What the world needs in 5 words or less?

The world needs less violence. 

Communism | Chapter 21

Having grown up in the 80's and 90's, I saw some of the larger and more visible communist nations dissolve right in front of me. I don't believe I understood the gravity of the events until much later in life. 

Whether you agree with them or not, Socialist and Communist ideas are revolutionary. When society feels undervalued and cheated, radical ideas can become mainstream. In these turbulent times, it's interesting to ponder whether Communism could come back. 

Here is a link that discusses that very possibility in Russia: 

http://www.vox.com/2016/3/8/11179332/russia-communist-party

California Redwood Trees | Answer to Global Warning?

Are California redwood trees the answer to global warming?

California's ancient redwood forests aren't just majestic and among the oldest living things on Earth -- a new study finds they are a particularly potent weapon against global warming.

The towering trees remove and store more carbon from the atmosphere per acre than any other forests on the planet, including tropical rain forests, researchers found in a discovery that could influence everything from logging rules to how parks are preserved as the state grapples with climate change.

"The story of the carbon is huge," said Robert Van Pelt, a scientist at Humboldt State University who helped lead the research. "The carbon part of a redwood may be more important than the lumber part in the coming decades."

File photo: Redwood trees in San Mateo County. (Kirstina Sangsahachart/Bay Area News Group archives)

Scientists have long known that redwood trees, because they can live more than 1,000 years and grow to immense heights, are able to capture significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They do it with photosynthesis, the natural process in which plants use energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water to sugars that help them grow, while also releasing oxygen.

But a team of researchers from Humboldt State and the University of Washington painstakingly set out to measure exactly how much carbon the massive trees, some of which tower more than 300 feet high and were growing during the Roman Empire, are sucking out of the atmosphere.

Starting in 2009, the team, working with researchers from UC Berkeley and Save the Redwoods League, chose 11 forested areas between Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park near the Oregon border, and UC's Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve in Big Sur, about 500 miles away.

Forests in the northern part of Jedediah Smith Redwoods park stored 2,600 metric tons of carbon per hectare, an area of about 2.5 acres, the study found. That's more than twice the 1,000 metric tons estimated for ancient conifer forests in the Pacific Northwest and the towering eucalyptus forests in Australia and Tasmania.

The story of how researchers did the math is as complex as it is exhausting. In each area studied, they set up a scientific station and documented every tree of more than 2 inches in diameter. They counted and measured every leaf, branch, shrub and log in all 11 plots.

"We finally got the numbers," said Van Pelt. "No one has ever gotten them before. It took an army of people seven years to get all that. It was very satisfying."

The researchers didn't count every leaf by hand. Instead, they drew up 180 formulas for various species of trees and shrubs. They measured the height and diameter of each, plugged in the formula and figured out how many leaves each had. They also hand-counted some trees to verify the accuracy of their methods.

Then they took samples of leaves, bark and wood and placed them in an elemental analyzer at UC Berkeley's Center for Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry, a machine that can measure in detail what percent of a substance is made up of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous and other elements. After that, they did the math, and were amazed by the results.The Jedediah Smith forest also set a world record for most biomass -- the combination of all leaves, bark and wood -- with 5,190 metric tons per hectare.

There are six species of trees in the world that can grow more than 300 feet tall: redwood, giant sequoia, Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, Australia's mountain ash and the Tasmanian blue gum.

But of those, redwoods are best at storing carbon, the researchers said, because they live longer than most other trees. Their wood is virtually fireproof. They can survive winds that break their tops off. And roughly two-thirds of all the carbon is stored in their heartwood, which lasts hundreds of years even after the trees die, and doesn't quickly rot away like wood from tropical areas and other forests.

As climate change continues to warm the Earth, trees are becoming a valuable asset in reducing its impacts, experts say. The 10 hottest years globally since 1880 when modern records began have all occurred since 1998, with 2015 the hottest. Humans burning coal, gasoline and other fossil fuels have sent carbon dioxide concentrations worldwide to the highest in at least 400,000 years, according to NASA, and that carbon traps heat in the atmosphere.

In the future, California could help reduce carbon by preserving more old-growth redwood, even in small patches, by encouraging timber companies to thin younger redwoods from their forests, and perhaps even cutting down non-native trees or trees competing with redwoods for light and water in state parks, said Emily Burns, science director for Save the Redwoods League. A project to do that with Douglas firs planted years ago by a timber company has been underway for several years in Del Norte Redwoods State Park."With so much concern about elevating levels of carbon dioxide, this study shows these trees have never been more valuable," Burns said.

Other projects are afoot. Since 1993, the Pacific Forest Trust, a San Francisco nonprofit group, has conserved roughly 250,000 acres of forests. The group has logged in some, but done so at a lower rate than the trees are naturally growing back, and in ways that encourage the growth of larger trees, the recovery of endangered species and more water production, said its president, Laurie Wayburn.

