Chapter 4

The first quote from chapter 4 in the book Mountains of the Heart by Scott Weidensaul is “Watching, I tried to find the correct analogy for the shapes the spring created.”. I really felt connected to the book when the author wrote about the bubbling spring because one of my favorite places to go is a spring in Crystal River Florida. I agree with everything he says in this section about the spring, the way he talks about watching the sand that bubbles up from the spring and not knowing how to accurately describe the shapes it makes. I can stare at the bottom of the springs forever and just be mesmerized by the dancing sand above.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Three_sisters_springs_near_crystal_river_national_wildlife_refuge.jpg

The second quote that stood out to me was “We like the certainty of starting points and ending points, serving as bookends that bracket everything we touch, perhaps because our own lives are bracketed.” (Weidensaul). I completely disagree with this statement; I personally do not like to think about or look at the ending points in anything in life. When I look at a river I like to see the never ending flow and circulation it truly has. I feel that life has no defined brackets because life us uncertain just like it is uncertain where exactly one water molecule at the beginning of a river is going to end up, and at that the water molecule will never truly end permanently.

The third quote that stood out to me was “Spring peepers are the loudest of the seasons heralds (on a still night from my front porch I can hear the clamor from a pond nearly a mile and a half down the valley), but they are not the only singers, nor even the earliest.” (Weidensaul). This statement speaks to me because one of my favorite things to do at night is to sit outside and listen to all the different creatures. I can distinguish different sounds if I pay close attention but nothing is better than relaxing and listening to the harmony that happens when all of them combine into one beautiful song. I think that frogs like the spring peepers described in the book are one of the most unique creatures. It amazes me that some of the smallest creatures can make such a loud noise and that there are creatures that can make even louder noises.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green_Tree_Frog_(Litoria_caerulea).jpg

Weidensaul, S. (2016). Mountains of the Heart: A Natural History of the Appalachians. Golden: Fulcrum Publishing.

Chapter 1

The first quote that stood out to me in Mountains of the Heart by Scott Weidensaul was “Rocks are fundamental to the Appalachians, but unless you are a geologist or a weekend rock hound, you’re unlikely to spend much time thinking about them.”  This statement, in the book, stood out because here in Florida there’s grass, sand, and shell. We don’t have mountains with rocky cliffs, which also means we don’t have granite. I grew up in Massachusetts and we went camping all the time up in the White Mountains in a little town called North Conway, New Hampshire. We would stay along one of the best rivers the mountain had. The rivers there are nothing like Florida’s rivers.  There was much coarser sand and no shells on the edges of the river or under the water. It was all stones, stones of all different sizes. Some were so big we couldn’t lift them and others were perfect for skipping across the crystal clear water. The one thing they all had in common was there smooth surface and the layers you could see in them. This quote really invoked a personal response for me, the rocks are so different from Florida’s sharp shells.

The second quote that stood out to me has less of an emotional/personal effect and more of WOW factor to me.  “The rock underlying the pool-and the waterfall-is actually younger by 500 million years than the Gneiss above it.” (Weidensaul). This statement stood out to me because rarely do people really think about how old the earth is and I think it is truly amazing. To think about how long it took for the stone we have in our kitchens to form is also astonishing. Although it says that the rock under the pool is 500 million years younger than the gneiss, it is still amazingly old. To say that something is much younger but it is still a half of a billion years old it just mind blowing to me.

The third quote is more of a science related quote to me. “The story of the ice ages is the story of cycles within cycles.” (Weidensaul). This is a very interesting statement because it makes you think about how dynamic the earth really is. There are cycles that we don’t even think about that take place.

https://utahtransplant.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/trip-notes-part-3-northern-leg/

Weidensaul, S. (2016). Mountains of the Heart: A Natural History of the Appalachians. Golden: Fulcrum Publishing.

