Survey link

Survey link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CHH3HM8

Criminology Survey

Criminology Survey

Do you agree with the criminal justice system?

What are the two classes of crime, in order of severity, from least to greatest?

In the following section, give each listed crime a rating of severity with 1 being the least severe and 10 being most severe.  You may use the same number multiple times.  A rating of 0 may be given if the item should not be considered a crime.

Murder

Underage Drinking

Illegal Drug Use

Rape

Drunk Driving

Speeding

J-Walking

Loitering

Arson

Theft

Vandalism

Schooling Article

    This article explained the assimilation  of cultures and races through certain schooling.  The focus of the

specific case of aboriginal people being targeted is a strong example and point in the article.  I strongly agree

on the points made about religion in schools.  Such attempts at assimilation through religious conversion tend

to be extremely effective on younger generations and therefore most useful in schools.

      The rights, practices, and beliefs of native people must be conserved in order to prevent overpowering

groups and monopoly like power structures within government.  Schooling is the best way to do this.

Food in the Environment

     I have found that there is not a lack of food in the environment in which I live.  However, there is a large 

amount of overly processed food.  It is unknown whether or not this is harmful to the people within the area, 

but it is likely that it is not beneficial.  I believe that the lack of food awareness is a cause for the passivity of 

those who eat this food.  If they were to know how it was made and where it came from, they would likely 

have a different opinion of it.  

     The sustainability of this environment has been increased by poor food practices, but the natural aspects 

of it has also been destroyed.  Using livestock in great quantities has made it sustainable, but the process of 

doing this is horrible to the environment, the consumers, and the animals.

Environmental Teaching

             One of the most important things for future generations to know is how to take care of the earth.  The best way to accomplish this is to teach them ourselves.  In order to do that, we must first know how to do this for ourselves.  Currently, human society kills thousands of creatures in order to survive and wastes many of the products of such slaughter.  “Likewise, living beings and organic habitats are being culled and destroyed in the name of human production and consumption at staggering rates” (Kahn).  It is unethical not to teach young people about such a waste of resources.  

Response to Environmental Science Articles

            I believe that the proper response to any environmental concern is to stop immediately the possible problem activity until the validity of the claim can be determined.  As the most intelligent form of life on this planet, it is the responsibility of the human race to take care of the earth for all life now and in the future.  Such responsibilities must be handled in the appropriate way.

            The issue with pumping chemicals into the ground in order to cause fractures is that the chemicals are then free to move about within the earth, contaminating the soil and the groundwater.  Such reckless processes are surely known by the perpetrators to be illogical and irresponsible.  These people must be held accountable for the damage they so willingly bring to the world.

            Often, the public can be a wonderful source of ideas for the advancement of environmental concerns.  Not all plans are workable, but the large quantity of such plans means that some surely must be beneficial.  Power is not a prerequisite for correctness.  In most cases it is the opposite.  Only by working together can society become less of a treat to the earth.

Turtle Island Response

            Having read a few of the poems in “Turtle Island”, I have come to the conclusion that Gary Snyder not only cares greatly about the environment, but also has a difficult to read writing style.  The only one that was easy to follow was “Facts”, which I didn’t realize was part of the poem series until I realized that every chapter didn’t start with a similar writing.  Also, I have noticed that most of the poems focus on what people are doing to the environment now compared to how we acted in the past.

Response to Quiz and Podcast

The bioregion quiz is a very valuable test of a person’s ability to survive should there be some kind of catastrophe.  Finding answers to the questions posed can tell a lot about the environmental dependency humans have lost or have overused. For example the quiz asks when shadows are shortest.  Knowing such information can inform a resident of the best time to plant or what weather to expect.

Bill McKibben posed some other environmental concerns in his podcast.  One of McKibben’s points was that the environmental decline caused by humans was occurring much faster than had been predicted.  Society must respond to these concerns or else there will be even greater consequences in the near future.

  In conclusion, there must be major changes to the way all humans live.  The earth can only handle so much before life can no longer exist. 

Light Pollution in Cities

Light Pollution

            I believe that one of the problems that we face today is light pollution.  You can tell where cities are in the distance by the glow they give off at night.  This is a real problem if you want to look at the stars, as they are blocked by light pollution.  Now this can cause some animals to lose their way when they are trying to navigate at night.  With Island civilization, there would be light pollution in far fewer locations on the earth, which would mostly solve the problem.  Most people don’t even consider light to be something that can pollute, but in fact it can.  With island civilization we can not solve all of our problems but at least we can solve enough to hopefully give nature a chance to thrive once again. 

            Now to solve the light pollution problem within the island civilizations we would need to realize that we are creating far more light than we need.  Not only is it wasteful but it is the main source of light pollution.  If we were to use dimmer lights, we could eliminate this problem even now possibly.  Also, this would save unimaginable amounts of energy that could be used for much more important things.

            In conclusion, light pollution may not kill us but it is a problem, a problem that we can solve even now.  We can gain so much from lowering our light output.  We have the technology, we just aren’t using it.

Island Civilization Reflection

Island Civilization Reflection

            Imagine a world where the Earth has been choked by overpopulation of the human race.  That could one day be a reality based on Nash’s Island Civilization.  The article suggests that the division of civilization and the wilderness is becoming an increasingly severe problem for the planet and everything that lives on it.  Humans are the only life forms on Earth that do permanent harm to their surrounding environment.  The human race is progressing towards total control of the environment.  This planet is a resource, a resource that we can not yet live without.  The most important thing we have here is diverse life, without which we could not survive.  Only through major changes in human society and responsibility can we save our future.  The Island civilization theory states that small pockets of human civilization would live in spaced out “island” cities in order to allow the wilderness to thrive once again.  This would work very well for the wilderness but would also be terrible for human life as we know it today. 

            Based on the idea that the only salvation for the future being an unimaginable decrease in human population, it would seem that the outlook is not good.  Our current society is based on control of the outside environment.  With this pattern of throwing away, nature will not sustain life on this planet.  The best way to move forward on this subject is to move away from nonrenewable resources and move towards more sustainable power sources.  That way we no longer have to destroy the wilderness in search of more resources.  Only by changing our behavior can we stop ourselves from going down the path to extinction that we have paved for so many other species.  Now we are destroying resources such as the rainforests without even using them.

            I believe that some of the predictions in this article could possibly be accurate for our future.  However, none of the options given for solutions are likely to please current or future society.  Unless better solutions can be found, I believe that people will not put their hearts into the change we need to save our future for our children.  If we don’t, we are likely to end up in the trash world situation discussed in the article.  We need to prevent this from happening.  We cannot let human evolution cause worldwide devolution of nature. 

            In conclusion, we can not go on living like parasites.  We have to change or the world will change us, possibly by killing us from lack of resources.  As the most intelligent species on the planet, it is our duty to take care of our surroundings so that they will be usefull to future generations of all life here.  Island civilization may not be the solution we need, but it is proof that there are a few among us who are looking to our future.  As it was said in the article, “now we are the death star, but we are also capable of changing course.”