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MonicaRuizFirstEssay 3 - 01 Jun 2017 - Main.MonicaRuiz
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< | Pachamama Won't Forgive Our Market Failures | >
> | Environment in the Limelight | | | -- By MonicaRuiz - 10 Mar 2017 | |
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< | Balance
I was in Huchuy Qosqo, an Inca royal estate, overlooking the Sacred Valley. Julian, a Quechua individual, explained his belief that the relationship between humans and the environment is reciprocal. “Pachamama provides us protection and sustains our life on Earth. She is the fertility goddess responsible for harvests. Pachamama provides me with life but I cannot take too much from her or injure her. I won’t throw boiling water on the ground because Pachamama will punish me. She will do horrible things and ask why I have harmed her in that way.” Julian’s explanation was simple. The Earth and nature have an energy and must be maintained in balance. When Pachamama is not in balance, rituals must be performed to regain that balance.
The Climate Change Denier
Climate change denial is prominent in the United States and I don’t believe it is losing traction any time soon. What first comes to my mind are some right wing conservatives with a check paid by fossil fuel industries on one hand as they hold their bible in the other. High profile skeptics, conservative politicians, and Donald Trump have managed to convince many that global warming is a hoax. However, I wonder how people began to reject undeniable science in the first place. In denying the reality of global warming, skeptics adhere to the status quo that they have benefitted from. They will seek information to affirm their beliefs to avoid a cognitive dissonance that would require them to alter their behavior. Thus, they cling on to false beliefs and disregard the 97% of scientists who say climate change is real. Big oil companies benefit from climate change denial where they don’t have to admit they are contributing to this global calamity and alter their business practices. Individuals benefit where they do not have to alter their behavior to mitigate this “nonexistent” problem.
The Climate Change Believer
Al Gore delivered a powerful and moving speech at the Power Shift environmental conference in Washington D.C. He spoke on the ramifications of climate change and the need for youth like me to mobilize against global warming. College students from around the country were moved by Gore’s words. Admittedly, I was in the last row of the auditorium during Gore’s speech, preoccupied with drinking from the two-liter bottle of Coke my friends had spiked with rum. I was like the average climate change believer. The majority of Americans believe in climate change is real, whether it is caused by humans or some other unexplained phenomena. I think the believer is complacent to say the least. The believer has the awareness that their actions are more likely than not contributing to this invisible crime, however takes little action to alter their behavior. We have grown accustomed to our habitual behavior and altering our individual consumption patterns do not manifest immediate results. We accept the science but lack a reaction.
Sometimes I think that perhaps I may be worse than the climate change skeptic. I accept the science, I studied Environmental Economics & Policy, and have attempting becoming vegetarian several times. Yet I am overwhelmed with guilt when I forget my reusable mug. However, I still conveniently purchase my morning cold brew in its clear plastic cup. The climate change skeptic does not carry the guilt that I do. The climate change skeptic sleeps well, believing they have done nothing wrong.
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> | In class we inquired why we believed it was so difficult for people to be provoked about environmental issues. However, in the past few years the media has given much attention to environmental issues that have sparked widespread mobilization. In particular, the nation and the world has seen the United States struggle with environmental policy regarding potable water and the effects of such policies on marginalized communities. However, the environmental issues surrounding the larger issue of climate change are inferred to be harder to mobilize because the effects of climate change at the individual level are practicably invisible. Although the topic of climate change has its challenges in regards to big oil companies, lobbyists, and skeptics, climate change continues to be a hot topic under the recent administration despite regressive policies. | | | | |
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< | Our Ritual for Balance
The typical climate change skeptic and I both pursue our self-interested paths. We both continue to use nonrenewable resources, forget to recycle, and enjoy our convenient lives. As a result, we both contribute to this collective action problem. Climate change is considered by many as the perfect market failure. In these instances, government intervention is required to hold our industries and resource consumption practices accountable for their externalities, emissions, and unpriced social costs. Government - please spot us on this one. | | | | |
<
< | The Trump administration has already begun to severely impair governmental efforts tackling climate change. The disturbing headlines appear on my news updates. Scott Pruitt, a climate change skeptic, spent his career suing the very agency he now leads. Trump instructed the EPA to freeze its grants contracts, possibly affecting research on climate change. The EPA will roll back on environmental regulations that are harmful to business in the next four years. They are also in a media blackout where they have been instructed to halt external communications regarding climate change. I first reacted by searching for ways I can help. Today, the headlines stated the chief of the EPA does not believe carbon dioxide is the leading contributor to global warming. Today my reaction was a dispassionate “oh.” | | | | |
<
< | I could not understand nor rationalize my following actions. Amid these headlines I was applying for 1L summer positions. I withdrew from every environmental internship I had applied to within the government and from all the internships located in Washington D.C. Frustrated, I wanted no part in this agenda for the coming four years. Was this the proper reaction? My own climate change denial perhaps? Do I feel incapacitated? Am I a coward? I avoid these question altogether. All this during a time where 2016 was the hottest year on record and the Spring season came as early as February. | >
> | Environmental Justice
The past year we have seen two high profile environmental issues involving water: the Flint Water Crisis and the Dakota Access Pipeline. Both were examples of neglectful environmental policy with respect to drinking water and both required the public to inquire what role race, minority, or socioeconomic status played in environmental policy. These two issues painted for the public an image where underrepresented communities are often, or perhaps, more likely to be tasked with fighting for equitable policies regarding environmental recourses.
