Meat: To Eat or Not to Eat

The vegetarian debate is one of the most controversial issues in environmental circles. Not only in environmental circles but in our society. There are plenty of pros and cons when it comes to animal meat consumption. The main three pros include: (1) it's hard to find an overweight vegan; (2) it's better on the environment to raise crops than animals; (3) farms breed animals just for consumption. In this video it talks about the reasons to become a vegetarian. Some images may be graphic.

 

It is easy to understand that if your diet lacks meat you are less prone to gaining weight. When factories process their meats, they add many preservatives that contain fattening ingredients. Also there have been studies that have led some scientist to believe that these preservatives contain chemicals which can lead to addiction to meat products. The factories that contain these animals give off bad chemicals that are not good for the environment. The book "Animal Factory" by David Kirby talks about how the shift from family farms to factory farms have led to the increase in environmental harm. Also, in Mason and Finelli's "Brave New World" it states that factories harm "...the atmosphere, polluted by fossil fuel use and methane gas, generated by the immense numbers of ruminant farmed animals, adding to global warming..." He uses this to show that the factories aren't to concerned about the damage done to the environment but are more concerned about maximizing their profits.The most important pro I mentioned was that raising and breeding animals SIMPLY for food consumption is species-ism. It is proven that animals feel pain and do suffer from mistreatment. The utilitarian view is that we as a society need to look beyond our own personal wants for tasty treats and begin to start treating animals just as we treat ourselves.

Even though, there are some pros for meat consumption. These include: (1) Organic foods are more expensive; (2) malnutrition can result from not having a balanced diet; (3) "the circle of life" allows organisms to live and eat off each other. Many families are not wealthy enough to buy organic foods. If a parent had to choose between spending more money on foods that don't contain meat products or feeding their child a bologna and cheese sandwich, I believe they would choose the latter. According to the food pyramid to the right, if you were to cut out meat products you will be loosing 25% of your daily nutritional diet. The major pro for eating meat is that it is part of "the circle of life." All animals eat one another in one way or the other. In the Lion King, Mufasa explains the circle of life.

Mufasa was explaining to Simba what many people have come to agree and live by, we all are part of a cycle that lives and eats off each other. This cycle is evident in all parts of the environment from the antelopes who eat the land, to the lion who eats the antelope, and finally to the land that is enriched by the lion's dead carcass.

Pandora and The Modern Thought

     In the movie Avatar, there are several environmental concepts portrayed. The master narrative in the film is that all life is connected through their spirit and their energy. The Omaticaya people believed that all life on Pandora was dependent on each other and the Tree of Souls. That connection allowed the people to live amongst the land and animals. The humans that were on Pandora came to dig up priceless rocks to sell on Earth’s black market. The leader of the humans, Parker Selfridge, didn’t care too much about the natives of Pandora or their land. He said sarcastically that “…you throw a stick in the air around here and it’ll land on some sacred fern.”  That leads me to believe that he and Colonel Quatrich were believers in Anthropocentrism. To them humankind is far more important than anything else. Dr. Grace first wanted to study the wildlife on Pandora to understand how they were connected. She studied the planet with an atomistic view. She took samples of plant life and studied the Omaticaya people independent of each other. She later realized the paradigm that the whole planet was connected through some sort of “electrochemical communication” that allowed the plant and wildlife to interact with each other.  Dr. Grace was trying to explain the Planet Pandora to Parker by using reductionism. She compared Pandora to something he could understand, like synapsis in the human brain. Even then, he did not want to understand. Jake Sulley, the main character of the film, set out to Pandora to take his brother’s place in the Avatar Project. He viewed his self-narrative as one individual, distinct from any group, and not reliant on anyone. When he entered the avatar machine for the first time and Dr. Grace wanted to help him, he refused. He said he was tired of people telling him what he could and could not do.

     Although the planet is made up of living organisms, the idea of Pandora is also mechanistic in the fact that the planet is a network of energy that is borrowed. When you die your energy is returned back to the planet to reproduce other organisms. The five assumptions about the structure of being, knowledge, and method from Merchant’s article(48-50) on radical ecology stand true for Pandora: (1) matter in Pandora is composed of particles; (2) there is a natural order in Pandora where everything has an identity; (3) knowledge and information can be abstracted from the Tree of Souls; (4) over a period of time, Dr. Grace studied and analyzed different plants and wildlife on Pandora (5) humans were able to affect the balance of nature on Pandora by interacting with it. Another concept that can be obtained from Avatar is the dualism between the humans and the Omaticaya people. To the viewers the humans are portrayed as evil compared to the Omaticaya people as good. A connection could also be made between the American Settlers versus the Native Americans. The Humans, like the settlers, came seeking land and resources plowing anyone or anything that stood in their way. I think Avatar was made with many underlying themes that can be connected to different environmental issues. If you watch it closely you’ll be able to see the similarities in how our society treats the environment and how the humans treated Pandora. Hopefully many people will watch this film and come away with a different outlook on environmental issues.

Avatar's Meaningful Wilderness

In the Avatar movie, there is a company from the United States that has gone to a planet named Pandora, because they have found a special rock like substance called Unobtainium, that the company would make a lot of money from. The American people have found that there is a tribe, called Na’vi, living on and around the tree that is on top of the Unobtainium and want them to leave and move somewhere else. The Na’vi tribe did not want to leave because they believe that the tree was very special to them, and it was their home. The company owner didn’t want to just run them off the tree by attacking them with weapons because it would make his company look bad, so he had hired some scientist who knew about the Na’vi people in order to try to bond with them, using Avatars, and to try to convince them to move homes on their own.

The Na’vi people would do anything to protect their home, which was in the wilderness and did do everything they could to protect it. In a scene of the movie, the scientist, Dr. Grace Augustine, explains how the tree connected with all the other trees in that forest and with the Mother tree; she continues explaining how all the trees connections was just like our brain is connected together and how everything works together. She also believed that by removing the Unobtainium that the whole system would change and maybe even die. In Cronon’s paper he explains two beliefs, the romanticism view, I believe connects with the movie greatly because the Na’vi people had great feeling for the place they lived in and didn’t want to leave the place. It was sacred to them and had much special meaning to them and didn’t want some people to come in and put machines there and destroy their home. The place was sublime and they Na’vi people did not want that to change because they knew that the planet would not be the same if part of it was tore down, only for some company to make lots of money, they didn’t care about that at all.

In the company’s point of view, which was more modernistic they believed that the Na’vi people would not lose anything. They believed that the people would be able to move trees with no problem so they would be able to continue with their mining project. The American company only though about its instrumental value and how much money they would make with the Unobtainium that was there. They company believed that the forest/planet was very big and that they would be able to live some where else with ease and that there would be no damage in the forest at all. The only person who actually though about the value of the tree to the Na’vi people was Dr. Grace and after getting attached to the Na’vi people Jake became close with the people and understood the meaning of the tree to them.

Now day we only see nature as somewhere we go to relax, but as Cronon asks, “But is it?” Is nature really nature? Or is it just something us humans have created for people to make money. In history there have been many incidents were people were kicked out of their lands because a company wanted to go build there or wanted to use it for its resources. I believe that it is very rare to find a place where people would go to relax or to enjoy “nature”, that hasn’t been touched by humans or that there isn’t building there like hotels and resorts. What we call “nature” is not really natural because we, humans, have destroyed many things and built many things that change everything and maybe that’s why we are having environmental problems these days. We should think about what nature really does and why its here on earth before we destroy something.

