Blog 3

Women`s Indigenous Knowledge and Biodiversity Conservation 

Vadanan Shiva describe the link between gender and biodiversity. Men are seen as measure of all value, women as inferior and unequal and nature`s diversity as only for commercial gain. Monocultures and progressive technologies has displaced the survival and sustainability of livelihoods mostly in the third world countries as biodiversity-based technologies are now seen as primitive. Moving from subsistence to monoculture, from biodiversity-based technologies to progressive technologies has led to loss of employment, and increase in poverty.

Women and diversity as described by Vadanan Shiva is also linked. women do too many different works mostly not measured in wages making it difficult for researchers to define women`s work inside and outside the house. Work done by women including farming require skills and knowledge which is the mainstay of the dairy industry. Women have been experts in the biodiversity in agriculture but their knowledge has been ruled out because it is not coming from a scientific laboratory and men in white coat.

In this twenty first century, corporation create seedlings making it their property through intellectual property rights. That means each year farmers must go back to these corporations to buy seeds, our foods are now genetically engineered and farmers in the third world countries are losing their natural hybrid seeds. If women`s knowledge and skills are not recognized and these corporations restricted, then diversity will be affected in the long run.

Concluding, Shiva outlined some potential risks associated with genetically engineered foods, such as danger to domestic animals, wildlife, change in habitats, counterfeit freshness, new proteins which may cause allergic reactions, diminish the effectiveness of some antibiotics to human and domestic animal disease.

Critical Thinking 

Ecofeminist is a term used to describe females who are ecologically focused. They define women rights together with environmental problems. Although they differ among themselves in that not all of them believe that women have an intrinsic feminine perspective on the relationship between humans and nature that is distinct from that of male. We can see that Vadanan Shiva is an Ecofeminist, the way she described the similaries of women and diversity and how they are undermined.

Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization?

In this article, Lester R. Brown warns about the shortage in the main need of humans: food. Our unsustainable approach to the earth we live in is the main cause for this food shortage. As the population of humans increase, the demand for food rises exponentially with supply falling and this causes the price of grains to increase and become expensive. Grain is one of the world`s most demanded crop, it serves as fuel and food and this has made the its price really expensive. Growing crops requires a lot of water and water is also running out, water table is falling and rainfall cannot recharge it. These grains need sun, wind, and rainfall to grow but our environment releases irregular amounts due to environmental degradation. Irrigation, soil erosion, countries like Russia, cutting back and Vietnam banning exports for several months to increase locally available food and increase in surface temperature are the main problems causing food shortage. 

A solution given by Lester R. Brown, is called "Plan B", to reverse the environmental trend that caused the food shortage. Plan B has four components:

1. To cut carbon emission by 80% from 2006 level by 2020.

2. Stabilization of world`s population at 8 million by 2040,

3. Eradication of poverty

4. Restoration of forest, soils and aquifers. 

Critical Thinking

The greatest threat to global political stability is food shortage, although there are other factors like lack of personal security and healthcare. When a nation doesn`t have enough to feed its population, its government begins to lose its power and run into chaos, becoming a place for terrorists, drugs, weapon and refugees. 

To avoid or reduce the rate of food shortage, we need to use Brown`s Plan B and we need to implement it fast as time is our scarcest resources.

Human Domination of Earth`s Ecosystems

The ecosystem is influenced by human activities because the earth is mostly dominated by humans. Fishing, agriculture, trading, manufacturing and other industries has contributed to the changes we have in our environment: increase climate change and loss of biological diversity. As we face land degradation, our different species are forced to relocate, some go into extinction, and increase in invasive species, water tables are rising. The use of fossil fuel leads to increase in the carbon, our modern day technology is polluting the air, waters and land causing harms to species everywhere. The increase in population and industries around the world has caused carbon emissions to increase, causing climate change and global warming. Humans have caused a 30% change in atmospheric carbon dioxide relative to the pre-industrial era. DDT (now banned) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are examples of human manufactured chemicals that are hazardous to our health and environment. We have to recognize that the consequences of human activities is already here and the authors suggested three directions to combat 

1.      Work to reduce the rate at which we alter the earth system.

2.      We can accelerate our efforts to understand earth`s ecosystems and how they interact with the numerous components of human caused global change.

