Earth Charter

1.     Respect and Care For the Community of Life

Earth Charter principle 2.a says” Accept that with the right to own, manage, and use natural resources comes the duty to prevent environmental harm and to protect the rights of people. I believe this is sort of what the education of the entire class was. This is the reason we did are community service to learn hands on to respect and care for the community of life. In my situation we learned that we had to remove invasive species to allow native species to grow. And also because where we were located burning was not allowed, so removing things by hand was necessary. This would allow the gopher tortoise to move about the preserve. The gopher tortoise population is a declining one, and they don’t have much scrub to roam in the area due to development.

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www.chromographicsinstitute.com

2.     Ecological Integrity

Earth Charter principle 5 says” Protect and restore the integrity of Earth's ecological systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life”. This is exactly what Vandana Shiva talked about in the class reader. She talked about how biodiversity needs to be done with farming as well as living species. How currently single countries specialize in a few crops, and import everything else.  She said that it was a direct correlation with culture and poverty in the world.

www.sustainabledubuque.org

3.     Social and Economic Justice

Earth Charter principle 10.c says “Ensure that all trade supports sustainable resource use, environmental protection, and progressive labor standards”. We talked about this a little bit in class. About if free global trade was a good thing or not. This also directly relates to are trip with the Immokalee farm workers. Labor standards are something the migrant workers are pushing for.  

ernieshrproject.com

4.     Democracy, Non-Violence, and Peace

Earth Charter principle 14 says “Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life. This I think this was the goal of this class. This is a lot of what my essay 1 and 2 was about, that lifelong learning is important in creating a sustainable world. This is done by molding mind to being environmentally conscious and forming a land ethic.

colloquiumjlr2330.wordpress.com

Plan B.

Plan B by Lester R. Brown is defiantly one of most in depth environmental books I have ever read. Myself having an engineering background, most of the material in the book is things I have seen over and over again. This book is just another opinion about it. 

 

“The earth’s temperature is rising. It has gone up 0.6 degrees Celsius since 1970, and it is projected to rise up to 6 degrees by the end the end of the century” (Brown pg.55).

 starsandstripes.blog.com

httpwww.goodreads.combookshow15746125-killing-the-planet-to-save-it

These words have been beat into my head over and over. Although it’s a strong opinion how much fact is behind it?  I have heard from people who went to school in the 70s that the strong belief at that time is we were heading into an Ice age.  Could this be political motivated or a natural earth progression? We have evidence that the earth has heated and cooled in the past. I think there is two contrasting opinions, and it’s kind of a muddy point.  

.cornwallalliance.org

“Extraditing poverty is not only the key to population stabilization, political stabilization, and a better life, it also provides hope (Brown pg.242).

This is something I kind of disagree with. I think part of our problem is the fact we battle with human life vs. the environment. Though I kind of think war, disease, and sadly enough poverty and hunger are a necessity to control population. It sounds awful, but you ever think maybe medicine, and trying to prevent anything bad from happening to people could be an issue.  More people, less resources, more fossil fuels, less trees.  Nobody ever talks about it, but maybe we should put resource and environment before human life.

 

“Beyond the rather healthy beneficial lifestyle changes, we can also think about sacrifice “(Brown p268).

This is in reference to the mind set up today’s people.  I agree with it, but how do we change the culture of inherently selfish, self-absorbed people.  It reminded me of something Gen David Petraeus said about today’s troops and Americans.  I think it a very good reflection of how we as Americans have changed.  This is what he had to say

 

I remember the day I found out I got into West Point. 

My mom actually showed up in the hallway of my high school and waited for me to get out of class. She was bawling her eyes out and apologizing that she had opened up my admission letter. She wasn't crying because it had been her dream for me to go there. She was crying because she knew how hard I'd worked to get in, how much I wanted to attend, and how much I wanted to be an infantry officer. I was going to get that opportunity. 

That same day two of my teachers took I aside and essentially told me the following: "David, you're a smart guy. You don't have to join the military. You should go to college, instead." 

