News

A few weekends ago it rained all day Saturday and during a heavy rain, especially at spring time, our combined sewers which carry waste water and storm water will reach their maximum and over flow into the Red River. Our professor told us in class that the waste water and storm water mixture had over flowed for five hours during this day! I know from my environmental action that Winnipeg has 79 different spots where this can occur along the Red River! What I didn't realize when I was doing my action and thinking about the 18 average over flows a year is the length of time an overflow occurs for. Five hours is a long time and that is a lot of untreated waste and storm water going directly into the river, plus most of the chemicals, garbage, and salt that has collected over the winter. This combined sewer infrastructure that exists in the old parts of the city is so bad for the environment and I can only image the "damage" that occurs when it rains for days straight! Because we cannot destroy our city to build new waste water infrastructure we must develop new technologies and better practices. Some solutions that I know about are green roofs, retention ponds, and more vegetation throughout the city. I think that by adding more trees and shrubs into the city we can benefit in so many ways and will lead to less storm water runoff, a reduction in the time of overflows, and a healthier environment for people to live and work in.

Class Discussion

In class on April 5 we watched a movie called FAT lake, which talked about the eutrophication in lake Winnipeg. A lot of the nutrients are coming from Winnipeg via the Red River and Manitoba from agriculture and hog farms. After talking to my friends, they feel a big concern to them is that even though Manitoba's hog and agricultural industry is large, we should be able to continue into the future by reducing the impact that these industries have on lake Winnipeg without sacrifice to their production. They feel that more money needs to be invested into technology. I totally agree with this but my concern is the nutrients coming from the city of Winnipeg. As a large city we are responsible for the bodies of water that we are connected to and the nutrients that we dispose, which are affecting others like the fishermen in lake Winnipeg. I am not from Manitoba but I know that lakes are important to people of the area because they provide jobs and a place for recreation. On the video they interviewed some people on the beach at lake Winnipeg and a lot of their answers were unintelligent like, "is this even lake Winnipeg?" I think that this documentary wanted to create the effect that no one knows about the nutrients in lake Winnipeg but I believe that those who are in contact with the lake or people associated with it know. It is just the task of getting the awareness out to the remaining public about what we are doing to lake Winnipeg, what they can do to help, and why they should help. One thing that I do to try and reduce my impact is only use phosphorous-free soap because it is available and has less of an impact on water ecosystems. I try and do as many good things that I can for the environment when I have the choice, but sometimes when I don't have a choice I try and reduce my impact by doing that activity less frequently. Before I moved to the NWT I used to live on Katepwa Lake in Saskatchewan and I only remember one year when we had a really bad out break of algae on the lake, which most likely was because of excess nutrients. This summer I went back to Katepwa lake for two weekends and both times there was algae on the lake and fish bones washed up on shore! Katepwa lake has most likely seen an increase in nutrients like Winnipeg and it is sad because it's such a beautiful place to go in the summer.

Blog Reflection

Where does your sludge ("biosolids") go? Does this surprise you? Do it for either Winnipeg rural or your hometown.

In my home town, Fort Smith, NWT, the sludge from our waste goes into the slave river! Our waste water is sent to a three cell system that we have on the north end of town, where it is treated and some chemicals are removed. From here the biosolids are sent into the slave river downstream from the town.

This does not surprise me because I knew it was happening. A lot of northern towns do not have adequate enough treatment centers for waste water and almost all of them dump into neighboring rivers. The area surrounding Fort Smith is mostly forest and the dirt has a high concentration of sand, so we cannot use the biosolids for agriculture. The slave river which runs from lake Athabasca to the Great Slave lake is a fast flowing river. It has many sets of rapids and the water quality is full of sediments. Not much plant life grows in the river but this does not make it ok to dump sewage into it. There are still some who fish from it and there are parts of the river upstream from the sewage pipe where you can safely swim and kayak. However, there is a very small community called Fort Fitzgerald just south of Fort Smith on the slave river and I don't know if they get their sewage pumped out by truck or dumped directly into the river. But if they did dump theirs directly into the river then that could be contaminating our recreational areas in the river. This is not a good thing to be dumping biosolids into a river but in a small northern town I believe that it makes less of an impact then keeping them around and creating a health hazard. I think that the environmental issues dealing with larger cities are a greater concern because they have more of an impact.

Class Discussion

In class on March 26 we watched a video from tedtalks.com called Catp. Charles Moore on the seas of plastics and then talked about plastics. It was the first time I had heard about this sea of plastic that is three times the size of Texis! It makes sense that all the garbage in the ocean would accumulate in the middle of the currents. I think that plastic is one of the deadliest things to animals because it's not naturally made and they don't know what it is, so they try to eat it and it kills them. I believe that this sea of plastic will be with us forever and we can only stop it from growing, and even that will be very difficult. I don't like how our society has decided that it is ok to use plastics in a large percentage of packaging and products even though it is not recyclable or environmentally friendly. We even ship plastic beads to different countries and then ship back the products! Plastics definitely make my life more convenient, but I try to only use them when I absolutely must. I think that plastics are beneficial for convenience and ease but there are other materials that are more environmentally friendly that we could be using instead. Recently, I have seen a slight reduction in plastics. Now, people have the option to buy re-usable grocery bags, sunchips now makes a chip bag out of compostable material, and some products have reduced their amount of packaging. This is only a small reduction and I believe that the power lies with the choice of the consumer.

Online Activity

For an online activity I watched the ewaste video "eDump" found on http://www.babelgum.com/118286/edump.html. This documentary talks about the ewaste that is being imported and dismantled in developing nations such as Guiyu, China. Companies send there ewaste here because it is cheaper and there are less strict laws on pollution and workers health. It cost approximately 1/15 the cost to dismantle a computer in China compared to the United States! For these companies that build the products it is all about money and only doing things that you are required by law to do. So if there is no incentive for them to make more environmentally friendly computers then they are not going to. The level of pollution that the dismantling of ewaste creates is not good for anyone and that is why the companies choose to take advantage of developing nations. The pollution that comes from this includes acid being dumped in rivers, toxic chemicals being released into the air, and massive amounts of garbage. I think that not only China but developed nations need to stick up for the direct victims of ewaste. This is definitely a major issue because environmental pollutants will eventually affect everyone and we only have one planet. I believe that more money needs to be invested by the producers of electronics into new technologies for greener components that are safer to disassemble. Even if we start by making safer ways to disassemble the components so that we can save human lives. The hardest part is getting the companies to do this because they don't want to invest in something that won't make them any money. We need to help them realize that it is wrong and that they should have some sense of product responsibility.

