Luther Standing Bear and Chief Seattle in-class writing

In the first part of the Luther Standing Bear piece, he talks about the connection he and his people feel with the land on which they live as well as the creatures that live that.  He talks of a brotherly feeling between that two worlds that keeps them both connected.  This tie between the two led to respect for each other and the animals had rights that were protected.  They could live in piece with man.  The general theme of the second part is simply how the "white man" does not understand the "Indian" way of living.  Their worlds are so different and the way they were brought up is different.  He explains how Indians have a connection to their forefathers and the land and they are dead only when they forget those ties.

In the Chief Seattle piece, Chief Seattle speaks of a great time when Native Americans covered the land and the white influence was not upon them.  He goes on to say that his has clearly changed and his opinion ultimately changed for the worse.  He says that the white man does not look out for the Native Americans and more specifically the white god does not look out for Native Americans.  The white god only cares about his people and is only making life better for the white man.  He also says that his own god has forgotten his people because life is getting worse and he is not doing anything to make it better.  In general, the major theme is that Chief Seattle is not happy with what is happening to his people and how their way of life is being destroyed.

Part 2
Chief Seattle's speech is surrounded with a lot of controversy. For one, it was published 33 years after Chief Seattle supposedly gave it and the man who published it did not even speak Salish, which is the language Chief Seattle would have given the speech in.  Also, Dr. Smith was a poet and some people think the speech is very similar to some of Dr. Smith's other poetry.  To add to the suspicion, Dr. Smith openly admitted that he was not even present when Chief Seattle first gave his speech.  What proof is there then that the version he wrote down is accurate at all.  There could have been many details changed in the version that was told to him and there could be very few similarities to the original speech given by Chief Seattle.  There are many other versions of the speech and there are other fake speeches that were supposedly given by Chief Seattle.  All these factors raise suspicion about the piece and cause a lot of authorship controversy.   

Controversial Authorship

There is a lot of controversy over who actually wrote Chief Seattle's speech.  Obviously, some people believe that the speech was actually written by Chief Seattle.  On the other hand, there are some people who believe that the speech was written by a man named Dr. Henry A. Smith instead.  There is actually some legitimate arguments behind the issue of who actually wrote the speech.  For one, the article was published in a small journal in 1887 which is 33 years after Chief Seattle supposedly gave the speech in 1854.  Also, if Chief Seattle gave the speech it would have been in his native language which was Salish.  Dr. Smith did not speak Salish.  He spoke English and Chinook which means in order for Dr. Smith to understand the speech, there would have to be someone at the speech translating it from Salish to Chinook.  Furthermore, Dr. Smith was a poet, and the speech sounds very similar to his poetry.  There have been other faked Chief Seattle speeches and this makes people believe that this one could possibly be fake as well. 

http://www.chiefseattle.com/history/chiefseattle/speech/speech.htm

Environmental Ethics

Environmental ethics is a major debate among environmentalists and other political figures.  One major subtopic of environmental ethics is clear cutting forests.  Clear cutting has become a major topic of debate and their are opposing viewpoints on it.  Trees provide many things for humans including paper, but forests are sometimes clear cut for other reasons as well.  One of these reasons is expansion and development.  Anyone who has lived in the RDU area for many years knows that the entire area has changed significantly over the past few decades.  Cary used to be huge masses of forests and mostly dirt roads, and now it is an extremely populated suburban area.  Things everywhere are changing, and builders need to take some responsibility for their actions.  There are other ways to build and expand other and clear cutting everything in your way.  It is important that some trees are left behind and new trees be planted.  Clear cutting is an issue and needs to be stopped.  When it comes to clear cutting for resources there are better ways to go about it like patch cutting, strip cutting, and clear cutting with reserves.  These are methods that need to be implemented everywhere in order to slow the effects of clear cutting.

Christians and the Environment

By no means would I ever call myself a hardcore Christian and I'm not gonna act like what I'm stating is fact and the view of most Christians.  I am simply stating my opinion on Christian views and the environment, more specifically the Ten Commandments.  In my opinion when the Ten Commandments were written I would say they referred to actions against other humans.  I do not believe the environment was greatly considered upon writing the Commandments.  Therefore when it is written in the Commandments that thou shalt not kill, I believe it refers to not killing other people.  I don't think it means if somebody kills a small amount of nature that they are going to go to Hell.  On the other hand, I do believe there is definitely a since of destroying nature in moderation.  After all, during those days individual people would often destroy some nature to build a house and survive; However, if someone was to go out and destroy large amounts of nature for no particular reason, I think this is something that would be looked down upon. 

First Green Reverse Osmosis System

IDE Technologies recently released their IDE ProGreen, which is the industry's first green reverse osmosis desalination plant.  IDE ProGreen reduces the impact desalination has on the environment because it eliminates the need for chemicals in pretreatment.  The elimination of chemicals as well as increased energy efficiency greatly reduces the cost of desalination at this particular plant.  IDE claims that their ProGreen system offers low maintenance cost and will reduce long-term energy consumption.  The system is estimated to produce 500 to 10,000 cubic meters per day per unit depending on the water type, and it is expected to be available by late 2011.

http://www.pacetoday.com.au/news/ide-introduces-worlds-first-green-reverse-osmosis