A Forest Returns

The movie about the Wayne National Forest returning was rather eye opening. I had no idea that there was a time period in our country's history where we literally cut down every tree so that much of the land was barren and lifeless. As horrible as it was to destroy the forest, economically I understand why it was done, and in time the economy was brought it back. As weird as it might come off for me to say this. Cutting down the Wayne forest in one perspective was a blessing to this country. For starters, the wood was used to further develop and expand our country for a growing population. But at the end of the ordeal, the barren land acted as something for government to purchase which acted as a way to put money back into the pockets of the surrounding natives. Not only were people paid for their property, but it also gave people jobs because many young men were paid to restore the land to the lush greens we see today. So, the destruction and restoration of the Wayne National Forest can partially be credited with helping lift Americans out of the depths of the Great Depression. An additional thought is just the realization of how much harder life was back then. Everything was labor based, and the cost to live took a major physical toll. I certainly have a ton of respect for my elders, seeing as they lives they lived were much more demanding than they are now.

Research Prospectus Addition, Forest Presentation

After realizing that my topic is potentially too specific, I have decided to add one more factor to this environmental situation to research. I am going to talk about cost and amount of oil it takes to transport paper documents as opposed to documents transported electronically. From here I will research the fuel costs of airplanes as well as mail trucks and courier services and compare that to the rest of the nations oil consumption costs.

David Maywhoor's presentation was interesting as well. Coming into the class I had no idea about prescriptive burning. With forest fires always being an issue I didn't understand why we would induce them. What if it got out of control? That just didn't a whole lot of sense too me. Another part of the presentation I found interesting was his story about people just sitting up in the trees so that workers could not cut them down. I thought it was a brilliant idea even though it was failure in that they were actually arrested and put in jail. At the same time, it is nice to see that some people in this world care that much to do such a thing.

Research Prospectus

I have decided to take on an environmental issue that is quickly becoming more and more prevalent in our economy and society today. All too often organizations do not believe they can have a profound impact on the environment without making drastic changes to their operations that result in costly investments. However, there are minor adjustments that can be made in an organization to provide an immediate impact on the environment and financial savings to the environment. Direct deposit is something already being utilized at Ohio University for faculty and staff; however, it is not something that has received strong emphasis. Removing the option for checks to be distributed would be financially and environmentally beneficial.

As previously stated, direct deposit is currently an option for faculty and staff at Ohio University. However, the university also still provides written checks as a form of paying its employees. While this option might be comfortable for employees who have always received a check, the environmental impact of generating these checks is considerable. If Ohio University is providing paychecks for 15,000 employees, over 5,607 pounds of paper are being used each year to generate these paychecks for each employee twice monthly. What’s more, 53,480 gallons of waste water discharged into lakes, streams and rivers as well as the 2,077 gallons of fuel used annually to transport the checks all add up to a significant impact on the environment. While oftentimes people might only consider the amount of paper being used to generate paychecks, resources being consumed like fuel and water are not equally considered but are equally important.

Aside from faculty and staff utilizing direct deposit, students can take advantage of the opportunity as well. Currently the Office of the Bursar offers direct deposit as a method of distributing student loan refunds. While this method might be convenient for people accustomed to the traditional methods, as mentioned earlier, the environmental resources the process consumes is tremendous. If students were no longer given the option of a check being produced, the environmental impact would be remarkable. Many businesses currently use direct deposit, and it is becoming more common to provide it as the only available option for receiving paychecks. However, the United States is still far behind other European and Asian countries in its adoption of direct deposit.

Aside from just being beneficial to the environment, direct deposit provides organizations with financial savings. U.S. businesses have saved over $6.7 billion over the last 10 years by utilizing direct deposit as a method for paying employees. Direct deposit is a process that, once in place, is mostly automated and does not just cut down on environmental resources, but also reduces labor costs as well associated with generating paychecks the traditional way.

Another idea that should be considered on the side for how Ohio University can further go paperless is how it generates its parking tickets. In 2001, over $281,000 in parking tickets were issued. Each of these tickets is accompanied by a slip of paper on a car windshield. Alternatively, if every student registered their vehicle, parking tickets could then be issued through e-mail. Students already have the option of paying tickets online. If the option was made available to view their ticket online instead of one being printed, this would greatly reduce resources as well. It would also reduce labor hours as well, since parking services would not spend as much time printing and issuing tickets.

