Food and Sustainability in the Appalachian

Like much of the modern United States, The Appalachian region practices an unsustainable way of food production. Most of the food is imported into the stores and restaurants from across the country. The way the farms are set up also are a nuisance to the environment. The short film, "The Meatrix", addressed problems like animal conditions and poor quality of food, but they also talked of the pollution of these factory farms. The run off from the feces and chemicals in these farms are actually a great harm to water ways in the area. This is a byproduct of the system that is often overlooked by the general public and I was quite surprised to find it out myself, but it is an issue that needs more exposure to show the seriousness of it.

Ethics in Environmental History

        This piece of tapestry depicts a Florentine wolf hunt that was common in the time. This is an example of man exerting his dominance over nature. Wolves were considered to be an "evil" part of nature and they would eat livestock. This was a problem so bounties were put up for wolves as if they were  criminals and the wolf hunter became a celebrated part of the culture. Man was not able to find peaceful cohabitation with these creatures so he removed them from the environment. Today the wolf population is completely wiped out in some areas and they are confined to less populated areas in northern Europe and Canada. Wolf hunting became a practice that led to the extinction of a species for the ease of mind of mankind.

Environmental Ethics: The History

     In an excerpt from an essay by Ross Wolfe, he give's a brief overview of humanity's relationship with nature. The history can be divided into 4 parts: Mysticism, Fear, Knowledge, and Exploitation. As our relationship progressed, it never seemed like the relationship was bettering. The rise of romanticism brought a renewed respect for nature. Although, this was only found in the artists, poets and philosophers of the period and had little affect when put next to the ecstasy of valuable natural resources and the continued industrial revolution. This makes it seem especially difficult for a shift in the consciousness of society to live a more nature oriented lifestyle; To go against "progress". This shift would truly be a radical change in history.

http://p2pfoundation.net/History_of_Humanity%27s_Relationship_with_Nature

Fracking Fraud

            Scientific American reported what is the first case to be proven by a government agency, the EPA, of water contamination being linked to hydraulic fracturing. This was a mass study, but the positive correlation came from Pavillion, Wyoming.The contaminated water source contained 10 compounds that are known to be used in the fracking process, indicating that the fluids from the fracking most likely leaked into this underground water source. This had long been suspected, but never had there been a study conducted by a government agency that linked the two together. The report from the EPA contradicts statements put out by the drilling industry of why fracking is safe. This seems to me like that they knew the problems all along, but were more determined to make a profit than worry about the safety of citizens and the environment. The contaminated water is used for bathing and drinking in Pavillion. A study on water samples from Pavillion in 2008 showed contaminants in the water. Another study in 2010 resulted in the EPA and federal health officials telling citizens to not drink the water and ventilate during bathing to prevent explosions from built up methane. The companies drilling combated these studies by claiming that the contamination was naturally caused and has no relation to their fracking operation. Some politicians are even siding with the fracking companies going as far as Senator James Inhofe calling the studies “offensive”. It seems hard to believe that someone would call a study that is to benefit the health of the public offensive. A situation like this will really start to go downhill when it becomes up for debate. This study will hopefully convince the public that fracking does cause harm to the land and people and that this is not an opinion. The real difficult part will be to try to convince a public that fracking is not worth the damage in the long run.

Common Theme in Turtle Island

In Gary Snyder's Turtle Island you begin to get a picture of the man who is writing these poems. When reading Snyder's poems, one starts to realize how distant from modern American society he is. In "I Went into the Maverick Bar" Snyder mentions he "left the earring in the car" and thus making him fit in more in the bar. He is an alien to this social setting and probably feels uncomfortable. It is not just his looks, but the perspective he views things that set him apart. In "Steak", he describes how he sees a sign with a "smiling Disney cow" and dissects the artificiality of it. While this sign was intended to attract people and make them crave the meat, it does quite the opposite to Snyder. He is in a different realm with opposing values, beliefs, and desires than most Americans. When in a conversation with two men in "Two Immortals", he seems to be more introverted than the men. The way the conversation goes seems to make them loom over Snyder as some sort of example of what American men should be while he is a foreigner. This is why Snyder started to identify himself more with Eastern mentalities than the Western ones he was born into.

McKibben and the Quiz

The quiz that the English 101 class took is a quiz that can take everything one knows and make it seem truly useless. All the information on the quiz was probably know by most people 100 years ago. Now this data is not necessary to survive in today's world. The knowledge most people use today is of very little use outside of society and sometimes even a single culture. This quiz can make one want to forget all of the knowledge learned in school and replace it instead with knowledge on our local environment. 

The talk McKibben delivered spoke of how humans have a new reality created by humans. The fact that Americans are more worried about the economy than the environment shows how out of touch the culture is from the land. The economy is an invention of man and the economy seems to be the biggest force in people's lives today. The problems arising in the environment are not going away and could soon be getting the attention of people in a few years. Humankind must stop consumption of the earth and instead start living in the earth.

Bill McKibben's Eaarth

Last night I listened to an interview (but was really more of a conversation) with Bill McKibben for Scientific American on their podcast. I went through a bowl of popcorn and pot of tea through the course of it, but aside from my indulgence, the interview had a lot of points that I could resonate with. 

One that stood out to me is when McKibben stated that the economy is "more real" to politicians, than our physical world. He went on to say how the economy is such a factor in our lives today, that we often forget that it is just a man made system. I believe that we should take care of the environmental problems at hand right now. We do not know how much time we have to solve them and they are the problems that will take hundreds of years to reverse. It is sad how we have betrayed the land which we came from for our own creation. 

McKibben also spoke of the need to stop the mentality of "Growth" being the answer. America has long been a country of progress and this is a lot of people's answer to solve environmental problems. He speaks of the need for a halt of this growth. I came up with an idea a few months ago for a "Big Pause". This pause wouldn't just be sitting back and relaxing, but looking at what we have, what we are up against, and how to deal with it.