Ishmael Ch. 10-13

I felt these last few chapters of Ishmael did a nice job of bringing all Ishmael’s ideas full circle to the narrator, and the narrator finally became fully receptive. From Ishmael describing us as “cultural amnesiacs” to letting the narrator explore his own thoughts, this last segment did a nice job of wrapping things up.

I found it interesting that when the narrator wanted to learn more about the Leavers, Ishmael wouldn’t accept “why not learn about them?” as an answer.

“Why? That’s what I keep coming back to. Why, why, why? Why should your people know what story they’re enacting as they destroy the world?”

“So they can stop enacting it. So they can see that they’re not just blundering as they do what they do. So they can see that they’re involved in a megalomaniac fantasy— a fantasy as insane as the Thousand Year Reich.” (pg. 213)

I think it’s important to want to actively learn and truly understand other viewpoints other than your own because it can strengthen what you already believe. However, more importantly, it can point out flaws and holes in your own beliefs and ways of thinking, leading you to learn and grow and fix things in your own life. Ishmael forcing the narrator to realize this and think this way was an important part of changing the narrator’s perspective, leading him to become more of a critical thinker and less of a student.

Ishmael made a difference by discussing thoughts and concepts about humanity with the narrator, and it changed the narrator’s life. This really speaks to student and teacher relationships in that the only way we’re truly going to change is by talking to each other and learning from each other. Now that the narrator is changed, he can take on a teacher-type roll and educate others. The only way for change to occur is for us all to talk to each other, share experiences, and most importantly, listen.

Ishmael Ch. 9

Out of all the chapters we have read of Ishmael so far, this one really blew my mind. In my opinion, chapter 9 is the most thought-provoking segment of the story yet.

My first observation is a little irrelevant to the rest of my post, but I thought it was interesting that when the narrator walks in for that day’s session, Ishmael is uncaged. I felt like this was a sign that Ishmael was going to start breaking down barriers, starting off literally. He wanted to challenge the narrator (comfort wise and intellectually) more than he had been so far, so having Ishmael unbound sets a different tone to this chapter.

Now I grew up going to church, and I’m no expert on the Bible, but I have heard countless biblical stories, including the story of Cain and Abel. However, growing up, I never thought to pair historical development with stories in the Bible. I guess looking from Ishmael’s perspective now, I implicitly thought of all these stories as myths or old tales to guide or morals and ways of living (how Taker of me). That being said, when Ishmael talked of the first people on Earth gaining knowledge and brought up biblical names like Adam and Eve, I was intrigued to hear the story I grew up with depicted in this way.

The part from this chapter that blew my mind was Ishmael essentially describing Cain as a Taker and Abel as a Leaver. Cain and the other Takers were so concerned with agricultural and population expansion, while Abel and the Leavers were attempting to be content with what they had. This disconnect is what caused them to fight, ultimately ending in Cain slaughtering Abel for Taker expansion and benefit. The fact that Taker and Leaver characteristics can be pinpointed back to one of the earliest stories humans have documented is baffling to me.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of any articles or other research to pair with this blog post, but this reading was definitely a thought-provoking one. Connecting Cain and Abel to Takers and Leavers makes me want to look at other historical and biblical stories and draw Taker and Leaver characteristics to each of them.

Ishmael Ch. 5-8

I found chapters 5-8 of Ishmael full of interesting philosophies regarding people and the way they live and perceive the world. Several quotes and segments of the book stuck out to me, but I’m just going to list a few and follow them up with why I thought they were significant.

“We’ve poured our poisons into the world as though it were a bottomless pit— and we go on pouring our poisons into the world. We’ve gobbled up irreplaceable resources as though they would never run out— and we go on gobbling them up.” (p. 80)

An ironic picture of a gorilla reading "The Origin of Man"

This one makes it pretty blatantly clear that humans are ruining our world, and we know this, but I found it relevant because we talked a lot about using up all our resources and what we would do after that while reading Eaarth. While we in this class know it’s a problem, it makes me wonder just how far using non-renewable resources will go before everyone else realizes the issue we have at hand. (However, Michigan’s not doing too bad with this concept. Read more about it here).