Online Activity

I watched Paddle to the Sea (NFB, 1966) which is found on http://www.nfb.ca/film/paddle_to_the_sea/. This film is about a curious boy who was told that all rivers lead to the sea, so he carved an Indian in a canoe, named Paddle, which fell into a river near Lake Superior. This film was interesting because it described the journey that one would go through on your way to the sea. It is the journey that all water goes through. It starts in the spring when water is melting and all the streams are full. I would have liked it to have a timeline but we do know that winter does occur once because he gets frozen in a lake. I wonder how long it would take an object to travel from Lake Superior to the ocean? A very long time for sure. It included natural dangers that happen along this route such as a bush fire. The interesting part is that Paddle witnesses some environmental issues such as dredging, garbage and sewage pollution. Now this video was made 44 years ago! If it was made today he might of not even made it half of the way because we have way more pollution and issues that deal with our fresh watersheds today. Maybe the river he originally fell into has dried out. Or maybe he would get caught in with a bunch of garbage and sink. I think that this is a good video for young children to teach about how our fresh waters ecosystems work and the pollution that is going into them. I also think that this is a very neat idea but I think he also should have carved where Paddle started his journey so that the man in the light house could of known and anyone who would have found him after that, maybe even in Africa! I think that this would be a cool thing to do with our recent GPS technology, except there would have to be multiple boats because I believe most would get stuck or washed up on shore. I also noticed that Paddle was caught by a lot of people who where fishing. Today, that would be different because not all fish from freshwater are edible because of contaminants and our fishing industry has suffered. Also, parents do not like their children playing around water that could have harmful chemicals in it. This video is evidence of how we have continued to pollute our freshwater over the last 44 years.

Online Activity

For an online activity I reviewed the Waterlife documentary found at http://waterlife.nfb.ca/. It was really an eye opening in-depth look at the importance of fresh water and the great lakes. I believe it deals with some important concepts and problems with watershed areas in the United States and Canada. We need global support because our freshwater ecosystems affect everyone and can be affected by others actions, such as the pollutants, like DDT, that are banned in Canada but are traveling from China to our watersheds through the grasshopper effect. As humans we have physically altered these natural bodies of water by dredging and building canals and this has lead to more problems. The problem of most concern to me personally is the fact that our freshwater, which is required for us to survive, has chemicals in it that we don't know exactly what they are and what they can do to us. Chemicals in the water mean that we can't drink the water, swim in it, eat fish from it, and it basically ruins all the benefits of having a freshwater lake. The great lakes have become such a big issue because so many people/companies have negatively affected them and even small contributions will add to large impacts because they occur more frequently. I know that we cannot completely stop everything and try and restore the great lakes to the condition they used to be in, but we can raise awareness and try and reduce our current and future impact. Because the more people that care, the easier it will be to help our largest fresh water resource. I think that this was a very cool, interactive, and informative website that provides a vast viewpoint on our great lakes.

Selection 20

Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services

Boris Worm et al.

Research has shown that marine biodiversity loss is constantly impairing the ocean's capacity to provide food, maintain water quality, and recover from perturbations. Changes in marine biodiversity are concerning to what exact human impacts they would result in and are directly caused by exploitation, pollution, and habitat destruction, or indirectly through climate change. Globally, marine extinctions are slightly becoming more evident. Where as locally, areas are witnessing a rapid loss in populations. From experiments we have found that increased biodiversity of primary producers and consumers enhanced all examined ecosystem processes. These results along with tests taken from coastal ecosystems indicated that there is a positive correlation between biodiversity, productivity, and stability across trophic levels in marine ecosystems. These regional biodiversity losses impaired the number of viable fisheries, provision of nursery habitats, and loss of filtering and detoxification services. This data illustrates that substantial loss of biodiversity is closely associated with the regional loss of ecosystem services and increasing risks for coastal organisms. The collapse of large marine ecosystems also occur at a higher rate in species-poor ecosystems and proportional species losses are predicted to have similar effects at low and high levels of native biodiversity. Marine reserves and fishery closures have been used to reverse the decline of marine biodiversity on local and regional scales. Fisheries are able to recover easily because they can switch more readily among target species and can help us determine if and how can we reverse the loss of our services. There is a large variation in sample sizes and several variables that effect the outcomes, but the results do suggest that it is possible to recover lost biodiversity on local to regional scales. This trend of biodiversity loss is a because it projects the global collapse of all marine life currently fished. But by restoring marine biodiversity we can invest in the productivity and reliability of the goods and services that the ocean provides and recover from our biodiversity loss.

Selection 10

Life and Death of the Salt Marsh

John Teal and Mildred Teal

This article discusses the salt marshes that are found along the eastern coast of North America. These salt marshes can contain grass, salt water, and different kinds of biological organisms. Healthy salt marshes can have many different smells, most pleasant, but sick marshes smell of hydrogen sulfide. The north marsh, the Spartina patens, is covered with dense grass and can be harder if it has been harvested or spongy if it hasn't. The marshes in the south are covered only by Spartina alterniflora, with more separation between plants and the ground is stiff. As you get closer to the ocean and rivers you notice a change in the composition of the ground and depending on whether the tide is high or low the amount of water present. Dangers to salt marshes are from human activities and can be caused by pollution, dredging, filling, and building. These marshes are valuable ecosystems and our increase in population pressure is increasing their destruction. Some destruction is inevitable, such as creating the infrastructure around the marshes in order to preserve and enjoy them. We need to plan on the international level for the entire marsh system. We must preserve marshes by safeguarding against increased pressure due to population and industry blackmail. These salt marshes are an important natural resource that must be protected and preserved in its entirety.

Selection 31

Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment

Sandra Steingraber

This article talks about the authors experience with cancer. She had bladder cancer when she was young and cancer runs in her adopted family. This is evidence that environmental factors can influence cancer. She talks in more detail about her family's history with cancer and that her mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1974 and, to the surprise of her doctors, was still alive when this article was published. She then discusses when she first read about scientists identifying the gene responsible for human bladder cancer through transforming cancer DNA onto mice and pinpointing the exact alteration that caused the cancer to grow. It was determined that the cancer is caused by substitution of a double-ringed base called guanine for a single-ringed base called thymine. This would cause the cell to manufacture valine instead of the amino acid glycine. She then discuses findings of bladder cancer that came later which stated that people who have higher burdens of adducts than fast acetylators are at a greater risk of bladder cancer from exposure to aromatic amines. This includes more than half of the American and European population. We still don't know all suspected bladder carcinogens, their sources, how they interact with each other, and how we are exposed to them. There are certain jobs where people have been exposed to known carcinogens such as manufacturing rubber chemicals and pharmaceutical plants. What really concerns her is that almost a century after some of these findings we are still seeing some of these harmful carcinogens being manufactured, imported, used, and released into our environment. She believes that because we are obsessed with genes and heredity's influence in cancer we are not seeing that environmental factors are a cause of most cancers and have a large influence on genetic cancers as well. Rachel Carson urged recognition of an individuals right to know about poisons introduced into one's environment by others and the right to protect against them. To do this we first have to look at our ecological roots and determine what chemicals are already in our body's and environment. We then have to take a human rights approach when regulating how chemicals are used, released, disposed, and our unequal risks of being exposed to them. Toxic substances should not be used if there is another way of accomplishing the same task. This should be coordinated with active attempts to develop and make available affordable, nontoxic alternatives for currently toxic processes. We must save ourselves and the environment from the deliberate and routine release of chemical carcinogens.

Selection 33

At the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima or Why Political Questions Are Not All Economic

Mark Sagoff

This article is about the economic and political decisions we make regarding the environment. In the opening paragraph it lists cases where they have been applied such as the community of Lewiston, N.Y., where the Manhattan Project chemicals were buried without the knowledge of future residents. We have an environmental problem when a resource is not allocated in equitable and efficient ways. In political and economic decision making, sometimes seen as one, our approach of environmental policy is based on the consumers values. "The ultimate measure of environmental quality is the value people place on these services or their willingness to pay." We support decisions with a cost-benefit analysis, where the benefits out way the costs. This is widely supported, except when dealing with regulations vs. employees having a safe and healthful working environment, then this can be altered to ensure protection of the workers. Like in the American Textile Manufacturer vs. Donovan case of 1981. Problems have arose with the Occupational Safety and Health Act, where the benefits of the workers did not equal the costs associated to industry and the consumers. The cost-benefit approach treats people of equal worth and may only appear attractive for efficiency. We value public values and the natural environment that depend upon what is right for the community not the individual. This is achieved by supporting the cost-benefit analysis but having the final say in discrepancies allocated to a legislative debate and vote. For this analysis, what is valid is not most views, but how much people are willing to pay for their subjective preferences or wants. In a Kantian approach to ethics, some values are more reasonable to others and hence have a better claim to members of the community. Therefore, both values and beliefs are either correct or mistaken. The last paragraph in this article goes back to the case of the residents of Lewiston which were given a personal response to their questions and concerns. This response puzzled and confused the residents and it is clear that the cost-benefit analysis alone is not enough to allow us to have the power to act as a nation.

Online Activity

William McDonough on cradle to cradle design

I just watched this video on http://www.ted.com/ and think that what McDonough has done over his career is fantastic. I think it is a good idea that he has been analysing items that go to the public and breaking them down to parts-per-millions and analysing them further. This really tells us what is in our products and if they are harmful. I also think it was a great idea to make this list of materials available to the public so that anyone can analyse their products down to the parts-per-million themselves. I liked the work he has been doing with helping build recyclable products such as the rugs, shoes, and car metal, that was previously being wasted. I was very interested in his sustainable architecture projects such as the GAP headquarters building with native grass on the roof for birds to nest in. I also liked his idea behind the sustainable community and I believe that it would work because they are designing it from nothing and they have thought of all needs that must be met throughout the community. As a pre-architecture student, I think that sustainable design is the way of the future and will increasingly have a greater impact on society.

Class Discussion

We watched this video on the gas leak in Bhopal India during class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz-BfXLjQ9c

It was such a huge tragedy that should never have happened. When you deal with chemicals that are as deadly as that you should never take chances that can risk a leak. What was more shocking to me is that people actually lived right next to the chemical plant! Even though it was in India, they shouldn't of been allowed to build a chemical plant in such a close proximity to a residential area. But I think that this tragedy was an eye opener for India and other countries about what to allow to happen in your city and what ethical issues does it contain. It also showed the world why companies chose developing nations, because of low wages and a certain degree of low responsibility especially compared if it was in a nation like the United States. Since this happened a lot of other companies have been accused of taking advantage of developing nations and their residents, like Nike, and this hurts some of their sales because people don't want to buy their products. Plus it makes you think about the quality of their products if they are being made by someone who's wage is about 10% the cost of the product.

Blog Reflection

Consider the evidence of affluenza that you see around you. Do you see it in yourself, your friends, family, or North American society? Can you take action to combat affluenza?

Looking around and at myself I see affluenza everywhere. I don't think that anybody can say that they have never had affluenza. I am only 21 years old and have already accumulated a substantial amount of 'junk' that I don't really need. I have been with my friends when they have bought things that they soon discard and my parents have many items that were bought spur of the moment. I think that some companies market products specifically for the large portion of American society who are suffering from affluenza. I think that a big problem is that our society teaches us to want more and more stuff and that we would be happy if we had this and that. I think you can take action to combat affluenza in the form of reminding yourself what waste can come from purchasing items you will never use and I think that you would have a greater chance if you had support from a friend or family member. Another good idea is to make a list when you go shopping and only buy what is on that list, this helps with impulse shoppers. We must also understand that happiness is not totally defined by material possessions but being comfortable and doing what you love to do, whether work or play. However affluenza is a contagious condition and will not be easy to combat.

