The Coastal Salvish People

The Coastal Salvish people of Washington state and British Columbia have been fighting the same battles many Native American tribes have been fighting since colonization brought Europeans to North America. Facing prejudice and blatant racism the Coastal Salvish people have been attempting to retain and revive the unique aspects of their culture. Unfortunately even basic public education has proven to be a great foe to their beliefs as well as international boarders that separate villages which people belong to many of. Public schools in Washington and B.C. have been known to teach lessons that directly conflict with Coastal Salvish beliefs, so to hold on to their ideals and to ensure they are passed down the indigenous Coastal Salvish send their children to boarding schools that support their beliefs. It is a shame that public schooling is at a point where such a large group is feeling targeted and it is in no way ok that things have to be that way.

Food & Sustainability Issues in NC

The coastal plains and waters of North Carolina have seen extensive use since settlers came over in the 17^th century. The rich agricultural lands and climate were perfect for growing cash crops like tobacco and the coasts were wonderful for fishing with its outer banks protecting any vessels or fish.

                One big problem the agricultural areas have pertaining to North Carolina’s coastal plain is the waste produced by the large swine industry. Just the odors from these farms have been shown to increase people in the surrounding areas fatigue, they are less vigorous, and they are easily angered or confused. This is not to mention the damage the waste does to the environment as it seeps into the groundwater, infects the surface water and spills into human and natural water resources.

Also we have the by-catch of juvenile finfish caught in otter trawls used to harvest shrimp in North Carolina inshore waters is excessive and potentially harmful to the life cycles of some of the important finfish that are being killed and discarded. Recent studies show numbers of juvenile finfish in the by-catch of otter trawls with estimates in the range of a combined 300,000,000 young spot, croaker, and weakfish taken each year. This is excessive given that the annual harvest of shrimp (6 million pounds valued at about $11,000,000.) Studies have also shown that the value of inshore waters is greater when they are used as recreational fisheries than for harvesting shrimp. Finfish, like spot croaker and weakfish, have seen a big decrease in their own reproduction because of problems caused by otter trawlers.

These are just some of the environmental problems the coasts of North Carolina have and must be attended to if we ever wish to be sustainable.

Early Environmentalist "Artifacts"

http://129.237.201.53/books/malthus/population/malthus.pdf

Though Thomas Malthus' papers may be more of a statement on population one can reach to the idea that an increased population has detrimental side-effects on not just the standard of living but the availability of resources. environmentalism is all about the preservation of our natural resources and now one of our big problems is the population digging into our resources and damaging the environment.

McKibben's "Challenge to Environmentalism"

http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/daed.2008.137.2.5

                

McKibben opens his article about the degree of which we have impacted the environment with an analogy. The invisible line in war such as the nuclear bomb draws a whole new hand with which chaos can be wrought upon the land. The invisible line in environmentalism was crossed once people found out that our actions have changed weather patterns, dried forests, melted ice that has existed for centuries, and killed off or endangered hundreds of species. Attempts in the past have been made to fix this but have ultimately done very little in the grand scheme of things. Humanity’s search for wealth, resources, and power has crippled its ability to see the damage being done to their very home and it is almost too late. Even with McKibben’s suggested shift to an environment-based economy it would be tough to save the Earth, and that’s only if we could somehow convince everyone to do this. McKibben also blames the United States by saying, “(they’ve) eaten all of the world’s cake, and are now making it hard to put even bread on the table.” This highlights the problems that America’s consumer population has given to the world. But McKibben also points out that local farmers markets are a fast growing sector of the U.S. economy and believes that a shift back towards local and regional awareness will help to grow the environmentalist movement as well.