"If something's clean, you don't have to clean it anymore..." Colbert Report

Scenic Motorcycle Ride

Stewart Brand: Rethinking Green

I think Stewart Brand mentions a lot of good points. I thought it was interesting when Brand spoke about slums. Slums are some of the most green areas. People living in slums use minimal food and energy and they recycle everything. However, people don't choose to live in slums. People who live in slums are forced to because they are poor. In reality, these people wish to increase their food and energy, instead of continuing their green way of living. I thought this was interesting because we don't often picture the slums when we think of living green.

People currently use 16 terawatts of energy. To level off at 450 ppm, 13 terawatts would have to be replaced with green energy. Brand suggests that these energy sources would cover North America. Beautiful landscapes would have to be replaced with solar panels, wind turbines, and other sources of green energy. Brand proposes that we focus on using nuclear energy. I didn't realize that so many environmentalists supported nuclear energy. Brand discusses a study of people who were exposed to large amounts of radiation for several years due to Cobalt 60 in their housing materials. Of 10,000 people, only 7 died of cancer which is 3% of global cancer mortality. I thought this was very interesting because we always hear about how cancer causes radiation. It's unbelievable that such few people died from cancer from these houses in Taiwan. I think that the energy grid of the future will have an increasing proportion of energy coming from nuclear energy.

Another thing Brand mentions is genetically modified crops. While some people have a negative outlook on genetically modified crops, they have no negative effects. As Brand mentions, it will be essential that developing nations catch on to genetically modified crops. I think if companies which create genetically modified seeds, such as Monsanto, were not as concerned about the patent on their seeds, we would be able to significantly decrease hunger in developing nations.

“…ensuring the protection of the Blue Ridge Parkway into the 21st century will take our collective energy working together for widespread public support and action…to preserve America’s favorite drive…” Superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway – Gary Everhardt, 1995

First of all, I encourage anyone reading this to go to this website and watch the video in the top right corner to see a beautiful video of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/

I was researching the Blue Ridge Parkway when I found a website created last year for the parkway's 75th Anniversary. A symposium was held in Roanoke, VA October 14th-16h, 2010. The website below has the powerpoints which were presented during the symposium. Finding this website was great for my research because I believe it will allow me to learn the history and future of the Blue Ridge Parkway from people who are from North Carolina and Virginia. I found the quote above in the first powerpoint, which lays the foundation for the construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Here is the website:
http://blueridgeparkway75.org/more-than-a-road/future-of-the-parkway

Food, Inc.

This movie is very effective in communicating the problem with the factory farm. We have seen the information from this movie before, such as in Eating Animals. But this movie communicates it more effectively because the images are stories that are right in front of us.

One thing I learned from this movie is that chicken farmers are contracted with a company such as Tyson or Perdue. If these farmers do not oblige to the demands of their company, their contract can be terminated, leaving them in debt.

After reading Eating Animals, I learned a lot about the meat industry and many of the problems associated with the factory farm. I didn't realize that the factory farm has problems outside of the meat industry. In Food, Inc., a mother shares how her son died in less than 2 weeks from E. coli. There have been numerous E. coli outbreaks associated with vegetables such as lettuce. Even after discovering that their vegetables were causing an E. coli outbreak, one industry continued selling their vegetables. These industries are just too big to deal with these issues. Instead of facing these issues, the heads of the companies just turn their heads. We already see this in Food, Inc. when Tyson and Perdue both decline being interviewed. These industries know that if people see what is really going on, they won't be happy. So they try to prevent the public from knowing. I think this is a good film for allowing the public to see what these companies don't want them to so that they can make an informed decision about the food they consume.

Place Based Education Artifact

http://www.pnas.org/content/104/16/6550.full.pdf+html

This article, "Combined climate and carbon-cycle effects of large-scale deforestation," could be used for place based education in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Carbon levels and deforestation are both pertinent to this area. Little action has been made to decrease our carbon footprint in Western NC and VA. Also, this area has many wooded areas which are vulnerable to deforestation. This article could be used to educate people in this area about the combined effects of carbon and deforestation.

This is a picture I found taken near Asheville, NC in the Pisgah National Forest.

Richard Kahn's "Towards Ecopedagogy"

"[I]t would be a worthwhile educational venture to have students become involved in banning dolphins from the zoo (hardly a native species to Minnesota) and to have them returned to either a sanctuary or nondomesticated oceanic habitat. Instead, as of 2006, one can pay $125 to swim with the zoo’s dolphins, a practice generally condemned by marine ecologists and environmentalists/animal rightists alike as both inhumane and beyond the bounds of good environmental stewardship" (Kahn 7)

Richard Kahn discusses "outdoor education" which is based on getting students outside and learning about the natural world. Kahn argues that these programs are not sufficient because they do not make students think deeply and critically about environmentalism. This relates to my place, the Blue Ridge Mountains. In this area, there is much land that is protected by the United States Forest Service. This area contains land which is ideal for "outdoor education" programs. Upon a trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains, one would discover the beauty of nature and the diversity of wildlife. One would not realize the environmental effects of carbon emissions, or deforestation. Environmental education needs to make students realize environmental issues, instead of merely learning about the water cycle or types of trees.

In the above quote, Kahn describes how such outdoor programs can be counterproductive. The "Zoo School" in Apply Valley, Minnesota allows students to engage with a nearby park. However, Kahn notes that by cooperating with the park, students are supporting practices which are inhumane. Instead, students of environmental education should realize that there is a need to change these practices. The "Zoo School" reminds me of the Envirothon competition. In middle school, a club called the Envirothon club would visit forests and swamps in Western NC to learn about soil, air, and water. Instead of learning about environmental problems, we just learned about types of trees, classification of soil, etc. While this was a good educational program, it would have been better if we thought more deeply about the environment, which is what Kahn is expressing in this quote.

DISCOVER YOUR SPIRIT ANIMAL!

You are a Crow! (your score: 26)

Characters: Rhia, Coranna, Damen in theAspect of Crow trilogy; John in "The Wild's Call"

Powers: foreseeing death, communicating with the dead, resurrection

As a Crow, you are analytical, adaptable, and exceedingly clever. You like solving problems, sharing a hearty laugh with friends, and most of all, enjoying a good meal. Your inquisitive, philosophical nature leads you to constantly question authority and the status quo, sometimes just for the sake of asking, "Why?"

Best matches: Foxes, Wolves, Swans

Watch out for: Wolverines, Bears, Hawks

http://www.jerismithready.com/quiz/#

Blue Ridge Mountains

I have lived in the western part of North Carolina for my entire life. Currently, I live in North Wilkesboro, a small town in the foothills. The majority of my extended family is either located in the foothills in Wilkesboro or on the mountains in Alleghany. This area of North Carolina attracts visitors for its many scenic views. The Blue Ridge Parkway is a scenic route that winds along the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina and Virginia. If you're bored in western North Carolina and looking for cheap (and polluting) amusement, you might find yourself cruising along a section of the 469 miles long parkway.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway which seeks to protect some of the scenic areas of Western NC and Virginia. Due to the elevation and location of the mountains, this area has very diverse vegetation. Many parks along the parkway protect the history of this area, as well as the wildlife and ecology of the mountains.

I have chosen the Blue Ridge Mountains because it is an area I have visited many times but don't know much about. I think it would be interesting to take a closer look at the history of the Blue Ridge parkway and the environmental history that accompanied the construction of the parkway along the Blue Ridge Mountains.