Blog 7

Blog # 7 My Topic


My topic is Environmental Racism against minority based, low income urban communities. This is probably one of the hardest topics to narrow down and research. I was originally going to try to narrow it down even further to environmental racism against hispanic communities in N.Y. but I found virtually no literature on this topic so I had to broaden it and I hope that will be ok. Let me know what you think people, please.



Environmental racism is exactly what it sounds like, just as I stated in my paper it is basically the degradation of the environment by industry in communities of vulnerable people who are targeted because of race, income or ethnicity. Let me give you an example which I feel will explain it the best way. Did you ever see the movie with Julia Roberts called Erin Brockovich? For those of you who did not it is about a woman who starts working for a small law firm in a rural area in the United States and was given a case to help work on that involved a large company.This company contaminated a community of people with toxins that was produced by a facility they placed in the area. A lot of these residents acquired cancer because of the toxins that was produced from this facility. The majority of these people were hard working but of the lower social economic status and uneducated. This made it very easy to take advantage of them and that is Environmental Racism or Environmental classism which usually goes hand in hand. These people's health was sacrificed by a toxic environment due to the actions of this wealthy powerful company who specifically targeted these people because it was the easiest way to get what they wanted and they placed little value on the health of these residents because of their economic status.



My goal is to explain to people who are unaware of this issue and people who are being affected by this issue the cause, effects and possible solutions of Environmental Racism. This is the audience I feel is the most important to reach because knowledge is power and it might get people to become pro active on such an important problem within our society. I hope that I can give my readers a clear explanation of what environmental racism consists of and instill in my readers a deep concern about this issue with examples of what happens to individuals affected by environmental racism.




I want my paper to be able to be used as a reference for students researching the topic. I would also like the reader to be able to use my paper as they would a web site or a panflit which is to get direct simple answers to questions they have on the issue and that was difficult for me to do. Whenever I read about an issue I want to cut to the chase and get the answers I am looking for in laymen terms and with good interesting examples to help me understand the issue better. That is my objective with this paper.


Here are some of the sources I will use for my paper with a brief explanation of what it is about:


http://academic.udayton.edu/

This web site has an article titled “COINCIDENCE OR ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM?” that looks at whether environmental racism exists or not. It researches the issue of hazardous waste facilities and if they are concentrated in communities of color. It looks at cases that argue for and against environmental racism.


http://www.unrisd.org/

This website has another article titled “Environment and Morality: Confronting Environmental Racism in the United States” which describes what environmental racism is in detail and also its connection with dominant society and its institutions.


http://www.ncpa.org/ National Center for Policy Analysis

This website has an article titled “Environmental Racism?” It brakes down environmental racism by categories such as, The Search for Environmental Racism and Moving to Areas With Pollution.

Reflection

Blog #6

When I first registered for this course I really thought it would be just another English course that would help teach me how to structure a paper well and how to find good sources for a research paper. I am happy that’s not all it is about. I am glad that we are actually speaking about something that I find extraordinarily important and interesting.



My thoughts on the environment were very limited before this course. I rarely thought of the physical environment other than not to litter because my father always taught me that this was improper. My focus on issues such as global warming was only beginning to come into light because of all the new found media coverage on this topic and the movie “The Inconvenient Truth”. I have to say that my concerns about issues within the social environment for groups of people were always a concern for me, so in that particular department of the environment I have always been interested and somewhat knowledgeable about. Overall I was just another consumer in this materialistic, capitalistic and individualistic country that was ignorant to these issues.



Looking back on the first day of class I remember the class discussion revolving around the question, what is the environment? I automatically thought of what I always think about when I hear this question which stems from my psychology classes and that is everything in the external world that effects an individual’s development. This to me meant communities, people, culture and institutional leadership which is basically government. I wasn’t on the wrong track but it is much more than just these things. Everything that I spoke about does affect the other departments of the environment but it is not solely what makes up the environment. All the physical aspects of our environment such as nature is a big part of environment.



