Economic Botany Y:1
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Would cotton really work as currency?
Looking back on my first blog post, I talked about the use of cotton as a reliable form of currency. Throughout the semester in Economic Botany, i have to come to a realization that in American societies cotton may not be the best alternative. In class we have learned tons of information on plants and how they correlated with currency. One of the major concepts i have noticed, when it comes to money is that it must be consistent to thrive in societies. I do not believe cotton would be stable enough for a society to thrive with. They are many different types of cotton, therefore to use cotton as currency, you would have to label and identify every type of cotton. Also, cotton is easily grown. Everyone could start to grow their own cotton. It would be the exact same thing as counterfeit money in today's American societies. In addition, if we adopted cotton as our new form of currency, we would have to take extra precautions to keep the plants safe, and growing. Factors like natural disasters, storms, and pests could have a huge affect on cotton plants, and completely cause chaos among societies. When i started in my Economic Botany course, i did not think about all the factors that should be considered when choosing a new form of currency. Now as my course comes to an end, i realize there may be a more appropriate choice out there, to replace our current form of currency. Cotton, for now, is suitable for many other things.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Philippine Rubber Plantations Article!
I was browsing among numerous amounts of articles on a
wonderful site called Economic Botany, when I stumbled upon an article that
caught my attention. The article was called “Philippine Rubber Plantations”
written by Alden Cutshall who studied at the University of Illinois, Navy Pier,
Chicago, Illinois. Honestly, I must say
that before reading this article I did not know that rubber was from trees. Who
would have thought? Apparently, mostly all of my classmates.
The
article was about the rubber plantations in The Philippines (obviously), and it
went into depth on the major aspects that surround the plantations, for
example: the size the plantations, how
the rubber is collected, and Alden even went into detail about the laborers that
work the plantations. Even though this Article was only about three pages, it
held tons of information! Also, remember
this particular article was published in 1953!
The first
thing that caught my eye when I began to read this article was the tad bit of information
directly under the title. Within that little paragraph you find out, that because
of local laws land that was operated by any one source of private capital was
limited to 2,500 acres. That’s not a lot
of land at all for a plantation! However, when I read this I remembered that it
was written in 1953, so I began to do more research. In 2010, The Philippines had
a total of 138,710 hectares (1 hectares = 2.471 acres) of rubber plantations.
By 2016, they plan to raise that amount to 200,000 hectares, which is an annual
increase of 10,000 acres. Even though
The Philippines plan to add more land to increase their rubber productivity,
they still only account for 1.1% of the global output of rubber. Crazy to think
about, huh?
The
Article also touched base on the physical and weather conditions of the island,
and how they affect the rubber trees! The island itself is very hilly, and the
soil lacks proper fertility. So, the island is not ideal to grow rubber on,
however, they make it work. As for the temperatures, they are perfect for the
trees, and the amount of rainfall that the islands receive is adequate. Even
though, the island does face the factor of drought in the summer, the plants
still grow and are not harmed.
Now the subject of the laborers!
Without them, there would be no rubber coming from The Philippines at all. The
Labor, however, is expensive compared to other countries, but you have to stop and
remember that in the 1950’s, The Philippines were not the richest country out
there. However, some good news: According to the 2012 Wealth Report, The
Philippines is projected to be among the fastest growing economies in the
world! Hopefully, that means more rubber production for them! Even though the labor was expensive back then,
the quality of the labor was considered satisfactory. Therefore the labor cost
was not of much importance.
Now for
the part I had no idea about! How the “rubber” is collected/ made! The trees
that the rubber comes from are “tapped” in the morning, about 7 am, the latex
that is eventually turned into rubber flows faster in the mornings. Tapping the trees is basically, when the
collector makes a thin, diagonal cut to remove a sliver of bark. The
milky-white latex fluid runs out of the bark and down the cut and is collected
in a bucket. After about six hours, the fluid stops flowing. In that six-hour
period, a tree can usually fill a gallon bucket. The tree can be tapped again
with another fresh cut, usually the next day. After the rubber is collected it
is then sent to the factories and made into products used daily around the
world. This article was so fascinating to me; it taught me something about a
product I use every day! Even after I read the article I was so anxious to
research more about the plantations and where rubber comes from. I wonder what
other articles I can find?! If you want
to look up some Articles for yourself, I have provided the link! Happy Reading!
