In this course, we had weekly textbook readings from the book, Regeneration Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation by Paul Hawken. While reading, we were assigned to record a thought, question, and experience (TQE) that related to the chapters topic. These assignments helped to guide our in-class discussions about the readings. Below are the TQEs I have completed throughout the semester.
The City:
Thought: People drive to the gym to walk on a treadmill, so making a walkable city would fulfill people’s wants to exercise which could also save them time within a day.
Question: Which option is better for reducing greenhouse gas emissions: having a rooftop garden or a solar panel roof?
Experience: Lime - electric scooters and bikes in Cincinnati. This service provides people with short transit options, increased mobility time, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Their mission is to reduce personal automobile use in the city while providing cleaner air for future generations. This topic was discussed in the chapter reading in the urban mobility section.
People:
Thought: I've always wanted to live and know the knowledge that indigenous peoples do. Their connection to nature is inspiring.
Question: How would our lives and society differ if we were taught the true history of the U.S. and how to live within nature? Would you prefer a natural way of living or do you prefer our technologically advanced society?
Experience: From the section Women and Food. I really connected to this section. Over the summer I interned at Turner Farm, and our team was all women. This was empowering, and I could see the switch in agricultural leaders. Also, during our CSA pickups most of them were women; moms would come in to pick up organic and locally grown food to feed their families healthy food. In my passion to become a regenerative woman farmer, I am contributing to the cultural shift that will benefit the environment and gender equality.
Land:
Thought: It seems like we destroy indigenous people’s culture, but then “rediscover” their practices and claim it as our own idea. This might be a power-move or pure ignorance.
Question: How has our gut biota changed since consuming conventionally grown food? Have you guys ever changed your diet and noticed anything different? How long will it take to change our agricultural system to regenerative?
Experience: In our backyard garden we created a compost to divert waste from the landfill and feed our garden. We also added worm casting to our soil. I remember when I was planting our crops seeing so many worms and it was really exciting because I knew if they were there our soil was going to be great for growing our vegetables. I also worked with biochar in the MAPA garden and conducted research to see how it affected plant growth in degraded urban soils.
Energy:
Thought: We are a society that has become so reliant on power, it’s hard to imagine what our days would look like without it. I think it’d be interesting to hear the stories of the people that dealt with the power outages discussed in the book.
Question: Do we have enough land to expand these sustainable concepts (regenerative agriculture, solar farms, and wind farms) while providing housing for our growing population?
Experience: For the first time, last semester I saw a wind farm in person. They are HUGE! It was in Indiana next to a highway and the car was shaking from the wind! I didn’t see any cattle or the land being used underneath the windmills, how can we utilize the land under them?
Industry:
Thought: I have to change my banking system to the environmentally conscious investing ones, I didn’t know they existed.
Question: Do you think the world will choose to come together to fight the climate crisis or continue down this polarized path? How long do you think we can live if we continue with our degrading practices?
Experience: I experienced the political industry while I voted for the first time for the presidential election. I am not a fan of either Joe Biden or Donald Trump; I aligned more with a 3rd party. While I was talking to my friend she said if I voted for him it would’ve been a wasted vote. I got so frustrated because I felt played. It’s like the government has this voting system to make you feel that you are contributing to the way things work, but in reality they don’t care about what you want. We should really implement a ranked-choice system. I hate the polarization of our current politics.
Food:
Thought: I have never thought that much about insects until this year when we discussed it in my native plants course. It’s crazy to think that all the classes I have been in have never focused on insects even though we could not live without them. Even when we would talk about the negative effects of pesticides we never touched on how declining insect populations affected our ecosystems, besides pollinators.
The last chapter discussed how bad meat is for the environment, but they did not discuss regenerative meat. I don’t think it is fair or proactive to send out the message to not eat meat when you don’t discuss how pasture raised beef can heal an ecosystem. We do need to decrease our meat consumption as a society but we cannot completely get rid of meat because certain ecosystems only thrive when large ruminant animals are present.
Question: What are your feelings towards insects? When was the last time you saw a dragonfly? Did you ever grow your own food? Do you have any sustainable eating tips that you practice?
Experience: I understand the need to change our taste buds to improve the environment. I certainly need to change my own because I don’t even like veggies and I want to be a vegetable farmer! When I worked at Turner Farm we had a CSA program and we served at Findlay Market which created a local food system. There are lots of local organic farms in this area that provide CSAs. I really like Dark Wood Farm which provides their organically grown vegetables as well as local breads and eggs from other farmers nearby.
Oceans:
Thought: It’s crazy to me how fast we can destroy nature. Once it’s depleted, it takes many years for it to be restored. If we just thought long term about our actions, instead of searching for instant gratification, maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess.
Nature always has a solution! We need to focus on working with nature and observing its connectivity to solve the problems within the environment. I loved the ecology in this section; the way they talked about how all the species worked together like puzzle pieces brings me so much joy and peace.
Question: Do you think we have enough funding, man power, and political backing to work on all the aspects of environmental regeneration (agriculture, wetlands, oceans, etc.)? If not, which sections should we focus our attention on? Have any of you been to the ocean? If so, where and what was your experience like?
Experience: During winter break I went down to Florida. My boyfriend and I kayaked in a protected mangrove park. It was glorious! We saw so much wildlife including a mama manatee and her pup, many lizards, and an alligator. Knowing how beautiful mangroves are as well as their benefits to the planet, really sparks my interest in protecting these areas. If every person within the government went out and experienced the beauty of the natural world, I wonder if more action would be put in place to protect the environment.
Wilding:
Thought: I love ecology. It’s so fascinating to me how everything works together. I wish we had more classes where we could go outside and observe the natural environment. Especially in ecology classes. Mine was mostly lectures, but if we went out into the woods and learned by observation, I bet more people would have been more engaged and compelled to protect nature. Reading about all the species declining brings on a lot of different emotions. Anger that it seems like no one cares, sadness that we are destroying the environment, and numbness in an attempt to protect myself from feeling too down. It’s very frustrating knowing that some people are choosing to be ignorant about these declines.
Question: Why is it still legal to hunt the turtle dove? Do you think we should protect the endangered species or the environment it depends on? What will it take to get the government more involved in protecting the environment? Were mental illnesses as prominent as they are today when we were living off the land?
Experience: Alderspring Ranch is an organization that is restoring 70 acres of Idaho land through regenerative grazing. They travel and sleep with their cattle throughout the summer, practicing pastoralism. This is something that I want to implement in the future; I find this way of living so fascinating. While working on Turner Farm, we implemented rotational grazing. In this way we were healing our land and storing carbon while providing a profit through beef and lamb meat.
Forests:
Thought: It’s mind boggling how much we have destroyed the environment. I hope with our increasing knowledge and accessibility to regenerate, we will change the trajectory of our planet. I wonder what it’s like to have generational knowledge. I wasn’t passed down any ecological knowledge from my parents or grandparents. I yearn to have a connection to the land as the indigenous peoples do. I loved Suzanne Simard’s speech! I think correlating nature to our human experiences allows us to connect with nature more.
Question: Do trees that are planted in concrete squares along a city's sidewalk sequester the same amount of carbon as a tree the same age in a forest? What type of fungi is needed for legumes to fix nitrogen? Is it already present in most soils?
Experience: My experience with trees has two sides. At my house, we cut down the black walnuts in our backyard to make room for a garden. In this way, did we contribute more to climate change? The other side is that I feel most at peace in the woods. I love laying down in the leaves looking up at the tree canopy. In the woods, there’s feelings of awe, connection, and fascination.