Blog without pronouns

The bioregional quiz and Bill Mckibben's podcast have a very interesting relationship. This relationship shows the population that there is much knowledge about the Earth to be learned. The bioregional quiz shows how little or how much a person knows about the Earth, and then Bill Mckibben makes people realize that knowledge of the Earth needs to be a necessity. 

In the beginning of the article, it is known that Mckibben calls Earth by Eaarth, because of the belief that the Earth today is a very different place than the planet that was originally created.  Mckibben explains many of the sections of the Earth that need to be studied more intensively to make the "Eaarth" last longer, and possibly prevent some catastrophic events.  However, in the article it is stated that it might be impossible to dodge catastrophic events from happening because of the damage the population has already done to the planet. 

There is also a connection that can be made between Island Civilization and Bill Mckibben's podcast. This connection is that Island Civilizations states that "humans are the most dangerous species to Earth" and Bill Mckibben connects this fact by mentioning the multiple ways that humans have acted in selfish ways that have resulted in harm to Earth. For example, Mckibben talks about how Barack Obama will not take many steps toward become more eco-friendly because it is costly and could bring down the economy even more than it is today. The president being more concerned about the economy than the environment that humans survive off of shows that the population of the United States is focused in the wrong direction for our planet's survival. 

Bill McKibben Part 2

I do agree with Mckibben that people relatively see farming as easy and simple. However, he could not be more right saying that it is far from simple. I have seen this first hand; I have family in Columbus who lives on a farm, and I have heard about the many things that go wrong and the work that goes into farming. It's also crazy to think that farmers now look on youtube to find out the newest methods other farmers have come up with. I'm pretty sure my aunt and uncle have probably done that, too!

His section on soil is eye-opening. I didn't know that industrialized farming is ruining soil, and that is frightening. 

I was really confused in the section talking about the economy and how we have built things too big. I was especially confused when McKibben said that building these huge industries were more dangerous than nuclear plants. Thankfully, it all started to make sense when he presented this analogy, "think the analogy I use in the book is you know we don't need a racehorse exquisitely bred to go as fast as possible, but whose ankle breaks [the minute] there's a [divet] in the track. We need [a ploughhorse] built for not for speed but for durability." A very clear image popped into my head when I read this analogy. Also, when McKibben gives the analogy of a terrorist coming to attack his solar panels, it also gave me a better understanding as to why we should not have these massive industries in the United States.

The terminology for kids spending too much time in front of a video game is quite humorous, "videophelia." It really is a good point that if kids are spending less and less time outside they are not going to care about the Earth as much as the kids who spent their entire child hood playing outside. 

Over all, it really is an interesting pod cast. I especially was intrigued by the technology aspects McKibben covers. Also, my results from the bioregional quiz show that McKibben would definitely shun me for my knowledge of my surroundings. I only knew/guessed on four of the questions. 

Bill McKibben Part 1

Before the pod cast started, I was so confused as to why the title is called Eaarth. Once it is explains that it is to show that the Earth is not the same as it was when it was originally named Earth, I thought that was very clever. I also think it is cool that his home is solar powered. It just proved to me that he is very passionate about this subject. I liked that he pointed out that twenty years ago we never would have thought the Earth would be the way it is today. This fact caught my attention because I always thought people didn't think about the damage being done to our Earth until recently, and it was news to me that people actually did think about this twenty years ago. What's somewhat depressing, is that it took until recently for everyone to begin going "green," when people actually did think about it twenty years ago.

In Island Civilization it talks about how humans are the most dangerous species to Earth, and when McKibben says its unlikely that we can prevent catastrophic events from happening to our Earth because of the damage we have caused to it, it definitely supports the fact from Island Civilization. On another note, I really like the internet section of the podcast. It is so cool and true how he says that when the internet came out people stopped feeling like they need to get out of their little towns to get into the big world. As he said, they can get on the internet and feel like they are a part of something on the other side of the globe.

At this point in the pod cast I am very annoyed with how many times he has said you know and so on. However, it is quite awesome how Mckibben created the largest day of political action on the planet through Skype.

I definitely agree that Obama hasn't focused very much on being more eco-friendly because it would put the economy in a worse place than it is now. That alone just shows how selfish the american population is when it comes to preserving our earth. It is a shame, though.

I also think the section on farming is interesting. McKibben's ideas about needing the big farmers, like the ones in the 50's, are something I haven't heard an environmentalist really talk about too much. I typically hear about going green, reducing air pollution, and all of that. However, it is almost impossible to imagine going away from our industrialized ways. I believe the country as whole would see that as back tracking, no matter how good it would be for Earth. Also, it is shocking to know that less than one percent of America is farming.

McKibben having his family eat only natural foods for a year seems nearly impossible for my family to do! We wouldn't even know how to do it... He put a nasty image in my head when he talks about the cows being on cement and having corn thrown at them.

Overall, part one has been interesting. The repetition of you know is very annoying, you know.