Watching the movie “The Inconvenient truth” was enlightening. It made me question everything I do. Maybe that’s a good thing but I can’t save the world alone and that disturbs me. Another thing that bothers me is that now that I know the logistics of how we destroy our environment can I live up to the standards that I will impose on myself, probably not. I can’t beat myself up when I don’t turn the water off while brushing my teeth or make sure to turn off all the lights before I leave the house or use my mug when I buy a cup of coffee. I just have to try to remember next time and make an effort.



Reading the blogs and looking at the websites was interesting. It made the issues with the environment real and also not so hopeless. Seeing how people felt about the environment inspired me as a member of this society to contribute to helping with environmental issues such as global warming. Seeing sites like http://waterpowergas.com showed me the resources out there I can use to help become a greener person. I had no idea that there was such a thing as green energy, call me dumb. Don’t mistaken my comments like Vanessa says I am not going to quite my job move to the mountains with my family and become a hippy but I realized I need to become more responsible for this earth. Just the simple fact that I sit here and have all the materials I need to survive and abuse the extra resources out there when people around the world don’t have any should put me to shame.




I don’t want to run on and on but I need to talk about one more important part of our class that stands out for me up until now and that was the research on how certain religions relate to the environment. Hinduism really impressed me aside from my topic which was Daoism because it displayed the most respect and practical solutions for using nature without abusing it. One aspect of Hinduism that I remember was the principle which title slips my mind that basically states, if you are going to chop down a tree to build a home or for any other important reason than plant another tree in its place. Take and give back at the same time. Think about it 1-1+1=1 just like Colin Beavan from the blog no impact man said his motto was when he started his journey. With this principle you haven’t disturbed a thing in nature, its death but then rebirth, it is the Ying and Yang of nature and I’ll leave you with that.


Another great website that teaches people about going green, why and how to do it:http://earth911.org

Green Sites

1.Blogs on the Environment

The Sustainable Cities Blog

This blog was very interesting and useful. It showed me about the way that the
CUNY institutes are becoming involved in the environmental movement. It was
impressive. I liked finding out about some of the projects that are being done
in our city and around the country to get people involved in environmental
issues such as the Expanding Access to Science project were the foundation
called National Science Foundation sponsors trips for 300 people to the
continent of Antarctica for research purposes but also to encourage people of
diverse backgrounds to become apart of the science profession. It was wonderful
to hear that this foundation was paying for three students from a Harlem middle
school to go to Antarctica with their teacher and a science researcher. It
exposes the children to this field and puts enfaces on the environment as well
as give them an opportunity to experience this continent which they might not
have been able to otherwise.



The site gave me a lot of information on environmental issues in the city of New
York and the projects being done in regards to environmental issues here such as
City by the Coast which educates New Yorkers on the problems facing the city
with the water pollution in the water that surrounds the city. The project’s
objective is to get New Yorkers involved with developing strategies to
rehabilitate our polluted waters. There is a lot of information like this on the
site and there is also links like News on environmental topics, N.Y. Blogs were
people talk about the issues going on in the city and how it affects New Yorkers
and the environment and Environmental Groups that you can find out about. This
was one of my favorite sites.

Some cool websites on this site:
http://earthpledge.org/
This site tries to get business and government to help with producing sustainable products.

http://www.pps.org/
This site is focuses on topics related to building better communities environmentally, socially and economically.


2.Gristmill

This site was good but a little more difficult to keep up with. It seemed like a
site that was more for professionals or individuals who were involved in depth
with political and scientific environmental issues. I need things explained to
me in laymen terms when it comes to certain environmental topics or issues not
so scientifically technical or even politically. There were blogs from
individuals who seemed like they either were involved in politics or science
that spoke about environmental topics but I was lost in some of the subject
matter.



It is educational but extremely technical it at times put me to sleep which is
not really serving its purpose. There was some great links to web sites and
other blog pages that were really good sources for environmental topics such as
African American Environmentalist Association and even though some of the blogs
are difficult to read it is a site that speaks about every aspect of the
environment such as lead in toys, climate, legislation regarding the environment
and how business contributes to and against environmental issues, so you could
learn a lot on what is going on with the environment within all these different
departments (but beware you might have to do a lot of googleing for the explanations on a lot of the information being offered).



