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.