UPDATE V2

 My idea for my English paper is to explore the habits of college students and recycling. My theory is that students will recycle if they can do so easily and they will not if they have to make a bit of an effort to do so.

I have 35 responses to my survey. Many of them seem to have been legit responses, but some were spam. The legit ones seem to go along with my theory.

here is the link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KQD92W7

Update

 My idea for my English paper is to explore the habits of college students and recycling. My theory is that students will recycle if they can do so easily and they will not if they have to make a bit of an effort to do so.

I have 33 responses to my survey. Many of them seem to have been legit responses, but some were spam. The legit ones seem to go along with my theory.

here is the link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KQD92W7

Indigenous resistance and racist schooling on the borders of empires: Coast Salish cultural survival

The article "Indigenous resistance and racist schooling on the borders of empires: Coast Salish cultural survival" by Michael Marker is about the Coast Salish people who live in British Columbia and Washington State. The Salish people are having to deal with unification or assimilation with the 'American' culture forced on them by the government. They governments of both the United States and of Canada are attempting to assimilate them into the school systems. The Salish did not want anything to do with the assimilation an wanted to keep there customs and traditions. With the Salish revolting against the assimilation the governments both failed in bringing down there culture.

food and sustainability of Valdese

Aside from relying on the world around it Valdese, NC would not be able to provide enough food for its residents or be able to sustain itself very long. When acting will the surrounding towns, county's, and states the town of Valdese is able to survive. Since there are no large farms or food processing facilities the town has to rely on imports into the local grocery stores and the several small restaurants in the town. Valdese used to be a place that was very sustainable, there used to be many large factories and now there are only a few, many have been outsourced. In the future I think that Valdese will not be able to sustain any small business and that many more of the jobs will be outsourced. 

environmental “ethics”

This article is about Bioethics 11th world conference.  Bioethics is the official journal of the International Association of Bioethics

 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8519.2012.01966.x/pdf

550 ppm 450ppm or 350ppm

"Climate crunch: A burden beyond bearing" describes how the number 350 ppm became the goal to shoot for in CO_2 levels. At first it was noted that we were currently at 382 ppm and that we were increasing at 2 ppm a year. The mark that James Hansen thought we should not pass was initial 450 ppm and we had not reached it yet. Hansen then questioned him self and seeing the consequences we are ready facing at 382 ppm realized that 450 ppm was too high. He determined that 350 ppm was what was needed to shoot for. In earlier studyies it had been thought that 550 ppm was the mark. It was later determined that 550 ppm was way to high. I think that if we want to limit the amount of carbon emission we need to limit what we burn. We need to stop relying on the burning of coal and fossil fuels. 350 ppm will be attainable if we all work together.

http://www.nature.com.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/news/2009/090429/full/4581091a.html

EPA: Natural Gas Fracking Linked to Water Contamination Synthesis

                        The topic of fracking seems to be very controversial to me. It is known that fracking causes pollution to the air and to the ground water. There was no reason that the companies had to use the process. All that they were caring about was themselves, they did not care about anyone else or the environment. It also seemed that they blatantly lied to the EPA. They were even supplying water to residence that had contaminated wells. It was very obvious to see that the companies only cared about themselves and the money they made.

            It also seemed that the EPA was doing a poor job and there is some underground information that they are not releasing.  If they were able to tell that there were problems in the 1990’s why is this an issue today?  Why is the company still drilling?  This article was written in 2011 so that was nearly twenty years going by without the water being cleaned or the investigation being finish.  It was also poor for the EPA to be lied to so easily and to be accused of bias.  It seems that both the EPA and they drilling company only cared about their money.  It’s funny I thought the Environmental Protection Agency would want to help the environment more that it would want to make money. They are almost making their standards lower than what they make us abide by.

            People need to care more about the environment than about money. Making money is important but when it comes between money and people safety and the environment, peoples safety and the environment come first.  The downfall of America and the rest of the world will be caring too much about money and not what negative effects are from our actions.