Online Activity

Alex Steffen sees a sustainable future

This video starts to talk about sustainable development and gives a brief description of how our society came to be. He then discusses the ecological foot print and how we are using the earth at a rate where we need about five planets to become sustainable. Well, we only have one planet which the resources are not shared equally on. He claims that we need a change in our society but right now no one knows what our new society should exactly be like. What we do know is that we can take the cities we live in and turn them into bright green cities that are denser, more eco-friendly, have better technology, and where the people are learning to use less. We can still help make our society as sustainable as possible. One of the biggest concerns is mega cities in developing nations who do not have a solid infrastructure in place and are growing at a extremely fast rate. A common problem with these nations is that when they do develop they tend to skip to the latest technology and do not get a basic structure in place so not everyone ends of being able to benefit. A lot of help can be given to developing nations from developed ones which will be of benefit to everyone. He talks about how most of the population in the world is children and that they are growing up in a different society than their parents and have different values. We need to help them learn to value our resources and environment so that they grow up using sustainable practices. He also believes that it's not just enough to survive but we need to make things better than they previously were. He finishes with a famous quote from H.G. Wells about the past being the beginning of the beginning, meaning that what we learn from the past helps us better ourselves for the future. I think that Alex Steffen is right in that no one knows the exact solution to a sustainable future. We do know how to help, which he talks about, by changing to greener cities, helping developing nations, and raising good values in our children since they are the leaders of tomorrow. I think that poverty is a major concern for sustainability because those in poverty are just trying to survive and are not concerned with global and future issues. Some of the technology he shows in the video is very interesting. The fan that resembles a shell is just good design that is taken from nature. The seeds that can detect land mines by producing red flowers are a genius way to help save lives and is very sustainable since it is a biological organism. I think that green roofs are sustainable building design at its best and should be required in all public buildings in cities. Just look at the Manitoba Hydro Place in downtown Winnipeg and how it saves so much energy every year because of sustainable architect. I especially liked the water pump that was a merry-go-round because kids have lots of energy and wouldn't have fun pumping a normal well. In general I think that a sustainable future is in a shorter grasp than we can see and that one day we will no longer be resource dependant.

Selection 24

Restoring Rivers

Margaret A. Palmer and J. David Allen

This article talks about how water quality and shortages are becoming an increasing concern for the United States. Aquatic life is becoming extinct at a high rate and the impacts of water shortage on humans is becoming more noticeable and is more frequently occurring. This has become a problem because of the history of cities being developed around water sources and pollution of these sources over the years has risen. River restoration is a solution which deals with repairing waterways, but the technology behind it needs restoration as well. The United States government needs to help by improving its regulatory and legislative federal policy reforms. The EPA has implemented many regulations to help farmers and communities to develop, implement, and enforce water conservation and quality strategies. Restoration strategies are now common in the United States but they are not seeing as big an impact as they should be for the amount of money and resources they are putting into it. Their solution to pollution is to reform federal, state, and local policies. A team of U.S. scientists, engineers, and restoration practitioners have recommended the common standards to be applied to each project to meet the required ecological goals. In order for restoration to be effective country wide, researchers must be able to learn from past efforts through monitoring. Funding is a big concern because existing funding must be used correctly along with current and future funding being allocated to the correct issues so that the restoration projects can be successful. Once these issues are all agreed on with the most effective methods being applied the United States streams and river will once again flow clean and clear.

Selection 23

Controversy at Love Canal

Beverly Paigen

This article starts by talking about the toxic wastes dumped into Love Canal. The Hooker chemical company dumped over 200 different kinds of chemicals into an empty canal in 1942 and then "sealed" it up. Later an elementary school was built on the site with housing developments all around it. People began to report high levels of birth defects, miscarriages, and mental retardation in newborns. The author, Paigen, was working for the department of health at the time and began studying the causes of these effects and whether they were genetic, geographic, or randomly distributed. She discovered that the high clusters of disease where located at locations of existing swales, swamps, and ponds, where the chemicals in the ground were accumulating. The health department denied the facts that the chemicals underneath Love Canal were causing the disease at first based on the Warburton and Fraser study and statistics they had received. Eventually, they realized that it was the chemicals on site and began evacuating the pregnant women and young children before they eventually relocated the entire families. The controversy was that the state knew there was toxic chemicals buried beneath the site and Hooker Chemical warned them not to build a school, but they did anyway and did not inform the residents. Hooker Chemical was not liable for any lawsuit because of a specific clause in the bill of sale and claims that they used the best technology at the time to dispose of the chemicals. However evidence suggests that because they were interested in profit gain they used the least expensive methods to dispose of the chemicals. When the residents turned to the health department for help and were largely ignored they viewed the department as not meeting its goals and responsibilities, they were angry since they paid for their salaries through taxes. It takes such a long time to reach resolutions in controversies like this one because: the department of health doesn't want to seem favourable to one side, the state only wants to evacuate those who would certainly be effected, there is a need for information gathered from different groups so the outcomes are accurate, threats are made to those who work for the state that disagree with their decisions (whistle blowers), the violation of social controls of scientific behaviour, and it is very hard for the entire party to agree on all aspects of their resolution strategy. Many of the controversies of Love Canal were stated as scientific issues but were actually ethical issues and the controversy would have been resolved easier if the ethics had been openly stated and understood.

Selection 39

Towards Sustainable Development

World Commission on Environment and Development

This article talks about how sustainable development must be defined across all nations and implies a concern for social equity between generations. Sustainable development regards meeting the needs of individuals world wide without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same. It encourages that we increase productive potential and ensure equal opportunities for everyone. Sustainable development must not endanger the natural systems that support life on earth, but recently human development has become larger in scale and impact and more threatening to our life support systems. It is a process of change in our exploitation of renewable and non-renewable resources, free goods, and developments in investments, technology, and institutions to enhance current and future human needs. Often political jurisdictions and areas of environmental impact do not coincide so we need a common interest from everyone. To do this we can use education, institutional development, and law enforcement. Achieving a common interest is difficult because not all environmental issues have solutions and our access to resources is unequally distributed. The development of technologies is also unequally distributed and third world nations tend to suffer. Risk management is also a factor when dealing with technology and must be taken into account. A final important aspect of sustainable development is the need to integrate economic and ecological considerations in decision making in order to better international relations and promote harmony.

Selection 41

Women's Indigenous Knowledge and Biodiversity Conservation

Vandana Shiva

This article begins with discussing the nature of gender and diversity. Diversity is the basis of women's policies and the politics of ecology. The survival of livelihoods is connected to the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources in all their diversity. Crop uniformity can undermine the diversity of biological systems. Women's work and knowledge is central to biodiversity conservation because they work between sectors and are capable of performing multiple roles. Women's knowledge in agricultural areas such as production and preparation of plant foods, dairy, and forestry arises from the gender bias which has a blind spot for realistic assessment of women's contributions. Women have been considered the custodians of biodiversity because they produce, reproduce, consume, and conserve in agriculture. There are differences between women's relationships to biodiversity and the corporations relationships. Like how women produce through biodiversity, whereas corporations produce through uniformity. Women see it as intrinsic value and corporations see it as "raw materials." Many differences between the two all lead to how women view biodiversity as biological and the continuation of life and corporations see it more as a market. This article ends with discussing genetic engineering and how it is risky for us and biodiversity.

