Leticia Lares
Workshop Three: Response Paper II
Warner Pacific Adult Degree Program
Professor: Terrell
April 23, 2010
Our Natural Resources and Environmental Regulations
Society as a whole or at least the majority needs to care about sustaining the environment they live in. We need to get educated about how our ecosystem works and what it does for us. We are very dependent on several of the natural resources around us. Too often it is out of ignorance or selfishness that we do not live a life that could be friendlier to our ecosystem. The author points out that we should study our environment from a systems perspective using the information that scientist have discovered and incorporating the policy process. This method should help us or at least is a step in the right direction to assess our natural resources and to help us establish environmental laws that will help us preserve our natural resources.
Honestly, before taking college courses at Warner, my knowledge of our natural resources was very limited and I was not as curious about how the ecosystem works. What I have learned thus far is that our environment works by itself in a lot of ways by utilizing natural resources like sunlight for example. We utilize this resource in many ways, to grow crops and flowers and for energy to power our electric appliances. The trees conserve the water from the rain. Our ecosystem can outlive us humans.
Sustainability is a key element of the preservation of natural resources. We need to learn to manage our current resources and to be careful of not depleting them. We need to educate ourselves and the rest of the world on how to do more with less. I like to see how the commercials advertise and promote recycling. Other times I have watched commercials on water conservation especially during the summer months. At work we have stickers next to the light switches that read, “Empty rooms like the dark. Please turn off the lights.” I also like to see that there is a tax on certain bottled drinks which makes me want to recycle that bottle to collect my five cents or give it to someone that stops by my house going through the recycling bins.
I am a Family-Community Resource Coordinator at an elementary school in Vancouver, Washington. Our school can best be described as a revolving door. We have a 40% mobility rate, the highest in our district and more than double in comparison to others. Our school is at 50% poverty level and close to 90% of our students qualifies for free or reduced meals. These are hard facts and not the best statistics. In my role I am responsible to budget and manage with very little resources for an area that is of high needs. Several of our students and families have many basic needs. That is were I come in. I help them with things like clothes, shoes, belts, underwear, socks, food, shampoo, and connect them with other local resources for affordable housing or preschool for instance.
After working here I am more appreciative of what I have and how I earn my money. My biggest paycheck is when I see the student’s big smiles or get a hug from them. However, this job has also taught me that we are capable of changing for the better and that we are also capable of caring about our communities. We have several community partners that donate items or money to help our Resource Center. I find that many of them are not aware of all the needs but once they realize what it takes to keep programs running are more than happy to contribute their time or money.
So to answer the question posed for this assignment of “How as a society can we establish environmental regulations that have an impact on our culture and lifestyle”, one person at a time. We can do this by informing our stakeholders and policy makers of the importance of living in ways that conserve our resources. We need to have laws that support our natural resource preservation and sustainability as well. There needs to be more support for our scientific community that spends hours on end researching these things.
References
Withgott, J., & Bennan, S. (2008). Environment: The Science Behind the Stories (3rd ed.). New York. Pearson Benjamin Cummings.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
One Minute For Peace!
Do you know how much is spent in the military every minute? Check it out: http://www.oneminuteforpeace.org/ The website has a very interesting clock so you can see how much is spent in the time you visit the website!
Imagine that we use that kind of money to support the environment! Imagine we use that kind of money to support peace! Just imagine for one minute that we follow Christ!
Imagine that we use that kind of money to support the environment! Imagine we use that kind of money to support peace! Just imagine for one minute that we follow Christ!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Oregon State professor wants to help power a nuclear renaissance | � OregonLive.com
This is an interesting article about new trends in the nuclear industry. It seems to me that the way to go is to have smaller plants that are more efficient, better controled, safe, and secure.
Oregon State professor wants to help power a nuclear renaissance | � OregonLive.com
Oregon State professor wants to help power a nuclear renaissance | � OregonLive.com
Energy Trust of Oregon's workshops
Energy Trust of Oregon is hosting a series of workshops for homeowners. http://blog.oregonlive.com/pdxgreen/2010/03/energy_trust_of_oregon_hosts_f.html
These workshops will help anyone that wants to make their homes more energy efficient and share information about grant opportunities.
These workshops will help anyone that wants to make their homes more energy efficient and share information about grant opportunities.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Nature and Me by Nathan Holthenrichs
Growing up in Arlington, Washington I have spent plenty of time in nature and have had quite a few experiences that automatically pop into my head. My house was out in nature, I had very few neighbors but if I walked in any direction I would hit woods. The thing I love most is the sounds of being outdoors and hearing the birds chirp, the wind blow, and the trees creak.
My most memorable moment in nature would definitely be the time I shot my first deer. It was a family hunting trip in Eastern Washington, involving me, my brother, my cousin, and both our dads. At the time I was probably 16 and this was my second year hunting for deer. Like most hunting and fishing, the best time to go out is early in the morning. The strategy was to get up and to our spot by sunrise, that way we would be quiet and ready to go by the time daylight struck. When we finally hiked to our spot which was about two miles down the path I was exhausted, and on top of that it began to rain. When I found my tree to lean on I just fell right to sleep to the sound of the rain falling through all the trees. When I woke up it was still raining, and I didn’t see anything so I decided to start hiking a little bit. The rain was actually a big advantage for me because it covered any scent I had and it was loud so I wouldn’t spook any deer. As I was walking I heard a rustle from the bushes and sure enough I startled up a 3 point buck from its bed and I shot it.
When people talk about buck fever you don’t know how incredible of a sensation it is until you experience it. Seeing a beautiful animal like that gives you such a rush, especially since it is what you have been looking for all day long. The only bad part about this memory has to be hauling this big animal out of the woods. Often times you tend to get carried away in awe while you’re out in the wild and you just travel further and further away from where you started not realizing you have to go all the way back. And that is what I dislike the most about nature, the walk or hike back to where you started.
Nature is extremely important to me in my life and I think always will be something I will enjoy sharing. I love to fish, hunt, camp, and hike. So I get my fair share of nature and realize how much it provides for us, like most of our foods. And also how much it can take from us, like what has happened in Haiti recently. In the Bouma-Prediger text there is a quote from David Orr that states “Can we do the difficult things that are necessary to live within the boundaries of the earth?” I believe this is a very serious question, because it is widely believed that at the rate we are going we will max out the earth’s population that it can sustain soon. We have to use our resources wisely, and not do harm to nature. Are we going to be able to do the thing that we have to for mankind to survive on this earth?
My second experience has to do with respecting nature, and realizing how mighty it is and how much we rely on it. When I was real little, probably 8 years old, we had a rope swing from our tree house out in the backyard. And my older brother and cousins use to always climb to the top of the latter and swing down from it and let go before they came back to the tree. I always would go from the bottom step and do a much smaller swing. Being young I was very heavily convinced by my elders and they talked me into swinging from the top even though I was scared to. When I did I never let go of the rope and swung back into the tree, knocked myself out, and gained a concussion. I didn’t take seriously how great nature is and I was careless with it.
When it comes to society with nature today, I believe we need to not jump, and act upon it like the timid scared boy I was. We need to realize that the damages we do to the earth now will affect us later on in life, and that all things are linked. Just because we don’t see any direct effects to the pollution and harm we do to the planet doesn’t mean that we aren’t hurting it, look at global warming. We do need to develop some sort of land ethics, so that we will treat this wonderful planet God put us on the way we should.
My most memorable moment in nature would definitely be the time I shot my first deer. It was a family hunting trip in Eastern Washington, involving me, my brother, my cousin, and both our dads. At the time I was probably 16 and this was my second year hunting for deer. Like most hunting and fishing, the best time to go out is early in the morning. The strategy was to get up and to our spot by sunrise, that way we would be quiet and ready to go by the time daylight struck. When we finally hiked to our spot which was about two miles down the path I was exhausted, and on top of that it began to rain. When I found my tree to lean on I just fell right to sleep to the sound of the rain falling through all the trees. When I woke up it was still raining, and I didn’t see anything so I decided to start hiking a little bit. The rain was actually a big advantage for me because it covered any scent I had and it was loud so I wouldn’t spook any deer. As I was walking I heard a rustle from the bushes and sure enough I startled up a 3 point buck from its bed and I shot it.
When people talk about buck fever you don’t know how incredible of a sensation it is until you experience it. Seeing a beautiful animal like that gives you such a rush, especially since it is what you have been looking for all day long. The only bad part about this memory has to be hauling this big animal out of the woods. Often times you tend to get carried away in awe while you’re out in the wild and you just travel further and further away from where you started not realizing you have to go all the way back. And that is what I dislike the most about nature, the walk or hike back to where you started.
Nature is extremely important to me in my life and I think always will be something I will enjoy sharing. I love to fish, hunt, camp, and hike. So I get my fair share of nature and realize how much it provides for us, like most of our foods. And also how much it can take from us, like what has happened in Haiti recently. In the Bouma-Prediger text there is a quote from David Orr that states “Can we do the difficult things that are necessary to live within the boundaries of the earth?” I believe this is a very serious question, because it is widely believed that at the rate we are going we will max out the earth’s population that it can sustain soon. We have to use our resources wisely, and not do harm to nature. Are we going to be able to do the thing that we have to for mankind to survive on this earth?
My second experience has to do with respecting nature, and realizing how mighty it is and how much we rely on it. When I was real little, probably 8 years old, we had a rope swing from our tree house out in the backyard. And my older brother and cousins use to always climb to the top of the latter and swing down from it and let go before they came back to the tree. I always would go from the bottom step and do a much smaller swing. Being young I was very heavily convinced by my elders and they talked me into swinging from the top even though I was scared to. When I did I never let go of the rope and swung back into the tree, knocked myself out, and gained a concussion. I didn’t take seriously how great nature is and I was careless with it.
When it comes to society with nature today, I believe we need to not jump, and act upon it like the timid scared boy I was. We need to realize that the damages we do to the earth now will affect us later on in life, and that all things are linked. Just because we don’t see any direct effects to the pollution and harm we do to the planet doesn’t mean that we aren’t hurting it, look at global warming. We do need to develop some sort of land ethics, so that we will treat this wonderful planet God put us on the way we should.
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