Blog Reflection #1b Precautionary Principle

Thinking about the Precautionary Principle I do not believe that it would have any negative consequences when widely enforcing the use of this rule or law. I mean how can taking action to prevent serious harm be a bad principle to encourage. I do believe that this regulation will bring forth many good changes to our environment because this law places the environment as the number one issue disregarding any other view point such as social, political or economical. Although is does say cost effective measures, I think thes words were added to protect the well being of whoever is paying for this measure. I would encourage this to be widely applied in environmental regulation because this is exactly the kind of law that needs to be passed in order for major changes to be happening.

Blog Reflection #1a media biased

Environmental sustainability is a very complex and a highly scientific issue that must be examined with every stand point in mind such as; economically, politically, socially, religiously, and environmentally. Therefore this fact would make it very difficult for the media to report on these complex issues. The media tends to focus on political and social issues that are of interest to the most of the public. Although the environment has been a topic of discussion in the media for quite some time, the main stream society has not yet captured it to be an interesting story to follow and the reporters have not yet found it in themselves to promote sustainable living as the most important habit for society.
Not only are environmental issues complex, there is also a long lag time between the issue arising and the full scientific proof supporting the topic making it very difficult for viewers or readers to follow up on the subjects. The media takes their information from whoever delivers it to them and makes a story with it to capture people's attention. Although many stories that the media covers are biased, many of them are "fixed" later when they get a hold of new pieces of information. The idea that media is biased must be dealt with on a case to case basis.
I am one to assume the media is reporting false facts but there are laws preventing them from doing so. The media reports on the information that they have and not less but I do believe they leave things out in order to make it more viewer friendly. Also the producer of these stories really seeks what is the headlines and not what are the major issues we, as a society, are facing, whether disastrous or environmentally.
For example, the story about Bisphenol A in plastic bottles being a harmful hormone disruptor, this chemical is released int o the liquid when heated and the body reacts to it liek Estrogen. This story has been scientifically proven today, but when it was first leaked through media, it made headlines. People heard different opinions on this issue, such as Coca Cola a major corporation, was denying these facts that were being reported saying there is no scientific proof available to prove this. Coca Cola was right at first, but when the science came out to prove this true, after quite some time, the media was still there to report the story. The media can be biased but in this example they were simply not well informed.

Online Activity- David Suzuki on early life events by David Suzuki Foundation

David Suzuki is to most environmentalists a hero. Now I watched a twenty minute video on David's early life, this really inspied me to think about my future and where I am headed with what I am doing at the moment. Every small step or course of action/education I take now will affect me later on, kind of how every small organism on earth has a meaning for life. Everything we do affects the fish and the birds and the animals. In this video I have deciphered what has struck me, as it follows: (If you want to get ahead in Canada you have to be prepared to work, you have to work ten times harder than a white person. The key to escaping our poverty is education. Getting an education was such an important part of what I was or what I need to do. Another thing is my father said is "Orientals have such a hard time speaking in public because we are so shy", this is what my father said "I want you to be a guest speaker", and it worked I won a lot of public speaking contests... Amherst College made me what I am academically today). This video can be found on this link: http://vimeo.com/7789739 .
Now I put myself in David's shoes and I want to be able to say the same words he speaks. As a french woman residing from a small town, I think I have to explain, express and prove myself more to make a difference environmentally throughot my life. I know that getting an education is the most important piece of the puzzle in doing so. If I want to become an environmental lawyer I have many things to learn, and I want to be able to say University of Manitoba made me who I am academically today.

Selection #36

The poor Nations are overpopulated compared to rich ones, but it is the ecological footprints of these nations that must be looked at. It is safe to say the United States can be called the most over-populated nation on earth if we calculate their ecological footprint. The cahnce of taking care of an ever increasing population is decreasing. The population explosion is our biggest concern when dealing with the environmenatal crisis, the hard part is finding a way to deal with this issue.

Basically, we must reach an optimal sustainable population size. The issue with this is aggreeing on how many people can be supported considering agriculture, grounwater, and biodiversity issues. Some say it is possible to be capable of supporting the largest possible sustainable population if we would divert to solar energy and increase our efficiency. Many changes will have to be made to our lifestyles and infrastructures to obtain acceptable energy consumption.

To control conception people, mostly women, will have to be well educated on the issues surrounding population explosion and the means to control their reproduction. This is strongly associated to women's liberation and right to determine their own destiny. Nowadays, contraception and abortion are widely used as birth control amongst women.

The countries with the highest birth rates are extremely poor, which means it is safe to say that ending population growth would include; adequate food, health care, sanitation, education, and economic opportunities for both sexes, resources control and fair governments. What need be done is government policies and religious leaders need to support family planning and need to provide employment for families instead of them having many children to be able to have an adequate household income. In addition to controlling population size, nations must reduce consumption and deploy the most environmentally friendly technologies possible.

Population growth may be the most disastrous force compared to over-consumption and to disastrous technologies since it is undeniably the hardest positive feedback habit to end because it is encrypted in us to want to reproduce and keep our species alive. If we care about our planet and our descendants we have no choice but to try.

selection #32

The main idea of this production is to underline that we as humand are all interlinked and comparable to each living organism on planet earth. A diverse life on earth is primarily the most important thing to the continuence of our health and life. When we ignore that fact it leads us to where we are today as mankind, we are exposing ourselves to numerous chemicals which affects us in ways we do not know. What we do know is that animals are changing due to the chemical exposure; which means that meat eaters are being exposed to a much higher concentration because of the accumulation in food webs.

We often forget in this man-made world that humans are not the most important species, every living organisms is equal and we must fight to protect that. We forget that we are all rooted or bound naturally to each and every species.

Our experience with chemicals that persists in our body fat illustrates the idea perfectly that humans and animals are all interconnected. The skeptics believe that even though synthetic chemicals affect animals the way they have, this has nothing to do with mankind. Scientists do know that DES disrupts hormones in many species including children who have been exposed to there in their mother's wound. Von Saal's research demonstrates that smaller doses of synthetic chemicals often cause more damage to hormones than larger doses. This research questions the fundamental theory in the study of poisons and their effects. With these studies done to rats and mice, it is not safe to conclude hormone disruptors threaten humans the same way it affects animals. Doctors have already seen genital abnormalities in children which they believe is linked to synthetic chemicals. We have been ignorant to the warnings.

selection #42

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomen to repeat it." (Taken from Classic Edition Sources Environmental Science Third Edition by Thomas Easton).

For as long as homo-sapiens have existed there has been collapses of societies; complete vanish of human life in an area, such as Central America, or on an island, such as Easter Island. The societies have vanished due to the underminen of resources, which leads to unintended ecological suicide- called ecocide. Damage done to the environment falls into 8 categories including deforestation, destruction of habitats, soil and water problems, growing resource demands for a growing population and alien invasive species. The risk of ecological suicide is still a factor except we are facing new risks including climate change and energy shortages, this means future generations will have no choice but to deal witht these problems.

We can learn from collapses in past societies but we cannot believe that studyin the past will bring simple solutions and we must realize that technology cannot solve every problem. There are many small reminders around us making us think about the harm done to the environment but we must remain optimistic about the future of our globalized planet. We must rememeber about the factors that will reside from ecocide, such as: continued ignorance, climate change affecting growing seasons, hostile neighbours, and a decrease in the help of friendly neighbours.

The environmental impacts are possibly looked at in two view-points; pro-environmentalist and non-environmentalist witht the business factor in mind. Nowadays, big businesses that are causing the most pollution are effectively taking interest in the environment. We must encourage the study relating biotic and abiotic aspects of the environment and all work together to solve this world crisis.