Environmental Destruction

Deforestation is a leading cause of global destruction. Eliminating forests not only hurts the ecosystem, but it can also affect humans and climate change. When people remove trees from various forests they take away the habitat of many living organisms. This does not directly affect humans, but it could in the near future because many of the animals that we depend on rely on other organisms that are dying out because their habitat is getting destroyed. One must look at the food chain and realize that if we keep eliminating certain organisms that it will eventually affect human beings. Forests are also important for their nutrients that they provide. There are many resources that we use that come from forests. One important example is medicine. If we were to keep destroying forests, we would lose our valuable resources in which we depend on for making medicine. Another important way forests contribute to the world is that they can directly affect the climate. Trees can determine the amount of rain a certain region gets. This process has many positive effects on the ecosystem and is a key part in determining the climate of a region. There are many more ways in which trees and forests help support the world, which is why we must stop deforestation. Deforestation has been proven to negatively impact the environment and is one of the factors that could eventually lead us to global destruction!

This photo was found at http://www.etff.org/2009/images/deforestation-sep09.jpg

Related Article-http://deforestationarticles.blogspot.com/

5 Themes of Geography

Eden Prairie, Minnesota

Location
i. Absolute--44° 51' 17" N / 93° 28' 14" W
ii. Relative—About one hour and fifteen minutes South East of St. Joseph, MN. Eden Prairie is located southwest of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area.

Region
i. Physical— Eden Prairie is located in the interior lowland of the United States. It is considered a suburb of Minneapolis. There are over 11 counties in this region.
ii. Cultural—Eden Prairie is made up of a diverse mixture of nationalities. The majority of Eden Prairie’s population (approximately 60,000 people) is made up of white, Christians. What makes Eden Prairie interesting is the impact of the different nationalities that make up the remainder of the population. EP is positively influenced by the Somalian culture and several others. Another interesting fact regarding the makeup of Eden Prairie’s population is the fact that over 70% of the population is under the age of 45 yrs.

Place
i. Physical—Although, most of Eden Prairie is developed, EP does offer over 15 lakes, 170 miles of multi-use trails, 2,250 acres of park land and is home to several wildlife areas and woodlands.
ii. Human— Many corporations have headquartered out of Eden Prairie, ie. (Best Buy, Starkey Labs etc.) We are also well known for our largest private golf course, Bearpath, which was designed by Jack Nicklaus. However, we are probably most known for being home to the Minnesota Vikings headquarters and practice facilities. The City of Eden Prairie, Minnesota has been recognized as a great place to work and raise a family for many years and is currently one of MONEY Magazine's "Best Places to Live" in America. Flying Cloud Airport, located in Eden Prairie, provides convenient access for personal and corporate aircraft. Eden Prairie possesses dozens of hotels and award-winning restaurants as well as a super-regional shopping center that draws more than 13-million visitors per year.

Human Environment Interactions
i. Eden Prairie is a very developed city. This development has occurred in a fairly rapid amount of time. Less than 50 years ago, Eden Prairie was considered an agricultural community made up of mostly farm and prairie land. Although, there are many parks, wildlife areas and woodlands still present in this community, much land has been used and wildlife areas destroyed in order to develop its housing and business industry.

Movement
i. The majority of people from Eden Prairie get around by the use of automobiles. There is a transit station located in Eden Prairie, which is used for people to get to the downtown area and surrounding cities. Goods are usually transported by semi-trucks. Ideas travel by word of mouth and various advertisements such as billboards, TV (Eden Prairie channel 6), radio, Eden Prairie newspaper (Sun Times) and an Eden Prairie magazine.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

