I'm thinking that for this paper I'll probably be connecting Kolbert to All Over Creation. I'd mostly be taking ideas from Rose the first chapter and "The New Pangaea" regarding invasive species and its effect on homogenizing global biodiversity. In AOC, there's a passage from one of the Fuller's seed catalogs, where Lloyd talks about "exotic" plants. He believes that bringing over foreign plants increases biological diversity and health, and that anti-exoticism is anti-life. Similarly, TSE says how most Americans import non-native species that "might prove useful or interesting".

After our discussion on thursday we were interested in Gloria Steinem's view on transgenderism so Rosea and I looked up articles about her. We were confused because Gloria Steinem has been portrayed as a very progressive woman who is well-educated and heavily involved with gender issues in the U.S. We found an article that directly addressed what was brought up in class :

http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2013/10/02/op-ed-working-together-over-time

Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Six Extinction seems to be talking about different extinctions without much relationship. But in my opinion, it has a clear logical relationship beyond the simple extinction stories of different species. The order of the stories unveiled the whole process of how human came up the idea of extinction, how they gradually understood and developed the idea of extinction, how human are destroying the nature and how we’re sensing our damage to the environment. Finally, the author brought up a question at the end of the book: could human avoid extinction or are we doomed to extinct?

Intro

Allie Cavallaro

Paper #10

14 November 2014

Why Bother

I think, assuming, as humans that we have the willingness, knowledge, and ability to fix large scale environmental problems is foolish. Even if we could unite the planet in a common goal (unlikely) to make a change, who is to say that we have the knowledge or technology to do so? Without the both knowledge and willingness, there is no ability, but even if there was ability, knowledge, and willingness, who are we to claim that we are superior enough to make a change that actually matters? How can we matter when in a matter of years, us and everything we’ve ever known will be crushed into a layer of rock no thicker than a cigarette paper (Kolbert #)? We really don’t.

Allie Cavallaro

Paper #10

14 November 2014

Why Bother

I think, assuming, as humans that we have the willingness, knowledge, and ability to fix large scale environmental problems is foolish. Even if we could unite the planet in a common goal (unlikely) to make a change, who is to say that we have the knowledge or technology to do so? Without the both knowledge and willingness, there is no ability, but even if there was ability, knowledge, and willingness, who are we to claim that we are superior enough to make a change that actually matters? How can we matter when in a matter of years, us and everything we’ve ever known will be crushed into a layer of rock no thicker than a cigarette paper (Kolbert #)? We really don’t.

Sydney Huff

ESem Paper #10

November 14, 2014

T

Fri. 11/14

(All Classes) Fri, Nov. 14-Sun, Nov. 16--students travel individually, by train, to view the portraits
@ The Barnes Foundation, 2025 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, Philadelphia, PA 19130--or 
the Paul Strand exhibit @ the Philadelphia Museum of Art 

Sun. 11/16: