Presentation Response

I also did not get a paper, so post feedback here

John

Post for Mon 4/2

For Monday, April 2, please read the following essay and then post to your blog.  You should remark on the major points of the essay and what potential theories of/for behavior existed in the essay (ones that you might be able to apply to your own research for Paper 4).




     Paul Theobald's "Education and Proliferation of New Concepts" addresses the different theories involving education and a nation's economic output. Theobald highlights several theories about how different education schemes and economic personas of a community correlated with that same community's economic activity. One economic theory that struck my interest in this article is known as  "No- Growth" economics. This theory suggests that a community can maintain a healthy lifestyle by producing and consuming at rate in their is no surplus or shortage of resources within a certain community. This style of economics ensures that their is no physical growth within a community. This theory suggests that this way of market activity gives a community piece of mind in knowing that they are living sustainably, and will be for the remainders of their lives. 
     This way of economic activity also ensure that the populations of communities abiding by the "No- Growth" theory will not grow. This fact is related to my topic of Paper #4, which is Overpopulation's effect on the Economy. This article provides insightful quotes from PhD Economics about this theory and how a large population effects the dynamics of this theory. This article paraphrases a selection written of Economist John Mill in 1988 that discloses Mill's view on having a balance between population levels and economic activity. I plan on including this in my fourth paper because my economic views are similar to Mill's views.


Johnathon Owen

Response to 3/26 Reading

     For today's assignment, we were tasked with reading Indigenous resistance and racist schooling on the borders of empires: Coast Salish cultural survival by Michael Maker and respond to it. This piece's primary focus was to inform the audience about the history behind educational inequalities among  indigenous populations in the region between Northwest Washington and British Columbia. This piece also describes how the indigenous tribes have addressed and dealt with this discrimination.
     The author brings to light the fact that normal public schools and the schools created by the government for native North Americans suppressed the beliefs and history of the Coast Salish tribe. The assimilation schools that the government caused the young members of these tribes to loose touch with their heritage. This form of education built barriers between the tribes, even though they shared borders and histories.
     I believe that this education system was flawed. First off, sending a specific group of individuals away to be educated away from their heritage is racist. Annexing away indigenous children creates an "us versus them" mentality in other school children. I was impressed to hear that the aboriginal communities of this region persevered through this discrimination, and are to this day able to educate their tribal youth about the importance of tribal traditions.

Enter the Meatrix

     Today, we were tasked with watching The Meatrix series. This animated mini show is a parody of The Matrix, where the main character Leo, a small- farm pig, sees the reality that is factory farming. The series progresses and the view becomes increasingly aware of how unappetizing some of our food really is. I believe that this organization is making bounds in educating the general public of the horrors of factory farming. This online video series is easy to comprehend, but it still is able to carry the underlying serious message.

     If I had to use this video to profile a "place", I would profile a Perdue chicken packing plant about an hour from my house. Every time I drive by this plant, I am instantly hit with the urge to vomit. The smell is simply repulsive. Although I have never been inside the plant, I can only imagine the indecencies that happen within.

Thoughts on RT pgs 148-165

     This portion of the textbook discussed and then gave examples of writing involving science and biotechnology. The authors addressed that when writing in the sciences, writers encounter three basic problems while writing: a varied audience, writing about sensitive topics, and feeling a dire need to propose an acceptable solution for the problem. The author then describes that these challenges can be overcome by using the two rhetorical strategies of writing an "accommodating thesis" and to display statistics and evidence in an effective way. Writers in the biotechnology discipline make portable rhetorical lesson, which is writing in balanced arguments.
     I believe that these rhetorical strategies can aid me in my future writing endeavors. By writing thesis' that are easily understandable and defensible can add quality to my writings. Providing statistics and cited facts will make my paper more reliable.

EPA and Fracking Synthesis

Johnathon Owen                                                                                                                    Owen 1

Dr. Taylor

ENG 101

1 March 2012

Synthesis of Lustgarten and Kusnetz’s Piece on Fracking

     In Lustgarten and Kusnetz’s news report Natural Gas Fracking Linked to Water Contamination, the authors discuss the heated political and environmental debates surrounding EPA findings in central Wyoming. The EPA claims to have discovered over ten compounds known to be used during hydraulic fracking in two- one thousand foot water monitoring wells and several cracks and separations in the concrete chemical barrier. Although considering other factors, the EPA is primarily blaming water pollution in this area on EnCana, a hydraulic fracking company.

     Water pollution problems have been present in Pavillion, Wyoming since the mid 1990’s, when fracking was first introduced to this region. This contamination was left ignored until 2004 when residents of Pavillion complained about their drinking water turning a brownish color soon after a new fracking company moved into Pavillion. The issue continued to escalate until 2010 when the EPA along with federal health officials cautioned residents of this area to not consume tap water.

     In order to stay ethical in the public light, EnCana put out a statement claiming that these results were “inconsistent ”, “inconclusive”, and “[pollutant levels] had not changed since last August”. The EnCana spokesperson also brought up the fact that several other factors present in

Owen 2

the region could have also attributed to central Wyoming’s water pollution issue. EnCana’s projection of blame does not hold very up well against the scientifically proven EPA evidence. Regardless if any of EnCana’s statements are true or false, EnCana will certainly be more closely monitored by the EPA and other environmental groups.

     The EPA presents several logical arguments that would lead one to believe that EnCana is responsible for the bulk of this water pollution. However, I believe that their claims should be seen as inconclusive. EnCana was correct is claiming that there are several other factors in the region that have been attributing to water pollution for decades consisting of “gas-bearing zones in the near subsurface, poor general water quality parameters and discontinuous water-bearing zones" (Lustgraten 1). These other factors do indeed contribute to water pollution, and would have been just as severe with or without the presence of hydraulic fracking.

Environmental History Artifact

The artifact I have chosen for this post is a picture of a few yards of the Appalachian Trail. This picture shows a man walking away from length of trail that was intersected by hand-cut logs. These horizontally laying logs combat and further protect the AT from erosion caused by humans and the natural environment. This artifact represents environmental history because it shows how humans have interacted with and maintained the trail through the decades.

Johnathon Owen

Link to Picture:
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&biw=1600&bih=799&tbm=isch&tbnid=cs34li2HbEnKlM:&imgrefurl=http://www.pbase.com/image/95915620&docid=iAKNkAsfKIcnCM&itg=1&imgurl=http://i.pbase.com/g3/67/753667/2/95915620.C4kA98bB.jpg&w=800&h=600&ei=wS1AT7qxPO_q0QHHrtnFBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=330&vpy=292&dur=703&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=141&ty=86&sig=101340267892620280064&page=1&tbnh=131&tbnw=172&start=0&ndsp=33&ved=0CGgQrQMwCQ

Relationship between religion and the environment

Religion and the environment are both topics that help shape the lives of mankind. Religious influences dictate how we act and the values we will hold for the entirety of our lives. The environment directly influences every occasion during our lifetimes. The two are related in the fact that most religions put a large emphasis on creation of the natural world. Christianity, for example, stress how god created the world in seven days. John 1:3 states "through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made". This verse comes from one of the most influential books of the Bible, therefore even more emphasizing its importance. The relationship between religion and the environment should be direct. The environment should taught about and discussed within a religious context. Edward Wilson makes a similar claim in his book The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth. He states that "the creation- living nature- is in deep trouble". Wilson believes that religion and the environment can coexist and thrive off each other. In the book Wilson states "if religion and science could be united on the common ground of biological conservation, the problem [of environmental collapse] would soon be solved". If religion and the environment become more intertwined, perhaps more could be done to preserve the natural world.

Peer- Reviewed Article:

1.Bouma-Prediger, S. "ENVIRONMENT AND RELIGION: Hoping to Establish Common Ground for Saving Biodiversity." Science314.5804 (2006): 1392-3. Print.

Shit different cultures say

The "Shit Yogis Say" video we watched in class made me think about how different cultures have different languages and ways of living everyday life. Like the yogis in this video, members different cultures have unique ways of doing daily activities. Culture dictates an individual's actions and beliefs. One of the main cultural beliefs of the yogis is their passion for obtaining inner peace. Everyone is different, and we all say different shit.

Article for 2/7/12

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/breaking-news-al-gore-announces-live-earth-mega-concert-20070215

Rolling stone magazine discusses a concert that is endorsed by Al Gore to promote environmental education.

Richard Kahn

     In Richard Kahn's Toward Ecopedagogy, Kahn establishes several claims pertaining to environmental education. Through the extensive (and somewhat over-encumbering) use of facts, examples, and quotes, Kahn is able to inform his audience about the problems in our environmental education system.
     Kahn utilizes the first few pages of this article to describe how fragile of a state our environment is in. Kahn references the novel The Enemy of Nature by Joel Kovel. This novel discusses how inefficiently and horrifically humans have treated the earth since the first Earth Day, and how humans have too rapidly depleted natural resources. Kahn uses a quote from this novel, describing how human industrialization and progress is an "cancerous... endless growth". This reference and quote enlightens the audience of how severe a state the earth is in. The connotations surrounding cancer are negative, and the negativity of this statement matches Earth's environmental state.
     The next segment of the article addresses the extreme need of environmental education reform in the United States. Kahn offers his audience statistics projecting how large of a demand there is in the US for environmental education reform. One statistic from the list is "95% of all american Adults support having environmental education programs in schools". This statistic gives the reader hope. When I read this, I was pleased to see that such a high percentage of Americans are in favor of environmental education. This statistic is a great indicator that Americans are demanding a change in environmental issues. With a demand as large as this, environmental education reform will surely be obtained.
     Kahn next describes several environmental education campaigns that have occurred thus far in modern American. One of these campaigns pertains to the "Zoo School" (The School of Environmental Studies), stationed in Apple Valley, Minnesota. This program offers its students the opportunity to learn about the environment hands on, in a controlled zoo- like environment. However, the students enrolled at this institution do not focus solely on Zoo's, but more on environmental topics as a whole. This school is a firm example of environmental education practices in the United States.
     Kahn uses the rest of this article to call his audience to action pertaining to education of sustainable development. Kahn makes it obvious to his readers how inefficiently humans have used earths precious resources, and how with out sustainable development, man kind is eminently doomed.

Real Texts, Pg 55

Johnathon Owen

Dr. Hill Taylor

ENG 101

February 1^st, 2012

Real Texts Reading Response #2, Pg. 56

     In President Obama’s Remarks after a briefing on the BP Oil spill, the President was able to effectively establish an apologetic relationship with his audience by reassuring them that all possible efforts were being made by the government and BP Oil to contain the well leak and clean up the Gulf. His response also projected the blame away from the government through use of sobering examples and facts. However, if the circumstance would have been slightly different, President Obama could have delivered a drastically different speech. In this hypothetical speech, imagine that Obama was making a public apology to the Gulf community for slow action taken by the government to control the oil spill. This apology would affect different audience members in completely different ways.

     The most affected audience members would be the residents of the coastal gulf region. The President would be most likely making this apology directly to these citizens. Regardless of how sincere this apology would be, it would still not be enough to ease the pain that these citizens had endured before the apology. With that being said, one can now analyze the effects of the new apology on the audience who was not in immediate location of the oil spill.

     Democratic politicians who were seeking reelection would have experienced adverse effects from the delayed apology. The delayed response from both the federal and state governments, followed by a delayed apology would have had a strong effect on the voting population. Already angered by their devastating situation, the delayed action would have led to more environmental

Owen 2

injury, and possibly human death. Most likely, the democratic officials who were in office at that time would not be reelected. This apology would simply be too little, too late.

     On the contrary, the President’s late response to the crisis would have had a positive effect on BP Oil executives. Following the spill, several of these officials were fired, or were pressured to resigned. Had Obama delivered this speech later than he did, BP could have taken advantage of the government while it was in an apologetic state, giving these executives more time to fix the issue, and potentially keep their jobs. Also, BP could have avoided such a large public relations effort had Obama delivered the hypothetical speech. Granted, BP would still be responsible for oil clean up and paying damages to Gulf residents, but they could have been able to project the blame off themselves and on the government just enough to avoid being boycotted and hated by the nation.

     The late action by the government would possess negative consequences for the engineers who were tasked with cleaning up the spill. The government’s late reaction to the crisis would in turn lead to extremely delayed action by the engineers. The time the government wasted on making the Gulf tragedy a political issue may have been enough time to push the environment past its breaking point. If this would have happened, it could have been almost impossible for the engineers to solve the problem. The engineers who would have been tasked after the delayed apology would hold no responsibility if the environment failed because of being neglected for so long.

     In all actuality, President Obama did a fairly good job at addressing the public when he did. Sooner would have been better, but any later would have held adverse repercussions for most

Owen 3

audience members. Regardless of when the apology was issued, the Gulf environment and its inhabitants still had to deal with one of the largest crisis’s their area had ever seen. The ones at fault have paid the price, and hopefully the gulf area will be able to fully recover. 

Link I was referring to in last post

http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2012/jan/28/bg_outdoors_012912_165660/?viewpoints

My bad

Water Forum Response

Today in class, we discussed the Water reading. As a whole, the class agreed with the author's main point that the earth is encountering a water crisis. I truly believe that the world will experience a dramatic water shortage in the next few decades, and it is up to us to solve it now. On Google alerts, I did a alert notice for "water shortage". This morning, I received an email that linked me to a news article about how duck hunters were making record kills, despite a serious drought in Texas. The drought was causing rivers and wetlands to drain and dry out. Because of this, the duck population in the areas effected by the drought to congregate in the fews areas left with water. Hunters took advantage of this act of nature. The majority of hunters kill their legal daily limits of ducks. This drought has caused over hunting of Texas waterfowl.