“There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with people.” (p. 84) was a simple line that also stuck out to me. The idea that religion and laws (which are both human constructs) run our lives is really interesting and thought-provoking to me. I totally agree that we live our lives based on these constructs because it’s scary to think about living on Earth with no blueprints or any idea of what to do to make life successful.

Ishmael also states “Trial and error isn’t a bad way to learn how to build an aircraft, but it can be a disastrous way to learn how to build a civilization.” While I feel we are currently going through a giant “error” phase, I also think once you’re into a phase this deep, it’s hard to reverse it especially when it’s all you know. That shouldn’t be an excuse for us, but I can definitely see how it’s hard to change the Taker mindset when it has been instilled in us.

These few chapters were very interesting to me, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of Ishmael has in store.

Walden Essays Part Two

After some experience with Thoreau this semester, I’ve found that some of his lines stick out so clearly to me and continue to stick with me even after I finish the essays. There are three I want to focus on: two from “The Pond in Winter” and one from “Spring”.

From hiking in Muir Woods with my family

The first one is so simple, but I think it could be a focal point for this class as a whole: “Nature puts no question and answers none which we mortals ask.” Ever since nature came to be, it has just existed. It gradually became home and began to sustain life for animals, and things were doing just fine until humans decided to modify every bit of it. Nature has never taken from us or used us in any way, so why do we feel the need to manipulate it? Nature has never asked anything of us either, so who’s to say our duty is to take care of it (or even take from it)?

The second line from “The Pond in Winter” that caught my attention was “Our notions of law and harmony are commonly confined to those instances which we detect; but the harmony which results from a far greater number of seemingly conflicting, but really concurring, laws, which we have not detected, is still more wonderful.” Nature is its own entity; it has its own existence. Nature can get along fine without us, and it keeps growing and changing even when we’re not looking. Our laws don’t dictate nature no matter how much we want to control and “own” it.  

Onto “Spring”, it was full of imagery and detail which I loved. The line that later grew into a giant mental picture started off with “Few phenomena gave me more delight than to observe the forms which thawing sand and clay assume in flowing down the sides of a deep cut on the railroad…” I think we take things like this for granted, and I find it especially evident this winter due to the absence of it. As much as I dislike snow and the colder months, there is such beauty in the thawing and metamorphosis from winter to spring, but this past winter has been so dull and bleak; it seems more like a really cold fall with spring teasing us every few weeks. “Spring” seemed to bring things full circle and I thought it was a good way to wrap up Walden.

Walden Essays Part One

Out of the four Walden essays we were assigned to read, some of my favorite lines came from “The Bean Field”. I drew a lot of connections from this piece and related it to small scale agriculture (something that has come to my attention a lot since I started this class). It also made me think about the whole “bigger is better” epidemic America is facing right now, and how backing off and reducing our growth problem in general is something we should all start focusing on.

About six paragraphs down, Thoreau personified dirt and gave it much more significance than we would ever think to give it.

“As I drew a still fresher soil about the rows with my hoe, I disturbed the ashes of unchronicled nations who in primeval years lived under these heavens, and their small implements of war and hunting were brought to the light of this modern day.”

Thoreau hints at the way people used to live on Earth and how it was sort of primitive. However, going back to our roots isn’t something that should be looked down on. We need to start cutting back more now than ever, and bringing that mindset into “the light of this modern day” is something I find very important. Along with the idea of getting back to the soil and our roots, the second quote that really caught my attention was near the very end:

“It matters little comparatively whether the fields fill the farmer's barns. The true husbandman will cease from anxiety, as the squirrels manifest no concern whether the woods will bear chestnuts this year or not, and finish his labor with every day, relinquishing all claim to the produce of his fields, and sacrificing in his mind not only his first but his last fruits also.”

Animals don’t stress about food production or profit, so why should we? This passage made me think briefly of Ishmael and the idea of wild animals focusing on survival, but caged animals over thinking and becoming depressed. When we spend more time taking care of our land rather than taking from it, not only will our Earth be healthier, but so will we.

Ishmael Ch. 3 & 4

Because most of the text is in dialogue format and I’m used to Ishmael being a gorilla, I actually had an easier time reading chapters three and four and I’m getting a better feel for the book. The reading was short, however there was so much to get out of it.

