Read 'n' Seed 5: Forth Quarter and Final Review!

To the left: Laird Hamilton

Since I forgot last week to post, I basically am going to talk about pages 149-312 (aka the last half of the book). A great deal of what was covered in the past part of the book was based on surfing. I've never been surfing nor have I ever even meet one so this was all new to me. According to the book, surfs have strong bonds to one another, sort of like brothers. This is due in part because they share the same passion, and it's very dangerous and not very many people can relate. In the last part of the book, one of the surfers that the researchers have surrounded themselves with risks his life on a rouge wave, and almost dies. The book also speaks a lot about a man named Laird Hamilton. Apparently Laird is one of the best surfers in the world, and become an intricate part of the book. The final chapter, the narrator follows Laird through surfing a huge wave. It was pretty cool to be able to hear about what's going on from his perspective and feel like your doing it!

I can't say that I've learned a lot about the environment in the last chunk of my book, but I can say I've learned tons about surfing, good beaches and famous surfers than I ever thought I would know! I think surfing is understated, especially where we live. Although it's incredibly dangerous and you wont catch me on a surf board, these are the people who know the ocean. Maybe they don't have a marine biology degree, but they know more than most researchers about the subject because they see it everyday.

I think that this book was fantastic, I would recommend it for a good read simply because it was not only entertaining but also had good information. I've learned 1) The ocean is really changing because of global warming. 2) Waves are now easily reaching 75 feet because of this problem and 3) Surfers are crazy for trying to surf them! I totally have a different stance on why this is important because my fiance is in the Navy and as soon as I graduate I will be living on the ocean for the rest of my life. I think that it's scary that were sending sailors and anyone else on a boat that's only made to withstand 50 foot waves yet they're reaching over 100 feet on open seas. Also, with the ocean changing you never know what's going to happen to the land that it touches. Hurricanes are quickly becoming more prevalent due to global warming, and considering a lot of our U.S. cities are located near the ocean that will cause problems.

Overall, great book. Loved it.

Read 'n' Seed: S Quarter of The Wave

The globe began with sea so to speak; and who knows if it will not end with it?
~Jules Verne 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

So far I feel like I've covered a ton of pages. I read from page 85 to page 148. This time around I covered 4 chapters.

There's been so many things happening, it's hard to say just one thing. They've been doing research on Tsunamis and how global warming has effected that, they've been traveling around Hawaii and many other islands to try to gather support. The people that they want the most support are from surfers, they know the most about waves and how to find them. Along with all this they've been just generally investigating how these huge waves have developed. Most of the book so far I feel like has just been personal accounts on these trips. The book talks a lot about how these researchers are feeling about all of it and just the everyday adventures that they find.

In one part of the book they are sitting down with a scientist from NOAA- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He basically verifies all of their findings. I think that it was a very pivotal point, because they've kind of been on their own in all of this and now they're finally getting support. What the guy says in a nutshell is that he's been monitoring the ocean after Katrina and he feels that that's just the tip of the iceberg as far as the devastation that we will start to see in the next few year because of the effects of global warming.

I think that this has a lot of implications for us as Americans, especially considering that we are tri-coastal. In the book they say that we should expect to see a great increase in tsunamis and hurricanes which will do millions of dollars worth of damage, not to mention all of the lives that will be put in danger. Global warming is the issue, but I'm not sure what to do about it, besides all of the little solutions we've already discussed.

Read 'n' Seed: First Quarter of The Wave

Hey Everyone!

As you know I choose to read the Wave by Susan Casey. So far I've read 5 chapters (85 pages) which turns about to be a little more than what I said I was going to read, but I can't put it down!

This story is told through a young female re searcher's eyes. She first talks a great deal about the history of what we thought of the ocean. Up until very recently it was believed that waves couldn't reach over about 50-60 feet high. This caused problems for ships being engineered to only withstand waves that tall. Ships have always just disappeared and it was credited to simply bad weather. Now they're finding that waves can easily reach over 100 feet tall in certain circumstances and have progressively become more and more common. So this young researcher is trying to find out why these waves are more and more common. What she and the scientists in her field are finding is that it may be due to the change in the global climate. This book is basically a story book. You get to hear about all of her adventures out at sea and the people that she has meet that play important roles to the over all findings that she's collecting, as well as history of the ocean and the boats it's collected at the bottom.

I've learned a lot so far. The book quotes a lot of published research. For example, the book quoted IPCC -Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on a study done in 2007. The study concluded that "the ocean has been absorbing 80% of the heat added to the climate system". What that means for us is that the ocean heats up, wind velocity increases, storms become more devastating, ice caps melt and sea volume rises. In 2009 researcher found that this change in climate would cause the sea levels to rise 39 inches by 2100 displacing over 600 million people...completely submerging Florida. So I've just been learning a lot about ocean history and global warming effects on ocean.

I think that this effects society greatly. In less than 100 years were going to be facing serious issues do to this change. We need to think that that's going to be our children and grandchildren facing what we've done to the earth. I think that we should definitely be concerned seeing as though the US has a great deal of coastal regions. I think that it's scary to think that FL,HI, and CA might be completely swallowed up by the ocean if we don't find a way to fix this. I think that we need to make major changes to take care of our ozone layer but I don't know the full solution to global warming yet.

Read 'n' Seed: The Wave : In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean

Hi there everyone!

For my Read 'n' Seed book I chose The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean. The book is by Susan Casey.

Do you remember the movie Twister? Well basically the plot of this book seems to be about the same sort of thing. Its about a group of scientists and wave fanatic surfers who are traveling around the world to find the most monster waves possible. As they are traveling they are collecting data to discover possible causes for ship wrecks!

For those of you who don't know me, I am engaged! :) My fiance is currently in the process of becoming a Navel Officer. With that being said, I have a special place in my heart for the ocean and everything that goes along with that. Bisides this, I've just always been enamored by the ocean. Coming from a small town in Wisconsin, the ocean has always been something that I would love to know more about because only on rare occasion do I get to even see it!

Links:

1. Barns and Noble
2. NY Times
3. Author's Website

From what I know about the book with out it being delivered it is 352. So with that being said, I will be trying to divide the book into exact quarters, meaning for each quarter I plan on reading 88 pages!

Happy readings!

Welcome to Lovin' Nature With Brier!

Hey Everyone! My name is Brier, and I'm a senior majoring in Community Health Education with a minor in psychology. I will be graduating in the Fall of 2011, and I am very excited about it! This blog is all about nature, and my environmental class.

There are 6 possible posts on my blog. They include:

1. Advocacy Project
2. Eye Openers
3. Reflections
4. Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change
5. Read 'n' Seed
6. Share and Voice

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The members of my web group are:

1. Kristy@Kristys Fun In the Sun Spot
2. Jamie@ Jamie Says Jump
3. Elly@Elly Dreams Green
4. Lauren@Laurens Pouring Rain
5. Mary@Blue Skies For Mary
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So, with all that being said, I really hope you enjoy my blog as much as I have creating it! For me, this blog is seen as a learning tool, and I hope that you can use it the very same way. Thank you for reading!!! :)

~Brier