As noted in the first and second posts on this topic, the question at hand is whether there is a formulation that can effectively bring thousands of hectares of private lands into a conservation area that is supported by entrepreneurial activity. That activity puts conservation and social welfare of the local communities as the top priorities–the motivation for bringing conservation-minded travelers to valorize these protected areas.
Geology
Munnar Mementos: Part 2
The Idukki district of Kerala is known for mystical mists.
The Anthropocene
I wrote yesterday about the North American cod stocks that have practically disappeared during the last century as a result of overfishing. Needless to say, this is just one of many species that humans have had a seriously detrimental effect upon in their shaping of the Earth. An article from The Economist this May discusses the geological forces that humans have had on the Earth, focusing on topics like the carbon cycle or nitrogen fixation rather than species extinction.
Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer coined the term “Anthropocene” in 2000 to classify what they see as a new age on the geological time scale, and the fairly abrupt and sharp decline of cod may be one of the many changes visible in the fossil record thousands or millions of years from now. As you can see in the image below, we are currently in the Holocene, but Crutzen and Stoermer, along with many other scientists, including several of those in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (which arbitrates the geological time scale), believe that we have entered an age primarily shaped by Homo sapiens.
Image from The Economist
Geologists In Sacred Places
We appreciate the brave young scholars who choose to be geology majors in college. Especially those who do so without Exxon-Mobil in mind as a career track. Parents probably do not make a choice like this easy, any more than they encourage their kids to major in English (the major of some of our Contributors).
This Note From The Field by a Professor at Oberlin College gives plenty of reason to think that being a geology major could not only be interesting, but meaningful on other levels.
Organikos 