Energy and Place
Essential questions:
1. How does energy production impact place?
2. How does your sense of place, environmental ethic and understandinng of our energy needs influence your perception and decisions regarding energy production?
Artist Statement
My visual piece expresses my prospective of my three senses of place by incorporating them all into one art piece. I put all three images on one page to represent that they are all my sense of place and to show that they are all affected by one thing; dust. To represent the dust and the symbolism in my piece a used the outline of a cow hoof filled with caution tape to represent that dust storms are a direct result of overgrazing of the land.
Originally my piece did not have the hoof in the middle of it, this caused confusion because people did not understand the point of the piece. So I added the hoof and the general consensus was that they still did not quite understand the concept. I then further refined my piece by placing the caution tape in it to represent that, ‘Caution, the cattle and overgrazing of the land is a problem.” I then placed the finished hoof in the middle of my piece directly over the three images of my sense of place to show that they are all affected.
I did not really have any influences on my work I just decided that I needed to incorporate three images of my three senses of place and have a symbol that shows how they are all tied together. I was originally going to do a collage but I decided that I would be better off tying three images together instead of several images. In the end I am very satisfied with the end result of my visul piece.
SOURCES CITED:
Walz, Gene. Javelinas. 2013. Audubon Guides. Web. 13 May 2014. <http://blog.audubonguides.com/tag/collard-peccary/>.
Beckett, John. The currents of Life. 2013. patheos. Web. 13 May 2014. <http://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbeckett/2013/09/the-currents-of-life.html>.
Wagnon, Eric. Southwest Colorado Makes for a Majestic Trip. 2012. Liftopia. Web. 13 May 2014. <http://www.liftopia.com/blog/southwest-colorado-majestic-trip/>.
San Juan County, Moab, Utah. Anasazi Reality, Inc. Web. 13 May 2014. <http://anasazirealty.com/san-juan-county/moab/ut/84532/11579/lnds>.
My visual piece expresses my prospective of my three senses of place by incorporating them all into one art piece. I put all three images on one page to represent that they are all my sense of place and to show that they are all affected by one thing; dust. To represent the dust and the symbolism in my piece a used the outline of a cow hoof filled with caution tape to represent that dust storms are a direct result of overgrazing of the land.
Originally my piece did not have the hoof in the middle of it, this caused confusion because people did not understand the point of the piece. So I added the hoof and the general consensus was that they still did not quite understand the concept. I then further refined my piece by placing the caution tape in it to represent that, ‘Caution, the cattle and overgrazing of the land is a problem.” I then placed the finished hoof in the middle of my piece directly over the three images of my sense of place to show that they are all affected.
I did not really have any influences on my work I just decided that I needed to incorporate three images of my three senses of place and have a symbol that shows how they are all tied together. I was originally going to do a collage but I decided that I would be better off tying three images together instead of several images. In the end I am very satisfied with the end result of my visul piece.
SOURCES CITED:
Walz, Gene. Javelinas. 2013. Audubon Guides. Web. 13 May 2014. <http://blog.audubonguides.com/tag/collard-peccary/>.
Beckett, John. The currents of Life. 2013. patheos. Web. 13 May 2014. <http://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbeckett/2013/09/the-currents-of-life.html>.
Wagnon, Eric. Southwest Colorado Makes for a Majestic Trip. 2012. Liftopia. Web. 13 May 2014. <http://www.liftopia.com/blog/southwest-colorado-majestic-trip/>.
San Juan County, Moab, Utah. Anasazi Reality, Inc. Web. 13 May 2014. <http://anasazirealty.com/san-juan-county/moab/ut/84532/11579/lnds>.
Sun, Snow and Water
Chase Pierson
Abstract
The purpose of my paper is to express that we do not fully realize how one small act can greatly affect a larger spectrum of sustainability.
In my short stories, my environmental ethic (sustainability) is best shown through my view on how everyone can impact the planet, no matter how small the impact might be. The emphasis I show in my paper focuses on how each individual can change the world. An example of where I show this prospective is when I write, “consequences of something as simple as grazing cattle could possibly change the way we live.”
