Personal Statement: Hanging With My Buds

In the novel, The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan tells the intriguing story of how plants are domesticated from the perspective of the plant with regards to four specific plants.. The four plants he chose for discussion are the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. As he discusses the domestication of these plants, his overall focus is the desire that each of these plants have to us as humans. Pollan has written books and magazine articles among other pieces of literature that discuss the relationship between plants and humans. Throughout this informational text, Pollan tries to keep the perspective from the “plant’s-eye view of the world,” but he often slips into Pollan’s eye view of the world. As he talks about experiences that he has had with each of these plants and gives a little bit of their history, it was often hard to stay focused on the topic that he was trying to convey. However, I found that the perspectives that Pollan brings up are interesting to think about. The Botany of Desire was an interesting journal type informational novel that didn’t quite live up to my expectations of what it could have been.

Plants are found everywhere on earth, up high on the ridge and down low in caves and caverns. The types of plants that live in these places depends on many factors. These factors are separated into two different categories, the biotic factors and the abiotic factors. Some of the biotic factors include, predation, competition, and habitat destruction. Plants with limited competition and large amounts of resources will be in a higher abundance than plants with limited resources and higher competition rates will be confined to areas and either out competed or will be the dominant species. Certain plants adapt to these factors and thrive and others don’t do as well. Some of the abiotic factors include, sunlight, water, temperature, and wind. These

Pursing a career as a medical doctor is an opportunity for me to mentor youth in underserved populations. As a child, I was raised in the low income, urban community of Roxbury, MA. Although not as notorious today, the neighborhood had garnered negative attention for its high crime rates. My mother emigrated from Haiti and raised me as a single parent. Due to our financial circumstance, Roxbury became our permanent residence. I have always felt there was something lacking in Roxbury in comparison to other towns I visited. My teenage years were largely spent in the suburban town of Stoneham where I attended high school. There was a literal difference in air quality and a psychology contrast in future prospects. While native students of

There are few certainties of what one will encounter during life. A common joke names two: death and

Hanging out with the wrong crowd leads to unintended consequences. It does not matter how smart I am, if the people around me are not smart then I will be judged the same as them. An individual’s own self-importance is overlooked when the whole crowd is involved. That is the lesson that I learned this summer. I obtained the knowledge of the importance of personal responsibility as to who I surround myself with. I did not realize the importance of having privileges’ until I lost them. I learned that good friendships are a privilege, that hanging out with the wrong crowd leads to nothing but trouble, and that their trouble will lead to my privileges being revoked. The lesson that I learned was to be more responsible about my choices and the people that I surround myself with.

Classify plants and animals according to the physical characteristics that they share. Identify the structures in plants (leaves, roots, flowers, stem, bark, wood) that are responsible for food production, support, water transport, reproduction, growth, and protection.

The two boys showed they were confidant and knowledgeable about gardening, for example they knew how to use a rake to mulch the garden and how to care for the plants (Elliott, 2014). As a future educator this example can be facilitated into a lesson by developing children’s knowledge on the environment, weather, and season pattern changes that cause the leaves to die and fall off trees (ACARA, 2015). Additionally, children also learn about composting and how these leaves provide essential nutrients to the soil for plants to grow and provide shelter and cover for animals and living things (ACARA, 2015). Children can also develop their science inquiry skills by questioning and predicting various trees and leaves and identify and analyse similarities and differences in the leaves by also using their senses to explore. Most importantly, by engaging children in the process of gardening, they begin to show respect for the environment and understand the importance of maintaining

dy of plant fossils and the understanding the evolution of plant life and ecology of earlier eras is known as paleobotany. Paleobotanists concern with fossil records of plants and their geologic history greatly describes the main concept of paleobotany. Only a small percentage of the plants that ever lived left evidence of existence. The major plant fossils that have been discovered are mineralized wood, flowers in amber, leaf imprints in coal, or other plant life many years ago. Paleobotanists document fossil records and use this evidence to find the past evolution of plants.

Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s View of the World, addresses four major plant groups that have both changed for human needs and simultaneously changed human’s needs. While most gardeners, genetic engineers and other plant related professionals have long-believed that plants have evolved based on what we want or need to survive and in other words what we have “domesticated”, Pollan appeals to the plant’s view. Plants’ survival has been solely based on what humans desire both depending on their visual and stimulatory appeal along with their appeal to an appetite. Conversely, plants have used humans as a strategy for “getting us to move and think for them (page xx)”. Many plants have successfully maneuvered humans for

Forty years of thinking led me to want help out a plant, any plant, i mean i am needed in photosynthesis. But picking what i want to be is the real problem. I picked a nice forest and the only thing that would take me in was a tall piece of grass. The piece of grass i took shelter in was eaten by a

Botany is the study of plants. A year later he took his first botanical foot journey along the Wisconsin River to the Mississippi. Two years later in 1864 at the age of 26, he traveled to Canada and stayed there for about two years. He tried to save a part of Fountain Lake farm because that was the first place his family settled down. He ended up being a major contributor to the formation of the national park

Botanicals are an appealing way to introduce science to children while pleasing and engaging the senses. At all ages, it is important to orientate children towards native plants and wildlife. Learning about the importance, function, and preservation of native species not only teaches science concepts, but also encourages environmental stewardship. The Botanical Gardens walking and hiking trails are an opportunity to exercise while studying diverse flora and fauna. In addition to nature education opprotunities, Chicago Botanical Gardens has model train exhibit.

Microbiologists work freely or as a component of a group in the field gathering Microbiologists study microorganisms (organisms) so as to see how they influence our lives and how we can misuse them. They can work in groups or by themselves but most of the time they work in groups as most scientist do because groups make work fun and make work take less

For a veterinarian the work environment consists maining in a private hospital or clinic. However, they may travel to farms, work in some laboratories or classrooms, or even work for the government. It depends on what type of veterinarian one becomes. For instance, if one becomes a veterinarian who treats horse or food animals chances are they will work more on a farm than a veterinarian who works mostly with smaller house animals such as dogs and cats. On another hand a WB will work more in the lab and out in wild.

     Plants are autotrophs that mean they are able to synthesize food directly from inorganic compounds, instead of relying on other organisms. They use carbon dioxide gas and water to produce sugars and oxygen