Food and Sustainability in North Carolina

Barbecue is the food of the south, and North Carolina is no exception. Since pigs were introduced to the state in the 1500s, residents would cook the pork over a fire and season the meat with vinegar, salt, red and black pepper, and oyster juice. This would eventually be known as "North Carolina Barbeque."

However, as time passed and farming decreased in the state, local pig farmers began to lose their farms due to commercial hog producing corporations. In the past ten years, the number of pig farmers in the state has fallen from 23,000 to 8,000, yet the production of pigs has nearly tripled. North Carolina is now nationally ranked second for producing hogs. The mass production of pigs is not only harmful to the hogs that are being confined to small areas and fed food that has been fertilized by their own excrement’s, but also to the people of the towns and counties that contain these large corporations. The waste from the hogs is being kept in pits known as “lagoons.” According to studies done by North Carolina State University, roughly half of the lagoons are leaking enough of the waste to contaminate the groundwater. The waste also contains a high concentration of nitrogen.

Local organizations have arisen in order to regulate the pork producers in the state, such as the Alliance for Responsible Swine Industry, the Halifax Environmental Loss Prevention, and others. Additional help has been contributed through the researchers of North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina, and Duke University. The News and Observer has brought a media perspective to the issue and covered a thorough investigation on the “pork revolution.” While these organizations, universities, and media coverage have all helped, much still needs to be done in order to promote local pig farmers rather than corporate swine.

http://www.northcarolinatravels.com/food/barbecue/index.htm

http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/statter.html

Envrionmental Ethics Artifact - Bears on Ice

The video above is called "Bears on Ice." It is a short animation that shows the effects of global warming in the arctic. The ice is melting as decades pass, and the polar bears are left in the end with a small slab of ice where they must balance themselves one after another. Personally, the circus theme at the end of the video portrays how society sees the issue as a joke, until the very end when that last piece melts and the polar bears and ice caps are gone.

Synthesis on 350 and CO2

“The Coral Reef Crisis: The Critical Importance of <350ppm CO₂” is an article that focuses on the environmental importance of keeping levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂) less than 350 parts per million (ppm). While the article primarily focuses on the coral reefs, it shows the effects that rising CO₂ levels can have on the earth. The article suggests there is a correlation between rising CO₂ and global warming. Climate change has currently caused approximately 19% of the world’s coral reefs to be lost, and it is estimated that another 35% are in danger (Veron, Hoegh-Guldberg, and et al 1428-1429).

Global warming is not the only factor that is destroying the coral reefs, but it the primary one. It is causing huge mass bleaching events across the seas (Veron, Hoegh-Guldberg, and et al 1429). This was first seen in the late 1970s and was linked to high temperatures in the oceans (Veron, Hoegh-Guldberg, and et al 1429). When the bleaching was first recorded in 1978/79, the CO₂ level was at approximately 336ppm (Veron, Hoegh-Guldberg, and et al 1429). Since that time, there have been seven major world-wide bleaching events, the worst being the 1982/83 event that caused two-thirds of all inshore reefs and 14% of offshore reefs of the Great Barrier Reef to have moderate to high levels of bleaching (Veron, Hoegh-Guldberg, and et al 1429).

It can be concluded that, while there are many other factors to coral reef degradation, a rise in CO₂ is the most harmful. CO₂ levels must decrease to 350ppm or less in order to stop mass bleaching occurrences around the globe. Ideally, the levels should decrease below 320ppm due to the fact that the first bleaching recorded was estimated to occur at approximately 320ppm (Veron, Hoegh-Guldberg, and et al 1429). If CO₂ levels continue to rise, not only will the world see a loss in coral reefs and other sea related environments, but all the environments around the world will see damage. 350ppm is an important number for the earth, and only society can get the world there.

                                                                                                                              

Veron, J.E.N, O. Hoegh-Guldberg, et al. "The Coral Reef Crisis: The Critical Importance of <350 ppm CO₂." Marine Pollution Bulletin. 58. (2009): 1428-1436. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. <www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul>.

Fracking’s Contribution to Water Contamination

In December 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency sparked great controversy as it declared that hydraulic fracturing could be the root cause of underground water pollution in central Wyoming. Hydraulic fracturing is the process of extracting natural gas or oil from the ground by means of injecting chemicals at high pressure into the fractures of rocks below earth’s surface (“Dictionary.com”). Officials claim that the pollution near Pavillion, Wyoming “had most likely seeped up from gas wells and contained at least 10 compounds known to be used in frack fluids” (Lustgarten, and Kusnetz 3).

At the time, EnCana did not express any concern and accused the EPA of false findings. EnCana is the gas company that owns the wells near Pavillion, and a spokesman for the company stated that, “Nothing EPA presented suggests anything has changed since August of last year – the science remains inconclusive in terms of data, impact, and source” (Lustgarten, and Kusnetz 10). This is ridiculous considering the chemicals found are the same as those used in fracking. Coinciding with the spokesman’s statement, Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.) told a Senate panel that he “found the agency’s report on the Pavillion-area contamination ‘offensive’” (Lustgarten, and Kusnetz 11). Inhofe continued to oppose the EPA by labeling the agency as biased.

