"For in the end, we will conserve only what we love, love only what we understand, and understand only what we are taught."
~Baba Dieum
This website last updated 10/12/02. The new design was put into place, and the current work and old stuff links were updated. Yay for updation!
This website is for MIT's class 12.000, Complex Problem Solving. Our class's mission is to "develop a way to characterize and monitor the well-being of one of the last
true frontiers on Earth – the Amazon Basin rainforest – and devise a set of practical strategies to ensure its preservation." Our class is divided into nine groups, designed to cover the different
aspects of preserving the rainforest.
I'm in group four, fauna. Our group goals are
"As part of Mission 2006's general goal to develop ways to characterize and monitor the well being of the Amazon Basin rainforest and devise methods of preservation,
the Fauna Group will first categorize fauna and develop exemplary case studies. Within each of these studies we will define basic requirements for healthy fauna populations by
identifying appropiate indicators of population health. We will
then proceed to identify threats to the fauna of the rainforest and attempt to develop strategies that will lessen these threats while also developing strategies to monitor fauna population health"
Our basic approach right now rests on the idea that as long there is no more deforestation and the soil, air, and water are kept healthy and happy, the current fauna population will maintain itself.
As this is obviously not correct (i.e. some species are currently on the brink of extinction, and need improved enviornment to sustain life), it does bring up some problems. Part of the major
decision the fauna group has to make is what we want to conserve. Are we worried about the ecosystem as a whole, or are we worried about individual species?