Another example where I show this prospective is when I write, “Hope that someday I will be able to take my kids and my wife, to my camping spot”
Overall, These lines show that even though we are one individual, we do have an impact and it is our job to ensure of future generations that this impact is not increased drastically. It is our job to preserve the earth.
The sense of place that I connected with was Ideology and Commodified. I think it is important that to have a deeper connection with a place in order to better understand it as well as choosing a place with the best possible combinations of characteristics.. One example of ideology and commodified sense of place as shown in my essay is, “Looking back at my sense of place I think about how perfect each individual place is. How perfect the ecosystem works with each individual location; mountains, deserts and rivers to provide just the right amount of rain or snow or sun.”
I know of a place where you can go and not see another person for weeks at a time. A place where water comes as a tidal wave and leaves like a drought; a place where rock formations resemble gods and if you are lucky, you might see angels soaring off of them. I have been coming to this place since I was very little and it has not changed. Not the rocks, nor the sand, nor the skies that are oh so grand. Nestled in the canyons west of Moab, Utah, this is a place where I can go and until very recently it has been untouched by industrialization.
I can recall a hike. It was a scorching hot Saturday afternoon and we were hiking the ‘Puma wash trail’ about 25 miles west of Moab, Utah. We had trudged 5 miles up the wash and were taking a break when we heard something that emulated the Bull Run in Pamplona, Spain. The amassing sounds swiftly traveled over an embankment and into our ears. Upon further exploration we found the source of this noise. Cattle, hundreds of them sitting under the dilapidated remains of deceased cotton woods. What was once a field of swaying grass now consisted of nothing more than a dirt patch and a few cacti. All vegetation was gone. We continued on our hike, enjoying the scenery and taking in the spectacular views. We were coming to the end of the wash when we summited a small hill and saw, once again, a barren field with nothing but dirt; not even the cactus were spared. On my way back down the wash I kept thinking of the cattle and all of the vegetation that was lost simply by grazing the land: . A harmless act that has never been perceived as bad, or has it? On my back home I did some research and found a study done by the University of Colorado Boulder, titled, ;Dust warming portend dry future for the Colorado River. The study explains what I observed with my naked eye as the authors write, “Desert dust has been settling thick and dark on the snowpack in the northern Rocky Mountain headwaters of the Colorado River, and snowpack is melting out as many as six weeks earlier than previously recorded.” This decrease in headwaters has resulted in “a loss of 5 percent estimated during the moderate dusty years of 2005-2008, to a total loss of about 6 percent lost during extremely dusty years,” and is estimated to increase to over 20 percent by 2100.
The risk of dust is apparent. Not only does it decrease the snow pack and the longevity of the melt off but with the increase in dust storms during the winter months we can expect these changes to continually occur. These increasingly brisk melt offs not only affect the snow pack but also shortens the time I can stretch out and become a river rat, which I now realize as a 17 year old from a small town in Colorado, that this reoccurrence is determining how I spend my summers. The agricultural industry has also seen a decrease in the yield of crop they can produce, due to the inconsistent and unsustainable amounts of water in the past few years. In an article published by The Durango Herald titled “Our River is Ailing”, the peak CFS (cubic feet per second) for each year is examined and then shown on a scatter plot. The peak of the scatterplot is shown on June 29, 1927 with a CFS of 20,000. From that point the plots mean continues to drop off until it reaches a low point on May 29, 2010 at 5,140 CFS. This scatter plot shows that more recently, the peak flow of water in the Animas is coming in the early months of summer and is consistently decreasing, which is parasitic to the farmers because they rely on water throughout the summer to maintain an adequate crop yield. The result of this decrease in water means that crops may cost more and are going to be less abundant.
I finished off my hike contemplating how two plots of land in the middle of nowhere might affect be affecting the way I live part of my year, and possibly the way my children will grow up. This thought scares me. If a solution is not found, the consequences of something as simple as grazing cattle could possibly change the way we live.
