Environmental Craze

Hey there, mine name is Ashleigh Wilde and I'm a junior at UWF, majoring in journalism. I love playing sports. I love the outdoors. When combining the two, it makes me happy. I especially love the mountains.

[environmentcraze-blog]

Edward Abbey

Edward Abbey was a very intriguing man, or so it seems. He was someone that everyone else seemed to have an opinion about. The film “A Voice in the Wilderness”, was a look into his life with help from family and friends.

There was also some wonderful footage of Abbey. The film was very insightful and was very effective in showing Abbey to be a man who really cared about what happened to the wilderness. His family and friends helped the viewers to understand who Abbey really was.

This was an effective tool which brought the film full circle. The film showed how Ed worked to get people to care about the environment. In one part, he showed how he would sit on the side of the road and answer questions asked by tourists as they passed by.

The film gave Edward Abbey a good legacy. There was nothing really bad said about him. Even after he died, he still wanted to help the environment.

Abbey, according to the film, was a man who dedicated his life to preserving the wilderness and loving his family all at the same time. He definitely made a difference because he inspired many to be focused saving the wilderness. I think that Abbey was an interesting man.

I think that he was someone who I would enjoy having a conversation with if he was still around. On the other hand however, when it comes to his personal life, he could have had a better record. After watching the film and doing my own research, I would say the part of his life that impressed me most was how he continually pursued ways to make new information known to people and help the wilderness, even with amount of haters and skeptics that said he was crazy.

His passion for wilderness is an inspiration to many. Abbey is still relevant today because people are still using his books and research to find new ways to fight the government when it comes to laws the protect the wilderness.  I would definitely use his work as an example of how we should fight for what we love and believe in.

[environmentcraze-blog]

Gasland

“Gasland” by Josh Fox is an interesting look into how fracking has taken over. It is a very thorough research documentary. He makes his point very well with the amount of info he gives. He interviewed a lot of people, who all had the same problem, they had wells which were contaminated and at times made some of the families sick.

Although there has been some skepticism by people, I think the documentary definitely guides understanding with meaningful information. You can tell that Fox is doing this for the people. He doesn’t just take the $100,000 the natural gas company offered to explore his land, instead he used it as incentive to do digging of his own. This allows him to warn people about the harm fracking has on us. There does not seem to be any other reason why he would make this documentary.

When relating this documentary to Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic, it opens up the conversation that we should consider going back to using natural resources. For example, one of the couples interviewed said they had no problem with their water until a natural gas company got involved. This shows how important it is to consider Leopold’s options. The use of fracking is the opposite of what Leopold said we should do in Land Ethic.

If he were here today to see this documentary, he would be astonished, and also not surprised. He would probably say that we should cut fracking out in order to save the land. He would probably push for less government and natural gas company involvement and say we should let people use the resources the environment gave to them. This would allow for less harm to people.

There is a lot of criticism to the documentary. Many people have argued that Fox left out many facts, especially facts that went against his side of the story. Critics even go as far as to say that Fox lied about some of his findings just to get his point across. Critics, gas companies, and regulators have fired back at Fox and published facts from their side.

The documentary has led to an ongoing debate, but it was still very informative. The film showed me how much drilling is actually taking place, because I had no idea. It surprised me to find out how natural gas companies can tell customers that water is safe, but when they are offered some, they will not taste it. It goes to show how deceitful the companies can be. “Gasland” is an eye opening documentary and it makes me want to do more research about fracking on my own.

[environmentcraze-blog]

Value of Land

Land has always been very valuable to humans dating all the way back to the beginning of time. In the book “Listening to Earth”, various writers tell readers just how important it is and how we must manage it.

John Muir states that “The forests of America, however slighted by man, must have been a great delight to God”. Muir believes that it is very easy and normal for humans to cut down trees. He evens says that we have to cut some plants in order to grow new and better ones. 

