Butterfly Lessons - What Can Be Drawn From the Well

What can be drawn from the well that is Butterfly Lessons?  This article sheds light on a number of subjects ranging from climate change to the invasive species that is the comma butterfly.  Man has shaped Earth for centuries, either directly (i.e. Alexander the Great connecting the eastern part of the Aegean Sea with Tyre, which was once its own island) or indirectly; those changes have had either no effect or great effect on the Earth as a whole.  One of man's greatest "contributions" to the Earth was climate change.  As the earth warms up, life forms all across the globe are attempting to adapt.  Species native to an area are moving to other more favorable areas that can support them, as opposed to their indigenous homes.  Elizabeth Kolber, author of Butterfly Lessons, argues in the article that climate change is changing the way animals interact with their environment, in terms of ways of reproduction, the changing of diets, etc.  The iron-clad rule of this world is "only the fittest survive" and has thus far not been disproven.  Kolber notes that mosquitoes in parts of the United States and Canada are actually prevalent year-round, while they once before died during the winter.  "As the climate had warmed, those mosquitoes which had remained active until later in the fall had enjoyed a selective advantage, presumably because they had been able to store a few more days' worth of resources for the winter, and they had passed this advantage on to their offspring, and so on."  There's no doubt that everything will change, with perhaps no hope of reverting back what the Earth once was.

My project deals mainly with the scarcity of water; that topic, however, delves into others that deal with not only humans, but the environment.  Butterfly Lessons finds its link with my project there.

Destroy the Wetlands?

Wetlands are ecologically, economically, and socially important.  They provide a plethora of resources such as economically important fish and plants, and also provide recreational services.  Wetlands provide a natural water-cleaning system that aids in stopping pollutants from contaminating clean freshwater supplies, and also help control floods; they also suckle other ecosystems that depend on flooding.  However, despite the benefits they provide both economically and environmentally, they also pose as barriers.  Wetlands provide a wealthy source of rich, fertile soil that can be utilized for agriculture; with a rapidly increasing global population, a surplus of food is necessary in order to accommodate changing conditions on the planet.  Thus, there may be some logic in mowing down certain sections of a wetland for agricultural, social, and economic purposes.

Are you "In Denial?" YES!

Middle school was a very interesting period of my life.  At the time, I was living in La Verne, California, a sizable town a mere 40 minutes away from the bustling city of L.A.  Foothill Christian School, the private school I attended in Glendora, California, was a school that was very fearful and observant of God and Christ.  Every student was required to take Bible class throughout their entire middle school career, and attend chapel every single Friday near the end of the day.  Though there were some scholars that followed other religions--even atheism--the entire school was predominately Christian or Catholic.  I was raised in a Christian home myself, thus I fit right in.  Or not.

I've never seen a place bedraggled by so much contradiction in my life.  They advertised the Bible and Christianity like it was some commercial for beer or something.  The teachers drilled it into our heads that God was the only god in existence, Jesus was His son, and all who didn't believe in the Anointed One earned themselves a ticket to the fiery depths of Hell.  I can't recall at any time being encouraged to think for myself.  I can't really recall a time where the ideals of other religions were accepted or even considered/acknowledged, either.

My suspicions of the school being "corrupt" were confirmed when misfortunate things started happening to my teachers.  My Spanish teacher, Mrs. Nicely, got into a car accident and suffered from temporary memory loss.  My Math teacher, Ms. Smallwood, had issues with her blood and was out of the classroom often due to sickness.  My Science teacher, Mr. Dickey, went downright insane one day because he was bi polar and hadn't taken his medicine.  Along with this, a good number of the students fell captive to pop culture and the media, thus moving away from the teachings of Christianity shoved down their throats.  

Being in denial, for me, means not accepting something that's obviously true.  As for being "close-minded," it means that someone is not considering something that may in fact be acceptable.