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.

Richard Kahn's Outlook

I indeed believe that our education is set up to be unequal. However, I don't think it is really as unequal as it seems and was set up to be. Yes, private schools are supposed to provide more quality education than public schools. This is why they cost to attend and another reason is because only wealthy folks can afford to pay for education when it is not totally necessary. Starting here the cycle is set up to be as follows: wealthy parents send their children to private school for a majority of their life for better education, then they graduate with the ability to get accepted to a prestigious private university, succeed there then become capitalist. This happens while "average" children get the "average" education, then attend "average" universities to become nothing more than average and confined to the social class that they have been in their entire life, under the wealthy. Private schools have a different curriculum and way of doing things, this is true. However, in my personal opinion I don't think that necessarily means that public schools provide any less of an education. How well a person performs in the school system is based on their individual self no matter what kind of school they attend. A student in a public school is just as capable as a private school student to get into schools such as Duke and Wake Forest. I believe that if I applied to either of those schools I had a great chance of being accepted. Actually a friend of mine who graduate from a private high school did not even get into NC State when on the other hand I did and I only went to an "average" high school located near a low income neighborhood. Therefore, it is possible for me to graduate and become a capitalist as well if I really desired to. The education system could use improvement though maybe based on what’s in the curriculum and what actually needs to be taught in this day and time that we live in. Fortunately, this education system of promoting inequality is not all what its set up to be.

 

more about turtle island

Today I just flipped through Turtle Island and stopped to read random poems. Oddly enough, they each seemed to be about trees. I recall Ethnobotany the best out of all of them. I remembered it talking about oak trees in specifically. It told of some that fell over, some that were cut down by mankind and some that died. It also went on to discuss two types of mushrooms, whether they were safe or not to eat. In entirety I believe this poem was to make the negative things that happen to our environment known but to also teach the readers something. In a way it was a message to us to learn more about nature, teach others and for everyone to embrace it. Therefore, again this poem was about awareness.

Place and Awareness in Turtle Island

In Turtle Island, the poems O Waters, Gen, For the Children and As for the Poets, brought to my attention the themes of environment, place and awareness. Just as before he carefully explained to the readers how everything looked in nature from flowers and water to hills and moutains. However, he also wrote about the future of the environment and if humans wanted to survive the altered Earth they needed to be aware. They needed to know what to do when they are face to face with nature so to speak. I got the idea that he felt people should be aware mostly out of the poem For the Children. Based on the topics he chose to discuss and how he discusses them makes it obvious that enviornment, place and awareness are themes in Turtle Island.

Turtle Island Themes

For me the poems in Turtle Island are more complex to understand than they appear. Yes, they’re short but it’s so much meaning and thought behind them regarding the world because of humans and their lack of concern for nature. I notice that Gary Snyder describes everything he mentions in great detail. I read Anasazi, Without, The Dead by the Side of the Road and The Way West, Underground. He focuses heavily on the surrounding area, like where everyone and everything is going and what they're trying to do. The environment, people and animals seem to be important to him. In his poems he captures so much that the audience is able to imagine what he's describing very vividly.  Thus, place is a main theme displayed, this far, in the poems I have read.

McKibben's Podcast

McKibben’s podcast gave clarity to many of the issues regarding this altered Earth. It seemed the audio focused more on the agriculture, farming aspect of the world. It informed the readers that less grains and grasses were being grown. People were also doing less fishing. The world was slowly but surely turning completely away from farming. It was stated that in 2010 only 1% of Americans were farming. At that time there were 2 times more prisoners than farmers. This of course isn’t a comparison to show greatness. More money is spent on food, because the food is being bought from far away and being shipped in. A way around this would be growing food more locally. Local could mean anything from ones town, state or even region as long as it wasn’t from across the world.

