In what I believe to be a moment of pure brilliance, with of course a lot of divine help, I have fully come into the understanding of what I want my life to look like at the end. It's been a struggle to mix and match degrees and hobbies with passions and people. But, in an absolute flood of ideas all of those came to fruition, in a little less than an hour, and I've been riding a stoke of epic proportions since then. It was like I had been compartmentalizing all the different aspects of my life and somehow they leaked into each other and the result was an amazing product.
If you didn't know already, I'm currently at Florida International University getting a masters in Environmental Science, specifically in marine sciences. And I know that beyond any shadow of a doubt that this is what I want to do. But....it's not enough. So another thing that you might or might not know is that I have a section in my monthly budget devoted to the Home Depot Garden Center. Yes I get stoked on things that come out of the ground. And I get even more stoked when that thing makes food. I'm not real sure why but I have this strange need to make food (I use make as a general term to describe all food production). To compliment all of this, I believe science to be one of the top three things God has given to man (Women are number one and the Chicken Taco is number two). It continues to blow my tiny little mind that humans have the capability to alter nature and to manipulate how plants, animals, and ecosystems function, in both good and bad ways. Also, I know there dissension between science and Christianity, and that truly breaks my heart because I feel like the two go hand in hand and it is this that I want to spend my life doing.
Do I want to use science to prove the earth is 6000 years old.....no ? Do I want to use hypotheses to disprove evolution...no? I have no interest in doing these. What I want to do is use science to meet the most basic of physical human needs, using the most sustainable of practices. That most basic of need, I believe, is eating. Eveyone has to eat. I like making food. So I am going to make lots of food for lots of people who need it. "But Brett, we already have that, it's called farming" Right and there are millions of people starving. I'm talking about revolutionary ways of producing food. I'm talking about ways of using the coastal marine ecosystem in a way that has never been used before (I really don't know exactly what that is yet but I feel a dissertation coming out of it). And it goes way way way beyond that. I have this vision of an entire facilities, worldwide, in the most needed places of producing food locally. This includes vast hydroponics, aquaculture both in and offshore, and facilities to promote sustainable agriculture. But there is so so much more. Included are medical facilities, greenhouses, housing for workers (local, volunteers such as mission groups, and visiting scientists). In essence, a research facility used to promote the well being of the surrounding people. A place of ongoing research for Post-docs, masters, internships, those people who are fed up with traffic. These facilities would not only feed, but provide other essential needs such as clean drinking water by the use of (whatever is being studied at the facility at that time). There is so, so much more I want to do with this but if you are intrigued check out some of these sites below.........and please, please comment on this post. I want feedback, ideas, and anything else you have to say.
Also you can check out my Balcony garden Photo album on facebook
I want a garden! I haven't lived in one place consistently in the past 5 years to actually grow anything though.
ReplyDeleteHave I ever mentioned that my dad works in Bio-science? Mostly on the Chemical end, working with the sale of fertilizer and nutrients. But more or less what you're talking about is what he is into.
I'm the black sheep in my family working on a history degree. The rest of them are all into science and math. My science of choice is Geology because it sort of ties in with history. I'm going to link my dad to your blog though, I think he might be interested.