Author: Kevin Coward (Page 1 of 2)

Originally I discussed with Professor Gould the idea of researching and writing about nuclear energy and how it can be a solution to our climate crisis and how activism could contribute to the movement. However, after thinking about it I realized I was not nearly attached enough to the topic as I would have liked. So as Amanda encourages, I got creative.

Now I am going to put together a short 1-2 minute video followed by a research paper showcasing the effects of climate change on the ocean, ecotourism economy, and local residents in my home town of the Florida Keys . Not only is this something personal to me, but I think the combination of the video and the paper really hammers home the aspects of art, grass-root techniques, literature and environmental science we have harped on this year.

In the video I intend to show the effects of coral bleaching, sea level rise, and also statistical evidence showing how climate change has altered the local economy and lives for the worse. I hope to really raise awareness with visuals about how seriously we need to treat these issues. Throughout the class, we have used and seen how effective videos and artwork can be to change opinions and start a movement. For example, the permaculture documentary, the video game, etc.

I think this final project was a perfect opportunity to put together all the aspects of this class in a sort of “show me what you got” fashion. I believe that my impromptu project will do this successfully and I look forward to sharing it with everyone.

This past week was a week of reflection and self-evaluation. We, as a class, went through what we did throughout the year, what we learned, what we wished we learned, and how we will act in the future. Personally, I came into this class with a relatively closed mindset. Being an environmental science minor, I obviously cared and was interested in environmental activism but in no world did I think I would become an activist.

Throughout the entire class we posed the question “Is this an example of activism?” on multiple occasions in reference to many actions. From the groups in Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey to Tim Dechristopher. The main message I took from these discussions is that being an activist does not have one singular definition. There are many ways to be an activist and anybody can  make a difference, even us, as undergraduates at a university.

As I mentioned earlier, I never thought I would become an activist. I though being an activist entailed me starting my own non-profit or dedicating my entire life to saving natural habitats or something along those lines. While those are all certainly examples of activism, it doesn’t stop there. As a student, I intend to continue being an activist by leading by example. That means reusing, recycling, and spreading awareness. I was always aware of how my actions affected the environment and did my best to limit my impact, but never did I think about how much inspiring others can help. By changing the mindset of one person, you can change the world one person at a time. It’s like a huge domino effect, for every person you make aware and educate that’s one more person who is passing down the knowledge to another person. If there’s one thing that I would like to take away from this class it’s that you have to keep everything in perspective. Your actions do have an effect on others, whether that be good or bad and it’s important to keep that in mind. Thank you Professor Gould for making me not only a more educated environmental scientist, but an activist as well.

Over the past week we discussed the idea of permaculture, agriculture that regenerates itself. Growing off of that, we talked about the “do-nothing” technique where humans let nature take its course, the central theme of Masanobu Fukuoka’s “The One-Straw Revolution.” The do-nothing technique was formed as a rebellion to both consumerism and the idea that humans have the ability to scientifically interfere with and out-smart nature. In his book, Fukuoka claims that “the living world is our greatest teacher.”

We can and should approach our world today with the same mindset. As soon as humans try to tinker with and alter natural patterns, we feel the consequences of the positive feedback loop we started. An example of this that we talked about in class was the concept of geo-engineering. Geo-engineering is the idea that we can combat climate change by introducing unnatural substances to the atmosphere to either block the sun, or remove CO2 emissions. One would think that blocking the sun, the earth’s greatest source of energy, would not be on the “To-Do” list for climate scientists but it is. In fact, it’s climbing to the top of many people’s agendas.

The science behind cooling the earth by blocking the sun involves injecting sulfur into the clouds in order to simulate a volcanic eruption which would scatter and reflect solar radiation from the stratosphere. Experts estimate that in order to cool the earth 1 degree it would cost around $20 billion and 6,700 flights to the atmosphere PER DAY. Not only does that sound infeasible, but the fossil fuel it would take to power all of those flights would be devastating.

I don’t know about you, but the thought of spending all of that money in order to simulate the aftermath of a volcanic eruption makes me sick. Not only do we not have a clue about how our atmosphere would respond to such actions, history has shown that the more humans try to get involved with nature, we tend to screw things up. In this instance, I think it’s time we take a page out of Fukuoka’s book and “do-nothing.” Let’s change the way we act instead of trying to change the way earth has been running for over 4 billion years.

Citations: Stockton, N. (2017). Climate Change is Here, It’s Time To Talk About Geo-Engineering. Wired. Retried from: https://www.wired.com/story/lets-talk-geoengineering/

A common theme from this past week’s discussions and readings was the idea of hope. In the context of climate change, “hope” is usually not the first word to come to mind. Often, scientists and civilians alike, associate climate change with words and phrases like “catastrophic,” “we’re doomed,” or “If we don’t act now, we’re all screwed.” While yes, climate change is arguably the most pressing matter our world faces today, it is good to look at it through a lens of hope. In the words of China Miéville from his piece “The Limits of Utopia,” “we need hope as without an alternative how can we make change?” I think that’s a great line because its true, if we are looking at our issues like they are set in stone, how can we expect to fix them? That applies to almost everything in life, whether it be climate change, your job, relationship, you name it.

