Environmental Health

I found Susan's story to be inspiring. Her dedication and will was impressive during her quest to show the use of pesticides and other dangerous chemicals banned in Canada. I think we need more activists to speak out like her to bring about positive change in Canada. I have always heard of the dangers of using and being exposed to pesticides but until Susan's presentation i was unaware just how dangerous these chemicals are.

After the video we watched i wondered why more studies have not been done to see the effects of pesticides used on large plantations and the relationship to the health of the villagers. Even in the study done in the documentary the researcher funded her own work and was told to use a specific title of 'environmental research' so that the local people did not get frightened. Her results were alarming, and showed that the effects of pesticide use on children living nearby. Their development skills were seriously effected, i found this distributing. I hope that more studies are able to prove the effects and see that pesticides are banned completely.

Lack of scientific and medical certainty is one of the main reasons pesticides are still used. Studies like in the video we watched are taken less serious because they are not accepted as scientific. More research must be done in this area. Everyday hygienic products like deodorant, makeup, lotions and shampoos have been linked to cancer, but do not get studied. This relates back to corporate power. Companies do not wish to fund these studies, and show serious resistance to any new studies as they profit immensely from both the products themselves and cancer treatments.

Technology and the Enviroment

The advancement of technology has clearly impacted the environment in a negative way. Not only recently (with the advancement of electronics) but also in the past during the industrial revolution. Humans are depended on the exploitation of the environment to make our lives more enjoyable. Until this changes we will continue to harm the environment. Oil has become the most important resource and contributes a significant amount of pollution to the atmosphere.

I think the presentation by Greg and Katelyn was great. The video really portrayed the amount of e-waste present in China. I found it distributing the amount of waste that those individuals were forced to live in. Not only did they have to live near it they were forced to clean up the waste and to tear their own houses down. I think that it is terrible that we (westerners) consume the majority of resources and electronic devices, yet we dispose of our waste to the global south.

The problem is what to do? I am to blame just as much as the next person, i have a ipod, laptop, tv, xbox ..... etc.. (the list goes on) I'm not sure i know what can be done. I did find it useful that Greg and Katelyn presented some options. I like the idea of holding everyone accountable for their trash, but even if we recycle our electronic parts how do we know that they are not being sent to the global south. I think that garbage in general is a problem, we are increasing in population and are loosing space to place trash. Hopfully we can come up with a solution to solve these problems because they are cleary harming both humans and the environment.

Corporate Power: The role of the media in shaping what we know about the environment

I think Campbell (and Chomsky) make a compelling argument that the Global Media and the Corporate Elite not only play a major role in shaping what individuals know about the environment, but also in creating a certain ideology for the majority of citizens to adopt. I also think that it is important to recognize that the media is not the only agent in which we are socialized and that they are not just brain washing us. There are objective new sources available. I think what Noam Chomsky is trying to argue is that the major corporations and news media are slowly shaping our perceptions through filtering the news in a way beneficial to the elites in power. (Even if these filters are small and go unnoticed they may be present)

I think that corporations may be even more influential when attempting to shape this ‘ideology’. They control much of our daily lives through economics. Their influence can be seen even within the education system. Violating this 'corporate agenda' can lead to serious backlash, scrutiny and even job loss. As public institutions continue to transform into private entities than the influence of the 'board of directors' becomes more powerful. I think that the only way to escape these pressures of the ‘corporate agenda’ is to transform our economic system into a more freer one; one in which the ‘board of directors’ are the workers themselves. (see the video posted for more info)

If there’s one player that completely left out it’s the environment. No matter what economic or political system we have the environment is always left for humans to exploit. We are a society that is dependent on natural resources, and cultivating land as we continue to grow. It seems that no matter what happens there will continue to be exploitation to our earth.