Survey Update

I have gotten 22 responses but I could really use a few more, so if anyone could take it, that'd be great!  All of the responses seem legitimate so I will be able to analyze them and figure out whether or not my survey has proven or disproved the theory.
My theory is the Media Dependency theory that basically states that the public depends on the media when making decisions.  I am testing out whether or not this theory relates to the most recent election and how people used the media when making their decisions about who to vote for.

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

Media and Politics Survey

My survey attempts to relate politics to the public's dependency on the media.  It consists of ten questions that are a mixture of multiple choice and free response questions.  I have received very few results from my survey, so if you would like to help me out and take my survey, please do!  It is too soon to tell if there are any trends leaning one way or the other in terms of the media's effect on public opinion.

My survey can be found here! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CDTMPTD

Coast Salish and Indigenous Resistance Summary and Response

This article is centered around the Coast Salish people of Washington State and British Columbia.  The Coast Salish people have struggled with maintaining their heritage and culture while attempting to resist assimilation.  The 1960s through the 1970s are classified as the time of early struggles of cultural survival.  During this time, integrated schools could be worse than residential schools for racism and psychological trauma.  The Coast Salish cultures used the government boarding schools as safe havens because they were protection from the racist conditions in the public schools.  Unfortunately, the boarding schools were highlighted as being universally poor and unhealthy.  The traditional language was kept alive by elders who mentored youth one to two times a week, and they also used the boarding schools for cultural revitalization.
The Coast Salish people who lived in Washington State were forced to deal with racist public schools, while those in British Columbia had to attend church-run residential schools.   Fortunately, laws were passed that forbade attendance-mandatory Christian-based services during school.  I find it very disappointing that discrimination is still present anywhere, especially in the United States.  This country promises freedom of religion and speech; therefore, any culture should have the right to practice their traditions and/ or speak their native languages.

Sustainability Issues in the Piedmont Triad, NC

The Piedmont Triad is currently dealing with a struggling economy and sprawling landscape.  This region is geographically immense with twelve counties, and was recently named the second most sprawling region in the county by Smart Growth America.  The three biggest industries in the Triad-textiles, tobacco, and furniture- have been decimated by financial debts, offshore relocation, corporate restructuring, and lawsuits.  Severe farmland loss has occurred due to suburban-style sprawl.  The Triad is losing over a million acres of farmland every five years, and health issues are increasing partly due to the limited access to fresh food.

Source: http://portal.ncdenr.org/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=0e22946a-d328-4782-b7f4-2e2463f0e15d&groupId=5060055 

Environmental Artifacts

I found this picture on a website defining environmental ethics. I took this image as a message to humans that the earth is the base of our universe, so we should be making it more of a focus in our daily lives to take care of it.  Environmental ethics deal with learning to live on earth harmoniously with nature; therefore, if we make the conservation of nature more of a priority for us, the earth will grow to be more sustainable for future generations.

Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline!

                In an article, “Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline,” published by Kathryn Savoie in November of 2011, Savoie discusses the damage that the Keystone XL Pipeline would create if approved.  The Keystone XL Pipeline spans the length of 1700 miles, and would transport tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada to the United States.  The pipeline would cross six states in America, and cost a large sum of 7 billion dollars.  The company behind the pipeline, TransCanada, needs the approval of the United States Department and for President Obama to grant the project a, “certificate of national interest.” 

                One of the main reasons that this project would be destructive to earth is because of tar sand, itself.  Tar sand is a thick, black substance, which serves as an unconventional petroleum deposit.  Tar sand can only be mixed with toxic lighter hydrocarbons in order to flow through a pipeline.  Savoie classifies tar sands as, “ecologically devastating,” and the project as “…one of the most destructive industrial mega-projects on the planet.”  Tar sands lie beneath the boreal forests in Alberta.  To extract oil sands, oil companies cut down trees in the boreal forests, then strip mine the soil beneath the forests.  The process of obtaining oil sands uses a lot of fresh water and natural gas to separate the oil from the tar.  For example, every barrel of oil produced uses four barrels of water.  The after effect of the extractions is huge toxic lakes.  The extractions link to “unnaturally high levels of cancer in surrounding communities.”  Residents living in the surrounding areas where oil sand extractions take place “have experienced rare bile duct cancers at a 30% higher rate than the general population.”  The pollutants that are released are “directly linked to asthma, emphysema, and birth defects.”

                Another important reason to deny TransCanada the permission to create the pipeline is due to it passing over the Ogalalla Aquifer, which is not only the largest freshwater aquifer in North America, but it also supplies irrigation water for one-third of the nation’s agriculture.  A concern of Savoie is that the creation of the Keystone would trigger the fatal overheating of our planet.  Savoie states that, “…a barrel of tar sands oil produces three times as much global warming pollution as conventional oil.”

 Studies have shown that if we utilized the tar sands oil completely, it would increase the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 200 ppm.  The current levels of carbon dioxide are 390 ppm, and desperately need to decrease by 40 ppm for a sustainable earth.  An organization that solely focuses on awareness of this issue is called the 350 organization, and is led by Bill McKibben.  The 350 organization, along with McKibben, Savoie, and many others, organized a non-violent protest in Washington, DC to demand that Obama refuse to approve the pipeline.  The protest took place from August 20-September 3, and planned to have 50-100 protestors.  On the first day of the protest, 70 protestors were jailed, including McKibben.  Overall, there were 1253 protestors arrested during the Tar Sands Action.

Gas Drilling the Cause of Water Contamination in Wyoming?

"EPA: Natural Gas Fracking Linked to Water Contamination"
by Abraham Lustgarten, Nicholas Kusnetz, and ProPublica

                This article, published in December 2011, discusses the national argument over whether or not hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a cause of water pollution in areas of Wyoming.  Speculation began when residents of Wyoming in the mid-1990s when residents made complaints of foul water.  Later in 2004, residents began to notice that the well water had turned brown shortly after gas wells were fracked nearby.  Due to these incidents, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, tested water samples from residents in 2008 and found traces of contaminants that were used in fracking.  In 2010, the new test results confirmed the previous samples, causing the EPA to caution residents not to drink local water and ventilate their homes when bathing, for the methane found in their water could cause explosions.  EPA officials said that contamination in Wyoming had seeped up from gas wells and contained at least 10 compounds used in frack fluids.  These findings were the turning point in the national debate on whether or not the contamination was actually happening.  Environmental advocates argued for stronger federal regulation of fracking, and members of Congress considered new proposals to regulate fracking and strengthen construction standards to reduce threats to drinking water.  While members of Congress disapprove of the harmful effects of fracking, one member of the Senate, Senator James Inhofe, found the findings, “offensive,” and challenged the investigation.  The results from the tests completed by the EPA contradicted arguments by the drilling industry, such as one by the spokesperson of the gas company, Doug Hock, who denied that the company’s actions were to blame, and that the contamination was naturally caused.  While there is strong evidence suggesting that fracking is the cause of water contamination, agriculture, drilling, and old pollution from waste pits left by the oil and gas industry are also all possible causes.  However, the gas company, EnCana, declining to give federal officials a detailed breakdown of every compound used underground is slightly suspicious.  Unfortunately, without the consistency of similar test results from different testing facilities, there cannot be any facts proving that hydraulic fracturing is to blame for the water contamination in Wyoming.