This movie was an adventurous, exciting foreign film that was about the theme of romance. The movie was about a female character, Pepa, who tries desperately to find her boyfriend because of news she has to tell him. However, it was not only about her journey to track down her boyfriend, but it also included love triangles. These love triangles were seen throughout the movie between numerous characters. The movie begins with Ivan saying romantic pick-up lines to several different women. From the beginning the viewer assumes that Ivan is a ladies’ man and probably likes many different women. The film explores the idea of romance. Ivan and Pepa share the same job in which they are voice over actors who re-make foreign films. It is assumed that their careers are what connected them and led them to having a relationship. It is also ironic that the scene they voice-over is about marriage and love. This sets up the romance theme that is farced throughout the entire movie. The majority of the movie is about Pepa trying to track down Ivan to tell him some kind of news, which she has learned from the doctor. While she searches for him there are a lot of other side plots. One in which creates many love triangles. Ivan’s son (from his previous marriage), Carlos and his snobby fiancé are introduced into the movie because they are looking to buy Pepa’s apartment. While they are over looking at the penthouse, Carlos’s fiancé drinks Gazpacho, which Pepa previously laced with sleeping pills. Pepa originally meant for Ivan to drink the Gazpacho because she wanted him to stay. Ivan was a man who was always on the move so in order to keep him in one place she spiked his favorite soup with sleeping pills. However, Carlos’s fiancé was the first to drink it and while she was knocked out Carlos hooked up with Pepa’s good friend Candela. This created the movie’s first love triangle. Candela was an old friend who was on the run after being used by recently arrested Shiites. Candela was afraid the police would arrest her for being associated with these recently captured terrorists. Carlos recommends Candela see a feminist attorney. After being approached by Pepa, the attorney wants nothing do with Candela’s case. This creates a lot of tension between the two females. Towards the end of the movie it is discovered that the attorney was seeing Ivan. This created yet another love triangle that director Pedro Almodóvar uses. The two share a deep moment of serenity and try to forget about the crazy day they experienced. It seems apparent that they are both going to ditch their cheating boyfriends in an effort to find true love. Pedro Almodóvar uses the role of women as the focal point in this movie because he believes that women make better characters. His approach was very obvious throughout this movie because it seemed like there were many interactions amongst women. However, it is interesting to note that the subject of all of the drama is the result of men. Throughout this movie men are seen as using women to get what they want. This behavior is clearly portrayed through the characters of Ivan, Carlos and the male Shiite. The drama that follows is seen primarily through the female characters, which Almodóvar uses because he thinks women are more dramatically interesting. This European film maker also created interconnecting love triangles in which the man left a woman for another woman. This created much drama and tension between certain characters. This constant change in partners made the audience very aware that one of the points the movie wanted to make was that love is not always a definite thing ~ relationships change. It was interesting to see that the father and son character were both examples of the men who were in the middle of each triangle. It seemed that the father played a role in teaching the son about relationships. Ivan was made out to act very impulsive, which was also a trait displayed in Carlos. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie because of the comedy and the fun that was being poked at the characters that were involved in the love triangles. The movie did a good job intertwining all of the relationships among the characters. It was certainly not a story that I would have taken seriously, but the adventure and thrill made this movie appealing.

Antonia’s Line

This movie was very different from any of the films that we have seen in class. This wasn’t one of my favorite movies, but I thought it was an interesting view of romance and marriage because it was from a different perspective. The perspective of love was different because it was taken from a foreign country, different culture and it took place many years ago. This viewpoint was not at all like the other films that we have viewed in class. Love, family and happiness were present without the presence of many men. It was a movie that definitely addressed the strength and abilities of a woman to stand on her own. There were many aspects to this movie that I found fascinating. I thought that the movie was about the constant cycle of life and death. This was signified through the timeline of the movie. It viewed many generations of a single family. Life was shown through the abundance of children displayed throughout the movie. The idea of children and fertility was a significant theme to the first half of the movie. The film first introduces Danielle as the child of Antonia who is a creative and artistic little girl. Danielle soon grows up and wants a child of her own. Then her child Therese had a baby of her own with her partner. There was a reoccurring theme of the presence of children and how each interacted within the village. However, Danielle had an unusual situation because she did not want a husband to go along with the baby. This also seemed to be a common theme throughout the movie. At the beginning of the movie we also see that Antonia declines a man to be her husband. These examples allowed the movie to show the strength, both emotionally and physically, that the women had. They overcame many obstacles throughout the film. It seemed that men were not a necessary aspect for some of the women. Danielle used a man for his reproduction ability. This movie was seen more as a Utopia for women. It featured all females from the same family. It showed different generations of family and how things changed over time. The filmed showed an importance of carrying on a family by becoming pregnant. However, as the movie progressed, children we featured less and less. The second half of the film explored the idea of death. As time progressed so did the people of the village. It seemed that over time there were fewer births and more deaths. As the village people grew older, there was a loss of happiness and self-worth shown through some individuals. Finger, was one character who displayed these emotions. It seemed that he couldn’t find a meaning in the world he lived in. He believed that if he ended his life that it would help the lives of the other people. Finger was tormented by his feelings, which led him to commit suicide. In this film, the idea of marriage seemed irrelevant because it didn’t seem necessary. There really was no affect of the institution of marriage on the individuals seen within this village. This film portrayed a different type of romance seen within relationships. Compared to other movies, the relationship aspect was very different from the others we have seen in previous movies. Some of the relationships shown in this film were based off pleasure and companionship, rather than love and security that are a part of the institution of marriage.