Avatar Midterm: Cluster 1

In the movie “Avatar”, Cameron depicts what life would and could be like with a different master narrative. He does this by revealing a fantasy world that a certain species, the Na’vi, live in and how they view and use the world around them. Simultaneously, Cameron is showing what “real-world” influences have on the Na’vi and their land. It couldn’t be a better way of showing how much the two ways of thinking contrast each other. He does a great job of using this contrast in a way that makes the viewer think about how living their everyday lives are affecting the planet.

Many philosophical views are embedded throughout the film to give the viewer a chance to either emphasize or question certain points for themselves. An example of this being the obvious fact that the land the Na’vis live in, coincidentally called Pandora, is one with extremely feminine characteristics. As Collard states, “As for Pandora, so maligned in the patriarchal version of her myth, she too is the Primitive Matriarch, all-giving, all-knowing, and loved by all. Hidden in her bosom are numerous earth spirits that correspond to human emotion- joy, love, sorrow, loneliness” (Collard 10). This idea of femininity can be see clearly in the healing ceremony scene when Grace is being brought to the tree. Not only do the vibrancy of the colors effect how one feels when they look at this scene, but also the dialog that is used. They refer to nature and the life source from the tree as “Mother” or “All Mother”. By the way the Na’vi are sitting for the ceremony they are emulating people sitting in a sanctuary in church. This is symbolizes to the viewer how important their “mother”, or earth, is. This gives nature a religious or spiritual undertone to how these people view nature and the world around them.

One can also see the dualism quite evidently throughout the film. One example of this is the scene in which the humans come into the Na’vis’ land and start destroying it for selfish reasons. In this anthropocentric way of thinking, the humans don’t care who, what, or how they are destroying the land. The only thing they want is what is under the Na’vis’ sacred tree and they don’t see anything wrong with making this happen no matter what. In this scene, the colors the opposing forces have make it quite obvious what is happening. The Na’vi and their land are again, vibrant and colorful. As the definition of femininity states, their land is delicate and pretty. When the humans come in you can see that their colors are almost opposite. It is filled with greys and browns and even their shapes represent ruggedness and strength. Because of these qualities, this side is seen as more masculine and tough. This clear dualism mirrors the linking postulates that occur throughout the movie. On one hand we see the delicate forest people as weak and unable to maintain themselves. Then we have the strong and bold humans going after and getting what they want. This idea goes well beyond men versus women- it bleeds into many issues in society today. One example of this is America versus other countries and how as Americans we are entitled to get what we want. We live the American dream by working hard and getting rewarded for it.

Another thing that is interesting is how both sides have a patriarchical way of thinking. The movie makes it very clear how different these two sides are in how they act and the way they think. However, both sides seem to have a system that places its members into levels and groupings. It would seem at first that this way of thinking is more an American way of thinking-those who work harder deserve more. However, even in the society that seems to not think this way they have this, though it may be for other reasons. Regardless of the reasonings, however, both cultures rely on their leader for guidance, and in a way doesn’t that make both sides guilty and somewhat contradictory? It is ironic that though two different societies have two different paradigms they can still be so similar. There are many parallels between the two worlds, but because they can't understand each other they naturally think the other is bad. For instance, they both are wanting the hometree, but for different reasons. From their points of view the reason that is not their own is bad. However, when one can see that both groups are wanting the hometree for separate reasons that will benefit their society the “bad guys” don’t seem as bad.

by: Alek Trail

Avatars meaning behind just being blue

They say that you don’t really love something until it’s gone, the dualism between humans as the master and Mother Nature as the inferior being that is being destroyed is portrayed in the film Avatar. An avatar show, what is the master narrative of our time is that we must conquer or kill the land and animals in order to have absolute control. The film show a different race called the Na’vi (the blue people not the annoying little fairy in Zelda) and their entirely different ways of life compared to humans, the Na’vi respect and take care of nature and nature respects the Na’vi and gives them what they need to survive an example of symbiosis. Jake who is a Marine in the movie that becomes a Na’vi by going in to a thing called a avatar, after spending time with the Na’vi he starts to become ecocentric and sees the beauty in nature instead of just wanting to use the planet Pandora for resources he develops a ecological conscience, and is able to truly see what we as humans are doing to the world around us. 

   One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Jake plugs himself into the ancestral tree asking for help somehow but Neytiri tells Jake the tree has no opinion it just observes and will listen but will not do anything, that although the tree holds together a system of life around Pandora it does not choose sides even though the Na’vi are trying to save the natural planet of Pandora and the humans are destroying the planet the tree just watches everything the tree is thinking like a mountain. Although avatar takes place in Pandora it greatly represents what we as people are doing to the land around us, out narrative self’s have become so focused on money and fame that part of our master narrative is that we must be Anthropocentric , the Na’vi have the right concepts in order to live with the environment not kill it. We as a people must take a stand and have communities that respect nature instead of destroy; Avatar showed millions of people that all life is precarious life that just because something is there today does not mean it will be their tomorrow. Aldo Leopold got to witness the death of nature though the eyes of a wolf, just like Jake saw the death of nature in the tree, and both realized that there is a land pyramid that dirt is not dirt but the thing that gives life to everything. 

  In order to change the narrative self we need to change what we think we need to know what “the hidden meaning in the howl of the wolf, long known among mountains, but seldom perceived among men.”(Leopold Thinking Like a Mountain pg 2)  and if avatar is any indicator if we as people don’t start to understand and live with nature we will soon miss the thing we didn’t know how much we loved.

avatar

This film started with Jake being brought to Pandora to be subbed in for his brotherbecause his brother died. They asked him in only because he could still be transformed into anavatar because he has similar traits to his brother and link to it. They have a paradigm on theavatar and are trying to learn more about them because they are fascinated with what they areand also because they have to try and get them to move so they won’t die. Jake is the one thatgot closest to the avatars because he has a self narrative that separate him from the otherhuman avatar people and even has a better self narrative then all of the real avatar people.Even the tree of life (sacred tree) chose him and actually is the reason why he stayed alive anddidn’t get killed by the chief’s daughter. Jake is actually the heroic ethic for both the humansand the natives (avatars). He was chosen by the humans to try and resolve the conflict for themby using colonialism and getting them to trust him and to do as he says so they won’t end updead. As the movie went on he was chosen to be the problem solver for the avatars whenconflict came upon them against the sky people (humans).

This movie has a great master narrative in the life of the avatars. For exampleeverywhere they step in their jungle it lights up under them in color. Even with the exoticanimals they have. Also a great example of this is the tree of life when it chose Jake and alsosaved him because it knew he was somebody special and there’s no other way to explain thetree of life. Even with the way they ride any animal you have to be connected to it so you canbe one with the animal and maneuver it. That’s shows great purpose of life and natureconnecting together. Jake is on the human side but ends up changing side not because he is atrader but because he wanted to chose the side that was doing right and not stay with theanthropocentrism side. There is nothing wrong with anthropocentrism but parker and theCornel where abusing it and pushing it too far. They didn’t care anything about the “bluemonkeys” and were just trying to get the anubtainium from under their home. They didn’t careabout the avatars lives or them beautiful home tree or nothing around it they were going to killthem and destroy anything that stands in their way of their anubtainium. They only cared aboutthemselves and didn’t care if they destroyed someone else’s culture they just felt they haddualism over them and were better privileged then them.

Jake used truncated narratives from his human life style he had from being a marine andtook it with him to the avatar stage and because what he had learned from being a marine as ahuman actually helped him and kept him alive when he was an avatar and also helped himadapt to being a avatar much faster than it would took them scientist that were avatars. Hewas a world-traveler in the avatar stage because he was their letting go of what he was andwas learning and became more of the avatar on the inside then just being an avatar look alike. A perfect example of this was in the end of the movie when the chief’s daughter picked up Jakes body and he looked at her and said I “see” you. What he meant by that is he was more like her and the avatar people on the inside then just looking like one.

