Blog Assignment #4: Selection 31 (Summary)

Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment

Sandra Steingraber

 Image from: The Good Wife

Steingraber shares her experience with bladder cancer as a young adult, and the history of cancer in her family as well.  Stenigraber believes that "what runs in the families does not necessarily run in blood", but because families share the same environments.  She also mentions that she is an adoptive child, and yet cancer that runs in her adoptive parents, was somehow related to her as well.

This selection, Steingraber talks about her search for answers on bladder cancer and its information on inherited risk factors and enzymatic mechanisms.  She tries to link the environment and carcinogens during this search.  She went on to find that workers who manufacture carcinogens are exposed to higher levels than anyone else.  She also found that two percent, 10,940 people in the United States dies each year from environmentally caused cancers.  What releases these chemical carcinogens into the environment are household materials that contains PCBs and DDT and also pesticides.   

A least toxic alternative would mean choosing the least harmful way of solving our problems such as getting rid of weeds in our fields, cocroaches, fleas, stains or pathogens in our water.  This would help decrease the amount of people exposed to environmental carcinogens.

Blog assginment #4: Selection 24 (Summary)

Restoring Rivers

Margaret A. Palmer and J. David Allen

 Image from: Christoph Gerber

This selection talks about fresh water and rivers in the United States.  They talk about how fresh water and rivers were getting cleaner between the times of 1973 and 1998 but states that the trend has reversed, and makes a prediction that the US rivers in 2016 will be as dirty as the rivers in mid 1970s.  

They also state other problems such as water shortages in local communities and how major rivers no longer flow to the sea year round.  They also mention how 1/3 of the rivers in the United States are impaired or polluted.  Aquatic wildlife were also going extinct at a higher rate than terrestrial or marine ecosystems.  

What lead to this problem was because the US streams and rivers were used as dumping grounds for waste, hoping that the river would carry the waste away.  Massive dams that were built to supply power and minimize floods caused loss of native plants and animals downstream since they could not survive or reproduce without the seasonal changes in flow.

Palmer and Allen thinks additional funding would help in restoring rivers and also enable inter/intraagency mechanisms for tracing projects. 

Blog Assignment #4: Blog Reflection #1

Q: Consider the evidence of affluenza that you see around you.  Do you see it in yourself, your friends, family or North America society?  Can you take action to combat affluenza?

 

Image from: Ibiza Hotels

I definitely see the evidence of affluenza across the North American society and as well as in my friends, family and especially in myself.  

With so many advertisements and blow out sales, it is hard not to buy anything.  Summer sales, back to school sales, Fall sales, etc. people are obsessed with buying new things all the time.  From the TED talk by Matthieu Ricard: Habits of Happiness he talks about how people look outside and gathers everything to be happy.  Constantly buying what ever we can afford just to be happy and feel good, because advertisements and the media is always telling us that we have to look a certain way or how if we do not dress like the models in their magazines then we do not fit in.  Reality shows on TV that does makeovers on people or houses plays a big part in making our society think that what we have is not good enough.  

I, myself, would shop whenever I feel stressed or unhappy.  My friends are also an influence in my affluenza because I would often hear about sales from them.  My family likes to buy new electronics when they come out, but recently it has died down.

I have noticed my behavior in this long before this class, and what I have been doing to reduce the "affects" of affluenza, I have been keeping my Credit cards and debit cards at home.  I have also been asking myself: "Do I really need this?" or "Don't I already have something like this?" when I see something I want or like.  I plan to combat affluenza by continuing this.  

Blog Assignment #4: Selection 23 (Summary)

Controversy at Love Canal

Beverly Paigen

 

Image from: Love Canal Toxic Waste

This selection talks about the hazardous waste that was buried at Love Canal by Hooker Electrochemical Corporation.  Although Hooker claims that the hazardous wastes was disposed of properly, Hooker Electrochemical actually disposed of the hazardous waste in ha cheap and efficient way.  

The controversy arose when the Niagara Falls Board of Education approached Hooker Chemical, wanting to buy their site to build a school on.  Hooker Chemical had warn the Board that it is unsafe to build a school on this land and refused to sell it to them.  Hooker Chemical claims that the Board threaten to take the site by "eminent domain".  Soon after Hooker Chemical gave up their site to the Board making them sign a contract if any thing were to happened to the residents within this area, Hooker Chemical would not be liable.  

Soon after an elementary school was built, with surrounding new neighborhoods and in 1958, 3 children had suffered from chemical burns.  Paigen begins to plot the illness geographically, separating the neighborhood into wet and dry homes (Wet homes being built in swamps or bordering streams); looking at the number of miscarriages of women within these two areas.  Paigen had found out the women in the wet homes have a higher number of miscarriages compared to women in dry homes.  Paigen than goes into details on the birth defects and the elements of this controversy.  Paigen also goes over the steps that the community should take when an controversies arise in a community. 

Blog Assignment #3: Seletion 39 (Summary)

Towards Sustainable Development

World Commission on Environment and Development

 

Image from: Geographyalltheway

"Sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs." 

Sustainable development contains two key concepts: the concept of needs and the idea of limitations.

This selection talks about the development of sustainable development; how the satisfaction of human needs and aspirations is the main focus on  development.  Sustainable development involves food, clothing, shelter and jobs; which these standards are not met today in parts of the world.  The growing population can put pressure on resources and thus lowers the capability to a sustainable development.  

