Evergreen

Here is a beautiful video created by the french animator Yoann Lemoine. It artistically illustrates some of the environmental challenges that our planet is currently facing due to human actions. The video begins as a buck awakens and finds himself to be alone in an desolate wasteland. Confused by the devastation surrounding him, he runs away in search of the forest which was once his home. Suddenly he stops short as he is confronted by the source of the destruction. Despite overwhelming odds, the buck perseveres and his efforts provide hope that there is still time for our planet to be healed.

- Amy Evans

The Journey of OR7

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/28/us/wildlife-activists-follow-lone-wolfs-trek-into-california.html?_r=1&ref=endangeredandextinctspecies

This article just kind of caught my eye while I was surfing the New York Times website.  OR7 is the name that biologist gave to a wolf that they have been tracking with GPS for the past 2 and a half years.  The special thing about OR7 is that he is the first wild wolf to have migrated into California in the last 88 years!  I thought that this was really interesting because it kind of relates back to Aldo Leapold and his experience with wolves.  OR7 has become somewhat of a celebrity in California and even the rest of the United States.  People have even made twitter accounts acting as OR7.  The article goes on to talk about how it is most likely that more wolves will be moving into the area.  There is a lot of controversy going on in California because some people see it as a bad thing and some people think that it is a great thing.  It sound to me like California is probably going to take steps to protect the species if more do end up moving into the area so it is a pretty exciting deal.  Hopefully the wolves will start moving even farther south throughout the whole united states.  I think it would be cool to have wolves in Nebraska again!!

                                                   

                                        COLTON BOESCH

Humans are Natural Vegetarians

Shattering The Meat Myth: Humans Are Natural Vegetarians

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/shattering-the-meat-myth_b_214390.html

I found this article from a fellow friends Facebook post and I thought it was interesting.  This article states that humans have only been consuming for about 10,000 years.  It is stated that early humans had diets very much like other great apes, which is largely plant based, foods that we could pick with our hands.  Meat eating was then see to be started by scavenging of what carnivores left behind.  The problem with meat eating is our bodies have never fully adapted to it therefore strong meat eaters in our society today have higher incidences of cancer, diabetes and heart disease.  The article then goes and describes the physiology of humans and how we are built to pick fruits and veggies, not tear hide, hold down prey with our HUGE claws, or rip large amounts of meat with our canines... we simply are not built for that.  Basically the overall health of the population could increase if we all eat more fruits and veggies.

I agree with everything this article has to say.  I think that if we really allow people to understand the physiology behind the human body we could potentially get people to change their habits.  Our meat consumption in the United States is ridicules and the obesity problem is tied directly to that.  Not only does our meat consumption correlate with this countries obesity issue but it also allows for inhuman livestock practices and unnecessary amounts of GHG's released into the atmosphere.   If we educated people more about this issue and the other issues meat consumption causes we might be able to change some peoples minds and stop these on going issues.  

-Mariah Lundgren

Landfill Gas

I was happy to learn that Lincoln now has wells for landfill gas collection at Bluff Road Landfill as of last year and has completed phase 1 of the their Landfill Gas Collection and Control project.  I'll explain what is meant by "phase 1" after I explain what landfill gas actually is.  Landfill gas is a mixture of gases produced by microbial decomposition of the organic materials in municipal solid waste.  Municipal solid waste is about 60% organic material and the gas produced is about 50% methane and 50% Carbon dioxide with less than 1% being non-methane organic compounds.  The Clean Air Act of 1996 required "large landfills" to install landfill gas collection wells, but Lincoln has not reached that size yet.  But Mayor Chris Beutler wants to stay ahead of the game and take the environment into consideration saying...


"I have long believed that you can have strong economic development and a cleaner environment, and this project is an excellent example of that reality. It's also an example of acting to clean up our environment without waiting for federal or state mandates."


So, phase 1 completion means that there are now 54 vertical gas extraction wells on about 61 acres of the landfill and that gas is being burned (flared).  This may sound bad but the burning of the methane breaks it down to carbon dioxide and as most of you know, methane has 23 times the global warming potential than carbon dioxide.  It was calculated that flaring this gas takes the equivalent of 30,780 passenger vehicles out of the Lincoln's atmosphere.  Burning it off also reduces odor problems.  Phase one was estimated to be about $2.2 million and most of the money conveniently came from landfill user fees.


