Essay 4/ new survey update

I appreciate all of the constructive criticism. It helped me format my questions better and I have created a newer, improved survey. Gathering information would be greatly appreciated so results can be analyzed. Drafting should begin soon after results are in.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2CPWXXJ

Essay 4 Update and Survey

For my survey, I'm conducting questions related to the information manipulation theory and how it covers the truth about the food consumed by college student. The information manipulation theory is the theory that false or untold information can lead to incorrect facts. Question conducted so far include "Are you aware of where most of the food you consume comes from?" and "Does the majority of food you eat lead to a healthy lifestyle" The manipulation of information by companies will hopefully be revealed through this survey.

Link to survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2CPWXXJ

Indigenous Resistance and Rascist Schooling

In the article Indigenous resistance and racist schooling on the borders of empires: Coast Salish cultural survival Michael Marker discusses the integration of Native Indians known as Coast Salish into American and Canadian culture. The Coast Salish Indians lived along the borders of what we know as America and Canada, mostly in the Washington area. After British and Americans began taking their land, the two took a different approach to how they would educate them. The Canadians mixed them in with their citizens making them lose some of their heritage, while the Americans put them in schools alone. Both decisions I believe were based off of racism but in the end I feel like the American Indians have more to be proud about. My personal opinion would have been to leave them as they were before English settlers arrived and let them govern and educate themselves.

Essay 3

People need to consider the problems with producing sustainable foods and realize what they are buying and consuming. Also this will help better the environment if people were not blind to the facts. For example, what The Meatrix dispalyed throughout various clips showed how meats were processed at industrial farms. The way those animals are treated are immoral and the consumption of these animals is not the healthiest thing for people. As far as essay 3 goes, a place has not been chosen to write about. I will hopefully find a place that needs to be revealed to the average buyer and consumer of the products mentioned above. There must be a stand taken against the immoral acts of big businesses and their greed. All sorts have problems have resulted from this and hopefully throughout essay 3 I will be able to effectively explain the problem and educate someone who doesn't know about these things.

Ethical Dilemma: Fracking

People of Pennsylvania protesting the fracking being done in near by areas. "We Can't Drink Money!" is referring to the the natural gases that are contaminating the water supply by fracking. This is an ethical dilemma because natural gases are need at the moment but it's not worth ruining the water of people. It's the people with money who are controlling the fracking vs the people dealing with the problems.

Environmental Ethics

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1637952/?tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract

 

 

McKibben, Lustgarten, Kusnetz all have a common goal; to decrease the amount of environmental damage done by humanity. In the article listed above, JJ Steinburg discusses environmental ethics. Even though it was written over more than a decade ago, the same principles Steinburg preach are vital today. He discusses pesticides and their negative effects on people. His main them is the unethical treatmeant of nature just as the authors discussed in class. They all know that the world could be a better place if people were educated on the matter.

Richard Kahn Response

                Richard Kahn opens up with an engaging introduction by quoting Paulo Freire’s, the founder of Ecopedagogy, statement on ethics. “It is urgent that we assume the duty of fighting for the fundamental ethical principles, like respect for the life of human beings, the life of other animals, the life of birds, the life of rivers and forest.” Kahn then goes into how people of the 21^st century are in a great crisis due to multiple factors. The world today is suffering from its history and the same traditions are continued throughout current times. Recent advancements in industry and technology have left Earth with a ruined atmosphere. The planet will be destroyed if these actions continue to take place.

            Technocapitalism, the emergence of new technology, has become a threat to destroy organisms and their habits Kahn states. In a way this is true, it seems to be all about the money and not the conservation of the environment. In current times it’s easy to tell that technology is the driving force behind the economy, and the lack of care to nature is coming into effect. Humanity, other organisms and their habitats are being destroyed for human production and consumption. People are greedy and self-centered considering that they’re supposed to be sharing the world. For example, Kahn talks about deforestation having gone up in the past few years for the production of paper. Also how global fishing is causing the disappearance of several species of fish. The selfish ways of humans is harming other living organisms in an unethical manor. The soil and oceans are also being polluted and becoming inhabitable. Things such as oil spills have killed numerous amounts of marine animals and people are to blame for that. Land animals are also killed in large quantities just so people can enjoy a burger at a fast food joint. It seems completely wrong for people to kill animals and consume them just for a quick bite to eat. There are foods put on this earth for us to consume; not saying humans are not supposed to eat animals but the manner in which it takes place is immoral.