I love skiing in Telluride, Colorado. Just a short hour and a half drive from Durango, yet a whole new environment. It is a destination where I can ski, veg out, and carve some fat turns into several of the resort’s exceptional bowls. These bowls or large craterlike crevasses fill up with snow and create the ideal skiing surface. Telluride Ski Resort is known for its expansive terrain, large houses and abundant amounts of snow when compared to surrounding Ski Mountains. This last season I can recall systematically popping out of my bindings to trek up the ridge that towers over Black Iron Bowl. It had been a windy week and I was glad that conditions had improved enough to allow for my trek. I had reached my ‘launch zone’ at the top of the ridge and briefly glanced down the slope to see what I was up against. Below me lay 16 inches of untouched pearly white, fluffy as cotton, fresh Colorado powder. I proceeded to drop into the bowl and quickly found out that about six inches under the top of the powder was a layer of brown, crusty snow. The crunch of which sounded like my skis were being resurfaced by a stone grinding wheel. At the time I didn’t care, all my worries were on the cleanliness of my turns and how long it would take for me to get back to the top. I made several more runs that day before I turned in for the night. The next day was immensely sunny, and I was immensely lazy; rolling out of bed at 1. I took the gondola up and made my way over to Black Iron Bowl. When I arrived at the top of the ridge I popped my boots back into my bindings and look down the slope. What was 16 inches of fresh powder now consisted of brown crusty snow. This is when I realized how something as simple as dust can affect a perfectly good day of skiing, but not just a good day of skiing, but the longevity of the ski season as well. When temperatures rise in the midafternoon, these darker, dust filled layers melt the surrounding layers of snow causing immediate snow melt and a rapid decrease of snow pack.
In 2013 the Animas River peaked at 2,990 CFS. This also happened to be the year that I spent most of my free time on the river hysterically worrying about rocks impaling me in the ass. We had had a fairly decent snow season the past winter but with that increase in snow we also saw a significant increase in the amount of dust storms, passing through the area, leaving a thick, pollen and crap filled sky that makes visibility poor, breathing difficult and creates a weird reddish horizon that people from LA might mistake for smog. Large rafts that are typically able to navigate their way through the maze of rocks, found it increasingly troublesome to do so this particular day. Tubers, who typically found floating the river a leisurely act, found themselves worrying more about sticks and rocks hitting them from behind than enjoying the interesting scenery and scenarios typically found on the river. But what really struck me was that even with these dramatic decreases in water people still found a spot where they could enjoy themselves; and this gave me hope.
Looking back at my sense of place I think about how perfect each individual place is. How perfect the ecosystem works with each individual location; mountains, deserts and rivers to provide just the right amount of rain or snow or sun. I then think about how fragile these places are and how with each and every industrial step man takes, these perfect places gradually fall apart. But then the idealistic side of me kicks in. I think to myself that we can change; we can spread awareness about these drastic changes and unfortunate happenings that occur around us every day, and that gives me hope— Hope that someday I will be able to go to Telluride and ski without worrying about the snow being encrusted with dirt, or hope that the land that has been so overgrazed will once again be home to swaying grass, or hope that I will no longer have to worry about hitting my ass on the rocks because the snow melts later in the year.
My goal is that someday I will be able to take my kids and my wife, to my camping spot, where angels soar and rocks resemble gods. Or to my skiing spot, where 16 inches of fresh is just another day. Or to the river that runs through the little town that I am proud to call home. This is my goal. But if one thing needs to change, it is us. The users of the land; the outdoorsman who have called this place home for many years but lack the knowledge or tools to change the changes they see. We can all make a change, we need to make a change because without change, we all will be deprived of the place we have come to know and love.
WORKS CITED
Gonzales, David. "Our River is Ailing." The Durango Herald. Colorado Parks and Wildlife, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://durangoherald.com/section/AnimasRivergraphics/>.