The next step for this project would be to use the landfill gas for electricity and could potentially provide 2,250 homes with electricity.  Lincoln could also make money ($300,000 per year) by selling carbon credits on the international market, since Lincoln's air is relatively clean.  I do have some insider news because of a class field trip recently.  Pipes are soon going to  be placed from the landfill to a near by Power Plant called Terry Bundy Generating Station, owned by LES, which already uses natural gas during peak energy use, so a transition to this fuel source would not be that huge.





Check it Out!
http://journalstar.com/news/local/article_6d721ec2-eb8b-11df-b4c0-001cc4c002e0.html
http://lincoln.ne.gov/city/mayor/media/2010/110810.htm
http://www.lincoln.ne.gov/city/pworks/projects/waste/sldwaste/landfill/


-James Reece

Facts about Recycling

Here is a few web sites about recycling.
http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-recycling this one has a unique fact about kisses wrapers. Saying that: More than 20 million Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of aluminum foil. But most people dont even think about it and just through it in the trash.

oops.

and then this website: http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html saying that:
Because so many of them are recycled, aluminum cans account for less than 1% of the total U.S. waste stream, according to EPA estimates.

Which is kind of cool.

-Kaylee Wheeler

More Than Mere Magic Mushrooms

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/more-mere-magic-mushrooms-154207424.html

I found this news article and video very exciting because, like they said, plastic and styrofoam don't biodegrade.  These mushroom discoveries can help us decrease plastic waste in landfills as well as limit the use of styrofoam for packaging.  I have always had an issue with styrofoam... I just never understood why they would use something that will never biodegrade, especially in such large amounts.
We use styrofoam for so many things such as plates, cups, 'to-go' boxes, packaging, etc.  It is being used everywhere, so this new mushroom styrofoam can help us become much more environmentally friendly.   I eat out semi-often, so would really appreciate it if restaurants and fast food places stopped using styrofoam.

I think it's great that we are using nature to help us find solutions.  We can work with nature, but we shouldn't abuse it like we have in so many other ways.  I am excited for the future and these new technologies, but I think overall our consumption needs to decrease.  Though we keep inventing new technologies that will take us out of a hole, the hole may someday get too deep.


http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/en//id/971

Here is another video that I found interesting.

SO COOL! http://inhabitat.com/bosco-verticale-in-milan-will-be-the-worlds-first-vertical-forest/

http://inhabitat.com/altaeros-energies-floating-wind-turbines-tap-into-strong-high-altitude-winds/


An interesting, progressive look for future wind harvesting techniques.  This will minimize the issue of relocating stored wind energy to population centers - ex) Nebraska's western winds being transmitted to Omaha/Lincoln/etc.

MORE! RELEVANT! BELOW!

http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/26/could-hot-air-balloons-replace-wind-turbines/

Steven Schubert
ENVR 249

How Much Water Do YOU Use?

While doing some background research for another class, I came across this graphic.

I like how for each portion of the day it shows you an alternate option that would help in saving water. I was surprised at how much water the hamburger and steak use; it almost makes you want to reconsider your eating habits.

If this image were shown to the public, how many of them would change their habits? Probably not a whole lot. They may attempt to change them for probably a week, but then they would revert back to their normal ways. Granted, the water cycle is always balanced but that doesn't mean that we can use as much water as we can to support our daily needs. People may also think that this image is just being used as a scare tactic in order to get them to change their habits. This brings up the question of what will it take for people to realize that we need to cut back on our water consumption? Will it be when we no longer have clean water to drink, when we need to ration water out?

Macedonia Plants 6 Million Trees in One Day

Getty

Of all the troubling statistics that hippies shout at us as we pretend to be on our phone to avoid signing their petitions, the ones about how much rain forest is cut or burned down each day are always some of the most troubling. In 2008, after two summers of wildfires laid waste to their forests, the citizens of Macedonia didn't need anyone to tell them their forests were in trouble. And so they decided to put all those trees back ... in one day. The simplistic plan must have been the laughingstock of the green movement. Everyone knows you have to get Bono to attend one of your parties before your nonprofit is taken seriously.