            Capitalism is one of the main causes of the downfall of the humanities relationship with Earth and its organisms. “New advances in capitalist lifestyle and practice are then directly responsible for grave exacerbations of widespread poverty and suffering, species genocide, and environmental destruction. Kahn seems to exert socialist and liberal emotions through his writings. Social justice is what his argument pushes for. People must be educated on the matter of this ongoing issue. With people blind to the facts, it seems like the solutions will never be found; knowing is half the problem. There’s a section in the writing the shows how uninformed the public is of the surrounding environment.

            The mistreatment of nature is pushed throughout the writing and the point that educating people about ecopedagogy is a necessity, but it can’t be confined just to this. At this point in time, humanity and the ecosystems must work as one and the actions of people must take on an ecopedagogy fashion. Several movements and organizations have been started in hopes of spreading the word of capturing an amazing relationship with Earth and all of its inhabitants in order to save everyone. The viewpoints and solutions mentioned by Kahn are somewhat radical, but in a catastrophic situation like the one at hand, why not take that kind of approach? It’s all in hopes of a better tomorrow, not just for humanity, but all living things and the supplier for all, Earth.

Natural Gas Fracking Linked to Water Contamination

           In recent months federal environment officials have discovered that underground water pollution in Wyoming has probably resulted from gas drilling processes. The drilling industry has argued that fracking is safe but this incident has contradicted their argument. This proves Kahn’s words to be true. He stated that the capitalist powers are after money and could care less about nature. This is what people need to be concerned about instead of some of the less significant issues the public is faced with. It’s not certain that the contamination has come from fracking but the possibility that it did is high.

            This issue is stirring up a political debate. It has to become a concern, because residents within the area of the fracking have been complaining about foul water. The EPA have conducted test that have help prove their case but still it’s not 100%. Some of the same chemicals were found in the water that is used during the drilling process. “Investigators tested the cement and casing of the gas wells and found what they described as "sporadic bonding" of the cement in areas immediately above where fracking took place. The cement barrier meant to protect the well bore and isolate the chemicals in their intended zone had been weakened and separated from the well, the EPA concluded (Lustgarten, Kusnetz, ProPublica).” This is somewhat proof that it comes from the fracking. Gas is much needed with today but the way the Earth is being harmed by it is immoral.

            From what has been documented in this article, it’s obvious that this is a major problem. This is probably occurring in more places than just Wyoming and who knows what this can do to people that intake the contaminated water. For public safety some sort of solution must be reached. The safety of people is more important than the contraction of gas.

Snyder Poems

Control Burn
The Uses of Light
Avacado

These three poems have great meaning; Avacado being my favorite. Snyder talks about how the Dharma is like an Avacado. Many layers to him and they're so good and in  the middle(soul) is your own original nature. Then The Uses of Light talks about how powerful a source the sun is. As people we should embrace this blessing. Last but not least is Control Burn where Snyders refers back to how the Native Americans treated the land with such respect. Through these chapters I feel as if Snyder was trying to say we need to go back to the basics.

Turtle Island Response 2

After reading several of Snyders poems it's obvious to see his love and compassion for the enviornment. One that stood out was "Control Burn" in which he mentions how the Indians treated the land. Snyder wants a the land to be how it was when the Indians inhabited it. All of his writings show emphasize on nature, whether its the land, water or air. He also uses a lot of anologies to put things in the ordinary persons prospective. Several good arguments and points are made through his words. The more I read, the more in tune with nature I feel. Humanity is in need of a reality check before something extreme takes place.

Turtle Island Response

Gary Snyder makes it a point to show that humans have brought Earth to the point its at. Snyder wants people to understand its there fault and there's some sort of gloominess to it. At the same time, his poems are light and whimsical. He goes on and on about the environment and how we need to come up with solutions that will save our environment and Humanity itself. Snyder's approach was special in throughout Turtle Island, earning him to earn a Pulitzer Prize for it. He makes the topic of life threatening issues so intriguing. It actually makes you sit down and think of something to do to stop this catastrophe.

Bill McKibbens Podcast

Author Bill McKibben's, Eaarth is a very vivid and powerful writing. The title has important meaning; Eaarth was given two a's to show that the planet has drastically altered since its start. McKibben mentions issues involving environment, food sources, fossil fuels and other global impacting topics. There's a lot that's taken  for granted by humans as far as Earth goes, and many are ignorant to the subjects brought up in this book. These are not typical things the average person talks or thinks about.  Recently, an assignment was given on a bio-regional quiz and not many questions were relatable to the students. There is a problematic lack of knowledge when it comes to the planet, and McKibben's stresses this.

