Author Archives: Samuel Huck

ahhh, Frack

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In a Environmental Studies class of mine, we watched a documentary that some of you might have seen titled Gas Land,  by Josh Fox. In this film, it starts out with some vivid imagery of some of our natural gas wells, and takes us inside a some sort of congress meeting, discussing the importance of drilling for natural gas, saying that there is “no real credible threat to underground drinking water from hydrolic fracturing,” however, Josh seems to come up with some different findings along his journey for the truth. What he finds is frighting, and I encourage all of you to watch Gas Land, for I cannot get the whole feeling of the movie in one small post. This film is available on HBO and Netflix right now, and I’m sure you can find it a thousand other places online, because it is a pretty relevant issue. In the first minute of the film, those in favor of fracking have been giving misleading information, such as :” … entire process is imperceptible under the surface” and, “Mostly water and a few chemicals are used”. However after watching the film, and doing some independent research, I found that the fracking could drill us into a darker future.

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Pesticides, Poverty, and Poisoning

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In part two of Viramontes’ Under the Feet of Jesus Alejo gets directly sprayed with pesticides while in the height of a tree, picking it’s ripe fruits. After this contact with the pesticide or insecticide, Alejo explains how he feels as though he cannot breath right after the spray of the poison gets on him. Extreme pain envelops over Alejo’s body as the poison gets onto his pores. For the next few weeks Alejo gets no better, although some days are better than others.

After reading about Alejo’s conditions not getting any better in part three, I wanted to do a little research on pesticides, and what kind of effects they have on the human body, when in contact with one another. I found out that there is three categorizes to pesticide poisoning. Mild, moderate, and severe. Alejo had all the symptoms of the severe pesticide poisoning, with symptoms including any:

  • inability to breathe
  • chemical burns on skin
  • respiratory distress
  • loss of reflexes
  • uncontrollable muscle twitching
  • unconsciousness
  • convulsions

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A Disappointing Debacle

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At what point did America forget about our environmental crisis? In the recent political campaigns for the presidential office, it is almost as though it is not an issue anymore. I thought that we had woken up, that something, since 2008 might had changed, but even in the wake of our highest heat wave in recent history, one that will go down as the longest and hottest heat waves in U.S. history, neither of the front running candidates have mentioned their strategy for our future. Not once was the environment or more specifically global warming, mentioned in any of the presidential debates this year. This is the first time that climate change has not made it into a presidential debate in roughly ten years.

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A Spiritual Awakening: Thoreau

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Excerpt from Henry D. Thoreau, Walden

“It matters not what the clocks say or the attitudes and labors of men.  Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me.  Moral reform is the effort to throw off sleep. . . . We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep.  I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor.  It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do.  To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.  Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour.  If we refused, or rather used up, such paltry information as we get, the oracles would distinctly inform us how this might be done.” Continue reading →

The Hard Things

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Green commercials are becoming more popular, and companies are jumping on the bandwagon with the idea of making a more environmentally friendly product. Attached are two Sun Chips commercials, one we watched in class and another that also introduces the compostable chip bag. What frustrates me most about the commercial we watched in class is the covering of trash, not picking it up. It shows how we are not willing to accept the duty of doing the hard things, maybe like picking up trash. It also shows me that Sun Chips is trying to put this larger problem, into a much smaller unrealistic solution. Sun Chips is merely trying to make people feel better about buying their product.

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