Environmental Issues and Opportunities

Judith Plant introduces two pivotal words to the reader from the title onward in her piece Searching for Common Ground: Ecofeminism and Bioregionalism. Ecofeminism stems from the common dominating relationship men exert on ecosystems and women around the world. Plant equates the violence and sexual abuse conducted towards women as analogous to the “rape of read more »

In his work ‘The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis’ Lynn White, Jr. accuses Christianity as the driving theosophy of the degradation and destruction of nature. He readily makes this sentiment apparent as he writes, “Christianity, in absolute contrast to ancient paganism and Asia’s religions (except, perhaps, Zoroastrianism), not only established a dualism of man read more »

Several authors have mentioned the consequences that climate change will have on island nations. While droughts, famines and extreme weather events occupy the minds of folk living on large continents, residents of island nations have to worry about their country disappearing due to flooding by the end of the century. Peter Singer comments that low read more »

Leopold writes eloquently of the melting winter in his section entitled “January Thaw”. He astutely recants abiotic events that occur during the turn of winter and opens the reader’s mind to a biotic world that interacts deeply. Leopold follows the tracks of a skunk and observes how different creatures attain or lose the ‘freedom from read more »

Bill McKibben feels that the fossil fuel industry relies upon the degradation of the planet for profit. By burning up the remaining fossil fuel reserves still in the soil, these corporations will significantly disrupt the global carbon cycle and create run away global warming with temperatures well above the doomed 2 degrees Celsius. He advocates read more »

As a converted vegetarian and vegan, the article by Michael Pollan sincerely touched me. In high school I had confronted the many tragedies that the factory farming operations perpetuate. Michael writes about engaging with other animals and specifically mentions the importance of looking into an animal’s eyes. He asserts that, “eye contact, always slightly uncanny, read more »

As humanity continues to dominate and degrade the globe, the cultures of people must undergo enormous scrutiny and reform for our species to transform its way of life and live in harmony with the planet. Cultures drive the motivations and actions of people based upon a ethical systems. The ethics represented in the culture come read more »

ESE 311 – WRITING ASSIGNMENT ONE – ERICH EISENHART – 02/09/2014 Dear grandmother,   After I asked you questions about your environmental concerns, political stance, hopes and outlooks, I used that information to write a blog post about your attitude toward the environment. All of my other classmates interviewed people that they know as well, read more »

Authors Paul Hawken and James Gustave Speth argue that our current system of capitalism spells disaster for the ecological and social dimensions of the planet, and subsequently call for an overhaul of our current system. Hawken shares four crucial principles for this new economic system that must guide the actions of corporations and businesses worldwide read more »

A synthesis of questions written on page 33 of Wendell Berry’s Conservation is Good Work: How might local communities construct local economies and supply themselves in a sustainable way? In Conservation is Good Work, Berry argues that, “the problems we are worried about are caused not just by other people but by ourselves” (33). He read more »