There are large changes that can be made to help the environment. However, minor changes such as direct deposit have outstanding impacts on the environment as well, and also provide financial savings to the organizations instituting these practices. That is why Ohio University needs to further implement direct deposit throughout the university and consider paperless options for parking tickets as well.

Sources

http://www.electronicpayments.org/businesses/bs.direct-deposit.faq.php#countries

http://www.ohio.edu/finance/bursar/directdeposit.cfm

http://www.payitgreen.com

http://www.thepost.ohiou.edu/archives3/aug02/080102/n5.html

P. 243

Wendell Berry discusses the "rational" and "sympathetic" mind in terms of decision making or coming to a conclusion. Although both are based off feeling, only one accounts for the feelings for everyone. Rational means that the person uses logic at the time to make a quick decision that doesn't typically take into account its effects on others. On the other hand, Sympathetic minds use both logic AND reason when attempting to draw a conclusion. Therefore a sympathetic mind looks for a more well rounded and universally efficient solution to a situation.

An example of Reece's sympathetic mind comes into play when he discusses pollution on the mountain and comparing it the mudslides that happened in California. Every mudslide in California recieved national attention while each slide caused by valley fills in Appalachia are ignored. He recognizes that in one way or anything, just like in California, these mudslides are important for all of us to be concerned with, not just the immediate people close to the situation. Because its not just an isolated incident, its a way of life that produces this. Another example comes when he gets the inspectors to realize there is an issue with the water. He didn't exactly have much authority in the situation, but he knew something needed to be said as he was acting on behalf on the best interests of everyone's health.

I have chosen to look at Reeces quote on page 231 about America not signing the Kyoto Protocol. Reece then asks "Why are we as Americans so stubbornly immune to to understanding the world as something miraculous, as something imbued with spirit, as something worth preserving?" I found it gut wrenchingly clear once I read that that he is absolutely right. His words "stubbornly immune" I feel were very effective in that those two words can describe America so well in so many different senses of the words. Even when we recognize there is a problem we are too stubborn to do something. People talk and talk, but no one actually does something. We are too stubborn, or just plain lazy. And its true, we are too concealed in our own worlds that have been bestowed upon us by cell phones, internet, and the incessant pursuit of money that we forget that none of this would be possible if it weren't for the natural gifts of the earth. I think its time to realize that we realize that earth itself is a gift, and that we return the favor with a natural and genuine display of respect.

P. 162

The second section of the book serves as another way for Reece to expose the real attitudes and thoughts by the locals who live around Lost Mountain. Before getting to this chapter, I wondered if the local towns people really did understand the repercussions of how the coal mining would affect the health of their community. Was it a a few individuals, or a good amount of the public? It became clear to me that it was a pretty widely understood situation when a teacher, John Krupa was quoted as saying "It's just a matter of time before we kill ourselves off". He then went on to say say that he doesn't tell his younger students that, but its clear they understand it as they get older. Perhaps the only luck for these young students to get away from this environmental hazard is to go to college. It must be incredibly difficult to go to school each day, go to the park, go for a walk, or even going out to get the newspaper, knowing your ingesting so many toxins. I'm not sure that is something I could do.
Luckily its not all bad news bears at Lost Mountain. Reece describes a small development called the Ecovillage. Here waste is converted to water and is a fairly sustainable source. It's rather brilliant in that the Ecovillage uses 75% less energy than your average residential neighborhood. Hopefully as time goes on, engineers and others working on site can further develop ways to turn this tragedy into something good. I'd say toilet water is a pretty good start.

