Category: Uncategorized (Page 7 of 19)

Is it better to act locally or globally? This is one question I have been churning around in my brain for the entire semester, but I have really been focused on it over the past week. Many of our guest speakers and conversations in class have involvedd discussing the importance of starting locally and making change by encouraging those in close vicinity to be environmentally conscious. Crystal Dreisbach told her story about how she began just writing letters to people and making that personal connection, and she said the best way to make change is to immediately influence those around you; Robin Kirk, as well, stressed the importance and necessity of starting locally in order to truly change anything. Today I was chatting with Jessie as we were making our slips of paper for the #AprilThreePlasticFree campaign and I was noting how I think this day could truly make a difference at Duke. I was, and am, confident that our day will encourage people to consider and think about their impact before picking up plastic utensils or straws, and was hopeful that this could translate into their daily activities and habits. Jessie, on the other hand, brought up Annie Leonard’s piece in Tools for Grassroots Activists: Best Practices for Success in the Environmental Movement, “Taking Our Work to the Next Level.” In this piece, Leonard notes that environmental activists have become too reserved and cautious, and instead, we need to demand what we know is needed and stop compromising. She notes that while living sustainably produces a good model to align our values and actions, it is not enough; we need to act to change the broader system by marching, voting and encouraging others to vote, and writing petitions. We (environmental activists) have the power to do this because we make up the majority, even though it often feels like we are fighting against everyone. When we start demanding what we know the Earth needs, we will start to see true change and environmental progress. This leaves me at a crossroads: is it better to act locally or globally? I still don’t know which is better, and I feel I will find the answer to be neither is better, but rather a combination is ideal. I think it is possible to achieve global affects through local actions. If we start and continue to talk and discuss environmental politics and solutions and make action that encourages one another, we can reach a broader, more global population.

Gallagher, Nora, et al. Tools for Grassroots Activists: Best Practices for Success in the Environmental Movement. Patagonia Books, 2016.

After Catherine Flowers finished talking about her spectacular journey from Alabama to Durham, Amanda talked about how the majority of the environmental stories that we read make us feel despair rather than hope. She mentioned that people like Catherine Flowers, who strive for something bigger than themselves and fight for the little people, give us promise that these problems can be solved. Sometimes, it’s hard to see that, given that the people who have the power to make the most immediate change (the government) are the ones making our problems worse.

Flowers’ introductory article mentions that law enforcement evicted/arrested 37 different families solely because they could not afford proper septic systems – this added on to their already terrible situation, wherein raw sewage leaked into their yards and caused disease. These are the stories that we talk about when we say that so many environmental stories are written in the tone of despair. These kinds of narratives seem to take hope away, rather than give it – the very people that we expect to fix the sewage problem seem to exacerbate it instead. Does that not seem backwards?

Fortunately, we have people like Flowers to turn the ship around, and return control back to the people. When she tells her narrative, I feel inspired to create my own environmental narrative that’s focused on actionables and deliverables that can rectify our situation. This is exactly what we are doing by trying to reduce plastic use in West Union. Hopefully, we can show people that they have the power to reduce worldwide plastic use – so that they can stop hearing such negative stories about plastic in the environment. Hopefully, you all will join us in April Three Plastic Free, so that we can all make an impact and turn the narrative around!

Unfortunately, I was absent for the Counter-Cartographies Collective event in class on Wednesday about the power of mapping due to my travels in Uganda. While I was away, though, I took some time to contemplate the power of maps, and found myself creating my own map related to what I experienced while I was away. While there, I found out that Rwanda does not allow plastic bags into their country, which I thought was incredibly interesting and an incredible act of activism and effort towards reducing plastic waste in the country. Something, I noted, that any of the states in the U.S. were far from implementing. I was surprised when I was in Uganda to read several placards at restaurants and hostels which reported about the business’ green intentions and environmental focuses. Considering environmental impact was the expectation for various companies and people while I was abroad in Africa, not the exception (which I feel is the opposite for the United States).

I was frustrated when thinking about how privileged the United States can be when we consider global warming and the fact that many of the harms of global warming will affect developing countries before it impacts developed countries like the U.S. Unfairly, developed countries are the places that are releasing the most greenhouse gases and truly spiraling the environment downwards. I was frustrated to see this firsthand during my travels.

