Book Review: Lawn People: How Grasses, Weeds, and Chemicals Make Us Who We Are Tiffany Tong December 10, 2008 The author, Paul Robbins, starts the book off with a strange observation about himself when he moved into a new home with a lawn: “I was becoming a … ‘lawn person.’” (Robbins 2007, xii) The rising population of a lawn person, someone whose life is influenced or dictated by the lawn, is arguably a very American middle class phenomenon (Thompson 2008). […]
Tiffany Tong October 16th, 2008 Film Review Blue Gold: World Water Wars Water is essential to life. There is no argument; water is a defining characteristic when we look for signs of life. Blue Gold: World Water Wars is directed by Sam Bozzo and based on the book “Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water.” The documentary sets off with the memoir of an explorer who survived seven days in the desert without water. […]
Is Worldwide Collapse Inevitable? By Tiffany Tong Current globalization and international trade practices, which are frequently unsustainable, will only prolong a worldwide collapse, as defined by Joseph Tainter, not prevent one. According to Tainter, a collapsed society is one that “displays a rapid, significant loss of an established level of sociopolitical complexity[1].” Sociopolitical complexity is the differences in power structures and levels of ruling class. The indicators of a loss of sociopolitical complexity are a decrease in social stratification, economic […]
Mongolian Grassland Degradation as an Environmental Issue Tiffany Tong October 5th, 2007 An environmental issue is defined as “a clash of interests in which someone causes or will cause a harm or perceived harm on someone else’s interest by way of the natural environment1.” The principle theme of the Mongolian grassland degradation problem has all the main components of an environmental issue: conflicting lifestyles and harm caused to all the inhabitants of the grasslands. The clash of interests occurs between […]
