Plastic or paper? No because you know better

In the spring of 1970, 20 million people from all over the country showed their support for the planet by engaging in environmental educational workshops. They sat in high school gymnasiums, public parks and places of worship. These people set the stage for groundbreaking legislation: the Clean Air Act of 1970, dedicated to protecting and improving air quality, the Clean Water Act of 1972, which regulated the amount of pollutants discharged in our water and preserved the quality of our surface waters; and the Endangered Species Act of 1973, designed to conserve plants and animals in danger of dwindling or disappearing.

Today, in California, although we understand what reducing, reusing or recycling means, the environmental activism movement continues to push for a way to redefine how we live in the golden state as they see these legislative victories under threat. Carcinogens from oil refineries flood our waters while polluting factories compromise our air. The communities that lack political and economic clout and the communities of non-Caucasian citizens are where most of the toxic industries are located. These areas are filled with children growing up with the normality of having asthma as these communities are increasingly toxic.

Small changes are important first steps but the environmental activism movement is a platform to ignite citizens to understand that everything we care about exists within our ecosystem and if we disregard or damage it, everything we love is at risk. Gone are the days when dropping off your recycling, weather stripping your windows or stopping the use of plastic bottles is good enough. The environmental activism movement is not satisfied with a select few hearing their message. The movement is about going green for all. In order to bring more people into the conversation, all citizens need to understand what we really care about and what we are willing to sacrifice to achieve a lasting consensus to save Mother Earth.

The Great Dying, Recognizing Culture

The Great Dying continues to linger in mind. Why as a country have we not talked about this more? It’s really crazy when I think about how often we try and point the finger at other countries behaving badly but fail to acknowledge are success was built on some of the worst tragedies.

 Native Americans welcomed Europeans who came to America, but were then betrayed and viewed as savages by these newcomers. For that reason, their culture, their arts, their status as human beings was given no value. The consequences over time were literally crushing for American Indian civilizations.

In the 1800s, the government forced Native Americans from their lands onto barren reservations. These desolate places were never intended to be economically viable and became areas of intense poverty. Obviously and purposefully the white-controlled government wanted Indian cultures broken up. Breaking up the land base was one way of doing that, because of the spiritual attachment to the lands on which Indians lived.

The government required written permission for Native Americans to leave reservations and outlawed their religions. The government promised in treaties to protect the rights of Native Americans and provide them with food, health services and education, but these treaties were not honored.

Boarding schools were established as the government's attempt to civilize the Native American children according to Western culture. Children as young as four years old were taken away from their families and sent hundreds of miles away for months or years at a time.

In order for healing to occur, non-Native Americans need to acknowledge what has happened. Only in the past half- decade has the government made any effort to formally apologize. But what is most important is that people begin to know and understand more. We need to understand not only what happened, but the great contributions that Native Americans have made to everything we call civilization or culture in this country.

Feminism, Revolutions, Reflecting

 A Revolution

I think that sometime soon there should be a women's movement again. I know there's a theory that young women aren't interested in this sort of thing, but that's absolutely wrong from the conversations I have with women I meet on campus or in the workplace. Many women do have trouble with the word feminism, but that's been true throughout all of American history, except for few years around 1968 and 1969. People think it means being anti-man or wearing really hippy-like clothing. Maybe if we change feminism's name to something else, everything would be fine. I’m not sure…

There's actually another difficulty with starting a new women's movement: The Great Cause it would be fighting for isn't immediately obvious. Sure, there are plenty of big problems out there: Too much pressure on working mothers. Not enough job flexibility. And women aren't making enough of the decisions in our political system

The Great Cause could be absolute zero tolerance for violence against women or an end to international slave trafficking for the sex trade. Or equal rights to an education for girls in every country around the globe. Not to mention solutions to the nuclear arms race, global warming, genocide, and all the other challenges.

I hear in my conversations that women of my generation (yes, I’m a little older) often say they wish younger women knew what they went through back in the day, when they were fighting so hard for rights of women in today’s society. The conversations go on about how there's nothing more wonderful than being out with your comrades, protesting something that is clearly, obviously wrong, or agitating for something that is clearly, obviously right. You have solidarity and self-satisfaction and the knowledge that history is on your side, all wrapped up in one package. And the people who are out there with you will probably be your friends for life—no matter how funny your hippy clothes look.

Strayer says revolutions, “are the arrival of new ideas.” I agree. I see countries were women aren’t given rights or don’t protest and it seems like the places where the most turmoil happens. When women fight for rights, a revolution of ideas and peace seem to come forward.

Reflections on the Slave Trade, Chapter 15

Every person on this planet has a desire to be free.

Freedom is about having a choice.

