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.

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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.  

Visual Rhetoric

The example of visual rhetoric that I found was an image of a gorilla on the side of the road with a "homeless" sign. This image is intended to highlight the issue of issues like deforestation and construction that is destroying the natural habitats of animals. Technology is a powerful way to inform people of these ongoing issues. It allows us to spread the word and be more willing to make a change. This image is forcing people for once to think of animals as humans and that they should be treated the same way. You wouldn't want your home knocked down would you?

Turtle Island poems and themes

     In the few poems that I recently read, I noticed that Snyder focuses on the parts of the Earth that have already quickly gone to waste. Land, trees and animals will be here one minute and the next they are completely gone. He continuously blames this on the greed of humans and their thoughtlessness. Gary Snyder wants to highlight the destruction that has already happened in order for humans to build parking lots and random, unimportant "necessities." He understands the rapid rate the Earth is running out of resources and how plants and animals are being removed from their natural homes. Snyder's tactic is to emphasize the destruction that has already happened through his poetry.

More on Turtle Island Poems

This time when I was going through the book, I decided to skip to different sections of the book, instead of reading the poems in order. Each poem is different in certain ways, but essentially they are all concentrated around bioregionalism. The reader is able to clearly tell how much Gary Snyder focuses on environmental issues and it highlights how much he cares about the earth and especially nature. I think it is important how descriptive each of his poems is. It helps the reader understand how important the place Snyder describes is and it helps you see the place in a clear view. To me it seems that Snyder reflects back to earlier, more natural times in his poems and wants readers to give more thought to those times before we began to mess up the environment so greatly.

Turtle Island themes

The central theme that I have noticed in the first several poems is nature. They all deal with animals, plants, the earth or a combination of both. Snyder pays great attention to detail in all of his poems and they are all very descriptive. Another thing that I noticed was how edgy I guess is the right word, the poems are. They are in a sense a tad bizarre and Snyder is not afraid to push the limit and write what he wants.