The Flint water crisis magnified the environmental issues intersected with race and socioeconomic factors. The crisis was a result of cost-cutting measures where the city turned to the Flint River to provide the city with water. The water was found to be extremely corrosive with high lead levels and caused a number of illnesses among the Flint residents. The media connected this environmental issue to the racial and socioeconomic components of the crisis where 56% of the Flint’s population was African-American and 41% of the population was below the poverty line. This environmental justice concern highlighted the inequities minority populations face when the government enforces policies that show both negligence and discrimination. The news and social media outlets questioned whether this environmental crisis would have occurred in a white wealthy community. The current result is that the water remains contaminated while current funding attempts infrastructure upgrades. Flint activists have remained diligent in creating initiatives in response to the crisis and continue to fight for safe drinking water.
In a distinct but related issue, the conflict surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline dominated headlines in 2016 through today. “Water is life” became the appropriate slogan regarding the issue surrounding the Bakken Oil Pipeline. The Native Americans resisted the rerouting of the pipeline near the Standing Rock reservation that was seemingly approved without adequate environmental analysis and consultation. The passage of crude oil through these pipes concerned the Native American’s residing in the reservation because it could threaten the quality of the water. The clash also became a symbol for cultural preservation where the pipeline threatened sacred burial grounds. The public continued to elaborate on the role Native Americans have played in United States history where they have been historically displaced from their lands and disadvantaged in countless ways. The conflict resulted in a lawsuit and world-wide mobilization in solidarity for the Native Americans resisting the construction of the pipeline. DAPL sparked a grassroots movement as a reaction to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline and has been a symbol not only of environmental protection of water, but also as a movement for cultural preservation and spiritual resistance of the people. This sparked an enormous amount of attention from the news, celebrities, and individuals on social media. This movement also appealed to the issues surrounding the Flint Water crisis and sparked solidarity marches across the United States. Although the Trump administration ultimately approved construction, this is another example where individuals who have been historically disadvantaged in the United States have had the duty to heavily mobilize for environmental issues, and subsequently gained momentum from the public as a whole. | | | | |
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< | Our relationship with the Earth is reciprocal. We have harmed Pachamama and have failed to mitigate our individual contributions. Our regulatory schemes to protect the environment have been further undermined with the current administration. Pachamama knows we have harmed her and bad things happen when we do. Pachamama is warming, with anger, as she regains equilibrium. Maybe I will regain my equilibrium and the enthusiasm I had when I said I wanted to become an environmental lawyer. Currently I remain in a state of mourning. | | | | |
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< | | | | | |
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< | It seems to me that you're taking a comparatively unscientific
approach to the science here. Arithmetic would suggest that your
activities result in the addition of carbon dioxide to the
atmosphere at a tolerable level, and that nothing you do (with the
possible exception of refraining from traveling by air) are relevant
at all to Earth's atmospheric chemistry. So far as feeling guilty
for eating animals is concerned, whatever that is, it is not a
climate issue from any scientific point of view. | >
> | Climate Change
It is easy to see why it is harder to mobilize for climate change as a whole. On the day to day, people are not generally worried about the ozone layer or rising sea levels. In addition, the issue surrounding climate change is met with skeptics who refuse to believe the majority of scientists who assert the existence of global warming. However global warming is still met with much attention among Americans and the globe and was a big player in the recent election. Bernie Sanders was the biggest proponent of progressive climate change legislation and gained followers on this platform. Sanders had considered climate change as the “single biggest threat facing the planet” and pointed the finger to the billionaire class of big oil, gas, and coal companies as the culprit for climate change denial and blockage of environmental legislation. Ultimately the Democratic candidate went to Clinton, and the election to Republican Donald Trump. However, Trump’s rollbacks on these policies continue to push the issue of climate change in the forefront.
