Survey & Essay 4 Update !

As of now 14 people has answered my survey. I realized that my last question wasn't set for an answer to be required. Therefore, someone skipped it. This is an issue I will have to put in my paper in the “short comings and improvement" section. So far the results my survey has yielded doesn't surprise me much. About 50% of my survey participants have no idea what factory farming is and the other half knows the overall gist of it. I have an approach planned that will help me tackle this essay I believe. I just have to be sure to work my theory into it well.

 

Please take my survey: http://www.surveymon​​key.com/s/CQ2KRB6

11/12/12's hybrid assignment

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So far, the initial results of my survey show that approximately fifty percent of college age students’ have no clue what factory farming is. A great number of the people who doesn't know what factory farming is have never lived nor worked on a traditional farm. However, there are some who have lived on a farm all their life and had no idea there was a harsh farming method of this sort. I personally find that to be weird. Also, everyone that has taken the survey thus far are not aware of how the food is raised for the restaurants they eat at. At this point I plan to continue collecting data via my survey to discover people views on factory farming and use a sociological theory called critical theory to uncover assumptions in regard to factory farming and change society as a whole.

The link to my survey is http://www.surveymon​key.com/s/CQ2KRB6

Coast Salish Cultural Survival Synthesis

The United States and Canadian border has caused some serious issues for particular Native American people called Coast Salish. These people inhabit the borderland region of South Canada and the North United States. Therefore, they are one type of people but technically in two different countries. Different countries each have their own sets of policies, rules, beliefs, cultures, customs and etc. Thus there were dissimilar approaches in each place regarding the Coast Salish, especially in schools. A form of racism even developed toward the Coast Salish people in schools because of the native’s standpoint on certain issues being debated. Boarding schools also tried to force change on the Coast Salish’s and transform them to be more like conventional society and to ditch their Native American ways. However, the Coast Salish people resisted this assimilation and did things to preserve their culture and way of life. They did this by reclaiming government boarding schools to escape the public integrated schools. This meant that they would no longer be oppressive and they could send their children there to learn together about their particular people.

I am happy that the Coast Salish people stood up for themselves and preserved their culture. There is similar discrimination in the world today, though not always to the extent of different borders. Therefore, the Coast Salish people are a perfect example of what to do when put in a situation where someone or something is trying to change who they are.

Food and Sustainability Issues

I was totally unaware of the harsh conditions the animals were put in before I viewed The Meatrix. Our world has extreme food and sustainability issues as shown in The Meatrix. Animals placed in these factory farms in such tight spaces that they can’t even move is just horrible. Moving is actually vital to one’s health, whether it is realized by everyone or not. Therefore, this is the start of the negative effects on the animals. Also, in these factory farms the animals aren’t cared for as much as they need to be or would be cared for on a traditional factory farm. Thus, their living environment is unsanitary and on top of these things the animals are being injected with antibiotics. I imagine that most of the food bought in the Raleigh area by myself, friends and others has endured the same atrocious conditions. The food processed by factory farms need to be replaced by the original traditional family farms because they are more humane and would provide us with safer food to eat.

Environmental Ethics

Hydrofracturing is an obvious environmental ethics concern. This process is proving to be harmful to the human species via water. The increasing rate of natural gas development is endangering the clean water needed for drinking as well as wildlife habitats and recreation. The current situation is that we already have had an abundant amount of natural gas collected so much that there is a huge surplus. However, these natural gas industries insist on hacking continuously. They are fracking near aquifers which will definitely lead to water contamination. This shows that they don’t have much of any concern for the human population yet along the environment as a whole. From this the conclusion can be made that this industry's main priority is to make a profit, which is sad. A balance needs to be established with adequate environmental protections for clean water. This is a solution to comply with environmental ethics.

"Hydraulic Fracturing: Is Regulation Needed?" synthesis

This peer reviewed article relates directly to Lustgarten’s article about hydraulic fracturing. It tells of some programs and acts that deals with water conditions and safety, as well as fracturing. There are apparently some regulations in place, but the extent differs from state to state. For example, it has been stated that hydraulic fracturing produces methane via production wells not injection wells and this is why it isn’t covered in regulations that are already in place. “Approximately 35,000 wells are hydraulically fractured in the United States each year” (Pontius, 4) but research is limited. This may be because people are not highly convinced that hydraulic fracturing is an issue regarding safe drinking water. However, just as in Lustgarten’s work, Pavilion, Wyoming was discussed. The foul taste and odor of the groundwater was reported by its residents and as a result samples were taken and contaminants that traces back to fracking were found. This process of fracking has claimed to be safe for 60 years, but research is proving otherwise. In my opinion fracking should be closely regulated to protect our groundwater.

Pontius, Fred. "Hydraulic Fracturing: Is Regulation Needed?." Journal: American Water Works Association 101.9 (2009): 24-32. Computers & Applied Sciences Complete. Web. 30 Sept. 2012.

Hydraulic Fracturing

            The Environmental Protection Agency has discovered reasons to indeed believe that hydraulic fracturing is the cause of water pollution in the Pavilion, Wyoming vicinity. Over the years there have been some complaints regarding the water quality in this area. In 2004 some issues were reported about the discoloring of the water and even more recently in 2010 another confirmed contaminations led to replacement water having to be provided to the residents. Based on samples from residents’ drinking wells there have been traces of hydrocarbons, carcinogens as well as about 10 other compounds that are thought to be related to fracking. This of course isn’t satisfactory. These findings completely falsify the belief that hydraulic fracturing was a safe process to perform in relation to the environment. The drilling industry gave the impression that hydraulic pressure would naturally force fluids down and that deep geologic layers were so tight that they would prevent chemicals from rising to the surface. However, this apparently isn’t true since these are the same chemical infecting local water resources

This article raised awareness to me and I am now concerned. The water my family, friends, peers and I drink could contain similar chemicals or even different chemical that could affect our health. This is a scary thing to think about especially knowing that the industries contributing to water contamination knows that what they partake in could causes harmful changes in the water but they aren’t willing to publicize this information or better yet stop doing it. The Environmental Protection Agency has supportive data in the Wyoming case that points the finger at hydraulic fracturing but I am sure that is not the only manmade contribution to the negative chemicals in water sources. Therefore, I think it is important to investigate in great detail each harmful issue and then do something about it.