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

This article discusses the separation of indigenous people from their own society and culture. They were not allowed to speak their own language and practice their own religion and culture. Americans and Canadians tried to assimilate them so that they can be more educated. Marker describes the process of assimilation and how the children were separated from their family and culture and were for forced to go to boarding schools.

I believe it is important for people to be able to keep and practice their own culture in the way they wanted to. The world is a combination of different cultures and every culture is equally important. Every culture should be respected by others .

Food Sustainability - Santa Monica

The demand for food is forecast to grow by at least 50% over the next four decades due to population growth. When local food production failed to meet the demand, commercial agriculture began to thrive. Given all the negative aspects of commercial agriculture, people should start thinking about how to make food production more sustainable and start making movements towards this goal. The City of Santa Monica is taking the lead by supporting sustainable, local, and organic food through its own purchasing, and by helping to make sustainable food more accessible to its residents. Santa Monica was also the first city to sign on to the Cool Foods Pledge, and had elevated food sustainability as a priority focus within the Sustainable City Plan.

Environmental Ethics #2: bottled water

Nowadays, consuming bottled water has become one of the most common thing to do; nearly 1 billion bottles of water are being shipped to each cities each week in the US alone. At this point, what we should do is try to use as little energy as we can because we are running out natural resources; but instead, we are wasting about 1.5 million barrels of oil a year making plastic water bottles. Is bottled water really better and healthier than tap water? Why do people spend so much money on bottled water when tap water is just as good and healthy?

Environmental Ethics

            This blog post written by Gavin Van Horn was a very interesting post. In this essay, he focuses his points on environmental ethics and the definition of being humans. He sees that the entire planet as a team; every animal and every plant is a member of the team. In this team, there is no letter “I”, there is no individualism, because we are a whole. In this world, everything is constantly changing; humans are simply the “constant process rather than final product” (Van Horn). To make the survival of the entire team last longer, humans need to realize that we are only beings-in-relation not beings-in-control. This means that human survival also relies on others who we share the planet with.

http://www.humansandnature.org/blog/human

risks of fracking

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v477/n7364/full/477271a.html

            In Howarth’s article, he writes about the risks of fracking and whether it should be stopped. In this article, he points out that many fracking addictives are toxic and mutagenic. He also points out the fact that “frackig extracts natural salts, heavy metals, hydrocarbons and radioactive materials from the shale, posing risks to ecosystems and public health when these return to the surface” (272). When the poisonous and toxic fluids return back to the surface, they contribute to the methane contamination in the water wells. Right now, we have not figured out a way to handle everything safely, so it is the best that the gas remain safely in the shale. 

McKibben and 350.org

          Bill McKibben, the founder of the international grassroots climate campaign 350.org, has done so much to educate people and to warn people about the importance of protecting the environment. According to McKibben and his research team, the number 350 is significant because “any value for carbon in the atmosphere greater than 350 is not compatible with the planet on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted” (3). This simply means that when the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere exceeds 350ppm, it is considered unsafe for the planet and humans. Unfortunately, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has already exceeded 350ppm at this point. This is a sign, a warning for humans, telling us that we need to stop waiting and start acting right now because we have no other choice. Many people doubt his way of warning people will not work. Even though the number 350 has drawn big attentions from many people, but it is still far from enough. As McKibben points out, it is the will to act that people need.

The burning of fossil fuels is currently the biggest source of carbon dioxide emission, but the fossil fuel industry has not been very supportive because the people who work for the fossil fuel industry are still only concerned for their own wealth and unable to see the fact that this issue has become a global issue which requires immediate attention from every single person. 

http://bos.sagepub.com/content/68/2/1

EPA: Natural Gas Fracking Linked to Water Contamination Synthesis

Near the town of Pavillion, people have been drinking contaminated water for years. The Environmental Protection Agency has roughly concluded that the contamination was due to natural gas fracking.

            When EPA conducted their first tests in Wyoming, they concluded that the problems with the cement and water pollution are not connected to fracking because there were many other factors that should be taken into consideration.

            In the mid-1990s, many residents in the area started to complain about the water near Pavillion. Later in 2004, situations continued to get worse. “Several residents complained that their well water turned brown shortly after gas wells were fracked nearby” (EPA) In 2008, EPA came back and started a new round of tests. They concluded that the water was highly contaminated; residents should stop drinking from the wells around them because they could get poisoned; it might even cause explosion because of the amount of methane that was in the water. At the end, the EPA concluded that the contamination of water was caused by fracking because the wells in the area were “fracked at shallower depths than many of the wells in the Marcellus shale and elsewhere” (EPA).

            When the government officials asked to see a detailed breakdown of every compound used underground, the fracking company declined the request. They also accused the EPA for not being consistent with their labels and data.

            Fracking is risky after all because nobody can guarantee everything will work out perfectly. Right now, no decision has been made yet, the EPA’s finding is scheduled to be peer reviewed.