Relationship Between Religion and the Environment?

I feel that religion is something many of us turn to in order to strengthen one's faith and hope. One can be born into religious sect, but ultimately you choose what to believe in. A principal common to most denominations is to live through good actions and to strive to be the best person you can be. Conserving and protecting our natural world with good intentions and full will is a way religion could tie into the environment.

Some religions coincide with nature and to be in harmony with Mother Nature is an aspiration of disciples. I myself, am Hindu, and this concept is certainly emphasized. To find one's true inner self, one must seek past the surface and can do so through mediation in a natural, peaceful environment. We also are respectful towards Mother Nature and the nutrients she provides; since there are 33 core gods in the Hindu religion, we see god in all entities of the world. For instance, cows are considered a holy animal as they provide milk and nourishment, thus traditional Hindus do not eat red meat as they believe that god resides in these creatures.

5 Minute Free-Write

The Lululemon video, "Sh*t Yogis Say", that we watched in class today was poking fun at "yogis", people who are proficient in yoga. It was funny to be able to relate to the phrases dropped in the video since I take an abs, ballet, yoga/pilates class 5-6 times a week. The references to organic and BPA3 foods were humorous since I consider myself a health conscious person and catch myself when I sound "full of it".

A lot of videos similar to this one are springing up across in the internet - the first one I came across was called "Sh*t Girls Say", that exaggerated phrases many females say and numerous behaviors of ours were over-emphasized, but the video was still enjoyable to watch because it was true. These videos have become popular and the way I see it, sometimes it's okay to laugh at yourself.

Synthesis on Richard Kahn's Piece

Synthesis on Richard Kahn’s “Towards Ecopedagogy”

Ecopedagogy is a concept many of us young scholars may be unfamiliar with. Prior to reading Richard Kahn’s “Towards Ecopedagogy”, I myself, had to look up the definition in order to fully grasp the concepts Kahn introduces in his work. I found that ecopedagogy refers to a movement striving to educate the globe about the environment and the importance of maintaining sustainability. The article includes excerpts and the thoughts of several other environmentalists, as the author pieces them together with his response to the works he chose to include in his composition. The main point Kahn is trying to make is that in order to attain sustainability and conservation of the environment, the globe must be aware of just how serious the conditions are and methods humans can adapt to mend the damage we have done. His view is that without being educated about the environment, how are we supposed to save our planet from being completely destroyed?

            Richard Kahn brings several points to attention with statistics to back his facts up. He emphasizes the severity of the global environmental state by touching on Richard Leakey’s idea of “the Sixth Extinction”, which includes the disappearance of species over the last thirty years that the earth has not experienced in its previous sixty-five million years of existence. He highlights that the poor condition of the environment is trickling down and affecting impoverished regions of the world by having them withstand conditions of mass starvation, homelessness, slave-labor, and global sex trade. My first thoughts were, how can issues with the environment lead to sex trafficking? The fact is that due to overdeveloped regions, (such as the U.S. and other capitalist countries in the north), poorer regions are now suffering more than ever. Statistics show that “the divide between rich and poor has been gravely exacerbated, with the gap between the two nearly doubling itself from an outrageous factor of 44:1 in 1973 to about 72:1 as of the year 2000” (Kahn 4). This separation between the rich and poor is absurd – “the top 20% of people living in advanced capitalist nations have 86% of the world’s gross domestic product, control 82% of the world’s export markets, initiate 86% of all foreign direct investments, and possess 74% of the communication wires” (Kahn 4). In a nutshell, the wealthier nations of the world are dominating the world’s resources and the  less fortunate and deprived countries don’t have the money, power, or resources to do anything about it.

            Although Kahn included vital observations in his piece, I was very frustrated while reading it. He jumps from one topic to another and back to his original topic, on more than one occassion. He does not make his points clear and he namedrops other philosophers and muddles their thoughts with his own. Aside from this, Kahn’s usage of complex sentences does not make him sound educated or professional – he merely comes off as not knowing what he is writing about. Many of his reflections are dragged out and written in so much detail that he ends up just running around in circles and repeating himself so that by the time his point is “made”, the reader has forgotten what he was getting at in the first place.

The first eight and a half pages of Kahn’s article are solely about his push for pedagogy and the need for education about conservation of the environment. He writes “tree consumption for paper products has doubled over the last forty years, resulting in about half of the planet’s forests disappearing” (Kahn 2). The way I see it, Richard Kahn could have easily written his work in less than half the words he chose to use – when he is preaching about how much paper we humans waste, he himself is contributing to it by making his points so extravagant that eight pages of his explanation could have easily been made in two to three paragraphs.

Friday, January 27th Class

Last Friday in class we discussed Postel's article " Water Adapting to a New Normal", and elaborated on the resolutions she proposed. I personally enjoyed reading her piece. She provided reliable statistics and many current situations applying to us today. I especially liked how rather than scolding us and presenting the issues we have with water usage, she made us aware of the problems we have created, and in turn provided solutions. I also liked her suggestion of taking after those in Oregon, Portland who have adapted a method of turning sealed surfaces, (roofs, streets, and parking lots), into water catchments by strategically planting vegetation. I've never heard of a tactic such as this, and it seems like a great technique that would have positive outcomes.

We were also assigned to read one student's post to his/her blog in response to the article by Jonathan Waterman on the Patagonia site. I read Justin's blog, where he posted a video about the Colorado River and how it is beginning to dry up due to our lack of conserving our water consumption. One thing that really stood out to me from the video he chose was that Jim Creek is on the verge of losing all its fish, which in turn will be detrimental to their tourism/fishing industry. The video, as well as Postel's article, opened my eyes about just how serious the conditions are.