Paragraph 1: Project Description
The sense of place project had a significant amount of work leading up to it that helped us prepare for the final project; our sense of place essay. We had to write several nature journals that were designed to inspire us and give us something to think about in preparation for of sense of place essay. We also learned about environmental ethics and how we need to find a connection with one (or more) and include them in our sense of place essay. We also had several guest speakers come n and talk about energy production, this helped us more in chemistry but I think was a helpful tool.
Paragraph 2: Personal Growth and/or Self-Awareness
I originally did not know what I wanted to write about until Ashley recommended that I write about the dust storms that have been frequently coming through Durango. I realized that I had connection with the dust storms and I knew how they impacted me in several different spots that I have come to know and love. I found myself refining my piece a lot more than I have previously refined my pieces and this made me more aware of how much an essay can be tweaked simply by rewording sentences and adding a few key details. The most challenging part of this whole process was committing the time to refining my piece. This took a lot of time but in the end was worth it.
Paragraph 3: Essay and Visual Piece Pride
I am very proud of my essay and my visual piece. I think that they go together very well, especially if you read the essay beforehand. The area that I focused most on when referring to the rubric was the integration of my three senses of place and the visual piece. When I talk about how dust affects my three senses of place you can see that they are all interconnected and are all affected by the dust. “The risk of dust is apparent. Not only does it decrease the snow pack and the longevity of the melt off but with the increase in dust storms during the winter months we can expect these changes to continually occur. These increasingly brisk melt offs not only affect the snow pack but also shortens the time I can stretch out and become a river rat..” – ” I finished off my hike contemplating how two plots of land in the middle of nowhere might affect be affecting the way I live part of my year, and possibly the way my children will grow up.”
Paragraph 4: Reflecting on the Interdisciplinary Project Process
The connection between humanities and chemistry was not that strong. We basically were told that the projects were interlocking but ended up with two, completely different projects which did not even relate to each other. It would have been so much better if we had an essay that was graded for writing ability by Ashley and content by Steve. I do not think the projects complemented each other at all.
Chase Pierson
Abstract
The purpose of my paper is to express that we do not fully realize how one small act can greatly affect a larger spectrum of sustainability.
In my short stories, my environmental ethic (sustainability) is best shown through my view on how everyone can impact the planet, no matter how small the impact might be. The emphasis I show in my paper focuses on how each individual can change the world. An example of where I show this prospective is when I write, “consequences of something as simple as grazing cattle could possibly change the way we live.”
Another example where I show this prospective is when I write, “Hope that someday I will be able to take my kids and my wife, to my camping spot”
Overall, These lines show that even though we are one individual, we do have an impact and it is our job to ensure of future generations that this impact is not increased drastically. It is our job to preserve the earth.
The sense of place that I connected with was Ideology and Commodified. I think it is important that to have a deeper connection with a place in order to better understand it as well as choosing a place with the best possible combinations of characteristics.. One example of ideology and commodified sense of place as shown in my essay is, “Looking back at my sense of place I think about how perfect each individual place is. How perfect the ecosystem works with each individual location; mountains, deserts and rivers to provide just the right amount of rain or snow or sun.”
I know of a place where you can go and not see another person for weeks at a time. A place where water comes as a tidal wave and leaves like a drought; a place where rock formations resemble gods and if you are lucky, you might see angels soaring off of them. I have been coming to this place since I was very little and it has not changed. Not the rocks, nor the sand, nor the skies that are oh so grand. Nestled in the canyons west of Moab, Utah, this is a place where I can go and until very recently it has been untouched by industrialization.
