My Influences
People are bombarded by society every second with new ideas, new products, what we should wear, what we should believe and so on.
Here are a few pictures, quotes and songs that I have been bombarded by. They have influenced me and outline my values on environmental sustainability.
Pictures
This is a girl being sprayed with DDT. Which today is known to have caused serious and drastic side effects like cancer. "Silent Spring" by Rachael Carson is a great book that outlines the dangerous effects of pesticides in todays world. DDT may have killed off malaria and helped crops but it killed so many. This shows that people can make stupid mistakes. We are not perfect. Even though we have many laws and regulations today, we can make mistakes that have huge consequences on the world.
(viewimages.com)
Metro Transit plans to come out with 172 hybrid electric busses by 2012. The world is trying to have cleaner CO2 emissions and I am proud that the twin cities is active in helping out.
**On a side note I took one of these busses home, and it was super uncomfortable and cold feeling. Why does something good for the environment have to be so uncomfortable? The cost is a big part of it, but I am sure they could have been designed better.*
(http://www.metrotransit.org/news/stories/11-07-hybridbus.asp)
Renewable Resources are a big part of environmental sustainability. From wind power to geothermal and solar energy. They are important for our future. My favorite renewable resource is the wind turbine. I love seeing them in fields knowing that all thats powering them is wind. The may be harmful to birds but not to the air.
(http://www.awea.org/resources/)
Quotes
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King Jr.
When we lose hope, I believe the days just become harder and harder to endure. We can work to make the world better.
"God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools." John Muir
This quote goes along with the use of DDT. People can be stupid and do harmful things without realizing the consequences in the future.
"You can never do kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late" Ralph Waldo Emerson
"People that seem so glorious are all show; underneath they are like everyone else" Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Songs
The Times They Are a Changin' Bob Dylan
These Streets Paolo Nutini
Timor Shakira
The Four Season Vivaldi (performed by Capella Istroplitana)
"Summer, Spring, Winter, Autumn"
Now I don't claim to be a hippy wrapping myself around trees. I haven't seen An Inconvenient Truth and my family has a thing against the Sierra Club (long story) but I still care for the environment. We have made stupid mistakes that have had huge consequences. And I believe that if we but aside our selfish ambitions and pride we can have hope for our future.