Jumping into Ecology

May 8, 2012

"A human being is part of the whole, called by us "Universe," a part limited in time and space.  He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.  This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.  Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole [of] nature in its beauty."
 ~Albert Einstein, 1950

I couldn't agree more with ol' Albey. It's the reason I decided I wanted to be an ecologist - to view the world not just from a human perspective, or even my perspective for the matter. All too often we only think of ourselves - we think of everything we've ever experienced in life, and for most of us, it was quite the privileged upbringing. We were confined to this anthropomorphic point of view, and anything we encounter we tend to compare to ourselves.

We never saw "nature" as nature. We would see birds and animals, and occasional watch the discovery channel. We love pandas, lions, elephants. But we fail to see the world as it truly is - a place of great biodiversity with strange looking, and not-so-strange looking creatures. A world where there is great wonder, teeming with life, and a world with great ferociousness, competition, and death. And our lack of understanding of this world is without excuse - it is all around is. We live among it. All we must do is explore and question. When we fail to do so, it is not without consequence.

Such consequences were brought to my attention as a senior in high school, while taking AP environmental science. I read a book titled, "Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice" by Dr.Mark Plotkin, and this book CHANGED MY LIFE. It told the stories of Dr.Mark Plotkin from his humble beginnings as a janitor for Harvard University, to a great ethnobotanist. As an ethnobotanist, he believed the knowledge of the indigenous peoples of the rainforest held knowledge valuable to the field of medicine. And such indigenous people understood their environment. They were untainted by modern ways of life, deep in the forest where they learned from mouth about the different plants and animals that they were surrounded by. The book also discusses the struggle of the people losing their way of life due to interference from modern technology and ideas.


Such a book opened my eyes to the importance of understanding the world around us - and the impact it has, and can have, in our lives. So I decided that that is what I wanted to study. I applied as an Environmental Science major at Rutgers University, and soon realized that chemistry and math were not my forte. I changed my major to Ecology and Evolution, which is more biologically oriented. And I will never regret it. The classes here at Rutgers are AMAZING - I've had some extraordinary professors and interesting classes that I never would have been able to experience had I not come to Rutgers. Some of such classes include Social Evolution taught by the great Robert Trivers, Parasite Ecology taught by the editor in chief of Journal of Parasitology, the great Michael Sukhdeo, & Human Ecology by the epic-ly bearded George Clark, and many many more. The classes and the names go on and on and on.


And as amazing as my journey so far here at Rutgers has been, I am delighted to take my journey abroad, to be taught by German Professors the field of limnology. I am always willing to expand my knowledge of different ecosystems, and am honored to be able to do so at the University of Konstanz. So - there ends my rant about life and what I like. The next time I post - it will be right before my departure. I can't wait to share my experience with all of you! Thanks for reading! ( I know this one is long!)


- Emily