Selection 29

Environmental, Energetic, and Economic Comparisons of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems

David Pimentel et al.

This article discusses organic agriculture. It does not use harmful pesticides and reduces other external inputs to improve the environment and farm economics. Since a lot of money is invested in health care and environmental health loss related to soil erosion organic agriculture is very popular. A 22 year study comparing organic animal-based, organic legume-based, and conventional systems was conducted, recorded, and discussed. The organic systems had an increased groundwater recharge and reduced runoff compared to the conventional system. Even though it varies with the types of crops, regions, and technologies employed, the environmental benefits to reduced chemical inputs, less soil erosion, water conservation, improved organic matter, and improved biodiversity were discovered to be consistently greater in the organic systems than in the conventional systems. However there are challenges for organic agriculture such as nitrogen deficiency and weed competition. They also discovered certain technologies that are beneficial to use with organic agriculture. In the end organic agriculture has many benefits if done correctly.

Selection 28

Food Scarcity: An Environmental Wakeup Call

Lester Brown

This article discusses how if we keep using the earths resources that they will run out and we will eventually face economically disruptive climate change. He then goes into more detail about agriculture and how we will start to notice a rise in food prices, especially grain, when our environment is becoming economically unstable. Because the worlds population is growing we are needing to produce more food which is taking up more land. Even though in the last one hundred years there has been technologies developed for increasing productivity in agriculture, we are running out of land and the land we are using will eventually experience some kind of soil erosion. Along with land we are depleting our water sources. This is also due to over population and will also have an effect on the prices of food. Our increasing risk of food scarcity is a result of our over population and limited resources and may provide an environmental wake up call for the world.

To solve our problems of environmental degradation and ensure hope for future generations, Brown suggests that we stabilize population and climate. Some countries have already began implementing laws that only allow family's to have two children. We must reduce our carbon emissions and use new energy efficient technology to stabilize our climate. Our land and water use must be used with conservation in mind. Our food security of the future depends on creating an environmentally sustainable economy.

Selection 27

The Agricultural Crisis as a Crisis of Culture

Wendell Berry

In this article she discusses how farms used to be very diversified and local. These family farms dealt with all aspects of food production and all types of produce. Even though they weren't perfect in all aspects such as wastefulness, they did form a tight farming community. Since World War Two our farms have been becoming fewer and more expensive to run. We no longer can have a small operation and generations of farmers are moving on to something else that has more potential. With the modernization of agricultural techniques comes the disintegration of the culture and the communities. The institutions of agriculture have been driving farmers to grow so that they become efficient. This has put all that haven't grown out of business and is still putting those who grow at risk of others who have grown bigger. This has lead to our farmers values changing from those of husbandry to those of finance and technology. The definitive relationships in the universe are not competitive but interdependent and we must have culture with agriculture. We have ended up creating a moral ignorance in our agricultural society that has changed its culture.

The Meatrix

I visited a website that we briefly looked at in class.

http://www.themeatrix.com/

After checking out this site, which has a lot of corny but informative videos, I discovered links at the top of its home page to other websites. After researching further, one of the links directs you to a website about sustainable agriculture and food. It has a database of local sustainable farms and grocery stores in your area and it includes the Winnipeg area. Another link goes to an eat well guide which could help you if you need ideas about how to eat healthy and sustainably. A third link is a water conservation website where you can even calculate your water foot print. The fourth link is about energy choices and has a very good updated news blog. The meatrix site turned out to be better than I expected and has a lot of useful and interesting external resources.

Super Cows!

During class we have been talking about meat and the industry around it, particularly pigs. But I was reminded of a video I once seen about cows that have been created by selective breading.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmkj5gq1cQU

These "super cows" are the weirdest thing I have seen. It really does look like their on steroids! But if they claim to be as healthy for you as any other cow and they have more meat then it is a very good use of science. But I think people will always be cautious when dealing with scientific food production because this is what we thought when we developed genetically modified canola!

Blog Reflection

Food and You

-Write down your food intake over the last 48 hours.

-What foods do you eat regularly?

-What environment concerns relate to your diet?

Over the last 48 hours I have eaten: bananas, kiwis, apples, plums, perogies, taquitos, sour cream, bacon bits, bread, cheese, milk, sausage, rice krispies, chicken noodle soup, crackers, pepper, chicken, ketchup, BBQ sauce, and eggs.

Regularly I eat a lot of chicken, ketchup, fruits and vegetables, milk, cheese, soup, and bread.

The environmental concerns relating to my diet are that I have to go to the grocery store frequently to get fresh fruit and vegetables. The transportation for one person to drive there is bad. I do try and walk when I can but I usually get a lot of food and can't carry it the distance back to my house. I also prefer to go to the Superstore because it's larger but it's also further away from my house then the Safeway. Also the transportation in getting the fresh fruit and vegetables to my grocery store. Other environmental concerns relating to my diet are that fruits and vegetables can go bad if I buy to many and this is a waste of food. So I try not to buy such a large amount at one time. But this leads me to go back to the grocery store more often which is bad. Technically I could walk there everyday and get my groceries for the next day but this is very inconvenient. Another concern that probably relates to every ones diet is packaging.

Online Activity

2. Carolyn Steel: How food shapes our cities

This video on the TED Talks website is about how food has been shaping our cities for ten thousand years. Cities used to be restricted in size because we had to walk in our food and grow it all locally. This is how our markets in our cities developed because they were near the part of the city were that particular food came in, Steel gives some example of London's market history. Eventually, the train developed and it became easy for us to bring in food so our cities grew. After the train came the car and with it suburban sprawl. Because we can get food easily from many grocery stores a lot of people are losing a connection with their food. Instead of valuing their food they see it as a convenience and this makes it easy for them to throw away any unwanted food. Food has shaped the way our cities have been built and we no longer value our food because we don't know where it comes from and we can find it everywhere. We need to try and grow more locally and encourage community involvement to change our habits about food. Steel claims that one million people are obese and more than one million are starving and that the United States throws away half of its food that they have for sale because it becomes expired! This is the biggest waste when we import and grow food that is thrown away and we can fix this by getting people involved in the food that they eat.

