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