REFLECTION
I think Churchill's Wapusk park is a great example of a land protection and assessment. As we learn't in class Wapusk park is located on the tip of Manitoba not too far off from Churchill. It is know or polar bear and bird breeding. The way they have protected this park is by basically cutting it off from human interaction. The only way to get through this park and remember that this is a 1,475-square-kilometer
park is by helicopter or buggy. I think by separating the line from preserved nature and man, that the protection of this park will be very successful. When parks are open to humans it brings infrastructure, noise , pollution and light pollution , which are not things we want to have around if we are trying to save he dying species of polar bears.
10. Consider your reliance on fossil fuels. Are you comfortable with your level of dependence? Do you feel that this is sustainable for the next 10 years? Are there steps you would like to take to reduce this reliance?
I feel my reliance on fossil fuels while living in the city of Winnipeg is very bare compared to when living at home for the summer because of public transport. While in Winnipeg I always try to carpool or catch the bus, if I need to go somewhere that is not in biking or walking distance. I feel comfortable with this level of dependence and the amount of gas I use in a month. How ever I feel that when winter approaches I will walk less and run my car more for heat therefore using more fossil fuels than I should. As an individual I am okay with the amount of fossil fuels I rely on in the city but when traveling from city to city either by car or airplane ( which I do often ) my dependency sky rockets. I feel like my reliance could be sustained for the next 10 years but not too much longer than that. Steps I could take to reduce my reliance could be from anywhere of indoor parking in the winter, sticking to public transport and traveling less. I try to keep my use down because with rising prices and a student budget I am saving money and the world !
The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis talked about the rise in religion bringing mans appreciation of nature down. Lynn White talked about how Christianity led man to believe he was better than nature and that it was this their for his use. He goes on to talk about the rise in technology and the easier ways to do things made us exploit the land that we once appreciated and shared. Saint Francis gets mentioned as a saint who tried to make his followers rethink their place in this planet and give more respect to nature. He concludes the piece by talking about maybe changes to our religions will change our society to respect nature.
1)The purpose on nature to me is a gift left by a higher power to show us that we are just one of many things in this world. Nature is supposed to surprise and marvel you. It shows us that we aren't as great as we think and there is a lot more amazing things than the human race. We must not exploit it for its resources or tear it down for it's use of land. We must protect and respect nature. I feel as if it is our duty as the highest form of intelligent beings to help secure and conserve the landscapes and life in them. We must conduct more studies on ecological effects in developing and exploiting. We keep taking too much and not caring about the great gift of nature.
A Sand County Almanac excerpt
Aldo Leopold begins this piece with a story from his past that changed the way he looked at life in nature. He tells the event of killing mother wolf and seeing the life die in her eyes. He then goes on to relate the destruction of mountains to the increase of deer and cow due to the loss of the huge wolf species in the states. He then goes to talk about mans disregard for nature and compares philosophically their ethics to ecological evolution. He talks about how humans used to only harm nature for their good uses. It is now as we humans are destroying it more and more for unjustifiable and petty reasons. Then he goes on to talk about how land has depreciated to us humans over the years. We don’t have respect for the land and we only look for economical gain. WE only take and are interested in what can benefit us.
2) I think land ethics relate closely to ordinary ethical systems in many ways. When a man owns land he tries to make it most healthy and fertile. If he puts in the work to make his land good it will reward him with good crop and therefore economic gain. As soon as the land erodes and dies out the farmer with have no obligation to fix ti and move to more land. Our ethics in land should be use and reuse to a point where the land can take it. The lands have given us so much throughout history and we are working on conserving and keeping nature alive for those many gifts we stole.
A Path to Sustainable Energy by 2030
In this piece the two authors talk about our growing energy problem and ways to meet its demand in a more sustainable fashion. As population increases dramatically more and more energy is being using by burning fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels is highly toxic for our environment but we do it anyways with gasoline , coal and natural gas. AS studies show , there a many ways to meet our energy needs using only wind, water and solar power to harness the energy. Nuclear plants and coal plants must be eliminated by 2030. They also talk about how a lack of resources might lead to the downfall of electric everything. The worlds supply of lithium is running low so recycling parts takes a big toll here. With predictions of lower prices in solar energy and in wind, I agree with the two authors and think we will be self sustainable with our energy demands by 2030.
2) I think the most effective way to cut back on greenhouse emissions is to enforce stricter regulations on how much gas you can burn and the amount of carbon releases. I know they have carbon taxes for big companies but I think that the law should address issues as the big companies keep wasting gas to get more gas. This is obviously a short term thinking and as the progress with technology will slowly fade the coal and gas industry away from the energy sector and replace it with ecological friendlier ways
Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis (S 23)
This article was written for the intergovernermental panel on climate change due to a great rising problem of greenhouse gases. Studies show that the rise in CO2 is directly related to industry and the rise in methane and nitrous oxide are due to agriculture. It goes on to show that us humans are just speeding up the natural gas cycles of the earth. The evidence is all there too . The world is changing so fast around us. Everything is heating up and melting and the ocean keeps rising. That along with many other factors make climate change a part of our lives everyday. More and more problems are arising and we all know the cause.
2) Yes we should defiantly act now. If we keep on waiting we might not have the means to fix the problem but if we try not fight and prevent a true disaster from happening it will be much better than cleaning up and trying to find out how to “fix” the atmosphere.