I could easily write a tome defending West Pont and the military as I did that day, explaining that USMA is an elite institution, that separate from that it is actually statistically much harder to enlist in the military than it is to get admitted to college, that serving the nation is a challenge that all able-bodied men should at least consider for a host of reasons, but I won't. 

What I will say is that when a 16 year-old kid is being told that attending West Point is going to be bad for his future then there is a dangerous disconnect in America, and entirely too many Americans have no idea what kind of burdens our military is bearing. 

In World War II, 11.2% of the nation served in four years. In Vietnam, 4.3% served in 12 years. Since 2001, only 0.45% of our population has served in the Global War on Terror. These are unbelievable statistics. 

Over time, fewer and fewer people have shouldered more and more of the burden and it is only getting worse. Our troops were sent to war in Iraq by a Congress consisting of 10% veterans with only one person having a child in the military. Taxes did not increase to pay for the war. War bonds were not sold. Gas was not regulated. In fact, the average citizen was asked to sacrifice nothing, and has sacrificed nothing unless they have chosen to out of the goodness of their hearts. 

The only people who have sacrificed are the veterans and their families. The volunteers. The people who swore an oath to defend this nation. You. 

You stand there, deployment after deployment and fight on. You've lost relationships, spent years of your lives in extreme conditions, years apart from kids you'll never get back, and beaten your body in a way that even professional athletes don't understand. And you come home to a nation that doesn't understand. They don't understand suffering. They don't understand sacrifice. They don't understand that bad people exist. They look at you like you're a machine — like something is wrong with you. You are the misguided one — not them. When you get out, you sit in the college classrooms with political science teachers that discount your opinions on Iraq and Afghanistan because YOU WERE THERE and can't understand the "macro" issues they gathered from books with your bias. You watch TV shows where every vet has PTSD and the violent strain at that. Your Congress is debating your benefits, your retirement, and your pay, while they ask you to do more. 

But the amazing thing about you is that you all know this. You know your country will never pay back what you've given up. You know that the populace at large will never truly understand or appreciate what you have done for them. Hell, you know that in some circles, you will be thought as less than normal for having worn the uniform. But you do it anyway. You do what the greatest men and women of this country have done since 1775 — YOU SERVED. Just that decision alone makes you part of an elite group. 

Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few. 

You are the 0.45%. 

General David Petraeus West Point Class 1974 

 

 

Let me close saying I believe most of what Plan B stands for. Even though we are not completely sure what is going on. I believe in conservation, restoration, and green innovation when it comes to are planet. I believe we need to come up with ways to reduce pollutants and reuse resources. We need to reduce are reliability on fossil fuels, and deal with food issues. In my job, I love anytime it involves any of these things. One day I would love to get into renewable energy design. Right now there just isn’t much of a job market in the area for it. Although hopefully that changes, in the next decade or so.

A Fable for Tomorrow” and “The Obligation to Endure

A Fable for Tomorrow” and “The Obligation to Endure by Rachel Carson remind me of a lot of how I feel about my home in Southwest Florida. I once was excited about development, now I feel like it’s too much. Part of it is because it just always seem to be more homes, and nothing new and exciting. The other part if the more they build the less the landscape looks like the place I love. The more people, the less secret spots are left. You see more and more people who come here and are ignorant to what we love. They kill things, take things, and build in places where we once played.  For some reason we keep meeting the demands of people who want to come here, rather than just letting are land go up and preserving what's left. I just wonder where all these people will go if they only build houses and not more stores and activities.  What has already silence the voices of spring in countless town in America (Carson pg. 152)?  Is this what is next for us an artificial place, with warm water, which nature is silenced?

She says chemicals prays on cropland or forest or gardens lie long in soil, entering into new organisms, passing from on to another in a chain of poisoning death (Carson pg. 154). It reminds me of the issues within the everglades are even in most residential neighborhoods. The chemicals have floated down river and effected the fishing. I know for a fact fishing especially in the backwaters has deteriorated since I was a kid.  There are things I see less and less of , or sometimes not at all. I notice it more in the areas which are fed from the agricultural lands which are sprayed with chemicals.