Another thing that stood out to me from Miéville’s piece was the idea that many people believe we have to pick between either a climate catastrophe or another financial catastrophe. Unfortunately, many people would rather see the world self-destruct right in front of them instead of watching their wage drop. Impractical, but unfortunately that’s the way the world runs today. As an economics and environmental science major, I inspire and feel like it is my job to prevent both from happening. And yes, contrary to popular belief, I do believe that is attainable. There is plenty of hope in a world full of environmental  wrongdoers. For example, the idea of “Conservation funds” and “Sustainable investments” are becoming more and more popular by the day. Goldman Sachs, arguably the worlds largest financial influencer, opened up a sector dedicated entirely to environmental and socially conscious investments. The list goes on and on. I guess if you were to get anything from this post is that the idea of “hope” that we preached these past couple of days is something you should actually have, not think you have. While its easy to look at all of our issues with a frustrated and cynical mindset, it’s better to take a deep breath and do what you can knowing that its all going to be ok.

One thing that resonated with me during Catherine Flower’s talk was the different between rural and urban poverty. Before this class, I never even considered the difference between the two. After doing some research after the class, I discovered that the difference in “poverty” between rural and urban areas in the United States is 16.7% to 13%, respectively. While at first glance that may not seem like a big difference, in terms of the scale of the entire US’s population, that gap is quite drastic.

I think that the issue Ms. Flower’s described about rural septic tanks is both inexcusable and easily fixed by a solution that would benefit both rural and urban areas. That solution being the technology that converts human and food waste into biofuel, a form of renewable energy. This is a topic that my Environmental Science class discussed a lot about last semester because it seems like a no brainer. In the long run, it would essentially eliminate anthropogenic fossil-fuel emissions as well as lessen the gap between rural and urban poverty. While I know implementing this sort of infrastructure would be difficult initially, it is certainly something worth the wait and struggle. Emissions would be down and a new, renewable resource would be at our expense. This energy could provide a replacement for fossil fuels, changing the way our world runs. We could finally make progress towards the plan Bill McKibben introduced, only 350ppm of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.

I want to thank Ms. Flower’s for opening my eyes to many issues we have at hand that I would have never considered before. Environmental injustice is a global issue that ties into almost every economic, social, and environmental issue at hand. It’s time to stop ignoring what is going on right in front of us and make a difference in these people’s and even our own lives. In my opinion, this all boils down to an issue of ethics and at that point it should be obvious what the next step is: start making change.

Upon the conclusion of the radical cartography panel, one thing resonated with me: how can we use this “mapping” technique to push society to a better, more green world? Well, I think we may have found our answer. I recently stumbled upon an article that discussed America’s very first, completely sustainable and renewable energy run town. This town, located on the west coast of southern Florida goes by the name of Babcock Ranch, and is completely powered by solar panels and electrically-charged vehicles. Before this, many people (including myself) have looked at the idea of complete sustainability as a infeasible, utopian goal. Now, in 2018, we are actually achieving such.

I believe radical cartography could be used in this instance to map out which American cities have the capability to follow in the footsteps of Babcock Ranch. This would be the first big step in moving towards a sustainable America. That being said, the difficulty in achieving this cannot be understated. The mapping process would require thousands of people responding to surveys about whether or not they would be able to put solar panels on their roofs, use electric cars, and adopt a sustainable diet, amongst other things.

I guess the take-home message here is that there is hope. Hope that people are beginning to do the right things and take initiative. Hope that our world is actually starting to realize that if we do not change the track that we’re on, we don’t have much longer on this world. The beauty of this mapping of social movements is that it puts movements, goals, and ideas in a presentable way that actually gets people motivated. It’s aesthetically pleasing and that in itself can take you and long way.  By applying this technique in order to enact good, even the average Joe will get out of his chair and begin working towards greater good.

Citations:

As I mentioned in discussion the other day, the main takeaway I got from Doctor Robin Kirk was the fact that if we really want to make change and be “successful” activists, we need to frame our issue as an issue regarding human inequality and injustice. The fact of the matter is that at this point, the problems relating to climate change, pollution, etc. is more than just an environmental issue. People are not only losing their land, but they’re losing their lives as well.

Take for example hog farming in our lovely state of North Carolina. Hog farming is the process of creating large plots of land for pigs to live on so Americans can consume their daily dosage of bacon, ham, sausage, etc. As a result of these farms, methane emissions are through the roof, deforestation rates and water usage is sky-rocketing and pools of waste are being created on our land by the day. While all of those environmental factors are detrimental to our conservationist and preservationist ideals, the one thing that most people don’t consider is the acts of racial inequality and injustice happening here. What I mean by this is that the majority of these hog farms are built on or near the property of poor minorities and people of color. The runoff and effects of these hog farms causes drinking water to be undrinkable, air to be unbreathable, and lives to be unviable. This in hand causes life-threatening health issues, inability to work, and being unable to support a family. On top of that, corporate corruption has led to these victims being threatened with violence and fines whenever they try to speak out or act against the issue.

