Technology Fueled by Laziness
All one needs to do to invent a new technology is to somehow, someway, invent something to make your life and little easier, and you as a person, a little bit lazier. This may sound like a vague statement, but there are thousands of examples where this is the case. Here is one examples: the remote control, one of the major reasons of its existence is because people got tired of having to get up off their lazy rear ends to get up to change the channel. Granted that this example is not the best in the world to describe the argument of this article, but it will have to do, for now. But if you seriously think about it, most, if not all, inventions of increased technology, are some how linked to man’s laziness, and how he can make his life just a little bit simpler.

Tobacco
Tobacco has been in a decline since the settlements of 1998, which totaled $206 billion dollars. Just how is this affecting agriculture and our tobacco farmers. Sales have fallen $409 million dollars or 34 percent just in the state of North Carolina alone. The quotas have been dropped to over 45 percent in the last three years. Quotas are the rights to grow tobacco and today a lot of them are owned by people who don’t even farm anymore, maybe never did. They rent their quotas to farmers. But since the quotas have been cut there has been less to rent out and so some are wanting more for what quota they have left and farmers desperate to make money and pay off money already lost are willing to pay the higher rents. The result is alternatives like Giant Malaysian shrimp, medicinal herbs, goat meat and cheese, and mushrooms. A grant has been developed to help tobacco farmers deal with these hard times. The Golden LEAF Foundation is giving several mini-grants to farmers to let them try or experiment with a new crop or alternative. By this event taking place agriculture will never be the same again. There will never be another cash crop like tobacco and there is no silver bullet but the agriculture industry is doing its best to prepare tobacco farmers for a new outlook on agriculture and broadening their scope of what can be grown.

Dixie Chicks
Ten days before our country went to war 15 words were spoken by a woman named Natalie and they were heard around the world. “I think it is a shame that our President is from Texas”. These words were spoken by a band member of the Dixie Chicks at their concert in England. The next day country music radio pulled their songs from the air and their music sales plummeted. They have been interviewed by Bob Kingsley and by Diane Sawyer. The repercussions of those words are very ironic that people are turning their backs on the Dixie Chicks and calling them un-American because I thought that is what our country was all about…freedom. Our fights in the past have been for our precious freedom and when we, the United States, entered into this war it was for the same reasons not only for our freedom but for the freedom of the suppressed people of Iraq. That is why our forefathers came to this country. They came so that they could have things like freedom of speech and freedom of religion. So that they can do what they wanted to do when they wanted to it and not have any one person ruling over them. The people of the country would direct the future of the country. But to every story there are two sides of the coin. On one side it is just what I stated above that the people of America should be able to exercise their freedom of speech. But on the other hand they should have known better. Being in the position that they are – it would be like a newscaster giving their opinions on the presidential candidates on national TV. They have a great influence on many people and they should have kept their opinions to their self. This is an example of the tolerance level of many Americans is today.

Urban Sprawl
It is a fact, that this country looses 365 Acres of land due to Urban Sprawl. Urban Sprawl is caused by an ever-increasing population in this country. One of the major reasons for an increase in the population has stemmed from immigration, with views from some stating that the Caucasian race will be a minority in this country, within 7 years. Urban Sprawl is a major problem that is noticed by practically everyone. I mean, how can you not notice it with all the increased industrialization, just within the Clemson area. I grew up not far from Clemson, living in Seneca, SC. I can now drive on Hwy 123, from Clemson through Seneca, and count 13 new redlights, and approximately 70 new businesses that have arose, just within the 22 years I have lived here. While Urban Sprawl is a highly noticeable situation, many are blind to the damaging effects it will have to our country if something is not done to reduce it’s rate. I feel that one of the damaging effects of urban sprawl will be a lack of land to produce livestock and crops, so much to the effect that we will not be able to feed the population of our own country, much less make a profit from livestock and crops by exporting them to other countries. As of right now, our country has enough food to feed ourselves for approximately 1 week. Meaning that if production of all food and fiber products ceased today, we would have enough food to feed ourselves for one week. While this may seem good to some people, the number of days for excess of supply of food decrease, as urban sprawl and an increase of our population continues. Due to all these reasons one major concern that weighs heavily on my mind is when are we going to realize the monster of urban sprawl, we have created, is going to destroy our country, and who is going to do something about it?

The Overpopulation of the White-tailed Deer
Less than seventy years ago, the white-tailed deer population in the United States was nothing compared to what it is today. The white-tailed deer is one example of many wildlife species that have become overpopulated. Most of the overpopulation of wildlife, as is the case with the white-tailed deer, has been aided by man. The white-tailed deer is one of the most hunted game species in the world. Many outdoorsmen have been drawn to seek these very cautious, alert, and stealthy animals. Many have found the sport of deer hunting a family tradition, which has been handed down from generation to generation.
The first generation of deer hunters, such as the Native Americans and the English settlers, did not hunt deer just for the sport. Rather, that had to hunt deer for their survival, in order to feed themselves and their family. The deer hunting in today’s world is considered a sport, more so than a means of putting food on the table.
With the sport of deer hunting being handed down with every generation and the population of the United States increasing dramatically, many laws were put into effect in each state that would allow for deer populations to increase in order to meet the supply for an increasing demand of deer hunters. Due to the population of United States citizens increasing and the deer population increasing, it seems as though the two have met. Much of the habitat that supports the deer population is becoming urbanized. Which has led to many communities complaining when the deer that once lived in their new backyard are eating their expensive shrubs, flowers and grasses. Also, these increased populations have led to more deer-vehicle accidents than ever before.
Because deer hunting has become more of a sport than a necessity has also led to overpopulation of deer on what are commonly referred to as deer farms. These are areas where “outdoorsmen” can pay money to “hunt” deer that live on these farms. Many of these farms are fenced in areas, with the population of deer nearly double what it should be. These farms also supplementary feed the deer out of troughs a lot like feeding silage to cows. The feeding of the overpopulation of deer at centralized areas has enabled diseases to spread very quickly among the herd. This is the case with what is know as Chronic Wasting Disease. This disease attacks the brain of the deer and eventually deteriorates it until the deer dies. This disease was only found in captive animals on deer farms, until only a few months ago, when it was found in several species of wild deer in Colorado.
One method of not necessarily stopping, but minimizing the risk of Chronic Wasting Disease has already been implemented. The SCDNR has laws that prohibit the buying and shipping of captive deer from another state into South Carolina. I believe that this is a good method of control, but a downfall to it is that it will be hard to enforce and assess the law.
There has always been a constant battle between the populations of humans and the populations of wildlife and animals that we use for food and pleasure. It is very important that we do what we can to keep both of these populations in check, so that the resources that are needed for survival of both humans and animals are available. The main concern and question to be asked is how much are we as the human population willing to sacrifice to provide what we can for other inhabitants of our land. Mother Nature, as she has in the past, will balance things out, one way or another.

My name is Chad Ayers. I am an Agriculture Education major at Clemson University. I am currently the president of the CCFFA (Clemson Collegiate FFA), which is the organization associated with my major.I also serve as president of The Clemson University Bass Fishing Club, which I started in the Spring of 2000. The Fishing Club is currently inactive, but hopefully will become active again in the near future.
I am also a member of Clemson University Block and Bridle and serve as Beef Cattle Sales Chairman. I work for the University on the Beef Cattle Farm. I also enjoy activites such as hunting, fishing, and playing the drums. In the near future my website on blogspot will be filled with information and opinions from the subjects covered in my History of American Technology class.