At first, I could feel the tension and confusion the narrator was feeling when Ishmael kept asking him about a human’s idea of creation. I felt as if my own point of view was also being challenged and that what I thought was wrong. Last semester I took an evolution class that totally solidified my beliefs of the Earth’s formation, so when the narrator’s explanation almost perfectly matched up with how the course of my class went, I could see no plot holes. But what a totally self-centered idea to believe that we were supposed to be the caretakers of the Earth and that we are here to make it better!

The new bat collecting nectar 

Last class period we watched a TED talk with Michelle Ringle-Barrett about the “untamed nature” of our world which I think fits perfectly with these chapters (if you missed it or wanted to see it again, check it out here). In it, she talked about how a new species of bat was just discovered in the past decade. If new species are still being found today and creatures are still evolving, who’s to say the world is really “made for man”? Clearly the world’s creatures are not slowing their pace of diversification, so man isn’t necessarily the ideal or perfect species. And who’s to say what we have done since our culture exploded was right?

I’m not saying that humans developing culture lead to the damage of Earth or that it is even a bad thing, because culture definitely brings people together and is rich in itself. I guess the ultimate question I have after reading these chapters is when did we feel the need to be so possessive over the Earth?

Eaarth Ch. 4

McKibben wraps Eaarth up by touching on three huge important things that have to do with the quality of our environment. Of all these, one stuck out to me the most: Agriculture.

Maybe this is because most of my extended family works in the farming industry, or perhaps this jumped out to me because buying local and small agriculture have always been some things I want to look further into. McKibben caught my attention with the following:

“We need to stop thinking of farming in abstract terms as a ‘low rung on the ladder of economic development,’ and remember again what it involves: using water and sunshine to grow plants rooted in soils that can provide the nutrients people need.”

First off, I don’t think we pay enough attention to what happens to the food most of us eat day to day. Even if we do, I think it’s easy for most of us to forget about what we’ve seen and push it under the rug. Most readily available to us is also probably the most contaminated, but it’s convenient, so we decide to turn a blind eye. I would be a hypocrite if I denied doing this. I remember after watching Food Inc, I couldn’t eat most foods for days, but have I really changed my eating habits and pushed the facts out of my mind so I could justify what I’ve always been doing? Yes, and I’m not proud of it.

A look at my Aunt's garden this past summer 

If we keep treating agriculture as a “low rung on the ladder of economic development” we’re going to produce food on the low rung of quality. We can’t continue to ignore our current agricultural system.

The second half of the quote made small scale farming seem so pure and simple and clean, I felt good just by reading it! Water, sunlight, soil and nutrients are the most important entities that go into making our food, and I think we try to overcomplicate that. This segment of the quote made me think of my aunt who grows most of her own food and has a small chicken farm. She educated herself on home-grown agriculture and now she eats fresh food pretty much every day! She makes the idea of clean eating attainable for me and she’s a great example of backing off and doing things on a smaller scale.

Overall I thought Eaarth was a spectacular book. Although it was a bit overwhelming for someone who knew nothing about environmental issues at first, I found a lot of value in it and I would definitely recommend it to people.

Ishmael Ch. 1 & 2

I had never heard anything about Ishmael going into this class, and after all the dense information in Eaarth, I was looking forward to a change in book style. I was surprised and interested in what the two first chapters brought up overall, but I’m not sure how to feel about the book so far.

I understand that Ishmael is a philosophical fiction and I can appreciate it in that aspect, but I’m unsure how to feel about it overall just yet. In the very beginning we get a glimpse of some ad, and we see the narrator is frustrated but also fascinated with it, but we have no background on why this is. “Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.” This unleashes several emotions in the narrator. But why? Has he tried saving the world before? What does “saving the world” even mean? For the context of this class, I would assume it means saving the environment, but we don’t really get a real answer in the first chapter.

Something I do appreciate from these first two chapters is the idea of Leavers and Takers in the world and how there is always a cycle of the two creating history. While I don’t think we can always divide the world into those two groups, it’s interesting for the purpose of the story in that both sets of people play a part in making history and effecting our world. I feel like the word Leaver has a negative connotation, but who’s to say it couldn’t be good in comparison to Takers?

Anyway, I’m still trying to see how I feel about the book overall, but it’s a pretty easy read and I’m looking forward to what else the narrator and Ishmael discuss.