ENViRONMENTAL RACiSM

In March of 1963 Martin Luther King’s famous march on Washington to protest the

government’s failure to safeguard the civil rights and physical safety of civil rights workers and blacks took place. This is considered one of the most important events in the fight on racism in the past 50 years. The march did make specific demands with some being the end of segregation of public schools, meaningful civil rights legislation and a $2 minimum wage. Racism has changed over the years but it still exists. In the years following 9/11 people of Middle Eastern heritage were targets and even now we have people who are still experiencing racism. Is the type of racisms you are exposed to based on the color of your skin, sexual preference, political beliefs or by just where you live.Environmental Racism is defined as the intentional or unintentional racial discrimination in the enforcement of environmental rules and regulations, the intentional or unintentional targeting of minority communities for the siting of polluting industries, or the exclusion of minority groups from public and private boards, commissions, and regulatory bodies. In the United States researchers have been investigating why minorities are more likely to live in areas where there is more pollution than Caucasians. It has been suggested that the segregation practices of the past have contributed. Even affluent minority communities are more likely to be in high pollution areas than similarly affluent Caucasian communities. From 1987 to 1992 researcher James T. Hamilton studied American Zip Codes for targeted expansion of hazardous waste facilities. He found that the average minority population in the targeted areas was 25% compared to only 18% in the non-targeted areas. Of the more than 9 million people estimated to live within 2 miles of one of the nation’s 413 commercial waste facilities, 5.1 million are people of color and Caucasians only make up 25% of the estimated total.While this study shows a startling reality in the USA, Environmental Racism is not limited to affluent countries. Between 1989 and 1994 it is estimated that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries exported 2,611,677 metric tons of hazardous waste to non-OECD countries. The question of "Why is this happening?" ends with the answer of "Racism and Profit." The large corporations continue with the "Profit before People" mindset. Corporations have become more powerful than nation states and feel that they are not accountable to anyone except their shareholders. Second, around the world people of color pay a far greater and disproportionate price for economic development and industrialism with their health. Is there a solution? Experts point that the solution is Globalization based on a global civil society that puts accountability of moral, legal and environmental issues of the leaders on the people they govern. This means that we should hold the governments accountable. In a democratic society this accountability exists with the ability to remove existing governments from power. Unfortunately, the world is not all democracies. The fact is that humanity still has a long way to grow up and mature. This is exactly what Martin Luther King was hoping for; let us hope that one day we can realize his dream.

GENETiCALLY MODiFiED FOOD

Genetically modified food, also known as GM food or genetically engineered food, entered the food supply in the 1990s. GM foods contain small pieces of foreign DNA from other organisms and often from another species, however SA companies are not required to label foods that use GM ingredients. The foreign DNA in GM foods is engineered into the food in hopes of producing desirable traits like resistance to herbicides and pesticides, or resistance to specific pests. Insect resistant maize, for example, is modified by inserting a bacterium gene that produces toxins and acts as an insecticide. Others have a gene that makes them indestructible when sprayed with certain herbicides. The proGM faction mainly GM seed producers such as Monsanto, Du Pont, Dow, Bayer and Syngenta say GM increases crop yields, reduces farming costs and increases food security for developing countries. Environmental bodies worldwide are strongly against GM food growth, saying that this is a dangerous experiment with health and could have a bad effect on the environment. They say it "violates a natural organism's intrinsic value; that modified genes are being spread through pollination; and that it allows a few giant corporations to control food production worldwide, forcing farmers to buy new, expensive, patented seed from them year after year." Many countries, including most of Europe, most Australian states, Angola, Sudan, Venezuela and Zambia, have declared themselves GM-free zones, refusing to grow GM crops. So strong is the anti-GM lobby in the UK that the industry has abandoned all attempts to get GM seeds approved for growing in that country. South Africa, on the other hand, has adopted the crops wholeheartedly. Since 1997, South Africa has grown GM crops, including maize, soya beans and cotton commercially. The Government does not require GM crops to be separated from non-GM crops during production, processing and distribution, which means there's no way of tracking GM food from farm to plate; if one strain caused adverse effects in humans or animals, it would be virtually impossible to trace the offending variety.

THE 11TH H0UR

Leonardo DiCaprio is a rare phenomenon. He's certainly not the only celebrity trying to raise awareness of environmental issues. But whereas for so many celebrities, charity work is an add-on, an obligatory social tax they feel they must pay to justify public admiration, for DiCaprio it is a thread that runs through everything he does. He's championed some of America's most effective environmental organisations, such as the Natural Resources Defence Council and Global Green and has led calls for the expulsion of oil money from US politics. His new film The llth Hour is a very personal project where the two parts of his life merge. Hot on the heels of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, The llth Hour is very much the sequel and to be amongst the first to view it even before it debuted at Cannes was a privilege. "I expected something impressive. I expected something profound and depressing--a catalogue of human errors and a stark warning, said a viewer of the movie." But the llth Hour takes the debate about the environment to a whole new level. It places the problems we're now mostly aware of in the context of something bigger, describing climate change, oceanic dead zones, soil erosion, the destruction of the world's forests and the spread of disease in the context of system failure. It is shockingly ambitious, and it works.