Richard Kahn Response

From Richard Kahn's Towards Ecopedagogy the quote "45 million Americans think the ocean is a fresh source of water" stands out a lot to me. Form this you can tell that many Americans are not well educated. It is obvious that the oceans are salt water and that salt water is not fresh water. The way the school system is now set up Americans are not receiving every thing they need to be successful in life. What we need is a stricter grading policy to pass a class. This way people would not be able to get by with only know 75% of the information in the class. The policy should be changed so to get credit for a class a student must earn a grade of 90% or higher. This way students would be forced to study in order to pass classes. In  many situations in the current system many student are getting by with out even trying and will make a passing grade. With a new system where you must make 90% or higher to pass every student will have to challenge themselves in ever class in order to pass it.

Visual Rhetoric

This image of a Doe beside of a new road construction is a great example of visual rhetoric. The image is to show that when the human race keeps expanding we are taking away the habitat of others.  The Doe is coming back to what used to be her home and is not finding it. She is almost laying down hopelessly as if her losing her home has happened many times due to human growth. The use of technology will aid  environmental thought by wide source sharing of information to let other people know what problems are really happening. If more images like this one are shared on the wide scale then people will start to realize how when the human race expands we are negatively impacting the other inhabitants of Earth.

Poem Post 3

Pine Tree Tops (33), Two Fawns That Didn't See The Light This Spring (58), For The Children (86)

In the poem Pine Tree Tops, Snyder is describing what I would say as an almost ideal way for the world to work. It seems as if it is the winter time and it is in a large forest covered in a layer of snow. There are rabbit and deer tracks along with minimal human interaction. It seems as if the sound of boots should be all humans have as an impact on the environment, sound not large cities and pollution. Snyder was using this small scene in a winter wonder land as a metaphor for the entire planet where the life of humans does not negatively impact the environment.

In the poem Two Fawns That Didn't See The Light This Spring, Snyder is comparing and contrasting two situations one where human impact on the environment is what the human needs to survive, and one where the same impact was done for no reason. In the first it describe and man who lived in a tipi who went hunting and killed what he thought was a buck, but turned out to me a fawn and its mother. In the second a car hits a fawn and its mother. The man in the tipi was trying to help the environment he lived in a shelter that left nothing behind when he is gone and takes up very few resources to make. The one in the car was the exact opposite, the had a car that took many materials to make and it harms the environment at the same time. The man in the tipi was doing what he needed to survive but the one in the car really did not have a reason to have a car. The man in the tipi used the meat from his mistake and made the best out of the situation, while the others were most likely left to rot.

In the poem For The Children, every thing about that the poem is describing something for the future, the children. The poem is saying we need to make peace. I am not sure if this is peace with one another or make peace with the land so that we will have it for ever. Either way peace will help the world last longer, last longer than beyond the next century. Snyder's main message is we need to save the world for tomorrow.

Poem Post 2

Why Log Truck Drivers Rise Earlier Than Students of Zen, For Nothing, The Great Mother

The first poem, Why Log Truck Drivers Rise Earlier Than Students of Zen, talks about a log truck heading out very early in the day and having to go out  thirty miles to a logging site. In the description  it brings up themes of isolation and emptiness.  It was like the truck was following a creek for thirty miles and all along the way the trees had already been cut. It  also seemed that the trees thirty miles away were the closest ones to get to and that there was no life or anything else on the way there. In the second, For Nothing, it is describing an almost mystical land and then nothing is there. Like all your hopes and dreams washed away. The poem is hinting that if we do not change our ways the earth will "disappear". The themes I see in For Nothing are destruction and peace.With peace being what earth once was and destruction what it will become. In the third poem, The Great Mother, it is like judgement day. Everyone is being evaluated for what they have done in their lifetime. Some have done good and some have done bad. The theme present was the power of and individual. What one person can do to help not just a large group. Everyone can help out to help the earth.

Coyote Valley Spring, Control Burn, Source

From reading the poems Coyote Valley Spring, Control Burn, and Source in Gary Snyder’s Turtle Island I was able to relate to many themes. In Coyote Valley Spring the themes expressed were climate, wilderness, and actions of nature.  It seemed that the message that Snyder was saying was that the animals and the rest of nature were doing fine without any human interactions and that the humans were away and not hurting the environment. He was almost talking about a concept of Island Civilization where the humans only lived in certain areas and did not interact with the rest of nature. In the poem Control Burn the main themes were helping the environment and creation of new life. The main message in the poem was that humans need to limit their impact on the environment, but there are some things that we must do that can help it. In the poem Source the main theme was nature as it is. The poem was talking about a time when the Spanish had not even come to America and there was a better world in nature.