I sometimes am conflicted by what I do for a living, land development and engineering. I rely on growth for job security.  Although I do not agree with what she says that “we are in an era dominated by industry, in which the right to make a dollar at whatever cost is seldom challenged” (Carson pg. 160). I am starting to see a trend of with development comes a donation to the environment.  A lot of large projects come with a donation back to earth. I am seeing a trend of developing destroyed lands to serve the purpose of making a dollar but also contributing to the environment. So it seem as if we are changing are mindset somewhat. I am not sure if it’s enough, but it seems to be increasing. Although Florida is one of the fastest growing, it is also one of the most protected areas. Therefore I think there is some hope that we won’t lose all are paradise.

www.naplesdowntown.com

www.naplesdowntown.com

nawpconference.squarespace.com

What is Biodiversity , and Why is It Important?

 Reading this excerpt by Vandana Shiva, I instantly went to look her up to see where she was from. Not only her name, but she took shots at the “Western World" as she called it.   And sure enough she was from India. Although I agree with much she had to say, I think she also fails to see America might be one of the more environmentally cautious places in the world. And although we made mistakes, I think we will soon lead the way in preserving what we can.

“The shutting out of alternative ways of knowing and making leads to assumption that the dominant knowledge and techniques are the only option” (SHIVA pg. 57). I agree it was an old way of thinking.  I can’t speak for other countries. Though I think this was true in the past, I think we are now constantly developing new ways of thinking.  I think some people still don’t believe or understand the significance of are treatment of earth. Although for the most part at least in education in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math), there is a push to move to preservation and restoration of resources and the environment in America.  Overall I think we are headed in the right path. It’s been slow, but it feels like efforts are increasing as I get older.

“Human beings are clearly highly ignorant of other members of the Earth Family, and at least in the Western worldview, have thought of themselves as sitting on top of the biodiversity pyramid or tree rather than forming part of a complex web of life” (SHIVA pg. 44).  Is it the Western worldview?  It seems like we at least have a decent water supply, where most countries have destroyed theirs.  Although we rank 26^th out of 146^th for percentage of protected land according to Nation master, it’s a number which is trending up. We rank 3^rd in marine biodiversity, and 26^th in terrestrial biodiversity.  So in the world I think we are probably not the biggest problem.  So I kind of feel like she is pointing fingers without stats.

There are no level to level of greed or accumulation (SHIVA pg. 57).  This is probably true but how can you change that? Farmers don’t farm to feed people, they farm to put money in their pocket. Yes it’s nice to take pride and do great things, but at the end of the day nobody is doing it without money. So how do we change this, when we naturally put people first, and blood before all else? 

http://asud.net/

www.globalchange.umich.edu

Land Remembered

As far as relating to characters in the book A Land Remembered I would turn back to the start.  The character I would choose is Solomon aka Sol MacIvey. Sol is the 3^rd generation of MacIvey, he’s the grandson of Tobias and Emma MacIvey. The son of Zech and Glenda MacIvey. His brother is Toby Cypress who he visits before he heads to Fort Myers to live out his last days. Toby Cypress is the child from affair his father had with an Indian lady named Tawanda.

Sol as a character shows sort of the evolution of American people.  He lived off the land as a child but develops business skills as he grows.  When he’s young he learns to make money off the tourist.  Eventually he personally responsible for development and destruction of his sense of place.

I relate to him in the sense that I got away from the nature. Although my time frame is a lot smaller than his, I definitely have turned back to my sense of place in South Florida. I try to spend as much time on the water or in the woods of South Florida as possible now because that’s where I spent my childhood. I enjoy being out in nature and fishing, but I got away from it in my late teens and 20s. Another issue I can relate to is my career as a civil engineer sometimes conflicts with what I believe in with respect to the environment.  Development puts money in my pocket but as more area is developed a peace of my place is removed usually. I get excited a little when there is some habitat restoration involved.