Getty
"Remember to budget the $300 per hour for the lady who points at the word 'strategy' all day."

Not realizing that they hadn't done any of that, on November 19, 2008, the citizens of Macedonia got together and planted a total of 6 million trees -- three trees for every human in the country. Thousands of people were bused around the country to planting sites. "Just as we take care of our homes, we should take care of our planet," said one of the citizens who took part in the planting, and then "I don't know what you're talking about" when asked which ad agency had come up with that slogan.

By the way, here's how big Macedonia is compared to a chunk of the United States:

IfItWereMyHome.com

The next year, when the fires took their toll again, Macedonians had another planting day, where they put down another 6 million trees. They did it again last year, when they put down 7 million. By November 2011, they had planted 44 million new trees (with only two days of planting a year).

Getty
Macedonia: Now buried beneath three layers of trees.

In addition to helping out their homeland, the organizers were hoping to send the world a message about how much you can do to fight global warming if you put just a little effort into it. You have to admit that a tiny country of 2 million people planting 6 million trees in a single day makes that point a lot better than some hippie shaming you with buzzwords.

Read more: The 8 Most Incredible Things Slapped Together in a Day | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_19802_the-8-most-incredible-things-slapped-together-in-day.html#ixzz1rdsHogLx
(copy-pasted by Daniel Wilson)

Amazing Perspective

First off let me say that i know the video i chose doesn't discuss environmental topics or how we can improve our planet in fact there is nothing said at all in the clip.  Instead its simply some amazing photography that highlights the beauty of our planet.  I feel videos like this can leave a huge impact on the people that watch it because simply put if we do not act responsibly when it come to the environment, we will lose such amazing sights.

To get the full effect of the video i do recommend you view it full screen and 1080p quality if possible, the tiny box that it shows on in the blog doesn't do the video justice.  I would love to hear what everyone else's impression of the video is and if you think i am going a bit overboard with the video.

Transparency

In our consumerist society, there is a distinct lack of information flow between the producers and the consumers. When we go to the store to buy things, there are usually several different choices with different prices and functions. These qualities are almost always printed on the label, next to the product, or somewhere else that is easy to find. As such, we are able to make relatively educated decisions about the products we are buying. But what if the environmental impacts of a product are important as well? I have not been able to find any products that have a reliable measure of environmental impacts that are readily available. Sure there are things like organic, and stuff like that, where there are federal regulations, and companies will often say that they are green, but because greenwashing is so prevalent, It is hard to know what to trust.
      I did find one site (we might have talked about it in this class a little) www.goodguide.com, which provides ratings of a range of products. They an overall rating, and then 3 ratings in different categories, health, environment, and social. If you so desire, they go very in-depth about the ratings and why they are that way.
     I believe that if these sort of ratings could be available right on the product, people would be able to take environmental impacts into account when buying things, and we can send a message to producers as to what types of products we want to buy, and so make a positive change in the world.

Environmental Hope

Global environmental issues can be extraordinarily daunting. We are constantly inundated by news about the latest oil spill, horrific natural disasters caused by changing global weather patterns, declining biodiversity and other environmental quality issues. It is easy to be consumed by the doom and gloom; however motivation is more easily found in the progress we, as a global society, are working toward to change the way we interact with the Earth. There have been several studies showing that positive reinforcement is much more psychologically motivating than negative campaigns. Psychological persuasion may have one of the largest impacts on how we can begin to change our behaviors to more ecologically sound ones. As pointed out by Dr. McKenzie-Mohr, a noted psychologist working to incorporate scientific knowledge on behavior change into the design and development of community programs, “psychology has a central role to play in this transition, for the cornerstone of sustainability is behavior change.” Hope is where our answers lie to creating a new, more stable and resilient world.  

This first article is about a man, who 30 years ago, as the age of 17, began to plant a forest in an area where it was not thought possible to do so. Today, this forest in India is almost 300 acres. This man is just one person who has helped to offer us a glimmer of hope.

Indian man plants forest single-handedly.