Environmental Issue affecting Place

     The environmental issue I chose to blog about is air pollution. Air pollution is the contamination of the air with toxins, and is the main cause of global warming. Global warming is the increase of the Earth’s average temperatures. Global warming is such a scary thing because if it continues to raise the average temperatures then one day the temperatures could be so high that humans could not live on Earth anymore. What is also scary is that the air pollutants that contribute to global warming are sometimes visible, like smog, but some pollutants are not. Therefore, without being able to see everything that is polluting our air, many humans are ignorant to the damage the pollutants are causing.

     Carbon dioxide is the main pollutant that is harming our Earth today. It is the main pollutant because there is a greater amount of carbon dioxide in our air than any other gas. Carbon dioxide is most frequently polluted into our air by cars, planes, and any type of human activity that burns fossil fuels. Methane and sulfur dioxide are two other main pollutants.   Not only do these pollutants contribute to global warming, but they also can cause major health problems for the humans who are constantly exposed and inhaling these gases.

      Air pollution is an environmental problem in so many places around the world because of the amount of fossil fuels that are burnt everywhere. However, the place that I want to focus on is the public schools in the United States. Many U.S. citizens, especially parents, do not realize that one in three public schools in the United States are in the “air pollution zone.”  I thought this was a very interesting place to focus on because I went to a public school my whole life and never would think that one in three public schools are in an area where children could easily develop lung problems from just breathing in the air on the play ground or as they are walking into school. The reason that there are so many schools in the “ air pollution zone” is because more than thirty percent of American public schools are within four hundred meters, or a quarter mile, of major highways. As I found out how many public schools were so close to highways, I sat back and thought about all of the public schools in my hometown and how far they were from a big highway. Shockingly, I realized there was an elementary school very close to a major, four-lane highway. I did a little research, and then realized the elementary school was definitely one in the “air pollution zone.” I doubt any of the parents who send their children to school there know that their kids are at high risk for developing lung diseases later in life, do you think that they would send them there if they knew that?

     In conclusion, it shocks me that an issue that affects so many people would go unknown. If I knew that my children were in an “air pollution zone” every day when I sent them off to school, I sure wouldn’t be sending them to that school anymore. Also, it makes me wonder what other issues that might affect me do I not know about…

    http://healthnews.uc.edu/news/?/7358/ 

Island Civilization

Rachel Leonard

Summary on Island Civilization

Dr. Taylor

19 August 2012

     Island Civilization, by Roderick Nash, begins by listing quotes that made me think about my place on earth as a species. My favorite quote out of the ones listed is the one by Wallace Stegner. I had never thought about how we are the most dangerous species but also the only species that will try to save something before it is destroyed. The author then begins talking about millenniums. I found it very interesting that he points out how as a society we never celebrated the first millennium ending, but we made the second millennium a huge deal. Next, the Nash states the mission of the essay. He asks the reader to stretch his or her mind and try to imagine what the future will be like at the beginning of the next millennium, a thousand years from now. That’s such a crazy question to think about and at this point in the essay I am excited to see what his response to that question will be.

     Roderick Nash gives a detailed history of the wilderness. He talks about the literature back round involving the wilderness, and he also explains the rationale of the early wilderness movement. I am slightly familiar with this subject because we read Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer my junior year of high school. It is a novel about a man who is so obsessed with the wilderness that he hikes up to Alaska just to live in the wild with no contact with civilization. The main character from Into the Wild loves authors like Henry David Thoreau and Jack London, who Roderick Nash also talks about in the essay. After Nash explains the back round of the wilderness he begins to explain how society started to change their opinion on the wilderness and wanted to start conserving it.

     The Wilderness Movement of 1964 is mentioned in the essay, but Nash does not define what it is. Out of curiosity, I looked up the definition and found out that the wilderness movement gave the legal definition of what a wilderness is in the United States. Nash mentions that the Wilderness Movement of 1964 was formed to benefit the people. On the contrast, Nash brings up the new wilderness act that was formed within the last fifty years. The difference between the two is that the new act is formed to benefit the animals and the nature; not the people. I thought it was clever he called preserving the wilderness “planetary modesty.”  After Nash talks about the dangers and destruction that can be done to the wilderness from society he begins his proposal for “Island Civilization.” His fact on how much of the world is legally protected as a wilderness area is mind blowing!

      Nash then explains his theories for how the natural world could end. Theory number one is the wasteland theory where trash and other waste could pollute the earth to the point of it not being able to survive. The second theory is the garden theory. It basically means that the earth is like a garden and we would run out of room to plant in the garden. We would basically make it so that wilderness other than what is absolutely necessary exists. The third theory, future primitive, really shocked me. Nash explains that this theory means that civilization would go back to primitive times and use the hunting and gathering technique. I thought that was an absolutely crazy thought! I could not fathom going back to the primitive time era.  Lastly, the fourth theory is called the Island Civilization theory. Nash claims this is more of a dream than a theory. He then continues on to explain that in this theory the world would cluster on a planetary level. I thought it was a very interesting theory, well dream if you go by Nash’s words. However, the thought of having no human and being dictated by technology is quite frightening. As he goes deeper and deeper into details about Island Civilization I could not imagine living in that type of environment. Not having any thing but nature is so crazy to even picture in your head. In conclusion, Nash really got me thinking about what things could possibly turn out to be. However, I would rather not live in Island Civilization.