As citizens of the planet Earth, we need to cherish that gift—and not take it for granted. After reading of the slavery stories around the globe, I know that if you're born in the United States in the 21st Century, you're of  the luckiest people in the world. Take your good fortune and lift your life to its highest calling. Understand that the right to choose your own path is a blessing and a privilege. Don't be afraid to own your freedom. Imagine your possibility.

As for possibility, I wonder what would have happened in Africa if the slave trade didn't happen? We know from the textbook that, "Scholars have estimated that sub-Saharan Africa represented about 18 percent of the world's population in 1600, but only 6 percent in 1900." What possibilities for Africa were lost due to losing this large amount of people? Furthermore, what gain did migrating these people have to the world's of Europe, China, and the America's?

 Our whole economy and social systems are designed for a growing economy, and a growing population.  Without future growth, savings and investment become more necessary, but less attractive.  Without growth, people become less generous towards strangers and more unhappy about their own circumstances. And without the growth around which all of our modern welfare states have been structured, the modern safety nets that governments have spent the last century establishing may not be politically or economically sustainable.

In America, we grew and set up a system by importing human capital for hundreds of years. This created tremendous innovation and capital and a head-start that almost no other country had. As a result our society was transformed into one of the most successful in history, while African societies were destroyed, decimated, and in some cases erased.   

We have tremendous freedoms in America. What will America do next to protect these freedoms? What might be destroyed in order to keep these freedoms, these luxuries,  this security?

Chaper 11 & Chapter 13

Chapter Eleven opens and speaks of Islam. The word Islam means peace and the word Muslim means one who surrenders to God. Looking on our televisions, or reading a paper, the word Muslim almost seens like it means haters based on the press coverage- especially after Setember 11th.

September 11, 2001 was the first time many American's actually tuned in to what Islam was. The terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington D.C., and Pennslyvania instantly transformed America into a nation mourning. On September 12, and for the next several weeks, highlights of lives of people who had lost their lives aired 24 hours a day and Americans were looking to place blaim. The Islamic religion quickly became the target for this blame.

Recently, Americans were reminded of the horrors of terrorism with the Boston bombings. Quickly, people from across the country were looking to place blame and single out a group. Will Islam hatred grow as a result? Will coverage of hatred be greater on American television?

Think about your image of the Middle East... It's the norm in media coverage of Muslims to show faces filled with rage, without looking beyond the most violent, provocative photos to the real lives of average Middle Easterners.

"Brotherhood" is certainly not presented or understood with our biased press coverage in 21st Century America.

Chapter Thirteen speaks of China and communism in the opening remarks. China's communism is changing. China is moving further away from Mao Communism and into a new zone. The government of China has entered into the global world of capitalism. This new China is very different from the old China. It's gone from making McDonald's Happy Meals toys to making electric cars and iPhones. It's gone from riding a bike to driving a BMW in a little over a decade. The new China is creating a new Communist Party. The old party is dieing and this will bring about its own set of challenges, for this ancient, yet resilent country. Watch China... you'll be hearing of their determination for years to come. But, hasn't this always been the case?

Crusades

What really are the Crusades of today? Though the Crusades were fought in the name of Jesus and though through terrorists, they blew up buildings in the name of Allah, and though religions began and often are sustained by visions and prophecies that are sometimes almost common place... you can't blame the violence on the religious tradition or dismiss the tradition because of the visions. Those same traditions help people live sanely and die peacefully. They gave us comfort, support, community, inspiration, and an ethical framework for people like Martin Luther King Jr, Mother Teresa, and even Abraham Lincoln. It's not the religion that's destructive, it's the process that destorts in its name.
Every day the world is on fire with so much beauty and so much suffering. SO we must enter the day with some sketicism and hold on to our faith.  

Crossing Into New Lands For Opportunity?

As I read of connecting to the western hemisphere it makes me think of what immigration is like today. Imagine being taken from your family, denied a phone call, and dropped off in the desert, miles from home all for the crime of wanting a better life. Is this really opportunity or just the new American network and the modern way commerce and people connect to the prosperous western hemisphere?
People argue that undocumented people are criminals because they are breaking our immigration laws are really shortsighted. We have really bad immigration laws. Just like the Jim Crow laws were bad, so are our current immigration laws. They are in dire need of reform. I don't think anyone would call Rosa Parks a criminal these days... As American citizens, we need to have the intellect to know when history repeats itself.
Are laws are really targeting a race or class of people. Let's look at another example, like the holacaust. It started with seperating parents from children, takling families from the only home they ever known and putting them where people thought they should be without any regard to what happens to them. American's need to wake up and stop this nightmare before it spreads across the entire country.