Friend of the environment

            Here at the UPR unlike in many places in the rest of Puerto Rico we are fortunate enough to be able to observe and be part of various environmentally friendly practices. One of those that I’ve seen in my time studying here are some kind of vegetable patches. Although for some unexplainable reason the universities administration took the liberty of killing one made by some students in front of the theater, recently I saw some students planting another one in the faculty of Natural Science.  Taking care of the environment and promoting it by planting should be an every day practice.

            It’s obvious that growing plants directly helps the environment for various reasons. First of all and maybe most crucial is the unique ability of plant to transform carbon dioxide into oxygen, by doing so they help the environment, every animal that breath and prevents further pollution (Berry, 1982). Also self-cultivating of vegetables and fruits ensures that more resources that contaminate the environment like gasoline are not wasted in transportation to supermarkets. Pesticides are another big problem in this planet so by producing ones own food its consumption declines drastically.

Apart from all of the environmental benefits mentioned above the growing of vegetable patches in the university also haves a symbolic meaning. In a society where it’s unusual to see someone planting this gives a great example. People should open their eyes and see the necessity, beauty and usefulness found in growing. It’s clear that this world is changed with examples not by opinion so there’s no greater symbolism in the renovation of human ways that by doing that which is proclaimed. The greatness of this effort is found not only in the direct contribution to the environment, but its indirect influence in the consciousness of every one who sees it.

As students and as part of the Puerto Rican society we should be agents of change by creating awareness and propagating that easy actions like growing some fruits and vegetables in this fertile land that we were born in could contribute to a better world.  Some people say that a persons live is not complete until they have a son, write a book and plant a tree and from all of this I see the most important and easiest thing a person could do in their lifetime is help the planet that sustains us by planting a tree or maybe even hundreds of them.

Berry, J. A., & Downton, W. J. S. (1982). Environmental regulation of    photosynthesis. Photosynthesis, 2, 263-343.

Sea community

As a community member of Puerto Rico and the world the sea is a critical aspect of my every day life and there is a huge need to protect it.  In Puerto Rico, being an island, we are surrounded completely by the ocean so this means that we have an even bigger responsibility to take care of it. As we learned the sea holds many keys to the survival of our species providing us: oxygen, food, transportation, recreation and many secrets that are yet to be revealed. Most people are unaware of the seas significance and/or they do not understand it so it’s the duty of those of us that know better to inform, give an example and work so we can help this vast habitat that sustains us.

Personally I’m a person that loves the sea because I can eat fish and shellfish, surf on it, get tranquility, inspiration, use it as transportation, and appreciate its immensity and biodiversity. I’ve always tried to know more about the ocean and this is one of the main reasons that have made me take care of it. If every person would take the time to see how we owe all that we have to the sea, including ourselves, because the theory of evolution states that we came from the sea, then respect towards it will grow and many contamination problems could be avoided (Brooker, 2011). But there are many people in Puerto Rico and all over the world that fail to recognize its value and do not give its deserved appreciation creating a dilemma of killing what gives us life.  

If Puerto Rico and many other countries continue behaving toward the ocean like we do then we will continue to see the repercussions. Already we can see how humans are causing biodiversity lost. Three aspects that cause the deterioration of the sea are: waste dumping, resource exploitation and climate change. As community members in an island is it our moral duty to do something about this. We can start by a simple act of not throwing garbage and cleaning the beaches so the trash does not degrade and contribute to the accumulation of chemical pollutants affecting sea life. Its clear that the biggest problem is the lack of consciousness so there needs to be a big effort to create it, like the documentary said “We can’t protect what we don’t understand” so the best way to make a change is to help people understand the ocean and how they may damage it without knowing.

As human’s numbers grow exponentially it is necessary that people in a community, be it in Puerto Rico or in any other place in the world we learn to take care of the ocean before it is too late. Already we have begun to deteriorate the seas health and we cannot continue through this road. It would be very dreadful that we learn about how much we need the sea the hard way. We must do our best to take care of the ocean and try to make other people do it as well. After all we are tied to the sea, it is where we came from, what sustains us, and the biggest constituent of our planet.

1.  Brooker, R. J. (2011). Cellular Respiration. Biology (2nd ed., pp. 150-154). New York:      McGraw-Hill.

Empathy Identity

          One time I was on my way to Mayagüez with some of my friends, the road was dark and the music was very loud when suddenly we felt a very big bump under the car so we panicked and stopped. When we got out of the car we noticed that what happen is that my friend had killed a stray dog. My friends reactions where very diverse. The most stunning reaction came from the owner of the car who was very mad because the car had a little bump and it was covered in blood. The most humane reaction was from a girl who loves dogs and started to cry.  At the moment I felt a little sorrow but I have to admit that a road kill didn’t seem like such a big deal and It was more of a hassle than anything.  

