Goldberry's Science Blog: January 2010

Gaia Theory and All Life is Connected

The concepts of an interconnected earth are intriguing and measurable. As a botanist and microbiologist I have studied symbiotic relations that range from parasitic to symbiotic. Many indigenous people have understood these concepts longer than modern scientists. The Lakota Sioux state: “Mitakuye Oyasin,”which means, “To all of my relations.” It is a prayer of oneness and harmony with all forms of life: people, animals, birds, plants, insects, and even rocks. It is a reminder that we all share a common kinship within the hoop of life. Our bodies are composites of bacteria, and within our cells are remnants of ancient bacterial cells that are now mitochondria. Dr. Lynn Marguelis a famous botanist, and suppoter of James Lovelock Theory of Gaia states: "The only individuals on the planet are bacteria."

http://www.unreasonable.com/people/margulis/root.htm

http://www.lakotawritings.com/Sacred_Symbols.htm

Saturday, January 23, 2010

River Keepers

Green River through Dinosaur National Monument-NPS

http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/education/foos/dino.pdf

I recited the words to Langston Hughes poem, "I've known rivers..." on the banks of the Green River on the night before floating through Dinosaur National Monument past an exquisite anticline with colleagues and friends. The words of the poem are lush and evocative. I will never forget that night, nor the waters of the Green that were alternately light brown, or clear green as it ebbed over boulders within the river.

I've known rivers

I've known rivers ancient as the world

and older than the flow of blood in human veins

My soul has grown deep as the river

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln

went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy

bosum turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers

Ancient, dusky rivers

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Langston Hughes-The Negro Speaks of Rivers

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15722

The geomorphology courses I took at Weber State University where I studied the evolution of rivers, their habit and the role of watersheds brought a different perspective to the poem. Human culture has been shaped by rivers. They were our first mobile interstates, and civilizations have flourished, or ended on their banks. We have worshipped them, bathed in them, washed and drank from them. While many still visit for recreation or reflection their banks are often held in place by concrete, and jumbled mounds of rif-raf (jumbled boulders).

http://www.wildlandhydrology.com/html/references_.html

Currently, I am participating in an internship with the Ogden River Restoration Project while I complete my masters in education. The stretch of the river being restored traverses through a dilapidated, and now mostly vacant neighborhoods. Except for the occasional brief honking of mallard ducks, the river is quiet. While it the river has frequently been used as a midden for the last hundred years, and its banks held in place by large slabs of concrete, with an occasional shopping cart peaking through its light-brown waters, the granny-nanny cottonwoods that line its banks are exquisite.

Rivers, link humans to the water cycle. They assist in recharging our ground water acquifers and provide food and shelter for a myriad of lifeforms. Perhaps we all need to become River Keepers and stewards, and become in the words of Langston Hughs, "My soul has become deep as the river."

Utah Adopt a Water Body Program:

http://www.adoptawaterbody.utah.gov/

Project WET

http://www.projectwet.org/

Acid-Mine Drainage:

http://energy.er.usgs.gov/health_environment/acid_mine_drainage/

Utah History: Peter Skene Ogden

http://historytogo.utah.gov/people/peterskeneodgen.html

River Restoration

http://www.riverrestoration.org/

Utah Rivers: Realtime Data

http://ut.water.usgs.gov/

Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Project

Brineshrimp's and Avocet

Meetings Standards Naturally is a national curriculum standards for all educators promoting the environmental sciences in all academic disciplines. They partner with EETAP (Environmental Education and Training Partnership). As a former park naturalist and science educator I enjoy how their lesson plans follow state core curriculum within all disciplines.

Environmental sciences provide an excellent template for learning and developing intellectual skills that cross disciplines. The incorporation of "Blooms hiearchy" of learning skills including: critical thinking, making connections, analysis, creativity and questioning are easily presented into lesson plans.

In urban environments where habitat diversity is limited, inspiration, wonder and scientific inquiry may come from environmental sciences component in a lesson plan. Moreover, it can be the educational component that creates the joy of becoming a life-long learner of our spinning planet, its inhabitants and the expanding universe.

Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Costume Project

Antelope Island State Park (Goldberry)

"Some have said that not a single oasis exsists on my shores. But in my entirety I am an incredibly rich oasis. My waters team with life, and that life attracts other life. I am a fertile stopover for millions of migratory birds; swans, ducks, geese, grebes, avocets, and many other species seeking respite from the surrounding desert. Perhaps you could broaden your restricted definition of an oasis to include more than humans and trees."

Ella Sorenson in: The Seductive Beauty of the Great Salt Lake, Images of a Lake Unknown. 1997