Chip Ward's Analysis

Ever since the dawn of industrialization, humans have caused serious, irreversible damage to the biosphere. And as the world progresses and Canadians looks on, they realized the impact of their environmental damage. Sometimes new ecofriendly technology enters the market and replaces the old environment damaging one. But that is not enough, human society as a whole must completely rethink and change themselves individually to so that their actions causes minimal environmental backlash.

Our world is wasting valuable resources left and right, as addressed in both essays “Waste Not, Want Not”” by Bill McKibbens, and “Forget Shorter Showers” by Derrick Jensen. In “Waste Not, Want Not”” Bill McKibbens focuses on the importance of preserving our recourses. He mentions how wasteful the human race is, and how un-necessary all of the things that cause waste really are. In “Forget Shorter Showers” Derrick Jensen leans more towards the idea that no matter what humans do, they are incapable of wining. Either they lose their opportunity for economical and intellectual growth, or they lose their precious recourses and clean world. Both writers realize that we are wasting recourses, and believe that change is necessary for advancement. While the writers may have similar views, they have different ideas on how to solve the issue, and use different methods of communicating their ideas.

Wardle says that any new worker, who is becoming member of a discourse community, encounters issues with authority and identity concerning learning to write for the workplace. In order for the new worker to learn new written practices, they may be asked to “give up some measure of authority to which they believe they are entitled” (Wardle 4) Wardle means that whatever the workplace recognizes as effective or appropriate, although it may not be, has to be recognized by the new worker as such. Hence, the new worker is being asked to give up values of efficiency and ethics for the sake of fitting into their workplace. Wardle defines authority as “an intangible quality granted to persons through institutions, which renders their pronouncements

As The World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Stay In Denial, by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan, is a graphic novel about the state of our environment. They use cartoons and abundant sarcasm to convey the message that the attempts people are making to save the environment are not enough to do any real good. Their message challenges both those of Edward O. Wilson and the University of Connecticut in that Jensen and McMillan’s ideas are much more radical and suggest that the ideas posed by Wilson and UConn, such as the importance of recycling and sustainability efforts, are ineffective at saving the environment. We must resolve the challenges posed by Jensen and McMillan so that all of the ideas put forth in the sources may work together rather than against each other. In order to do this we must accept that some of the ideas given by Jensen and McMillan may be too extreme to do any real good and that the ideas suggested by Wilson and UConn, though slightly ineffective, are nonetheless important steps in saving the environment. Taken alone, none of their ideas will save the environment; instead it is necessary to combine the ideas of Wilson, UConn, and Jensen and McMillan in order to create a more realistic plan to save the planet.

While environmental questions are frequently channeled through practical and economic prisms, it is also appropriate to consider our econolgy as a function of morality. The ethical dilemmas which contribute to our policies and our behaviors regarding the use of fossil fuels and our attention to global climate change are frequently overshadowed by more immediate concerns of survival or mere comfort.

Americans, as a whole, do not care about the environment anymore. When we watch the news or simply talk about our day, there are always more pressing topics that come up. However, as a nation, the threat of a failing environment seems to be forgotten because the effects are not as obvious as other threats. Bill McKibben’s “Waste Not, Want Not” discusses how much time, money, resources, and people America has actually wasted and how little effort has been made to try to change. McKibben causes readers to think it is too late to save the environment from our wastefulness because we put our efforts into systems that do not help the environment, spend more money and resources than necessary, and refuse to acknowledge how much were wasting.

David Gushee spoke about the 2016 Presidential Election and how religion has played a role in the current outcome of Donald Trump as the GOP nominee. White Evangelicals specifically have played a crucial role in this outcome. Gushee explained why Donald Trump appeals to Evangelicals in comparison to other elections. He also spoke about the other GOP candidates and why, from a religious perspective, they did or did not appeal to voters. Gushee did mention the Democratic Party, focusing on Bernie Sanders Jewish background and Martin O’Malley’s Catholic background. He very briefly touched on Hillary Clinton’s religious background.

