Survey Update 11/19

As of now 13 people have taken both of my surveys. I've done a little analysis on the results of the two surveys and they are solid so far. Feel free to take either of them!
Here are the links to both of them:
Part 1: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RWSNJLZ
Part 2: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RMJWLMS

Quick Survey Update

I am somewhat making progress on my Survey and Essay 4. I have most of my questions done at this point and I'm using Survey Monkey now to collect the data that goes with my topic. I have 2 surveys that consist of 10 questions and 9 questions. The survey has to do with how sports fans react to their teams doing well or not. As an avid sports fan, I am looking forward to the results to this survey/study. The links to the surveys are below.


Survey 1 - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RWSNJLZ
Survey 2 - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RMJWLMS

Indigenous Resistance and Racist Schooling on the Borders of the Empires Synthesis

            To give an overview, the article “Indigenous Resistance and Racist Schooling on the Borders of the Empires” talks about the Coastal Salish people and how they were affected by the drawing of the USA-Canadian line in the Pacific Northwest. A couple ways that the Coastal Salish people were affected was through the schooling they were told to receive, and the physical border that was put up between Canada and the USA.

            One way that the Coastal Salish people were affected by the influence of the government and the border was through the public schooling. The public schools were more concerned with making the Coastal Salish children abandon their cultural and religious knowledge to learn American or Canadian ways. This was viewed as racist and led to the tribe people being so upset and disappointed in the public schools that they started to school the children themselves. This has led the children to continue in the way of the Coastal Salish culture at the cost of having to have parents teach them.

In terms of the physical border put up, it hindered the Coastal Salish people from communicating with one another. Pre-border, members of the tribe could easily relay messages or even travel to and from the two locations. Now with the definite border, there is security and such lining the boundary between the two countries. This makes it hard for members of the tribe to travel short distances across the border. Having to go through security was an unnecessary procedure according to the Coastal Salish people, one that shouldn't have to be performed.

For both of these reasons, the Coastal Salish people were disappointed and felt oppressed to the point that they no longer wanted their children schooled by the public. They would rather teach their own kids traditions with the “assimilation attitude” of the United States.

Sustainability Issues in the Outer Banks

         The Outer Banks, located along the coast of Virginia and North Carolina, are a group of islands that should be cautious of how they are affecting the environment. Most of the people that visit the Outer Banks are either homeowners or tourists. Each summer the islands are loaded with not only people, but people that are hungry for seafood. When most people go to the beach on a spring or summer vacation, they will most-likely want seafood. This is the cause for all the various types of seafood restaurants located on the island. With a high amount of seafood restaurants, there is obviously going to be a giant need for seafood. Most of the seafood eaten in the Outer Banks is brought in from any of the numerous docks in the area including Oregon Inlet Fishing Center. Although the seafood may taste good and fresh, the amount of fish and other organisms that humans are taking from this area is not healthy for the environment. The relationship between the fisherman and the environment is anything but mutual and before long there might not be any fish left at all. This is an issue that needs to be addressed and fixed soon so that we may enjoy the pleasures of seafood for a very long time.
          Also another sustainability issue facing the Outer Banks is erosion. The islands have been currently getting smaller and smaller width wise for awhile now. It seems that every year the "beach" in the Outer Banks moves up a foot or two. This may not seem like a problem right now, but if you look at this in a wider scope, you will note that it is not good for the future of the islands or the homeowners that have residences on the islands.

Environmental Ethics

          This is a picture of the world cut in half and inside it is a beautiful scene with a lone tree and a clear sky. The interpretations of this picture can be different for everyone since there are no words or captions. However, my interpretation of this picture is that inside the earth, there is beauty waiting to come to the outside. This can also be said about everyone on the earth. If we shape up our attitudes and actions (ethics) toward our planet, then this inner beauty would easily shine through. 
          Environmental ethics is an important issue to discuss when talking about the wellness and sustainability of earth today. "Environmental ethics is a branch of philosophy that considers the moral relations between human beings and their natural environment. As a field of study  it assumes that humans have certain responsibilities to the natural world, and it seeks to help people and their leaders become aware of them and to act responsibly when they do things that impact the natural world." (1)
          If we want to bring out the potential beauty lying in the center of the earth, we must learn to develop a productive and healthy relationship with our environment.

