Relevance to environmental science: The setting of the cotton plantation itself is related to issues discussed in my discipline. Cultivating cotton is a branch of agriculture and the characters in the story were dependant on the cotton for a stable lifestyle. Someone dealing with agriculture would think about ways to maximize profit from the available land and the gin-owner showed that when he didn't ask for compensation for his burned gin. He concluded that it was more affordable to have Jake and Flora process his cotton. This can also be associated with energy conservation which maximizes the yearly income.
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