Pollution

Roderick Frazier Nash's Island Civilization discusses several factors that have contributed to the damage of our environment. One that stuck out in particular to me was pollution. Nash states how the word pollution was introduced to society in the mid 1960's. Recently it has become a trending topic amongst environmentalist and set off an alarm to people all across the world. Pollution can be defined as "the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that causes adverse change." As humans, we've contributed more pollutants to our environment than any other species on Earth. If we damaged it, we should be the ones to find the solution.

Over thousands of years, people have introduced technology that has had a bitter sweet effect on us. Think of how people were living thousands of years ago in huts but they were not harming their surroundings. Today we have cities such as New York City with thousands of buildings that house millions of people but with this come destruction to the environment due to pollutants. I have aspirations to live in New York when I graduate from college but after reading Nash's statements about how selfish humans have been with our surrounding neighbors; it makes me question my decision to move. I may just remain a small town boy, contributing to the demise of the world as little as I can. Still, I want to live out my dreams in New York whether I distribute many pollutants or not. That's the issue, finding a balance for humanity's technological advancements and the well-being of the Mother Nature.

http://www.nrdc.org/air/cleanairact/default.asp?gclid=CNWf_4zS-7ECFc2b7Qod_wsAgQ 

Island Civilization

                Geoffrey Gore

Author, Robert Nash, discusses his views on how mankind’s relationship with the environment has changed over the last several centuries. He states that the purpose of the essay was to find a way to uphold the whole ecosystem (not just humans) and to have it work in the long run. Wilderness, being considered a state of mind and geographical feature, was mentioned throughout the passage. It mentions how people haven’t always shunned the so called “wild.” It didn’t begin until mankind considered themselves above nature, and the domestication of land and animals allowed man to feel superior. These so called barriers between man and nature led to “wild” people, such as the Native Americans centuries ago, to be killed or outcast. As the 20^th century began, some environmentalist and others decided that it was time to modify the status quo of the wilderness and civilization. With hopes of progressing the Wilderness Act of 1964 was passed, creating the first national parks, but Nash argues that it was for the benefit of people. In the latter part of the century, a new theory came along in which people realized they weren’t supposed to be the beneficiaries of the protection of the wilderness/environment. Words such as “environmentalism” and “pollution” emerged in the 1960’s causing a rise in support for the rights of nature. People’s minds seemed to be on the right track, but destruction to the environment continued into the current millennium. Nash mentions how there are several ways the world can be destructed a thousand years from now if the bad habits of people carry on that long. Humans have been terrible neighbors to the other inhabitants of the planet and even Earth itself. With limited space on the planet and the increasing amount of people on the planet, it’s only right to admit that people have taken up more than their fair share.  In reality though, what are one’s options if people don’t continue as are? To help the situation, some say reverting back to primitive ways could help, but it seems far fetched.

“Perhaps humans of the distant future could choose on a seasonal basis between ways of life centered on computers or campfires,” Nash mentions, meaning the future stands on sacrifice. Something has to be given up by people for the relationship amongst themselves and nature to sustain. Personally, I’m at a crossroads internally on this battle. A part of me believes sharing the world with all species and nature is the right thing to do, but how could our current society survive with “primitive” ways. Our generation thrives off of technological advances. Not that my view points are the exact same as Nash’s, but I appreciate his efforts to reach a solution. The relationship between mankind and nature is a very important one. It’s just as a man and woman’s relationship. It’s obvious that if either one in the relationship is putting in less effort, it results in a strain on the relationship. For last several centuries, man hasn’t been contributing to the relationship, resulting in the current situation. Hopefully a solution will be offered and action will be taken soon because people are ruining something that I feel was once beautiful. “Growth was confused with progress.” This is my favorite line in the essay. Years of environmental neglect have resulted in the entire ecosystem suffering and some of the effects are irreversible. Nash made good points throughout his writing and as he mentioned it’s going to come down to choice. People, compared to other species, have been selfish beyond measure. Is mankind willing to give up unnecessary treasures to better the ecosystem? It’s hard to determine at this point, but I agree with Nash as far a “glass half full” attitude. Have to be positive for a problem such as this to be solved.