To access this picture, as well as learn more about Environmental Ethics, visit http://www.scienceclarified.com/El-Ex/Environmental-Ethics.html#b

"Fracking Fury" by Janna Palliser

In the peer-reviewed article I choose, “Fracking Fury” by Janna Palliser, many interesting points are brought up. Palliser starts the article off by defining what hydraulic fracking (HF) is and what it is known as. Palliser defines fracking as “an unconventional technique in gas production that has been around in some form since the 1940s” and that “the gas extracted through HF is highly dispersed in rock, instead of in a concentrated underground location, and dispersed gas is produced only by special stimulation techniques” (2). Later on in the article she uncovers the pros and cons of HF and how they affect the surrounding environment. One pro of HF is that natural gas is cleaner than other natural resources such as coal and oil. On the other hand, one con of HF is that the regulations on it haven’t been established yet because HF is a fairly new method of drilling and the hazards associated with it are also new. “Escalating concerns include adverse effects on drinking water, human health, animals, and ecosystems.” (7) Towards the end of the article Palliser begins to talk about how the dangerous the fracking industry has become because, as of 2011, they do not have to follow the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act.

            I agree with Palliser on how harmful the fracking industry can be and that they need to be regulated. Although this new type of natural gas is cleaner, if you look at the net gain/loss, it still isn’t the best choice for energy. Many terrible things can be caused from fracking such as drinking water pollution, human and animal health, and the functioning of ecosystems.

To view the article for yourself visit: http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=c2aaf717-ebd9-4fd3-b7ab-093c50305281%40sessionmgr113&vid=1&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=sch&AN=71939139

Fracking: To Drill or Not to Drill

            A recent report was released by the EPA on how the fracking process in Wyoming has caused contamination in the water source for Pavillion, a small town located near the fracking site. You might be asking yourself “What is fracking?” According to Wikipedia, fracking, or hydraulic fracturing “is a technique used to release petroleum, natural gas (including shale gas, tight gas and coal seam gas), or other substances for extraction. This type of fracturing creates fractures from a well bore drilled into reservoir rock formations.” Fracking was said to be perfectly safe for the environment by the drilling industry due to the fact “that hydrologic pressure would naturally force fluids down, not up; that deep geologic layers provide a watertight barrier preventing the movement of chemicals towards the surface; and that the problems with the cement and steel barriers around gas wells aren't connected to fracking.” (Lustgarten, and Kusnetz 6) However, there was found to be “synthetic compounds such as glycol ethers...and the assortment of other organic components…as the result of direct mixing of hydraulic fracturing fluids with ground water in the Pavillion gas field”. “This is in part because 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, and Kusnetz 19) “The report also found that hydrologic pressure in the Pavillion area had pushed fluids from deeper geologic layers towards the surface. Those layers were not sufficient to provide a reliable barrier to contaminants moving upward.” (Lustgarten, and Kusnetz 20)

            From this recent report, we can see the danger to the environment and to our own lives of “fracking” close to towns or cities. Although we might need the gas or resources, nothing is worth endangering the lives of human beings so carelessly. There is a little good news for the drilling industry though because the findings of the EPA “…in Wyoming are specific to the region's geology; the Pavillion-area gas wells were fracked at shallower depths than many of the wells in the Marcellus shale and elsewhere.” This means that in most other locations the fracking takes place so far beneath the surface of the Earth that the chemicals that are produced cannot possibly get into the well water of the surrounding areas. However, I still believe that caution, awareness, and safety should be used when performing this process.

             To read the article yourself, click the link http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fracking-linked-water-contamination-federal-agency

Lustgarten, Abraham, and Nicholas Kusnetz. "EPA: Natural Gas Fracking Linked to Water             Contamination."Scientific American. 09 Dec 2011: n. page. Web. 27 Sep. 2012

Quote From "Towards Ecopedagogy"

