New week, New Class

We finished our 2nd class of the semester, Hydrology, with Professor Ellen Douglas, where we learned about the movement of water in the atmosphere, along with some helpful excel techniques and equations. This week we are starting our next class, Marine and Coastal Ecological Research, with Professor Beth Boyle. We will be researching the adaptations and interactions of organisms of the beaches, salt marshes, sand dunes and embayments of Nantucket.  I am very much excited to spend most of our time on the field, learning about the marine ecosystems Nantucket has to offer, and to use this information in the development of my capstone and independent project. I want to personally thank all the guest speakers that came to our Hydrology class, as well as to our Professor Ellen Douglas.

Groundwater Tour

Its now 5 weeks into the program and I cannot believe how fast time is passing by. These 5 weeks have been very eventful, from educational field trips to dealing with the intense blizzards/snow storms. This past week, as part of our Hydrology class, we were able to go on a tour with Emily McKinnon of the Nantucket Land Council. She lead us around the island to take monthly water level measurements. Then in class we used Darcy’s law (which is an equation that describes the flow of a liquid through a porous material) to find out Nantucket’s groundwater flux, seepage velocity and travel time. With that information we also created a contour map of Nantucket groundwater. It was an amazing learning experience, and I would like to give an special thanks to Emily Mckinnon for the tour.

 

What eco-poetics taught me

 

 

Obligatory Evolution

 

When changes are made

To the nature of a place

Weather’s high temperature

become the climate change

Affecting the landscape of the earth

 

All this changes made us happen

Some species survive it

Others don’t

Dinosaurs no longer exist

Humans appear

It is part of the natural cycle of Evolution

We say,

Overtaking environments

We are,

Expecting animals to accommodate

to our strange habits

Shouldn’t we be considered

Invasive species?

 

This poem summarizes the essence of Eco-poetics, which is poetry that embraces the environment. Taking this course was an amazing experience. I am very thankful to our instructor Len, and cannot wait for the rest of the semester.