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.