In recent years, a new force has been introduced to the struggle for environmental protection. The world's military looms as an ominous threat above our fragile eco-system. Even during years of peace, the military's havoc is wreaked "Not in some remote sandbox or sea lane, but within the heart of a rapidly unraveling planetary ecology, whose intricate web of intertwined lives, often trigger complex feedback processes." (Thomas). The greatest crime perhaps is the slow murder of the planet. The world has suffered more ecological damage in the past fifty years, than ever before. Oil spills, toxic dumps and nuclear testing, plague the world's resources. The majority of these originating from the world's 'protectors'. The greatest victim of all our wars, is Earth. Her sufferings coming from toxic dumping, chemical warfare and nuclear testing
Perhaps the best example of a dumpsite would be Subic Bay in the Philippines. Since the end of the Viet Nam conflict, 4,000,000 gallons of untreated waste have been dumped into the bay each day. As Pentagon official David Berteau summarized "If any one nation bears the brunt of the U.S. military's practice overseas, it may well be the Philippines". It is estimated that this dumping has destroyed thousands of kilometres of coastline, and a valuable eco-system. Though this is not to imply that the Philippines are the sole victim of military dumping, indeed there are hundreds of such dumpsites across the globe. As is clearly seen in map 1.1
Indeed the weapons of war do more harm to Gaia than to any foreign soldier, Chemical warfare & High-tech weaponry of the 90's may turn out to be what eventually lays Mother Earth to rest. Chemical Warfare was introduced by German soldiers during WWI. Since then, dramatic increases in chemical weapons have put Earth on the verge of collapse. It is estimated that 240 pounds of Agent Orange, a defoliant, was dropped over S. Viet Nam during the 1960’s. This may not sound like much, but to put it in perspective, two ounces of the substance, placed in New York City's water supply, would kill every inhabitant. (Day, 208). And it will remain in the environment for centuries to come. Not so far away, more havoc was being wrought on the environment, this time due to the space race, the liquid fuel used by Soviet era missiles and rockets -- unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) -- is both highly toxic and hard to remove from the environment once leaked.
In her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander states that we still use our criminal justice system to “label people of color ‘criminals’ and then engage i...
As time passes, our population continues to increase and multiply; yet, on the other hand, our planet’s resources continue to decrease and deplete. As our population flourishes, human beings also increase their demands and clamor for the Earth’s natural products, yet are unable to sacrifice their surplus of the said resources. Garret Hardin’s work highlighted the reality that humans fail to remember that the Earth is finite and its resources are limited. Hardin’s article revealed that people are unable to fathom that we indeed have a moral obligation to our community and our natural habitat — that we are not our planet’s conquerors but its protectors. We fail to acknowledge and accept that we only have one Earth and that we must protect and treasure it at all costs. Despite all our attempts at annihilating the planet, the Earth will still be unrelenting — it will still continue to be present and powerful. Human beings must recognize that we need this planet more than it needs us and if we persist on being egocentric and covetous, in the end it is us who will
Racism in American society plays a part in the manner in which the judicial system operates. The American prison population is larger than at any time in the history of the penal system in the world.” Nearly half of the more than two million Americans behind bars are African Americans. These statistics are well known and frequently cited by white and black Americans; for many they define Black humanity”. (Ryan D. King, 2010) Since the end of slavery African Americans were believed to be prone to crime and in general a menace to American Society and are to blame for this disparity. While this minority population has broken the law and deserve retribution they are ultimately products of their environment. In a study conducted as early as the late 20’s concerning minority crime. Thorsten Sellin’s research in “The Negro criminal”; a statistical note (Sellin, 1928) put it in perspective. “the stigmatization of crime as “black” and the masking of crime among whites as isolated failure, was a practice of discriminatory views by a majority white population. “The practice of linking crime to blacks, as a racial group, but not whites, he conclu...
Humans can not be the only thing that is hurting the Earth. When you really think about it, Earth goes through a lot of natural disasters, which cannot be controlled. According to an activist, Tim Haering, “Tsunamis, floods, volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires, disease nature kills more than we kill each other.” Earth throws in all of these natural ...
Many Americans pretend that the days of racism are far behind; however it is clear that institutional racism still exists in this country. One way of viewing this institutional racism is looking at our nation’s prison system and how the incarceration rates are skewed towards African American men. The reasons for the incarceration rate disparity are argued and different between races, but history points out and starts to show the reason of why the disparity began. Families and children of the incarcerated are adversely affected due to the discrimination as well as the discrimination against African American students and their likelihood of going to prison compared to the white student. African American women are also affected by the discrimination in the incarceration rate. Many white Americans don’t see how racism affects incarceration rates, and that African Americans are more likely to face discrimination from the police as well as being falsely arrested.
