A Guarani Way of Living

A Guarani Way of Living

Derek Dozier

Showing how we should and shouldn't treat the environment

In today’s modern day society everything is so structured. You wake up go to work or school for many hours come home eat dinner and get ready for bed. A continuous cycle of the same stuff over and over again. You are told what to do and how to do things about everything you do. To acquire certain things you must spend money on it, and the nicer the item, the more expensive it is. It’s not a way of “living”, it’s more a way of “getting through the day”. How about this, you spend a little time of the day doing some of the essentials such as taking care of the house, taking care of the children, and getting food and other resources. To get things that you like/want you just trade with someone, and you don’t have to abide by strict rules and demands of modern day living. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Well I just explained the life of the Guarani.

Picture of happy Guarani Children

The Guarani are and indigenous tribe located in the tropical forest of Paraguay and Brazil. They are a very close nit group of individuals that have little contact with the “outside” world and are very independent within themselves. I believe that if we all lived in a way like they do that the environment, the ecosystem, and the way of living would be much better, and less damaged. One thing that the Guarani does to ensure a better society as a whole is the way they spend their days. Unlike modern day people, they do not have to put on a suit and tie and work from 9-5, rather they actually spend very little of their day working. In the book Forest Dwellers, Forest Protectors, Richard Reed explains how most of the day is spent. The Guarani’s work time is either spent doing productive labor, or reproductive labor. Only 18% of the Guarani’s waking time is spent doing productive labor, such as hunting and gathering, and only 27% of the Guarani’s day is spent doing reproductive labor such as household cleanings and taking care of the children. This means out of their whole daylight hours they are only spending 45% of their time working, and with the remaining 55%, they are resting, relaxing, and socializing. What makes the Guarani’s way of living seem so much easier is that they use the area around them in a beneficial way and fit well within the ecosystem, rather than modern civilization, in which we try to separate ourselves from the environment and over power it.

Many feathers of a Macaw Bird the Guarani would use for trade

Another awesome thing about the Guarani is the way they acquire their goods. Unlike today’s modern day society, they are not spending hundreds of dollars on things that are not truly needed and over working themselves to try and pay for these goods. Instead, the Guarani get their things by trade. As explained by Richard Reed, there are three types of exchange that the Guarani participate in. The first being generalized reciprocity. The is trade between close kinship in which one is given something or gives something to someone with no expectation of getting or giving anything back. The second type of exchange is balanced reciprocity in which both parties are expected to trade items of equal value or importance. This is seen when trading with distant kinship and acquaintances. Lastly, they do negative reciprocity in which they trade something that has lesser value than what they are going to receive. Some things that are traded are foods, items used to make different medicines, and things such as nice looking shells or pretty bird feathers.

Although people can’t just put everything down and live like the Guarani, we can do things more efficiently and work together with the ecosystem rather than against it. For example, harvest energy from a natural source (wind, water, solar), recycle more items, use things that don’t require the burning of harsh fossil fuels, and growing things on your own rather than shopping from large corporations. The Guarani are a very efficient, and eco-friendly group that seem to have a nice life, which if people began to adopt some of their ways, people’s way of living may become a lot easier and nicer.

To learn more about the Guarani you can visit the available link: http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Norway-to-Russia/Guaran-s.html

Fish are friends, not food

Healthy Coral

   The Coral Reef, what do you think of when you hear those words? Do you think of the beautiful colors, the thousands of fish species all working together in a balance of life? Do you think of sea stars crawling across the coral and Spanish Dancers flopping around making you laugh? The ocean is an amazing world on earth yet we have only explored 18% of it. We have used it's waters to travel the globe in search of better opportunities in life and we have also used it as a source of food an income. Unfortunately we have a problem... actually it is a really big problem. Our coral reefs are going from vibrant colorful oasis's to dying underwater forests called bleached coral. We have not been thinking about the repercussions of our actions, we have just been saying, "people need this now my kids are smart the people later on in life will worry about it, I don't have time for this." Well, that time has come, it is the future and we need to stop what we are doing before we completely throw off the balance of nature to the point of no return. We are at the point now where there are numerous marine species going extinct and even double that number in endangered species.