Climate Change

During our guest speaker lecture on February 10 about the changing climate of the arctic I copied down the website that she suggested we look at.

http://www.ipy-cfl.ca/

I checked it out and it was very interesting. It has a lot of links and information about the people involved in scientific research in the arctic. I think that global warming in our arctic is a big issue that is becoming more talked about because of all the new research that is being done. What I liked the most about the website was the sound slides, especially the ones about the different schools and their trips to the arctic for scientific research. I have a friend who went on a trip to Antarctica during her studies at the University of Saskatchewan. She said it was amazing and recommends it to anyone that is interested in the environment and can stand a little cold weather. I have never been on anything like that but I think that it would be a good experience.

Blog Reflection

1. Can parks meet its dual mandate of access and protection?

2. How can this be achieved in Wapusk?

I believe that parks can achieve their mandate of access and protection. It is not easy but with enough caring workers and the right management plan I think that it is possible. Of course there will always be obstacles that we will have to over come. Different areas have different species and needs that must be met. I think that this is a big issue and one of the hardest things about maintaining a park. When you increase the amount of people coming through a park it gets harder to protect the park from everyone. However if you do not have enough people coming to the park then you have no money to protect it. It is a fine balance that takes an entire organization like Parks Canada to keep it maintained.

This can be achieved in Wapusk by creating interest in the park and reasons to keep it open. Because there is limited public access we need an increase in interest from schools and the scientific community. Hunting is only allowed if your aboriginal ancestors originally hunted in the area but even this is a potential danger since global warming is causing a change in the polar bear and caribou populations.

I think that National Parks are an important part of Canada's heritage. I used to live in Fort Smith, NT which has the main office for Wood Buffalo National Park. I even was a Parks Canada employee during the summer three years ago and got to witness first hand the hard work that goes into protecting a park and allowing access. I believe that parks are essential to preserving our most cherished natural environments.

Blog Reflection

What future would you like to see for the Alberta Tar Sands project?

After talking about the tar sands in class, watching the documentary with Emily Hunter, and personal experience from being in Fort McMurray a couple times I think that the project should continue but with some modifications. I think that there is too much money invested and government involvement in the project for it to stop. I believe that it is harmful for our planet and the oil they are producing will cause even more harm when it is used. However instead of fighting against the project there should be more co-operation between the groups like green peace and the oil companies. On that documentary I noticed that green peace would brake into the work site and put out a big flag on the ground to get there message across, but in my opinion that solves nothing. If we can get government support to put money made by the oil companies in the tar sands toward environment sustainable research and projects then it would help in balancing the destructive nature of this project. I'm sure that there is some form of environmental tax that the oil companies have to pay but if we can get support I'm positive that we could raise this tax and help our environment.

Online Activity

Edward Burtynsky on manufactured landscapes

I watched the video where Burtynsky talks about sustainability. He shows numerous photographs of the largest man made manufactured landscapes in the world. Places like the three gorges damn, largest tire pile in the world, coal mines, largest oil field in California, and the largest urban renewal project in Shanghai. He discuses Asia's increasing footprint which is directly related to the increasing population, development, and pollution. He talks about Asia's increasing economy and how a lot of our materials are being shipped there to be recycled. Some of his photographs are of huge plants that have thousands of workers and are producing a lot of the worlds manufactured goods.

His photographs are beautiful but have a scary symbolism that our ecological foot print is rising and we need to reduce it. He believes that if we start to reduce it here in North America then the principle of conservation will hopefully have an impact in Asia.

He also talks about his blog: http://www.worldchanging.com/. Which after some review has a good source of different news and links for sustainability. It covers areas related to sustainability such as cities, communities, business, politics, and our planet.

Another initiative Burtynsky is taking is developing a program for children to come up with sustainable ideas so that they can grasp the concept and learn to protect our planet. He is offering incentives such as prizes and money for schools so that it becomes successful. This is such a good idea because if these children learn at a young age then they will grow up using good sustainability practices.

Selection 4

A Sand County Almanac

Aldo Leopold

In the start of this selection Leopold comes to realize over time that wolfs create a dynamic balance of deer on the mountain. After he sees the wolf disappear and the deer population increase the mountain becomes ravished and stripped of all its resources. He realizes that a buck killed by a wolf will be replaced in three years but a mountain destroyed by too many deer will take decades to replenish. He realizes that what humans perceive to be a better solution for everybody is not always correct.

Ethics play an important role in human environment. An ethic may be regarded as a mode of guidance for meeting ecological situations. Ethics between individuals and society, and man's relation to land, along with the extension of ethics have caused many different arguments between philosophers. What is also important is that all ethics involve the individual as a member of a community of interdependent parts.

We must quit thinking about land-use as an economic problem and examine each question in terms of what is ethically right. The belief that economics determines all land use is not true. The evolution of land ethics is an intellectual and emotional process. Good intentions can be futile but also dangerous which is what Leopold came to realize after witnessing the wolf population decrease.

Selection 3

Principles of Conservation

Gifford Pinchot

In this article Pinchot explains how the movement of conservation of natural resources began in forestry and what its principles are. Conservation stands for development in the present and the future. The development and use of resources such as coal and water are as important to this generation and future generations. Conservation also stands for waste. We must manage waste efficiently but there are different views on how far we can go with the waste and destruction of natural resources. The last very important principle is that the development of preservation of natural resources must benefit all, and not be done to profit a few. These principles of conservation apply to all interests of the people and are valuable in education about our natural resources. These principles which originated in forestry will have their use in other applications for national efficiency.

This was taken from his book written in 1910. I think that over the last 100 years these principles of conservation which originated in forestry have gone into all aspects of governing the United States and Canada. I also find it interesting that he knew it is hard to draw a line on where waste and environmental damage is going too far. I believe that this was one of the down falls of society and has caused some of our societies mistakes because some people believed that what they were doing was not damaging. Some examples would be destroyed species habitats by lumber production/housing developments and forests harvested that have not reached maturity resulting in wasted unusable lumber.

Selection 26

Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Using ice cores they are able to tell that global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide have increased within the last ten thousand years. There has been a rapid increase of these gases within the last two hundred years. Carbon dioxide, which is an important anthropogenic greenhouse gas, has increased due to our use of fossil fuels and reduction in natural landscape. The increase in methane's and nitrous oxides is a result of mainly agriculture and fossil fuel use. All these changes have created a negative feed back loop that is increasing their impact.

These changes have been becoming more noticeable because they are causing warmer temperatures, an increase in atmospheric water vapour, warmer ocean temperatures, less snow/ice on mountains and in the arctic, a rise in sea level, extreme weather, and intense tropical cyclone activity.

