Beam Reach

Week 4, back on land

Wow, with the whirlwind of things that are constantly going on and that we have to stay mindful of, it’s hard to find a chance to blog, much less remember to.  These days I don’t even have time to stay up to date on current events and politics anymore, which is pretty shocking for me. I really enjoyed today’s class though, so I want to make sure to write about it and to mention anything else recent that I can recall.

This morning we had a serious discussion about sustainability, and with Val serious means serious, we literally traced our food energy consumption back to the sun to compare the population levels that could  be sustained on either wholly vegetarian or wholly carnivous diets, the two extremes. The difference was sobering, a factor of 10 that meant either you could sustain 17 billion vegetarians or 1.7 billion carnivores. Obviously most people fall somewhere in the middle, but it’s still way more complex than all that.  We had to write up analyses about our calculations for homework, and it really got me thinking about the sustainability of food production systems overall. I’ve learned a lot about that over the years but especially last year with my environmental thesis. When you really sit and think about it all, from the perspective of energy and way beyond how much energy does each food provide but more how much energy does each food CONSUME and how completely messed up the current food production systems around the world really are…it can really drive you crazy. Or make you very depressed. That’s why I take a break from the environmental sustainability thinking sometimes to look at politics.  Turkey refuses to take the military option off the table for Kurdish separatist groups in Northern Iraq?  Somehow staying aware of as many of the countless calamities going on around the world seems to keep me from losing my mind over a single one.

More relevant to the orca research part of the program, this morning we also finally looked at the calbration recordings from last Wednesday and Val explained some technical points that I was really confused about. Both of these things were really great for me because I needed the calibration in order to amend my data analysis so that it makes sense. And also, now at least I understand what the gain IS, and why it’s so important. Unfortunately I can’t do anything with all my newfound knowledge at the moment because the computer guys have been out this afternoon and so I can’t install the updated version of the Beam Reach Analyzer software that I need to look at my recordings with. And so I sit here blogging.

Last week on the boat was a MUCH better one for me. I think the first week was just really a shock because I’ve never lived in that type of environment before. But this time I was all armed and ready to face the cold, (note the large winter jacket, hat and gloves that I’m wearing in a few of the pictures that Val took)  and I participated a lot more in sailing-related activities. (I still prefer the theory to the practice though.) But the really great thing was that we actually finally began testing our methods! I think my lack of a sense of where I was going with my research during that first week may have made me more anxious too. Now I have actual recordings to analyze! And Val gave me a completely new point to consider in my research yesterday, and I just hope I understand it well enough to make sense when I write it up for the final proposal that’s due Thursday. Remember what I said about that whirlwind of things to think about and do? Well, most of the summer I either had nothing to do or hated what I was doing, and that sure isn’t the case now.