Five Things I Learned From This Week
Taking the time to learn from content others are creating is just as important as publishing your own- here are a few podcasts, articles, and videos I learned from this week!
I am always curious to learn about what sorts of media people are consuming- how they’re choosing to spend their time, inform their viewpoints, and especially what might be on their minds.
While photographing bees recently, I was thinking about how these sort of media and content inputs impact how I’m interacting with and evaluating my environment- sort of how the kinds of pollen bees collect from flowers is evident in the color, viscosity, and flavors of the honey each hive produces. What I’m reading, watching, and filling my social media feeds with is such an interesting unintentional indicator (even to myself) of the thoughts I’m prioritizing delving into and learning more about.
Taking the time to learn from content others are creating is just as important as publishing your own, and I’ve certainly found myself in more of a ‘learning’ more than a ‘producing’ mode recently. So here are a few podcasts, articles, and videos I learned from this week!
Book | Thinking in Pictures, Temple Grandin
Although I have been a fan of Temple Grandin’s work for many years in both the animal welfare and neurodiversity arenas (especially after attending a lecture she gave at Missouri State), I hadn’t actually read any of her books before.
Our cultures and lived experiences undoubtedly shape who we are; however, equally important to acknowledge is the role individual differences in beliefs, desires, intentions, emotions, and thoughts also have. The difference in minds is particularly interesting to explore in the context of idea creation and interpretation.
Not only did Temple Grandin do a wonderful job in explaining how she interprets her world, but she also delves into how this variance in her thought patterns has manifested longitudinally throughout her professional and personal pathways.
Article | The Beekeepers Who Don’t Want You to Buy More Bees
Written by David Segal, published 19 Aug 2023 in the New York Times
The need for agriculture and livestock management innovation in the face of a changing climate is becoming more and more apparent, and in fewer areas is this more evident than with bees.
Honeybee hives are often commercially managed operations, similar to other livestock like cows and swine, and are classified as such by the USDA. This article explores how the growing interest in ‘rent-a-hive’ beekeeping as an easy corporate responsibility on-ramp has led to an oversaturation of pollinators in some areas, driving out the native pollinating species. And while protecting bees is crucial for our food systems, so is preserving the biodiversity . The companies engaging with ‘rent-a-hive’ agencies are typically motivated by an impulse to do something both highly visible and clearly positive for the environment to lay consumers — greenwashing in the form of an apiary.
As noted in the article:
Asking people to dial down their honey bee enthusiasm isn’t easy. They are the celebrities of the insect world, a source of fascination, for their uncannily efficient social structure, and referenced in nearly every world religion.”
There are more bees living on the planet right now than ever before in human history. Much of this stems from overcompensation for past (and potentially future) colony collapse issues. Unfolding before our eyes, the effects of too many bees are not yet know. I know it will be something I continue to follow.
Another reason this piece interested me was that this could have easily been reported on as both an agriculture or ecological conservation story. I was familiar with the intersectionality of both of these beats within land-use and ranching reporting, but hadn’t considered it in the context of bees before.
Video | The #1 Tip for People Who Use the Internet by Hank Green, VlogBrothers
The internet has existed basically my entire life. And despite the innumerable good it brings, there is also plenty of bad.
Exploring the axiom of virility, Hank discusses how being an internet creator results in receiving a quantity of criticism and takes most people would never receive day-to-day.
As he notes,
…one thing I can say to every creator out there, the mere fact that a take exists does not mean that it is worthy of even one neuron of your brain focusing on it.”
For both online and offline life, it’s an interesting exploration of what critiques people should take seriously as well as the manifestation of diversity of thought people have.
Also, lots of cool frog footage makes it a winner in my book
Podcast | We Contain Multitudes, TED Radio Hour
TED talks are a mainstay for me, with TED Radio Hour being no exception. In this episode, TED speakers explore both sides of the coin for issues including mental health, parenting, and AI.
A sub-theme of my recent explorations has been how strengths have the potential to become weaknesses, falling under the theory of mind umbrella mentioned previously. Although I haven’t yet watched the full TED talk since listening to the excerpts in this podcast, I’m particularly interested in learning more about the points raised by Andy Dunn in sharing his story centered around his mental health struggles as an entrepreneur.
…And Social Media | Morgan Harper Nichols’ Poetry and Art
In being more intentional about spending less time on the app that used to have a blue bird as their logo, I’ve found myself gravitating towards more text-based creators on other social media platforms. Not exactly sure how I hadn’t come across Morgan Harper Nichols before, but to say I’m completely captivated by pretty much all of her posts is probably an understatement. They’re the perfect little reminders at just the right time, oftentimes expressing feelings I’m struggling to put into words.
Those are some of the things I’ve been exploring in the last week- would love to hear if there’s any books, videos, posts, or podcasts that may have resonated with you recently!