3.Green as a Thistle.com

Ok I have to be honest what Vanessa has done is commendable as I wrote in the comment I sent to her but I can’t help but to get a little annoyed at her cynicism. She is a great writer and very informative but the vibe of her blog seems to be off. It seems to be more like her high school diary than a serious blog about trying to go green which is a hard but great achievement. Maybe it is just me and the way I write is strictly with a direct purpose which might tend to get a bit boring a times so who am I to talk. Hey I am writing a bit off kilter for me so I might have been influenced by Vanessa’s blog. Instead of criticizing her blog I will point out the highlights that really caught me.


I really enjoyed the Loving it and Regretting it part of her blog because it showed the reader what worked for her like her tote bag that helps her save plastic and paper by not needing to use them and her electricity bill which is pretty much easy to figure out why. Then she gives you insight on what has not been working for her like her shampoo which I found out was grouse but environmentally friendly. This has always got me thinking; if I were to try these green methods do they all work or at least replace your old methods with equal convenience and pleasure? So I got my answer which by the way does not divert me from being inspired to try and go green. Overall I did like this site and will recommend it to people to view. It is different, Young, very attractive and an important site for the environment movement.

Cool website from this Blog:
http://www.cafepress.com/ This site has really trendy environmentally friendly clothing.
Green as a Geek

This blog reinforced some of my fears about certain people who start some of these ventures and that is that it is all for sensationalism and profit. I don’t want to judge this man who has been through a lot to try and take care of the environment by not contributing to waste and planting trees through organizations while ridding his bike not to pollute the air with more green gasses but when I heard he had a book and a movie coming out on it, this made me question his intentions and his sincerity. If this was for money and recognition than will he continue his plight for a better environment or will he revert back to his old ways all together and say “mission accomplished”? Well once again I will try not to be a pessimist like Vanessa and focus on the positive qualities of this site.



When no impact man spoke about comparing the way we as a society see the environment issues like we look at drug addicts as having no hope to change the destruction they do to themselves. This was a great comparison because it makes sense. This mentality is what stops us from helping everyone involved in the situation which ends up being the population. Let me give you an example:



People in prison are viewed as the garbage of society. We stick these individuals in a cage in prison and say throw away the key. Right? We as a society don’t even like the idea that our taxes pay for their room and board as if they are in some type of club med that we support, anyway we say NO to putting more funds into the prison system for rehabilitation purposes because prisoners #1 can’t be rehabilitated and #2 why should we pay for these creeps rehabilitation. In essence what we are doing is saying there is no hope to better the situation and give up but what people don’t realize is that some of these individuals can be rehabilitated and going into an environment like prison with no help usually perpetuates the individual’s behavior. If we rehabilitate these individuals than when half of them are let back on the streets they will not pose any sort of danger to society which means you and me.




This applies to the way we keep denying the environmental issues as if there is no hope anyway or why should I sacrifice my conformable lifestyle for the environment and the masses, Because it is going to destroy your future and the future of your family.

Good website:
http://solar1.org/ This site is set up by an environmental education center to educate New Yorkers on the environment


Eco Geek

This is a useful site because you can find a lot of products that are on the market or going to be on the market that are good for the environment. I have to admit I must have been in the dark but I never knew about all the alternatives out there for environmentally safe products. This site’s blogs are pretty good also. My favorite was the one where the person says that they are upset with the way humans in this country consume bottled water when we have clean water to drink and so many people in the world don’t aside from the environment repercussions from drinking bottled water.

I also loved the idea of the Zero houses. These houses are environmentally safe and use solar power. They need to fix all the odds and evens and have it available for people to purchase. I like it so much I will give you a website that is awesome and shows zero houses:
http://gizmodo.com/

Well that’s all folks because I am exhausted and my children will be waking up soon.

I put my comment for Vanessa under "The Final Post"