Bleached Coral 

        Some of the threats to the coral reefs are; coral bleaching--caused by elevated sea surface temperatures due to global climate change, rising levels of CO2, diseases linked to human disturbances in the environment, over-fishing (and global market pressures)- including the use of damaging practices (bomb and cyanide fishing), sediments-from poor land use, deforestation, and dredging, nutrient and chemical pollution, development of coastal areas, rising poverty, increasing populations, alienation from the land, poor capacity for management and lack of resources, lack of political will and oceans governance.

      When a coral is bleached that means that it has completely died, therefore not able to sustain any kind of life anymore. The ocean is home to some of the richest biodiversity on the planet. Biodiversity is when everything in a certain place has a "job" to do so to speak. The coral use photosynthesis to grow, algae grows on the coral, certain species of fish come and eat the algae for food, and bringing small fish there also attracts bigger types of fish therefore all creating a cycle and providing food and homes for all species. Everything works in a perfect balance but once one thing goes extinct there is nothing to do it's job. So for example, if one species of fish that eats algae to survive were to go extinct, there would be too much allege and it would take over therefore causing the coral to go without sun and causing it to possibly die. All because one tiny species of fish went extinct. When one thing dies everything is thrown off balance.

      Since taking an environmental sociology class at Hanover College I have been able to see what factors help contribute to the destruction of nature. Some of the concepts are; the treadmill of production, freedom-from, technological critique, and moral separatism. The treadmill of production is when there is production of a product and prices of that product go up but the pay for the workers does not go up. I believe this contributes because the price for certain fish does go up but the fishermen are still getting paid the same amount, therefore in order for them to make a decent profit they will have to catch more and more fish as the years go on. Freedom-from is a negative liberty in life. We are taking the freedom from the fish by; fishing, polluting, and destroying their homes. They don't have any say when we decide to go in and change things. The technological critique states that we solve our problems through technology. So whenever we need more fish we just get bigger nets, or we create a product in order to solve a problem but that is always a temporary solution that will never truly solve our problems. And last but not least moral separatism, as a species most humans view ourselves as separate from nature. That humans are one thing and then nature is another area of topic. But it isn't... we are apart of nature. We are mammals and we rely on the earth to supply us with the necessary resources for our survival just like any other animal. Once we see that we are apart of nature just like other animals then we might change our view on how we treat the earth and what we do to it in the future.  

Great Barrier Reef Facts 

 In the picture on the left it states that from 1998 to 2002 there was a 10% increase in bleached coral due to weather change. And that is just from the great barrier reef. Not any other coral reef in the world. We are not paying attention to what we are doing with the world around us. And if we were to fish and get only what was needed or if we were to help with the problem of global warming that would also contribute to saving the coral reefs. The ocean is a magnificent and mysterious place and I would hate for humans as a whole to ruin it and kill off species of animals before we even get the chance to explore the oceans and see what really happens underwater. If we all did our part the world would get its beautiful colors back and we would all have the chance for our future generations to see the world like we did.

Coral Bleaching has now become a common occurrence in most reefs and since 1998 every region has now experienced sever bleaching, with many areas suffering significant bleaching-induced mortality. 

Economic Expansion = Ecological Destruction

Imagine a native land filled with your own unique culture and way of living.  What resources do you depend on? How long could this be sustained?  Now imagine yourself as an animal in this land or indigenous person and you are forced to move out of this home.  Where do you go?  How do you make a living?  What resources do you have?  Imagine living in a whole new world. 

What does this have to do with economic expansion?

Most people understand the benefits of economic expansion.  We get new roads so we can travel farther, more land is used to produce more crops, people have more money to buy and sell items with, new technology is developed to further expand/make more efficient these things, etc.  Economic expansion though creates greediness that leads to ecological destruction.  We see destruction of forests for farmland, cutting of trees for lumber sales, new crops sold for profit, native people forced out of their homes, animals lose their habitats, and plant life ceasing to survive.  Foreign peoples travel to undeveloped lands in order to create more developed worlds.  This involves the destruction of native lands in order to expand their territories and make a profit from the land.  This need for economic expansion leads to more than businesses, technology, and easier ways of living.