          While reading "Towards Ecopedagogy", a piece written by Richard Kahn, I found a very a pair of quotes/facts very interesting and insightful. In his essay Kahn says that "95% of all American adults support having environmental education programs in schools" and "45 million Americans think the ocean is a fresh source of water".
          These two quotes can seem not linked in any way at all; however, if you dig deeper they show the main reason our education system is messed up in the first place. The first quote says that almost all American adults support teaching future generations about the environment and how to save it from the current downfall it is headed for. But if you read the second quote right after you read the first, this can be confusing or misleading. This quotes says that 45 million Americans think that the ocean is made up of fresh water. This is preposterous! Anyone who has even been in an ocean knows that the water tastes salty, and therefore cannot be fresh! The whole question is: What are we teaching our children about the environment? Everyone can agree that we have a problem with the environment that needs fixing, but not informing people correctly about that problem is dangerous. If we are going to support "environmental education", we need to make sure that the information is accurate and sustainable. We can not afford to the future generations thinking that the ocean is fresh water if we want their help to sustain and maintain our planet.

Themes from Turtle Island: Part 3

As I continue my reading of Turtle Island, it is almost getting easier to pick out themes based on our in-class discussions and such. Again, I have picked out three of the poems in Turtle Island and summarized what I think they mean.

The first poem I picked to read was Manzanita. In this poem, Snyder is describing the Manzanita clan and how they live. The main point Snyder wrote this poem is to describe the way of life of the Manzanita people and to show that it is beautiful and peaceful. This is shown when he talks about the sunrise and the “gold-purple” pines and the echoing of the woodpecker’s sounds.

The second poem I read was Pine Tree Tops. In this poem, I believe Snyder is trying to once again show us the beauty of nature. The poem is very short; however it still contains many descriptive adjectives to really paint a picture in the readers mind. The purpose of the poem is to make the reader reflect onto their own experiences with nature and value them. This way, we will want to preserve it.

The last poem I read was For the Children. This poem is sort of a summary of the entire purpose for writing this book. In this poem, Snyder tells us that all we have before us is a “rising slope of statistics” and “everything, going up/up, as we all, go down.” But he does not leave us with only the bad news. He says that if “we make it” we can live in peace. The main theme in this poem is that we need to increase the bioregionalism in our culture so we do not lose our planet.

All three of these poems should shape the way that someone looks at our planet. Earth is a beautiful planet that deserves to be valued and treasured so we can enjoy its entirety.

Themes from Turtle Island: Part 2

As I read a couple more poems from Turtle Island, it has become a little easier to see the themes that Gary Snyder has embedded into his poems.

The first poem I read was The Dead by the Side of the Road in the “Manzanita” section. In this poem Snyder describes many different situations where humans have hurt or killed animals. These situations include road kill, hunting, or pollution. One of the main themes in this poem is that humans have a direct and indirect impact on the lives of animals. Whether we are running over animals (direct) or driving “log trucks” that “run on fossil fuel” (indirect), we are hurting animals and their environment. This theme is also echoed in one of my sources as it talks about humans being more aware of their actions and correcting the wrong things we do.

The next poem I read was By Frazier Creek Falls in the Magpie’s Song section. This poem is all about describing a beautiful scene over looking out over a cliff or mountain top. Snyder is describing the land as far as his eye can see. The theme here is that we are a piece of nature and we should acknowledge that and live as a part of it. Snyder even says this when he says “We are it/it sings through us”. This also relates to one of my sources in that we need to realize the beauty of the environment and value it.

The last poem I read was the Jemez Pueblo Ring in the For the Children section. In this poem Snyder tells the story of a ring made by Native Americans that is found in our time. This ring was buried under an apartment complex and was only found after the foundations of the old place had been moved out. The theme is that if we start reverting to old customs and make life simpler life, we might begin to enjoy our past more. We can start to fully understand our ancestors if and only if we revert to our past ways. This is connected to my sources in that we need to consider where our future is going and how to fix the eminent destruction we are headed for.

In conclusion, these three poems all open our eyes to the possibilities of the future, and how we should view nature. Rather than live separated from nature, we should live in harmony with it. If we do this, then the future of our planet should turn out a lot better off than the way it is looking now.

Themes from Turtle Island Part: 1

My selection of poems from Turtle Island includes 4 poems from the middle of the book that looked appealing. However, I did find some interesting results.

The first poem I came across is titled Steak. This poem describes one of many steak house restaurants that we have in America today. Snyder goes on to describe the people eating there as well as the cow’s location themselves on the farm. One theme I noticed in this poem is the savagery of humans and their meat. The purpose of these houses is to cut up cows and serve them as food to humans. And, as Snyder shows, we do it in the most inhumane way possible.