McKibben Interview and Bioregion Quiz response

From reading and listening to the podcast of the interview of McKibben’s book Eaarth, it is apparent that the average American may be uneducated on the bioregion around them. McKibben is a well-educated man who has many great ideas on how we can help save the environment. One thing that he stressed a lot was reducing your carbon footprint. One effective way to help reduce this is to localize the economies. However, local is a vague word and he is meaning is drastically shrink the size from the world or a country to a county or a town. This way travel time would be cut down and everything a person would need would be very close. Many people may not even know what is in their direct surroundings, inside their own bioregion. The bioregion quiz shows that many people may not know what is in their own bioregion. To be able to know about a bioregion information on the plants, animals, land, and weather needs to be known. What food is grown there? What plants inhabit the area? What animals inhabit the area? What is the weather like? When all of this information is know we will be able to localize the economies across the world. Each country will no longer have to rely on anther countries to provide for. Localization of the world’s economies will help save the environment.

Bioregional Quiz

1. Trace the water you drink from precipitation to tap.

Rain - Lake Rhodhiss – Water Treatment Plant- City Water Pipes - House

2. How many days till the moon is full (plus or minus a couple of days)?

Maybe a week

3. Describe the soil around your home.

Red Clay with some areas of Darker Dirt  

4. Where is the food you eat grown?

Not here

5. Name five native grasses in your local area?

6. Name five native, edible plants in your bioregion and their season(s) of availability.

7. From which direction do summer storms generally come in your bioregion?

North East

8. Where does your garbage go?

Trashcans – Garbage Truck – Dump

9. On what day of the year are the shadows shortest where you live?

10. Name five trees in your area. Are any of them native? (if you can’t name them describe them)

Pine – Oak – Maple – Dogwood – Cedar

11. How long is the growing season where you live?

Four months

12. Name five resident, and any migratory, birds in your bioregion.

Humming Birds – Cardinals – Hawks – Crows – Woodpeckers

13. What is the land use history of humans in your bioregion during the last century?

Small Towns and Farm Land

14. What species have become extinct in your bioregion?

15. What are the major plant associations in your bioregion?

Forests

16. From where you are reading this point north.

To the left of the room

17. What spring wildflower is consistently first to bloom?

18. What kinds of rocks and minerals are found in your bioregion?

Granite

19. Were the stars out last night?

Yes

20. Name some beings (non-human) which share your shelter.

Raccoon- Deer – Turkey – Rabbits – Coyote

21. Do you celebrate the turning of the summer and winter solstices?

No

22. How many people live next door to you? What are their names?

Two, Mr. and Mrs. Elmore

23. How many creeks are in walking distance of your shelter and what are they called?

One

24. What are the names of the First Nations or Traditional Owners where you live?

Micol’s

Resource Depletion

As the World’s population keeps growing we have to expand living environments for everyone to inhabit.  These new environments take up space though.  You cannot just poof them out of midair, they take up resources to build, resources that we are running out of.  There is a great need for the Island Civilization.

If we want to continue to live in a thriving world with the modern technologies we need to live in the Island Civilization.  With the Island Civilizations we would be able to prevent the problems of resource depletion.  As the population is expanding we have the need for more houses, houses take lots of wood.  A large portion of the wood used to build these houses comes from the forest.  When the first Europeans came to America the land was thriving with forest; there were no large skyscrapers, no large college campuses. If we were to build and live in the Island Civilizations we would have these large forested areas.

With the Island Civilizations we would only have a negative impact on the areas that we lived in not the entire world. The trees would grow tall and only few would ever be cut down. We need to save our resources. We need to build the Island Civilizations.

Imagine you are walking down a forested path, there are tall trees on all sides of you, there are birds chirping. You hear small animals scurrying around in the leaves, and then you see a large buck run in front of you. All of a sudden you open your eyes and see you were about to cross a busy city street, there are no forest there are no tall trees. The only thing in the sky is airplanes. There was no buck that was running in front of you, it was just a speeding car. This will be the reality if we do no build Island Civilizations and help the environment and reduce the amount of resource depletion, so we can go into the forest and see the buck.

http://www.explainingthefuture.com/resource_depletion.html