Biodiversity and Human Well-being

Positive relationships between diversity and ecosystem functions were found by experiments where diverstiy was lost and then restored. Ecologists believe that the loss of biodiversity threatens the stability of ecosystems. With an unstable ecosystems animals are unable to adapt to things such as climate and diet. The loss of biodiversity not only threatens animals, but to society as well. Farmers are experiencing a decrease in bees and other species that pollinate from parasities and disease - this is causing a descrease in product. Another example of loss of biodiversity is over fishing - humans fishing is causing such a drastic decrease in species that a ``global collapse`` is predicted to happen in the 21st century. (91, Easton)

Alex Steffen - Sustainable Future

Alex Steffen cofunder of WorldChanging spoke to his audience about our sustainable future. Although our society is the most prosperous, it has major flaws. Our society has such a large, unsustainable ecological footprint. Our society lives in such a way that we will need 5 planets to survive. The one planet we do have, is not treated properly. It is so dynamic that in North America we have people living luxioursly, and people in Africa who can't even survive.
Steffen believes the way we are raising our children is teaching them not to live sustainably or in any way promote stability.
Steffen believes we need to change our cities so they become "bright green cities," where they become more densely populated and more liveable. Potentially, people should not drive cars, they should use efficent tranist systems, reside in buildings that generate there own electricty and recycle their own water. These "bright green cities" will cost less over time.
Cofounder Steffen also discusses "leap frogging" where if one is stuck in a situation where they don't have what they need, they should not invest in old technology but in the cheapest newest technology.

Another world is possible and here.

http://www.ted.com/talks/alex_steffen_sees_a_sustainable_future.html

The Salt Marsh

John and Mildred Teal studied wetlands in the Maritimes, and we specifically researching the flora and fauna that are supported by the salt marshes, their importance and how human activity effects them. Wetlands that have been polluted are filled with trash, and have become posioned and eroded from the waste from surrounding cities. The Teal's say the posioned marshs smell like rotten eggs from hydrogen sulfide.

Cancer and the Envrionment

Since Sanda Steingraber battled bladder cancer and ost a close friend and many family members to cancer, she decided to research  envrionmental pollution she was exposed to in Illinois, believing that maybe this pollution caused her, her friend and her family members to battle cancer. Around her home, fields were sprayed with pesticides, and there were industrial plants that released toxins into the air and water. I agree with Steingrabers statement that all activities with potential public health consquences should be guided by the principle of the least toxic alternative, which presumse that toxic substances will not be used as long as there is another way of accomplishing the task. 161. This principle will ensure that we will move away from the possible cancer risks from carcinogens.

Envrionmental Policies

Mark Sagoff is a director of philosophy and public policy at the Univerity of Maryland. Sagoff discusses the economic decisions we make about the environment. He believes people dont place any value on things like "open space, a stand of trees or an unspoiled landscape," he puts this into perspective by asking his audience, "how much did you spend last year to preserve open space? How much for pizza and gas?" (167, Easton)
Sagoff believes it is impossible to place economic value on things the provide aesthetic satisfaction and value can be determined only by what people are willing to pay. Envrionmental problems are difficult to assess and require much more then an economic analysis.

Restoring Rivers

Our lives depends on clean water for so many things like drinking, irrigation, and power generation. But, from all of these processes, we have caused many bodies of water to be polluted and filled with chemicals, in some cases rivers no longer flow to the sea, or are blocked with dams. According to Professors Margaret Palmer and J. Allan, we must restore rivers so they provide clean water for humans, fisheries and wildlife. They believe or current methods of restoring rivers are not suffiecent; "The United States needs regulatory and legislative federal policy reforms in order to improve the effectiveness of river restoration and thus the health of the nation's waterways." (114, Easton) Standards have been established for river restoration they are;
"The design of a river restoration project should be based on a specific gudining image of a more dynamic, leathy river.
The rivers ecological condition must show measurable improvement.
The river system must be more self-sustaining and resilient to external perturbations, so that only minimal follow up maintenance is needed.
During the construction phase, no lasting harm should be inflicted on the ecosystem.
Both pre and post-assessments must be completed and data made publically available."
(115 Easton)

Will the appropriate use of money and by following the above standars, Allan and Palmer believe "rivers and streams can oce again flow clear and clean." (117, Easton)

Controvery at Love Canal

Beverly Paigen a dedicated advisor disscusses the consequences experienced at Love Canal, from improper disposal of Hazardous wastes. This first became an issue in the 1970's, where chemicals such as PCBS and dioxins were leaking into the basement of peoples homes and into schools. Specifically in 1942, love canal was filled with 21000  tons of around 200 different chemicals. Schools and homes were built on the site, and caused people to become ill. Paigen did a study to understand the exposure of chemicals in many ways;

if illness's were clusted in families is this because this specific family has a low tolerance to chemicals? If the illness's were geographically clustered, is this possibly because the chemicals have migrated to specific areas? And if illness's were random is there no relation? Paigen found that birth defects and miscarriages became much more common in 'wet homes.'

Affluenza - A Painful Condition

The pursuit of the American Dream, causes one to follow down a treacherous road, similar to the one Hunter S Thompson went down in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Affluenza defined by John Gaff is "a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the" determination to pursue more. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affluenza#cite_note-de_Graaf-0)
Personally, I  would consider it more of a disease, that most people in western civilization are diagnosed with, sadly I see signs of the disease in myself.
I find myself never satisfied with what I buy, and I always want more.
The last few months have been pretty stressful for me; I did a lot of travelling, and with travelling comes shopping. Sadly, my air fare, and most of my purchases were made with my Visa. After all this temporary happiness wore off, I was stuck with a 2000 dollar visa bill and a part-time job. This made me very anxious and I decided I must pay it off right away. I'm only 19, and it seems illogical for me to already been in such debt!
 Now, I am working full-time while I attend school full-time, and I am overloaded with work and school. I have been putting entire pay checks towards my visa bill, but I still shop and spend my money on things that provide only temporary satisfaction.
The worst part about it all is I can see myself doing this, and being a subject of affluenza, yet I do nothing about it. I think the media has a really big influence on the decisions I make. I bought a pair of 'combat' boots yesterday for 100 dollars, I could have spent much less on a pair of boots that will last me through the winter, but I thought, "these look good, and they are in style, I should spend the extra money for this reason."
I see affluenza every where, especially within my family because I am a part of it and rather then looking at them from the outside I have an internal perspective. My parents are currently in a 6 year process of renovating their home. The last 6 years have involved a lot of procrastination and mishaps. At the moment, their house is in an uncomfortable living environment, and rather then spending their money on the necessary materials and labor to finish the house, they have decided to put money towards a vacation to Florida. I spoke to my dad, explaining how I think it would be much wiser to place his money towards the house as he would experience more long term satisfaction then a 3 week vacation to Florida. In response, he told me he chooses how he spends his money, and his decision is final. Every one wants to achieve happiness, but it seems every one has forgotten how to be truly happy.
I wonder if there is any way to move away from this disease.
It seems that it has become such a big part of our society that we can't help but transmit this idea to our children. In order for affluenza to stop, sustainable development would have to take over (affluenza is obviously not a sustainable way of life).
It seems with the evidence of carbon emissions, food scarcity, poverty, lack of fertile land and space we will slowly follow the path to sustainable development, and that should take most of society away from affluenza.