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.

Relationship Between Religion and the Environment

The relationship between religion and the environment should be balanced.  We should respect the environment and try to protect it as much as we can because it is the religious thing to do.  We must honor the world in which we live because in doing that we are honoring our creator.  Apathy is not an option for religious people.  It is impossible to not care about the environment at all and call yourself a religious person.  With that being said, we can't be consumed by the world because the world is a sinful place.  We are to honor the earth's beauty, but not be consumed by it because it is only our temporary home (most religions believe in an afterlife).  So the religious people should respect the environment because in doing that they are pleasing their god or gods.  Religion should be the most important thing in one's life.  But the environment should be important to because with it comes the life that you have been given by your perspective creator.  I found an article that talks about Multicultural Environmental Ethics.  In this interesting article, the author exemplifies different religions and the role they need to play in the environment.  Here is the link:  JSTOR: Daedalus, Vol. 130, No. 4 (Fall, 2001), pp. 77-97

Richard Kahn's "Towards Ecopedagogy" Reflection

The human population is larger than it has ever been in the history of existence.  This means that resources are being extracted from the earth faster than ever before.  The use of fossil fuels has damaged our environment by releasing harmful gases into the atmosphere.  American industry in general has devastated our environment because of the way we use the earth’s natural resources, leading to depletion. 

            Tree consumption is a huge concern because we can’t live without the trees providing us with oxygen.  About half of the earth’s forests are disappearing according to Richard Kahn.  Not only does this reduce the amount of usable oxygen in the environment, but cutting down forests also destroys habitats, which causes an ecological chain of destruction.  When a certain species’ habitat is destroyed, they are forced to leave their environment.  If this particular species is a keystone species, then all the other animals living nearby will die off.  Even if the species isn’t that important, the absence might alter the hierarchal order of the ecosystem causing a new dominant species to arise. 

            Another concern to environmentalists is the recent decline in fisheries.  We rely heavily on the fishing industry because it provides us with food to support our growing population.  Problems with overfishing is affecting the ecosystem in the North Pacific.  Off the coast of Washington, salmon are taken away from the wild  and are placed in fish farms where they can mature and multiply.  This helps our fishing industry a lot, but it is killing the ecosystem of the North Pacific.  The species mainly affected by the shortage of the salmon are the species that depend on the salmon in order to survive.  We depend on the salmon in order to survive, but we are not the species in immediate danger.  The species most affected are the Orcas, or most commonly called, the killer whales.  The Killer Whales are currently an endangered species.  This is just an example of how the environment is affected by human actions.

            While modern countries are disrupting the environment by consuming more resources, other countries are impacting the environment less by living off of less resources.  Why can’t everyone just use less than they have to so we can save what is left of our wonderful earth?  The answer is because no matter what, people either haven’t heard the news about our earth becoming less sustainable, or don’t care that the earth has a shorter timeline due to our mass consumption of fossil fuels. 

            The only thing we can do to slow down the rate of degradation is to create a generation more cautious of the harmful affects of extracting fossil fuels.  We need to educate our children to care for the earth so we can prolong our existence.  They need to learn at a very young age that everything of the earth is vital to human life.  Every tree and organism has significance on this earth and should therefore be protected.  Parents need to do a better job of setting an example for their children to follow and live by when they are grown adults.  It doesn’t matter what teachers tell their students, the kids will ultimately do what their parents tell them.  It is our job to teach our kids to take care of the earth.  This is the only way we can turn back the clocks.  The fate of the generations to come rests in our hands.  Our encouragement and example has the power to change the course of civilization from capitalistic to conservatism.