Update 2

I am planning to write my essay on the importance of local farms. My social science is education, dealing with knowing the negatives of industrialized farming, and knowing the positives of local farms.

My survey has 44 responses, so I feel really good about the information I have received and the amount of respondents. A little over half of the respondents said that they could not name any local farms in their area and the rest said that yes they could or named a farm. 70.5% said that they do not know where their food comes from. Also, 72.7% said that they were aware that industrialized farming has many negative aspects. This part of my survey surprised me because I was thinking that maybe people didn't realize that industrialized farming had so many flaws and negative aspects but turns out that people do know that and still continue to support them. Most people said that they buy the majority of their food at a grocery store (instead of a farmers market). I am now beginning to write my paper!

Update on Essay 4

I am planning to write my essay on the importance of local farms. My social science is education, dealing with knowing the negatives of industrialized farming, and knowing the positives of local farms. I am currently working on getting my survey up on the web, but some questions that I plan to use so far are; Can you name any local farms in your area? Do you know where your food comes from? Are you aware that industrialized farms have many negative aspects? I plan to have my survey up and rolling by tomorrow Tuesday, November 13. I am also going to discuss the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project in the essay since I have studied it some for past essays.

Indigenous Resistance

This article studies the issues of the Coast Salish people as they struggle to keep there culture alive in the home of British Columbia. They are being faced with problems concerning the goal of the government and school systems so assimilate them into the American culture. The government is using the school system as a way to force them into American ways and they are fighting hard to resist. The Coast Salish people are very fond of their traditions and culture and do not want to be assimilated into the school system by the American or Canadian government. The Salish people won't give up in the fight to save their culture and traditions! I don't think any one would want to compromise their culture to obey the government.

Food and Sustainability

I read an article on a website titled Cultures of Resistance. The article focused on issues with farming. The article discussed how until recently farming had not changed much for many years, but as a result of the laziness of Americans they have found other ways to do the jobs they once had such as fertilizing and tilling the soil. These alternatives are known as pesticides, and synthetic fertilizers, and also cheap fossil fuels. Although it was thought that these synthetic fertilizers and pesticides were only helping in agriculture they were actually polluting the crops and the food that many people eat. A greater problem on the sustainability end is the huge amounts of fossil fuel that are needed to keep industrialized farming going. At the end of the article it provides ways that one can contribute to getting rid of these aspects of farming or atleast trying to eliminate this out of their own lives. These ideas are eat local, eat organic, and eat less meat!

http://www.culturesofresistance.org/food-issues-food-and-sustainability

Fracking synthesis

In the Article “Keep on Fracking? Criticism grows, but Impact Not Clear” it is stated that the EPA has estimated that by 2035 non-conventional gas will supply 45 percent of the nation’s natural gas consumption.  Once again, this article provides information of the environmental side effects that come along with fracking; of course water contamination. States such as New Jersey have already placed a ban on fracking, and Pennsylvania is producing its own regulations, while other states have decided that jobs are more important than the environment. That brings up a new question in my mind. Are jobs or the environment more important? In my personal opinion the environment is much more important, because the environment is not something that can be reproduced or found elsewhere, it is what we live in. President Obama has worked to make some recommendations concerning fracking but as expected environmentalists feels that these recommendations are too soft and the oil executives feel that these suggestions are too harsh. Obama has made clear he wanted the shale gas industry to grow, but doesn’t want any harm to the environment. This obviously isn’t possible concerning fracking is contaminating water in more than one location. Since President Obama’s appointee to work on something must be done to make a definitive decision concerning fracking instead of a compromise.

http://www.sciencedirect.com.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/science/article/pii/S1040619011002302

Fracking

I recently studied the issue of fracking when writing my Essay 2. I was focusing on fracking specifically in North Carolina, but it seems that this issue is taking place all over the place. In this article Lustgarten points out that many of the previous points made concerning fracking are contradicted. Many of these points that stated that the fracking process was safe have been proven wrong. Supporters of fracking have tried to make points that hydrologic pressure would naturally force fluids down instead of up has been proven wrong because obviously environmental officials have now linked water pollution in central Wyoming to the drilling process. I was excited to read that since these findings, this could be a turning point in the national debate concerning water contamination and fracking. This could help to form how the country regulates and develops these resources across the Eastern Appalachian states which would include North Carolina. These new findings will definitely become a heated debate as congress works to regulate fracking. I am interested to see the outcome of Congress’ work. I found it interesting that residents began complaining of water contamination in the mid-1990s, as it got worse in 2004 and this information is just now making it to the news and being addressed by congress. I also found it interesting that these gas companies were supplying replacement drinking water to these residents; I feel like this was just a way to shut the residents up in order for them to continue fracking. Of course, executives in the in the gas company world are denying that any of this contamination could be their fault and they want to blame it on natural causes. I am not surprised that they will still not except what they are causing and try to fix it. These companies seem to be extremely selfish.  I also thought it was weird that EnCana would not give federal officials a detailed breakdown of each compound that is used underground. That in itself proves that he knows there are many issues with what the company is doing.