P. 85

Eric Reece explores the effects of mountain top removal in Kentucky in both an environmental and biological perspective. To start out he explains that mountain top removal is an issue that has long been a problem, and a problem that has continued to be ignored. It is an issue with so many devastating consequences yet many people around the country have no idea of it's significant and permanent effects. He discusses how one of the strongest consequences of coal extraction in these areas is the destruction on wildlife habitats. Every time land is removed from these areas, an animls home goes with it. This has a trickle down effect in that these animals then become prey to other animals because they are forced to live outside of their comfortable habitats. On top of that, coal extraction hurts plant populations because water in the region is significantly affected.
Of course, this environmental issue has a direct effect on humans as well. The extraction causes a release of sulfur and mercury into our environment. The sulfur breathed in can cause respiratory problems while mercury can cause birth defects. What a delight, right? And of course, who could forget that it also causes global warming. Therefore it s very important to keep these issues in our contiguous forests to a minimum.
I felt like I had no option but to side with Reece's view on mountain top removal. His overwhelming first hand evidence on the effects of coal extraction forces me to be against it. I completely agree that the use of coal is necessary in this country, but I do not agree with the way in which we are extracting it. There is absolutely no reason the average human should die by the age of 55 in his or her owns natural living environment. That is simply outrageous to me. This brings us right back to the argument of clean coal emissions removal and the urgency to implement new technology. If we can bring the emissions to a minimum, perhaps we can cut health issues while maximizing life expectancies for these regions of America. With those current conditions, I could never find it in me to raise a family in this area knowing that I am doing nothing but hurting the well being of my loved ones.

Clean Coal: What's the truth?

Upon viewing both sites, I noticed that each had its agenda portrayed to the viewer immediately. Right away the mood is set. Either clean coal is great and necessary, or clean coal doesn't exist and is catastrophically effecting our environment. The pro coal site, Americaspower.org conveys a vibrant, appealing, and "clean" appearance to the cause. One feels at home or comfortable with the use of coal because the site is so peaceful with various of images of people smiling and enjoying the electricity produced by clean coal. On the other hand, This Is Reality produces a message of death and pollution with its mascot bird dying upon running into each negative fact about the use of coal.
I personally preferred the pro coal site, America's Power as it was much easier to navigate and it's information seemed to be clearer to me. It wasn't trying to be too complex with its navigation of the site unlike the anti coal site. Its message was clear from the start by portraying how much America uses coal already, and what it does for us, and how cheap and reliable it is.
For starters, I would like to address what clean coal really is. According to This Is Reality, clean coal is the capturing and storing of the emissions produced by the burning of coal so that it doesn't reach the atmosphere. Therefore burning coal no matter what is always dirty, but its what one does with the emissions that can distinguish it as clean or not. There are two issues at stake in the argument for Clean Coal (CC). The biggest issue at hand is that of global warming and damage to the environment while its counterpart stresses that CC is necessary and cheap way to power the United States of America. America's Power stresses that the use of coal is necessary for America to use in order to keep up with its demand for electrical technology while This Is Reality stresses that coal can safely be part of the the future of our electrical energy source as long as its emissions are captured. It shows much we already use it, and how much we need it, while TIR simply tackles its environmental repercussions.
I believe that both parties target audience are that of younger generations. I feel that in this point in time that older generations whether they be pro or anti CC, they already have their minds made and it would be hard to change that. I think the only reason why someone could call the America's Power could be considered for an older audience is because of how easy it is to navigate and older people with less experience with technology typically would benefit more from that type of layout.
TIR is sponsored by MIT CO2 Capture and Storage Project, Center for Global Development, IEA Greenhouse Gas R&G Program, and Sierra Club Environmental Law Program. This companies provide credibility because their main focus is researching problems like this and understanding the complexities as well as what the proper solutions would be. The sponsors on Americas Power are companies that are strong supports of coal consumption as well as some companies in relation to green house gas emissions. I would have to say that TIR has more credibility because their sponsors actually support the cause, the main issue here as opposed to what coal is actually used for. They don't oppose using coal for energy, they just agree that we need to dispose of it properly. That to me seems more legitimate rather than companies just supporting the actual use of coal.
I think TIR uses emotional appeal to make the viewers feel guilty. By showing the death of the bird, viewers have no option but to feel a slight bit of remorse for the use of coal and its effect on the environment. I think the dark color scheme emphasizes that because black is typically a depressing color. Americas Power has more of a vibrant color scheme that allows for peoples opinions to be upbeat about clean coal. It would hard to have a positive outlook about CC with dark and gloomy colors. This ties in tightly with the visual appeals. You express something you like with lighter and happier colors just as much as you express negativity for something with dark coloring.
Although I liked the Americas Power website more, I found that This Is Reality was a more persuasive website. The fact is, TIR tackled the real issue being the after effect of CC use. They didn't really try and deny that coal is helpful in providing energy, they just clearly outlined how the disposal of its product needs to be changed and improved. On the other hand, America's power just stated why we need clean coal, but not how it really it is clean or how it isn't a pollutant.