Monday, October 29, 2012
Gigapan Numero Dos!
It has been a couple weeks since we last looked at our trees
located within the gigapan’s we took the first time. When we went back to find
our marvelous group of trees, we notice they changed! The leaves have either
fallen off, or changed into pretty colors! The three species of tree I had
identified in my first blog post did not look that same as before, and compared
to each other they looked nothing alike. Well, except for one, the Ashe
Juniper. The Ashe Juniper is an evergreen, which means it will not lose its
leaves. Therefore, it looks as green and luscious as it did a few weeks ago!
The other two trees, however, made quite a difference! The American Hornbeam had lost mostly all of
its leaves, and the few little guys that were still hanging on, had changed
into a bright red, which is common for this specie of tree. The leaves of the American
Hornbeam can change into a redish color, deep scarlet, and orange. The leaves
of this tree also began to fall in autumn; therefore they are right on target! My
third and final specie of tree was the Spanish Oak! The Spanish Oak’s leaves
had not fallen off yet, however they were turning into and orange and red
color. The American Hornbeam and the
Spanish Oak both lose their leaves because they are deciduous, which is
different from the Ashe Juniper! All the
trees change/ drop their leaves at different times, because they are different
types of tree species. If they were the same they would drop around the same
time, however, that would be no fun! All trees are different some each other in
one way or another. That’s why it’s so pretty in the fall!
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Gigapan Numero Uno
Sweet Briar campus has trees
located on every section of the campus; whether you are at the Art Barn, the
horse barn, or on the other side of campus near Guion. I chose to take a closer
look at the trees located by Guion, which you can see in my Gigapan. That
particular picture was taken near the butterfly garden. Out of all the
beautiful trees I identified three different types! I identified the American
Hornbeam, the Ashe Juniper, and the Spanish Oak. At this point in time, which
is early October, the trees are still mostly green, with the exception of a few
that stay green year round. However,
most of them will start to change soon, if they have not already. That brings
up the question: Why do tree leaves change color in the fall?
The answer to this question is
simple; during the
winter there is not enough sunlight or water for photosynthesis to occur.
So the trees will live off the food they stored during summer time. During this time, the chemical chlorophyll
disappears from the leaves, and they will eventually start to turn different
colors (Even though the different colors have been located in the leaves the
whole time, they were just covered by the green chlorophyll). Within the three
trees I identified one tree does not change colors in the Fall/Winter. The Ashe
Juniper is an Evergreen, which means photosynthesis occurs all year round, and
they never run out of chlorophyll. The other two types of trees (The American
Hornbeam, and the Spanish Oak) are both deciduous. Which means chlorophyll is
not there year round, and the green pigment is lost in the leaves.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Cotton as Currency
A plant that
I believe, could be used for currency in an American society today would be
cotton. Cotton could be used as currency because, it is very useful to everyone
and almost everyone in the world owns something that cotton is contained in.
Being able to be grown very easily, Cotton would be an ideal form of currency. In paper currency today, three/fourths
of it, is made out of Cotton. So why not just make the whole thing cotton?
It is so valuable across America today; it would not fail as a form of currency.
Cotton is grown, and harvested each year, therefore there would never be a
shortage. Society is defined as a community of people living together in a
particular region and having shared customs, laws and organizations. If this is
true about society, then cotton can be found in any society, whether it be in
the mountains, or in the city. Therefore, with cotton already being a major
product in America that is used daily, and is already located in a part of our
currency system; Cotton would be a reliable and useful form of currency, in any
society in America.
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