However, he explains that even though it’s easy for us to do, if God does not want a tree cut down it will prove to be hard, or to cut. He tries to make the reader understand that while God can save forests from drought, avalanches, and other events of that nature, “he cannot save them from fools,-only Uncle Sam can do that.”

“It is one of those places God must have meant for a field from all time.” This is the way Mary Austin begins to describe a field owned by her neighbors. Unlike Muir, Austin does not focus on how man can keep and save land, instead she focuses on how land is to be admired. 

The land that Austin watches daily, she describes in ways such as “a little sand, a little loam, a grassy plot, a stony rise or two” is beautiful to her. She wants readers to know that you can enjoy land without working on or owning it. She reminds us that beauty is important too.

Aldo Leopold takes a different stance on land. He tries to explain to readers that, instead of trying to change land and cultivate it, we should lessen the changes we make. He argues that it is better for the health of the land if we don’t destroy it. 

He says that we should have an ethic and an ecological conscience. Leopold says “a land ethic, then, reflects the existence of an ecological conscience, and this in turn reflects a conviction of individual responsibility for the health of the land.” He is trying to tell the reader that land gives energy and if we love and respect it, it will exist longer.

Margaret L. Knox wrote and warned readers about people such as Chuck Cushman. She tells a story of how Cushman tries to bash the government when it comes to land ownership and usage. Cushman is quoted as saying “’I’m not trying to scaaaaare you.’” 

Knox tries to explain to readers that people like this may not should be trusted. She wants readers to understand that they exaggerate and you should not worry.

Barry Lopez uses his family’s history as his point for why he believes we should maintain biological integrity. He explains how they got to America and how they never own their own land until now. He says “sacrificing the biological integrity of land to abet human progress is a practice my generation must end.” 

He goes on to explain that we do not necessarily need to leave land untouched, but that we shouldn’t change it so much that it becomes unrecognizable.

Each of these views makes me realize that nature is very important and we should definitely fight to preserve it and not lose the uniqueness of it. Each of these authors have an interesting point of view and I agree a little bit with each of them. The government does have a lot to do with it, but we as citizens can help save it too.

 I think these views are still relevant today, especially with the BP oil spill. Muir’s point of view is evident, because God protected the land from being damaged worse than it could have been and the government did a good job of getting it cleaned up. Lopez’s view was seen because we kept the integrity of the land even with an oil spill.

If Muir and Leopold were here now, they would be astonished at the way nature is treated now. Muir would probably say that he was right and that government is doing everything they can to preserve nature. While Leopold would say that we don’t respect land like we should.

Overall, the views still would stand firm today. We need to take these into consideration and help protect all of our lands.

[environmentcraze-blog]

The nature connection

My connection to nature is not that different than most people. I love the outdoors and spending time just relaxing and looking at the beautiful world that surrounds us. I’m a very busy full-time college student with a part time job, so I do not get to spend a lot of time out in nature. When I do have a chance to be in nature, I enjoy it. My favorite season is the fall when the leaves are changing and the air is crisp. Spending time outdoors at the time of year helps me to realize how great of a world we live in. We take for granted the world around. I’m a very devout Christian, so I love looking at the creation God gave us. This is probably my favorite connection to nature. One of my favorite places to be is in Tennessee surrounded by the gorgeous mountain ranges. I enjoy being able to go there and just sit and relax. I like being one with nature. I do not mind others going with me, but I especially like being on my own so that I can just spend time with God taking in the artistic beauty in front of me, whether it is praying or just reading my Bible. When I do this, I cannot help but be amazed at the exquisite view in front of me. I see a blue sky, a shining sun and a bunch of high mountains. Nature is a crazy thing, made up of so many different parts. Each part individually is amazing, but as a whole, it is astonishing. I cannot understand how something so breathtaking can be so complex. Each trip I make out into nature takes my breath away in a different way. It’s a great distraction from a crazy life and I cannot help but be grateful for such a marvelous escape from reality.

[environmentcraze-blog]

Nature is beautiful