Richard Reed discusses one group that felt the effects of economic expansion in his book Forest Dwellers, Forest Protectors: Indigenous Models for International Development.  The Guaraní live in the forests of Paraguay and they felt the impact from the loss of their lands.  They lost their way of farming, the types of crops they could grow, the animals they once hunted, etc.  Not only this, but many were impacted socially and had to move to different areas and thus lost important kinship ties.    They suffered from illness and had to find new ways to make money in order to survive.  These people were forced into the new Paraguayan society rather than promoting their indigenous power and independence. 

To learn more go to http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/10496

This sounds terrible.  What should we learn from this?

Money isn’t everything!  This is an example of greediness leading to a dependency on technology.  We expand production, make more profits, etc. through the ease of technology and in the process we see the destruction of important environments, the people native to these areas, the plant life and animals they use to survive, and ultimately slowly destroy their culture.  Not only do they lose independence, but our dependence on economic expansion and the technology we use to do this also makes us lose independence.  I will leave you with a question to consider…

Is our domination of nature creating a dependency on technology?  Is this really what we want our society to do?  How will this impact future generations (will we all end up feeling like the Guaraní)?

Horror of Homeless

Homelessness does not discriminate. It effects people of every age, race and religion. Homelessness is caused by a variety of social, economic and personal hardships such as; loss of a job, bills being higher than earnings, eviction, abuse at home, incarceration, health problems, family issues and substance abuse. However, homelessness is more than a social problem, it's an environmental concern.

In the United States there are currently 3.5 million people seeking refuge on the streets, under bridges, in parks, wooded ares, shelters or cars. According to a study by The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, over 100 "Tent Cities" have been established throughout the U.S."spanning states as diverse as Hawaii, Alaska, California, and Connecticut." Encampments provide the homeless with a sense of community, safety and shelter. Some require their residents to uphold a certain standard of living, and are governed by members within the homeless community. Despite efforts to maintain cleanliness, tent cities are plagued with human waste and garbage. Unsanitary public toilets and showers are a breeding ground for disease and pose a serious threat to the health of the community. Improper disposal of human waste along rivers contaminates the water supply for the encampment as well as nearby communities. Due to poor hygiene, residents suffer from illness, infection, skin and dental problems. 

While tent cities pose health hazards and are harmful to the environment, people are drawn to these communities for companionship and support. Residents often rely on each other for survival and engage in generalized and balanced reciprocity. Despite having little to give, the homeless express a desire to contribute to the betterment of their community by sharing and exchanging resources. The kinship within the homeless encampments is similar to that of the Guarani. The Guarani society is based on kinship and being one with nature. Tent cities could improve their quality of life through the cultivation of trusting relationships, and learning how to utilize their environment.

To learn more about homeless encampments, click the link below to view Tent City U.S.A

http://www.hulu.com/watch/555563

Sources: 

www.money.cnn.com

www.popcenter.org/problems/homeless_encampments/

What Americans Can Learn From the Guaraní People

     The divide between civilization and nature seems very clear and real to many modern people. Clearly, humans are on top. We were built to bend nature to our will. That is our right as a thinking species, after all. But it is precisely this attitude that has destroyed forests, killed other species, and left many fields barren.

     The Guaraní, on the other hand, live with nature rather than above it. They live a life of hard work with minimal consumerism to keep their families and their communities going without harming the land that provides them with food and goods.
 
 
     With 9 to 5 jobs and packed urban settings, people in developed nations are in no position to drop everything and become farmers and hunters, but there is one lesson we can learn from the Guaraní people, and we need to take this lesson to heart: Humans are part of the environment. The environment has a delicate balance, and humans can upset that balance very easily. Cutting down too many trees can cause devastating soil erosion. Using fields too intensely for too long can deplete soil of its nutrients and ruin the area for future farming efforts. The Guaraní know these facts, but many people from developed nations ignore them. Why? Because we have pushed nature to the edges of our society, both literally and figuratively. When you have never seen nature for what it can be, you never consider the changes we have made.

