How sustainable is BC’s Forestry Industry?
If it is done correctly BC’s Forestry Industry is sustainable, this is only if trees are being re planted, The waters are not contaminated and the loss of habitats for wildlife are kept to a minimum. If we were to take what we wanted, without considering the effects, this is when this industry would fail and BC would run out of valued forest areas.
Benefits of:
Clear Cutting
– efficient for harvesting and replanting trees
– Financially sound
– increased water flow
– Increased farm land
Silviculture
– less expensive
-easy and efficient operations
– avoided damage to regeneration
Selective Logging
– allows ecosystems to support more wildlife than clear cutting
– allows forests to retain resistance to disease and pests.
– reduced ecological damage
Drawbacks of:
Clear Cutting
– Negative impacts on nature, wildlife, habitats and plant loss.
– loss of recreation land due to loss of aesthetic appeal
– loss of 1000 year old forests.
Silviculture
– exposure to erosion
– takes away habitats for many animals
Selective Logging
– takes away strong trees in the forest leaving the weaker trees.
– difficult regrowth
– harmful to other trees (macenery easily damages other trees)
How sustainable is the mining industry? What should the future look like?
The mining industry is not sustainable, The more we take, the less we will have in the future. The things we mine (fossil soil, gas, gold, coal……) are non renewable resources, meaning once they are gone, they are gone and will not regenerate for thousands and some maybe millions of years. If we continue to mine the way we do, not only will our resources be gone but our earth will be all torn up, habitats destroyed due to gaping mines in the middle of wilderness.
Staring now humans need to learn and adapt to relying less on materials, things that need to be mind. Although eliminating this completely in our society is next to impossible, we will need to figure it out. By reusing and recycling the metals we already have, we will cut down on what we need to continuously extract from the earth.By changing your mindset, this will help retain our resources in the earth before they are extinct and inexcusable to us in our time.
First of all, by reducing the amount we buy, throw out and create, we can cut down on all that we put into our landfills. Places around the world have figured out amazing ways to cut down on waste, ways that would not be difficult to implement here in Canada.
Germany:
-banned local garbage dumps
-planned to decommission remaining landfills by 2022
-Utilize the waste that is created+ the energy produced by it
-”Manufacturers and retailers have to pay for a green dot on the packaging of their products. The more packaging, the higher the fee creating an incentive for businesses to reduce packaging and facilitate recycling.”
Belgium:
–75 percent of their waste is reused, recycled or composted
-The green event and assessment guide is a digital tool that is used in Belgium in the fight against waste generation…. calculate the ecological impact of an event and is even able to prevent waste during them
-Ecolizer: web-based calculator that helps promote sustainable design and clean low waste production
If we were to implement some of these techniques to cut down on waste, the world may see a huge impact, or a change. If other first world countries can figure out systems such as these, we can too.
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Start at 1:30-1:50 or 2:20
“How bad can I be” – Dr. Seuss’ the Lorax
This song/ scene represents a negative mindset towards the environment. In this scene we see a very clear representation, our main character in this scene represents all of man kind, he represents organizations and factories. He is shown being taken over by greed, riches and selfishness, not caring about the negative effects for everyone else, the other creatures and the future of his world.
Start at 1:20 – End of clip
“Unless” – Dr. Seuss’ the Lorax
This scene represents a negative impact with a positive outcome. This shows us the extreme case of what will happen if we continue taking from our earth in our own selfish greed. Our trees will be gone, our air will be polluted, our animals will leave, and the environment will be left a disappointment. This message “unless” tells us that things wont improve if someone doesn’t start to care, it takes one person to start a change big or small. (ethic of care)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q77EqqzLIk
Start at 1:00 – 3:10
“You Know Who You Are” -Moana
This scene is representing the rejuvenation of our environment. The heart represents all of our greed and riches, when we take away from the environment as we do, the earth will start to die and fight against us. Moana returning the heart is a symbol that as people, we are capable of this type of environmental uprise. If we stop taking and start giving back to our environment, the environment will give us what we need, instead of fighting us as we take things away.
What would an ethic of care towards the environment look like?
- What would be needed to create it?
- People need knowledge and appreciation towards the environment in order to begin to care about it. Most people are not aware of the negative effects that our actions create on the environment and if we all know then people are more likely to care about what is happening. We also need knowledge on how to care for it, beyond our recycling bins, and planting trees, we need techniques to help maintain what we have left of our environments.
- What would we need to believe about the environment?
- We need to believe that we have one world and that is all, what we have here is unique and irreplaceable. Lots of people think about the present more than the future, not thinking that our actions now will have an effect once we are gone. We need to believe that there is more to life than materials and money, and we need to respect our environment.
- How would we act?
- If we cared for the environment the way that we would a child or a friend, we would respect the plants and animals by not cutting down their homes, throwing food onto streets where birds scavenge and risk getting hit, we would stop littering as it endangers our animals as they might eat the garbage, and polluting our lands. As humans across the world we would continue peaceful trades without mass productions that are hurting out Asian countries so badly.
- What would be different about the world if everyone adopted this ethic of care towards the environment? Benefits and drawbacks?
- The world would be brighter, more colourful in where we live especially. our plants would thrive and our skies would be clearer. Hopefully the wild mass production would be unvalued and pollution would solve itself. Our foods may become richer and more authentic to our reagins cutting down on obesity and health problems. However, by completely adopting this way of thinking, we would have less jobs, possibly a higher homeless count as less homes will be being produced along with the rising population rate.
- Should we adopt the ethic of care towards the environment?
- I believe we should adopt the ethic of care towards our environment to a certain extent. It is important to do so as it would help revive our planet. However in doing so, it would have very complicated drawbacks on the way humans have learned to live. Through time, if everyone prioritized the health our our environment, hopefully things would be the best for the current living situation of our earth.
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We Are Inextricably Linked (read here)
We Are Inextricably Linked:
In reading this article, I feel connected to the earth in ways I would never have thought before. This piece demonstrates the natural beauty of our beings despite the things we produce. It is very easy to feel apart from our earth in the current day for we do not rely on the land in our community as humans use to. Within this writing, I appreciated the use of descriptive language as it reveals the importance of our relation towards our oceans. These words illustrate an image of beauty and treacherous realities. I believe the piece connects us to the ocean in order to create importance in our minds on protecting what we have. The article tells us that we are part of the ocean, for the tears that we cry are as salty as the homes that keep our fish safe. We all come from the sea for the way we grow inside our mothers is also built up of salty fluids. Knowing that we are built from, made of and rely on these oceans tells us that they are important. The oceans represent life in general, how there will be waves of horrific events that take over our days, and some where it is calm, bright and beautiful. Going through the motions, we can feel part of our nature again, part of our beautiful and admired seas, and part of reality that we may be blocking out.
