Reflection

    I have enjoyed this course and have learned many valuable things. Throughout this semester I have learned to analyze how and why I do things, along with consider if it is the efficient and most eco friendly way I can be doing things. I have learned that caring for the environment is much more than just  the physical aspects. It also means considering how we interact with each other and ensuring everyone has equal rights and opportunities. It is also about how we view ourselves in respect to the physical environment. This course has raised my interest in environmental studies and I look forward to taking more enviro courses.

Carl Honore: In praise of slowness summary

     Carl Honore discusses in his presentation the need for us to slow down in our daily lives. When we rush and try to speed things up we become careless and we forget about the impacts of what we are doing. In the west we view time as linear, once it is gone its gone. From this is born the idea that time is money and therefore we try to find ways to speed things up and do things faster, but when we do this we often forget to enjoy ourselves and don't give others the time they deserve. This results in poor or broken relationships and a lack of communication.
     A new "slow" movement is spreading across the world. It started with the whole slow food idea, that we need to get away from fast food and return to more traditional foods which are healthier. There are now "slow" cities being built where the infrastructure is focusing on slowing down and recreational leisure sites such as parks and walkways. There is a slow sex movement which is focusing on better quality sex as opposed to "quickies". Some European country's are reducing the hours worked in a day, they are finding the productivity actually increases along with quality of life. Not everything we do needs to have a timer on it. This is not saying that for somethings slow is best, there are situations where we need speed and to do things quickly. What we need to do is find the balance and be able to shift gears depending on the situation.

Life and Death of the Salt Marsh summary

     John Teal and Mildred Teal's article is about the ecological significance of salt marshes. Salt marshes vary depending on the region upon which it is found. In the north the marshes are covered in a dense grass. The roots bind the wet mud into a firm surface. In the south the marshes are covered by only one grass which is much more separated than in the north. The roots however are developed into an intricate mass holding the squishy mud together in a layer that floats above a more liquid layer. At low tide the salt marshes is a vast field of grasses, but at high tide it becomes a floating sea of grasses where much water is visible. This environment provides a refuge for marsh animals that cannot stand submersion in salt water.
    We are destroying these marshes by dredging, filling, and building. We also destroy them indirectly via pollution. We need to implement a method of preserving these marshes which includes safeguards against increased pressures for further development due to our ever increasing population.

Environmental Justice for All summary

    Robert D. Bullard's article is about environmental discrimination against racial minorities and the poor. In 1991 the idea of what "the environment" is was broadened to include where we live, work, play, worship, and go to school, along with the prior understanding of it to be the physical and natural world. Since the early 1920's through to 1978, over 80 percent of Houston's landfills and incinerators have been located in or close to Black neighbourhoods, thus exposing them to many harmful substances. Similar discrimination's against the Black community have been made all across the nation, weather it be dumping of oil laced with toxic PCBs along roadways, or hazardous waste landfills these are all predominantly located in or along Black communities, even though Blacks make up only 20 percent of the region's population. In 1996 after five years of organizing, the EPA was finally convinced to relocate 358 Pensacola, Florida. families dioxin dump, thus marking the first time a Black community was relocated under the federal government's giant Superfund program.

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.