The next poem I read was Front Lines. This poem is telling the tale of a piece of wooded land that gets cleared out for a realty company. One theme in this poem is the aggressive expansion of Americans. With no regard for nature, we use bulldozers “grinding and slobbering/sideslipping and belching on top of/the skinned-up bodies of still live bushes” only “in the pay of a man/from town”.

Another poem I found was The Great Mother. Although this poem is only 5 lines, there is a major theme included in it. This theme is that human’s awareness need to increase. Every day we should think about the decisions we made and how they affect the environment.

The last poem I read was For Nothing. The theme this poem offers is that humans don’t appreciate the beauty of nature. The poem talks about “earthing a flower” but no one is there to appreciate it, so it ends up growing for vain.

I enjoyed the readings from Turtle Island and the challenges they produced. These poems all have similar themes and echo the thought of living with nature, not using it.

In Class Response to Bio-Quiz/Eaarth

        Bill McKibben, the author of Eaarth, has a podcast available on the Internet that is very convicting. In this podcast, McKibben talks about the way that humans use the planet Earth. McKibben also gives advice on how the Earth should be used and how to grow crops and such to avoid the overuse of land and resources. McKibben says many times that if these ways of farming and industry aren't corrected or fixed, the world may collapse sooner than expected. An interesting fact from McKibben's podcast was that "less than 1 percent of Americans are now really farming at the moment, so there's twice as many prisoners as there are farmers in the United States". Basically, the author is saying that these "go green" campaigns are going too slow. Another resource that is convicting and has pointed out human's unawareness for Earth is a simple Bio-regional Quiz. Many of the questions in the quiz go unanswered or end with the reader being dumbstruck. This hesitancy is an easy indicator of how much humans can ignore what is going on around them. Naturally, the human race would rather consume than conserve any day of the week.

Response to Bill McKibben’s Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

            After listening to the two podcasts between Bill McKibben and Mark Fischetti, I feel very more informed on the view that McKibben holds. The main point of his book and he repeatedly brings up in this interview is that although we might not have an exact plan or a "utopia" for our world yet, we need to be conscious and aware of what direction we are headed in.
            Another point McKibben made was that we need to localize things more. This doesn't neccesaritly mean staying in your "own little box" all day. McKibben mentions that in the past couple years in his life, he has stayed at home but is still able to connect globally and such through the progression of technology. He also states that:

"And so what is it that does work for poor and vulnerable people? I think the evidence is pretty clear that for instance, local, labor–intensive, low-input agriculture is the smartest option from much of the world, both in terms of providing jobs, security, stability and food, and in making those ecological systems robust enough to withstand the damage that's coming, that's already here."

            I think this ties right in with his localizing theme, as well as provides a semi-solution to the poverty issue. 

            I think one of the positive things to take from this interview and/or book by McKibben is that we are starting to slowly progress into the kind of country that we need to be. However, we might be moving to slowly. Although we are individually trying to do our best to "go green" by looking up how to "double-dig" and stuff, we need to come together and change the way we do things, store supplies, and clump tasks together as a nation.
            In closing, I'll leave you with an interesting fact that McKibben makes in his book: "Less than 1 percent of Americans are now really farming at the moment, so there's twice as many prisoners as there are farmers in the United States".

Feel free to listen to the podcast yourself, and form your own opinions at
Part 1: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=bill-mckibbens-eaarth-10-04-21
Part 2: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=bill-mckibbens-eaarth-conclusion-10-04-22&WT.mc_id=SA_emailfriend

The Purple Haze Aka Smog

As most people in China today look into the sky, they can barely even see its blue color or the funky looking clouds. This is created partly because of a thing called smog. According to Webster’s Dictionary, smog is: a fog made heavier and darker by smoke and chemical fumes. The word smog first came from the combination of the words “smoke” and “fog”. This smog, which has seemed to create a permanent yellow haze in their air, has become an extreme health concern for our environment today. Several factors play a role in creating this smog, such as automobile exhausts, certain VOC’s, and power plants.