Environmental Issue

    One important environmental issue that contributes to the need of "island civilization" is pollution. More specifically though, pollution created by fossil fuels such as gasoline, oil, and coal. The industrial world relies heavily on these resources, regardless of their negative effect on Earth. China is a country that suffers greatly from these types of pollutants. Industrial pollution is even their most top killer. So it is an issue that needs to be addressed soon because of the many problems that come with it. In certain areas of the world the way this situation is handled or not handled varies depending on social class. The rich focuses on reducing the use of fossil fuels in their own community because they have the money and time to do so. Whereas the poor main focus is surviving day to day, not the condition of the planet. A more efficient solution to the pollution problem would be to find alternative resources that have a better impact on the planet such as wind, water and sun and actually try to make it available everywhere to save the ecosystem. The route that the world is going with fossil fuel pollution though isn't pleasant. Therefore, using the "island civilization" method will basically force the different social classes to work amongst themselves to come up with ways to reduce or stop fossil fuel pollution for the sake of their own islands, if not for the ecosystem itself.


More Information: http://ecological-problems.blogspot.com/2009/01/ecology-and-ecological-problems.html

Island Civilization

    In Island Civilization: a vision for human occupancy of Earth, Roderick Frazier Nash tells readers of his belief that society needs to think more broadly to include comprehensively society  as a whole. A strategy needed to be created for the Earth and ecosystem that will be successful in the fourth millennium. For the reason that up until now the success of civilization has seemed to destroy the wild. Uncontrolled environments were referred to as wilderness. However, whether an environment was controlled or not it still included a type of species. Therefore it deserved to be preserved. This is why the author came up with the idea of island civilization, which will be described in detail later. First though information about the journey of humans versus nature and different researchers views on the situation.
    God created everything, including the civilized and the wilderness. The wilderness was supposedly the land God cursed. This led people to believe that nature wasn’t important and that nothing beneficial could come out of it. Thus, they formulated the idea that the bigger the civilization is the better. Pioneers began to create tools using nature that would serve as aid to their expansion project. This left only scattered remnants of the wilderness. The more civilization expanded is the more unsustainable it became. Our culture was unfortunately self destructing, but no one seemed to be concerned enough to change the direction that the planet was headed in.
    Civilization eventually becomes vulnerable. The condition its been in makes it difficult to predict which of the four scenarios the planet and ecosystem will be in by the forth millennium. One scenario option is a trash, poisoned, used-up Earth. It was very well possible that with the ecosystem declining the natural world could end. This of course is not a desired result. The garden scenario was basically the complete opposite. This plan meant for humans to control nature one hundred percent but it would all be beneficial. The future primitive approach would just count the past as bad experience and enforce the use of technology responsibly this go around. Lastly, the author’s idea of Island Civilization. Roderick Frazier Nash felt that clustering on a planetary scale would be the best method to save nature and wildlife.
    In Island Civilization boundaries would be drawn around human presences instead of around other species. This would help minimize humans environmental impact. To make Island Civilization happen in short the population growth had to be reduced and exterior lands scattered throughout the world would have to be modified using human intelligence. Roderick Frazier Nash believes that  limiting civilization instead of the uncontrolled environments would correct the self inflicted destruction. It gives equal opportunities for all beings.
    In my opinion Roderick Frazier Nash has a well thought out vision for the fourth millennium. It even actually sounds like its possible to have a beneficial outcome. However, I just don’t think it’s the best way to go out of the four. The whole concept of working in favor of the wild nature instead of civilization just doesn’t sit too well with me personally. I understand that its important to give the same opportunities to both ourselves and nature but I don’t think that’s the way to do it. This way seems to me as if nature is switching roles with civilization by taking over their space this time.
    If I had to choose which route was taken during the fourth millennium, I would choose the future primitive scenario. I would choose this because it focuses on the future. The past is the past and its already done so there is nothing anyone can do about it. Therefore, its wise to just learn from those ten thousand years of bad experience with overusing technology and this time use it more responsibly. This would definitely give all beings in existence the same opportunity as long as neither environment goes over their limitations.