Energy is one of the main concerns of the global community. There is yet to be one solid solution, but as we learned from Joan Chan, resilience may require several concerted efforts in order to maintain sustainability. With all these efforts, there will clearly be waste though. Here is a great article about wind turbines and what to do with them when they finally do break down.

Re-purposing wind turbines for playgrounds.

Another energy related field to feel good about is solar technology. Here are two articles about learning from nature's evolution and how we can apply that towards energy technology. The first article is about taking inspiration from butterfly wings to capture solar energy, while the second article is about the efficiency of sunflowers ability to capture that energy.

 Butterflies inspire solar technology.

  

 Sunflowers inspires solar technology.

All of these articles have a common theme: hope. We as mankind are very adaptable and can overcome the environmental issues we are faced with by focusing on the positive solutions. Forget the negative stuff, its all just clutter anyway. 

 

Activist Art

How many members of our class consider themselves artists? What does art mean to most of the class? Magician Teller from the acclaimed Penn & Teller act defines art as "Whatever we do after the chores are done." Quite a broad definition, but if we consider this perspective, what does your daily art say about you? Do your daily actions outside of your normal obligations reflect consumerist passivity, or do they reflect an eco-centric activist perspective? What I'm trying to get everyone to consider is that the true motives behind your daily 'art' may be in dissonance with your values, and we should be mindful of our daily expressions and try to align them with a purpose that is meaningful to us.

On Monday, April 16 to Friday, April 20 ASUN student government is sponsoring the Focus Nebraska Sustainable Art Exhibition in the Rotunda Gallery. This is a good example of the type of art that has a meaningful, activist message towards important issues and I would urge everyone in this class to submit to and/or attend it. Here's a schedule of the Rotunda Gallery's exhibitions, http://unions.unl.edu/city/rotunda_gallery.php


I think its always very important to consider our own, and other people's motives for creating art. Is it spontaneous or directed? Does the artist within you dream of having your work hung up inside of an elitist gallery? Your ideas being traded for capital? Or do you see your art on the street, influencing the minds of the masses, standing out in a sea of monotonous advertising?

Sometimes its important to examine the medium that we work with to create our art. Do you prefer to spend your free time socializing? Perfecting the art of interaction and conversation? Do you spend your free time on the internet? Styling your interests and the art of information seeking? Exploring alternative mediums can be an effective tool in giving more meaning to your art. One innovative medium I found for getting a message out to the world is Moss-graffiti. Imagine seeing an environmental message on the wall of a building downtown made with actual living, growing life. Moss graffiti is relatively easy to make and I suggest you try it out! http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Moss-Graffiti

Whatever medium you work with, whether it be paint or moss or words or tones, be conscious of not only the message you are sending, but the motives underlying those messages, and whether or not they reflect your true mentality.

Corporations heading in the right direction...?

In order to achieve environmental problem resolution, the root of the problems must be the first to change their ways. In the US, corporations tend to hold the most sway over environmental policy, so it is up to them and to us (vote with our $) to encourage better choices towards environmental issues. Here are a couple of examples of companies taking action.

GM stops funding the Heartland Institute

Whole Foods to stop purchasing unsustainable wild-caught seafood.

This past spring break I skied in Keystone, Colorado. I was astonished to see the amount of dead pine trees that existed all across mountains in Keystone and Dillon, Colorado and even through out the drive into the mountains. Due to the invasive species, mountain pine beetles, pine trees are dying throughout the Rocky Mountains. Click on the link to see a map that shows how the pine beetle has affected the Rocky Mountains since 1996.

 

http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/barkbeetle/aboutepidemic/maps

 

After looking at the amount of dead trees, I wondered what caused the pine beetle to destroy so many pine trees. Is it because of climate change?  According to this youtube video link below, the mountain pine beetles are naturally killed off by harsh cold winters. But due to rising global temperatures and lack of cold harsh winters in areas such as Canada and Colorado, more mountain pine beetles are surviving rather than dying. In Canada especially, the mountain pine beetles will spread north towards the Boreal Forest if temperatures continue to rise. If the Boreal Forest has so many species then how will the loss of pine trees further impact the Boreal Forest ecosystem?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRSR5L5e28g

 

There will be a higher occurrence of forest fires with the amount of dead pine trees, and particularly in the mountains, dead trees can lead to less trees soaking up the atmospheric carbon dioxide and more atmospheric carbon dioxide being released. More atmospheric carbon dioxide is the last thing we need. It only causes the atmosphere to become warmer leading to more mountain pine beetles destroying more pine trees!

