Earth Charter

Earth Charter deals with the respect and care for the community of life and says, “Respect Earth and life in all its diversity.”  In other words, “recognize that all beings are interdependent and every form of life have value regardless of its worth to human beings.”  I would compare this to our first field trip me took to CREW.  Our guide talk about the plant diversity in CREW and how all the different habitats worked together.

http://www.crewtrust.org

Principle 2 of the Earth Charter deals with ecological integrity and says, “Protect and restore the integrity of Earth’s ecological systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life.”  I would compare this to our most recent field trip to Echo.  At ECHO, we learned about the importance of protecting and restoring and some very easy ways to do just that.

http://www.captivachapel.com/mission-outreach.html

Principle 3 of the Earth Charter deals with social and economic justice and says, “Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative.”  I would compare this to FGCU and how we learned about why FGCU is where it is.  FGCU promotes sustainability and has courses in place to teach its students the importance of it.

http://www.fgcu.edu/

Principle 4 of the Earth Charter deal with democracy, nonviolence, and peace and says, “ Strengthen democratic institutions at all levels, and provide transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive participation in decision making, and access to justice.”  I would compare this to A Land Remembered.  This is because the characters in the book had to deal with the tolerance of different cultures.

Jane Goodall: Hope for Animals

After reading Jane Goodall and others: Hope for Animals and Their World both “Healing Earth’s Scars: It’s Never Too Late” and “Why Save Endangered Species” in the Colloquium Reader, there were a couple different quotes that caught my attention.  One of these quotes is "Some people ask me why it matters. They want to know why I am doing it. And I tell them that it is because these animals belong on the land. They have a right to be here". He feels "obligated" to the animals he is working with" (Goodall, 178).  This quote is referring to why people make such a big deal about protecting endangered species.  Animals cannot stand up for themselves when it comes to trying to protect their own habitat from invading humans.  This is why some people feel like it is their responsibility to stand up for these animals who cannot voice their opinion.  If it was not for these people who felt so responsible to take care of these animals, who knows how many more extinct species there would be.

 

http://www.thenewdealer.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/endangered-species-473x316.jpg

Another quote that caught my attention was “My four reasons for hope, about which I have written and spoken extensively, are simple- naive perhaps, but they work for me: our quite extraordinary intellect, the resilience of nature, the energy and commitment of informed young people who are empowered to act, and commitment of informed young people who are empowered to act, and the indomitable human spirit” (Goodall).  It is our responsibility as young people to take action and act now before it is too late.  It is our generation that is going to have to live with the consequences of our negative actions.  It is not too late if we can all act now and try and make a positive difference for our environment.

http://www.myhero.ws/images/earthkeeper/goodall/goodall.jpg

 

The last quote that interested me in the reading is “The pollution of our streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans is one of the more shocking results of the use of chemicals and other damaging agents in agriculture, industry, household products, golf courses, and gardens, since much of this poison is washed into the water” (Goodall).  All people are really concerned with is how nice their lawn looks or the cheapest way we can grow crops.  What people don’t think about when they think about these things is how they are affecting the environment.  All the chemicals we use now a days to make all these things happen are having a very negative effect on our environment.  It is time that we take a stand against all of these things and start fixing these problems little by little.  Even the smallest change to your current lifestyle could have a huge impact.

http://www.wellsprings-health.com/images/articles/xeno-estrogens-and-pollution.jpg

 

Carson Silent Spring

After reading both Silent Spring and “A Fable for Tomorrow” by Rachel Carson in the Colloquium Reader, there were a couple different quotes that really stood out to me.  One of these quotes was “contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials.” (p.153) I found this quote interesting because this was written 50 years ago when things weren’t as bad as they are today.  Today, there are factories all over the place contaminating our rivers and air and we are barely doing anything about it.  Even with state and federal agencies controlling this pollution, very little difference has been made.  We need to take a stand and fix this before it is too late.  Wouldn’t it be sad if your kids had a completely different view on the environment that you had growing up as a child.

Another quote that stood out to me was “no witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this stricken world. The people had done it themselves.” (p. 151)  In this quote, Carson is saying that the only person to blame for all the damage to earth is humans.  There is nothing else destroying this earth except for all of our nasty habits and addictions.  The only good part is that since we are the problem, we can also be the solution.  We know exactly what we are doing wrong, but no one is standing up to make a change.  As long as you do your part to help the environment, everything will turn around for the better in no time.

http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/environment

The third quote that interested me from the reading was “man can hardly recognize the devils of his own creation” (p.154).  Carson points out here that even when we create something bad, we are to naïve to realize we have done something wrong.

http://arch1design.com/blog/latest_environmental_health_news/consumer-concerns-about-pesticides-in-food/

The last quote that really stood out to me from the reading is “how could intelligent being seek to control a few unwanted species by a method that contaminated the entire environment and brought the threat of disease and death even to their own kind?” (p. 156).  In this quote, Carson is questioning the intelligence of humanity.  How could you endanger your own species knowingly and not do anything about it.  If we continue to do the same thing over and over again even though we know its wrong, Carson claims that we must lack intelligence.

http://www.davekrause.me/category/innovation/

Tomorrow's Biodiversity

After reading Vandana Shiva’s Tomorrow’s Biodiversity “What is Biodiversity and Why is it so Important?” in the Colloquium Reader there were a couple of quotes that really stood out to me.  One of these quotes is “Humankind is one among millions of other species. It does not have a right to push other species to extinction, or to manipulate them for greed, profit, and power without concern for their well-being.” (Shiva, p. 40)  Humans take for granted their existence on earth.  Even though we were not the first organisms to exist on this earth, we have taken it upon ourselves to take ownership of everything earth has to offer.  We feel like we are free to do whatever we want as long as we somehow benefit.  For example, we have no problem clearing out a whole forest to make way to build a neighborhood.  When we do this, we do not consider all of the habitats we are destroying and how we may we driving a certain species to extinction.  As long as someone is making a financial gain, all of these problems seem to be pushed off to the side.  

https://audioboom.com/boos/313510-earth-hour-does-it-work
 

Another quote that really stood out to me was “The extinction of a species means not just the loss of that particular species, but also a threat to the other species that are supported by it through ecological processes.”  When people hear someone talking about a certain species going extinct, they feel sympathy for that animal, but that is as far as it goes.  What people forget to realize is how the extinction of that animal is going to affect other species and the habitat that it came from.  For example, if a certain species of snake goes extinct in SWFL, all of the birds that depend on that snake as a food source will suffer greatly.  Also, all of the small rodents the snake depended on for a food source will greatly increase in size, which could cause problems.  

http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2008/11/26/103612-feds-no-funds-to-list-garter-snake-as-endangered/

 

The last quote that interested me while reading Tomorrow’s Biodiversity is “Species now become extinct at the rate of 27,000 per year – 1,000 times the natural rate – and human greed and desire for profit are the primary cause of most of these extinctions.”    This just shows how much of an effect humans have on the environment.  People don’t realize it, but many of the things they use or do throughout the day have a very negative affect on the environment.  We need to realize this before it is to late and change what we are currently doing.  If everyone just makes a small change in how we do certain activities that could make all the difference in the world.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Air_.pollution_1.jpg