A Critical Analysis of Biocultural Conservation in Avatar

Avatar, a film by James Cameron, provokes the viewer into a sense of cultural appreciation through a series of emotional themes and conflicts between characters and species. The movie challenges the viewer to look beyond their own purpose, beyond their own society's master narrative, to discover the power of ecocentrism over anthropocentrism. This is seen through the imperialism used for the humans to take the unobtainium from the moon Pandora. Pandora is habitated by a species of alien called Na'vi. The military force used to take the unobtainium from Pandora is a direct driver leading to extinction of experience or even ultimately the entire genocide/extinction of the Na'vi species (an indirect driver would be the fact that the humans have turned their own planet into a wasteland). The direct drivers stated in the film are the implementation of medicine, education, and roads "but they like mud". To contrast this, scientists attempt to assimilate themselves into the Na'vi culture by learning the language of the Na'vi, as well as creating a Na'vi avatar body for themselves to live in to attempt to fully assimilate with the alien culture. As stated in the film, "Look like them, talk like them, and they'll start trusting us". The ethnocentric minds of the military cause them to fully separate the alien culture from their own culture. They refer to Pandora as a location worse than Hell. The military notes that "everything wants to kill you", and they would want to "go to Hell for R&R". This is an example of the military using the human society master narrative as leverage. However, when protagonist, Jake Sully, is introduced to the Na'vi people by Neytiri (a Na'vi woman Jake encountered in the wilderness), Tsu'tey called Jake a "demon". This strikingly contrasts the human analogy of Pandora and Earth, to Humans being demons from Hell. Which places Earth as a "Hell-ish" planet in contrast to Pandora, in the eyes of the Na'vi. Unobtainium is endemic to Pandora. It is even implied that it is only found in this one area of Pandora near this particular tribe of Na'vi. The scientists are biocultural conservationists in contrast to the military who are destructive to the culture. The military prefer mineral over cultural conservation. The military's view represents the paradigm between cultural differences and worldviews. However, the separation is even more distinct as it is "other" worldly. Jake Sully is not like other scientists on his team. He is a marine. Therefore, his language is different than that of the scientists. He is once told in the film "Try to use big words". Perhaps this is connected with the idea that the Na'vi accepted Jake because he was different. Jake did not fit in with the scientists, however, he adapted to the life of the Na'vi and they were fairly welcoming to him. Jake did not pretend he knew the language of Na'vi or pretend he knew anything about the culture (as the scientists did). So perhaps he seemed less threatening and invasive. His simple handshake was rejected, and his blatant lack of knowledge of their culture was evident. The Na'vi believed they had an advantage over him. Neytiri's mother stated "we will see if your insanity can be cured". This separates the human/alien dualism. Humans are alien to Pandora, but Pandora is alien to humans. In both situations, aliens are "bad" and/or rejected for their different societal views. The Na'vi are deeply rooted to nature through their culture, bodies, and beliefs. Their language also reflects this. Their culture does not kill savagely. They basically bless their killings. They also connect themselves physically to nature, which roots them to their ancestors and also to Eywa. Their God-like nature deity. Na'vi also physically connect themselves to their animal which they fly with. Their connectivity to nature, plants, and