The Great American Desert
In the article, “The Great American Desert”, Edward Abbey (1977) is trying to convince the general public that the desert is not a place for humans to explore. He talks a lot about the dangers of the desert and tries to convince the readers that the desert is not worth wasting your time and going and visiting. I disagree with Abbey. Anyone who has some knowledge about the desert and takes a class or is accompanied by an expert who knows a lot about the desert should be able to venture out in the many great American deserts.
Abbeys first survival hint to the desert is, “stay out of there. Don’t go. Stay home and read a good book.”(p. 204) What fun is staying home if people have the chance to go and explore the desert? Getting a hands on experience and being able to explore the desert in real life is more educating than sitting at home reading a dull book on the desert. David Alloway (1999) once said, “the historical fact is however, that the human race was cradled in arid lands and people are well adapted to survive in deserts.”( 1) Alloway is a teacher at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and he teaches a desert survival class. His class philosophy is “not to fight the desert, but to become part of its ecosystem.”( 1) So the first hint or suggestion before you attempt to go into the desert is being prepared.
Being prepared before someone enters the desert should be their number one priority. First off Alloway said people need to have a hat with a wide brim and closed crown so it will protect your head and face from sunlight. Next, wear loose fitting long sleeves and pants so that air can be circulated easy. Sunglasses that exclude ultra-violet light are a necessity to help prevent cataracts later on in life. Some other areas of preparation are carrying sufficient amounts of water, first aid and survival kit for the desert environments, and some useful knowledge. ( 2) These are the major things needed in the preparations of going on and exploration in the desert.
The next point Abbey tried to make was about the dangerous animals out in the desert that put a threat to a person life.
Throughout the novel, Ethan is attracted to true inner beauty, something he believes Zeena lacks. He considers his marriage a mistake and attributes it to the fact that he met Zeena at a time when he felt isolated and alone, another major theme in the book. After his mother died one winter, he needed companionship and attached himself to Zeena. Ethan resents winter because he associates it with the death of a loved one. Due to his isolation, Ethan overlooks Ze...
First of all, Edward Abbey admits to being a certain bias and that he is a, “butterfly chaser, googley eyed bleeding heart and wild conservative.” So, in other words he is intending this article to be read by environmental activist who will support his opinion and the action that he is trying to take. Edward Abbey worked as a seasonal park ranger for Glen Canyon National Recreation Area back in 1967, so of course he would be against any environmental action taken to change the canyon. He stated that before the damnation of the canyon that there were streams, waterfalls, plunge pools, and plenty of wildlife. Now you can only find that on a small scale and that these thing...
Iguanadons to eat, to other desert like lands where the sun is so hot she
... hikers to experience the wilderness the way it was initially intended. With unpredictable weather, wildlife, etc. Where hikers are granted the freedom to make their own decisions. As much as the tangible dangers hinder the journey one may face during the trail--the desire, attitude and the love for hiking are perhaps what keeps them yearning for the next level.
Natural gas burning plants have replaced many coal burning plants, which benefits the environment greatly. Also, as the United States continues to become a prominent exporter of natural gas, the price of natural gas has dropped by about 30%. This is why I believe it is important to strictly regulate fracking, as opposed to stopping the practice as a whole. If regulations were placed that called for the fracturing to take place exclusively within the layer of shale, the toxic fluids and the gas would not have access to pathways that would allow them to seep into neighboring aquifers or permeable bedrock. This would make groundwater contamination by hydraulic fracturing much more unlikely. Also if the companies that engaged in the technique were required to be more transparent and disclose the chemicals that they were using in their fluid, it would allow the public to have more power and discretion in regards to which companies they support. If a company was found to use toxic chemicals in their fluid, then pressure could be put on the company to change their fluid’s composition through boycotts or through political
First, fracking causes many dangerous gasses to be leaked into the air. During each fracking job up to 40,000 gallons of chemicals are being used, and these chemicals contain a toxic bath of over 600 chemicals such as uranium and mercury. When these gasses are released into the air they can hurt many things like people, plants, and animals. When the natural gasses are disturbed it gets into the water supply and contaminates it getting people sick.
President Lincoln’s speech “The Gettysburg Address” was extremely influential on the nation. In this speech Lincoln addresses where the United States was at this time, where the nation had been before, and where the nation was going in the future. He motivated America to come together and unite as one, and stated we as a nation must not let our soldiers die in vain. Throughout the speech he uses strong diction, and appeals to ethos and pathos.