If the Oceans Die, We Die: Response to Patagonia Article

I've included a video that honestly shook me up. It was created by the World Commission of Protected Areas (WCPA) to bring attetion to the fact that we only have one ocean and we must take care of it before it vanishes forever. The video was posted by a vegan promoting plant-based diets and although I, myself, am not a vegetarian of any sort, this clip really interested me. Taking this class has certainly opened my eyes about the environment and the damage we have done to it. We are causing our world to literally slip away from us.

The video talks about how the earth's seas have been unaffected for most of the 5 million years we have occupied the planet. Just under 1,000 years ago is when humans began taking from the sea and the narrator states that fish populations were so dense that ships could hardly navigate -- the tables have most definitely turned. Significantly. Today 90% of the big fish in the ocean are gone. Our oceans are now acid. Coral reefs are "algae covered deserts". The narrator affrims, "for over 30 years there has been a valiant effort to save the sea and it has failed." We must take extreme measures because evidently we are out of time.

In relation to the Patagonia Environmental Essay by Jonathan Waterman, this video shows how the impacts we have had on earth are affecting all kinds of bodies water, not just the Colorado River. Our ocean is vast and covers 75% of the earth -- that is not something to be messed with and this video surely demonstrates that. Waterman writes about how pathetic it was to walk over dried up land that had once been a lush and flowing river. He describes meandering through a delta "as hygienic as an intravenous drip from a catheter" -- is this the kind of world we want to live in?

Experiences that Led me to Choosing My Major

 Bachelor of Science Degree in Biological Sciences

 Concentration in Human Biology

A typical college student changes major 3 times on average throughout his/her college career. When applying to NC State the fall semester of my senior year in high school, I took the liberty of deciding my major from the start. Many of my peers applied to schools as undecided, but several factors influenced my decision to apply with a desired major of biology; I am currently in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), majoring in Human Biology, and hoping to specialize in sports medicine.

As my father practices internal medicine in his own clinic, I spent a lot of time in his office as a young child. You could always find me in the exam rooms playing with stethoscopes, reflex hammers, and other items you would normally find in a doctor’s office. I remember always getting in trouble for playing with my dad’s latex examination gloves because I would fill them up with water from the sink to make them look like cow udders… little did I know that I would be pursuing a career in medicine twelve years later. Aside from using my imagination with medical equipment, I had an interest in science from the start. In elementary and middle school, science was my favorite subject and I had a curiosity unlike others about everything when it came to the body. Why does a scab form after I fall down and get hurt? Why does my nose become runny when I have a cold? After taking my first formal biology class freshman year of high school, my questions were answered in detail as I learned how a scab forms from platelets in the blood to plug the bleeding site, and your nose runs when you have a cold because your body produces more mucous to help keep out the germs (Postlethwait 97-99).  It was also this year that I broke my ankle while playing basketball; my foot swelled up immediately and I couldn’t bare any weight on it – it turned purple and blue within an hour of falling on it! I went to an orthopedic surgeon the following day, and after multiple X-rays and MRIs on my ankle I was put in a cast, told to stay off my foot, and to come back for a follow up visit after six weeks. During my sophomore year I got injured again, but things were more serious this time around. During a basketball game I was going up for a rebound and was elbowed directly in the forehead and was knocked unconscious after taking a hard hit to the ground; an ambulance rushed me to the hospital and CT scans and X-rays were performed on my brain to make sure no permanent damage was done. Luckily, I was going to be okay but was diagnosed with a grade III concussion, I being of least impact and III as most severe. It took about 6 months to fully recover after having intense migraines every day and suffering from short term memory loss; I literally would spend all night studying and not remember a thing the next day, which certainly got frustrating.

It was these two events of becoming injured that really got me thinking about a potential career in the medical field, specifically in sports medicine. After going to so many doctors’ offices as a patient and having gone through many different tests, I wanted to know what was going on behind the scenes – what do all of these numbers and letters in my lab results mean?  How does all of this equipment even work to produce such precise calculations? It was a scary thing  to be an athlete and not know how long I’d be off the court. It was also disappointing to sit on the sidelines and not participate; I felt like I had let down my teammates. In the future, I would like to be on the other end of the situation and be able to help athletes who are suffering from medical conditions or injuries. I hope to work in the medical field and sports medicine – a dream job would to be a team doctor for a collegiate or professional team.

Completing a graduate program, let alone gaining acceptance to one is challenge. As a CALS student, I have access to a database of alumni from NC State who are performing research in the Triangle area or are students/recent graduates from medical schools. I interviewed a Wake Forest medical student and asked several questions about studying for the MCAT, the application process, work load in medical school, etc. I got a great response back as Shannon, my interviewee, advised me to get involved with extra-curricular activities, not to stress about the MCAT until after my junior year, and to gain experience through internships or shadowing (Drohan). With a lot of determination, hard work, and perseverance I hope to graduate from NC State with a degree in Human Biology, and to attend medical school in order to achieve my goal of becoming a physician specializing in sports medicine. I understand that my path of interest could change, but for now I am just hoping to survive my freshman year of college!

Works Cited

Drohan, Shannon. "NCSU CALS Student Seeking Advice." E-mail interview. 15 Nov. 2011.

Postlethwait, John H. Modern Biology. Student Ed. [S.l.]: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2009. Print.

 

Haiku

Aussies are burning!
Our world is changing... Should we
Stop having babies?!