures and humans are in the middle. We have a moral obligation to protect species because we are capable on doing it and we also depend on them.

Cesar Sevilla

Emilio Rekalde

As deep ecologists we agree on every fact that Aldo Leopold stated about the nature and how it should be preserved because of is important for the life on Earth, which protect and nature us.

We believe that humans have to preserve the environment because of its importance as the nature provides living creatures with natural sources, but not because of its economical benefits.

Our ideology is that humans are not independent on the environment and the environment is not independent on us. Is a mutual relationship between men and nature. We need the land to survive as it provides us with fruits and vegetables as well with water and oxygen that are essential for our live. Therefore, nature is sacred.

 

This graph shows the amount of deforestation in countries of the world since 1990 and the 2000s. Brazil is shown as the country with more deforestation. The percentages increase all the time.

As an example, Brazil is the country with more deforestation. Being honest and talking about economics it has increase a lot and is the country in South America with the higher incomes. Nevertheless is a country that had enormous natural advantages, all because of the Amazon Forest. They had great diversity on flora and fauna, one of the biggest in the world, we have to stand out the fact that once you destroy ecosystems like the Amazon you will never get it back.

We totally agree with Aldo Leopold and his Land Ethic. Is not about destroying life for having a “better” life. We have to live life as it comes and nature give us everything we need. 

As Soft Ecologists responding on week 4 question

                As soft ecologist, we believe that we only need the necessary to live, not anything extra. We think that we should use what the environment allows us to have rather than creating our own sustainability. Also we think flora and fauna from the environment should be appreciate more than anything as are the principles of life, center of maintaining a healthy planet for all. The Land Ethic by Aldo Leopold simply amplifies the boundaries of the community to include soil, water, plants and animals in any specific land. This text was mainly written in order to define the arising relationship between people and nature that set the stage in the actuality. This text directs to the concept of “ethics” since is directed to how individuals cooperate with each other in order for the benefit of all. The philosophical view around community, states that communities should include in their living non-human elements such as the ones mention before, making reference to idea that environmental factors revolve for a sustainable living. Discussing the information given for week 4, as soft ecologist, we can support that nature should be preserved because it provides value beyond merely supplying natural resources, not because of economic and practical benefits for humans, since the environment for us means everything, we just care on having natural resource necessary for our survival, especially those goods from the primary sector that don´t need further manufacture process for its consumption. Still we don´t think that environmental ethics should focus on systems only, as living standards is what matters for us.           

                A perfect example to understand the importance of the environment to some communities, are the Huaorani people, these are native Amerindians that belong to the Amazon region of Ecuador. This culture has been differentiated from the rest of the ethnic groups due to their intensive commitment and cherishment to the environment. Huaorani considered the rainforest not only as their home but as their complete source of protection. They have rejected all contact with the outside and urban world, and have been use to live in isolated areas. They considered the rainforest as their fortress due to their believes of the outside world, because they want to protect themselves from society´s “witchcrafts” and “attacks”. When it comes to the appreciation of the animals from the rainforest, they believe that when people die, the animals act as a spiritual existence not only a physical one. Huaorani people are consciously enough about the necessary resources they need for living, as seen in the picture below, they don´t even use manufacture clothes for themselves. As soft ecologist, we do think this ethnic group is complete valuable and deserve respect and tolerance from the rest, because the modern world is not considering that their homes lie within the ecosystem humans are constantly destroying.

 

Besides the Huaorani people, there are several other native or indigenous groups that go along these ideas and beliefs of living within a sustainable environment where what there is has to be used and nothing else is necessary, specially things like technology or extra supplies. A good and clear example are the Maasai, which are a indigenous African tribe that are known as semi-nomadic. Being a semi-nomadic means that they do have a specific place where they live and cultivate and make their life, but still when the situation comes they do move around in order to please their needs and sustain their community. It is said that the Maasai people move around depending on the season following their herds of sheep, cattle, and goats in order to find water and grounds to stay. As well Maasai have been a tribe that have not depended at all in things that people usually do, like economy or cash. They never allowed themselves to be influenced by other people that surrounded them, they believed that they did not need that to survive. Maasai think that they just need what nature has given them in order to survive, they depend on their herds and what they provide for them and what it is provided is enough for them. Cattle not only provide food for them, but as well this though of importance of the animal goes along with power and wealth as well, making cattle a symbol of power and richness for the people. Despite what said before, things have changed for the Maasai people in the present day. This has a lot to do with the importance that people today give to the environment and nature that surround us, and as well the relationship that is now held between us. Maasai people are suffering due to the changed that have been happening around their territories and where their tribes are located because of external people that doesn't have the same beliefs than Maasai tribes. They have had to adapt to the lessen of land they are experiencing which as well decreases the wildlife in general around them which they have always been accustomed. So, as soft ecologist we do believe that it is important to show some kind of respect with nature and the environment, specially in cases where other people worship or really need it like many native or indigenous groups that are around the world today. 