"You can harvest trees in a way that promotes forest health and brings money to landowners," she said.

Paul Rogers covers resources and environmental issues. Contact him at 408-920-5045. Follow him at Twitter.com/PaulRogersSJMN.

World War Images

The conflict of the early 20th century is a reminder of the strength and fragility of the human spirit. Throughout the reading I am reminded that life is struggle. We struggle to live, we struggle for success, power, money. And as humans, we struggle to agree on how best to move our species forward. 

Tug-of-World War I

World War II with words:

Interesting maps showing World War I:
http://www.laboiteverte.fr/cartes-satiriques-a-travers-lhistoire/

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/euro-hist/world-war-i-tutorial/v/alliances-leading-to-world-war-i

Revolution | Part of the Human Spirit

In our Western-leaning society, we often hear about the American & French Revolutions. They are often taught with a positive tone, and describe people fighting for their rights and defeating the status quo and rising up against inequality. This time, it was interesting to read about the Revolutions of Haiti & Spanish-America. Looking at revolutions in totality it is a reminder of the human spirit. While many of us appreciate the necessity of laws and taxes, there is a tipping point for all of us. Oppression and exploitation will only last for so long. Regimes that enact these same policies on their people should look back in history and realize that these types of behaviors will not be tolerated for long. 

It was interesting to research the revolutions and rebellions that have happened over time. Wikipedia listed several hundred over the millennia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_revolutions_and_rebellions

It's a reminder that our destinies are not set and that action can be taken when things need to change.

Portrait | Ayuba Suleiman Diallo

In Chapter 14, I was enthralled with the story of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo. This story highlights some of the interesting aspects of slavery that I don't think I've ever really reflected on. At first, I couldn't understand how a slave-trader, turned slave, would then have slaves after being freed. The only thing I came to understand is that we don't always know the circumstances that people must have gone through in the slave-trade. The best we can do is appreciate the struggles everyone went through and ensure that we do everything we can to prevent people from being exploited in the future.

It was also interesting to find out that this portrait was on display in London for 5 years and is now back at the Qatar Museum. I am hopeful that this portrait will allow others to reflect on slavery in a different way as I did. 
http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2011/ayuba-suleiman-diallo.php

Through the collection of fine and applied arts, objects document the meeting of diverse cultures. This topic resonates with audiences in Qatar, where different nationalities live side-by-side. Exhibitions will fuel conversations that take place far beyond the galleries.

European's Greatest Weapon: Biological Warfare

For a longtime, I have known that the Europeans were responsible for bringing disease to the Americas. What I did not know, was the staggering numbers associated with their arrival.

I never really thought of it as biological warfare until I read a section of the reading that quotes Governor Bradford of Plymouth colony. In regards to the massive dying of the native american indians he said it was "the hand of God at work, sweeping away great multitudes of the natives...that he might make room for us." [Ways of the World, Chapter 13, Pgs -623-624]

We often associate empires with their brut force and military power. In the case of the Americas, the Europeans were able to conquer through biological warfare. This definitely gave them the upper hand and played a large part in their takeover of the Americas.

I found a great timeline on http://www.kporterfield.com/aicttw/articles/disease.html. It provides a helpful chronological timeline of disease brought by the Europeans.