The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I thought that this movie was fascinating because of the story line. I thought that the plot was very different from any of the previous films we have viewed. The film was about finding love, losing love and rediscovering it a second time. It starts with two characters that meet and fall in love, then separate because of a malicious fight. Clementine decides she wants to erase her memories of Joel because of the past events. Joel later finds out what she has done so he similarly agrees to get the same procedure done to his brain. While the procedure was taking place he finds his memories to be very important and irreplaceable. He tries to stop the procedure throughout the movie, but can’t find a direct way to stop it. He tries to save his memories of Clementine by evoking different memories and hiding his memories of his relationship with Clementine among other ones. However, this process fails and all of his memories of Clementine are eventually erased from his memory. By the time the movie ends the audience finds out that Joel and Clementine have re-met and fallen in love again. This movie makes a couple points about love and romance. It seems to suggest that love is inevitable and that people are destined to find their soul mates. It reminded me of an old poem, “if you love something set it free, if it comes back to you, it was meant to be”. It felt like Joel and Clementine were intended to be together because of how they complemented each other. It was not a coincidence that they met and fell in love with each other twice. It was also interesting to compare Joel and Clementine’s relationship to Clementine and Patrick’s relationship. Patrick fell in love with Clementine during her procedure and eventually took all of Joel’s mementos of Clementine. He used them to try and make Clementine fall in love with him, but even the same things weren’t enough for her to fully love him like she loved Joel. We even see this same theme with Mary and Dr. Howard Mierzwiak who had previously fallen in love with one another, but since Dr. Howard Mierzwiak was married they too decided to erase all of Mary’s memories. Again after the procedure, she fell back in love with him, which shows that true love is unstoppable. Overall I thought that the movie was excellent because of its sequence. The order in which the movie was created made it very entertaining and kept me watching until the end. I enjoyed seeing Joel’s memories of Clementine, but in reverse order. Watching his memories in reverse order added a twist that I thought really worked to capture the viewer’s attention.

Hannah and Her Sisters

Hannah and Her Sisters is another interesting and thought provoking Woody Allen film. This movie, like the other Allen films we’ve watched in class, combined romance, humor and eccentric characters to tell a story about three sisters. Although similar, I also thought that this film was different in a few ways. First, it was structured differently than his other films. Woody Allen organized the film into 16 different scenes, and each was titled with some type of phrase. Each of the titles somehow related to each scene in a unique and creative way. This style helped to focus and concentrate the viewer on what exactly was taking place during the movie. Although it was unique, I enjoyed it and thought that it helped to guide me through the movie. Second, the story told elapsed over a course of a year. It started with a Thanksgiving dinner and ended with a Thanksgiving dinner. This made the story seem more realistic. Finally, like in all of his films I thought the characters were very interesting people. What was different was the irony he used in making 2 of the characters “actresses”. Both Hannah and Holly were aspiring actresses. It was ironic because they were playing a role within a role. I found that concept to be very intriguing. Although there were some new techniques used to tell his story in this film, Allen still had some very common themes. Once again, there was a strong connection between his characters and their mental health. Woody Allen seems to make a point in his movies to emphasize and draw attention to the psychological well being of the characters in his stories. It seems as if Allen is definitely engrossed with the psychological makeup of people, and his characters usually portray people who are not the most stable or balanced individuals. Allen’s eccentric ways and constant attention to dysfunctional characters, makes me believe he has battled some psychological disorders in his past! The fact that his characters are usually suffering from some type of disorder and there is much talk about seeing “analysts”, makes me wonder if Allen does this to bring attention and awareness to the problems those with mental health issues face or if he wants it to appear more a part of the norm! Regardless, Allen tells stories that in their own eccentric unusual ways grab at an audience and pull them in! Hannah and Her Sisters was no different. The story used humor and sadness to not only entertain, but to pull the audience in and make them care about the characters and enjoy the story that was told.

Annie Hall

I really enjoyed this film. I thought that the plot was very comical. Like the movie Manhattan, Woody Allen uses his unusual filming style, which causes the audience to enjoy more than just the film’s plot! There were many picturesque shots of New York and he used many photographic techniques, like the rules of thirds and leading lines, to capture the beauty and magnificence of the city. Allen also used a couple of his trademark techniques of talking off picture and also talking to the camera (audience) which leads the audience to focus on the actual picture and notice other small details within the shot. It was an interesting style that not only worked but I thought added to the film’s entertainment value. One theme that I saw throughout this movie was the subject/idea of psychology. Both characters could be described as quirky and odd, and all of the references to Freud and his principles reinforced the fact that they were unique. They briefly brought up Freud’s concept of the unconscious mind. The movie also talked about the latency period, which is another concept that was created by Freud. There were also a lot of references to psychologists and the role they played in the characters lives. It seemed that the “analysts” were a key part to helping fix the characters personalities. I also picked up on a lot of references to certain psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, narcolepsy and other neurological disorders. Another aspect that I found intriguing was the presence of drugs in the movie. Throughout this movie people used drugs for many reasons. Some used them for self-medication purposes like relaxing the body and reducing stress, while others used drugs for recreational use. People were shown using drugs at parties and other social gatherings. This casual reference to drugs seemed to indicate the growing popularity and acceptance of drugs during this time period. I felt that there were also some discriminatory comments towards Jews and women. These statements were meant to be jokes because he was a comedian, but I wonder if others took these jokes personally. Overall I thought this movie was not only entertaining but very insightful. I enjoyed the realistic plot and the montage that this film had to offer. It is a movie that is quite symbolic of the times and gives the audience a look at the issues of that era!