Butterfly Lessons in Class Post

Kolber makes many observations about how human caused climate change is affecting species worldwide.  She talks about how butterflies in Europe are moving north, a species of frogs in New York are mating ten days earlier because of average temperatures increasing, plants moving further up mountains to areas where it is cooler, etc.  She believes all these changes are happening too quick and is trying to send a message to humans.   She wants human caused climate change to drastically slow down.  This relates very closely to my project.  Levels of water in the Colorado River are dropping very quickly.  Part of this is because of overharvesting water from it, but another part can be blamed on climate change.  Due to warmer temperatures, snow on the Rocky Mountains is melting much earlier than it usually does.  This is reducing the amount of run off; therefore less water is actually making it to the Colorado River.   Some researchers have found that climate change has caused a 10% reduction in flow of the Colorado River, and there is a 25% chance that reservoir storage will be completely depleted by 2057.  

Butterfly Lessons

Kolber talks about how human actions are having a huge affect on the the environment and the species that live in it.  She claims that humans are causing climate change and this is disrupting the life of many species around the world.  She does not believe these changes should be happening this quickly and believes that humans deserve all the blame.  At one point Kolber writes, "Darwin never imagined that the effects of climate change could be observed in a human lifetime, yet, almost anywhere you go in the world today, it is possible to observe changes".  These changes are being observed rapidly.  At one point she talks about how some toads are beginning to mate ten days earlier and how some species are moving further up mountains where it is cooler.  The article gets its name because she explains how butterflies are shifting north in Europe to areas where it is cooler.  Bottom line, Kolber is trying to say that humans are causing climate change and this is affecting the environment all over the world.

Water Crisis Solutions and Their Economic Barriers

      There is no denying that when referring to the access of fresh water, this planet is in a state of crisis.  Millions of people worldwide lack access to fresh water, and in the future, that number can easily start to grow.  Inhabitants of this planet are using up the fresh water made available by this planet at an alarming pace.  Better distribution methods and the advancement in water supply technologies can help deter this crisis, but economically, these changes are not easy.  While water supply technologies, such as desalination, are decreasing in price, the cost is still way out of reach for most undeveloped countries.  In most cases, these undeveloped countries are the ones that lack water in the first place, so the water crisis will still be a very prominent issue.  Water distribution can also be a very costly process.  Undeveloped countries are not going to be able to build dams or provide plumbing to cities overnight.  These processes take time, and most undeveloped countries will lack the funds.  Economic barriers certainly play a large negative roll in solving the water crisis, but through the utilization of resources on hand, more affordable and efficient desalination technologies, and better money management, the water crisis can be brought to a close.       

What is Denial?

Denial is rejecting the legitimacy of a claim, even if there is overwhelming evidence that the statement is true.  Often someone will deny something that seems very unpleasant to them.  They know there is a strong possibility that whatever is claimed is true, but if it is something they do not want to hear they will deny it.  There are many things that someone can be in denial about, but you will realize they are always bad things.  You are never gonna find someone who is told they are smart, funny, helpful, etc. and be like, oh no that can't be true, I'm an idiot.  It is only when bad things happen in life that people go into denial.  For example, if someone is doing bad in school they might deny the fact that it is there own fault and blame it on the teacher or say that they are too busy with sports so they do not have time to finish their work and study.  To be in denial simply means to refuse to believe something, usually negative but occasionally positive, because you just don't like the idea of it.

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.