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Colby Shaw - Outside Reading #8

  The Chesapeake Isn’t as Far Away as It Feels I’ll be honest, when I hear about the Chesapeake Bay, I don’t immediately think it has much to do with me. It feels like one of those big environmental issues that’s kind of “over there.” But after reading this, it’s harder to see it that way. What really stuck with me is how everything flows together, literally. Pollution doesn’t just stay where it starts. Runoff from farms, roads, and neighborhoods moves through streams and rivers until it eventually ends up in the bay. So even if I’m not anywhere near it, I’m still connected to it in some way. That made me think differently about the smaller places I’m used to like local rivers and creeks. They’re not just random spots to fish or hang out; they’re part of something bigger. What happens there doesn’t just stay there. I also liked that the article didn’t make it seem hopeless. It showed that people are actually doing something about it, whether it’s changing farming practices or worki...
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Colby Shaw - Outside reading #7

  Fish, Flow, and Paying Attention to the River As someone who fishes a lot, I’ve always focused on spots, like where the fish are biting, what bait works, all that. But this reading made me think more about what’s actually going on underneath all of that. The idea of “fish dynamics” is basically that fish populations aren’t random, they’re constantly changing based on things like water flow, movement, and survival rates. Fish are always moving, especially downriver, and that movement plays a huge role in whether they actually survive or not.  That hit me because I’ve definitely noticed how fish act differently depending on the river conditions, but I never really thought about it as part of a bigger system. Stuff like current, temperature, or even dams can completely change how fish move and where they end up, which affects the whole population.  It kind of made me realize that when I’m out fishing, I’m only seeing a small part of what’s actually happening. There’s a who...
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Colby Shaw- Outside reading #6

  Rethinking Hunting and Sustainability As a college student who hunts pretty regularly, I’ve always seen it as part of my lifestyle, not really something I connected to bigger ideas like sustainability. But this reading actually made me think about it in a different way. One thing that stood out is how every way we get food has some kind of impact. It’s easy for people to judge hunting, but the article points out that agriculture can damage habitats too. That hit me, because when I’m hunting, I’m way more aware of the land and the animal than I ever am buying food at a store. I also liked how it talked about conservation. A lot of people don’t realize hunters are a big part of funding wildlife protection. From my experience, most hunters actually care a lot about keeping populations healthy, it’s not just about taking. Overall, it didn’t totally change how I see hunting, but it made me realize there’s more to it than people think. It’s not just tradition or sport, it can actually ...
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Aesthetics (Blog #5)

  Why Aesthetics Matter in the Environment When I first hear the word “aesthetics,” I don’t really think about the environment. I usually think about art or something that just looks nice. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized aesthetics actually plays a big role in how we treat the environment, even if we don’t notice it. People are way more likely to care about places that look good. If you think about somewhere like  Yellowstone National Park , it’s known for being really beautiful, and because of that, people want to protect it. The views, the wildlife, all of that makes people feel like it’s worth saving. At the same time, there are other places that are just as important, like wetlands or swamps, that don’t get the same attention because they’re not seen as “pretty.” Even though they actually do a lot for the environment, like helping with water and supporting animals, people don’t always think about them the same way. I’ve also noticed that how a place lo...
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4/29/26 Entry #15 Outside Reading

  Piore, Adam. “The Global Hunt to Unlock the Healing Powers of Poop.” National Geographic 249, no. 5 (May 2026): 64-81.  This article followed the efforts of scientists studying gut-bourne bacteria. They set out to create a database of the world’s microbiome, by identifying and naming gut bacteria from different populations. They took stool samples and analyzed them within 30 minutes. They compared the samples of people from industrialized nations, rural farmers, and isolated humans like the Hadza. The Hadza live off the land, similar to ancient people, they hunt various animals and gather various plants for consumption. Their varied diet was reflected in the species diversity and richness in their stool. When compared to the sample of the industrialized diet, the Hadza sample showed a much larger community or bacteria. These samples allow researches to isolate specific bacteria that can be helpful or harmful to the host human. This data will help future researchers to possi...
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4/29/26 Entry #14 Outside Reading

  Montgomery, David. “Why the Antarctic Seafloor is a Time Machine.” National Geographic 249, no. 5 (May 2026): 38-41.  There was another short article in the same National Geographic magazine that related to the study of climate change. In Antarctica, researchers are studying undocumented parts of the Ocean floor in an effort to better understand climate change. The Southern Ocean plays a major role in absorbing human-caused carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. On the seafloor, or benthic zone, the scientists collect filter feeders and take core samples. The water in this zone is largely unaffected by climate change and offers a pre-Industrialization look into the organisms that thrive there. The goal of the researchers is to make a case for preserving these unique ecosystems because the data would prove valuable for future research. By better understanding the health of these environments, it may be possible to improve the health of others. 
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4/29/26 Entry #13 Outside Reading

  Nordhaus, Hannah. “The Sneaky Genius of Nature’s Brightest Thinkers.” National Geographic 249, no. 5 (May 2026): 16–37.  Reading this article helped, along with my wife, to persuade me to add more native wild flowers to our yard to support pollinators. One of the interesting things from this article, a behavioral ecologist used tiny magnetic transponders to track the movement of bees. They plan to study the data to see how bees think with regards to weather and pattern. They proposed it being beneficial for aiding endangering plant populations or in conservation efforts. Scientists were also able to determine that bees have simple problem solving and counting capabilities. The article also highlighted 20 different species of bees. Many of varying size and color, it was fascinating to see how they each fill a pollinator niche in particular ways suited for their unique physiology. The article also talked about themes which were presented in class. The different roles and the ...
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