Indigenous Resistance and Racist Schooling

In the article, Michael Marker talks about the forced integration of Coast Salish into the American and Canadian cultures.  When American's began taking their land, they were forced to learn the education styles of the two cultures.  Throughout the process, the Coast Salish began to lose some of their cultural heritage due to the educational decisions made by British Columbia and were placed in schools either apart from their culture or with whites only.  This all results in acts of racism and segregation, especially since the Coast Salish were unable to perform acts of their own heritage.  Families began to rebel and place their kids in the private schools consisting of strictly Coast Salish so that the racism was taken at a lesser degree.  I feel that by placing the students in the private schools made them much more comfortable of their surroundings and the overwhelming changes taking place in their lives.  Although both decisions were based off of racism-- both being unacceptable-- I feel that the American decision was better off in allowing the Coast Salish to keep more to themselves.  I think the best decision overall would have been to leave them alone and let them govern and educate themselves.  They knew what was necessary and what they needed to become better educated.

Food and Sustainability Issues

After watching The Meatrix, I realized how important it is to keep our foods following proper ways of processing and manufacturing.  The issue is that animals are being mistreated in the ways of obtaining the meat necessary to produce food.  It is an immoral issue found across farms and industrial farming around the country.  Animals are given chemicals and steroids, which essentially results in damage to the foods processed and often involves pesticides.  Health issues arise when faced with situations involving the processing of food.

Environmental Ethics: Fracking

Fracking has become a severe problem, mostly in the north/southwest regions of the country, but recent news has been released that drilling industries will begin fracking along the east coast as well.  Many companies are unlikely to admit the water contamination is caused from fracking, therefore EPA is conducting research experiments in order to gather liable evidence.  Although our country is in need of natural resources, the need doesn't outweigh the safety and protection of the people.  Contaminated water is not the proper route to substantiate the need for natural resources.  Unfortunately, until further evidence is released, fracking will continue.  The fracking must come to a stop though in order to prevent sickness and health problems from the contaminated water.

Environmental Ethics

This photo is related to the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.  Riley Gallup, author of the article, "At 40, Environmental Movement Endures, With Less Consensus," talks about how over the past 10 years, the population's concern for environmental problems has gone down.  One particular factor, the downturn of the economy, has played a major role in this decrease, but from survey's listed, "62% of people believe that the environmental movement has done more good than harm."  Do these factors equal out? The environmental movement is on the way to becoming a concern again, but there has to be more done to encourage people to become involved and active in the movement itself.  Although there has been a "rise in negative views of the environmental movement, there has been considerable stability in personal environmental behaviors and activism."  The need to promote and ground in the environmental movement has made progress because people are remaining aware of occurring problems.  What we need to focus on is making people realize there must be respect towards the land and the environment and an appreciation for what we have available. 

http://www.gallup.com/poll/127487/Environmental-Movement-Endures-Less-Consensus.aspx

Oil Fracking

Lustgarten's article consists of the contamination of water due to oil fracking.  Federal environmental officials have found contaminants in the water around certain areas, with assumptions that it is caused from the fracking in the area.  When oil drilling was tested as a cause for water contamination, it was proven to be true.  The EPA has conducted tests to determine whether fracking is as harmful to the environment as people say it is, even though the drilling industry says otherwise, but the results are not completely sure of yet.  Now that there is more evidence and proof given to support a threat to human safety, these findings will lead to further debate and discussion as to how serious the problem is.
The article focuses specifically on Wyoming, although since this problem has recently been thoroughly investigated, it has to be present in other areas around the country as well.  There are arguments brought up about how there is already water contamination in Wyoming, therefore the oil drilling has nothing to do with the issue.  The drilling industry also argue that the problems are related to natural causes, simply because they don't want to be responsible for such a problem.  On the other hand, environmentalists and researchers are excited of the news in hopes of preventing further damage and putting a stop to the threat to humans.  "Throughout its investigation in Wyoming, The EPA was hamstrung by a lack of disclosure about exactly what chemicals had been used to frack the wells near Pavillion. EnCana declined to give federal officials a detailed breakdown of every compound used underground. The agency relied instead on more general information supplied by the company to protect workers' health."  There has not been clear information provided yet to support the claim that oil fracking is the primary cause of water contamination, therefore an exact report will be published several months ahead.  The only concern now is the safety of the public health.  Further examination will provide news to the public soon.

Richard Kahn's 'Ecopedagogy'

"As a form of nonformal, popular education it has stirred many people to become self-aware of the role they play in environmental destruction and to become more socially active in ways that can help to create a more ecological and sustainable world." -- Richard Kahn

Kahn introduces the idea of ecopedagogy to influence the study of environmental education in both academic and nonacademic institutions.  The article explains how although environmental education has recently grown throughout the school systems, there still needs to be more action taken in order to make people fully understand the importance of the environment.  There are still people out there that can't understand basic environmental concepts.  The education is a start, and according to the statement above, has influenced people to become more self-aware of their role in the environment.  Kahn also states that personal interactions and experience must be a part of this learning.  People will not get a full, knowledgeable education from simply learning the concepts in various institutions around the world.  In order for this to become effective, I would create more institutions like the Zoo School where students are physically involved in learning different techniques and concepts important to conserving the environment.  In the article, it supported this institution by also saying that such a school has even increased test scores and helped students transfer unfamiliar knowledge to familiar knowledge in ways that are impossible in a regular classroom.  Learning the information is important, but being able to understand it and apply the information to every day situations is the point we have to get to.

Response to Gary Snyder's Turtle Island (3)

Gary Snyder's writings put significant emphasis on nature, including the air, water, and ground.  Each poem speaks specifically about one more so than the other, creating valid points behind each.  In the poem, For the Children, Snyder speaks of the coming age, focusing on the importance of learning the land and its functions in order to make it through the century.  His goal here is to fulfill a sense of peace.  His words stay together at the end of the poem stand out; they support Snyder's idea of creating change, starting with a single individual and working towards change from a whole population.  The poem, It Pleases, states that "It does what it pleases" in reference to the world.  To me, this contradicts what Gary Snyder talks about in the rest of his poems because his ideas support the fact that humans must be the ones to implement action in order to produce change.  Snyder's reasoning behind implementing this idea is to make us learn to respect the land and appreciate it more by learning about it.