their tribe contrasts the separations between humans and nature. There is no dualism between Na'vi and nature. They are one. Their language reflects a deep connectivity, for example when they state "I see you", it is more than just the physical seeing. It is deep and intimate. Since Na'vi have so much physical connectivity their spiritual connectivity is so much more in sync with everything around them. I think perhaps humans are more aware of the narrative self, however the Na'vi are more aware of their place in nature as a whole. Jake Sully soon discovers this. Grace tells Jake to "hear what she (Neytiri) says, try to see the forest through her eyes." Eventually Jake states "but there is the real world" (in reference to Pandora). Jake has fully assimilated at this point and his master narrative is becoming that of the Na'vi as he connects himself deeper with the people. He is eventually accepted completely into the group. This is seen as almost a baptism. A rebirth. Jake states "every person is born twice, the second time is when you become one with the people forever." The deep effectiveness of Jake putting himself in the shoes of the Na'vi on all levels has caused him to change his selfish views towards the desires of the humans, to the desires of the Na'vi. The desire to be one with nature, and experience the environment hands on. Jake eventually addresses the humans as "sky people" and calls them "a great evil". When Grace dies, Eywa becomes real to her. Grace states "she is real", meaning she is not existent in only one master narrative, she becomes real to humans as well. However the military still only see the Human/alien dualism like the Human/animal dualism. The colonel states "Scatter the roaches", In reference to the Na'vi. When the big tree falls, it is very similar to the Native American buffalo situation. They lived and thrived off of the Buffalo, however the Americans killed off of the buffalo in order to wipe out the culture. In Avatar, the military is using the destruction of the tree as a direct driver to wipe out the Na'vi. To the Na'vi nature is God, nature is life, and even so for the Native Americans the Buffalo were a sustaining part of their religion, their entire ecology, and life. Memories were stored deep within the tree, and it was religious in such a way as they prayed to it. "Historically, the main waves of colonial and imperial expansion, have often come not only to the detriment of local people's sovereignty and control over their ancestral territories and resources, but also to the detriment of their ancestral languages and cultural traditions. Whenever assimilation into the dominant culture has been the goal, as it has mostly been, this assimilation has been effected crucially by way of linguistic assimilation..."(5, Maffi). This concept is displayed when it is evident that the scientists have tried to teach the Na'vi english, but they do not have a "home planet" advantage. Na'vi are in the majority and despite imperialism, they continue to have dominance. Even by just the fact that the scientists were so interested in preserving the language, set them up for destruction because in the past imperialism has worked most effectively when the language is ripped from the society/ culture. Will we ever be able to reach a biocultural cooperation? This is addressed by Norgaard on page 36 of the Maffi reading. The ideas of "progress, development, and growth, are being questioned while the notion of sustainability is taking center stage". If we can get off of our materialistic horse and understand the importance of sustaining life, culture, nature, and understand that there is more than one "right way of knowing." We will stop leading towards "global homogenization via economic globalization". This involves seeing how this phase of the "western story" plays out. Will we realize the importance of biocultural conservation?