With less than six months in Trump’s administration, we have seen policies that are rather frightening to the individual concerned for global warming. These changes include limiting Obama-era measures to limit pollution and substantially limiting funding for environmental science and the EPA. Furthermore, the EPA has dismissed members of their scientific board and the EPA itself is now ran by climate change skeptic Scott Pruitt.
The issues surrounding climate change though “invisible” will continue to be in the limelight during Trump’s administration and will continuously be challenged by numerous environmental activist organizations and scientists. Alternatively, society has already begun moving in the direction of renewable energy where industrial nations are turning to clean energy and sustainable resources. Ultimately, regressive environmental policies in the past few years has been met with some resistance or general disapproval where they are harming or fail to mitigate the larger issues of climate change. Although environmental concerns may not always result with a protest, many will continue to be met with publicity and public opinion. | | | | |
<
< | You would like to use electricity that has been produced without
burning fossil fuels. You would like to be able to use efficient
and ecologically sound public transit. These are subjects about
which you need not feel either helplessness or guilt. | | | | |
<
< | It is fine to be thinking about other forms of practice now. You do
not owe anyone a particular outcome to that rumination, even
yourself. I would very much like to read a version of this essay
that didn't contain primarily either guilt about your own actions or
self-doubt about the motives leading you to think about other
practices. I also think it would be good for you to write such a
draft. | | | | |
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< | | | | |
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MonicaRuizFirstEssay 2 - 10 May 2017 - Main.EbenMoglen
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| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstEssay" |
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< | | | | Pachamama Won't Forgive Our Market Failures
-- By MonicaRuiz - 10 Mar 2017 | | | Our relationship with the Earth is reciprocal. We have harmed Pachamama and have failed to mitigate our individual contributions. Our regulatory schemes to protect the environment have been further undermined with the current administration. Pachamama knows we have harmed her and bad things happen when we do. Pachamama is warming, with anger, as she regains equilibrium. Maybe I will regain my equilibrium and the enthusiasm I had when I said I wanted to become an environmental lawyer. Currently I remain in a state of mourning. | |
>
> |
It seems to me that you're taking a comparatively unscientific
approach to the science here. Arithmetic would suggest that your
activities result in the addition of carbon dioxide to the
atmosphere at a tolerable level, and that nothing you do (with the
possible exception of refraining from traveling by air) are relevant
at all to Earth's atmospheric chemistry. So far as feeling guilty
for eating animals is concerned, whatever that is, it is not a
climate issue from any scientific point of view.
You would like to use electricity that has been produced without
burning fossil fuels. You would like to be able to use efficient
and ecologically sound public transit. These are subjects about
which you need not feel either helplessness or guilt.
It is fine to be thinking about other forms of practice now. You do
not owe anyone a particular outcome to that rumination, even
yourself. I would very much like to read a version of this essay
that didn't contain primarily either guilt about your own actions or
self-doubt about the motives leading you to think about other
practices. I also think it would be good for you to write such a
draft.
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MonicaRuizFirstEssay 1 - 10 Mar 2017 - Main.MonicaRuiz
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| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstEssay" |
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Pachamama Won't Forgive Our Market Failures
-- By MonicaRuiz - 10 Mar 2017
Balance
I was in Huchuy Qosqo, an Inca royal estate, overlooking the Sacred Valley. Julian, a Quechua individual, explained his belief that the relationship between humans and the environment is reciprocal. “Pachamama provides us protection and sustains our life on Earth. She is the fertility goddess responsible for harvests. Pachamama provides me with life but I cannot take too much from her or injure her. I won’t throw boiling water on the ground because Pachamama will punish me. She will do horrible things and ask why I have harmed her in that way.” Julian’s explanation was simple. The Earth and nature have an energy and must be maintained in balance. When Pachamama is not in balance, rituals must be performed to regain that balance.
