Category Archives: Environmentalism in popular culture

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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Coast Conscious

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The state of Oregon is many things to various people all over. Though, to a group of individuals who reside on the coast and dedicate their lives to change, it is known as a pioneer in the growing industry of sustainable fishing: an industry created to save fish and human interest alike in an effort to clean up a historically old and often waste laden profession.

There are so many fish in the sea it is hard to imagine the ocean bare. However, at the current rate at which humans fish, this could soon be a reality. Already scores of species of fish are endangered and over-fished to exhaustion as the demand for fish worldwide is overwhelming. Currently, seafood is expensive and those prices will only go up as certain species continue to fall off the radar. Due to this issue becoming rapidly more severe it has only recently evolved into one of visible importance and, in September, I was lucky enough to meet with one of the groups taking action in Port Orford, Oregon.

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Environmental Racism

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After learning about ‘Environmental Racism’ in class on Tuesday, I was surprised that I had never before heard the term. According to The Environmental Justice Movement, “people who live, work and play in America’s most polluted environments are commonly people of color and the poor” (1). In Helena Maria Viramontes’ novel ‘Under the Feet of Jesus,’ environmental racism is clearly depicted.

    “A large percent of U.S Latinos live and work in urban and agricultural areas where they face heightened danger of exposure to air pollution, unsafe drinking water, pesticides and lead and mercury contamination” (2). This quote is important in describing the situations that Estrella’s family and friends face throughout the novel. Each character is in someway affected by the pollution of the pesticides, which are sprayed from a biplane onto the crops. The character most affected however is Alejo, who is directly sprayed with chemicals; ” At first it was just a slight moisture until the poison rolled down his face in deep sticky streaks” (Viramontes, 77). Alejo must be sprayed in order for Viramontes to portray to us how dangerous the use of pesticides really is.

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Environmental Racism in Under the Feet of Jesus

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It is not uncommon to see that within many cities there is a divide among the social classes, especially in reference to housing. A substantial amount of research has been provided that suggests people from the same social class typically live in the same area. For example, if an individual was considered to be within the upper, or rich, social class then he/she would probably live among many other people with the same status. Often times the people within this upper social class are “cared” about more by the government than people from the lower social class. This is evident if you look at the neighborhoods in the poor areas of the city and if you look at the rich areas. More often than not, an individual will notice that the richer neighborhoods have far greater institutions, such as schools or parks, while the non-wealthy neighborhoods have the complete opposite. This notion continually widens the gap between the social classes.

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Anthropomorphism in Environmental Films

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Over the weekend I decided to watch the environmental documentary, African Cats. The film was released last year on Earth Day, what better timing for a new documentary film devoted to wildlife. African Cats captivates the audience as you follow a year in the life of a group of lions and cheetahs through Kenya. The films emphasis was on female cats that are the heroes. The audience is first introduced to Layla, an aging lioness struggling to keep up with her pride for the survival of her daughter, Mara. Then introduced to Sita, a single mother cheetah of three who lacks a pride for protection and food.

Samuel L. Jackson over dramatic narration emphasizes the anthropomorphism throughout the film. African Cats tumbles into anthropomorphic cuteness and applies human motivations to animal behavior. Throughout the film the audience can’t help but have sympathy through the suspense as the feline moms struggle for survival against hyenas, crocodiles, male lions, and cheetahs. The film anthropomorphizing of the cat with human emotions and motivations make the story emotional and are effectively done. The audience gets to know these wild cats enough to invest their sympathy through dangers and losses. The losses are balanced by triumphs and comic relief to teach children about life and death, without traumatizing them. Continue reading →

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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Silent Spring

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According to Rachel Carson in Silent Spring, “the most alarming of all man’s assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials” (6). Carson’s argument against the use of pesticides “confronted us with the chemical corruption of the globe and called on us to regulate our appetites- a truly revolutionary stance- for our self-preservation” (XIX).

Today, more than ever, we need to follow Carson’s advice and take a stand against companies like Monsanto (one of the largest biotechnology agricultural corporations in the world) who are creating genetically modified crops that are able to withstand their own pesticides. Meaning, that instead of finding an alternative to using pesticides all together, they decided to create crops that can withstand the pesticide so they wouldn’t lose any precious money in pesticide sells. These genetically modified crops are known as Round-Up ready crops and account for 90% of soybeans and 70% of corn and cotton grown in the United States.

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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 →

Green Deception

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Hybrid waste article: 

http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/does-hybrid-car-production-waste-offset-hybrid-benefits.htm

Hybrid vehicle implications: 

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es702178s

Toyota Prius Harmony:  

http://vimeo.com/7384947

While car companies may give the impression that they are on the green side, it is visible that they are really just concerned with selling another product. Advertisement agencies have been able to take advantage of the consumer’s care for the environment and manipulate it. Consumers are told that if they buy a hybrid car with great gas mileage then they will be saving the planet and will be protecting the younger generations. Although this point is partially true you have to look at the process of creating one of these hybrid cars. For instance, the production that goes into making a Toyota Prius is one that is quite costly towards the environment. According to writer Dave Roos of HowStuffWorks.com, “in 2007, a report commissioned by an auto industry trade group insisted that when you factor in the waste generated during production, the notoriously gas-guzzling Hummer is actually greener than the Prius” (Roos). This shows that although the car does promote environmentally friendly miles per gallon it is actually damaging towards the environment. Not only is the waste produced by a hybrid car terrible for the surroundings, but the manufacturing factor is terrible as well. The process of building a lithium-ion battery takes incredible amounts of energy to produce, more so than a conventional car. They rely on mining nickel, copper and rare-earth metals like lithium, which are responsible for higher sulfur oxide emissions (Constantine Samaras). Continue reading →