This is just one example of the inequality and injustice issues we have at hand. It’s time to take action. No longer can we preach about the polar bears, the trees, and the ocean, it’s time to address the elephant in the room and that happens to be human lives. As Doctor Robin Kirk said, “Once we begin to shape our issue into being about people rather than nature, you will start seeing change.” It’s time to do just that and start saving lives.

After reading Oil On Water and the short story, Spider the Artist,  one main theme has arisen from both: far-away political decisions can affect/kill others. More specifically, far-away decisions involving oil extraction can wreak huge tolls on not only the environment, but the local community members as well. At the end of Spider the Artist, author Nnendi Okorafor ends with the line “You should pray that these zombies don’t build themselves some fins and travel across the ocean.” This is ironic because her and I both know that these so called “zombies” have already done such. In the book Oil On Water, the harsh, sometimes lethal effects of oil drilling is portrayed through intense imagery and descriptive writing. We learn how the people of the Nigerian Delta have suffered for years because of corporate greed and irresponsibility. While one would like to think that we, the Westerners, would stop such evil doings once we discovered how we are ruining the lives of local people, we have actually done the opposite.

A report has just been released claiming that SDX Energy, a United Kingdom oil and gas company, is planning on opening up new drill sites and pipelines in both Morocco and Egypt. http://www.ogj.com/articles/2018/02/sdx-energy-pursues-egypt-morocco-development-in-2018.html  Once this plans go through, the lives of thousands of Egyptians and Moroccans will be affected for the worse. Similar to Rufus and Zaq, these people are going to experience and see things that no human should have to suffer, let alone because of an outside intruder. If these rich capitalists don’t get their heads out of their own little bubbles and begin to start treating other cultures and the environment with care and respect, we won’t be fighting over oil for long, we’ll be fighting for our lives.

At the beginning of class last Friday, our class came to a consensus that we wanted our collective midterm activism project to be focused on encouraging Duke to divest from oil companies. While the idea sounds nice to environmentalists like us, one main message has been echoed in just about everything we have read/discussed so far: money rules the world. That being said, in order to present a practical and efficient argument to the Duke Endowment fund managers we must couple environmental justification with a recommendation for how they should reallocate their endowment funds. In other words, we must explain to them the concern everyone should have for the environment and present to them other, socially good securities they can invest in while making comparable returns to what they made previously while investing in oil companies. According to http://www.pionline.com/article/20171009/ONLINE/171009830/duke-endowment-returns-127, Duke’s endowment fund returned 12.7% in the past fiscal year. Via the latest SEC filings, DUMAC (the group that runs Duke’s endowment fund) invests 45.77% of its market share in PDC energy (Oil and gas company), and another 5% in Carrizo Oil and Gas.http://www.secinfo.com/d1gb4d.jd.d.htm For the non-Econ majors out there, that’s not good for us environmentalists. This report shows that a large bulk of Duke’s endowment fund is invested in the oil and gas industry and that it does not look like they are making strides towards “Divesting from oil.” To compare, Harvard’s most recents return in their endowment fund was 8.5%, with their largest investment being in Aduro Biotech (27%), a company focusing on engineering immunotherapy for cancer. There are better answers out there, Duke. It’s time to become an activist.

The Panther, as presented by Linda Hogans in Power, is representative of the fictional Taiga culture. The Panther, once strong and mighty, was weakly and sick before Ama took the Panther out of its misery. Upon reading the book, one may see the panther as a symbol of the dying Taiga culture being consumed by westerners. However, I see the Panther representing the earth as a whole. The Florida Panther, a close relative of the cougar, once roamed the entire United States and parts of Central America. Now, as North America has been industrialized and habitat has been destroyed, the panther is nearly extinct. I think this story parallels the story of the earth and how industrialization has slowly, but surely, destroyed our beautiful planet. Our earth is a magical gift given to us that the modern world has single-handily ruined. According to the Environmental News Network http://www.enn.com/climate, we are running out of potable water, the lower ozone hole is not closing as we had predicted, natural disturbances are happening at an unnatural rate, and large, blue-chip companies are still fighting any kind of progress we are trying to make towards progressive climate policies. To summarize, the earth is screwed. Why? humans. More specifically, 1st-world humans. Our fossil fuel emissions, pollution habits, and just about everything else has caused atmospheric temperatures to sky rocket and we are feeling the effects. So yes, our earth, once strong and mighty, is now weak and feeble, much like the Panther. So let me ask, who really killed the panther, Ama or westerners?