The IPCC has come to the conclusion that all of these changes in our atmosphere are due to the increase in the gases: carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. And it is very likely that a major factor in the increase of these atmospheric gases was caused by humans. It is very unlikely that natural factors would have caused such an increase in our climate.

Our atmosphere will continue to warm into the future even if we would stop increasing our greenhouse gases and aerosols. The IPCC have made estimates of what the future temperatures, weather, and other regional-scale features will be like. Because these gases are already in our atmosphere and they take so long to get rid of we are sure to see future trends of warming and all associated problems that come along with it.

Selection 16

Reinventing the Energy System

Christopher Flavin and Seth Dunn

This article begins to talk about the trend of energy use. It started in the industrial revolution when coal was used and at the time no one expected oil to cause such a huge impact in society and the way our cities are built. And now that we are running out of fossil fuels the next century could also have as big a change in the energy system as when oil became popular.

Oil is becoming a scarcer resource since it takes millions of years to form as fossil fuels in the ground. The fact that we are running out of it along with the huge environmental impact of the carbon that is released from burning fossil fuels is causing an increase in demand to find new energy sources.

New energy systems have been developing and are in use today. Modern wind turbines, LED's, solar photovoltaic cells, thermovoltaic cells, and a solar power water splitter are just some of the new technologies that help us save and create energy more efficiently. Some countries are more suited for certain types of technologies because of their location. However the use of sustainable energy resources needs to be developed world wide, this means that poorer countries will need help from more developed nations. But just increasing our technology will not be enough. We need to reduce our consumption rate world wide, especially in more developed countries like the U.S. where the rate of energy consumption is the highest. The sooner we can shift to the efficient use of renewable energy the better for our planet and future generations.

Selection 15

More Profit with Less Carbon

Amory B. Lovins

Lovins discusses his ideas that he has been talking about for the past thirty years about how if done right climate protection can reduce costs in big businesses. Many companies have reduced their green house gases by moving to more energy efficient factories and they have seen a rise in quality, reliability, and profit.

Lovins believes that everyone should be using energy efficient techniques but that people have confused energy efficiency with discomfort or privation. He also believes that energy users do not recognize how much they can benefit because it requires a lot of people to make small differences to see a large change. Along with his idea that we can create abundance of energy by good designs he also believes that we should switch to fuels that emit less carbon. Lovins believes that we can save the most energy by rethinking how we can get more work out of the energy that is delivered to businesses and consumers.

Efficient technology has been getting less expensive over time. Lovins discusses how people usually don't use efficient technology when the cost of putting in the new materials is more than the savings over time of using them. He then goes onto discuss his house in Colorado that is super efficient at storing heat, an experiment in smart design with a house in California that keeps cool without air conditioning, and a carpet factory in Shanghai that reduced its cost just by widening and straightening their heat circulating pipes. What he was demonstrating is that efficient technology is available and all we need to do is use it along with applying smart designs to save money and our environment.

Lovins then goes on to talk about the efficiency of vehicles. Cars lose a lot of the energy they use as noise, heat, and friction which makes them very in-efficient. He then states that if you reduce the weight of a vehicle then the energy that goes into driving it will increase. He also said that cars don't have to be heavy to be safe. However the oil saved in designing new cars would not be very effective because there would still be older model vehicles on the road. Lovins thinks we should try to reduce our consumption of oil and maybe eventually replace it with a lower carbon natural gas. If we were to become independent of oil then we would immediately see the many benefits.

Renewable energy such as wind and solar is the way of the future and has been rising in use. If both efficiency and renewable energy continue to grow faster than the economy, then carbon emissions will fall and global warming will slow. People are beginning to favor choices that generate wealth and protect the environment and this needs to continue into the future.

Selection 12

Ecosystems and Human Well-being

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005

This article talks about the assessment made by the United Nations concerning the growing need of an ecosystem management change to better human well-being. It discusses the goals that will be met to create a sustainable ecosystem and what consequences they will have. In more detail it talks about how the ecosystem provides everything for survival and over the past 50 years humans have been changing our ecosystem, which some have benefited from and others have suffered. Mostly poor people are suffering from the way we manage our ecosystem. Some problems in our strategies are that we are degrading our ecosystem and the benefits for some people create problems for others. Some believe that we are creating irreversible damage to our environment. And a third problem is that even our attempts to create more food production can lead to changes in the ecosystem and create poverty. Even though our population is expected to decrease in the next fifty years our changes to the ecosystem will continue to increase and cause damage. These problems are not easy to fix and all we can do now is try to diminish their effects. However the changes are big and are not currently being used. Some solutions to lessen the severity of our problems are changes in institutions, government, economic policies, social and behavioural factors, technology,and many other ideas.

It then talks in more detail about the four major findings of the assessment on the problems and if there are actions that can be taken to save our ecosystem. The first finding talks about how humans have been decreasing the biodiversity of life on earth by using up a lot of our resources. This also impacts species that live in our ecosystems and they have been decreasing as a result. We have had to increase our technology and area management to cope with the increasing consumption of ecosystem services.

In the second finding they state how humans have made changes that contribute to substantial net gains for overall well-being but that they have come at a cost. The net gains of some result in the loss of others, particularly the poor. These problems unless addressed will substantially diminish the benefits that future generations obtain from our ecosystems.

In the third finding they discuss the four MA scenarios which were created to study the unpredictable features of change in drivers and ecosystem services. The changes in our ecosystem are predicted to last long and pose a risk to our Millennium Development Goals put forth by the U.N. Our target goals are supposed to be achieved by 2015 but most goals cannot be achieved unless everyone puts effort in improving the management of our ecosystems. Three of the MDG's goals are to eliminate hunger, decrease child mortality/undernourishment, and decrease diseases.

In the forth and final finding they state that lots of resources and money must be invested in technology and education but that we will not see results for years. These options will help reverse the degradation of our ecosystem while meeting increasing demand for services. The costs of some of these can be high and other negative outcomes are uncertain. It then talks about how degradation is hard to reverse without addressing the negative effects and positive outcomes of the five indirect drivers of change. An effective response to sustainable development must address these drivers and overcome any barriers related to the ecosystem.

Offline Activity

Last weekend I went for a walk in Assiniboine Park with my girlfriend Hilary and her little sister Amy. Amy is only five years old and like any child very interested in the world. Along with answering thousands of questions we got to see a little wildlife and really connect with nature. I think that I might have even enjoyed it more than her and that when I have kids I will definitely be spending a lot of time outdoors with them.

