raise sea levels and could alter forests, crop yields and water supply.I was surprised at how knowledgeable Adam was on the topic. While I also believe that global warming is a potential danger and disregard skeptics theories, my understanding of the topic is not as extensive as his. Adam and I went to the same high school and lived in the same town, so what set us apart? This question was answered when Adam told me about the three years he lived in Pakistan between the ages of nine and twelve. It seemed to me that his village in Pakistan was more comparable to the horticulturist society of the Ifaluk and Miskito in their relationship to the natural environment than most towns in the United States. “We were much more in tune with nature,” Adam explained, “because we were dependent on our land and the food that we grew on it to live.” Just like the Ifaluk, Adam’s family was forced to exercise environmental control by engaging in practices that would not alter their surroundings. I thought about how in the United States we often overlook such habits because it is so easy for us to get food from grocery stores and restaurants. The environmental impact of industrialism is often not visible, and so many of us overlook or ignore the damage it creates because it does not directly affect our daily lives. The danger of disregarding the impact our actions have on nature is evident when looking at the Miskito. Extensive trade with England and France resulted in the Miskito exploiting their resources, and as a result the turtles that they depended on for their livelihood are now an endangered species. The consequences they are now paying because they neglected to engage in an adaptive and reproducible relationship with their environment should be a lesson to the United States of the danger we face in the future. Adam told me that because of the time that he spent in Pakistan and the importance he learned t...