I can recall a hike. It was a scorching hot Saturday afternoon and we were hiking the ‘Puma wash trail’ about 25 miles west of Moab, Utah. We had trudged 5 miles up the wash and were taking a break when we heard something that emulated the Bull Run in Pamplona, Spain. The amassing sounds swiftly traveled over an embankment and into our ears. Upon further exploration we found the source of this noise. Cattle, hundreds of them sitting under the dilapidated remains of deceased cotton woods. What was once a field of swaying grass now consisted of nothing more than a dirt patch and a few cacti. All vegetation was gone. We continued on our hike, enjoying the scenery and taking in the spectacular views. We were coming to the end of the wash when we summited a small hill and saw, once again, a barren field with nothing but dirt; not even the cactus were spared. On my way back down the wash I kept thinking of the cattle and all of the vegetation that was lost simply by grazing the land: . A harmless act that has never been perceived as bad, or has it? On my back home I did some research and found a study done by the University of Colorado Boulder, titled, ;Dust warming portend dry future for the Colorado River. The study explains what I observed with my naked eye as the authors write, “Desert dust has been settling thick and dark on the snowpack in the northern Rocky Mountain headwaters of the Colorado River, and snowpack is melting out as many as six weeks earlier than previously recorded.” This decrease in headwaters has resulted in “a loss of 5 percent estimated during the moderate dusty years of 2005-2008, to a total loss of about 6 percent lost during extremely dusty years,” and is estimated to increase to over 20 percent by 2100.
The risk of dust is apparent. Not only does it decrease the snow pack and the longevity of the melt off but with the increase in dust storms during the winter months we can expect these changes to continually occur. These increasingly brisk melt offs not only affect the snow pack but also shortens the time I can stretch out and become a river rat, which I now realize as a 17 year old from a small town in Colorado, that this reoccurrence is determining how I spend my summers. The agricultural industry has also seen a decrease in the yield of crop they can produce, due to the inconsistent and unsustainable amounts of water in the past few years. In an article published by The Durango Herald titled “Our River is Ailing”, the peak CFS (cubic feet per second) for each year is examined and then shown on a scatter plot. The peak of the scatterplot is shown on June 29, 1927 with a CFS of 20,000. From that point the plots mean continues to drop off until it reaches a low point on May 29, 2010 at 5,140 CFS. This scatter plot shows that more recently, the peak flow of water in the Animas is coming in the early months of summer and is consistently decreasing, which is parasitic to the farmers because they rely on water throughout the summer to maintain an adequate crop yield. The result of this decrease in water means that crops may cost more and are going to be less abundant.
I finished off my hike contemplating how two plots of land in the middle of nowhere might affect be affecting the way I live part of my year, and possibly the way my children will grow up. This thought scares me. If a solution is not found, the consequences of something as simple as grazing cattle could possibly change the way we live.
I love skiing in Telluride, Colorado. Just a short hour and a half drive from Durango, yet a whole new environment. It is a destination where I can ski, veg out, and carve some fat turns into several of the resort’s exceptional bowls. These bowls or large craterlike crevasses fill up with snow and create the ideal skiing surface. Telluride Ski Resort is known for its expansive terrain, large houses and abundant amounts of snow when compared to surrounding Ski Mountains. This last season I can recall systematically popping out of my bindings to trek up the ridge that towers over Black Iron Bowl. It had been a windy week and I was glad that conditions had improved enough to allow for my trek. I had reached my ‘launch zone’ at the top of the ridge and briefly glanced down the slope to see what I was up against. Below me lay 16 inches of untouched pearly white, fluffy as cotton, fresh Colorado powder. I proceeded to drop into the bowl and quickly found out that about six inches under the top of the powder was a layer of brown, crusty snow. The crunch of which sounded like my skis were being resurfaced by a stone grinding wheel. At the time I didn’t care, all my worries were on the cleanliness of my turns and how long it would take for me to get back to the top. I made several more runs that day before I turned in for the night. The next day was immensely sunny, and I was immensely lazy; rolling out of bed at 1. I took the gondola up and made my way over to Black Iron Bowl. When I arrived at the top of the ridge I popped my boots back into my bindings and look down the slope. What was 16 inches of fresh powder now consisted of brown crusty snow. This is when I realized how something as simple as dust can affect a perfectly good day of skiing, but not just a good day of skiing, but the longevity of the ski season as well. When temperatures rise in the midafternoon, these darker, dust filled layers melt the surrounding layers of snow causing immediate snow melt and a rapid decrease of snow pack.
