nitrogen rules the world (no but seriously)

past 2 days have been pretty grand, much better now that im more used to the ebb and flow of the tide here at Cary. we had some pretty wonderful lectures about primary and secondary productivity (producers and consumers) and just had a great lecture on the nitrogen cycle, which seems a perfect place for me in terms of thinking about human affects on ecosystems and how that affects our health. humans more or less double the natural release of nitrogen through fossil fuel burning and agriculture fertilizers. not only that, but the release of nitrogen into the air poses air pollution problems, and the runoff of nitrogen in these terrestrial zones goes into the water, causing eutrification. many forests and riparian zones like marshes or wetlands act as buffers for this nitrogen runoff, so the preservation of these areas is actually very vital to our health. once the nitrogen release gets into water supply, it can have polluting effects on the drinking water, but also affects biodiversity rates, and thus, fish and other edible and vital organisms in the ecosystem, well, die. so, in an ecosystem approach to health, preserving wetlands and buffer zones helps to give us a steady aquatic food supply and filter our water supply. theres much more where that came from, but as you can see, im very excited about it all. it gets even more interesting once you get into urban ecology and how this process and preventative measure can be carried out in urban zones, which are rapidly increasing throughout the world. i forget what the statistic is, but its the majority of the world's population in something like 10-20 years. important stuff to think about, so thats what im trying to look into internships about.

but i did manage to put together a semi-resume last night, or at least lay out a bunch of points and traits blah blah blah. i guess i look pretty decent on paper so far. needless to say this course and brazil research helps a lot in the skills and experience department. not an internship per-say. but even here with Cary our workshop is going to put together a draft op-ed piece on a topic we are interested in, which i need to work on this weekend. maybe i should just write it about nitrogen? i need to get back to bard and talk to some professors about this, or, how to map out a good course of study for the senior year. right now i have one class slot free seeing as this writing professor never got back to me, and although i liked the idea of getting 1/3 of my remaining distribution reqs out of the way, it also feels appealing to take Introduction to Human Physiology or Biology on Non-Infectious Disease. maybe i'll just do non-infectious disease, because it covers basic human anatomy as well, and i think will talk about environmental pollutants. i could use more health classes on my resume anyway. but then theres the conundrum of taking 2 intense biology courses, and a 300 level anthropology seminar, and a 300 level 2 credit GIS class, and my 100 level history class that will still be a lot of work...all at the same time. i can handle 18 credits sure...but...2 biology might kill me. but i cant drop ecology & evolution, oh no. ill talk to my professors. maybe they can help. itll be great, and all work out.

but yes, nitrogen cycle. very interesting. just thought i would share. and in a pretty good mood. feeling capable and stuff. im so excited to get back to bard and get into all of this stuff again. read biology, anthropology, history, philosophy. sometimes i wonder about my education and wish i knew a little bit more about...for example...resource conflicts. one of my friends from SIT has all these classes at their school where you take an issue, lets say diamond conflict or oil conflicts, you learn about the geology/biology etc formation of the resource, how it comes into existence, its biological/physical/chemical properties, and how that in turn influences social structure, social decisions, etc etc. like, a class on the carribean about its geological formation and ecosystems and how that then in turn helps to influence culture? a little environmentally deterministic sure, but its still very interesting to think about the cause. at bard i have learned a lot about effect and to target that as my subject, but i think the cause is equally important to look and and learn about. after all, thats why i am so interested in ecology to the field of public health. because its the fundamental basis of what all of our life is structured upon. without the cycling of breathable air or drinkable water or the formation and regeneration of natural resources, we wouldn't exist in the first place.

SO MUCH COOL SHTUFF.