1493	Columbus lands for the second time on the island of Hispaniola bringing livestock in order to start a colony there. Influenza, probably from germs carried by the livestock, sweeps through the native people, killing many of them. Modern researchers believe that American Indian traders carried the disease to Florida and throughout the Caribbean.
1507–1519	Two waves of smallpox kill from a third to a half of the American Indians in what are now Cuba, Haiti (Hispaniola), and Puerto Rico. Canoe traders carry the disease to the Yucatan Peninsula of what is now Mexico, where it kills many Maya.
1519–1520	Smallpox reaches what is now Guatemala. An American Indian who survived, recorded: “Great was the stench of the dead. After our fathers and grand fathers succumbed, half of the people fled the fields. The dogs and the vultures devoured the bodies.”
1520	By now about three million Arawak people in the Caribbean have died from European diseases.
1520	Smallpox enters what is now Mexico at the port of Veracruz on the ship of Panfilo de Narvaez on April 23. It quickly spreads to Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. A citizen of Tenochtitlan later wrote: “A great many died from the plague, and many others died of hunger. They could not get up to search for food, and everyone else was too sick to care for them, so they starved to death in their beds.”
1521	Smallpox spreads south through Mesoamerica and South America.
1527–1530	Smallpox arrives in the Inca Empire. The ruler Huayna Capac dies from it. As many as 200,000 Inca people are killed by the disease.
1531–1533	A measles epidemic sweeps through Sonora, Mexico, south of what is now Arizona. It is believed to have spread northward.
1539	The Spanish explorer DeSoto travels through the Southeast. It is believed diseases spread by his party and the animals that they brought with them for food eventually killed about 75 percent of the American Indians in the Southeast.
1540	Coronado explores the Southwest. Diseased livestock that his company brings with them carry germs that transmit disease to American Indians.
1545–1548	An epidemic that is believed to have been pneumonic plague and bubonic plague (black death) or typhus covers Mesoamerica killing thousands of Indian people.
1555	The Portuguese bring the first smallpox germs to Brazil. Large numbers of Native people die.
1559	An influenza epidemic kills many Indian people in Mesoamerica and the Caribbean.
1560	Another wave or smallpox kills so many Native people in Brazil that the Portuguese can no longer rely on Indian slaves to cut sugar cane. They import slaves from Africa.
1566–1567	Two million South American Indians die from typhoid fever.
1576	Thyphoid fever kills thousands of American Indians in Mexico.
1585	English settlers on what is now Roanoke Island in Virginia spread diseases and many Indian people living nearby die.
1592–1596	The Seneca Indians in what is now central New York state suffer from an epidemic of measles.
1607	Half of the Timucuan people of what is now Florida have died from European diseases spread from the Caribbean.
1613	Missionaries report Bubonic plague kills half of the Christian Indian people in Florida.
1617-1619	A disease that is thought to be smallpox sweeps through what is now the Massachusettes Bay. Nine out of ten die. The disease is thought to have been brought by a fishing crew or the crew of Thomas Hunt’s slaving expedition in 1615. Because they are so few in number, the Indian people cannot stop the Mayflower from landing in 1620.
1619	By now 90 percent to 95 percent of the Mesoamerican Indians alive in 1519 have been killed by European diseases. The bubonic plague that began in Florida has spread to New England
1630	A small pox epidemic strikes the Huron of Ontario.
1630–1635	English settlers carry germs that set off another wave of smallpox and possibly that kill many of the remaining Indian people of what is by now called New England. Smallpox spreads westward to the tribes living near what are now the Great Lakes. Over 10,000 Huron die.
1634	Dutch traders introduce smallpox to what is now Connecticut. Ninety-five percent of the American Indians living along what is now the Connecticut River die. The epidemic moves north to what is now Canada.
1635–1640	Nearly half of the Huron people of what is now Canada die from European diseases brought by fur traders and missionaries.
1637	A disease believed to be scarlet fever kills new England Indians and spreads west to the Great Lakes region.
1647	Indians of the Northeast die from an influenza epidemic.
1649	A smallpox epidemic kills Indian people in New England.
1658	A measles epidemic kills New England Indians.
1662	More than a thousand Iroquois people die from smallpox in central New York state.
1669	Another wave of smallpox sweeps through New England and then the Great Lakes killing many Indian people.
1675	Another influenza epidemic kills many Indians of the Northeast.
1687	The Indian people of New England suffer a smallpox epidemic again.
1690	Malaria reaches the southeastern part of North America. Many Indians begin to die from it.
1692	Indians of the Northeast are hit by another measles epidemic.
1713–1715	A measles epidemic kills Indian people of New England and the Great Lakes.
1715–1721	A smallpox epidemic covers from what is now Texas to New England.
1717–1737	Malaria strikes the Miami people of what is now Illinois.
1729–1733	A smallpox epidemic stretches from what is now Texas to the Hudson Bay.
1735–1736	A diptheria epidemic kills New England Indians.
1738	Smallpox kills half of the Cherokee Indians of the Southeast.
1743	Russian fur traders spread diseases to the Aleut people of what is now southwestern Alaska. By 1800, 80 percent of the Aleut people will have died from these diseases.
1746	Typhoid fever spreads along the mouth of the St. Lawrence River killing many MicMac in Nova Scotia.
1750–1752	A wave of smallpox stretches from what is now Texas to the Great Lakes.
1753	The Cherokee suffer another smallpox epidemic.
1755–1756	Repeated epidemics of smalpox spread across the North American continent.
1761	Influenza spreads across the North American continent.
1768–1770	People of the Southwest begin dying from a measles epidemic.
1775–1783	A smallpox epidemic sweeps across the North American continent. It extends from Mexico to Canada.
1776–1778	Measles sweeps across North America from Texas to the Hudson Bay.
1777	A European respiratory illness, possibly influenza, kills many California Indians living in missions.
1780–1800	Measles and smallpox epidemics sweep across the Southern Plains, Texas and northern Mexico.
1781	The Blackfeet of what is now Montana experience an epidemic of smallpox.
1782–1783	Smallpox sweeps across the Plateau region.
1785-1787	A smallpox epidemic kills Indians of the Artic and subarctic in what are now Alaska and Canada.
1788	Pueblo people die from a smallpox epidemic.
1797	A smallpox epidemic strikes central Mexico.
1802	Smallpox kills two out of three Omaha Indians living in what is now Nebraska.Many Indians in California die during epidemics of pneumonia and diptheria.
1815–1816	Smallpox epidemics strike the Plains and Pueblo Indians
1829–1833	A disease that is believed to be either malaria or smallpox kills about 150,000 American Indians. The germs were carried by a ship that had traveled from Chile and docked in what is now Oregon.
1831–1834	Smallpox epidemics afflict Plains Indians and those living in the great Lakes.
1832–1835	At least half of the American Indian people living on the Lower Chinook river in the Northwest die from smallpox.
1837	American Indians living near what is now the Missouri River in what is now South Dakota begin dying from smallpox. From there the disease spreads to what are now North Dakota, Montana and Saskatchewan. The epidemic kills so many Mandan people that only 150 remain. Over 17,000 die.
1836–1840	Smallpox has spread from Alaska to the Southwest.
1840	Non-Indian whalers spread diseases, including diptheria, to the Inuit people of the eastern Arctic.
1843–1846	Smallpox affects the Aleut people of the Arctic and the Indians of the Southwest
1847	Measles strike the Cayuse Indians of the Pacific Northwest. Hundreds die from this disease believed to have been introduced by missionaries.
1848–1850	Smallpox epidemics strike Plains and Plateau Indians.
1849	Gold Rush miners infected with cholera spread it to Plains Indian people.
1854–1857	A major smallpox epidemic affects the Plains tribes.
1860–1867	A smallpox epidemic affects Indigenous people across the North American continent.
1869–1870	Smallpox strikes Northern Plains Indian people of Saskatchewan.
1876–1878	Another wave of smallpox kills Native people from St. Lawrence river to the Northwest coast.
1890	The Inuvialuit people of the Western Arctic began dying from European diseases brought by whalers. Over a ten year period nine out of ten people die and villages are abandoned.
1896—1899	Plains tribes, California tribes and Southwest tribes experience another smallpox epidemic.
1918–1919	Tens of thousands of American Indians die of Influenza in Arizona, New Mexico, and the Rocky Mountain states. Because the U.S. Government is focusing on the war effort, little is done to stop the epidemic among Indian people.

