User:Jwfelder

Still rather new to editing Wikipedia. I'm a student of Environmental Science at the University of Washington, Bothell with experience in the plant nursery business. I am proficient (but not entirely expert) at Adobe Photoshop. My native language is (American) English. I have some ability in the use of ArcMap Software. I have some experience in relational database construction and use. I can read and write in Spanish with the occasional help of a dictionary. I have a basic knowledge of the Japanese language (one semester of college study). I have higher than average knowledge in many subjects (I have a Liberal Arts associates degree with a math and science emphasis), including geology, cultural and physical geography, astronomy, chemistry, physics, large-scale meteorology (i.e. I can't tell you in detail how specific weather systems form and behave, but I do have a good grasp on general climatic principles and global atmospheric and water cycles), biology, and other scientific fields. My specialty is in ecology and my focus is in the botanical aspects of ecology. As an offshoot of that, I am somewhat familiar with forestry. I am most familiar with plant communities in Mediterranean climates (California and Baja California in particular, but I have also done research projects on South African fynbos and semi-arid Australian vegetation regimes) and the coastal Pacific Northwest. My worst subjects in Jeopardy are questions about history, literary arts, fine arts, and pop culture. Basically if the answer begins with "Who is. . .", I don't know it, unless it pertains to current events.

I'm also an amateur photographer with some formal training. I post on Instagram, but I never (ever) use the filters. Why would anyone ruin a good photo with a preset filter?

I once flew a Cessna airplane once without incident and (I think) pretty well.

I consider myself an environmentalist and a feminist. I also consider myself both a citizen of America and the world. Problems don't usually start or end at borders, so it's important to acknowledge the world outside of them regardless of your position on border policy. Countries are not isolated from the rest of the world; the countries that come closest to this are ones under the harshest sanctions, such as North Korea, and I think we can all agree that sanctions are bad for the receiving party.

I know people say this a lot, but I carefully consider both sides of an issue. I often question the veracity of statements that even people who generally share the same opinions as me make, and I am wary of getting carried away by outrage. I actively try to put myself in the shoes of others to get where they're coming from, and frequently find myself sympathetic toward people on opposite sides of an issue and feel they're getting treated unfairly. I suppose some of this comes from me getting in friendly debates with a particular coworker over political issues. Never even once did it escalate to shouting, and I, every once in a while, came to be swayed by his arguments. Getting all worked up about things usually isn't helpful and isn't worth the stress. You'll never change someone's mind with anger, insults, personal attacks, or overly general statements. Those things are only good for rallying people who already agree with you.

I don't get my news from social media, and neither should you.

Hobbies:

watching youtube. SciShow, Veritasium, and Vsauce are some of my favorite channels.

educating myself

listening to NPR

hiking (including multiple day backpacking trips)

video games (I'm an Overwatch League fan)

reading (I've caught myself up on Song of Ice and Fire)

anime

I can surf, though not very well

I loosely follow Formula 1 and usually get excited when they tighten the belt on the fuel efficiency standards

Music:

I'm pretty eclectic in my tastes, though I need to be in the right mood to enjoy country, trap, jazz, or classical unless I'm engaging it with intellectual curiosity. My favorite genre (if you can call it a genre) is EDM, though I'm very picky about what EDM music I listen to (let's face it, most of it is garbage). Favorite artists include Robotaki, Porter Robinson, The Prodigy, Daft Punk, Mat Zo, Odesza, and Justice (Woman Worldwide was such a good album). More recently I've been listening to Far Out and a local (Seattle area) artist who goes by the name Metsä.