Chaptere 12 Reading

Chapter 12 Reading
 

Climate Change

Section 1
 Rapid growth of world's economy and population threatening the planet's natural resources was the cause of the UN Conference in 1972 on the Human Environment within Stockholm, Sweden.  Planetary boundary ideas in the 1900s  revolved around the understanding of those boundaries themselves and the different kinds that were predicted within the Limits to Growth book published about the future downfall of the 1920's. It wasn't the limitations that the usage of minerals that the main concern was about, but the affects that it would have ecosystem itself, the biodiversity, and ability the atmosphere has to take in greenhouse gases it's emitting. The problem was not that people were focusing on the environmental effect alone, but the little knowledge that scientists at the moment did not know enough about it as well. Realistically, countries with higher income tend to have the largest green house gas emissions while the less fortunate countries have much lower green house gases, in correlation to their low-income economy. Though the poor countries are emitting less GHG, they are the countries being affected by it the most by the climate change problems it brings about. The second most global crisis after global warming is taking effect on reducing the climate change problem and the little corrective action we actually put to use. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), along with the European Union (EU), is an organization that has thought up many different ideas based on various perspectives on the solutions for climate change. Some of these ideas include bringing in experts on fossil fuels and importers from all over the globe to find positive ways of using renewable energy.
Section 2
Everything that society had known at the publication date of this book on sustainability was found out by scientists by the 1900's. In the 1980s, Arrhenius had correctly calculated the effects of the doubling of CO2 and recalculated those same effects years later, though his timing was inaccurate. Overall, the seven major problems we contribute to the world are the creations of global crisis, world mobilization to work toward the progress of that crisis, the affect of generations to come, GHG emission, increase climate change crisis, the complexity of climate change solutions, and energy sectors correlation to one of the world's most powerful companies.
Section 3
Mitigation is the means to coming about the reduction of GHGs that are causing global warming. The current goal standing is less than or equal to 2 degreed Celsius above the mean industrial temperature. Adaption is the preparation of safer living causing effective life-styles with climate change. Safeguarding cities from storm surges and the protection of crops is a major form of adaption. Though little, adaption can highly affect the world's environment. Three key steps of "deep decarbonization are energy efficieny, reduction of CO2 emission, and fuel shift from direct use of fossil fuels to energy efficient sources. Zero-carbon geothermal energy powers Iceland, which is used for electricity production and water heating that is distributed throughout the homes and offices of communities. Other places such as Britain maintain power plants with low costs and high productivity rates at about 12% of the world's electrical generation. The indirectness of zero-carbon technologies with the means to reduce carbon emission . More energy efficient forms of reducing the emission on CO2 are described, such as electric vehicle charging points.

Chapter 6 Reading

Chapter 6 Reading

                                                               Planetary Boundaries


 Section 1
     The growth of many countries often interrupts the complete solution to sustainable development within societies all over the world. Some of the major challenges that the environment faces are climate change, ocean acidification, and species extinction. These extend globally and effect major aspects of life, to include the prevention of any country having completely reached sustainable development, regardless of the efforts being put forth. This is caused by the environmental limitation that the human race is exhausting more and more every day, "humanity is exceeding the planetary boundaries in several critical areas" (The Age of Sustainable Development). Thomas Robert Malthus wrote an essay that portrayed the warnings on the negative aspects of unbalanced population to natural resource supply ratio. His views on it, however, favored the possibilities of the natural reversal of economic developmental gains by population pressure. His theory was later proved incorrect as society created new technological advances that expanded the capability of larger food growth for the means of providing for the population on a global scale. Though we are having population growth containment issues in the sense of an increase of natural resource abundance loss, another four billion is estimated to be added to the populating in the coming century, along with much more environmental stress. The nine areas of planetary boundaries are climate change, ocean acidification, ozone depletion, pollution, overuse of freshwater resources, land usage, biodiversity, aerosol loading, and chemical pollution, all of which have the most effect on Earth's sustainability overall.
Section 2
     Although the human race is borderline overflowing past our planetary boundaries, the environmental pressure has higher chances of increasing rather than decreasing in the near and lasting future. This is calculated based on the increase of both GDP and worldwide population. The most difficult factors to deal with is the improvement of poor countries while maintaining a fixed goal on continued growth globally and Earth's biodiversity and ecosystem. Although they seem like completely opposite goal sets, this section elaborates on the similarities the two sustainability goals that are awaiting accomplishment. The remaining issue with the desire of undeveloped countries closing the income gap between them and the "rich world" would be the definite push past planetary boundaries, therefore causing great damage to the nine areas of planetary boundaries listed previously.
Section 3
     Growth reconcilement of planetary boundaries is an urgent matter overall, however, the most important of them is the usage of energy. World economy has developed on the basis of using fossil fuels as energy, such as steam engines, combustion engines, and gas turbines. The first achievable sustainable progress within the economy was achieved by using James Watt's improved steam engine in 1776. Since any type of work requires energy, it is hard to find the reduction of damage caused by the usage of harmful energy producing factors. The most foreseeable solution to this problem would be the deep decarbonization of the energy systems we use today, which would require less usage of carbon dioxide emissions. This will consist of three main pillars, which are energy efficiency, low-carbon electricity, and storage technologies.
Section 4
     All planetary boundaries are closely related to agriculture. Many human-made products have been used since Malthus first wrote his essay predicting future planetary boundaries, such as nitrogen fertilizers and geometric growth of food production. Although Malthus seemed to neglect the possibilities of technological advances, he was right to worry for the planet, as when he wrote his essay, the world population was only 1/8 of what it is today. The correction of farm systems would prevent any  more irreversible damage that could be done to the environment on a global scale.
Section 5
     The possible achievement of sustainable development depends solely on the dynamics within the world's population within the near and far future. Although rich countries tend to have lower fertility rates, the high fertility rates within undeveloped countries challenges the population growth of the planet equally as much as those with average fertility rates. However, those often stuck in demographic traps tend to be the poor countries because of the household's economic standings.
Section 6
     Environmentalists today are highly alarmed because of the high risk of overpassing our planetary boundaries that conclude how economical growth will have negative growth rates rather than a decrease in both usage of natural resources and exhaustion of man-made resources made to help sustainability improve globally.

OEE

 

OEE

    Hallmark 5 of Notre Dame de Namur University is “We embrace the gift of diversity”. During the Orientation Engagement Experience within our first weeks at Notre Dame as incoming freshman, the Freshman Seminar professors came together and held one large class for all sections at the Chapel and Taube Hall. They made sure to introduce both themselves and other staff or school ground leadership members to the students. For our first meeting, they divided everyone into their respective classrooms and then allowed us to meet one another. The point was to express our diverse upbringings and personal interests, which is what hallmark 5 consists of. One of my highest values I have held for as long as I can remember is the willingness to keep an open mind when meeting or being introduced to new people from all over the world with diverse mindsets to what I would normally be exposed to. The OEE helped me meet new people and exercise that value I hold at all times and allowed me to be able to express my own diversity.

 

Martyr of the Amazon Study Questions

Martyr of the Amazon 

1) Born Dorothy Mae Stang, Sister Mary Joachim valued knowledge and the rights of land preservation as a close second in comparison to the value of the human spirit along with the faith that has driven it thus far. Sister Dorothy, having recently worked with the poor in Coroatia, had made her presence known within the rural areas of Sao Antonio, Brazil and surrounding communities by connecting them with one another to create the ability of empowerment by their willingness to stand for their rights to work with land-owners as equals. In a letter prior to beginning a new mission, Sister Dorothy described the experience of her transition into the deeper areas of the Transamazonian forest, "we all learned together how to walk the road of liberation...I would carry with me the spirit of Coroata" (Stang, Pages 48-49). The missions Dorothy selected enabled her to reach out to the poor citizens of Latin America and form bonds with them on personal levels that allowed her to enrich their lives in love and knowledge by treating them with the dignity they were seldom shown as people of lesser economic standings. She gave them a sense of importance as a whole and put forth the needs of the most desperate while balancing the duties she had at uplifting the community financially with only the help of minimal donations, willingness to work, and the support of her counterparts of Notre Dame across the globe. 

At any point in time, Sister Dorothy maintained productivity in every task and errand she ran, often times stopping to speak to the youth and anyone in need of help in any form, "wherever there was a need for human support of the poor and simple people, this courageous and self-abnegating woman was present" (Br. Geronimo, page 73). Putting another beings' needs before one's own is an act of greatness in any instance, however, when the life of one is threatened, it is a natural human response to back down or lessen the aid one had originally given. In Sister Dorothy's case, she had been delivered countless death threats, both in person and by letter. This did not in any way affect the amount of involvement she had with the people she grew to love and cherish, merely made her strive for those alongside her to continue to stand up for the future they want to provide for themselves and their families. The abundant land disputes began as just that, but when they turned to violence in a short time period, it wasn't just the worker's land being damaged and destroyed, but their dignity and sense of value as well. Dorothy made sure to encourage and provide strength in these times the most, as it is when the farmers were most vulnerable and susceptible to those who were believed to hold evident power over them. She was the difference that gave way to the dignity within every member of the community to surface and fight for the simple human rights they deserved that were slowly being taken away. Although caring for the sacredness of strangers and honoring their dignity may seem to most something anyone is capable of, Sister Dorothy exceeded her duties in service to the Lord and those she reached out to throughout her life. 

