Coons in the City

Step off Sarah Jessica Parker!

This is a fascinating piece on Raccoons in Urban areas.  It speaks directly to evolution, the adaptation to different experiences, which I think we can attribute to ourselves.  The most fascinating fact is that although baby raccoons, and animals in general, are so cute to watch play, their play is fundamental for testing out their ability before they venture into the world on their own.  This is where they learn what works and what doesn't work.  Which further suggests once they have established these skills, play becomes unnecessary.

  Urban Raccoon by Barry Buhr

Which made me wonder.  Is this why our brains and beliefs loose their elasticity?  Could this explain why conservative people insist on chronic repetition,  and see deviation from this repetition, their beliefs, as a threat to their way of life?  Does having a family typically increase this desire for repetition?  Is this why people who live in urban areas seem to have a more expansive and accepting view of human differences?

                                             photograph by Laurie Peterson

It also suggests that the only way we can access that wonderment and intrigue we had when we were first experiencing the world, is by putting ourselves in new situations where we have no frame of reference and can accesses that dormant part of ourselves.  Could this explain the mid-life crisis?  Could it also explain why it often takes a life changing event for those who are firmly rooted in their perspectives to suddenly see everything differently?  I love this segment and the enormous amount of questions that arise from watching these furry little creatures hobble around.

Unfortunately I can't embed the video on this post.  So just click on the link below. 

Enjoy and I would love to know what you think!

http://video.pbs.org/video/2192070266

COME AND GET ME MONSANTO

                                          Photograph by Brian Fender

Although I have grown to enjoy the simplest of things in this, less active existence, I still want to grab the world by the shoulders and scream WAKE UP!  So I will be sure and start it off on a happy note.   Not!

Once we decimated a group of people who did not see themselves as superior to the wildlife around them, who took only what was necessary for their survival and lived in harmony with their surroundings, we have established ourselves as far superior to the natural world.  Or have we?

We spend so much time trying to differentiate ourselves from one another, by religious and political semantics, the color of our skin, socioeconomic status, the car we drive, the phone we have, how good a soccer player our kids are, and non of this is done in harmony with the environment around us.  In fact it has so distracted us, we largely think of the environment in terms of how to best accommodate our down time, whether with palm trees and beaches or mountains and ski slopes.

We like to think of ourselves as an evolved species, but Paris Hilton and The Kardashians exist people.  And, I mean, you can't get more natural than Paris Hilton and the Kardashians.  Everything that we are bombarded with, is about defeating nature.  Monsanto has created a cluster fuck with their patent on different strains of grains, they have destroyed the biodiversity of our food supply out of pure greed.  They have genetically modified seeds (the process by which they do this is so frightening I'm at a loss for words, which as most of you know is saying something) to be resistant to a chemical that kills other plants, crops that produce dormant seeds.  They are trying to out nature Mother Nature and very few, including our government, seem to care.  Yet we are allowing ourselves to be distracted by gay marriage and abortion rights on an overpopulated planet.  You want to know what is the biggest threat to the family take a look at your food supply and tell your preacher to start yelling about that from the pulpit.

But I know, we have come so far, so why question it?  I mean if you think you're looking a little too old they can cut off a piece of your ass and slap it on your face now.  That's real innovation!

This months post (there may be more, there may not) is about my favorite new word, can we all say it together...BIOMIMICRY and illustrates just how nature Trumps  us Superior Beings (and I'm not talking about the douche bag with the bad hair). 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n77BfxnVlyc