Cross-Cultural Blog

Acata Felton:

-From Sandy, Ut.
-studying Marine Biology and possibly Philosophy

I was 10. It was the summer before 5th grade and like almost every summer when I was little, my family and I were on a road trip. This year, we were on an adventure up the west coast of California from San Diego up through Washington. Along the way, we stopped at every point of interest, most notably for me, Monterey. In this kind of small town, on the tourist trap strip of fancy stores and trinket venders stands the Monterey Bay aquarium. Housed in an old cannery, the aquarium is a distinctive building. I wandered through the displays, feeling surrounded by an alien but inviting world. The fish swam so effortlessly compared to the effort of walking I thought, just kind of floating, suspended, whenever they stopped swimming. I went out on the decks that overlook the Monterey bay, watched the waves crash against the shore, and felt them break against the supports of the aquarium. I looked down into the turbulent water of the inter-tidal zone, and out toward the wide band of kelp, little more than a stone’s throw from shore.

I went back inside, and came upon the sea otter display. In a giant, two story tank of water, 4 sleek creatures frolicked and played. They were four or five feet long and darted through the water like a bird on the wing. They dove and surfaced, batted toys around and pawed at their fur, grooming. I was enchanted. I watched as bubbles escaped from the fur of submerged animals and the way they rolled over and over at the surface, reminiscent of a dog chasing its tail. I sat and watched the otters for almost an hour before my parents dragged me off to get lunch. I barely saw the second half of the aquarium; I couldn’t stop thinking of those playful creatures. Right then and there I decided that what I wanted to do with my life was to study otters and the kelp forest in which they live. When it came time to leave, my little brother and I dragged my parents into the gift shop, just like we had done at every other museum, zoo, or aquarium we had visited on the trip. Of course the first things we found were the stuffed animals, where we scurried around, picking up first one then another and showing each other. Suddenly my brother produced a baby sea otter, a clam shell clutched in its paws. I completely forgot what I was holding to show him next, ran over and snatched it out of his hands. I hugged it tight and turned to my mother. I still have that stuffed baby otter, and I still want to study them in their natural habitat. Any discussion or image of otters, especially in danger or hurt by something humans have done makes me incredibly sad and solidifies my resolve on my future plans.

This image is so heart wrenching for me is because it speaks to both my love of all things cute and to my personal belief in the value of the environment and the role of humans have to protect and preserve it. Perhaps as a consequence of being a girl, baby animals, especially mammals are just so adorable to me. It just breaks my heart to see any animal, but especially a baby, hurt by human action, or negligence. The position the otter pup is in is also very saddening because it is almost curled in a fetal position which is a very vulnerable position. Lying on the cold snow with nothing really around him also gives the feeling that he has been abandoned. He feels very much like the collateral damage in the struggle humans have initiated in their attempt to control nature.

And in many ways, that is the other part of why the image is so powerful for me. It shows that he really has been abandoned by humans. We have known of the damage that oil spills in the ocean cause for a long time. And yet we have done so little to try to prevent them. Even if this particular spill could not have been prevented, it still feels like some lapse in human vigilance that it occurred. Somehow the pup being alone gives me the feeling that humans are not paying any attention, not trying to clean up the spill or prevent new ones. It fills me with sadness at the disinterest and carelessness of the human race. The carelessness comes from a brash view about the world and its ability to take whatever we throw at it.

Jacqui Yu:

Conclusion:
It seems to be the instinct of humans to dominate whatever they are surrounded by, including nature. In many ways, this has benefitted us immensely. We have overcome many limitations to our inhabiting new areas and have built new technologies to ease our lives. The one major drawback to all of this is the blindness that comes with the desire to dominate. We insist on ignoring the consequences of our desire to control. We don’t want to face the sad truth of what we are doing to the delicate, beautiful aspects of nature in the process.