 

In my opinion, global warming has a major impact on the mountain pine beetles and scenic Rocky Mountain forests. But how do we stop the destruction of the pine trees? In general, for the prevention of mountain pine beetles, google websites say use more pesticide sprays and kill all the infected pine trees in sight. But with such enormous populations of trees and beetles, this is hard to follow, particularly with pesticide chemicals affecting an ecosystem. So in order to literally save the trees in the scenic Rocky Mountains and Canada, we need to find a long-term solution to reduce our carbon footprint and furthermore decrease global temperatures. Perhaps tell your friends and start a community awareness, global rising temperatures aren't just impacting humans, it’s negatively impacting the healthy pine trees we see in the Rockies and Canada. So let's all get together and look for a solution to save the pine trees.

 

The brown trees are those that have been affected by the mountain pine beetle. If you look closely, you can say the many brown and lifeless pine trees in the background. (Dillon Reservoir, CO, near where I stayed during spring break)

 

VOTE on this thing now
it adds funding for some arbor day project like the focus UNL
http://arbordaynow.org/contest/vote.cfm
-Daniel Wilson

Environment is the Foundation for Community

Today in class, we discussed issues dealing with the feeling of community and how we, together as a community, can accomplish that can help the environment.  One thing that was brought up was the fact that most people don’t socialize with their neighbors now. This was odd to me.

I grew up in a small township. Yep, it’s not even big enough to be a town. Anyway, the sense of community is extremely strong and I believe that deals a lot with my community’s connection with the environment.  Most of my neighbors are farmers or have agricultural-related jobs. They raise gardens, pickle their produce, and eat from their pantries all year long.  My neighbors share their garden’s abundance with each other not in anticipation of a trade, but rather out of a sense of community. I know that this may be considered a unique relationship, but I don’t believe it’s as rare as one may think.

My neighbors realized long ago that they are depended on each other.  Not just for emotional support, but for their livelihoods. Many of my neighbors make arrangements with each other to support their operations whether those are farm related or not. Livestock owners collaborate with the farmers to use the livestock waste as fertilizer, while some enable their fields so that their run-off isn’t going to contaminate their neighbor’s field.  Others rely on their neighbor’s sweet corn patch for their family barbeques and some even rely on the creativeness of their neighbors for their restaurant’s centerpieces. Not all relationships are like this, but most in my native area are.  The people of my community realized that dependence on each other make us realize the importance of the things we use. It allowed for people to collaborate with each other and find connections that they didn’t know were possible. If people can do this in the country, why is it so difficult in town?

I believe it is because of the disconnect with nature.  I’m not just meaning the outdoors, but also the food people eat and the products that they use.  People are disconnected when it comes those items and then they don’t realize how dependent they are on other people.  Think about the clothing you are wearing now or the food you last consumed. Did you take a part in its process from a raw material to what it is now? If not, I encourage you to try to be more involved.  Learn about the products you use and use reliable sources.  Because of our big disconnect with nature, we are more susceptible to believe information that may not necessarily be true.  Make good decisions when it comes to consumerism. Perhaps you could get your neighbors involved and start a community garden.  Together, your neighborhood can become something as special as mine is at home.

Cute ducks issue

It is a careless mother and she lost her baby. It is an interesting picture.

After that, a female police saved them. I think duck mom will be happy now . hahah

Ads that make you think

"What will it take before we respect the planet?" 

"Our water is thirsty."

"Now you know how it feels when you are being hunted down." 

"The sea will take revenge on you one day, or may be even now. It’s really just a matter of time."

"70% of plastic ends up in the sea."

"Every 60 seconds a species dies out.
Each minute counts."

I found these thought-provoking ads on http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/creative-public-awareness-ads/ 

These are just a few of the many environmental ads listed on the site. The site also covers a variety of social issues in a creative way. Some of these ads are a bit graphic. One ad depicts a masked man clubbing a seal with a plastic bottle with the caption, "Each year millions of marine animals are killed by our rubbish." Do you think graphic images help stir up emotions in viewers and get the message across?  

