A Note From the Heart

After another cold winter week, I find myself dreaming of summer - dreaming of the warmth still to come. We've had another snowy week with the snow flying all of Thursday and Friday. While Thursday’s snowfall amounted to several inches of slush on the road surface, by Friday morning we had 8+ inches of accumulation with another 3-5 inches falling and melting throughout the day. It just didn’t seem to want to stop falling.

Now is the perfect time to reminisce over a few of my 2009 summer activities. All my summer vacations take place in and around New Jersey. Last May, my boyfriend and I made a road trip up to Deerfield, Massachusetts. Just look at the sun on these green hills.



With all the snow we’ve been having, the road to June 2010 seems to stretch out to forever. Later in May of 2009, at Sandy Hook National Recreation Area, a horseshoe crab makes its journey down to the sea.


It was a perfect day, that day at the shore - this visit was before the mosquitoes took over the bay.


Another trip, later in the year, brought a sky swathed in clouds. My family and I watch the storm blow in - the rain started to fall far out over the water, and we ran to the car when it reached the beach.



On my annual trip to Seaside Heights, it rained again. This time we watched the rain move down the boardwalk, eventually catching up to us. The boardwalk looked interesting slicked down with rain water, with the many lights of the games, shops and rides reflected back off its surface.

I am pleased to report the next day dawned fair and clear. Oh to be back on a beach blanket, enjoying a sunny day at the beach!





Taking advantage of another a sunny day during the Fourth of July holiday, I visited the bay at Sandy Hook again. By this time the mosquitoes had taken over, and my party and I could only sit when the breeze picked up and held them back. Still, overall, another good trip.


On an overnight camping trip in Stephen's State Park in Hackettstown, NJ, I recall getting so many mosquito bites, despite repeated applications of repellent, I feared they were the product of a brush with poison ivy. I was fully recovered within a week or so and I can't wait to set up the tent and watch the smoke from the campfire drift upwards on a sunny Saturday evening this summer.





Towards the end of the season, I managed a second trip through the Garden State Parkway traffic to Seaside Heights, NJ. For the record, with the exception of a few fishing trips with my family, I owe all the driving for my many adventures to the patience of my boyfriend, Aengus. His patience behind the wheel in all conditions, from extreme traffic to extreme weather, is truly remarkable.


For the record, the view upwards on Feb. 24th and 25th was as follows:


With luck, June will be upon us before we know it and I can brainstorm post ideas while gazing up at my beach umbrella once again.


In future years, I fear I will look back at these pages and conclude that I was in love with hiking in cold, wet conditions. The truth is I was determined to take advantage of the beauty of the fresh snow fall on Friday despite the uncommon frequency of precipitation this winter. I plan to share these photos in my next post. Stay warm!

New Jersey Weather Report

I see I’ve gone and broken my extra-photos-every-other-post rule already. Oh well - I can work through my photo archive on these next two posts.

First, a brief update on this February’s weather. After the snowy weekend we had on Feb. 6th, the biggest storm ever rolled over us on Wednesday the 10th. This storm was an honest to goodness all day snowfall, very like the all day drizzly rain we had over the summer. The weather report called it a Nor’easter and we lost power for one whole hour just at twilight.

Not far from my house, in Hillsborough, NJ, there is a paved trail through greenspace. It is part of bike trail, when not snow covered. During a lull in the storm, it was the perfect slog through the deep snow.


At this point (around 11am) we had about 12 to 18 inches fairly even across the ground. The wind hadn’t picked up yet, but it would later in the day, creating large drifts. Before retreating inside, I completed the obligatory heavy snowfall ritual of building a snowman. This guy turned out about 2 feet high because the snow began falling again, with some heavy wind thrown in, and I was ready for some hot chocolate.


Throughout my entire walk, I had seen tracks but no large wildlife. I was sure the dozens and dozens of deer that inhabit the backyards of Hillsborough were active somewhere the snow was still shallow, or bedded down someplace out of the wind. I did observe a plow crew trying to restart a broken down vehicle. These guys do a heck of a job, but this storm must have given them a ton of work to do.



The only wildlife I glimpsed in the flesh was the stray cat below. He or she seemed less excited about the snowfall than I was, hanging out under the overhang of a bay window.


I also had the pleasure of viewing a whole crowd of birds at the feeder during the storm. Here is a male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) with the snow falling around him.


When I ventured forth later in the week, I found my snowchild completely covered by the additional 24 inches of snow that fell on the 10th.


A high pressure system moved in immediately after the snow fall, preserving the heavy snow cover. Normally our snowfalls here in New Jersey do not reach 12 inches of accumulation and the snow melts away completely within a few days. This latest storm, however, amassed so much cover that it remains even today, over one week from the original snow fall. The view from the same greenspace trailhead below shows the beautiful blue sky of Sunday, Feb. 14th.


Despite several days of melting in the sun, the snow was still at 12 inches or more to stomp through along the trail. I trudged along, following the human footprints. It was easy to see the deer running wild throughout area by their numerous trails.



In many areas, I could now see that the snow had brought down many trees through sheer weight of accumulation. I noticed that almost all trees that suffered damage were evergreens. I wonder how this will effect the landscape next winter. This has not occurred in this part of New Jersey within anyone’s memory. We simply never see this much snow at one time.

While the walks through the snow were fun, I can’t help but look forward to the coming warm weather. I will strive to make good use of the coming cold, cloudy weeks to complete my examination of environmental philosophy and aesthetics. But I’d rather be outdoors, out on the trail.