The Guaraní people have methods of living that are much more gentle on the environment. They allow their crops to grow alongside trees rather than simply clearing huge areas to grow crops, and when the Guaraní do clear areas, they do so in a safe, contained manner that does not take more space than a family needs. When an area has been farmed to the point of soil quality decline, the Guaraní then plant crops that thrive in poor soil before moving on and allowing the forest to reclaim the land while the people find a new area to farm. With these methods, the Guaraní are not making the environment adapt to them, but rather they are adapting to the environment. For many modern people, adapting to the environment sounds a lot like losing, but if we do not wake up and see our connections, we are the ones who will lose.

Quiz: Should you use a composting toilet?

Every time you flush the toilet, you are flushing gallons of potable drinking water down the drain.  This is both a waste of water and energy.  An alternative to this is a composting toilet, which is basically the same thing as a regular toilet, but so much better.  These systems are sanitary, odorless, and use little to no water in the process.  Composting toilets can be installed in homes, businesses, and campgrounds while requiring little maintenance to get the job done.  Furthermore, when maintained correctly, these toilets can produce soil rich in nutrients that are safe for use in gardens.  But, don’t take my word for it!  Take this quiz to see if composting toilets are right for you!

                  Quiz made by Emily Gross

Option A: False- everybody poops! 
You may benefit from transitioning from a classical to carnivalesque approach to looking at the human body.  Classical meaning the body is separated from nature- e.g. you think people do not poop because they are so separated from wild animals.  By transitioning to a more carnivalesque body view you will acknowledge that your body is one with nature- e.g. you poop, excrete, taste, breath and embrace the natural world within your body!  You should probably retake the quiz now, huh?

Option B: Bad Idea!
So you answered you do not care about the worldwide water crisis?  The only explanation is you must not fully know about it then!  Only 2.5% of the world’s water is freshwater, meaning we can drink it.  About 70% of that is frozen in the icecaps, meaning we have access to less than 1% of the worlds total freshwater supply.  As population increases so does demand of and contamination of this little bit of water.  You should probably start caring, more than likely there are water shortages coming to an area near you!  Restart the quiz for a more positive answer!

Option C.  Surprise!
You are probably a skeptic about individuals making a difference, and rightfully so!  To truly solve the worldwide global water crisis we need a massive rehaul of our agricultural and manufacturing systems.  However, you should try looking at it from this perspective.  About 8.5% of the U.S.A.’s water usage goes to municipal use.  Depending on the age of your toilet, each flush uses about 1.6- 7 gallons of water.   That is about 2000 gallons of potable water going down the drain per year per toilet.  That water usage quickly adds up- as water becomes scarcer and global population increases, this little bit will make a difference (both fiscally and environmentally)!  Restart the quiz.

Option D. Well…
Technically, nature is a socially constructed object; therefore what we see as natural is determined by ourselves based upon our own interests.  Composting toilets are in your best interest and probably the closest thing to natural we can get in the modern world.  Try again.

Option E.  YES!
You probably believe in moral holism, that is, humans we are a part of nature and the environment.  However, this does not mean that we can do whatever we want!  You want to do your best to conserve what little water we have and a composting toilet is a smart solution for your home or business!  You may even be interested in making humanure, that is soil made from your waste.  For more information on composting toilets and their use for humanure, see the video and links below.

Did I mention composting toilets work in RV's too?  While this information is RV specific, the general information is essentially the same as in a home (although time frames are likely extended with larger systems).

More Information/ References:

http://humanurehandbook.com

http://www.letsgogreen.com/how-composting-toilets-work.html

http://water.org/water-crisis/water-facts/sanitation/

http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/freshwater_supply/freshwater.html

http://www.epa.gov/watersense/our_water/water_use_today.html

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/graphic-science-how-much-water-nations-consume/

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4751

Why the Lifestraw is Good and Bad...Mostly Good

Wait A Minute...

