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.  

Turtle Island Poems

In the collection of poems written by Gary Snyder entitled, Turtle Island, I read "Without," "Source," and "Manzanita." In "Without," Snyder tries to explain that if humans do not start to try to preserve nature, nature will continue on its current path of extinction.  He states that nature is silent and therefore implies that it has no power to fight for its life.  He also tries to express that success is not necessarily saving the environment in its entirety, but instead healing the wounds of urbanization.  The poem "Source" is about embracing nature for its wild and peaceful characteristics alike.  Within the poem, he states, "I hear no news," which means that he is distancing himself from society to be able to truly be in tuned with nature.  In the poem, "Manzanita," Snyder really encourages the reader to focus on the little details of his or her surroundings and how details change with settings and moods.  The last stanza states, "The longer you look the bigger they seem, "little apples," which means that while at first glance the berries on the Manzanita plant may at first seem small, after a while they appear to be almost as large as apples.  

Gary Snyder Poems Round 2

In the Section of Turtle Island by Gary Snyder entitled "For the Children", I have chosen three poems that share similar themes.  The poems I chose were entitled "Tomorrow's Song," "For the Children," and "Dusty Braces."  While all three of these poems have a few different themes, the one that they all share is the passion for the preservation of nature.  In "Tomorrow's Song," Snyder in essence says that nature never had a chance of survival, or no say against its destruction.  He insinuates that the human race has turned their backs on the environment.  He advises that we live on fewer amenities.  Snyder also states that a humans' job is to work, save the wilderness, live, and die.  In "For the Children," Snyder makes the point that as the expansion and progression of urbanization goes up, the human race's hope of the sustenance of natural resources goes down.  In the last stanza he states, "stay together, learn the flowers, go light," which is his advice to the reader to work together as a unified force, embrace and appreciate nature, and use less resources.  In “Dusty Braces,” Snyder informs the reader that like the pioneers that he was descended from whom “killd off the cougar and grizzly,” he is also hard working.  In addition, while he wants to preserve resources rather than destroy them as his ancestors did, he still expresses deferential respect by bowing nine times.  Overall, Snyder takes different approaches in his attempt to raise awareness of the need for preservation of natural resources in the aforementioned poems.  All three poems express not only the dire importance of conservation, but also the need for humans to begin to survive on less amounts of resources.

Gary Snyder Themes

"Source," "Pine Tree Tops," "For Nothing," and "The Uses of Light" are all poems included in book, Turtle Island, written by Gary Snyder.  All four of those poems share similar themes.  The main theme of the poems is based around the environment and it's beauty and necessary conservation.  In "Source" and "The Uses of Light," Snyder emphasizes the earth's beauty and how different points of view may enable us to see natures' beauty at its full potential.  In "For Nothing," Snyder's theme basically says that the earth is readily offering beauty, but when no one takes it and makes proper use of it, it fades away.  Also, I think that Snyder is also trying to say that we do not appreciate nature, almost to say that we are wasting God's gift.  In "The Uses of Light," Snyder shares the same theme as in "For Nothing" when he describes his visions as he travels to a new perspective.  Snyder, I think, wants to encourage us to look at nature and the environment from a new outlook to gain an understanding of its true worth and beauty.

Bioquiz with a sprinkle of podcast

Taking, or attemping to complete a bioregional quiz is eye-opening.  There are so many questions about local economy and the environment that most citizens could not answer.  This lack of knowledge has lead to a lack of concern for the current economic and environmental crisis.  In McKibben's podcast subtitled, "Eaarth", detail goes into explaining the correlation between the lack of citizens' awareness to the increasing need of environmental changes.  For example, questions such as where food is grown to what species are extinct in relation to bioregion, stump the masses and warrant a cause for concern.  McKibben being somewhat of an expert on Earth's growth and change over time, explained that while the population may be pondering a rescue for Earth's resources, there may not be enough time to think those ideas through before the resources run dry.  Answering the questions on the bioregional quiz should not be a difficult task; however, the basics of bioregional elements are not relevant to the everyday life of a large population of people and are not something that is considered important or detrimental to know.  However, citizens really should begin to start answering the questions to really understand a bioregion and how each compartment of a bioregional infrastructure works.  In essence, the summarization of these two individual sources of information would be that with the increasing lack of bioawareness, the Earth will continue to lose in the battle with technological and economical growth and expansion.