When on the plane back from Uganda and while I was reading the articles about the power of mapping, I was imagining and mentally creating a map that would plot all the places that are truly making a conscious environmental decision to reduce their emissions and impact on the environment and how this matches up to a plotting of developing/developed countries. I read Counter-Cartographies’ statements about why they are mapping and I realized this map I imagined aligns particularly well with their intentions. When I mentioned my idea in class, Professor Gould played devil’s advocate and asked me what I meant by “progress” and how that can truly be measured in a map. I hadn’t considered how progress can be so subjective depending on both political affiliation and moral values in life. Then, in class on Friday we also discussed the fact that maps are, in many ways, universally accepted knowledge. When one looks at a map, they don’t at first question the validity of the map, which is one of the ways maps can be so powerful. Part of me was frustrated that my hypothetically created map had the flaw of being biased, and another part of me was inclined to create the map even more because I thought about how I could secretly expose people who don’t believe in global warming to my map and how it could possibly not be questioned but rather just accepted. I realized that while this isn’t necessarily fair, I wished this for a number of topics and theories which center around political disagreements. The readings and discussions from this week made me realize the potential for education and data collection through mapping, and made me excited to see this develop.

Throughout this week, from working on our social media platforms to reading Tools for Grassroots Activists to listening to Catherine Flowers speak, a central message rung: hope for the future lies in younger generations. With bright but fiery eyes, the power of social media, and a recognition of the immediate and demanding effects older generations have had on the Earth, we are the future. For the first, or at least the most urgent time, we recognize the possibility that our children and grandchildren will have drastically different relationships with nature than we did. People all over the world will fight over water scarcity, cities may drown under rising sea levels, the sixth extinction may become a reality. Although many of these issues have existed for years, the magnitude and acceleration of them have never reached such extreme levels.

The environmental issues we face may seem to pile higher and higher, each new statistic on CO2 emission levels, climate change, species endangerment, sea levels, population growth, the list is endless. Perhaps we have reason to be angry at the “older generations”, but we must remember that the “resilience of nature is good news”, as Dr. Jane Goodall assured us in her keynote speech (187). We must act now, and act radically – small changes in consumerism, although helpful, cannot by themselves reverse current trends. We are realizing more and more that we must utilize social media and practice active citizenship.

I definitely fall under the category of environmentalists who try to communicate with caution, worried about offending the other party or seeming “unreasonable”.  After reading Annie Leonard’s speech, where she urges environmentalists to “think bigger, aim higher, and dream more courageously”, I felt particularly heartened (31). We (environmentalist) also often forget that the majority of Americans do actually support policy changes in support of environmental efforts. In a NY Times article depicting “How Americans Think About Climate Change, in Six Maps”, we can clearly see this. In every state, over 50% of citizens support strict CO2 limits on existing coal-fired power plants, with most states over 60-70%.

It’s easy to feel alone in this fight, bogged down by the science and data, but most people simply do not have the initial tools for activism we have been equipped with. Now our job is to keep fueling the fire, invite everyone to the table, and demand change.

NY Times article mentioned:

To be honest, the presentation from Counter-Cartographies Collective did not reverse my skepticism towards mapping as an effective means of activism. I found many of their maps, especially the “disorientation guides” convoluted, not visually appealing, and geared towards highly specific audiences. The map of buildings, statues, and other names on campus revealed that most honored figures were not women or people of color, but the stagnant map made it difficult to clearly distinguish the location of each memorial. The Skype presenters, however, made interactive maps that I found much more user-friendly and engaging. By adding a radius and timeline around each point of eviction, one could clearly see the acceleration of evictions, concentrated in certain areas. I also found the personal stories attached to certain points very effective because they put faces to the data.

Over this week, other examples of mapping discussed in class and and in Tools for Grassroots Activists have also proved to me the many ways that mapping can be utilized as an activist tool. One particular point we touched was paying attention to what isn’t represented on a map, and how changing that can shift perspective. For example, adding sacred Native American and religious sites around rivers and natural landmarks brings in a human element that geographical maps typically exclude. In Tools for Grassroots Activists, they discussed multiple movements that used Google Maps to show change of one area over time. Although I now understand the power of mapping, I think that clarity and the element of time make them much easier to absorb and more interesting.