Different exonerates go for activism to help them make peace with what has transpired. Dennis Stockton, who was as of late executed yet asserted guiltlessness all through his whole detainment, wrote in a book that he managed his approaching wrongful execution by tutoring youthful detainees and turning into an otherworldly consultant to others on death line. Sabrina Porter was liberated from Mississippi's demise push in the wake of being wrongfully indicted killing her nine-month old girl. Presently she goes to Innocence Network Conferences partially on the grounds that individuals are at long last listening to her, dissimilar to they did when she was first accused. Deskovic additionally goes around the nation on open talking engagements

The essay opens up with McKibben talking about how the political campaign against global warming is flawed because at our current point there is nothing much that can be done to fix it.(Mckibben,1) He then goes to state that humans are the biggest culprit behind global warming and supports this by giving examples such as SUVs and American ignorance.(2,9) He concludes by saying that if ten percent of America were to go green, it still would not save the planet, but ten percent could get the government’s attention to pass laws making everyone go green. (11)

"Save the Planet," "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle," "Go Green." Quotes like these have become a commonality in today's age. We all are familiar with the large efforts to help preserve the environment. In "Ideals of Human Excellence and Preserving Natural Environments," Thomas E. Hill Jr. sums up his essay by stating, "The point is not to insinuate that all anti-environmentalists are defective, but to see that those who value such traits as humility, gratitude, and sensitivity to others have reason to promote the love of nature" (688; par. 4) This excerpt provides the thesis behind Hill's argument. The author found that

In Chapter 2 of The Environment and World History, Edmund Burke III analyses “the deep history of humanity” (pg. 33) in regard to the environment and energy consumption. In addition to this the Malthusian cycle. He calls into question the “historical narrative” (pg. 33) of the Industrial Revolution and notes it as the “break in human relations with nature and the environment” (pg. 33). For humans, he states, “energy is … central to the universe” (pg. 34) thus when humans learned not only to manipulate fire, but how to create the necessary means of storing and using energy, the need for energy began to grow. Using the Malthusian check, Burke III described the agrarian-age system as “essentially self-correcting and self-limiting, as the consequences

In this section of the course we have been focusing on the most influential leadership skill; the ability to reshape our self-defeating thoughts of humanity so we can create a future we desire. In Frances Moore Lappé’s book, EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think, to Create the World We Want, she explores the “thought traps” humans categorize ourselves into that do not allow for improvement or progress toward a sustainable future. Of these thoughts traps I chose two that I found to be of most interest to me. The first being, Thought Trap 2: “Consumer Society is the Problem – out of control shopping is overtaxing natural resources”, and the second being, Thought Trap 4: “We Must Overcome Human Nature to Save the Planet- humans are greedy, selfish, competitive materialists. We have to overcome these aspects of ourselves if we hope to survive”. Simply stating these titles evokes negative, self-defeating emotions, and through analyzing why we as humans trap ourselves in these ideas, we can work to reframe these negatives and turn them into a positive future. I chose these two chapters specifically because they compliment each other nicely. I will be first examining where our underlying desires for consumption originate and who is to blame, followed by taking a closer look at human characteristics, both positive and negative, and how they relate to our role in society. Throughout the book and especially these chapters, Lappé sets the bar high for leadership skills by making herself

“A Letter from the Future” by Richard Heinberg describes to readers of a not too distant future (2101) an Earth in which its resources have been squandered and is facing an irreversible environmental meltdown caused by human’s greediness and mismanagement. Heinberg writes from the future to try and educate past civilization on what is happening in the future and how if their actions don’t change in how they treat their natural resources their future will irrefutably be destroyed for all mankind. Heinberg wrote this letter in order to explain just how dangerously high our current use of resources are and how it will impact the future.

Present generations are reaping what their forefathers had sowed for them; future generations will reap what present generations have been sowing whether they like it or not. Past, present and future generations are dependent on each other’s choices. Technologies are zooming rapidly. Humanities prefer to overwork natural resources and often fell into technologies’ competitive temptations. Generations are getting smarter and innovative each day. New products are constantly changing to catch customers’ attention, while current products are still young and are not even ready to mature yet. While many are embracing technologies, few are concerned with the scars that have been embedded on natural resources. It is so easy to fall into the

“Our generation has inherited an incredibly beautiful world from our parents and they from their parents. It is in our hands whether our children and their children inherit the same world” (Richard Branson). This quote is a brief rewording of the issue we have today with global warming. For those who are not aware of what global warming is, it is when too much carbon dioxide is added into the atmosphere. Global warming can cause sever hurricanes, intense weather, and many other natural disasters. For example, the lack of protection to our species and natural resources has led to many conflicts around the world. The lack of conservation of natural resources and need for habitat protection has had a major impact on the environment also.