The LifeStraw® is a major engineering feat that has saved millions of lives, yet few know about it. TheLifeStraw® is an inexpensive water bottle that doubles as a water purifier (that lasts for about 1000 liters) and “provide[s] access to safe drinking water by converting microbiologically contaminated water into safe drinking water,” says buylifestraw.com. Obviously, the website’s main purpose is to sell the LifeStraw®, and may be a bit biased. However, upon further research, I find that many people support the use of this technology. I’m not interested in selling you this product; I’m more interested in the necessity of it in the first place.

Young Children using the Lifestraw

                The LifeStraw® is made so people, mainly the very poor, can drink water safely with a reduction in disease transferred by unclean water. The idea started as a humanitarian movement advocating for third world countries to have the right to clean drinking water. I find it both interesting and incredibly depressing that having clean water has been a major issue for citizens that live in underdeveloped countries. However, it’s almost an undeniable fact that those who live in poverty are forced to experience the rest of the world’s mistakes, pollution-wise. This includes unclean water, air pollution, and simply mistreatment from other countries. However, since most people don’t live in poverty and thus the terrible conditions that come with it, they are ignorant to the issues, or don’t care. The significant social inequality has quite literally blinded us from the fact that some people need this product to live. For the rest of the world, the LifeStraw® is simply a cool little gadget that can be bought and forgotten about forever because we don’t need it. But for people living in third world countries, owning this technology can be the difference between life and death.

                This product can be seen as a representation of the extremes of poverty and the destruction of the environment. It’s amazing that this product is available, and cheap at that, but disappointing that it is needed. It is not a solution to social inequality, nor to the destruction of the environment. The company is banking on the fact that there are enough of both of these factors to necessitate such an item in the first place. These people will eventually become dependent on the technology, instead of being provided with actual means to help their situations.

Giving Back

                The company is doing its part in humanitarian work, and states that “purchase [of] any type of LifeStraw® product, Vestergaard and its distributor partners contribute part of the funds to distribute LifeStraw® Community institutional water purifiers to schools in developing countries.” This is a great idea and I applaud the effort given to raise awareness of the issue. However, I do find that this this work is a bit convenient. It doesn’t seem to be doing anything to address the problem at hand; poverty and pollution seem to be major issues in third world countries and there isn’t much being done about it. Installing water filters in Kenyan schools is a wonderful start, but to have a deep impact on the issue, perhaps dive a bit deeper to the source of the problem. It would take a massive amount of effort and money, which I know is impossible for one company.

Vesttergaard and its disributor partners contribute part of the finds to distributing water purifiers in schools

                The technology used to make this product is innovative and useful. In fact, the production and purchase of the LifeStraw® “reduces your personal carbon footprint,” and gives you a “carbon credit…A carbon credit (or carbon offset) represents the reduction of one ton of CO2 from our atmosphere.” So, environmentally speaking, buying this product is great. All in all, I would recommend to buy the product, but also do your own research into why third world countries are facing such major issues.    

Sources:
http://www.buylifestraw.com/

Annie The Polar Bear -- Other Issues Presentation

For The Sake Of The Polar Bears

“Hey there. I’m Annie and I’m a polar bear. Did you know it’s a hard knock life out there for us polar bears?”  

Global Warming and its Effects on Polar Bears

For years, the polar bear has been the face of global warming and a symbol for animal misfortune.  Polar bears live in a severe arctic environment, but have been finding themselves forced into foreign territories as the earth becomes warmer. Due to greenhouse emissions, deforestation, methane emissions from various sources and overuse of chemical fertilizers on farmlands, temperatures are rising globally and melting the very environment in which they thrive in. “Arctic sea ice has decreased by 14% in 30 years.” says WWF Global website, panda.org. “As snow and ice melt, the ability of the arctic to reflect heat back to space is reduced, accelerating the overall rate of global warming.” This is mostly a human fault. “When we extract and burn fossil fuels such as coal or petroleum, we cause the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other heat-trapping ‘greenhouse gases’ into the atmosphere” says edf.org.