The Climate Change Denier
Climate change denial is prominent in the United States and I don’t believe it is losing traction any time soon. What first comes to my mind are some right wing conservatives with a check paid by fossil fuel industries on one hand as they hold their bible in the other. High profile skeptics, conservative politicians, and Donald Trump have managed to convince many that global warming is a hoax. However, I wonder how people began to reject undeniable science in the first place. In denying the reality of global warming, skeptics adhere to the status quo that they have benefitted from. They will seek information to affirm their beliefs to avoid a cognitive dissonance that would require them to alter their behavior. Thus, they cling on to false beliefs and disregard the 97% of scientists who say climate change is real. Big oil companies benefit from climate change denial where they don’t have to admit they are contributing to this global calamity and alter their business practices. Individuals benefit where they do not have to alter their behavior to mitigate this “nonexistent” problem.
The Climate Change Believer
Al Gore delivered a powerful and moving speech at the Power Shift environmental conference in Washington D.C. He spoke on the ramifications of climate change and the need for youth like me to mobilize against global warming. College students from around the country were moved by Gore’s words. Admittedly, I was in the last row of the auditorium during Gore’s speech, preoccupied with drinking from the two-liter bottle of Coke my friends had spiked with rum. I was like the average climate change believer. The majority of Americans believe in climate change is real, whether it is caused by humans or some other unexplained phenomena. I think the believer is complacent to say the least. The believer has the awareness that their actions are more likely than not contributing to this invisible crime, however takes little action to alter their behavior. We have grown accustomed to our habitual behavior and altering our individual consumption patterns do not manifest immediate results. We accept the science but lack a reaction.
Sometimes I think that perhaps I may be worse than the climate change skeptic. I accept the science, I studied Environmental Economics & Policy, and have attempting becoming vegetarian several times. Yet I am overwhelmed with guilt when I forget my reusable mug. However, I still conveniently purchase my morning cold brew in its clear plastic cup. The climate change skeptic does not carry the guilt that I do. The climate change skeptic sleeps well, believing they have done nothing wrong.
Our Ritual for Balance
The typical climate change skeptic and I both pursue our self-interested paths. We both continue to use nonrenewable resources, forget to recycle, and enjoy our convenient lives. As a result, we both contribute to this collective action problem. Climate change is considered by many as the perfect market failure. In these instances, government intervention is required to hold our industries and resource consumption practices accountable for their externalities, emissions, and unpriced social costs. Government - please spot us on this one.
The Trump administration has already begun to severely impair governmental efforts tackling climate change. The disturbing headlines appear on my news updates. Scott Pruitt, a climate change skeptic, spent his career suing the very agency he now leads. Trump instructed the EPA to freeze its grants contracts, possibly affecting research on climate change. The EPA will roll back on environmental regulations that are harmful to business in the next four years. They are also in a media blackout where they have been instructed to halt external communications regarding climate change. I first reacted by searching for ways I can help. Today, the headlines stated the chief of the EPA does not believe carbon dioxide is the leading contributor to global warming. Today my reaction was a dispassionate “oh.”
I could not understand nor rationalize my following actions. Amid these headlines I was applying for 1L summer positions. I withdrew from every environmental internship I had applied to within the government and from all the internships located in Washington D.C. Frustrated, I wanted no part in this agenda for the coming four years. Was this the proper reaction? My own climate change denial perhaps? Do I feel incapacitated? Am I a coward? I avoid these question altogether. All this during a time where 2016 was the hottest year on record and the Spring season came as early as February.
Our relationship with the Earth is reciprocal. We have harmed Pachamama and have failed to mitigate our individual contributions. Our regulatory schemes to protect the environment have been further undermined with the current administration. Pachamama knows we have harmed her and bad things happen when we do. Pachamama is warming, with anger, as she regains equilibrium. Maybe I will regain my equilibrium and the enthusiasm I had when I said I wanted to become an environmental lawyer. Currently I remain in a state of mourning.
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