Earth Charter Blog

In the first principle of the Earth Charter it says that we must respect and care for the community of life. One way it says we must do so is by recognizing that “all beings are interdependent and every form of life has value regardless of its worth to human beings.” It reminds me of Aldo Leopold and his discussion on having a land ethic. Leopold believed that humanity should value all life forms regardless of what it could gain from it. He describes the argument that "...predators are members of the community, and that no special interest has the right to exterminate them for the sake of a benefit, real or fancied, to itself" as an "enlightened view" (Leopold 65-66). 

Under the second principle of the Earth Charter called Ecological Integrity, the recovery of endangered species and ecosystems is promoted. I found a connection between that idea of recovering species and ecosystems and the ideas presented in the TED video we watched in class. The video focused on the idea that through a process, extinct species could be brought back to life and restored into the wilderness.  

The third principle of the Earth Charter focuses on social and economic justice. In working toward social and economic justice, the Earth Charter proposes eradicating poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative. One way to eradicate poverty is to "recognize the ignored, protect the vulnerable, serve those who suffer, and enable them to develop their capacities and to pursue their aspirations." I want to connect that goal with Plan B 4.0 by Lester R. Brown. Brown describes countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo where more than 5 million lives have been lost since 1998 due to problems related to hunger and illness (Brown 18-19). Places like the Congo need that help from those who can give it. Their government is no longer in control. 

The fourth principle of the Earth Charter is Democracy, Nonviolence, and Peace. Under this principle it says "integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life." That reminded me of David Orr's belief that all education is environmental education. Orr says that by what is included or excluded, a person's view of nature is being affected.

Jane Goodall and others

Jane Goodall's writing provided me with hope for those parts of nature that have been destroyed. She provided many examples of successful restoring of places of the world that were once eroded.

"It is living proof that the rehabilitation of a man-made wasteland is not only possible, but can be accomplished with sound organic principles" (Goodall, Hudson, Maynard 163).

The above quote is referring to the change of what was once a wasteland to now a fresh forest and grassland. The person who had taken on the task mentioned that it was a tough one, as there weren't any plants growing even in the oldest parts of the land. However, today the place is a habitat for many endangered species. It is also a place that is used to teach people of Kenya about the environment. Lastly, it is mentioned that nature provided the way for this endeavor to succeed.

Photo by miriadna.com

"I carry it around the world, for it symbolizes both the indomitable human spirit and the resilience of nature if given a helping hand" (Goodall, Hudson, Maynard 164). 

The writer of the above quote is referring to a laminated leaf that Paul Rokich had sent him from one of the first trees Paul planted at the Oquirrh Mountains. As a little boy Paul had told his father, as they both stared up at the mountains located in Utah, that he would replant trees on the then destroyed land.That land is now restored. 

Photo by panoramio.com

"she 'squealed so loudly that Jonathan heard the sound even though we were both underwater!'" (Goodall, Hudson, Maynard 167).

Coho fish became endangered in 1994. From then on conservation partners began working to protect the coho fish. Their labor paid off as Jennifer Carah ended up excitedly spotting a coho fish while snorkeling. This is an exciting story that gives me hope for the future restoration of endangered species. Below is a picture of a Coho Salmon! 

Photo by www.fly-fishing-discounters.com

"We could, with major changes in the way most people live today, survive without oil. But we could not survive without water" (Goodall, Hudson, Maynard 167).

Ismail Seregeldin said that the wars of our century will be fought over water and not oil. He also makes the great point that we can survive without oil, but not without water. However, the good news is that the threat of water shortage has been acknowledged. I hope we can continue to work towards saving the water supply. 

Photo by bestpaperz.com

What Is Biodiversity and Why Is It So Important?

"All life forms have an intrinsic worth and a right to evolve freely on their own terms. Humankind is one among millions of other species. It does not have a right to push other species to extinction, or to manipulate them for greed, profit and power without concern for their wellbeing." (Shiva 40)

Here Vandana Shiva assumes that all life forms have worth and rights as humans do. I feel as though all living things should be protected. I don't know exactly why but it feels right to take care of living things, whether it be humans or animals or plants.