Deforestation

This has become a major problem due to an increasing dependency on modern technology that runs primarily on the burning of coal and oil, which releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. While technology is providing us with wonders in social connection and convenience it is otherwise playing a role in destroying the earth. This technology, such as new cars and homes, creates the need for deforestation, which is another major contribution to global warming. Deforestation creates more carbon dioxide emissions in itself. “By most accounts, deforestation in tropical rainforests adds more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than the sum total of cars and trucks on the world’s roads,” says Mitchell Vale, a leading journalist on the issue. Deforestation includes cutting down and burning whole forests to make more land available for human use and to use the wood from the trees as many different things including furniture and other instruments. Another factor of global warming comes from chemical fertilizers on farmlands, which are used to feed humans and animals alike, and a technology that we have become dependent on. It is nearly impossible trying to grow an abundance of food without the use of chemically enhanced fertilizers or pesticide. To add to the distress, methane emissions heat up the Earth as well, and come from many different sources. Methane emissions not only come from the many millions of animals on land, but also from the melting sea ice. Because of all of these factors, permafrost is melting, glaciers are receding and sea ice is disappearing. The unintended consequences of human influence have caused a spike in global temperature, thus destroying the polar bear’s environment.  

Polar Bear Lifestyle      

                “Polar bears are only found in the Arctic. The most important habitats for [them] are the edges of pack ice where currents and wind interact, forming a continually melting and refreezing matrix of ice patches and leads to (open spaces in the ocean between sea ice),” says defenders.org. The majority of a polar bear’s daily life is spent on the sea ice and includes denning, mating and hunting. Because the sea ice is melting, polar bears are forced to expend more energy finding places to den and hunt. This creates the unfortunate paradox in which the bears must swim farther to find food, but need more energy for travel. Their circumstance is contradictory. “For polar bears, sea ice losses mean: reduced access to food, drop in body condition, lower cub survival rates, increase in drowning, increase in cannibalism, loss of access to denning areas [and] decline in population size.”

Sociological Explanation?

                The problems the polar bears are faced with are due to humans taking advantage of positive liberty or “freedom-to” (Bell  82). This theory states that humans have “the freedom to take agency over the conditions of [their] life” (Bell 82). Freedom-to supports your choice of being able to do whatever you want, no matter what the consequences are. Polar bears suffer from “freedom-from,” or negative liberty. When humans decide to do whatever they want, polar bears and their habitats are not considered, which ultimately entails the destruction of their environment. Polar bears are also affected by the Growth Machine, in which there is no regard for the environment with continuing growth in human society. This is most obvious with deforestation, which seems to only hurt the environment and help humans. Our fierce dependence on technology causes global warming, but also a domination of the natural environment. Humans are morally separate from the environment, and societies function to dominate and colonize nature. We should consider moral holism as a way of life, in which we see ourselves as a part of the environment and what we do to the environment affects us as well.

What can YOU do?

                There are many things that the average person can do to lessen their impact on the environment, and the polar bears. By switching to an alternative technology that is less harmful for the environment, or to a technology that is energy efficient, one can find themselves helping the polar bears. More ideas include reusing products and recycling them, eating less meat, and turning products off to conserve energy. With a large effort from everyone, it is possible to make a positive impact on the environment and help save the polar bears.  

Resources:

 http://www.defenders.org/polar-bear/basic-facts

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/deforestation-and-global-warming/

http://www.edf.org/climate/human-activity-is-causing-global-warming

http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/about-polar-bears/climate-change

Bell, M. (2012). An invitation to environmental sociology (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Pine Forge Press.

Ghost Nets - Other Issues Presentation

Dude, let me introduce myself before I begin my gnarly rant.  My name is Crush.  I am best known for my role in Finding Nemo but I am also an advisor for the United Nations Environment Program.  I have been called here to better educate you on the problem enveloping my home—the problem of Ghost Nets What are those you ask, well I would love to inform you.  Ghost Nets are abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear.  So there are lost nets and traps, but the ocean is pretty big and the few lost items cannot make that big of a problem, right? No, dude that is wrong.  An increased scale of global fishing has resulted in 6400 tons of marine litter from Ghost Nets alone.  That’s 10% of all marine litter! You are listening now, aren’t you?  Let’s dive into the problem so more.  There are two main culprits to the existence of Ghost Nets:

      Bottom set gill nets are anchored to the sea floor and held up by floatation devices on the ocean top.  Spanning a large range of the sea (600-1,000 meters) allows for an abundant amount of fish caught when used correctly, but also means when they break loose the nets trap many marine species. 

