I have had a good amount of people respond to my survey with a variety of responses. Most people were willing to make lifestyle changes to help the environment and knew the negative effects cars can have on it. A smaller amount knew information on electric cars and were willing to drive one. A good amount of the participants said the style of an electric car would deter them from buying one. About one third of the participants currently drive an SUV or truck. I think it is interesting how more said they were willing to help the environment, but less said they would drive an electric car which is a way of helping the environment. Below is a link to my survey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/MySurvey_EditorFull.aspx?sm=epYqzABwqQu1LB79jd2l1AtkAZ6CaKtHxG9F6reIFnA%3d

Progress on Paper 4

         So far, I have come up with the topic and theory I want to work with. The question I want to research is "How willing are people to drive electric cars?" The theory I am using to back up my question is the critical theory. I have also begun to work on my survey questions, I need to think of 2 or 3 more. Once I have all my questions I will put them in an order that flows and makes sense and then make the survey public for volunteers to take.

Indigenous Resistance and Racist Schooling on the Borders of Empires: Coast Salish Cultural Survival

         Michael Marker explains the racial issues pertaining to the Coast Salish people and how they were forced to assimilate into American and Canadian cultures. The Coast Salish were settled on the border of the US and Canada in Washington state and British Colombia. Each of these regions in their differing countries used the same technique to assimilate the Coast Salish, but they used this technique in two different ways. The people in British Columbia were forced into white public schools where they faced great amounts of racism and segregation. They were also punished harshly if they acted like native Coast Salish people. Numerous families fought against this form of education by taking their children out of school completely or crossing the border to attend school in the US. Coast Salish favored the US's way of education because they provide private schools that were for the Coast Salish only. In the private school setting the students still faced some racism, but it was much less than what they encountered in public schools. Having the Coast Salish children attend private schools was a much better idea because they could still be assimilated, but they were not criticized by white students and they were probably more comfortable being surrounded by their own people. The Coast Salish people should have been left alone altogether, but the US was smarter and more thoughtful about the way they assimilated these people. It was more effective and less harsh.

Food and Sustainability Issues

After watching The Meatrix it is easy to see that we have a major issue with the way our food is produced. The main issue focuses on the production of our meat. What needs to be changed is the living conditions of the animals and what they are fed. First off, the places animals are forced to live in are unsanitary for them and the consumers who buy the food. They never see the daylight and become sick from the conditions, many of them cannot even walk. This is not only a problem for them, but  also for the consumers. When we are eating meat from unhealthy, sickly and unsanitary animals, we ourselves could easily be negatively affected. This mainly pertains to our health and sicknesses/diseases that we could pick up. Another important issue is the unnatural items animals are being fed to enhance their growth. They are pumped with steroids, chemicals and other unnatural things that end up affecting the consumer as well. Yes, this process is cheaper for the manufacturer and consumer, but it is unsafe and unhealthy for the animal and the consumer at the same time. People need to realize what they are buying and understand that there are smarter ways to consume.

Environmental Ethics

The artifact I found relating to environmental ethics is an image relating to the issue. In the image it appears that a group of men and one chicken are at some sort of important meeting. The chicken has a voice box next to it that reads: "It's because I'm a chicken isn't it?" To me this is implying that the chicken or any animal for that matter have no say because they are not human; they are not put first, they are used for the greed of humans. This relates to the idea of environmental ethics because it is highlighting the fact that we need to intertwine human relations with those of the natural world, instead of only thinking of ourselves.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5xQ6tot68zEICTGfl09fKLR0so9DsCeE2XWQxmpzJBQXHkAoviB4PF9LIoe7gx-qR04df3x0f2n0cW8pvAVEqJlfOTqm5WE9GFG5jyEZdX-3d4YXqqL1pB9xXaGhq3669lrdEPsfOwbw/s400/anthropocentrism.jpg

Synthesis of Article

        

The article I chose makes a strong point that I greatly agree with. The author, B. Jickling, focuses on education and sustainability. His main focus is how educational systems try to implement the idea or term of sustainability into the curriculum. Jickling believes doing this is not enough. He states that "sustainability" is too limited of a term and excludes important ideas. Sustainability is one important issue, but it is not the only thing we need to be educated on in order to better our world and earth. In his article, Jickling reveals why sustainability cannot be our only focus. 

 Jickling proposes a few ideas that could possibly change this issue. He first mentions that we must be less deterministic. This means that we can not stay stuck on the idea of sustainability. We have to be willing to branch out and accept a broader range of ideas. When we become less deterministic, there will be more space to include other concepts.

His next point is that we try to use more inclusive language. If we only focus on the term sustainability, we  are leaving out numerous important ideas. Jickling suggests terms such as: "Environmental ethics," "ecofeminism," and "social ecology" that are all up and coming ideas that cannot be forgot because we are focusing too much on sustainability. This is an important step to changing how much time we spend on this one idea. 

         The biggest issue Jickling highlights is that there are far more environmental issues than sustainability can cover. He even wants to focus on equity and justice, not just issues of the environment. He believes we need to focus on all ideas and issues that can better the world and clearly sustainability is not cutting it. Jickling concludes his article with the proposal that we need to go where sustainability cannot. 

Oil Drilling and Water Contamination

Oil Fracking

The entirety of this passage is based around the contamination of water and water wells due to oil fracking. Recently, officials have found contaminants in the water in parts of Wyoming. The contamination is believed to be linked back to the oil fracturing and drilling processes that take place in this area. There has been much suspicion for quite a while and now there is actual evidence. The findings came about in a study that was made to test if oil drilling could be a potential cause of water contamination and it was proved true. It was said that the contaminants came from the gas wells and contained ten different compounds that can be found in the drilling process. These findings have a possibility of leading to numerous debates pertaining to if the contamination is an actual problem or not.

            To environmentalist, this was a big find. It is a huge help to their side of the argument and can help them prove their point and change the way fracking is done. On the other hand, CEOs of the oil companies involved are claiming that the contamination has no relation to the oil drilling and is related to natural cause. It is also stated that the area of Wyoming being affected already has poor water quality parameters, which could likely be a cause. This area in particular has had an issue of poor water quality for a few decades and has recently gotten worse, however, residents claimed that water in their wells turned brown after a recent oil fracking. The company responded to the residents by providing them with other sources of water. Nothing has been decided on the issue as of now. The report on the situation is to be further reviewed and examined to determine if oil fracking is the actual cause of contamination.