Photo by picturesofsuccess.org

"Human beings are clearly highly ignorant of other members of the Earth Family and, at least int he Western worldview, have thought of themselves as sitting on top of a biodiversity pyramid or tree rather than forming a part of a complex web of life." (Shiva 44)

I think in my life I have thought of humanity the way Shiva is describing. I picture humans as the leaders of the world and on whom the well being of nature depends. Perhaps it's not that way. Rather, humanity is part of a larger system that is connected and relies on all its parts.

Photo by m.google.com

"As biodiversity disappears, the poor are further impoverished and deprived of the healthcare and nutrition that biodiversity provides." (Shiva 50) 

I didn't realize that poorer countries depended in such a way on the diversity of the life forms in their land. I didn't know that there could be so much use for so many different species of plants, for example. 

Photo by www.motherearthnews.com

"Quinine, digitalis and morphine are derived from plants, and even in the USA 40 per cent of all prescriptions still depend on natural sources." (Shiva 53) 

Shiva here informs that plants are very useful still for humanity. I didn't know that such a high percentage of prescriptions that help to heal so many different illnesses depended on natural sources such plants. 

Photo by wildlifeofhawii.com

Jared Diamond - A Tale of Two Farms

"Will tourists someday stare mystified at the rusting hulks of New York's skyscrapers, much as we stare today at the jungle-overgrown ruins of Maya cities?" (Diamond 20)

What Diamond is saying is that it is possible that the big cities of today such as those in New York will one day be ancient sites that people visit for entertainment just as today people visit Mayan cities which once were the greatest cities of their time but are now ruins. Diamond suggests that the reason so many great civilizations have fallen is that its citizens depleted their land's resources. 

Photo by www.comicvine.com

"The fifth set of factors--the society's responses to its environmental problems--always proves significant." (Diamond 27) 

Here Diamond talks about how there can be many factors providing a society's collapse, but only one is meaningful every time: "the society's responses to its environmental problems". (Diamond 27) For example, Norwegians who moved to Iceland thought the land there, was the same as the land they owned in Norway. However, the land turned out to be very different and they ended up destroying much of its topsoil and forests. They later responded to the trouble they had created by taking on stronger ways of protecting the environment and are now among the highest on national average per-capita income in the world. How about that for responding to environmental problems! 

This is a picture of a place in Iceland! 

Photo by www.sceneriies.com 

"Hence the risk arises that, if your trade partner becomes weakened for any reason (including environmental damage) and can no longer supply the essential import or the cultural tie, your own society may become weakened as a result." (Diamond 31)

Often a society will have a neighboring or distant society that provides for it in such ways as selling products produced in that society. This can be of great help but also risky. The reason it can be risky is that if the helpful society is weakened, the same can happen to the society that receives from it.

Photo by crossed-flag-pins.com

"I'm more interested in environmental issues because of what I see as their consequences for people than because of their consequences for birds." (Diamond 33)

Diamond has been accused of valuing nature over people. However, even though he admits he is very involved with nature and does things such as bird watching, he values the results of what is done to the environment more because of what it does for people than for what it does for the animals that live in it such as birds. 

Plan B

What I've read so far from "Plan B 4.0" by Lester R. Brown, has helped me to think about the relationship between economics, production, and the environment. Brown highlights the main issues going on in the world among those three factors, and then introduces an alternative called "Plan B" to reverse the issues such as food shortages created by "soil erosion, falling water tables, and rising carbon emissions." (Brown 4)


"Whatever happens to the wheat and rice harvests in [China and India] will affect food prices everywhere." (Brown 6)


We need each other to have the food we need. China and India are the two leading wheat producers of the world, and because of the melting of mountain glaciers on which the two country's irrigation systems depend, the world will face a threat to food security that is bigger than it's ever faced. (Brown 6)

Photo by Sustainablog.org

"This massive acquisition of land to grow food in other countries is one of the largest geopolitical experiments ever conducted." (Brown 10)

Brown is referring to countries who have surpassed their own land and water resources, and buy land from other countries in order to produce for their own people. It's interesting because the countries that are selling their land are those that need that land the most. One such country is Ethiopia, in which the World Food Programme (WFP) works to feed 4.6 million people. (Brown 11)

"Our mismanaged world economy today has many of the characteristics of a Ponzi scheme." (Brown 14)

