Tia Stajkowski's Blog

The Ritual of Music Tia Stajkowski The other day we were talking about the connection between nature and music and how often people don't associate them with each other. I really enjoyed the conversation we had, but I had an afterthought that we did not discuss in class. All of these different forms of art such as music, dance, and drawing somehow arise in every human culture that has ever existed. Now all of these art forms may look or sound very different from each other, but for some reason, it seems like a natural human phenomenon to create art as a means of communication and/or tradition. It makes me wonder if this urge for these artistic rituals are human instincts, and it's not like humans would be the only species to have instincts like these. For example, birds communicate with each other through a series of songlike phrases, and listening to them, especially now in the springtime, is undoubtedly a musical experience. There are also certain species of birds that do cou...

Regenerative Agriculture: Part 2 Tia Stajkowski All of these problems pose a serious threat to global food security, but regenerative agriculture is a solution that addresses all of these issues. To solve the problem of tilling, we should stop tilling. The equipment to make this switch already exists; instead of turning the carbon out of the soil, no-till combines sow seeds while keeping the carbon in the ground. Carbon is the foundation of life, not only in us and the food we eat, but in the microorganisms that live in the soil and create a nutrient rich environment. Soil can sequester almost 4 times the amount of carbon as the atmosphere and all land plants combined thus working to combat climate change while promoting global food security.  At the 2015 Paris Climate Summit, French scientists proposed a solution that would reverse climate change and feed the world. In order to accomplish these goals, the 36 signing countries are aiming to increase carbon content of the soil by 0....

Regenerative Agriculture: Part 1 Tia Stajkowski After my last blog post, it got me thinking about regenerative practices, and I want to share some of my thoughts and knowledge on regenerative agriculture. If you can't already tell, I have a probably unhealthy obsession with soil, but I love talking about the relationship humans have with the earth and especially with the food we grow. I know I am going to have a lot to say about this, so I want to cut it into two parts; part one will consist of the problems with our current agricultural system, and part two will offer new regenerative ideas. The truth is, many scientists believe that we may only have 60 harvests left, as in 60 years from now could be our last time planting crops. In 60 years, we could take our last trip to the grocery store, eat our last meal, and forget the feeling of a full stomach. 60 years from now there will be no soil left to plant our crops in if nothing changes and we continue on our current trajectory. The...

Sustainability vs. Regeneration Tia Stajkowski I want to take a moment to reflect on an idea that was brought up in one of the presentations this past week. Somebody connected ideas from Aldo Leopold's book Sand County Almanac and his philosophy of land ethic to the term sustainability. When we were having the class discussion, I was getting the impression that most of the people in the room believed that land ethic and sustainability were one in the same, and I do not believe this to be true. Sustainability literally means "to sustain", and this can be taken in two different directions: to sustain what we are now doing, or to sustain what we already have. The modern use of "sustainability" in environmentalism refers to the latter. Clearly we want to stop the practices that are causing harm to the earth, but in my opinion, that is not enough. Land ethic is the moral duty to give back to our land and to regenerate the life that was once there. To give a concrete ...

Consumerism and Creation Tia Stajkowski I want to start off by saying that From Nature to Creation  by Norman Wirzba is one of the most interesting and impactful books that I have had to read for a class. I could tell it was going to be good just after reading the introduction. However, I wanted to discuss some things from the first two chapters. Something that has dawned on me over the last few years is that humans, especially Americans, commodify nearly every aspect of life. Consumerism has become such an important part of how we present ourselves to the rest of society. The car you drive, the house you live in, the clothes you wear, the makeup you buy, we are told that all of it matters... but why? To reference the wasp story from class, I feel like the loop that humans get stuck in is the consumerist cycle. We learn to desire items, so we work for at least 8 hours a day to pay for them. But we come home exhausted from work and consume more media based advertisements saying "bu...