American Indians, Water Rights, Dams, and Problems In many parts of the United States there has been controversy over water and the building of dams and their effects on Native Indians and their rights. Although there have been many treaties and laws set in place to protect American Indians rights to water and land use there has been an increased ignorance of these legal decisions. In southwestern America, where water is scarce, dams are causing problems with Native Indians and their rights to the usage of land and water. The creation of dams upsets the natural eco-balance found in these rivers including natural spawning areas and plant growth to help keep the river healthy. With the ecosystem disruptions, the lands flooded by the dam can often cover sacred lands to American Indians.
Glacial regions also include rocks but also include large bodies of ice called glaciers. Both desert landforms and glacial landforms have very distinct erosion patterns. In the desert wind and sand can beat against rocks and chip away at them. Wind also shapes the way the dunes look and moves sand around constantly changing the desert landscape. Lack of rainfall, wind erosion and evaporation rate are the processes in which create these desert regions.
Observation: During the winter, you spread salt daily on your driveway to melt the snow. In the springtime, when the lawn begins to grow, you notice that there is no grass growing for about 3 inches from the driveway. Furthermore, the grass seems to be growing more slowly up to about 1 foot from the driveway. Question: Might grass growth be inhibited by salt? My hypothesis is that the grass growth in being inhibited by the salt.
Fire Hole River begins at Madison Lake in a subalpine marsh on the Continental Divide. From there it flows north 21 miles past Old Faithful, through the Biscuit and Midway Geyser Basins, past Nez Perce Creek, through Fountain Flats and Firehole Canyon and on into the Madison River. The origins of the river’s name are debatable. It might have been named for the water vapor that springs up when the cold river water meets hot water from thermal formations. Another explanation has to do with the word “hole” being used by trappers to denote canyons; a fire in a canyon could have given the river its name.
The topsoils and forests and watersheds destroyed by mining will not be replenished in a time imaginable by humans.” (“What Matters”, 32). Berry warns that if this decadent consumerism continues, human life will face catastrophic failure. While Berry does not take the time to elaborate on the evidence of these claims, it would not be presumptuous to assume them as true given the lack of skepticism in the scientific community regarding these sorts of reports. Additionally, Berry takes offense to the exploitation of meek
Deepwater drilling represents both a surrendering of this moral courage to our perceived immediate needs and a failure to adequately value the obligation this natural complexity requires in securing the future health of the planet. Most would agree that the unprecedented technological advancements of the modern age have fundamentally altered the relationship between mankind and the environment. Just as new technologies now sweep instantly across populations, so do our activities have an ecological impact on a global scale. Our cognizance of this power to affect ecosystems has been slow to
Desertification, or the movement of desert conditions into non-desert regions like in Northern China, is one way that deserts are formed. With areas like that of Northern China in a delicate balancing act to maintain its ecosystem, even minor stresses by human (anthropogenic) or natural forces can become too much to tolerate, thus a degradation of the land results. Most desert lands aren’t covered by sand. Water erosion is an important geologic process in deserts. Flash floods create deep canyons called arroyos and create depositional landforms such as alluvial fans.
He focuses a lot on how much of the canyon’s environment has been destroyed. He also believes that sooner or later Lake Powell will become filled with human sewage and inevitably become a solid mass of mud. Abbey does offer alternative methods of power generation such as solar power, which would lessen the demand for electrical power and in turn will cause for the Glen Canyon dam to be taken down. Despite the convincing and heartfelt nature of Edward Abbey’s arguments within, “The Damnation of a Canyon,” it is still very biased and does not include other people’s opinions on the dam. Edward Abbey admits to having a certain biased.
The Obligation to Endure Rachel Carson challenges the progress that this world has taken and questions if it is truly progress at all. We as humans endanger and harm ourselves in ways that we are often unaware of. Carson persuades her audience, the progressive intellectuals, in her book, “Silent Spring”, that the use of chemicals is causing destruction and should be put to an end. She concentrates her ideas in the chapter “The Obligation to Endure”, where she goes against the horrible consequences of chemical use on pests. She elaborates on the issue of spraying chemicals and if it is increasing or decreasing the progress in the world.
Maria Ruiz English 101 Prof. Courtney Stanton Oct. 8, 2014 Sustainability and our Environment Our natural world is losing its essence of ‘natural’ to become a polluted and corrupted place. In Curtis White’s work, “A Good Without Light” and Jim Tarter’s work, “Some Live More Downstream than Others”; Tarter doesn’t mention a solution to our environmental crisis, but he presents his idea that science can be of great use to find the factors that create pollution, cancer and so on. White’s solution to this barbaric heart is that we have the power to stop it, but instead we are making the choice to hurt others. Overall these works show us the effects of how we suffer the consequences when the Barbaric Heart is violating our environment. White’s view on the barbaric heart promotes our own self-benefit, which links to Tarter’s view of living downstream.