The family provides universal components for its members. The family has two central functions the socialization of children and stabilization of adult personality (Parsons & Bales, 1955). Socialization of children occurs in the
While Rachel Carson’s “The Obligation to Endure”, Christopher Kemp’s "Medieval Planet", and Jared Diamond’s “The Ends of the World as We Know Them” all cover subjects relating to environmental issues, each author goes about purveying his or her message in a different manner. Kemp’s New Scientist article explains humanity’s environmental effects by imagining a world in which we never existed and hypothesizing how it would look and function with our absence. Carson’s essay depicts a frightening reality about the current state of humanity and the environment. She warns readers about how we are the only species who possess the capability to disrupt and even destroy Earth’s natural patterns. Diamond articulates his work with an unusual spin, using examples of historical civilizations that have snuffed themselves out by their own progress or poor relationship with the environment. The main message conveyed in Diamond's essay is that we are just as capable of choking ourselves out by our own doing today as were the historical civilizations that suffered the same fate. Despite their differing focuses, each article agrees that humans are outgrowing the finite amount of resources that the Earth can provide. A delicate symbiotic relationship between life and the environment has been maintained throughout time. Life on Earth was shaped by the constantly changing climate and surroundings. However, humans have gained the capacity to transcend this relationship. Through our ingenuity and industrialism, we have separated ourselves from natural restrictions. Because of this progress, we have been destroying the natural cycles of Earth’s environment and continue to do so at an alarming rate. Humanity has become Earth’s infection, ravaging the worl...
"Planetary Defense: Social, Economic, and Political Implications." Wayback Machine. Internet Archive, 16 June 2006. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
I intend on making the connection that it is almost difficult to assert the American criminal justice system is colorblind and racially reasonable, as some citizens trust it to be. As negative demeanors towards African American and Latino, men and women, “are as yet unavoidable all through society by data collected through scientific research”(Alessandro, 2016). I end with an examination on the culpability debate proposed by numerous scholars as the reason for the above racial differences and set to show that it is defective according to data and distorted. In hopes to show what research has given us that, race is vigorously interlaced inside the criminal justice system since the establishing of our country.
Evironmentalism: The Next Step Broad Social Change Through Personal Commitment Introduction In the last thirty years, America has witnessed an environmental revolution. New laws like the 1963 Clean Air Act and the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act forged new ground in political environmentalism. Social phenomena like Earth Day, organized by Dennis Hayes in 1970, and the beginning of large-scale recycling, marked by Oregon's 1972 Bottle Bill, have help change the way Americans think about the environment. As we approach the third millennium, however, we must reconsider our place on the planet and reflect on our efforts and progress towards a sustainable society. As global warming becomes a scientific reality, natural disasters make monthly appearances in the headlines, and communities continue to find their ground-water contaminated by industrial and nuclear waste, we must ask ourselves: are we doing enough? The environmental movement in the past has largely been a social and political phenomenon. While many of us recycle (yet still only 35 percent of us) and take dead batteries to our town's Hazardous Waste Day, most Americans have not made the environment a personal issue. Very few of us have taken the kind of personal life-changing steps that are necessary to create an environmentally sustainable society. It is simply naive to believe that America's present rates of consumption, waste production, and environmental contamination are sustainable. The kind of social change required can only happen when we as individuals embrace the effort in our everyday lives. Only then will corporate America and the government realize that they too must change to maintain their customer base and public support. This kind of personal commitment to change would also create a new social ethic based on the environment under which people and companies who do not care for the earth would be held socially and financially responsible. In six parts, this article will re-examine our place in the environmental movement and investigate exactly what changes we can make in our personal lives to bring about positive change. These areas are transportation, energy, recycling and waste management, toxins and pollution, food, and water. Some of the changes discussed will require sacrifice. But, more important, these changes will often simplify our lives, bring our families and communities closer ...
Ecological sabotage of “ecosabotage” is the social movement against the destruction or misuse of our natural earth in the world today. The ecosaboteurs believe that harmful against Mother Earth are varied and happen all around. Actions such as whaling and nuclear war are extreme cases of harmful behavior that is legally permitted, but potentially destructive to our environment; even actions such as pollution and global warming pose threats, although they are not as extreme.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is an area of the ocean filled with mostly rubbish, most of which are not biodegradable, such as plastic and glass. It continues to grow and accumulate each year and is twice the size of Texas!
Today, we live in a world interwoven with women’s oppression, ecological degradation, and the exploitation of workers, race, and class. In the midst of these troubles, a movement known as ecofeminism appears to be gaining recognition. In the following, I hope to illustrate this revitalization movement . I will begin by characterizing a definition of ecofeminism; I will then bring to the forefront the ethical issues that Ecofeminism is involved with, then distinguish primary ideas and criticisms.
The protection of the environment however has just recently become the major issue that it is in today’s society. People worldwide have slowly begun to realize and become aware of the blatant destruction and deterioration of the environment and ozone. As well as the consequences and side affects, that we, as a society have created. The majority of people are just becoming aware of the frightening reality of the situation. As society becomes more informed on the issue of the environment, they too become more impatient, and feel that in the snap of fingers, the damage can be reversed and future damage can be stopped instantaneously.
Through the family agent one is ascribes their first statues of belonging to specific permanent groups, that contribute to their concept of self. The family agent is the socialization agent that defines an individual’s race, ethnicity, religion, and gender. These statuses that are ascribed form childhood and have strong affect on the individual’s life. In a study conducted by Melvin Khon, founded that different classes of families socialize differently for, instance working classes are more concern with the teaching of conformity of rules, cleanliness, and staying out of trouble. The middle class families tend to focus mainly on the child’s development of curiosity, creativity, and good judgement. The lower class follow the working class method of socialization and more affluent families follow the middle class method. Whichever the case may be the family agent is the first teaching that determines as well as classifies individuals in society contributing to their sense belonging to a specific group. As per my classmate