3.      Maintain production, population, species and ecosystem for the foreseeable future.

Critical Thinking

The more humans we have on the earth results in more pollution in the environment. Humans need to recognize the mistakes they are making and start using resources ecologically and more practical in order to fix the problems. I think that reducing the world population would certainly reduce the impact on the Earth but also changing how people interact with the environment would reduce food shortage, the amount of fossil fuel burnt, relocation of species. We as humans need to diversify their means of survival. 

Activity 

Jane Goodall speaks on how man and animals can live together dwelling much on Chimpanzees. She said they are more like us than any other animals, they can live for 60 years or more. The females have her first baby at 11 or 12 and then six years later she can have another. Their postures and gestures are like that of humans. The chimpanzees have shown us that we are part of and not separated from the earth we share. Just like humans these chimpanzees are losing their habitat due the changes in our environments; climate change and global warming. 

To save this habitats we have to save the lives of the people living around this parks where this animals live, providing them with better health care, education, loans and grants which helps the reduce the cutting of trees, leaving the land open for erosion and family planning. We have a choice to make the world a better place but the poor has the no choice, our choice give them a chance to have a choice. Those in the third world countries have no choice. People come together to form groups to help save our world for our children like TAKECARE and ROOTS & SHOOTS. She mostly raised awareness on what is going on in Africa as well as all over the world including water pollution, drought, diseases and poverty.

The main message here i think is learning to leave in peace with one another and then we can live in peace with our environment, we can give our children and grand children as well as animals hope.

Reflection

Zoos has changed from being an entertainment place to a place where research is been carried out, people come to learn about different species and conservation of animals. The zoo has helped researchers, vets, and even the general public to learn about animal care, husbandry and life span. Zoos keep animals that are almost in extinction and threatened. Like author Jake Page put it, “many zoos have become places of rigorous scientific research… coupled with an active effort not just to preserve in captivity those creatures that are endangered in the wild, but… to understand, save, and replenish unique natural habitats.” Different species have been bred successfully inside zoos due to the environment that closely resembles the animals' natural surroundings created by zoo keepers. In education, zoos provides information and experience to school children and tourists.

Different people have different opinions about what is ethical and what`s not, animal rights and animal welfare try to define what’s right and what’s wrong like, it is wrong if you treat the animal as a means to achieve some human end, it fails to treat animals with the respect they deserve, it violates the animal's right to live in freedom, the animal is deprived of its natural habitat, the animal is deprived of its natural social structure and companionship, the animal is forced into close proximity with other species and human beings which may be unnatural for it, returning animals to the wild is difficult. 

Visiting the zoo has always been fun for, walking around seeing and feeding different species of animals especially the ones i know i will not see outside the zoo. listening to fun facts about a zoo i`m visiting for the first time is something i always do. some fun facts i have heard includes: the pink color of flamingos comes from the food they eat, Anteaters can eat up to 30,000 insects in one day, Anteaters are able to detect insects with their powerful sense of smell, 40 times that of man, the giraffe has the same number of vertebrae in their neck as a human and they give birth standing up that`s like 6 feet that the baby has to drop (i`m still waiting to see this).

References

Easton, Thomas A. Sources Environmental Studies. Fourth ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2012. 11-115. Print.

Villablanca, Edward. "Defining the Role of Zoos in the Conservation of Wildlife." Yahoo (2007). Web. 17 Mar. 2014. http://voices.yahoo.com/defining-role-zoos-conservation-wildlife-608841.html

"Ethics Guide." BBC . Web. 17 Mar. 2014. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/using/entertainment_1.shtml.

"How Man and Animals Can Live Together." TED Talk (2007). Web. 17 Mar. 2014. http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_goodall_at_tedglobal_07.html