One of the writing prompts in the book I received for Christmas is: "If you had the resources and extra time to go back to school, what would you like to study?"
The most interesting aspect of the question is that it causes me to reflect on my own choice of Agricultural Economics and whether it was the correct one. The answer, for a whole list of reasons that I won't go into, is that it was probably the correct choice for me. My career looks nothing like I anticipated it would, but it was still the right choice. I believe I am right where God intended me to be.
Through the years, though, I have thought many times that I would prefer to be in a different field altogether. One of my favorite pastimes as a kid was hunting arrowheads. Out of that grew the thought of majoring in Archaeology. I can see myself as an Indiana Jones type, traipsing all over the world, having adventures, dodging poison-tipped arrows and raiding booby-trapped tombs, but that isn't what archaeology is; it is the science of delving into the past through the objects left behind. It requires lots of patience and probably more time in a laboratory or library than in the field excavating ancient ruins. It is also difficult to make a decent living doing it.
I also considered Forestry at one time. My first college searches were for institutions that had great forestry programs. It is actually one of the reasons I considered my Alma Mater of Texas A&M in the first place; they have a great school of Forestry. I also briefly considered Stephen F. Austin University, Oklahoma State and some little college in northern Michigan for the same reason. The trouble is that I didn't really know what being a forester meant. My mental image was of a Ranger in a National Park working with wildlife. A forester is all about growing and harvesting trees. Most of them work in private industry for companies like Weyerhauser.
What I really should have been considering was Wildlife Management or, Wildlife Biology. I think I would have enjoyed a career in either field. With the knowledge I now have, I think it is an area in which I would have excelled. At a former company where I worked a group of us were visiting one time and the subject came up of snakes. Someone mentioned a Cottonmouth but, none of them really knew what they looked like. I pulled up a photo on my phone that I had taken only a couple of weeks previously and showed it to them while describing its behavior and typical environment. My boss looked at me and said, "What are you, some kind of naturalist?" He was probably closer to the truth than he realized. I also had photos of other wildlife, their tracks and trails as well as of the areas where they lived -- all taken during one of my many treks into the woods on our property.
I enjoy hunting, but I'm not what most people would consider an avid hunter. I would rather watch the animals, study their behavior and figure out ways to attract rare or, endangered plants and wildlife to our property. I believe hunting is an important tool for managing wildlife, so I'm not what many in agriculture would consider an eco-nut, or a preservationist. I'm more of a conservationist. A conservationist recognizes that resources should be managed to benefit all -- the land, the environment and people. Deer are a great example. They are an excellent source of protein, they provide aesthetic value to the viewer, they help control vegetation and they co-exist well with domestic animals such as cattle. The recreational value of hunting them is an added benefit. We attempt to manage our land in a way that is attractive to deer and other wildlife.
What I find interesting is that I view wildlife management in economic terms. By economic terms, I'm not just referring to a dollar value, I am thinking of overall value which includes the various things listed in the previous paragraph in reference to deer. Value is measured by what we are willing to give in exchange for it. Economics is the study of the allocation of scarce resources. Wildlife Management and Economics fit hand-in-glove when you really think about it.
We need to look at ourselves as part of our environment rather than looking at our environment as an object outside ourselves from which we must extract a living. Maximum resource benefit, sustainability, these are things we should consider with each and every purchase or, consumer decision we make. Cattle have a tendency to defecate on their food. In their case, in a grassy pasture, it is a return of the organic matter to the soil from which it came. It is in a highly processed form that makes the nutrients readily available to be reincorporated back into the soil. Humans aren't in the habit of defecating on their food, but in a way do something even worse -- pollute the environment of which they are a part.
I am disgusted every time I make the drive out to our place in the country. People in this area haven't accepted the message that throwing trash on the roadside is unacceptable. The ditches along the roadway to our place are filled with cups and plastic bottles and beer bottles and other trash thrown from the windows of the cars that pass by. That refuse washes down the various waterways into the creeks and ultimately the lakes which are the primary source of drinking water for the area. I constantly find items that wash across our pasture during heavy rains. The people of the neighborhood are literally trashing their own nest; polluting their own drinking water. They give no thought to the long-term impact of their behavior.
The issue isn't just one of our "local" nest, it is the planet itself. Our consumptive behaviors may not have a visible impact in our own backyard, but they have one -- perhaps on the other side of the world. We need to learn to be a part of this planet, not just consumers of it.
Ah, well, I suppose I ended up on a bit of a rant today. It wasn't my intention. I really was just thinking about whether or not I would choose the same educational and career path if I had it to do over again. The answer is probably yes, but I have broadened my areas of interest through the years.
No comments:
Post a Comment