Our Stolen Future summary

    Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers article discusses the disruptive developmental effects of environmental hormone mimics. The process by which chemicals are tested on animals with high dosses to determine potential health concerns has been questioned by many. As it is commonly argued "mice are not people", while this may apply to testing for carcinogens where scientist have an incomplete understanding of the mechanisms that induce cancer, it can`t be said for testing of synthetic hormone mimics because scientists have a very good grasp on the mechanisms and actions of hormones. It has also been discovered that in most cases of testing for hormone and endocrine disruptors an extremely high dose causes less damage than lower doses. This adds a further complication to determining whether a synthetic chemical is dangerous or not.

Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment summary

     Sandra Steingraber discusses in her article the need for further research on environmental factors in cancer incidences. She discuses how she has cancer and so does many members of her adoption family, however her biological family doesn't have history of cancer in it. This is proof that cancer is inherited  from the environment as opposed to being passed down through family genes. She also discusses the process by which cancer forms. Also discussed is the various substances that are known to cause cancer, however what is not known is how these substances behave when they are combined. Unfortunately most cancer research is focused on inherited cancers which make up only about 10 percent of known cancers. Cancer research needs to focus more on environmental factors that are causing cancer. We need to take on the approach of not using toxic substances unless their is no other way of accomplishing the task.

Ecosystems and Human Well-being summary

     The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment covers the need for changes in government, economics, technology, social behaviour, and knowledge in order to achieve a sustainable future. Approximately 60% of the ecosystem services that were assessed during the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment are being degraded or used unsustainably. This includes freshwater, capture fisheries, air and water purification, regulation of climate, natural hazards, and pests. The effects of degradation of ecosystem services are being borne mostly by the poor which is further contributing to inequalities across groups of people. These problems are only going to get worse, as by 2050 global GDP is expected to increase by three to six times its level. The structure and function of ecosystems has changed more rapidly in the second half of the twentieth century than any other time in human history. This is mainly due to rapidly growing demands for food, freshwater, timber, fiber, and fuel. The eight Millennium Development Goals adopted by the United Nations in 2000 are aimed at improving human well-being by reducing poverty, hunger, child and maternal mortality, by insuring education for all, by controlling and managing diseases, by tackling gender disparity, by ensuring environmental sustainability, and by pursuing global partnerships.

Reflection

     The unit on food has really opened my eyes to where my food comes from and the environmental impacts of buying cheaper food that is imported from around the world and is provided by unsustainable practices. It really doesn't make sense to buy food that is imported from across the country or globe when we can and do grow the exact same food locally. It just creates excess use of fuel and excess emissions through transportation of the good. Locally grown foods should be made more available in large grocery stores, its fresher, supports the local economy and reduces reliance on transportation. Now when I am buying foods I try find better quality foods and food that is grown locally. Price is no longer my deciding factor.
    I don't think that GMO's are necessarily a bad thing. I think they are an important technology in future food development and can help increase our food security however, more research and funding needs to go into the development of GMO's so that we are more certain of what the effects will be one both humans eating the food and on the surrounding environment. The idea of patenting life is a scary one, I think the line needs to be drawn there, otherwise we are going to end up with a world dominated (more so than already) by a select few very powerful multinational corporations.

John Doerr sees salvation and profit in greentech summary

    John Doerr discusses in his video green technologies and there implementation. Walmart which is the largest private user of electricity has made becoming green a top priority. They made their stores more efficient by painting the roofs white to make cooling easier, installing skylights to harness daylight instead of using artificial lighting, and installing doors and led lighting on all their refrigerators and freezers. By Walmart declaring they are going to go green and be profitable it strongly encourages other corporations and businesses to do the same because Walmart is on of the most powerful and influential corporations.
    Brazil mandated that every gas station carry ethanol, they also mandated that all their new vehicles be flex-fuel (can run both ethanol or gasoline). As a result they now have 29,000 ethanol pumps as verses the U.S.'s 700, their car fleet is now 85% flex-fuel as versus the U.S.'s 5%. By doing this they have reduced their fuel consumption by 40% and reduced their country's CO2 emissions by 10%. There are new green technologies being  developed everyday with funding for research and development coming from all over the place, however Doerr is scarred it isn't enough. Scientists estimate that we need to decrease CO2 emissions by 1/2 in order to stabilize our atmosphere.
    The problem is even though we got the political will in the U.S. to reduce emissions, we need to reduce emissions all over the world, in order to do this we need to make it economically viable for everyone and make it so all country's still have the ability to make profit.