DROWNiNG OUT

The northeastern U.S. coast is likely to see the world's biggest sea level rise from man-made global warming, a new study predicts. However much the oceans rise by the end of the century, add an extra 8 inches for New York, Boston and other spots along the coast from the mid-Atlantic to New England. That's because of predicted changes in ocean currents, according to a study based on computer models published online Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience. An extra 8 inches on top of a possible 2 or 3 feet of sea rise globally by 2100 is a big deal, especially when nor'easters and hurricanes hit, experts said."It's not just waterfront homes and wetlands that are at stake here," said Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. "Those kind of rises in sea level when placed on top of the storm surges we see today, put in jeopardy lots of infrastructure, including the New York subway system."For years, scientists have talked about rising sea levels due to global warming - both from warm water expanding and the melt of ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica. Predictions for the average worldwide sea rise keep changing along with the rate of ice melt. Recently, more scientists are saying the situation has worsened so that a 3-foot rise in sea level by 2100 is becoming a common theme.

SATURDAY NiGHT

After being so stressed in school these few past weeks, on saturday I was able to spend some time with my friends. Torrin, Erica, Alona, Ikeedah, Turquois, Thomas, Ciara, and I spent some time together over Ikeedah's house after the play. We sat on the porch outside playing cards and playing around. Even though, it was like 34 degrees outside, it didn't stop us from having a good time. Music was playing, everybody was dancing, and it was the first in a long time we had everyone together like that. We were having so much fun we lost track on time that by the time we decided to leave it was like 4 in the morning! I can't wait for spring break to come because that is when we will really have fun. We plan on having something like that similar again but a bbq too insted of not having anything at all and also maybe going to out somewhere also. There is only 3 months left and I want to enjoy myself as much as possible before graduation comes and we all have to go our seperate ways and we won't be able to spend time like that any more. A lot times we take little moments like that for granted and don't realize how precious they are. I'm trying to enjoy every moment I get with my friends. There is only three months left and it's going bye so fast.

LiFE iS EXPENSiVE!

During 8th period Sam, Nat, and I were talking and Nat was telling us about her blogs and journals and how she talks about money and things about her project. I asked, "Money? Why money?" She then replied saying, "I have been saving up money over the summer and I had $700. Since I have no job and I been using it to pay bills, I now only have $200 left." Sam and I looked at each other and said, "Where did all your money go?" Nat then said, "Just life....life is expensive." I then thought about it and she is so right! Life is really expensive when you think about it. Between phone bills, food, clothing, and etc. it can really add up. I spend about 150 in two weeks and I don't know where it all went. Even though I try to save my money there is always something coming up. With the senior trip coming and prom a week after, I have no time to save money because all my money has to go to events coming up. Once I start college I can't imagine how harder it will get to get a job and find time to study when I will be far away from home. When Nat said that she made me appreciate money a lot more. I am determine to find a way to save my money and still have the things I need. Thanks a lot Natalie!=]

SAVE OUR OCEANS

Yesterday, I went to the Aquarium and I had fun. Yesterday I was learning about aquatic life and how global warming affects it. The coral reefs in Austrailia and New Guiena are in trouble. Because of global warming the waters are getting warmer and the different fish such as stone and cuddling fish, have to go further south to get to colder water. They have to leave their homes behind and it is harder for the corals and algea to stay alive. Coral bleaching due to global warming is the most serious threat to coral reefs. Rising water temperatures heat the coral, breaking down the complex biological system that coral have evolved to survive. In some places, water temperatures are nearing the coral's heat tolerance. Already, 27 percent of the world's reefs have died, and by 2020, temperatures could rise enough to destroy most of the world's remaining coral reefs. Within a ten year span the waters have rised to 4 degree Fahrenheit. Another problem that is becoming big is acidification because it affects how coral reefs and shellfish grow. It is related to the burning of coal, oil and other fossil fuels which pumps carbon dioxide into the air. Much of this carbon dioxide pollution hangs over the earth in a heat trapping blanket, causing global warming, but some of it is sinking into the ocean, where it dissolves and reacts with water to form carbonic acid. Carbonic acid interferes with the growing of coral, preventing reefs from growing fast enough to keep up with the natural rate of erosion. It also makes coral skeletons more brittle. The combined stress of warming and acidification has many coral reef biologists worried. When coral reefs suffer, the entire community of aquatic life that depends on them for food and shelter suffers. Shellfish are also at direct risk from ocean acidification because carbonic acid reduces the levels of a critical raw material, calcium carbonate they use to grow their shells. Many creatures at the base of the food chain rely on calcium carbonate. Depending on what our future carbon emissions are, in certain regions ocean life could shift dramatically toward the spineless, as one scientist put it, to "the reign of jellyfish." The good news is that the key to preventing the worst outcome is already in works. Slashing global warming pollution. Carbon dioxide is the main global warming polluter. By cutting carbon dioxide emissions from cars and power plants, we can curb global warming as well as the acidification of our oceans. The ocean is filled with all types of amazing fish and mammals. The way the ocean works is that they all rely on each other to survive, its like one big family. I would hate to see our oceans destroyed because of mistakes that us humans are making. We need to put an end to this soon.