-Lucy Waite

An Example of Not Using the Precautionary Principle

This is the kind of thing that happens when people are in so much of a rush to make a quick buck that they put their greed ahead of the safety of others. This article from Huffington Post confirms what a lot of people already suspected: Disposal fracking waste can and does cause earthquakes. Although the report states that it is very difficult for the right combination of things to happen at the right time to create an earthquake, it's still an unacceptable risk. It's also important to note that the earthquakes in Ohio were not caused by fracking directly, but from the way in which the wastewater from fracking operations was disposed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/ohio-fracking-earthquakes-cause-determined_n_1334808.html

 -Cain Silvey

Do to our recent talk about Eco-justice, culture, and gender I started thinking about a book I had read In High School called, "Amazing Grace". Although it focuses on the inner city of the South Bronx and the lives of those in lower income situations it also shows the effects of poor environment. Jonathan Kozol records the stories of people living in such terrible conditions where their environment is actually making them sick. Most these people wont even leave their own homes to be outdoors so they wont have to risk their safety. Here is picture of the cover and a video to give you more of view about the book. This is one of my favorite books that moved me and changed my way of thinking about the environment.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=IipJ_IlNd_4
http://youtu.be/IipJ_IlNd_4

This article relates back to what we were talking about yesterday in class only instead of paying more for each gallon of gas, these people pay car insurance by the mile. The more you drive, the more car insurance you will have to pay and vice versa. California is the only state moving towards this policy right now, but hopefully in the future we will see it in more places.

http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/pay-per-mile-car-insurance-moves-forward-in-california.html


Also, this link shows heart-wrenching pictures of pollution in China. This is so upsetting because a lot of it is just irresponsibility and improper discarding of trash and chemicals that caused it to get this bad. The photos show deformations in children and people that were basically paralyzed because they live in these polluted areas. Look at the sky in the photos with the power plants...it is truly disturbing.

www.chinahush.com/2009/10/21/amazing-pictures-pollution-in-china/



-Lauren Shippen

Living Off The Land

I found this on pinterest in the garden center and I was amazed. An average size family needs 2 acres of land if you eat an array or vegetables, fruits, grains, meat and eggs. I have five people in my family and it really puts into perspective the amount of resources, time and energy required to feed an average sized family in the U.S. The population started to rapidly increase in the 1960's with the birth of modern medicine, better quality of living, and the industrial revolution but before all this happened, the majority of the population produced their own means. If the population increase wouldn't have drastically changed, would we be still be producing our own food today? It makes me think that the development of modern agriculture almost encouraged the population to increase. That the new advances in technology were challenging our current way of life to see how far we could push the envelope. Well, we're finally there and the way we are living doesn't seem to be effective, then what is? How can we move away from modern agriculture when we rely heavily on it? Also, if producing your own food requires so much land, is it better that there is an agriculture system where people do it for us? I think that these are all important questions that we need to address. This image and definitely made me question the way we are living currently and which one is more beneficial.

Home Solar Power Discounts - One Block Off the Grid

meat's not green

Also, I found this video and I thought it was very interesting. I've never thought about the effect meat production has on global warming before. Though personally I don't know if I could give up steak...

Anyone in the class a vegetarian?


 

-Lauren Shippen

Obviously many people have negative and rude things to say about this man's artwork, but I think each one of these paintings are incredible and convey an important message. It shouldn't matter if the messages are "cliche" like people seem to continuously criticize, but these are social issues that are clearly still present in the world and need to be acknowledged. 

here's the link:

http://english.mashkulture.net/2011/05/09/the-art-of-paul-kuczynski/

-Lauren Shippen

Sustainable Houses

While looking for information on green design, which is what our group is interviewing on, I came across some interesting videos on how they are making homes more efficient. It's nice to see some encouragement of a more sustainable world coming together. There were many more videos I stumbled upon while looking through these, so if they interest you I would suggest typing in sustainable houses in on you tube or another search engine. Enjoy the videos.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tErcppNIqRo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifTBxGba_Ac