In 2013 the Animas River peaked at 2,990 CFS. This also happened to be the year that I spent most of my free time on the river hysterically worrying about rocks impaling me in the ass. We had had a fairly decent snow season the past winter but with that increase in snow we also saw a significant increase in the amount of dust storms, passing through the area, leaving a thick, pollen and crap filled sky that makes visibility poor, breathing difficult and creates a weird reddish horizon that people from LA might mistake for smog. Large rafts that are typically able to navigate their way through the maze of rocks, found it increasingly troublesome to do so this particular day. Tubers, who typically found floating the river a leisurely act, found themselves worrying more about sticks and rocks hitting them from behind than enjoying the interesting scenery and scenarios typically found on the river. But what really struck me was that even with these dramatic decreases in water people still found a spot where they could enjoy themselves; and this gave me hope.
Looking back at my sense of place I think about how perfect each individual place is. How perfect the ecosystem works with each individual location; mountains, deserts and rivers to provide just the right amount of rain or snow or sun. I then think about how fragile these places are and how with each and every industrial step man takes, these perfect places gradually fall apart. But then the idealistic side of me kicks in. I think to myself that we can change; we can spread awareness about these drastic changes and unfortunate happenings that occur around us every day, and that gives me hope— Hope that someday I will be able to go to Telluride and ski without worrying about the snow being encrusted with dirt, or hope that the land that has been so overgrazed will once again be home to swaying grass, or hope that I will no longer have to worry about hitting my ass on the rocks because the snow melts later in the year.
My goal is that someday I will be able to take my kids and my wife, to my camping spot, where angels soar and rocks resemble gods. Or to my skiing spot, where 16 inches of fresh is just another day. Or to the river that runs through the little town that I am proud to call home. This is my goal. But if one thing needs to change, it is us. The users of the land; the outdoorsman who have called this place home for many years but lack the knowledge or tools to change the changes they see. We can all make a change, we need to make a change because without change, we all will be deprived of the place we have come to know and love.
WORKS CITED
Gonzales, David. "Our River is Ailing." The Durango Herald. Colorado Parks and Wildlife, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://durangoherald.com/section/AnimasRivergraphics/>.
Paragraph 1: Project Description
The sense of place project had a significant amount of work leading up to it that helped us prepare for the final project; our sense of place essay. We had to write several nature journals that were designed to inspire us and give us something to think about in preparation for of sense of place essay. We also learned about environmental ethics and how we need to find a connection with one (or more) and include them in our sense of place essay. We also had several guest speakers come n and talk about energy production, this helped us more in chemistry but I think was a helpful tool.
Paragraph 2: Personal Growth and/or Self-Awareness
I originally did not know what I wanted to write about until Ashley recommended that I write about the dust storms that have been frequently coming through Durango. I realized that I had connection with the dust storms and I knew how they impacted me in several different spots that I have come to know and love. I found myself refining my piece a lot more than I have previously refined my pieces and this made me more aware of how much an essay can be tweaked simply by rewording sentences and adding a few key details. The most challenging part of this whole process was committing the time to refining my piece. This took a lot of time but in the end was worth it.
Paragraph 3: Essay and Visual Piece Pride
I am very proud of my essay and my visual piece. I think that they go together very well, especially if you read the essay beforehand. The area that I focused most on when referring to the rubric was the integration of my three senses of place and the visual piece. When I talk about how dust affects my three senses of place you can see that they are all interconnected and are all affected by the dust. “The risk of dust is apparent. Not only does it decrease the snow pack and the longevity of the melt off but with the increase in dust storms during the winter months we can expect these changes to continually occur. These increasingly brisk melt offs not only affect the snow pack but also shortens the time I can stretch out and become a river rat..” – ” I finished off my hike contemplating how two plots of land in the middle of nowhere might affect be affecting the way I live part of my year, and possibly the way my children will grow up.”
Paragraph 4: Reflecting on the Interdisciplinary Project Process
The connection between humanities and chemistry was not that strong. We basically were told that the projects were interlocking but ended up with two, completely different projects which did not even relate to each other. It would have been so much better if we had an essay that was graded for writing ability by Ashley and content by Steve. I do not think the projects complemented each other at all.