            Most people in Puerto Rico have a big attitude of indifference towards road kills because it is something we are accustomed to. My reaction was based on that since I was a little boy seeing a dead animal was a daily thing, every time someone made a road kill they where more preoccupied with their car being dirty than the life of the animal. I have to say that personally I feel bad when I see a dead animal like a cat or dog, but maybe not as bad as I should. There's also another side to road kills that may seem positive because one of the most killed animal squashed by cars in Puerto Rico are Iguanas. Iguanas have been devouring vegetation and disrupting the island ecosystem so this death may be considered as pest control. (Newcomb, 2012) Nerveless it its necessary that people begin to have empathy and respect for the lives of animals because as humans we should respect life no matter how big or little it may be.

            There are a lot of thing that can be done in order to minimize road kills and create consciousness in Puerto Rico, first of all and upmost important its to create awareness for the respect of all type of life and a better method of certification in order to have a pet. People must be willing to keep their pets and if not they should take the proper process and find them another home not leave then in the streets to die. The best way to sensibilize people is to begin in the system of education, at all schools the importance of every life should be emphasized because the feeling of indifference in people is cultivated at an early age in this society. And last driver should be required to be more careful when driving so a lot of these accidents are avoided.

            In todays Puerto Rican society empathy for other living things is being lost little by little. It is most important that we remember than animals are our only companions in this planet and that we cannot loose sight of life value. Road kills are situations that cannot become routine and it is everyone’s responsibility to make sure this is changed. Nature was there before all machinery and it will be there after so we need to respect it because we really on it. Road kills are the perfect example of technology corrupting nature a process that needs to stop before its too late and ther no coming back.

References:

Newcomb, T. (2012, 008 22). Iguana: In puerto rico, it’s what’s for dinner. Retrieved from http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/08/22/iguana-in-puerto-rico-its-whats-for-dinner/

Evolutive equality

Most humans consider themselves superiors to animals, our only companions in this planet; we constantly destroy their habitats, exploit them for food, clothe and use them as pets. According to the Merriam-webster dictionary superior means of higher rank, quality or importance. My relationship with animals is one of cooperation because scientifically speaking we cannot consider ourselves superior to them in most aspects. It is a common belief in this society that a person’s life is worth more than that of any animal but we fail to give a logical explanation to why that is.

In my experience I always try to help animals by taking care of the environment we share with them, not having any pets and certainly not using them for clothe. A critical error made by humans that’s has been devastating to the environment has been thinking that this planet is of our position when really it is the opposite, something animals know. As humans we destroy not only our environment, the one that nurtures us, but also every living organism environment. We don’t have greater importance than animals because if you look at importance in a view of the ecosystem we live in, people have very little positive effects on it while many other animals like bees for example have a vital role. Without out bees a lot of plant wouldn’t get pollinized disrupting multiple food chains all over the world, now that’s true value. (Michener, 2000.)

A usual statement for human superiority is that we are the most evolved species (higher quality) but in reality there is no such thing because all animals currently living have been evolving for the same amount of time. Evolution is mainly driven by natural selection, the process in which beneficial traits that are heritable become more common in successive generations. So a species can be judge as being more evolved if they posses characteristics that make them better adapted to their environment so they are more likely to survive until reproductive age. Organisms better suited to survive have a grater chance to reproduce and pass their favorable traits (Brooker, Widmaier , Graham & Stiling, 2011). With this in mind humans do seem like a very evolved species because we have had an exponential population growth and occupy a large amount of the planet but throw a person in the middle of the sea or place them underground any fish or worm would seem as the most evolved organism. As humans we have been greatly adaptable but only for our own ecological niche.

Human should learn from animals to respect and take care of our environment. We should cooperate with them because we relay on them for numerous aspects of our lives. Also animals are able to do amazing thing while relaying purely on instinct so we shouldn’t feel superior because even with our reasoning we do a lot more irrational things like destroying the place we live in. It is necessary that people realize that we are not superior before it is to late and everything animals and we need is destroyed. It is of critical importance that we learn to live in harmony with our equally valuable companions for both our sakes.

1. Brooker, R., Widmaier , E., Graham, L., & Stiling, P. (2011). Biology. (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

2. Michener, C. D. (2000). The bees of the world. Johns Hopkins University Press.

3. Superior. 2011. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved Feb 9, 2013, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/superior