Climbing a Peak That Stirred Kerouac - NYTimes.com

Climbing a Peak That Stirred Kerouac - NYTimes.com

Gasland Quote

I just finished rewatching Gasland, and I pulled this great quote from John Fentons, the farmer from Wyoming, who says:

This is my way of life, you know. My father and my grandfather were old time cowboys, you know. And my grandfather on my mom's side were farmers in Nebraska. This is my family heritage, you know. This is our family farm. We're proud of this. But, by god, if your way of life is being besieged, and your health is under attack, I don't know what else you can do. I don't know where else I can go... The biggest thing I want people to know is you're not alone if this is happening to you. I'm in the same boat as you are. And what we need to do is we need to get together and we need to stand up, and we need to speak with a unified voice and we need to stand up to these assholes.

If you want to find the original source, he starts at around 42:30 into the movie, in the "Easter in Wyoming" chapter.

Group viewing/discussion of gasland

Hi, does anyone want to get together to watch Gasland again? If we have a group, we can use the presentation room in Leavey. I've already reserved it for Saturday from 7-9 pm.

Group 2-Change

Evolutionary changes: Change in the environment over time: toxic in the ground water and air, many animals suffer drinking the toxic water.

If the animals continue drinking water that contains poisonous fracking chemicals, then human will easily get poisons from consuming the products from those animals.

If they continue this practice around the human neighborhood, we can easily see great changes in human health. 

Chemicals alter genes in humans/plants/animals and pass down through generations the mutations

Epidemic of diseases among organisms living around the area, area may no longer be inhabited

Revolutionary changes: A process of getting more people to recognize the problem and fight against the fracking industry by using social medias, it could be a revolutionary change.

Different generations and populations have different views toward the practice. First, natural gas is clean and necessary for country if it want to become independent in natural resources (energy). Second, method of obtaining natural gas need to be carefully regulated by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Industrialization, larger oil supplies, new techniques of extracting oil

Growth/ Decay: Fracking chemicals is likely to become more dangerous as the fracking industries continue to expand their practices.

Ground water is connected to the river; therefore, it could lead to many other environmental problems within human and non-human communities.

Chemical imbalance in soil due to ground water

Fracking growing (to oil companies), but the idea is decaying (to US residents)

Problem likely to become more serious

Values:

Privacy, Heritage, Industrialization, Unlimited Opportunities, Property, Personal belief, Individualism, Justice Inequality, Future orientation, Directness/Honesty, Patriotism, Money, Activism, Human health, human rights

          

                                           --Victoria, Christina, Tony, and Chris               

Group 3---Form/Structure

This is what I have and maybe you guys can add stuff to this post.


Form/ Structure:

Signing the contracts with the drilling companies:
                   Superficial: personal profits
                   Deep: continuity of family traditions, land ownership, relationship with "distant" people            and local people

Fighting with the majority:
                  Superficial: individualism, justice
                  Deep:  freedom, citizenship, rights and occupation

Gas wells:
                   Superficial: personal values vs. national profits, hierarchy
                   Deep: social needs, modifying nature, land ethics


Values:

Individualism
Freedom
Family value, tradition, heritage, staying connected with ancestors
Education
Independence
Ownership
Citizenship
The Frontier Spirit
National identity
"American Dream"
Community, relationship with others
Justice
Civic rights

Group 4- Contrast

Contrast:
trust vs. skepticism/protection
acknowledged authority/power vs. individual activism

majesty/love of country vs. commodity/economical resources
community vs. exploitation
tradition vs. innovation
public curiosity vs. corporate secrets
natural gas access vs. groundwater contamination

maximum efficiency/production vs. safety of residents/nature
All of the real chemicals used vs. what the companies say they use
Nature activists vs. drilling companies
Those who aren’t affected by the effects vs those who are
Those who do not experience fracking, only see as another sourceHuman decency vs. personal gain
Big guy vs. little guy
Public lands vs. private hands
Use value vs. exchange value
Moral assumptions vs. corporate detachment


Values:
Tradition
Lineage
Freedom
Community
Ownership
Connection
Optimism
Rights

Personal identity
Family heritage
New Life
Opportunity
Ownership
Pride

Values
Manifest destiny
Innovation
Imperialism
Competition/ free-for-all
Legacy

 

- Katie Larson, Kent Oya, Jared Ong-Siong

 

 

Group 1

Hey group one comrades,

Let's all add our contributions on this post, then put out a definitive post once we've settled on a good list of cause-effect things.

Ryan

What I have so far:

• The drilling of gas is:
• A means to privatize a commodity that can then be sold.
• A means to acquire an energy source
• The logical continuation of historical American energy policies.
• An activity that harms people nearby, but can benefit those who are farther away.
• People vote for their representatives when they are convinced they will work for them.
• Companies support candidates who are willing to support their interests.

My Views on Fracking (and Related Topics)

The frontier has always been about development. Most of the original settlers of the so-called "Wild West" came not because they wanted a life free from civilization, but because they wanted to bring development to land that had lain unused by non-native people. Far from being the embodying the independent, rugged ideal of the frontier, the people we see in Gasland are part of 150 years of the U.S. federal government trying to establish and maintain its sovereignty on land that it did not effectively control for much of the past 230 years.

Through the fracking debate, we see the conflict between the rhetoric used to justify expansion - lofty talk of individualism, independence, liberty and nature - and the true motives behind the settling of the West - profit. To a certain extent, I think the sad fact of the matter is that the people whose water is being poisoned are just pawns in a larger political and economic game, and that the system that we have in this country is optimized to ensure the best outcomes for the wealthy and well-connected, and the vaunted American Cultural Values are just ideas used to justify continuing the system to the vast majority of the population, who would otherwise be outraged by the allocation of resources.

Actually, that's probably too cynical.

Response to A4 Readings

      In the N.Y.Times article, Applebome interviews some villagers fighting against the natural gas drilling companies that cause pollution and serious illness to the neighborhood.   The villagers like Ms. Jastremski and Ms. Huntington use their personal force and commitment to do the research, visit the industrial companies and publishing their voices in local newspaper. They deserve sympathy and understanding, but they didn't manage all the victims in the neighborhood to form a larger voice. Instead, they would like to do all the work alone, although it's the most difficult, time consuming way to earn attention. This fact shows one important American value, Individuality, which means people would rather achieve their goals by their own ability and hardworking, even though sometimes the goals are similar. 
     In Will's essay, he also points out the core value of American culture is individualism, and this spirit refers other values like optimism, since being confident and positive lets people have the courage to solve the problems themselves. All these values will go to one destination, freedom.  To Will, freedom is more like the civic value for America, since it is the motivation of hardworking and the ultimate goal of everyone. 
    Schneekloth and Turner talk more about how the American cultural values were formed and introduced by the frontier. The brave, confident frontier came to this new land and formed a new country. Many great virtues of them leave deep effectiveness in American history, and those virtues become the model and values that effect how Americans think and take action even after over three hundred years.   

By Yawen Luo 

Everglades National Park Map

http://www.planetware.com/map/everglades-national-park-map-us-flever.htm

Mesa Verde in One Image

I think it aligns with Olwig's portrayal of parks as idyllic places, and with the cultural perception of Native Americans as being in tune with the rhythms of the natural world.

 We can see this perception in the famous advertisement produced by Keep America Beautiful: