Reflection

In this class I learned a lot about the environment. Although I have already taken three classes centered around the environment with this class marking my fourth, I still learned a great deal in this class. For example I had no knowledge on fracking and that seams to be a big controversial issue these days it seams to be in the news very often. Fracking is said to be clean and safe energy source by proponents. This might be the case in perfect situations but this kind of perfection does not exist in real life. Fracking has the dangers of associated with the chemicals involved. Many gallons of water a required and are mixed with over 600 chemicals to be pumped. These chemicals leak out and contaminate the water of the surrounding region. Only 30 to 50 percent of fracturing fluid is recovered with the rest being left behind causing more problems.

I also learned a great deal about my hometown and various other places. With the hometown PowerPoint assignment and project 3 of the class. I learned about the air quality of these places and various concerns of these areas. I especially enjoyed learning about Raleigh I am here for another 3 years so I would benefit greatly in gaining knowledge of this place.

The blogs were a great addition to the class it allowed for an adequate use of our hybrid days in the augmentation of the class. I liked it mainly for the freedom it provided and as a way for me to participate as I rarely talk in class. The blog was also useful for the responses to others creating a discussion like environment similar to the classroom that one would not be able to get by just completing an assignment and emailing to the teacher. The blog fostered the creativity of the blogger displaying the method by which a person views the world. With the opportunity to personalize the blog and post not just for the class for a continued love of the environment by blogging after the end of this class.

Comment here i guess

Education and the Proliferation of New (Old) Concepts

In Education and the Proliferation of New (Old) Concepts Paul Theobald and Hibajene Shandomo profile the education systems of the world as nations move from agrarian based economies to industrial based ones. Education was once a highly values resource, something that only the most wealthy families could afford. Children that attended these schools considered their classes a privilege, chance to move away from the rural towns of their childhood and make a name for themselves in the large, growing cities. Today children view school as work, something that is forced upon them and takes away from the fun of their childhood. This eventually leads to a decline in the overall education for students. If you go ask many students in public schools if they actually wanted to attend classes your response would be a resounding no. If students do not begin to value their education again the standards of the world’s education systems will continue to decline. The US, once an educational superpower, is now ranked in the mid 20’s in the world.

Survival response

Indigenous Resistance shows the issue of assimilation of the Salish people into British Columbia and Washington State. the salish occupied a region on the border of both countries. The children of these indians were forced to go to boarding school or face punishment and criticism in public schools. In the schools they were trained into white culture and sent to white foster families never seeing their family again. The natives were treated with racism and the americans did all to destroy their culture. They wanted their land and used assimilation to both take away their culture and take their property.

The Meatrix

I enjoyed watching the meatrix. It was very entertaining while also bring light to the meat industry. It shows how the family farms of the past are no longer and are virtually non existent similar to the matrix and showing the lie and the resistance. This would be very good for children and young adults who might not already know much about the meat industry of the day.
The meatrix ties in various things from the matrix and adapts them well to show the meat industry. With the antibiotics being shown as the red pill blue pill from the matrix.
something that the meat industry reminded me of was organic farming. In a quote i remember from somewhere, its been said that organic can only sustain around 4 billion people. So for any real progress to occur we must first reduce our population drastically.

food inc response

Genetically modified foods hold promise to end the worlds hunger problems. The catch is that there may be health risks associated with these foods. Long term testing has not been done to see the effects and they could be very damaging to ones health in the long run. These foods are genetically modified to have higher crop yield and resistance to disease and pests.
While GM crops could help the food crisis some think that its not the amount of food that's the problem but, rather that food distribution and politics are to blame.
I believe that GM foods are a viable option for solving the growing food crisis but, we should be careful that we don't modify too much that we endanger our health. This is hard to do for people strapped for money and can't afford organic foods void of genetic modification. 

Fracking and Water Contamination

Hydraulic fracking uses large amounts of water and chemicals pumped through underground rock to cause fractures to extract natural gas. Recently though federal environmental officials have investigated pollutants linked to these practices. In Wyoming people have begun to have a noticeable effect on their tap water. These researchers have linked fracturing to pollution of water causing toxic drinking water.

There are running debates on if fracking is a viable method in the extraction of natural gases or if it creates too much pollution irrepably damaging the area. Fracking companies stand by their claim that fracking is an overall safe process and that it would not pollute the water supply. They claim that if there is water contamination it is rather a fluke than a common occurance.

The EPA has found a different story, they have found hydrocarbons and contaminates that they believe is linked to fracking. This was later confirmed by a second round of sampling. The EPA released their findings and noted how they found chemicals used specifically in the fracking process. The fracking wells are far underground which lead the fracking companies to believe that there is no way for chemicals to reach drinking water. Even though these are far below some of the chemicals will always find its way into the drinking water.

I believe that fracking is an unsafe process; the name fracking just sounds bad involving the fracturing of the underground rock. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s found that fracking causes geologic instability to accompany its water pollution issue. Fracking causes evident dangers in the method used today. Better techniques need to be figured out if fracking is to be a viable energy source.