Thus far this semester, my favorite speaker has been the anthropology professor who examines the anthropological effects of sustainable culture. As a psychology major and a person who has immense interest in anthropology I found this speaker extremely interesting. I have never really considered the fact that other cultures than our own also make sustainability a lifestyle and, in fact, are even more sustainably aware then we are. It is extremely interesting to observe how being forced to live a sustainable lifestyle can transform a culture and force it to change. Be the cause for the change a natural disaster, change of regime, or simply a cultures society realizing that the world is dying and we are the only ones capable of preventing it, the change can impact a culture forever. Just a few years ago when Japan was devastated by an earthquake the resulted in a tsunami and nuclear fallout essentially decimating their resources, specifically their once massive fishing market. Because of this incident they were forced to reevaluate their lifestyle and begin to consider becoming more sustainable. As the professor was telling us about how this horrible disaster was also shopping Japan into a more sustainable nation and culture she was also relating an anecdote about a Japanese fisherman who’s story I found vastly interesting. This man was a physics prodigy and most likely could have become an amazing physicist, however, as the first son of a Japanese fishing family he was indebted to carry on the family business. In much of the media I’ve been subject to my entire life I have seen stories of people who were passionate about one thing but forced into another. These stories were almost always about how the characters would break out of their destined task so that they might follow their passion, however, in the story the professor told us the man simply needed to discover that he could accomplish what he was passionate about without having actually accomplished it and he was satisfied enough to follow the task he was destined to do. I found this incredible, this dedication to his cultural norms in amazing. When the professor continued to explain that even though the fishing market was ruined, fishermen still planned to follow their career I was even more impressed with their dedication. Even with this immense amount of dedication to what is culturally normal the people are still open to making their lives better by implementing a more sustainable lifestyle which speaks volumes for the importance of living more sustainably. All in all I found the lecture very interesting and I’m now rather passionate about sustainability related anthropology!