That’s sort of what happens to Sol, he realizes that in an effort to get ahead he destroyed a place he loves and lost his relationship with Tony (his brother).  He almost had no choice but to go the route he did in life. Though in the end he doesn’t want to see what he feels responsible for.  He probably feels his legacy is ruined and he shows remorse. He talks about how nobody even knows who he is. I think that’s part of the reason he wants to make amends and let his brother knows he realizes he sorry. He goes to Punta Rassa; his sense of place to live the remainder of his life.  He wants end life the way he started, in his sense of place and in good terms with Toby

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Everglades

Growing up in Naples, Florida the everglades is something we all know about. It borders are town which is now pretty much a city to the east.  I remember being a kid in Naples, and thinking where I now live was out in the “sticks”. Though now I think I am close enough to everything. The town has grown so much since I was a kid, probably too much.  I remember going 4 wheeling on a dirt trail which is now Livingston road and runs through the center of the current area urbanized part of Naples.  It used to seem like there was wilderness everywhere, and now the only thing left is the everglades and a few spots between.  I call my home paradise lost, because to me it doesn’t have the same appeal it did when I came here as a kid.  Though the people that never saw it back then keep piling in and looking for more paradise to claim.  Eventually money overcomes everything it seems. Luckily for what’s left of the everglades money is being set to restore and preserve it.

This post is supposed to be about Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s The Nature of the Everglades.  Well I don’t really have a lot to comment on her writing. It was a beautifully worded writing, but easy to get lost if you not into that type of writing.   I think it would maybe have more of impact if I didn’t grow up right outside the everglades. You have to get out there and not read about it.  Even today I spend a lot of time running the dirt trails around the Picayune strand and dry areas surrounding the everglades. If I am lucky, ill get a seat with a friend with airboat and actually get out in the glades.  I love it out there, not a building in sight and usually you only see the people your with.  

We know very well about the “muddy water holes about the pine land the brown-black water moccasin’s slide there wet ridged scales” (Douglas p138). Things she says like rainy season finds a terrible climax in September or October, in the crashing impact of a hurricane (Douglas p118).  That’s part of living in south Florida, typically we celebrate before hurricanes arrive in south Florida.  She makes mention to the sky’s as summer changes to fall and winter. Saying often at all toward the zenith, which has lost its summer intensity of violet and burns now with the bright crisp blue of northern autumns (Douglas p119).  Although the skies are a tourist attraction, we locals still like to watch the sun fall. Most people go to the beach, it’s really cool if you take a dirt road out towards the glades. 

Leopold A Land Ethic

The Land Ethic

Ethics is the branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct and human behaviors. Aldo Leopold in 1949 in a Sand County Almanac talks about human behavior which he calls “A Land ethic”. This is a philosophy that seeks to guide the actions when humans use and or make changes to the land. He says   there is a need for a "new ethic", an "ethic dealing with human's relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it" (Leopold 1949). Is this possible on a full scale?  How much of the population would have to practice this ethic to make it work?

 

"The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively” (Leopold 1949)

                                           

Leopold says we should not act is if we are land conquers but consider the land along side of us. He talks about how every conquer eventually fails.  And I believe this to be true. At some point we may have to decide that maybe human life is not as important as the environment.  Do we not worry about it because it most likely won’t matter during are life time? I think due to things like religion and such we have a way of believing we are more superior to anything else on this planet. That God created this for us.  Though I think it’s just as a team of humans you are only as strong as your weakest link.  If we started to thing as everything not just humans as are team, we would realize we are out competing are self’s.  The funny thing is we are worried about invasive species in the wild, but why don’t we consider are self to be invasive? 



 

 

 

 

Perhaps the most serious obstacle impeding the evolution of a land ethic is the fact are education and economic system is heading away from, rather than toward, and intense consciousness of land (Leopold 1949).