This means basically that we are using up the world's supplies in ways in which will eventually leave us without them, and cause a shortage. It looks good for now but soon it will go bad. For example, the world's major aquifers were being overpumped as of mid-2009, and we have more irrigation water than before that started, but once the aquifers are used up, the system will collapse by leaving us with a shortage of irrigation water. (Brown 14)

"our global Ponzi economy was not intended to collapse. It is on a collision path because of market forces, perverse incentives, and poorly chosen measures of progress." (Brown 15)

Unfortunately the way the global economy has worked in the recent past is thinking short-term. It does not regard the limited amount of resources of natural systems. It doesn't include the complete costs of production. Brown gives the example that when we use electricity from a coal-fired power plant we get billed monthly by the local utility. However, we don't get charged for the climate change caused by burning coal.  (Brown 16)

Photo by bwf-group.de

The Precious Everglades

Endgame by Michael Grunwald was a very informative excerpt from "The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise", that helped me see how the Everglades has been and still is a very important area that can't be ignored by those in power.

"The basic message was that it made no sense for the federal government to green-light a major airport at the edge of the Everglades at the same time it wanted taxpayers to spend $8 billion to restore the Everglades." (Grunwald 82)

                                               Photo by harvardpolitics.com

The above quote describes the conflict between building and restoring in the Everglades. The Everglades is an area that many people want protected but at the same time other people have interests such as building an airport there, and it creates a conflict between the two groups of people. I am leaning more towards the restoration of the Everglades since I'm learning how valuable it is to so many species living there.

"But at some level this must fail: just because the policymakers all agree that the sun rises in the west doesn't make it so." (Grunwald 91)

I agree with the above quote originally written by ecologist Stuart Pimm, because even if it's true that all these policymakers are excited and support the bill being discussed it doesn't mean that the bill is actually going to make a difference.

"'We are seeing a rare moment in the closing days of this Congress: both great political parties coming together and doing the right thing', Shaw crowed." (Grunwald 94)

                                                    Photo by nfb.org

I find the way Clay Shaw describes the moment to be exciting. It makes me realize that when it comes to something such as protecting the Everglades, normally opposing groups can come together for a good cause.

"...but Graham really wanted to restore the Everglades because it was singular, because it distinguished south Florida from other sprawling concatenations of tract homes, strip malls, CVS, and KFC." (Grunwald 99)

                                            Photo by bbc.com

This describes how precious the Everglades is. Even though preserving it can reap benefits such as providing aquifers and promoting ecotourism, the uniqueness of it calls for preservation. I've usually looked at the Everglades as a swamp down in the south of Florida. But this makes me reconsider that.  It makes me want to visit it in the future.



                                               

The Wondrous Everglades

The Nature of the Everglades by Marjory Stoneman Douglas is a very detailed excerpt about what makes up the everglades. 

"A few springs may feed them, but no melting snow water, no mountain freshets, no upgushing from caverns in ancient rock. Here the rain is everything." (Douglas 112)

I found it interesting the way Marjory describes how in the everglades, the rain is everything. It made me look at the area as a unique place since it is only the way it is because of rain. 

                                             photo by artifacting.com

"Sometimes far up, far away, between all that panoply, there will be a glimpse of outer space as green as ice." (Douglas 115)

I didn't understand the description here by Douglas. However, it made me feel a sense of wonder at nature, as if I was there looking at what Douglas was talking about. 

                               photo by hdwallpapersfactory.com

"It has that quality of dreaming still, neglected and changed as it is, to this very day." (Douglas 118) 

Here Douglas is describing the Caloosahatchee river. Talking about how it is like a dream wandering aimlessly. I like the description. It made me feel a sense of peace. I could hear the water silently and calmly flowing. 

                                                Photo by thegladesresort.com

"[Hurricanes] attack the Glades from [the Gulf of Mexico]. Later still, they become more freakish and unpredictable, like maelstroms of wind gone wild." (Douglas 119) 

Here Douglas talks about the devastating nature of hurricanes which from time to time invade the everglades. The description by Douglas gives me imagery of destruction. It also reminded me that as beautiful as the everglades can be, it is vulnerable to the wrath of nature itself. 

Photo by screensect.net