In places where the most smog occurs, there is usually heavy motor vehicle traffic, high temperatures, sunshine, and calm winds. This is because all of the exhaust, heat, and steady winds build up and clutter the air. So with this “smoky fog”, also comes a variety of health issues for all ages. These health problems include asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory problems as well as eye irritation and reduced resistance to colds and lung infections. All of these problems would be eliminated with the theory of “island civilization”.

In “island civilization” less people live in each area, which would greatly reduce smog. Since only a limited number of people live in each part of the world and each country, that means there is only a limited amount of smog for each country. This would not only slow the destruction of the earth down, but it would also eliminate the health issues we have with smog today.

At this moment, the city with the worst smog levels is Beijing, China. As you could probably guess, the reason that smog is such a problem in Beijing is overcrowding. If too many people are in a concentrated area and all these people are producing exhaust or VOC’s, then the smog is going to be pretty bad. Also, there are many nuclear plants and factories in China, which contribute to the smog levels as well. It was recorded that the smog in Beijing got better during the 2008 Olympics, but only because the city banned half of the cars from driving around. However, after the Olympics left, the smog returned to normal levels. Another location where smog is a problem is in my hometown, near the high school I graduated from. The primary reason for the smog around our school was because of the neighboring landfill. Known as “the dump” to the students, the landfill created smog which was visible in the mornings walking into school and in the afternoons walking out of school. Also if the smog wasn’t enough, the landfill was one of the highest elevated areas in our city. This helped carry the stench of the heated garbage for about a mile.

In conclusion, smog is a very harmful environmental issue that, if not fixed, could endanger the lives of humans and other organisms. One easy solution to the problem at hand is “island civilization”. If “island civilization” was introduced then the amount of smog would be cut down tremendously. If you want to learn more about smog and its effects go to http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/PROGRAMS/OzoneActionProgram/OzoneFactsandExperiments/WhatisSmog.aspx.

Island Civilization Blog

             In the essay Island Civilization, Roderick Frazier Nash paints many pictures of what the Fourth Millennium could look like. Before he explores the many options of the Fourth Millennium, Nash challenges the reader to reflect on not only the Third Millennium (the current one), but also past millenniums. In Nash’s opinion, humans have greatly contributed to the downfall of the planet Earth, and he believes that at this point there are only four possible outcomes for the next millennium. The four outcomes that Nash thinks could exist for the Fourth Millennium are the wasted scenario, the garden scenario, the future primitive, and the island civilization.

            First, Nash describes, in my opinion, the worst possible outcome of Earth, the wasted scenario. Humans have neglected every other species on the planet and have essentially driven it into the ground. Since everything is basically destroyed, we can either continue to live in this landfill, or travel to another planet to destroy. I think that this could very easily happen to the Earth today. If we as humans aren’t careful and don’t take care of the planet, it will be cluttered before we know it.

            The second scenario is the garden scenario. It describes a world where the human race perfects every weather process or natural thing. In this reality everything revolves around humans and we have complete control over everything. Although it is more efficient than the wasted scenario, I don’t think the garden scenario would work because there is no diversity between organisms. Also, it seems too good to be true for humans.

            The next scenario is called the future primitive. This scenario would happen if the human race completely did away with all the technological advances that we have made in the last ten-thousand years. Some of us would resort back to the hunting and gathering style of survival, while others would fend off for themselves for awhile. I don’t think this scenario would prove productive because it would be doing away with everything we have accomplished so far. All of the innovators and geniuses creations would be lost forever, and their work would be for nothing. Also, I feel that we would eventually invent things we had in the future to make jobs and survival easier.

            Finally, last scenario proposed by Nash fills in very nicely with the title. In the island civilization outcome, humans would find the perfect way to coincide with nature, without destroying or controlling it. Instead of limiting the wilderness, we would limit our expansion as civilization. I feel like this would mean less highways, restaurants, and gas stations outside of the main designated towns. In my opinion, this civilization would work pretty well because nature and humans would live in harmony. The only setback would be the possibility of running out of room to contain the human race.

            In conclusion, all four of the scenarios for the Fourth Millennium proposed by Nash in this essay have their advantages and disadvantages. However, I feel like these situations don’t matter all too much. I think the purpose Nash wrote this essay is to make the reader think and understand that no matter what scenario the Fourth Millennium turns out to fulfill, the only thing we can do right now is take care of the planet we live in.

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