Patagonia related video

I was reminded of this Dawn Soap commercial when i read the Patagonia feature. Like the dwindling river, the Gulf was also harmed by man. But just like the ending of the Patagonia article, the animals in this video end up OK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lCIjdon8Bg

McKibben Haiku

Too much Dioxide
Go solve the climate crisis
Go buy a Prius

Johnathon Owen

Google Alerts and Sustainability

Assignment for 1/19/12




Although I am familiar with Twitter, Google Alerts is a new application to me. So far, it has made my research on environmental issues and sustainability convenient. I like Google searches the top results for you, and sends you emails daily about the topics you have specified. So far, the key words that I have highlighted include overpopulation, human sustainability, and ethical consumerism. I have learned quite a bit about these topics since my initial use of Google alerts. The most sobering fact I have learned thus far is the the population of earth is growing exponentially, causing a dramatic strain on the Planet and it's natural resources. Eventually, the population burden will become too much for Earth, and the Planet will fail.  Using Google alerts will make finding information for my next paper fairly easy.

HW for Jan 13th

HW assigned on Jan 13th, Completed Jan 16th

The overpopulation of the earth poses a significant threat to the environment, as well as mankind.  The human population of earth will eventually become too overbearing on the natural environment, and thus will drive mankind into extinction. There is a set amount of obtainable natural resources on this planet, and it is unclear how long man can make them last. The ever- increasing population makes having an efficient allocation of resources very difficult. The growing population intensifies the negative effects of unsatisfactory land use, and is one of the factors that goes into urban sprawl. The "island civilization" theory attempts to solve the overpopulation problem by drastically reducing the population, and concentrating the remaining population into a few areas to reduce the negative effects that a large population possess. 

Link to BBC article about the growing world population: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15459643

My Response to Nash's "Island Civilization"

Johnathon W. Owen

Dr. Hill Taylor

ENG 101

10 January 2012

Summary and Analysis: Island Civilization

     Roderick Frazier Nash’s article Island Civilization discusses past and present human impact on the environment and offers solutions to end this man- made devastation.

     The majority of this piece is dedicated to the author stating his opinion in regards to civilization expanding beyond its sustainable limits. The author makes it clear that he believes that humans have failed the natural environment and are in the process of eliminating all traces of wilderness from the planet. Nash points out facts that strengthen his argument, and quotes famous theologians on their similar views on environmental issues and policies. The combination of these facts and quotes validates the author’s opinion.

     Once the author made his view clear, he goes on to display possible scenarios of how human existence can change within the next millennium. He proposed four possible scenarios. The first scenario that Nash discusses, the “wasteland scenario” depicts Earth as a poisoned and worthless environment that will no longer support the existence of life. The next scenario was that of the “Garden Scenario”. This perception anticipates Earth being a land that is completely absent of wilderness. Human life would control all aspects of the natural world, from “creation” to the “evolution of life”. This new way of life would only support life for a few species, and the entirety of Earth would be consumed by man- made features. The third scenario, Nash referred to as the “future primitive” style of living. This proposed idea would force human existence toward operating as a hunter/ gatherer society once again. The logic behind this idea would be to reduce the human effect of the wilderness down to near zero by placing “Earth First”, which would involve ceasing sexual reproduction in humans. The fourth and final scenario and the favored choice of the author is named “island civilization”. This lifestyle would require the human population to be reduced by seventy- five percent of its current count (to roughly 1.5 billion) and then concentrate this population into five hundred strategically placed locations around the globe. The population would be forced to stay within a one hundred mile radius of the city center, thus cutting off all human effect of the rest of the world’s area. All of these individual areas would operate “similar to Greek City-States” in the sense that they would be self-sufficient and wouldn’t rely on trade for life. This idea essentially flips the roles of humans and the wilderness of the present day, in the sense that humans now become the minority party. The author closes this piece by stating that, although not flawless, the island civilization way of life is the best conceived plan of wilderness reformation thus far.

     In response to this article, I feel that Nash has proposed a nearly impossible solution to this serious problem. The proposed Island Civilization way of life would require all humans, a notoriously stubborn race, to completely alter their existence. One can see by exclusively looking at the proposed population requirement that this plan could never be carried out. Mankind reproduces at a rate of ten thousand lives an hour, and shows no sign of slowing down. With a current population near seven billion, this stipulation is all but achievable. To add to the inoperable nature of this way of life, the idea of having a completely self-sufficient community with a population numbering in the millions in such a constricted area is highly unrealistic. There is simply not enough area on earth that can provide all the resources essential to human existence within such a small area restriction. This proposed solution portrays Earth as utopian society that is clearly unachievable.

     Despite my disagreement with the author’s central argument, I agree with Nash in the fact that Earth is swiftly approaching an all-out environmental meltdown. I also acknowledge Nash’s call to action of the entire human race to end our ways of devastating environmental destruction and the necessity of an environmental revolution to reconstruct our planet.