Chapter 11 : Ultima Thule

This chapter was all about the highest point of the Appalachian Mountains, specifically belle Isle which is near Labrador and newfoundland. The weather is rough with a frost not being unexpected at any point throughout the year.

http://www.aeno-items.nl/i/1fb645f289

There are three quotes throughout the chapter that really stood out to me. The first one was astonishing because the author had just finished talking about how there was near no information to be found when researching Belle Isle and now this quote pops up “One fellow mentioned a cave in the sea cliffs that the French fishermen, who had exclusive rights to the west coast of Newfoundland until the late 1800s, used as a morgue.”. This sentence amazed me not only for the statement that fishermen used a cave as a morgue but because the area and its inhabitants has been known about for such a long time that it amazes me that there was so little information on the area.

http://pinterest.com/pin/77898268526216861/

The second one was on page 266 when the author was talking about the few plants that do grow and how they all have a short amount of time to do so. “consequently spring, summer and fall crunch together like cars in a freeway pileup, and the resulting bloom is explosive and spectacular.”. this quote stood out to me because here in Florida plants grow all year round and that region they have one of the shortest growing seasons I have heard of which is June to September according to the author Scott Weidensaul. Due to the stunted season that plants have to grow everything blooms at the same time even if they were meant for different seasons. Fire weed and lilac for example: Fireweed is an Autumn flower and lilac is a spring flower. Yet both of these plants are blooming within feet and inches of each other. It’s amazing to think about how much adaptation it takes for a plant to be able to do that.

http://animaltheory.blogspot.com/2011/03/polar-bear.html

The third quote stood out to me because I did not know that poplar bears traveled down to Newfoundland and Belle Isle. “Polar bears are the supreme hunters of the Arctic ice pack, each winter a few follow the freezing ocean south to Belle Isle and Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula, hunting seals.”. although the it says that there are few that still travel that way the author tells us later that John Cabot states that the area was “crowded with white bears” in 1497. This was all very interesting to me because I have done some research on Labrador and Newfoundland due to my love of the breeds of dogs that have originated there. I also have done a lot of research of polar bears because I have a great love for them.

Weidensaul, S. (2016). Mountains of the Heart: A Natural History of the Appalachians. Golden: Fulcrum Publishing.

Triple Bottom Line

The Triple Bottom Line is a interesting concept to me which I have never heard of before. John Elkington had a desire in the 1900s to measure sustainability and his system was named the Triple Bottom Line. Since this system was created, organizations of all kinds have implemented the TBL. including but not limited to organizations in: arts, education, manufacturing, government, law firms, farming and agriculture. It is amazing to me how one system can be applied to so many different organizations to help improve sustainability.

When talking about how businesses use the TBL, a quote that really stood out to me was " reducing waste from packaging can also reduce costs" (Timothy F. Slaper, 2011). This quote stood out to me because it was a really good example of how businesses or large manufactures can actually benefit from caring about the environment.

http://greendeal.ca/manufacturers-work-to-reduce-packaging-on-the-shelf-and-behind-the-scenes

To me eating healthy and organic is very important so the quote "raising public awareness of the value of organic and biodynamic farming" stood out for me. I also like that in this section it is showing examples of how TBL  can be applied to any organization even education and arts.
In the section that talks about governments and states using TBL I found a quote that says "Policy-makers use these sustainability assessment frameworks to decide which actions they should or should not take to make society more sustainable" (Timothy F. Slaper, 2011).  States like Maryland and Vermont are already implementing the use of TBL.  I think we can learn from these states and broaden the use across the United Sates.

http://www.trendbusinessideas.com/organic-food-trends/

Cleveland, Ohio has been taking the initiative to really use the TBL. The mayor that put the 10 year plan into effect focuses on four main areas to make sustainable. I feel like this is a great way to implement sustainability because it breaks it down rather than just looking at everything as a whole. The quote below is an example of what stood out to me from this section.


"The city uses four key areas for measuring sustainability: the personal and social environment, the natural environment, the built environment (e.g., infrastructure and urban growth patterns) and the business environment" (Timothy F. Slaper, 2011).


http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/usstates/lgcolor/ohcolor.htm



Saper T. & Hall T. (2011). The Triple Bottom Line: What Is It and How Does It Work?  Indiana Business Review.