Environmental Ethics (In-Class Blog Post 2)

My views on the environment are mainly biocentric based. However, I believe all three of the main environmental ethic groups have some points that are strong and valid. I believe all life is important, and that humans are equals to all other animals. I believe the human race has over populated and evolved at extreme rates recently and as a result of that, many human’s beliefs are anthropocentric based. The majority of the population believes that the earth was made humans and that we can use it at our disposal. 

Humans Connection to the Environment (In-Class Blog Question 1)

I believe the best way to connect with nature is to spend time in it. For myself, my appreciation for nature increases with the amount of time I spend in it. The more time one spends away from nature, the easier it is for one to forget about how essential it is for us to protect the environment. The majority of humans spend so much time in cities, focusing on their day to day life that they end up being completely disconnected from the environment. I believe the longer one stays focused on their day to day “city life” the greater one becomes disconnected from the environment due to the distractions and “social norm” that our society offers. Much of society follows the idea that resources are unlimited and that the environment can repair itself from all human impacts. It is extremely scary that such a large percentage of society thinks this way. Much of society is so oblivious to the problems in the environment, because they have forgotten about the environment entirely. The more humans forget about the environment, the less likely they are to make decisions based around what’s best for the environment. If we want humans to be more connected to nature, then we must spend as much time as we can in the environment to remind ourselves how important it is to protect nature.

Activity - Ted Talks - 17 Years of Silcence (John Francis Walks the Earth)

John Francis was a man who removed all motorized vehicles and motorized transportation from his life in order to stop fossil fuel emissions. He was first encouraged to make this drastic change to his life when he saw two oil tankers collide under the Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco Bay) in 1971. John Francis traveled around the United States on foot for twenty-two years. Furthermore, just a few years into his travels across the country, John Francis decided to be silent for one day to encourage himself to listen more and talk less. He enjoyed listening and learning from others well being silent so much, that he did not speak from 1973-1990. While along his travels, he attended three different universities, Southern Oregon University, University of Montana and University of Wisconsin-Madison. John studied the environment as well as land management and eventually earned a Ph.D. While finishing his master’s degree in Montana and continuing to be silent, Francis taught classes at the university communicating to his students by hand motions. John spoke for the first time in seventeen years on Earth Day in 1990.

I believe John Francis is a truly significant environmentalist and that his actions showed great courage. However, I believe his decision to give up all forms of motorized transportation hindered his ability to share his knowledge and wisdom with others. John could have given up using motorized transportation for his day to day use and instead limited himself to only use big forms of public transportation like planes and trains when traveling long distances. This would have saved Francis great amounts of time and allowed him to have a place to call home. Johns decision to be quiet for seventeen years seemed more logical to me then his decision to not use motorized transportation, however he took this idea to the extreme. I believe John Francis’ decision to stay silent and focus on listening and learning from others was a great one, and potentially something we should all try for at least one day in our lives. However, seventeen years is an extremely long time to remain silent and like John himself said, “it was an imprisonment”. The experience of only listening was a very important to John, however he took it to such extremes, that it became the only way he could live. Overall, I respect Johns decisions to go against what society considers normal in honour of his beliefs. However, I believe if John Francis had altered his actions slightly he could’ve had a better outcome and a bigger impact on society's views.