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