In class on Friday we talked about the videos we found for the homework assignment and discussed our thoughts on water use. Reading the assigned pieces along with listening to the class discussion really opened my eyes. Before this set of assignments I realized that we waste a lot of water but I did not realize the impact that our wastefulness has on the world. After reading an article I found through Google alerts it is easy to see why not much is being done to help preserve recourses such as water. http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech-mainmenu-30/environment/10692-ambitious-un-sustainability-conference-in-rio-to-avoid-climate-talk            

While looking for a video that relates to the Patagonia story I started out looking for a video of a dry river bed but then changed directions when I realized that many people have probably seen or at least heard of a dried up river before. I wanted to find something that would make people think about why it has dried up and maybe encourage them to do something about it. I like this video because if you really listen to what they are singing about you begin to ask yourself questions and realize that the world is changing (not for the best) and it is truly amazing how people can sleep at night knowing that we aren’t doing much to prevent it.

Haiku

This world we live in

It’s different than it used to be

We need to fix it

Google Alerts: Sustainability

When we were first told to set up Google alerts I was skeptical because I didn’t want my inbox to be bombarded with a bunch of results that I was never going to read. But after using it for a day or so I think it’s a neat system, I only get one email a day and when I sitting around with nothing to do I scan through and read the results that look interesting. I haven’t however ventured into using twitter yet, I can see how it could be useful but I just don’t think that it is for me.

So far from the readings on the EPA website and Wikipedia I have gathered that sustainability is very important and something that we should all be aware of, but does not have a set definition. The basic idea is we should work to live in a way that satisfies our needs while making sure that generations to follow us will be able to do the same thing. And over the years our methods of doing so have constantly changed. 

Environmental Issue- Automobiles

With all of the environmental issues nowadays it is easy to find many places to put the blame. You could argue that people are too wasteful, that we don’t take advantage of new less wasteful resources, and even that we just don’t care. Especially when so many of our recreational activities are so harmful to the environment. According to howstuffworks.com more people in America watch NASCAR than baseball, which is considered to be “America’s pastime”. With NASCAR being one of the least environmentally friendly sports you might wonder how American’s can preach recycling and “going green” when we uphold such an environmentally destructive pastime.

            It can be hard to wrap your mind around all the ways that automobiles pollute our environment each and every day. Of course there is the obvious air and noise pollution but automobiles also negatively affect our water, take up a significant amount of land space, produce tons of solid waste, and kill more wildlife each day than both hunting and trapping. Aside from pollution automobiles also use a lot of energy “Each year, the United States produces about 10% of the world's petroleum but consumes about 26% of the world's total production. Cars and light trucks are the single largest users of petroleum, consuming about 43% of the total. Overall, cars and light trucks consume about 16% of the total energy used in the U.S.”. After looking at these facts from bikesatwork.com I find myself asking “why don’t we just quit driving so much?” it doesn’t seem like it would be hard to do until you think about all the ways we utilize automobiles. We use them for transportation, work, and recreation. As much as I would like to do my part to preserve the environment in most cases I find myself driving a car much more often than riding a bicycle, and when Saturday night comes around chances are you will find me at a racetrack.

I feel sure that I am not the only one who struggles with the desire to help the environment without giving up the convenience of things that make life easier especially automobiles.  In the end we each have to ask ourselves what the environment is worth to us and what we are willing to do to help preserve it. 

My Response to Island Civilization

After reading the four quotes listed before Roderick Frazier Nash’s essay you might begin to think about your idea of “civilization” and how humans have impacted the earth in different ways since the beginning of time. Which is the perfect mind set to be in while reading this piece, as he is trying to raise awareness of what the world has come to because of peoples actions; and convince his audience that a change is needed to avoid completely destroying our planet.

 Nash starts out by stating how in the first millennium December 31^st was just a regular day and points out that the same date one thousand years later in 1999 is made into a big deal by many people. He uses this example to show how people are generally narrow minded in that they typically are only concerned with the near future and not how their actions now are going to affect generations to come after them. Through the next paragraphs Nash describes how mankind, particularly Americans, have focused too much on “civilizing” the land while not taking into account the impact we have on the entire planet. He plays around with the idea of wilderness and shows the word has no real meaning as it can be thought of in so many different ways. By using both quotes and examples from history Nash shows how people have realized for many years that our way of life has a negative impact on the planet and have to an extent made efforts to reverse some of the damage. But also points out that most of these efforts were actually more for our benefit than the environments.

By pointing out how life long ago was very different from that of the pioneers and our life today different than that of the pioneer’s Nash is able to transition into telling how he believes that in the future life needs to change dramatically in order for our planet to be sustainable. His idea of “island civilization” is that people will quit trying to draw boundaries around wilderness and instead draw them around the human presence. Most people would think that in order for us to lessen our impact on wilderness we would have to take a technological step backwards, but in Nash’s idea he explains how an island civilization would actually have the potential to be even more technologically advanced. He pictures a world where the greatest minds are put to work using technology to reduce our impact on the environment as opposed to trying to “civilize” it as much of today’s technology does.

Personally I couldn’t agree more with Nash, I think that people as a whole have little regard for nature unless it is convenient for them. And I don’t see any way that our way of life could be sustainable for much longer. I also agree with his idea of island civilization and truly believe that it would solve many of the problems that it is designed to solve. But a closer look quickly brings out enough skepticism for me to believe that it is not a probable solution. This conclusion comes from considering the way mankind has made decisions in the past, even upon realizing there is a problem with current methods a majority of the population is unwilling to change their ways until their current method has completely failed them. Looking at it from another angle in order for this idea to work everyone on the entire planet would have to agree to live this way. Requiring a lot of sacrifice and agreement from everyone, it doesn’t seem possible for things to work out.

Nash stated near the beginning of his essay that he wanted to open up people’s minds and make them think farther into the future than they generally do. By looking that far ahead and seeing all the problems we will eventually face we realize that we will need a solution. So he offers his solution, but makes sure to state that it is okay to disagree just as long as you create your own or provide evidence that there is no need for change. In my opinion there is definitely a need for change, but I do not believe that there is one cut and dry answer. It is going to take years of trial and error and require people to open their minds to a new way of life before we will be able to lessen our impact on the environment and be able to share our planet with the wilderness.