Whale Hunting

Whale hunting is used worldwide by different kinds of cultures like Canada, Greenland, Iceland, The U.S., Russia, Japan, and much more countries that do it. It is also part of different types of culture ecology. Whale hunting is mostly for meat and oil and it dates back to around 3000 B.C. later on in the years competitive whale hunting started to become popular too killing off the whales even faster. For example whaling was a cultural ecology for the Makah tribe and whaling was mostly all they talked about and basically it’s their identity

“Whaling is what we do, it's what our songs and stories are all about".

Whale hunting in the Makah tribe is a good example of their Solidarity. Whaling for them brings them closer together because it’s been a tradition for them for years and they also say it’s just part of their roots. If you had happen to stop them from whale hunting it would have them in a Cultural essentialism because to them whaling is life to them. I think the Makah are stuck in this Heroic ethic that they are so blind by their tradition and can’t see the diseased worldview that they are causing by killing all these whales helping to drive them to extinction. The Makah are the only tribe in the U.S. to have a treaty about their whaling. They tried Ethical Dialogue to fix the problem they were having with whale hunting.


In this clip it gives you an idea of the size of this animal and also gives an idea on how smart these animals are in the world of the sea. It even show the solidarity that these animals have as a family or even as a team on how they work together to eat with their ways of communication. In the Gaard reading it gives you basically a choice to chose between the Makah or the whales (gray whales) and in my opinion I rather chose to be on the whales side of this perspective because whale are such beautiful animals that run the ocean. To be killing these animals for a tradition wouldn’t be enough to persuade me to be up for the task. In the readings of Gaard; kheels talks about this too, on how the Makah and their cultural whaling are doing it not for their survival but for their desire. "

The Makahs introduction of cultural whaling fundamentally redfines the ethical
content of this practice

"

Is drilling oil, using its instrumental value?

or...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OVNd6Fa9fg

In this video, Kevin Pereira, who is one of the host of "Attack of The Show,"

talks about the experience he had going to visit the Gulf of Mexico which is one of the areas affected by the huge BP oil spill. He decides to go visit the area because he knows that there are many thing you could hear from the media but you will never get the entire truth as if you on your own physically went and visit the affected area. As he was there he went on a boat ride and noticed all the people that were actually working there putting up barriers, cleaning the beaches, and getting affected animals and taking them to shelters to get them cleaned. He noticed that the barriers were not doing a very good job stoping and collecting the oil and that there were hundreds of animals that were still getting filled with oil and started to wonder if they were only putting up the barriers to trick people into thinking they were actually helping. In the video he says that if thats how the animals outside of the water look, how would the animals in the water look and be affected? They are probably dead. Not even us, humans, would be able to live being completely filled with oil, inside and out. He also went to shelter and saw how long it took to clean the affected animals and talked to people about them getting paid for what they are doing and how it has affected the whole Gulf Coast. He also talks to a BP rep who explains to Kevin everything BP is doing to stop the oil spill and what they are doing to help all the people that live there and are being affected by the

situation.

In the paper, "The Trouble with Wilderness," by Cronon, Cronon talks about the different point of view that people have about the wilderness and what to do with it. One of the point of views he talks about is the modernist point of view. Modernist believe that we

should be able to use our resources but believe in conservation. "When Adam and Eve were driven from the garden, the world they entered was a wilderness that only their labor and pain could redeem." (P. 8-9, Cronon) And thats exactly what we are doing now. BP is one of the many oil drilling companies around the world and they are using their freedom of using the earths resources to supply to us. But are they using them in the right way? There are thousands of oil drilling platforms around the world and ever day there is some type of oil spill. We do not hear about all of them because most are always relatively small but, as its shown in the video, oil spills are capable of causing mass destruction and who know what the after effect of this disaster will be in a couple of years. Even though it is the spilt oil that has caused many animals to die and for there to be many other destructions, i believe that this was not a natural disaster. This was caused by humans trying to make as much money as possible. Is this the right way to use its instrumental value? Should we allow these kind of "accidents" to keep happening? Is worth it to keep drilling for oil? No one really knows the answers to those questions but how far are we going to go? At this rate it seems that we will go into every wilderness and use it as we please, and when we run out then we will finally see and understand how important it really was to us. People seem to only care about the wilderness that looks good, because thats were they would chose to spend their money to go to. If some wilderness, has dried trees, nasty swamps, many bugs and many other ugly things, people will not want to go there and wont care if its tore down or not. "the wilderness as a landscape where the supernaturallay just beneath the surface was expressed in the doctrine of the sublime, a word whose modern usage has been so watered down by commercial hype and tourist advertising that it retainsonly a dim echo of its former power." (P.10, Cronon) I think that since our oceans are hug and they seem to never run out, we don't really care about what happens there unless it starts affecting us, like the BP oil spill. If the spill would have been small, as many other spills there are all the time, and would have never reached the shores than people would not care about what is happening out there and the media would not even bother to pay attention to it. What effect will this huge "accident" have on or eco systems and "mother" nature? No one really know but, everyone know that it is definitely not good and that we are going to have massive after effects in years to come. We need to do more to try to prevent accidents like these to never happen again and to take care of our "mother" nature, because this is where we live and the reason we are alive.

(Picture by:Jeff Amy and Rena Havner)

Other related articles:

After BP Oil SPill

written by: Alejandro Torres