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.