Groundwater Depletion

One environmental issue that contributes to a need for an “island civilization” is the depletion of ground water.  Ground water is the source of drinking water for about half the total population and virtually all of the rural population, and it makes available over 50 billion gallons per day for agricultural essentials.  Ground water depletion is caused by sustained ground water pumping.  The amount of ground water in storage is continuously decreasing due to the overuse of pumping and the results of this are things such as the deterioration of water quality, increased pumping costs, land subsidence, and most importantly, the drying up of wells.  The general areas that are affected by the depletion of ground water are the Southwest and High Plains, but many areas across the nation are beginning to experience overstressed aquifers.  The ranges of the resulting effects depend on numerous factors including pumping and natural discharge rates, physical properties of the aquifer, and natural and human-induced recharge rates.  One example of a distraught area that had been affected by this is the Atlantic Coast Plain.  Areas such as ones in Nassau and Suffolk counties, Long Island, New York, have experienced lowering of the water table, saline ground water moving inland, and reduction of the base flow of steams.  Other locations on the Atlantic Coast have also experienced similar effects such as surface-water flows being reduced and the sudden occurrences of saltwater intrusion in states such as Massachusetts, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Florida.  I think that these places are being affected the most because of their location on the coast near large bases of water.  Because they are the closet to the water, they are the ones that are most directly hurt by the overuse of ground water pumps. If this continues to occur, the world will continue to keep slowly running out of ground water and other main resources until the ground is no longer able to produce water to keep up with the demand.

Source:  http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/gwdepletion.html

Island Civilization

            The essay written by Roderick Frazier Nash entitled, “Island Civilization”, captivated my attention and opened my eyes to the reality of the mistreatment of humans to the planet.  One of Nash’s main points was that while humans normally see the decrease in forests as an increase in shopping centers and highways, what they don’t see is the decrease in land to sustain civilization.  Nash gives a brief history of the early European citizens and they’re mindsets on land expansion.  For example, because the early citizens were carrying a bias attached to the Bible, and the Bible classified ‘wilderness’ as the land that God cursed, the first colonists were not concerned with preserving forbidden forests.  Derived from that mentality, the new colonists created new tools of transformation such as axes, dams, and freeways that left the wilderness in strewn leftovers.

            As expansion continued, Americans began to worry as to whether or not progress had gone too far.  When the 1890 United States Census stated that there was no longer any frontier, that statement was a reality check for Americans who then began to realize the importance of wilderness preservation and civilization.  While the beginning movements were based on the “ideas of wilderness as a church” and “a stimulant to a unique art and literature and a psychological aid”, the more recent arguments centered around the idea that the conservation of nature was not about us, but rather about the wilderness that we had been controlling since the beginning of civilization. 

            Food chains and ecosystems were the first scientific reasons that led ecologists to believe that nature was a community that mankind belonged to, not owned.  Nature began being compared to blacks, natives, and women as an oppressed minority in extreme cases.  There is only two percent of the contiguous forty-eight states that is wild legally, which sadly equals the amount of paved roads.  Because of the decrease in biodiversity amounts, many biologists were led to believe that there may be a Sixth Great Extinction approaching.      

            After giving a summary of the history of natures’ declination, Nash begins to break down the possible futures of the Earth and human civilization.  The first scenario entitled, “wasteland scenario”, describes a world littered and consumed with pollution.  “Garden scenario” describes an Earth with no diversity, clean water running through streams and far and wide grain fields; however, the waters would have low bio diversification.  The third scenario, “Future primitive”, would resume ancient living styles such as hunting for food and make shifting shelters and clothing.  The final and favorite scenario of Nash goes by the name of “Island Civilization”.  Island civilization would build better tools that would create peace, not war; also, there would not be any civilization with nature.  Nash describes the islands as a way to scale back from lavish living and equalize humans and their impact.

            Reading Nash’s article was definitely an eye opener for me, because I had never really thought about the future of the Earth past fifty years or so.  Thinking about the distant future of over a thousand years really opens up possibilities of bettering the Earth’s current economic and wild life problems.  I agreed with Nash’s point that we should not dismiss all of the technological progress that has been made thus far, but rather to use it responsibly.  With all of the technology being created, and those behind it, we should be starting to plan a way to reverse the upward rates of population grown and the downward rates of living space remaining.  I do feel that humans have too many amenities that could be scaled down and altered to not be so wasteful to the planet.  Nash made a very impacting point when he asked the question of whether or not society will make the appropriate changes deliberately or desperately.  If society does not go ahead and begin preparation for the upcoming decades, I fear for future civilization and the slowly dwindling natural resources left.