On the image above we can see that we depend on our environment. Therefore we should live only on what the environment can give us instead of forcing them to give us more. If we want to have a sustainable future and a healthy environment we need to take care of it and conserve it. If we use more than what the environment can give us our resources will reach a limit and our future and health in this planet will be harmed. Therefore as the image above says if we do not have sustainable lives the planet will continue to get warmer and we wouldn't be able to survive in it. 

The graph above shows how people such as the huaorani live with the environment.It is clearly shown that they use the environment to construct, for medical purpose, for combustion, as a spiritual symbol, for working purposes but mainly for food. However they survive with what the environment can give them naturally, without forcing it to give them more. By forcing it we mean burning them as fossil fuel or nitrogen. Soft ecologist can find everything they need in their environment. They find food and medicine which keeps them alive and they even find distractions such as 

http://home.btconnect.com/tipiglen/landethic.html

cornucopians week 4

Cornucopias point of view

Juan Esteban's part:

I find the idea that Aldo Leopold stands that nature should be preserve thanks to its biodiversity, the species and the resources it contains, I find it to be wrong because thanks that the economic system and the sustainability of life is based in those resources humans will have trouble in having a comfortable life. Most of all our economic system depends basically in the use of fossil fuels thanks that countries like Venezuela, Iran, Ecuador, and United Arab Emirates depend on the subtracting of this fuel and selling it to countries that don’t have this resource. Basically crude oil become to be a crucial factor in the model of economies thanks that since 1969 its price has started to arise and also the increase of population has created a bigger demand of the products derived from oil. In 1969 the price of crude oil was established in 10$, in 2011 the price rise to 115$, until 2013 its price has vary a little but it has being the highest price in which the crude was sale. This argument has become a crucial statement that many people are not agree on but until now is what many countries depend on and change this system will be hard. Scientist stand that oil is going to be over for 2050 but until that day new kinds of alternative will be developed thanks to the increase of technology and the economic system in this time will change finding a new implementation of its model. Also we need to take in account that now day’s cars, airplanes, and many other objects are powered by gasoline and changing this whole production will take a long time. If oil is over we are going to replace it with a different kind of resource.  In the other hand we have another big important resource which is cotton. Cotton is a natural resource that is use to make cloth, and different materials that are used by humans.  At the same as oil cotton in the past years has increased it price thanks to the demand of people. Countries like China and Pakistan require and buy the largest amount of cotton so basically their economy also depends in this natural resource. In this case there have not been worries about getting out of cotton only the commercial price has increase.  Looking to these two specific examples we can determine that humans require and need to be us natural resource like because our life depend and go around this resource. These resources are basic in the economies of the world but thanks to the development of technology this resources could be replaced in the short future. Humans have the necessity to keep using these natural resources but we should keep in mind that we need to have a better control of these resources. Instead of just stop using all the resources and conserving nature we need to find a way of using these resources appropriately and find a balance because if we keep using them and they get over and technology has not being development the whole system is going to come down. In other words we need to be careful and use moderately all the resources. 

 

 Inside Futures: Relevant Trading-focused Information Authored by Key Players in the Futures, Options and Forex Industries

In this chart it displays the increase of the price of cotton since July 2009 and we can see how much it has increase until March 2011. Shows the variation in that short amount of time.  We can see that only in 2 years the price of cotton has more than double its price.

"File:Crude Oil Prices since 1861.png Jump To: Navigation, Search." WikiMedia Commons

In this table we can see the increase of crude oil since 1861 until 2011. You can see that in 1864 the prices were really high (116$) but then on 1882 (23$) we can see big fall in the price and that stabilized until 1969  when the price just started to go from 10$ up to fast until 2011 that the price was set at 112$. (juanes)

Andrea's part:

As a cornucopian, we believe that we should use all the resources that we have at the time for our personal benefit and not for the environment because human beings are the priority. There is no need to preserve the environment because we can replace it with technological advances, we must sacrifice natural resources in order to have a better future. Through the example of nature we have learned how to survive but now it has come the time to survive by ourselves. In a near future we will have ended looking at the example of the environment, we will be ready to survive only with machines and anthropogenic systems. Until then we must use the natural resources efficiently even though we will not use them after a while. The effect that the natural resources will have is that we will use nature as an example but still, nature should be used efficiently. (Andrea)