This states that the need to integrate economic and ecological considerations into decision making is the common theme for sustainable development.  It than goes on to give examples of policies of agricultural land and modern agriculture with its amount of commercially produced energy and the growing use of synthetics.

In the end it gives a few points on what the pursuit of sustainable development requires and the requirements depends on our sincerity with how these are being pursued and the effectiveness of each.

Blog Assignment #3: Blog Activity

Matthieu Ricard: Habits of happiness

Image from: Google image

Ricard, in his TED talk on Habits of happiness, he talks about the commonarity of how we as human preceed in our quest of happiness.  We look outside and gather everything to be happy, and to have everything to be happy is the doom of destruction of happiness, because when we are missing something, this idea collapses.  

This, I think, really relates to the anthropocentric people around us.  Corporate companies are always thinking of ways of earning more profit.  Perhaps their way of thinking is that more profit = more money = happiness.  I find myself in this situation before, where I would feel really sad and when I go out, I would unconsiously buy everything that I like or want but not nessisarily need and at the end of the day, I would just feel even worse for losing control. 

I think this idea of thinking could be the beginning of an anthropocentri world.  The gathering of everything that can make us happy even if we don't need it.  This leads to overconsumption of food and/or materialistic behaviour. 

Blog Assignment #3: Selection 41 (Summary)

Women's Indigenous Knowledge and Biodiversity Conservation

Vandana Shiva

Image from: Pacific Seed Company

Vandana Shiva talks about the connection between gender and diversity and how women and the destruction of biodiversity are linked with one another.  Shiva mentions the knowledge and role of women in agriculture, one of the examples she gave is women in India who are major producers of food.  Their skills and knowledge in seed preparation, germination and knowledge of fertilizers have been present since the beginning of time and are still present in most cultures today. 

Shiva also talks about the biotechnology and importance of seed.  Women farmers sees seeds as the continuation of life, where corporate companies breed seeds so that they cannot be used again (Hybird Seeds) making seeds a consummer product.  These corporate companies are stealing biodiversity from female farmers in the third world countries and for us, people who buy their products, they are stealing safe and healthy food.

Blog Assignment #3: Blog Reflection #2

Q: What role, if any, should zoos play in conservation/education?

Is it ethical to keep animals in zoos? -If so what size/type of animal or zoo?

Do you enjoy visiting zoos?

 

Image from: Minkler

I personally do not think it is ethical to keep animals in the zoo because their natural habitat is in the wild.  If we take them away from the wild, we are taking them away from their home, and the experiences that they would learn.  

For example, if a black bear has been held captive in a zoo since young, than the black bear will not know how to hunt for its own food.  The black bear will not be able to obtain all the natural instinct that a wild black bear would.  If the purpose of "displaying" animals in the zoo is to educate people on how animals in the wild live, than what would be the point if that animal does not know how to live in the wild.  

Although I do believe that zoos are a great place for children to be able to see an animal up close and learn more about them, I think the zoos should play their part and make the animal's display area to resemble their natural habitats more.  That way visitors can get a better visualization of how these animals would lead their life in the wild.

From what I recall, I did enjoy my last visit at the zoo, although I do not believe that zoos are morally correct; but I do think that they are a great place for people to interact with animals and to know more about them.  In a way I think zoos are a place where people can interact with nature.  Although I don't believe that animals should be taken from the wild and placed in a cage for our entertaiment, but I think as long as the animals in the zoos are well treated, well fed, and are happy in their environment.

Blog Assignment #3: Selection 27 (Summary)

The Agricultural Crisis as a Crisis of Culture

Wendell Berry

Image from: Green Our Source

Wendell Berry talks about the current agriculture practice in North America and how they are striving to be bigger in size and production size in order to compete with other farmers.  Small local farms are beginning to go out of business as other surrounding farm begins to grow, and adapt to the new agricultural culture; which is acres of crops and producing millions of products with new technologies like herbicides and growing agents in the foods of farm animals.  They are called "agribusinessmen".  Berry points out that "food is a cultural product" and that it "cannot be produced by technology alone". 

Berry describes culture as a practical necessity and calamity.  A healthy culture includes value, work, insight, and aspiration.  "It reveals the human necessities and the human limits" and clarifies our bond to the Earth. 

Blog Assignment #3: Blog Reflection #1

Q: Consider your food system, what do you like about it?  What do you dislike?

Image from: American Fest

My family cooks a lot of ethnic food so when we go grocery shopping, we would usually make a stop at a asian supermarket at least once a week.  We would buy things like noodles, fish, cooking sauce, and sometimes tofu.  Their products are mostly imported from China or Japan; with a few products form Korea or Thailand.  Nothing is local about these markets.  What I like about this is that they are easily accessible even in Winnipeg, but what I dislike about them is that they are usually frozen products and are not very healthy.   The costs of these products are sometimes more expensive than regular supermarkets, because they are imported. 

Our fruits, veges, and meats are usually brought from local supermarkets like superstore or safeway.  What I like about these markets are the wide selection of fruits and vegetables.  There isn't really anything I dislike about these supermarkets, although it would be good if they had more food that was locally made.

What I really like about my food is that sometimes my uncle would make homemade dumplings for us.  The dough of the dumpling is hand made, so when you cook it fresh the dumplings seems juicier and there's also more flavor to them.  After learning about all the pesticides and chemicals used in my food and how the meat that I eat was treated so poorly before makes me dislike the fact that I do not know where my food is coming from.