 

 

2) Sister Dorothy's duties was to minister the people of the Amazon for as long as she remained within its perimeters and help extend the knowledge given to her as a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur. While doing so, she extended her help and showed the people she reached out to results of what greatness could become of the empowerment of the community that she was offering. On many occasion, Dorothy was involved in the earthly politics of the region much more than what she seemed to be involved in the spiritual needs of the people, however, the land itself was a need for both herself and those seeking religious enlightenment. Finding peace with themselves seemingly came along with finding peace within the beauty and gifts of the Amazon that was being destroyed at a devastatingly quick pace, "'more destruction each day and our mayor supports big business'...She continued to believe that the government would be able to stop the killings" (Roseanne Murphy, page 125). Sister Dorothy's concern for the receding forest went far beyond her desired involvement in politics, it extended to the needs of the people and the lands they lived on. People were being threatened and proper investigations on murders were scarcely made, leading to a much larger yearning for justice by the people.  

It is not often heard of for a clergy person to get as involved in social transformations to the extent where it could endanger lives or take sides on legal and political views, however, Sister Dorothy managed to keep a constant balance between the spiritual needs of the people and the needs of their livelihoods. Dorothy made a vast change in the lives of many communities as a whole by managing two subjects that can often be classified as separate and rarely paired when considering the benefits that will come of the results. The end results of the involvement of Dorothy was praised and acknowledged all around the world as something great, one of the largest stepping stones in the battle she died fighting for. She expressed her troubles often through prayer and in letters, but more often than not, she was learning of the bond that was being spread out throughout the Amazon because of the action she and the community were taking, "the people were learning to care for one another and share with each other. They were becoming a Christian community and learning what it means to put the lessons of scripture into practice" (Stang, page 83). There comes a point in every major event where a line is to be either drawn or crossed that can lead up to ultimate greatness or a tragic disaster, in which case, ended in a balance of great loss and awaited justice. 

 

 

3) At a young age, Dorothy Mae Stang was set on beginning a life with an extraordinarily devoted path alongside her best friend, Joan Krimm. The two were companions before they had sent in their applications to join the congregation and remained so, if not closer, after they were sent on their first mission as Sisters of Notre Dame. Although happiness is not measured by one's company, being alongside a loved one through the most important events in life can make a drastic change in one's persona and will power to accomplish what deems one happy in life. For Dorothy Stang, joining the Sisters of Notre Dame was a thought triggered by Joan having submitted her application in her last year of high school, which she soon learned was indeed her greatest calling in life.  

The world in which we live in holds many groups of individuals representing eras that differ by generation and the way they are represented. In today's world, the prospect of living a happy life tends to consist of materialistic goods and high quality alteration on anything and everything. The rate of both emotional and spiritual contentment however, is driven lower as the earth ages. Tragedy, for the most part, causes many burdens on the road to happiness, but Dorothy did not mourn the oncoming tragedy of her life nearing its end but embraced the will of her devout teaching being passed on by those who's lives she had entered, "she grew to love her work so much that she was said to have told her sister, 'someday I want to be buried under a saguaro cactus here'", (Murphy, page 22). From the time she first entered the congregation, Dorothy's dream was to go on missions to a foreign land to help those in greater need. Although happy with her ongoing life in Arizona, she had the desire to accomplish her duties as well as fulfil her own wishes, so when she was given the news that she was selected for a mission in Brazil, she felt her "lifelong dream was coming true" (Murphy page 24). Dorothy, always depicting herself as joyous, found herself much more pleased at the larger level of work she was accomplishing in Latin America and found herself growing fond of the people and their culture, along with her ability to improve their communal and spiritual needs, "Dorothy grew even more convinced that her pastoral work involved helping the poor farmers to understand their rights and their dignity" (Murphy, page 35). 

 

 

Chapter 2 Reading

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 2 

Section 1) Three major aspects of sustainable development are social inclusion, economic development, and environmental sustainability. Gross Domestic Product is one measurement of our nation’s economic development. This is normally expressed within the time span of one year. Growth represents market transactions, domestic is the economic measurement activity, and production is what is output into capital in a certain time period. Measuring GDP per capita is achieved by dividing the total production within the country by the population. This is why larger countries have higher production rate. All countries are placed within three categories, high, middle, and low-income, based on gross domestic product per capita of the country. Price-level differences are  the purchases of "power parity", or PPP. These consist of haircuts, legal fees, basic necessity purchases, and luxury spending.