Diavik Diamond Mine

I went to high school in the Northwest Territories and from personal experience I can say that Diavik Diamond Mine does a lot for the communities and the people in the north. I know a lot of people who work at this mine in particular and others such as BHP and Acadi. Diavik provides many jobs to people in the north most of the time you fly in and work for two weeks then you have two weeks off. They also have many community and Aboriginal programs all across the north. I even got a scholarship from them when I graduated from high school. I was checking out their website and the sustainable development link. Basically they list that they have safe environmental practices and that they give back to the communities in the north, which they really do. One of the major downsides about a mine is the habitat destruction. But I think that they support the northern families so well that what Diavik takes from the land they give enough back to keep the northern communities alive. Check out the website for yourself.

www.diavik.ca

Oil on Ice Documentary

In class on January 27 we watch the documentary film Oil on Ice. I knew a little bit about the Alaskan pipeline and that there was a wildlife reserve in Alaska to stop the oil companies from destroying all of the caribous habitat. What I didn't know that was surprising is that in the reserve the government left area 1002 under a special clause that could possibly allow drilling in the future. This area is the main calving grounds for the caribou and it would most definitely effect the herd if there were huge oil plants built there. What I don't understand is that why would the government make a wildlife reserve and then leave a special clause in it to allow some of the reserve to be drilled in the future if they could gain enough support. When you make a national park or a wildlife reserve your supposed to make it to protect the wildlife and land forever. Now that there is a chance, even as small as it is, the oil companies will continue to try and get support to drill there because it would mean more money for them. Oil is one of the worlds most sot after resources and the oil companies are large and very powerful, which is bad for the people fighting against them. I know that George W. Bush wanted to open area 1002 up for drilling but it didn't happen when he was in office. I just hope that Barrack Obama doesn't want the same thing.

Another very interesting thing on the documentary was that in a town somewhere in Alaska they were interviewing the Mayor/Chief about the oil companies. He was angry because they didn't give everybody enough money, that they don't offer any northerners jobs, and that they are destroying their way of life. But as they film him showing up to work he pulls up in his Hummer H1! I mean hes complaining about the oil company's and how they don't help him but he's driving one of the most gas consuming vehicles! This was very ironic and he should really think of all the positive things that the oil companies do for his town like bringing in money to their economy. However there are still more negative impacts of drilling for oil in the north than positive.

Blog Reflection

Where do your environmental ethics lie?

My beliefs are between ecocentric and biocentric but leaning more toward ecocentrism. I believe that the ecological system is more important than any biological being because it is needed to support all forms of life. However I also believe that all beings should be treated equal in that humans should not be allowed to destroy habitats for their own gain if there are other species already living there. But if there's a situation where a choice has to be made and either a human or another species will die then I think that priority should be given to the human being. This is an anthropocentric point of view but it is only in a specific case that I believe it should be applied. Humans can be placed along side other beings but we need to start believing that we are animals as well and that because we take more than what is necessary from the environment we need to give more back. I believe that solely biocentric or ecocentric ethical standing will not work because the world is complex and humans have evolved to far.

Blog Reflection

Is a deeper connection to nature likely to influence our decisions?

I think that if the majority of human beings had a deeper connection with nature then they would be less likely to make environmental damaging decisions. We rely on the environment in a lot of ways but we take more than what we need to survive and our society is not concerned with what happens to other living things that also need the environment. After watching the video "Going Home" in class I can support this argument by adding that we are animals but we think we are superior to other biological beings in our environment because we are smarter and have developed further. However other animals only take what they need to survive and create a sustainable balance, we disrupt this balance by our selfish ways. We have to go back to our roots when we used to appreciate and respect nature so that are decisions are better influenced. If more people would go out for a hike in their closest park or forest then they could get a better relationship with nature, see how beautiful it is, and I think it would help them want to protect it even more.

Selection 11

Will Hurricane Katrina Impact Shoreline Management?

Orrin H. Pilkey and Robert S. Young

They discuss hurricane Camille in 1969 and how its destruction was very similar to Katrina which happened in 2005. They talk about Dauphin Island, Alabama and how it has repeatedly been hit with hurricanes and that each time the island can get washed northward creating more land on the north side and ocean water receding over the south side. In the past storms have also created inlets cutting across the island. It has been rebuilt a number of times because it is in a high hurricane area and it should have never been developed. In the American barrier island there is constantly new development happening and along with it is a rise in coastal population. Out of these lessons comes two views. One is that the U.S. should retreat from developing the oceanfront. The second view is that hurricanes demand that we increase our efforts and government spending on beach nourishment and continue to develop on the coasts. The followers of the second view believe that the primary goal would be to save lives and property. But really beach replenishment is a desperate attempt to hold off the natural response of the shorelines to a rising sea level. The authors believe that if you remove the coastal development then the beach will replenish itself and there would be no need for a replenishment program. They then give some problems of beach replenishment such as a constructed shoreline may look safe but might not be. And even though it may have storm protections it wouldn't matter when dealing with large hurricanes like Katrina. When pumping sand on a beach results in ecological impacts that effect a wide variety of biological life. And the costs for replenishment comes from all tax payers whether living by a beach or not.

Pilkey and Young believe that the government should stop funding development on all vulnerable coastal areas which are prone to hurricanes. They then list several obstacles to prevent rebuilding such as the hard ache that citizens go through when mass amounts of people die because they live in these at risk areas. Some think that not rebuilding where you live is seen as fleeing and unpatriotic but it's really insanity if you continue to live there. Even some think that coastal development is good for our economy but really it's not because so much is destroyed after a hurricane and so much aid and support is needed from the government. And some believe that the benefits out way the risk but then they should pay for all the damage that happens when a destructive force hits because they receive all the benefits when living there.

They believe that there should be a committee that determines which coastal areas the government will pull federal support from because they are considered a high risk area. It would consist of scientists and environmentalists and would use data and knowledge to determine which areas would be pulled. They believe that it will only be a matter of time until we are forced to do this because our federal deficit will reach a boiling point with the national economy.

They then talk about Louisiana's wetlands problems and high costs associated with helping the loss of wetlands. They then discuss concerns with this such as fixing the problems caused by engineering, water extraction, and rising sea levels. They think that if the U.S. is going to spend billions on this wetland then they should not forget about all the other wetlands.

Bottom line is that they believe the impact of Katrina on the coast could be used to help support a different national coast policy. Scientific knowledge along with social responsibility should be used and we should not rush into any immediate decisions.