Environmental Philosophy

There are many different ways of thinking about the environment. Organizing our thoughts into categories allows us to discuss them in group settings, or it may simply help us to define our views so that we may move beyond them to action. Thinking things through can assist us to make sense of complicated situations. At least that’s what I tell myself after I’ve spent time just thinking about things.

It comforting to me to know that I am not the only one who spends time thinking. Michael Picard thought a great many things over, and came up with a really great book: “This is not a book – Philosophical Games and Thought Experiments to Give Your Mind a Workout” (Quid Publishing, 2007). Despite the title, it really is 160 pages about philosophy and four of them are on ethics and ecology. Picard writes “the inconvenient moral truth is that we must learn to widen the circle of our moral concern, and let it encompass the whole earth (Picard, p. 66).” I have been reading about the environment for nearly two decades now. I can’t remember every philosophic view I ever come upon, but I was very impressed with Picard’s breakdown. It may not cover every possible philosophy, but it is a good start. When I come upon another resource, I will blog about it too.

To summarize, we have utilitarian, rights-based views, virtue-based ethics and the ethics of care. “Utilitarianism is the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its utility in providing happiness or pleasure as summed among all sentient beings (Wikipedia, 2010).” Applied to environmental issues, it states that it is acceptable for humans to make use of resources as they see fit. A non-anthropocentric utilitarian view states that is all living creatures should make use of the environmental resources as they see fit. “Rights dominate most modern understandings of what actions are proper and which institutions are just (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2007).” Do we owe moral respect (respect of intrinsic rights) to natural areas, animals, plants and landscapes? Or do only humans and human creations possess rights?

Virtue based ethics hold “…the cultivation of moral character and embodiment of virtues as the essential issues in ethics, rather than the establishment of rules based on duties (deontological ethics) or consequences (consequentialism) (New World Encyclopedia, 2008).” Is it possible to argue for environmental issues based on virtues? The main focus for the environmentalist here is the movement beyond human based virtue to encompass the entire planet in our ideals. The ethics of care is “…a theory about what makes actions right or wrong (Wikipedia, 2009),” with an emphasis on relationships. “Domination over women is conceptually linked to domination of nature (Picard, p.69),” and the ethics of care seeks to define what actions are or are not morally acceptable.

Each of the four categories above provides food for thought on the motivations of environmentalists, venture capitalists, politicians and society’s decisions on environmental issues. Our inner thoughts hold the key to how history has come to pass and how we may in turn affect the future. The love of Mother Earth can, and perhaps should, be based upon an analysis of our views on ethics. These ethical views are personal, but turn an inner eye towards the entire world.

Visual by www.PDImages.com

Citations:
Picard, Michael. This is not a book – Philosophical Games and Thought Experiments to Give Your Mind a Workout. Quid Publishing, 2007

Natural Philosophy

Good Morning! It’s a lovely, snowy Saturday morning here in New Jersey.

Not long ago, I was training to become an ecologist. My classmates and I studied the interaction of life in all its forms with the abiotic aspects of the planet. It was good time in my life, and I recall being more content and happy than I had ever been before, or have been since.

I was drawn to the field of ecology because of my beliefs about the natural world. I believe in a divine spirit that exists not far away, but right here with us on earth. It is said that the body of the Great Spirit is the earth and all that is upon it. We are a part of it. Plants, animals, water and rock are a part of it. We are all part and parcel of the same whole. All that we do effects it just as we in turn are affected by the consequences of our actions. Such things cannot be proven – I just have a feeling that it is so.

Learning about ecology helped me to gain knowledge of the connection between living things, between life and the non-living parts of their environment and what forces influences the abiotic environment. I also spent time thinking about the different ways one can think of and about the environment. I would love to give an overview of all such philosophies, but for this week’s post I will stick to my own view. I think that the majority of my beliefs can be said to fall into the category of a non- anthropocentric utilitarian view of nature. Utilitarian philosophy focuses on the benefit of whatever item you are thinking of. Anthropocentric means human-centered. When I write “non-anthropocentric utilitarian” I mean a place, a part of the natural environment or even the planet as a whole can have worth whether there are direct benefits to humans or not. This is in contrast to a utilitarian or “wise-use” view of nature, which places a priority on human use of resources.

I believe every environment is beneficial to something - from the desert to the bottom of the sea. Living things deserve a voice - they deserve consideration in deliberations which will affect their lives and the places they live. At the same time we need to find food, shelter, and sustainable sources of the myriad resources required to sustain the human population of the planet. This is where the environmental movement comes in. Whales cannot argue for a reduction in whale harvesting, so we have the “Save the Whales” campaign. Our children cannot attend the political gatherings that can influence whether or not a reliable supply of oil or natural gas will be available to them when they reach adulthood, so we have campaigns for sustainable energy.

Like any social or political trend, the environmental movement contains a wide variety of extremes. Some groups will argue for no equivocations, while others will embrace them. All share a desire to make the world a better place according to their particular views. I would also like to save the world in some big (or small) way. For the moment, I have shared my ideas on the subject. I hope you’ll join me again next week for some further thought on different environmental philosophies. Utilizing a few excerpts from a wonderful book entitled “This is not a book – Philosophical Games and Thought Experiments to Give Your Mind a Workout” by Michael Picard, I think I can work through them in my next post.

Stay warm!