Richard Kahn

"As an example, instead of developing their environmental literacy (as is currently done) through explorative experiences of the zoo’s Wells Fargo Family Farm, a place according the zoo that can foster experiences for children “to explain and also to learn about how food gets from farms to tables” (http://www.mnzoo.com/animals/family_farm/index.asp), students could gain literacy into how to organize collectively in opposition to such practices and in how to demand answers from responsible parties as to why high-ranking executives of a leading corporate agribusiness like Cargill presently sit on the zoo’s Board of Directors."              Quote from "Towards Ecopedagogy" -Richard Kahn 

After reading this quote I think that Richard Kahn feels that this school is good in terms that it teaches students of their environment and excels their level of bioregional literacy or ecological literacy but he feels that maybe they could be taught in different ways. He points out that the students could learn how to organize against environmental issues and effectively make an argument against these people. In order to use the information they learn they must know how to act on the problems. I also think that in regular schools information such as this should be taught maybe not necessarily concerning the same context but students should be taught how to collectively organize as well as make arguments on any cause that they feel strongly about. 

Snyder Poems 3

The first poem I read while reading Snyder this time was No Matter, Never Mind. This poem was pretty confusing for me but I think that the overall point of is the connection between environment, mind, body, and the relationship of them all. The theme I have chosen is connection of relationships. This poems exhibits several different connections to different relationships. The next poem I read was The Great Mother I think that the "Great Mother" being referred to is "Mother Nature" and Snyder is saying that "Mother Nature" looks at humans determining if they have been protecting or harming their environment. The theme I chose for this poem is protection of environment because this is what I think "The Great Mother" is figuratively trying to do. The last poem I read was Pine Tree Tops. This poems was extremely descriptive and it provided me with a great deal of imagery. I think the theme for this poem would be beauty because these pine tree tops have been untouched by humans, and the area around them is still a home to animals such as deer and rabbits.

Turtle Island Post 2

The first poem I read was The Dead By The Side Of The Road. The theme I would choose for this poem is shamefulness. I feel like Gary Snyder is extremely opposed to taxidermy and feels strongly on protecting animals and absolutely hates to see animals dead on the side of the road thanks to careless humans driving cars. Humans need to be more aware of their surroundings and quit being so selfish. The second poem I read was I Went Into The Maverick Bar. This poem stood out to me because it seems so straightforward but I think that Snyder is touching on his frustration with America and how he  feels that many changes need to be made in America in order for people to enjoy it and for both humans and nature to live in cooperation. Snyder definitely discusses some of his memories that are brought about from being in New Mexico and the way America has developed doesn't give him that feeling. Once again this goes back to his issues with America. I struggled with an overall them for this poem. Lastly, I read Coyote Valley Spring. I thought that this poem was really descriptive without using many words. Snyder is describing a place called Coyote Valley. I feel like maybe this is a peaceful place because Snyder says the people are far out in boats so maybe Coyote Valley isn't quite so overwhelmed with the human population so animals and wildlife can survive and have a suitable habitat. Even though these people are still "lost" they aren't right up in the homes of animals and wildlife.

Gary Snyder Poem's

After reading three different Gary Snyder poem's I determined that he is definitely focused on nature and a human beings relationship with nature or the entire world around them. I really like Snyder's descriptive nature because it made me visualize the poem's better. Different themes would definitely be based on nature and one's surroundings. I read the first three poem's Anasazi, The Way West Underground, and Without. He discusses the smells, the landscape, the animals, and many other aspects of the areas he is studying. My favorite out of the three poems that I read was Without because I felt like it was a really in depth poem without using many words. It was fairly straight forward but I think there was also a deeper message.

Bioregional Quiz and McKibben Podcast

The bioregional quiz made apparent a huge lack of knowledge about the environment humans are surrounded by. The human race has become so preoccupied and busy with the material things of life it has become so easy to ignore simple facts such as who lives next door, or what kind of species and plants live in the same bioregion as specific humans. The bioregional quiz probably put many people who thought they knew facts about their surroundings to shame. A point that sticks out in the McKibben podcast is that this generation was born onto a different planet than they now live on.  Aside from that comment, it was stated that this new or altered earth can no longer support economic or population growth. All of this is a result of poor maintenance of wealth and resources. Since the United States is so used to the idea of “bigness”, there is a struggle with becoming local because of the fear of becoming “too small”. McKibben also states that it would be helpful to measure things other than growth to help the United States shy away from the strive for always being so large.  Working on a local scale would provide a stronger sense of community thereby giving a closer connection to the natural world.  Lastly, McKibben touched on the fact that stability, and solidity are needed instead of means that could “wreck” or fall apart. 

