Presentation 4/17 Argentina

Dr. Taylor's class, please comment on my presentation I am giving today.

Education and the Proliferation of New (Old) Concepts (response)

This article talks about the U.S. educational system and its effectiveness in preparing children for their future.  For about a century, the U.S. educational system's main emphasis has been equipping children with the knowledge they will need for their future jobs.  Over the past few years, people have been fed up with the educational system because it doesn't prepare kids for life.  A lot of underprivileged schools stray from the frame of mind: equip our students with the knowledge they will need for their future jobs, and just worry about getting them into the next grade level.  Another important point that this article made was that the education system in America needs to teach more about sustainability.  "The Tragedy of the Commons" was a book written enlightening the idea about preserving natural resources.  Children need to know about the "Tragedy of the Commons" so they can know what our world is like as so they can fix it. Things like project-based learning, social reconstructionism, and community-based curriculums would be more applicable to real life and should be incorporated into the U.S. educational system is another point the article made.  These are old concepts that focus more on interaction, which is essential in order to be successful in life.  The emphasis for this article is that the old concepts that were just mentioned need to be mixed into the education in the U.S.

Reflection Indigenous Resistance

This paper talks about the Coast Salish people of British Columbia and Washington State.  The Coast Salish people have resisted modern education as a tool of cultural eradication.  The schools reject the indigenous discourse and it is creating problems with Coast Salish people.  Integrated public schools became worse for racism in the 1960's to 1970's.  Education from the North American perspective seems to only concern things within their borders.  From the Coast Salish people, looking in, they see the presence of multiple empires that we as Americans, cannot see.  There is currently a blending of language and culture in America, why can't there be a blend of education?  The Coast Salish people believe that they are a culture without borders unlike the Aboriginal people.  In the early 1900's, residential schooling helped keep other races from being in the schools.  When integration happened, the issue of racism became apparent.  Discrimination became worse and most adolescents were forced to go to boarding schools to escape the corruption.  The Coast Salish people represent the struggle to integrate indigenous people into modern education.

Meatrix

The idea of the meatrix is that consumers don't know where and how their food is being made.  I can relate to this as a consumer because on several occasions, I will eat fast food without wondering where it came from.  Consumers have the most power when it comes to what supermarkets are putting on their shelves.  Most people don't understand the steps that are involved in making a cheeseburger at a fast food restaurant.  I know that I didn't before I watched Food Inc.  If we make the public aware of this disturbing information then we can put a stop to the inhumane treatment of animals.  The public needs to know about the hidden meatrix.  Large food corporations don't want the public to know the truth because they fear that it will hurt their business, but the consumers need to stand up against this potential crisis.

Biotechnology

Biotechnology is an advancement that is helping to feed the population growth worldwide.  The biotechnology is being applied to the food sector, which is helping to create more modified crops for an ample supply of food.  Genetic engineering is a part of biotechnology that is really helping the advancement of the public sector.  This is made possible through genetically modified crops engineered for specific defenses or traits.  For example, if there is a crop that is needed in a region where insects are a problem, scientists can genetically modify the crop to be resistant to a particular insect.  In the past, scientists have also modified crops to make them grow larger and to the fullest potential.  This is essential to sustaining our growing population.  

Linking Fracking to Water Pollution

Water contamination is a serious issue in the United States right now and needs to be addressed.  Hydraulic fracturing has been used in the U.S. for over ten years and researchers just now identified contaminants in central Wyoming.  “Fracking,” short for fracturing, is what scientists call the seepage of pressurized liquid being forced to the earth’s surface, thus causing fractures in the rock.

             This is the environmental downside to America’s quest for oil.  The drilling industry is just on one big treasure hunt; drilling first, asking questions later.  Although excavating for oil and natural gas is important for the U.S. economy to grow, at what cost to the environment will the drilling companies go to in order to ensure economic sustainability?  And is economic sustainability more important than ecological sustainability? 

            The EPA’s findings of hydrocarbons and other trace contaminants in residents’ water supply shows that fracking could be polluting the environment.  Futhermore, the same chemicals that are in the fracking have been detected in the local water supply in Wyoming.  This concludes that fracking is linked to water contamination.  The drilling industry needs to take the environment into account before they start drilling everywhere.  I am curious about how the federal government addresses this issue.  Since it is so key to the U.S. economy, will they just overlook the underlying problem?  What the federal government should do is put a halt to further drilling and come up with a plan to reverse the damage and pollution from fracking.  

Cape Hatteras Environmental Artifact

An environmental artifact that I found is fairly close to home.  Cape Hatteras lighthouse, located in Buxton, North Carolina, has been moved a couple hundred yards up the beach to keep it from falling into the ocean.  Erosion is a huge problem in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  This is a form of history because when it was first constructed in the 1800's, there was plenty of land separating the lighthouse from the ocean.  Over the past 200 years however, the distance eroded has put the lighthouse in danger.  If the lighthouse had not been moved, we would be looking at history being put to death by nature.