            Traps and Pots are used predominately for catching lobster and crab. These traps are set submerged in the water and await the arrival of the crustaceans.  The crabs and lobsters enter the trap, and then as the name says, become locked in the contraption.  Super effective in making sure my marine friends do not escape but just as effective in capturing them when the traps become lost and are no longer handled by humans.  Some of my fellow marine friends call them the Trap of Death, but don’t let that control your opinion.  I am just here to offer an educated and non-biased opinion since I do live among these environmental invasions.

I have tried to understand how so many have become lost at sea, and I get it.  The human population has increased, man, so fishing has to increase.  It is easier to buy new nets for the fishermen than put in the energy and money to find lost equipment.  Technology has allowed for easier and more efficient fishing. Good for the wallet, bad for the environment. Instead of buying a new net, can you fishermen just get better track of your nets and repair them? (Conspicuous Waste).

Alright human specimens, I want you to better understand what it is like for marine species like me. Watch this video! 

Ghost Nets are deadly because of their small holes and the easiness it takes for them to become tangled up with themselves. These nets restrict movement, causing starvation, laceration, infection, and suffocation in those that need to breathe at the surface. Dude, I have had many friends die from nasty infections and even some of my turtle friends have had to have their limbs cut off! Not only do these nets get caught on our bodies, but they even get caught on places we marine life call our home. If caught on wrecks, nets can suffocate a wreck and thereby render hiding place for marine life useless, or even trap them inside. If my home is trapped, where am I supposed to live?

Not only does it harm our bodies and living quarters, but it also harms the whole sea floor environment. When caught on a reef, Ghost Nets do not only catch fish, turtles, crustaceans, birds, or marine mammals, they also destroy hard and soft corals, wiping out complete ecosystems while swaying in the current. Now that’s not cool, you hurt my friends and ruin the entire ecosystem!!!

 

Now you are probably wondering... What can we do about this problem that is hurting many different types of animals and ecosystems? There are many different solutions in the works, but even a few that are already in effect. Some countries use escape hatches on traps in order in release marine life after the trap has been submerged for a long period of time. There are also nets made out of cords which break apart from the net when large marine life swim through, but stay intact for the fish meant to be caught. I am also sure a lot of you have heard that us big animals are scared of loud sounds, this is a good thing because there are now sound-reflecting material to drive large animals away. Since humans are a part of nature and dependent on the environment they need to take care of marine life and waste created!! (Moral Holism).

There are a lot of things already in the works to prevent these Ghost Nets from happening, but you should take a little time to think of your own solution! Here are a few ideas to get the ball rolling:

1.     Financial Incentives à Encourage fishers to report lost or stolen gear and bring old and damaged gear to the port. Give them a couple of bucks for their damaged/found gear may work!

2.     Mark Personal Gear à Marking your own gear will allow the identification of the gear. Since some hear is left in order to catch fish over time, some nets are supposed to be left alone. Making a universal system will help all fishermen.

3.     Improving disposal and recycling methods à Have ports provide safe disposal of material since no one wants to take care of their own garbage

Now that you know all about Ghost Nets, get out there and do something about it! These problems in our environment will not end until someone puts their foot (or fin) down and says enough is enough!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f2s-KN8dtA

http://www.ghostfishing.org/the-problem/

http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/19353/icode/

http://mission-blue.org/2013/05/ghost-nets-among-the-greatest-killers-in-our-oceans/

http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/Get-Involved/events/ghost-below/ghost-nets.html

http://www.ghostnets.com.au

http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/ghost_fishing_nets_invisible_killers_in_the_oceans/

http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/trackable-biodegradable-fish-nets-could-put-end-ghost-nets.html