Pastoral Societies

Chapter 11 was interesting to read because it gave us a different perspective on how societies could be shaped and influenced. So much of the text so far has been focused on agrarian societies and their manipulation of the environment around them.

Despite their smaller size, pastoral societies were shaped and manipulated by the environment around them. Since they did not have the means to develop into an agricultural society, they had to use animals and animal by-products to excel their empire.

After reading the Chapter and learning more about the Mongol Empire (see link below), I have a different perspective on its impact and influence. I must admit that I was guilty in only hearing the "Western Civ" version. While they were sometimes brutal, so to were other civilizations of the time. The affect they had on China and Eastern Europe, forever changed the course of history.

http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=The_Mongol_Empire

Suppression of Women & Body Modification

A disturbing and recurring theme throughout these chapters has been the suppression of women throughout parts of human history. It seems that in all possible ways, women have been suppressed either mentally, physically or verbally.  

Veils
Foot binding

Neck elongation

It is interesting to contemplate why these types of practices started. As I continued reading on, there was a small story about eunuchs as well. While these are men that are castrated, I still thought it was interesting that humans would go to this degree of body modification for cultural or religious purposes. As our culture continues to evolve, I hope we are able to create environments where this type of body modification is completely by choice. 

Trade: Goods & Ideas on the Move

In the second wave of civilization, we focused on how agriculture settled humans and led to specialization and civilizations. As we move to the third wave of civilizations, we see how trade and the exchange of ideas began to intermingle different cultures. This was accomplished through different trade routes including the Silk Road, the Sand Route, and the Indian Ocean Sea Route. 

Not only did humans of this time exchange goods, but they also exchanged ideas, religion and even disease. We often think of modern globalization as a recent phenomena but we are reminded during this Chapter that the byproducts of trade have been occurring for millennia. The only difference is the rate of acceleration with how goods and ideas are exchanged. We can also make the comparison that land and see have been exchanged with air and digital technology. 

I also thought it was interesting to see how people have always been suspicious of trade. In Chapter 7, Strayer talked about how traders were seen as suspicious characters. There has and perhaps always will be an element of suspicion due to underlying competition. In our modern times, we see how trade has an inherent element of competition by focusing on who is getting the better deal. Donald Trump has talked about how previous trade deals have hurt certain groups in America and benefited other countries like China and Mexico.

Another thought I had while reviewing Chapter 7, was the symbiotic relationship between trade and transportation. I wondered which led which. Did new forms of transportation lead to trade or did trade drive the development of new transportation?

I thought it was interesting that the author left us with the thought that things are beginning to equalize through trade. It does make you wonder if we will be able to set aside our competitive need for power and resources and allow other countries to participate in sharing wealth. 
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