Catherine Flowers’ talk had many salient, inspiring, and interesting points, but I particularly appreciated her points on how we must pay attention to rural America, especially in the face of climate change. I found the way that she connected the history of slavery in America, the symbolic importance of the soil where these people live, and the consequences on ineffective septic systems to be an intriguing example of how climate change, and the issues we are facing and will face as a result of climate change, needs to be seen as more than just the current altering of the world. Climate change and the issues that come with it need to be contextualized within the frameworks of human history, cultures, religions, and values. As the climate changes and alters the world, people will be forced to adapt through moving locations and changing behaviors and cultures. Without understanding where we, as humans, have been, the impacts of climate change will be understated and misunderstood. Understanding the cultural, historical, and religions impacts of climate change, such as indigenous people loosing their sacred land to sea level rise, will reveal the true impact of how climate change will affect people, and what will be lost, even as humans find ways to adapt.  As humans we have the ability to place tremendous importance on physical spaces and the ability to visit these spaces act as powerful symbolic entities, for example the 9/11 memorial.  Climate change threatens the ability for humans to connect to symbolic places and thus connect with our histories, traditions, cultures, religions, and people.  All too often climate change is talked about in terms of how it will affect non-human species, and how to use technological advancements to live with a changing climate. Climate change and environmental health is a huge humanitarian problem but yet it is not often talked about as a human rights issue in the ways that Catherine Flowers discussed it.  Her perspective of linking history, culture, the land, and environmental health bring to light the need to understand climate change from a multi-faceted approach. The impacts of climate change will cost more than plant, animal, and human life. It will cost us deep traditions, histories, cultures, and diversity of the human experience.

What we used to think was  a problem over 6,000 miles away in Sub-Saharan Africa is now hitting us right at home. A large challenge we, as a western country, face is ignorance to the possibility that our environmental circumstances may resemble those in poorer countries. We like to think of ourselves as a westernized and industrialized leading super power that will solve the problems of the developing world that we encountered long in the past or never had to see.

The reality is that in our very own backyard, we are finding tropical parasites usually found in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. As a result of poor families homes in Lowndes County Alabama unable to afford proper septic systems and state governments’ inadequate support, raw sewage leaked in to yards creating pools of sewage beginning in 2001. These pools of contamination attract mosquitos and tapeworms that can carry different diseases (Gist.org). With rising temperatures due to climate change and increased rainfall, these pools have the ability to grow and pose increased threat to neighborhoods. This creates a perfect habitat for parasites, otherwise known as hookworms, to inhabit and breed. The hookworm infection plaguing Lownes County is just like many other cases, where the extreme poverty and poor sanitation allow for the growth of endemic infections.

Further devastating is the fact that suffering individuals are afraid of reporting such issues due to fear of arrest or criminal prosecution for open-piping sewage from their homes (The Guardian). Since they are unable to afford a septic tank, they have no other choice but to suffer and see the environmental threat grow in front of them. The lack of support and infrastructure provided by the government is an environmental injustice that is slowly gaining attention.

Catherine Flowers is making significant strides to solve this environmental injustice by helping build affordable septic systems (Gist.org). However Dr Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine in Houston, Texas suggests something of extreme importance that our country need accept to proceed further. He “warns against complacency and estimates as many as 12 million Americans  living with a poverty-related neglected tropical disease.” He notes that most of the world’s neglected diseases are actually in the G20 countries and that “the concept of global health needs to give way to a new paradigm: on the new map, Texas and the Gulf coast would be lit up as a hotspot” (Financial Times). His shift in reconsidering global health as an issue that hits us right at home is imperative for solving the environmental threats and injustices hitting our nation.

Photograph: Bob Miller from The Guardian

After hearing Catherine Flowers speak last semester, I was struck by the lack of environmental justice in today’s USA. She covered a few deeply disturbing developments, including the reemergence of hookworm in impoverished areas such as Lowndes County, Alabama.

Hookworm, a parasite connotated with developing countries, enters the body through the skin and finds its way to the small intestine where it consumes blood from the host. Symptoms range from abdominal pain, nausea, and fever, to developing anemia. The disease was claimed to be gone in 1980 in the United States. However, it may have never been completely eradicated. In fact, a staggering 34 % of people in Lowndes County tested positive for genetic traces of hookworm.

It is clear that the lack of environmental justice is one of the main drivers behind this disease. As Catherine Flowers illustrated, the lack of infrastructure, particularly septic systems, in areas such as Lowndes County combined rainfalls and occasional floods have created a suitable environment for hookworm.

However, listening to her speak again made me feel a sense of hope in solving these issues. She underlined that we have the power to make change, referring to national and worldwide movements started by high school and college students, and the power of social media.

It is crucial that we recognize the injustice occurring in our society and make an effort to change it for the better. As Catherine Flowers stated, it all starts locally, from the ground up. And we have to keep that in mind as we are working on our group projects in this class, spreading awareness about divestment and reducing the use of plastics here at Duke.

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.