Third Blog Post on Mangoes

Looking at this gigapan you can see hints of orange and brown, but there is still a lot of green. The oak trees are still fairly green, the maples are the mostly orange and yellow-tinted leaves you see, and the tulip poplars are turning a lights green showing that they will turn into a yellow for the fall. Each tree's leaves fall at different times. I suspect that this is because they have different rates of absorbing nutrients from the leaves due to the distance from the leaves to the roots and the amount of leaves on the tree.

Shakespeare for Breakfast

In my very first blog post I assessed the ability of books in an economic collapse to be used as currency. Looking back I still believe that this would be a wonderful form of currency. However, through this class I have come to terms with the hardship of a currency. It is subject to change because of the fickleness of people. This was assessed by Polland in "The Botany of Desire" in reference to the tullipmania. Not only this, but in an economic crisis books would greatly depreciate in value and would most likely would be used for kindling before currency. Books have an alternate use as entertainment, but the needs of stability in food and shelter come before entertainment. Thus, I'm not so sure that after an economic collapse books would be used as currency. However, if deforestation comes first then that would be a better scenario for this.

Hidden Health in Magoes?

I found a really interesting article called "Medicinal and Other Economic Plants of the Paya of Honduras" by David L. Lentz in the Economic Botany Journal. The Paya are a people in in Honduras. In 1985 the population was 1595. However, in 1997 it was less than 1500. This tribe used to believe in a supreme deity, but are now mainly Christian. In 1993 there was still a big emphasis on shamans and plant remedies.

The article was mainly gives a background on the Paya people, how they are changing, and how the food system is set up. In 1993 there was a plan for a highway to go through the Paya territory; it would cut it directly in half. On top of that the land is being taken away by deforestation and population growth of non-Payas. Each house is set up to have a garden with fruit trees, gourds, medicinal herbs, and chili peppers which are a necessity in Paya cooking. Some of the medical herbs grown in almost all of the gardens are Tagetes erecta, buddleia americana, and ginger. In the appendix there is a list of all the plants and their medicinal uses from the Paya.

With all of the claims of modern medicine I become skeptical of what really helps. What part of the medicine fixes the problem, which hinders, and which is a placebo? For this reason I find the examination of plants through non modernized peoples to be really interesting because you don't use something that doesn't work. Therefore, there must be something in these plants that we can find, use, and capture to benefit humanity. Perhaps there is something in mangoes...

The Color of Mangos

The color of these oak, maple, and tulip poplar trees is green now, but very soon they will explode into a frenzy of color that blend together into a harmony that only nature can acquire. Currently there is an abundance of chlorophyll in the leaves which make them green; this is something that everyone knows or should know. In the fall however the chlorophyll breaks down first leaving a yellow or orange color or a combination of any of these. The chemicals that produce this coloration are carotenoids. A red or purple color is caused by anthocyanins. While the leaves are turning colors the tree attempts to suck up all of the nutrients the leaf has left before hibernating for the winter which is something all three of these species of trees does. When the cells at the base of the leaf finally die the leaf drops and the forest is covered in dead but beautiful leaves. I can't wait until I get to see the beautiful dead vegetation!!!

Shakespeare for Dinner

My all-around awesome professor enticed our class to explore the idea of a different type of plant product as currency. There are many things that could be used and ideas started synapsing in my mind all at once. There are so many options for different types of currency, ostrich eggs, works of art, and tapestry rugs. However, with the stipulation of the currency being a plant product the list decreases dramatically. You could choose anything from a rare type of daisy to bamboo chips with intricate designs. But another stipulation is that it must work in an American economy. In the end the product that I chose was books.

Books would provide a good currency because they have social worth. They contain knowledge and can have a reverence that accumulates with age. E. Bronte would be worth more than L.K. Hamilton. With the increase of deforestation and technology there is a possible decrease in the sheer amount of books being produced although there is no proof that leads to this conclusion as of yet. Kindles and iPads are becoming more and more popular and with that popularity I presume that books will decrease in production.

 In my theoretical America, books would become more valuable with age and renown. The amount of books that are in an owner's possession the more revered he or she would be. Each home would be a separate library containing a wealth of information. For newer books there are handy prices on the back cover. A twenty dollar book can buy about five high-priced mangoes.

I would be happy with this type of currency because I love to read and collect books. To have a system based on my favorite past time would be agreeable to me. This would also promote the spread of knowledge and increase the intelligence of America.

Through this blog I have shown that books, when paper finally becomes unable to be manufactured, would make an acceptable form of tangible currency. If put in this position, books would promote learning and with the cost printed on the back of book it would give a starting price, but as books age they would be worth more.