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj2m6pYr3Fw&feature=related


-Taylor Nissen

Environmental Racism by Tracey

Here are some interesting studies I read about environmental racism. This topic is one of the top reasons I became an Environmental major. I worked in the mortgage industry for 8 years and watched Realtors redline minorities into "undesirable" neighborhoods near Portland's old industrial sites on the Willamette River. Most of the homebuyers were unaware of any health problems possibly related to living in these polluted areas, and were happy to find a cheap home they could afford. I tried to start an educational program for first time minority buyers to educate them about "poor neighborhoods" and the risk of living there. But, the program was never approved due to the hand in hand nature of a mortgage brokers job with realtors... So, I decided to get out of that industry and go back to school!

San Francisco Bay Area has a lot of issues with air quality in minority areas. http://cjtc.ucsc.edu/docs/bay_final.pdf

This one is kind of old but still interesting to read, it's a greenpeace report about threats to Indian land. http://www.ejnet.org/ej/toxicthreattoindianlands.pdf

There's really so many great sites and stories I could post. So, if you are interested in more just let me know!

Tracey Adams

Environmental Justice

 Here is Lee Brain, the son of an oil engineer who was able to witness first hand the detrimental impacts big oil can have on the people who inhabit an area that has been relinquished to the oil companies.  The video is about 20 minutes, but if you start it around minute 8 you get the best of the speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1X3VynNZQaQ

Massey Energy update

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203918304577241422775070412.html

After watching the documentary about the coal mining industry destroying the Appalachian mountains I was inspired to do some further research. Since this documentary was filmed last year, I was curious as to what had happened since- as in did Massey get in any trouble? It might have said at the end of the documentary but unfortunately I didn't get to finish it. however, netflix does have it (if anyone is interested) and I plan on watching it and forcing my roommates to watch it with me later. Anyway, this article talks about some mine foremen getting in trouble for ignoring some safety issues in the mine that directly resulted in the deaths of several miners. I hate to see them in trouble while Massey just pays his way out of any sort of conflict with the law. Anyway it was nice to see that someone was being held responsible for the destruction, even though the main reason was because it resulted in people dying rather than the mountains dying.

women in the environment

The website womenintheenvironment.org is a cool website. These women have joined together to face challenges of the environmental industries such as recycling companies and co-ops, environmental law, sustainable building and remodeling for commercial and residential real estate, environmental engineering, landfill diversion techniques, and sustainable marketing to name a few. They are based in Fort Worth, TX.
There is also womeninenvironment.org and wedo.org which is a more global effort for women and the environment.

-Kaylee Wheeler

Culture and Diversity

While searching for something to write about for this blog I came across this video interview of Juan Mayr, the former Environment Minister for Columbia. What he talks about furthers our discussion we had this last week on culture and the environment. Juan Mayr believes culture and diversity are the most beautiful things given to us by god.

In the article Lessons from our Ancestors we read about the traditional cultures of the Tibetan nomads, farmers from Bali, the Inuit, and Kogi were each group had a high understanding of their local environment. But in recent years all four of these culture’s environments have become threatened from western ideologies to climate change.

In the Tibetan nomad example their highly specialized adaptation to their environment is being threatened by Chinese growth and the influence of monoculture. Juan Mayr’s comments about how some people can’t understand diversity and only see their own views points is a strong example of this, but it's also seen nearly everywhere.  

-Matt Spohr

The Un-Envioronmental Environmentalist

So, I was thinking today during an especially hot and long shower, about how I used 92% biodegradable shampoo while showering. I thought about how I should buy more products that are more sustainable in order to reduce my carbon footprint. Shortly thereafter, I was struck with a pretty obvious problem. I was taking a hot shower. Not only that, but I had been in the shower for almost 20 minutes already. I started thinking about how I should take shorter showers because I was completely counteracting the positive environmental impacts of my shampoo with the length of my shower and the energy consumed in it. I decided that I was, at times, an un-environmental environmentalist.

I think that this can still be constructive, though, if looked at in the right light. I see a lot of people who think that preserving the environment somehow makes them more "righteous" than the next guy. There are people that look down on people who don't recycle or (like me) like hot and long showers. I tend to think of these types of people as more uneducated, rather than wrong or stupid. I can fix my showering habits, and it's something I'm working on.