Many of the local Pavillion residents complained that their water turned brown after the gas wells had been fracked; this problem startein the mid-1990s and has gotten increasingly worse throughout the years (Lustgarten, and Kusnetz 12). An on-going issue of this magnitude cannot continue and cannot be declared “inconclusive” or “offensive.” The EPA began taking water samples in early 2008. Traces of hydrocarbons and other chemicals that are used in fracking had been found within the resident’s water wells (Lustgarten, and Kusnetz 13). In 2010, the EPA and federal health officials warned residents to avoid consumption of the water and to ventilate homes during baths as the methane in the water could cause explosions (Lustgarten, and Kusnetz 13). Residents could no longer safely bathe without fear of the chemicals in the water. It has been disrupting their lives since the issue began in the 1990s.

Further investigation by the EPA led to findings of high levels of carcinogenic chemicals such as benzene; a well-known chemical that is used in fracking, 2 Butoxyethanol, was also found in the water (Lustgarten, and Kusnetz 14). However, despite the evidence, EnCana continued to deny their involvement in any of the pollution. The company would not reveal the chemicals that had been used to frack the wells. The finding of 2-BE was considered “inconsistent in detection,” according to Doug Hock, the EnCana spokesman (Lustgarten, and Kusnetz 23). Despite all the findings, hopefully Hock and the Senator will realize the harm they are doing not only to the land, but to the innocent residents of Pavillion.

 

"Hydraulic Fracturing." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, LLC., 2012. Web. 28 Sep 2012. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hydraulic fracturing>.

Lustgarten, Abrahm, and Nicholas Kusnetz. "EPA: Natural Gas Fracking Linked to Water Contamination." Scientific American. 09 Dec 2011: n. page. Web. 28 Sep. 2012. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fracking-linked-water-contamination-federal-agency>.

 

A Response to Richard Kahn: Environmental Education

Reading Richard Kahn's article, Towards Ecopedagogy: Weaving a Broad-based Pedagogy of Liberation for Animals, Nature, and the Oppressed People of the Earth, the ignorance society has about environmental issues is brought into perspective. "45 million Americans believe that the ocean is a fresh source of water” (Kahn 6). It is ridiculous how many people can even believe that. The Nation needs environmental education to learn how to prevent further damage to the earth.

One method would be to integrate mandatory, general environmental education courses into schools, the simplest starting in elementary and growing progressively more informative into high school. Once students enter colleges and universities, required environmental classes should teach students how to care for and aid the environment based off of the student’s intended major. For example, if a student’s intended major was automotive engineering, the environmental class would teach to student how an automotive engineer would properly dispose of chemicals, fluids and parts, and to use the knowledge of their major to create environmentally-friendly vehicles.

If students graduate high school and directly enter the workforce, on-the-job training must include a section on the environment that pertains to the work. Each job, no matter what it happens to be, must include some sort of environmental education requirement upon hire. If a student in high school has been hired part-time at McDonalds, then the manager in charge of the restaurant must see to it that the new employee learns how to properly dispose of trash, recycling, and how to keep the building sanitary without causing environmental harm. Every employee must also pass the environmental course before being allowed to work.

By keeping people properly educated on the environment, not only would prevent further issues from occurring and aid the damage that has already been done, but it would decrease ignorance and allow for people to spread the word of environmental protection. This would allow for society to grow in a way that is much friendlier to the earth than it currently is.

Environmental Visual Rhetoric

Image can be found here.

          The image above is an example of environmental visual rhetoric. Obviously the level of inappropriateness is extreme, but the image clearly shows the harm that humans are doing to the earth. The figures of a man and a woman can be seen. The man (civilization) can be seen sexually assaulting the female figure (nature). Civilization and industrialization have violently stripped Earth of her natural resources, much like a vulgar act of indecency. Much of this reminds me of "Front Lines," a poem by Snyder that is featured in his book Turtle Island. The poem, much like the image, powerfully illustrates environmental damage by suggesting a sexual assault on Earth.

          Technology aids in creating impacting images that can be widely distributed throughout the world in order to provide others with information so that they may venture out and reverse the damaging effects we have done.

Turtle Island: Part 3

Affluence

The poem says, "now burn the tangles dowsing, pokey heaps with diesel oil. paying the price somebody didn't pay." I believe the theme in this poem deals with forest fires and how a lot of them are due to humans not properly disposing the debris.

The Dazzle

This poem's theme seems to be spring. Snyder is speaking of the flowers; how they spread and grow, and how wonderful it is. "the dazzle, the seduction of design" states that the process flowers go through to grow and reproduce is magical almost.

Dusty Braces

"O you ancestors" seems to imply that this poem is more of a letter to Snyder's past relatives. He names all the occupations they had and looks down on them for being what they were because they "killd off the cougar and grizzly" with their "nine bows." Snyder ends the poem by saying, "-your sea roving, tree hearted son." The theme of the poem seems to be the difference between Snyder and his ancestors.