 

This is something I do not agree with.  Although this is probably due to the time of this writing. I think back to my education when I was younger we did some things in nature. Some field trips were probably useless trips, but I remember taking some to different places in the area learning about the environment.  I took a 10 year break from in class learning, but since I have returned I feel like there is defiantly a lot of concern about the land compared to the past.  I would say at least educationally I can see a direct change towards, rather than away.

 

 

NDD

I think nature deficit disorder Is a real thing.   Just being outside is something the younger generation does less and less of.  I talk about it all the time how it seems like when I was young kids where everywhere in there yards. Now most nieborhoods looks like ghost towns.  I remember when I was a kid we would fight are parents to stay outside after dark. Now my generation is becoming parents and they have to push there kids to go outside and step away from the 1000 channels and video games on every smart phone. Really everyone , myself included  probably is  staring at there phone more they should daily. A pet peeve of mine, I absolutely hate when people have there phones out when people are at the dinner table or hanging out.  Mind you I am probably a little older then most the people reading this.  I kind of have 2 beliefs of why a lot of this could be happening. One is what I mentioned earlier to much entertainment in the home. Another reason I believe is many parents are scared by media. You know everyone talks about the world being so crazy today. I don't believe its any crazier, I just think we hear everything now.  Just as we have those games in are hand, we have news and information as well. I think a lot of it has to do with hysteria caused by media, many parents are paranoid something will happen to there kids.

Talking more about what Louv wrote about Nature -deficit disorder other problems exist such a PE being reduced 42% between 1991 and 2003 (Louv 3).  They correlate excersice with being outdoors and that's one thing I don't agree with.  The one parent says they are "considering moving to the mountain" ( Louv 4).  It is known and if you exercised in your life you understand you feel less stress, have less issues when your body is right.  I don't know I necessarily agree its directly related to nature as it is the exercise. Nobody goes to the outdoor gym to feel better.  I actually think you don't really appreciate nature itself until you get older. Simple things like just sitting on the beach , listening to waves, watching sunset that becomes relaxing as you get older.  And the reason that is , is because its away from the grind of adult life. Its a escape from the stress we put on are self's to succeed in life.  Although I think being outdoors generally requires some form of exercise rather that's walking or hiking.

http://wearelovely.com/symptoms-of-a-zombie-apocalypse/

 

 

 

Love it or lose it: The coming Biophilia Revolution by David W. Orr

 

 

Love it or lose it: The coming Biophilia Revolution by David W. Orr discusses human mindset towards the environment. He suggests a biophilia hypothesis in which the author suggest there is natural instinctive bond between humans and nature.  Although he does mention there is also some who possess what he calls biphobia. He says this phobia is “increasingly common among people raised with television, Walkman, radios attached to their heads, and video games living amongst shopping malls, freeways, and dense urban and suburban settings where nature is permitted tastefully as decoration”(Orr 2). Although that didn’t necessarily makes sense as he quotes Woody Allen as saying “Nature and I are two”(Orr 3).  The issue with his first statement is that he says all humans are inherently bonded with nature.  Another problem that exist with what he says is that Woody Allen was born in the 1930s probably didn’t grow up with many of the modern things such as TV’s, Walkman’s and the other things mentioned.   There is many opinions, maybe even stereotypes within the reading. 

Although I don’t agree with many things in the reading, there is other things I can say directly affected my outlook on nature.  I think education is important in pushing this Biophilia revolution.   I believe this because my education in civil and environmental engineering has opened my eyes to a lot of issues.  Obviously as an engineer the environment is something we learn a lot about.  It allowed me to start taking into consideration everything. We learn a lot about how to design with the environment in consideration.  As an engineer we are one of the main professions which is responsible for human impact to the environment, as well as sustainability.  So throughout my education it made me start thinking about the great natural places in Southwest Florida we had I’ve lost since I was a kid.  And it seems as every year passes a great place is gone and we always think back to when we were a kid. This directly relates to what Orr calls “The recovery of childhood” (Orr p204).