But, the environmentalist movement and helping to preserve the environment in general, should be a constant cycle of self criticism. What can I do better? How can I reduce MY footprint? The second we stop criticizing ourselves, it's easy to fall into a pattern of thinking that we are as good as we can be- that we're doing all for the environment that we can. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Always look at yourself and think "What else can I do?" Encourage your neighbors and friends to be more sustainable. But don't ever condemn anyone for not being as sustainable as you, because in reality we're all a detriment to the planet. It's just the degrees of our impact that differ.

- Will Stott

Culture Shock Sudanese refugees coming to America

this is a pretty neat video.
i like when they say the sprinkles look like beans :)

-Lauren Shippen

Green Fire

It was very interesting to me how Leopold's teachings are still practiced today.  A man that did not see what we are dealing with today has made such an impact on the way people treat the natural world today.  I think it showed how far ahead of his time Leopold actually was.  He showed that people need to have a little more respect for nature and not just use it anyway that we feel needed.  Leopold has been and probably always will be one of the best conservationist that people will come to know.  I think if people followed his teachings a little more we would be in a better situation now.

Wolves Are Still In Trouble

We talked a little about wolves almost becoming extinct in the 1800s.  I came across this website and discovered that wolves are still in grave danger.  The website gives you some information about what is happening and has a link to sign a petition to stop this horrible killing of such beautiful animals.  One of the videos stated that Idaho expected to sell 70,000 permits to kill over 200 wolves, with the goal to cut the already low population in half!

http://action.defenders.org/site/PageServer?pagename=savewolves_homepage

I find it interesting that with all of the worries about pollution these days, every time it snows we put tons and tons of pollution on the roads to melt ice. I am talking about NaCl, in other words salt. I just read an article that talked about how much salt that we were put on the roads which each snow storm that we get, and where it runs to when it gets melted. Being a former "snow fighter" as we liked to call ourselves, limiting the amount salt was never an issue that we were concerned with, all we worried about was removing ice from roads. I found it very interesting that only a cup of salt into a 5 gallon bucket could kill fish, I understand that there is way more water that runs through streams and rivers, but there is still a lot that runs into them. I didn't know of too many studies that has been done to see what effects this has on the habitat and ecosystems in these areas.

Image obtained at:http://connect.in.com/paradigm-shift/images-paradigm-shift-512011-listen-or-watch-1-1610713467648.html

I came across this little sketch and I think it is somewhat symbolic of what we have been discussing in class this week about religion and people's views on the environment. It's really important to understand where people are coming from, their culture, their upbringing and their religion, all of these things shape a person and have a role in why they believe and do the things they do.

What would Jesus drive?

http:www.weibo.com/topsummit

This little one is soooo cute and I can not wait to share it with everyone .

And today I saw a really interesting website called: What would Jesus drive?
It is like a joke but people are serious talking about that, then they asserted :"Pollution that causes the threat of global warming violates the Great Commandments, the Golden Rule, and the biblical call to care for 'the least of these', and therefore denies Christ's Lordship and His reconciliation of all things 'through his blood, shed on the cross"by Forrest M. Mims III 
I start wondering that question.
What do you think a Christan will do? 

http://www.4truth.net/fourtruthpbscience.aspx?pageid=8589952961 (Christian Environmentalism: Plastic or Paper?by Forrest M. Mims III)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zPcR7wgh0c

If we have more of a spiritual or religious connection with the world as John Muir did would we be treating it so poorly? This video shows some of the beautiful places we have in this world and what we are turning them into today. 

Things that our generation could make connections with on a spiritual level in nature are now turning into polluted areas. In Whites writing he talks about how he used to love the places where he grew up and how it has changed so much since then. It is now an urbanized and has pollution in the streets. The talks about wars and the impacts they have had our planets, and that a war with canons causes erosion and deforestation, but a war with hydrogen bombs may alter genetics for all life on this planet.

The book I have been reading for this class has a good quote that goes along with this week’s material.

“ We have become as Gods, destroyer of worlds”  

-Miranda Cynova