We can see in this graph that as we increase the demand, the point of equilibrium is lost. At price 2, the supply has increased but the demand has been reduced because of that and the supply has increased because of the ambition of human beings. Firms might want to produce more but the people will not be willing and able to buy more, therefore there will be a surplus. This graph demonstrates that we should produce only what is needed, because the firms will only sell Q1, the rest would be waste until Q2. From Q1 to Q2 there is no consumers that are willing ot buy and that is wasted. As a cornucopian we want to produce as much as possible and to make as much profit as possible but producing more when it is not needed will only produce a surplus in the economy that will harm because later on the resources will have already been lost and no profit will have been brought out of it. (andrea)

Maria Emilia Rodas part:

As cornucopias we do not agree with Aldo Leopold’s book The Land Ethic for various reasons. We do not believe nature has the only role an important value beyond the benefits it brings for us humans. People need to accept that nature has indeed a lot of benefits for us economically and practically. The increase in output of natural gas for instance, has transformed USA economic situation in a significant way. USA’s oil and natural gas companies provide jobs, revenue to governments and investment growth for millions of Americans. 474 billion dollars from the US economy in 2010 came from these energy resources used (energytomorrow.org). It is evident then, how natural resources have supported economic growth.Environment has aid countries like the US to grow in exponential ways.  

The environment was placed in the world with the purpose of being exploited. Humans get food resources, medicines, and clothes from it since the beginning of times. It is essential to understand that without energy producing heat, light or power people would not be able to build factories that provide jobs and homes. Just by only considering this point, it is already evident that the environment, which provides us with the energy resources, contains many benefits to us not only in the physical aspect but also in a country’s growth. Yes, there are several environmental problems currently, but we will be able to solve them just as we always have. Which is why, we should keep using the resources the environment provides us in the same way since that is their purpose

World Energy Generation by Fuel 

In the graph above we can see that energy consumption had tripled in the period of 23 years. It is also clear that the majority of the world power is also created by coal, which is a non-renewable source of energy. However, technology will enable us to replace it once we run out of it.

The next graph shows us how economic growth has happened in the USA. Y connecting the two graphs presented, we can infer that the increase in energy consumption has an important role in the economic growth of countries such as USA. So the higher the use of energy resources, the higher or better the economy will be. 

Martin Serrano's part:

I as a Cornucopian don’t agree with Aldos Leopold belief. He states that nature should be preserved not only for the resources humans use and for the economic interest; instead he says we should preserve it because there are other values and systems such as the beauty of flowers nature should be preserved. Nature was created for humanity to survive. The resources nature provides us are the ones that maintain humanity survival, economic systems and sustainability all over the world. Nature should be conceived a huge storehouse that should be only used by people. Nature is available to serve human needs the reason why worldwide economic systems are developing and growing thanks to the resources nature provide us. Humans and the world need these economic advances for living because the economy benefits the society itself. Making clear these concept let’s analyze the corn industry production in Europe.

According to the graph of corn production in Europe we can see that the production has increased a lot. Nature provides us the fertile land to be used and allows us to plant and harvest the corn. Corn is an unlimited resource that benefits society by giving us food, jobs in the corn plantations and also thanks to the developed technology a renewable source of energy that replaces the oil. As the graph shows that the corn production had increased in the past years, as well food has increasing. Corn is a very nutritive and complete food that is necessary and needed for living. Also it benefits society because as food such as corn production increases more people are feed, more people have a job and there are more raw materials for producing biofuel an alternative energy source that replaces oil, which compared it is more eco-friendly, cheaper and unlimited. All these characteristics mentioned before are the responsible for maintaining a stable economy that benefits society in many ways. Here are the examples of why nature should be preserved and that it has to be used only by people for the benefit of all. Thanks to nature we can use and enjoy the resources we daily use that are required for living. However nature also has important, beautiful and valuable values such as the beauty of flowers and the singing of birds, there is no sense of conserving it because by appreciating the beauty of flowers no one is beneficiated. And if that’s the case there is no way for us to survive because all the resources humans use that nature provides us come from nature. It is necessary to use our nature for resources because it allows our specie to survive. It is true that many resources are coming to an end such as oil but thanks to the advanced technology oil can be replaced easily and fast with alternative products such as the biofuel that comes from corn. By now let’s use all the resources nature provide us and if they start disappearing or decreasing technology and humans would find a way to replace it. 

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"Oil and Natural Gas Power America’s Economy | Energy Tomorrow." Oil and Natural Gas Power America’s Economy | Energy Tomorrow. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2013.
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"Inside Futures: Relevant Trading-focused Information Authored by Key Players in the Futures, Options and Forex Industries." Inside Futures: Relevant Trading-focused Information Authored by Key Players in the Futures, Options and Forex Industries. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2013