Blue Ridge Parkway- Environmental Issue

As I began my research on an environmental issue I wanted to research something that would directly affect me or something close to my hometown. I came across Save the Blue Ridge Parkway. The General Assembly has cut land conservation funds by 85% and cut key programs that protect the beautiful wilderness that surrounds the Blue Ridge Parkway.

If we were to live in Island Civilization this would not be a problem because the government could not interfere with the wilderness making decisions to deplete the forests as well as its inhabitants. According to my source two-thirds of the land surrounding the Blue Ridge Parkway could be destroyed in order to fulfill human wants such as logging. Maybe it really an Island Civilization really is necessary in order to stop these human from ruining what they seem to think they have control over. There is no other way to control what the government does with wildlife other than completely separating the human race from the wildlife like suggested in Island Civilization. There is no justifying the decision to take away this amazing scenery that has been around for 75 years. The parkway brings billions of visitors each year so it makes no sense to destroy it just for the selfish needs of Americans. Not only would it destroy a beautiful landscape but many different animals who call the lands of the parkways their home.

The more research I do of environmental issues such as this one the more I lean towards supporting an Island Civilization and the more I feel the need for one. I just can’t figure out how it would ever work or how it would be made possible because the population would have to be cut by such a great amount.  It is definitely going to take something drastic to make the population realize we need to make some major changes.

Island Civilization

After reading Island Civilization my mind has been opened up to a different view of how we as human beings view our ownership of the wilderness and space around us. Throughout the reading Nash introduces several different scenarios of how the world around us could end up. 

First he introduces the wasteland scenario, which I gathered would be a trashed planet with nothing left as a result of our greediness as humans. We obviously do not know how to share with our neighbors of the wilderness therefore using up every bit of resources we can get our hands on. With the wasteland scenario we would basically be left with nothing.

 Second, the garden scenario was discussed. In this situation the human race would be in control of the wilderness but would use it in a beneficent way to the people, by planting crops in virtually all empty land, not taking the biodiversity of plants and animals into mind. Once again the selfishness of the human population is taking over the wilderness in order to obtain “progress” for themselves.

 The third scenario is the future primitive. I believe that this scenario is basically erasing the so called “progress” that we have made into civilization, and going back to the practices of millions of years ago such as the methods used by the hunters and gatherers. Although this scenario loses the achievements of civilization, this evolution would give every member of the biotic community an opportunity to survive.

 The fourth scenario Nash calls Island Civilization. I have gathered that this scenario means placing limitations and boundaries around the human population instead of around the wild life. Although this option takes away much of the freedom we have always had, it provides wilderness with its chance to be what it is supposed to be, wild. Since we are supposed to share this planet with the wilderness, it makes sense to place limitations on ourselves instead of taking over what isn’t really ours. Yes Island Civilizations would cause the human population to be contained into smaller areas and not give us the opportunity to wipeout wildlife around us, but it would give the wild life its chance to grow as it should, since it is wild. 

After reading all of the different scenarios my mind has been opened to the fact that the human population might have taken control of what isn’t rightfully ours, even though we thought it was. The statements made by Nash about us not being good neighbors to the wilderness really opened up several thoughts in my mind that I had never thought about. As this reading discussed the fact that technically the wilderness should have just as much freedom as the human population has, I began to think about how unfair it is that we have ruined so much of the biodiversity of the world around us. We have gone into the homes of animals and completely wiped them out just to have space for what we call “growth” and “”progress”. But is it really growth or progress if we are ruining the life of another species while doing so? 

After reading this it makes sense that the wildlife have just as much right to “civilize” as we do as human beings. I think that so many of us forget that we aren’t the only group on earth that needs space, and after reading this I realize that. It amazes me how selfish we can be as human beings and not even realize it! I thought that the explanations of the different scenarios were very helpful in deciding my own opinions concerning how unfair the human population is towards the wilderness. Also the connection Nash used of us being “bad neighbors” really helped me in my understanding of the relationship we have with different biotic groups, because I had never really thought of it as a relationship of that kind. The reading was kind of difficult for me to get into at first, but I gradually began to understand what Nash was saying and in the end I really enjoyed it.