Controversy has never been in short supply. One controversy in particular is always being discussed. And that is the topic of fracking. What is fracking? Fracking is actually short for hydraulic fracturing. According to Merriam-Webster, hydraulic fracturing is the injection of fluid into shale beds at high pressure in order to free up petroleum resources such as oil and natural gas. Although, the process has around for a long time, since 1947 to be exact, is has only become controversial as of recently. Fracking has come under fire because mega-companies, like ExxonMobil, have commercialized it. They are the largest producers of natural gas (Thompson “Hydraulic Fracturing Can Be Done Responsibly”). Fracking has been such a controversial topic in the United States because of its environmental impact, effect on the economy and politics, and concerns to public health.
Fracking is a method of obtaining oil and natural gas from deep areas of the earth by mining very deep into the ground and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture the rock. When the rock is fractured, natural gas is released and harvested by large hydraulic fracturing rigs (Brooks, 2013). Though the process is an effective way of obtaining energy sources, it is a highly controversial topic so it is not massively used worldwide. Fracking works great and provides effective results but there is a diverse amount of downsides to the mining technique that have caused many people to take anti-fracking stances. The main argument against fracking is that it comes with environmental downsides, using immense amounts of water, infecting the earth with hazardous chemicals, and leaking methane into the atmosphere. Though many of the environmental downsides of fracking have been proven, the benefits of the energy source outweigh the downsides.
There are many problems with “The entire process of fracking – from drilling a well to transporting waste – endangers our water and the health of our communities” (“Fracking”). The process of fracking contaminates drinkable water and many other resources along with it. When rivers or lakes are contaminated it can lead to the extermination of wildlife in that certain area because they no longer are able to breathe due to the amount of chemicals and waste in their habitat. After an accident with a decent amount of exploding trucks, “Twenty-five families living nearby had to evacuate their homes, one person was injured, and toxic chemicals leaked into a nearby stream” (“Act On Fracking”). Companies involved with fracking should either move away from important resources when drilling or completely stop the operation as a whole.
On November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the cemetery for Union Soldiers who had perished during the Battle of Gettysburg, two people gave speeches. This cemetery is the Gettysburg National Cemetery today. It used to be called Soldier’s National Cemetery. The first was Edward Everett, who spoke for an entire two hours. He was the featured speaker of the event. An orchestra played a hymn after his speech. The second was President Abraham Lincoln’s two minute speech, also known as the Gettysburg Address. The Gettysburg Address is the most quoted and memorized in the history of America. It is one of the most important speeches in American history. Lincoln had prepared for this speech very well.
Because of his infatuation with his wife’s cousin, he is often blind to the fact that his wife knows he is in love with another women, setting him up for his ultimate demise. When Zeena is finally able to deliver a crushing blow to her husband’s fantasy by telling him that he must get rid of Mattie, Ethan regresses to a state of rebellion in which he ultimately decides that he and his mistress must kill themselves in order to be happy. However, while trying to complete this dark plan, Ethan makes a crucial flaw in his execution, resulting in an outcome far worse than his intended goal. Becoming a cripple and falling under the care of the women he so desperately tried to run from, Ethan finds himself in a situation that is unbearable; he now must live in a house with his wife that he no longer loves and his mistress than he can no longer enjoy. With the reference made by Mrs. Hale in mind, I argue that even though he did not die, Ethan’s life ultimately ends up worse than actual death. Being that he is a man that is willing to leave a wife that has been sick since the beginning of their marriage and to run away with a younger woman, his punishment is completely justified. Death in his circumstances would be too sweet of a relief for his wrongdoings to his wife. Instead of being a man with enough
...ty foods along the trail must also be consumed. Two to three liters of water on any hike is an absolute necessity, as are electrolyte drinks. Proper gear, such as time and terrain conditional clothing, hats, sunglasses, water packs, and proper footwear are required to do anything in Arizona’s trails. Planning everything down to the route you will take up a mountain, to how you will get to that route, and how long you spend on that route are vital. From experience comes preparedness, and from preparedness comes experience.
Have you ever noticed that being in the great outdoors increases your appetite? Maybe it's the extra exercise from the hiking, maybe it's breathing in fresh air, it might even be the smell of food cooking over an open fire – whatever the reason, I think we can all agree that there's nothing quite like camping for a relaxing getaway. If you're shaking your head in disagreement then there's a good chance you feel that way because you're forgetting the essentials when packing your gear to head to the site.