 

Section 2) Each country has varying sections of economical standards of living, but the country is labeled under the average GDP of the entire country. 90% of the world's population had lived in the rural area before the Industrial Revolution, but is now transitioning into urban lifestyles and changing fundamentals of lifestyles within multiple countries. Urbanization varies across the globe but generally means the tightly packed living spaces within settled areas due to the population. The higher the urbanized area one lives in, the higher their income tends to be. A population density is the amount of people living per square mile in one area. Providing buildings located in rural areas with water and electricity becomes difficult.

 

Section 3) 

 

Call To Action Day

Potrero Nuevo Farm

 

     Notre Dame de Namur University is based on Hallmarks that focus on service learning. Call To Action Day is a day to provide service to others and give as much help to those proving that service as much as possible. Half of NDNU’s Lacrosse team and the Sustainable Development class met up at the school’s quad early in the morning and headed to Potrero Nuevo Farm, run by Jay and Suzie Trexler. There, they showed us around the farm and what kind of activities they normally liked to run for either visitors or volunteers. Since it is fall and the majority of their pumpkins were fully grown, they took us to the pumpkin garden and handed out gloves, stem cutters, and plastic bins to collect the smaller sized pumpkins or squash and to cut the larger ones. We collected a total of nearly 100 pumpkins and carried them out to the van, where Jay and Suzie drove them to the main building and had us separate and organize them by species as a group. Everything that Jay and Suzie do on the farm supports after-school arts education, gardening programs linked to schools, and sustainable agriculture for families with lower economic standings within the community. Having participated in this event on Potrero Nuevo Farm reminded me that even the smallest effort from a group of people willing to help the community can make the greatest difference in both an outstretched hand and in time spent on work that can easily be completed in at least half the time it would have taken without them. I come from a small, close-knit community that is built upon many generations of interactive community members that help need based families by creating events and sales in order to bring them a sense of security and a better livelihood. Since the bay area is so large, I did not expect there to be many organizations that helped the community at little to no costs and give me the opportunity to develop a new meaning for the community with organizations outside of my own hometown.

 



Serving vs. Helping/Fixing

Serving is Different From Helping and Fixing

    The difference between helping and serving is that helping often means providing one’s self as a crutch or leading someone to a certain point and is done so as two unequals. Normally, helping others comes from being stronger in one way or another than the person being helped. Often times, help is seen as an embarrassment, especially in families or people of lower social standings and higher necessities. I have seen many families who have preferred to suffer more than necessary because of pride and their reluctance to admit they need to depend on outside sources for basic living necessities. Service on the other hand, is an action between equals who are aware of their strengths and serve with both their positive and negative experiences. “One man’s treasure is another man’s gold” comes to mind whenever someone perceives something as broken while another considers it is serviceable. Fixing, as the article mentions, is about the perception of an individual rather than a collaboration. The only thing that will set individuals apart in this aspect is the approach they take to go about being a part in someone’s life in a positive way.

Chapter 1 reading

 

Marisol Gameros Lopez

28 September 2016

Freshman Seminar

Dr. Wallace

Chapter 1

Section 1
Sustainable development is the understanding of  both the world and the method of solving global problems. The number of people inhibiting the planet is rapidly increasing and each seems to be seeking higher levels of improvement than what they have already obtained. Sustainable development consists of three systems: world economy, global society, and the Earth's physical environment. In order to answer the many questions concerning the collision of the three systems, sustainable development creates and gives access to goal sets that the world should try to reach. A history of maximum sustainable yield of fish was given as an example to enforce the importance of resource conservation for sustainability. Sustainable development goals will be discussed in a framework of social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and economic development.
Section 2
Sustainable development is both an ethical and scientific system. The economy works in a similar system as the body in the way that each interactive group builds up to form one large being. Emergent properties of these systems create "more than the sum of" parts of the system. It takes more than few simple ideas and goals to maintain sustainability, it results from functional plans and ideas that were thought up for specific cases so that it will work effectively.
Section 3
Technology has brought upon many changes in the way we go about planning sustainable development goals and create possible solutions to improve the world globally. Although they have helped us grow as a civilization, these advances have caused great problems for the Earth as well. For example, coal was used for many industrial developments and had a positive effect of society but created a lot of pollution and damaged both the air and the earth. Many of the technological advances created in the world today ted to be for governmental associations, such as for military use, and have been successfully created due to government support.
Section 4
Sustainable development as a normative approach shows us what a good society should look like. It would appear to be a rich society of what we amount to be nut the unbalanced total would be too unevenly dispersed. Poverty, inequality, social mobility, discrimination and cohesion are five main concerns of the distribution of our economic well-being. Social inclusion is what we, as a society, aim for. Fundamental questions are formed and then connected to economy, society, environment, and governance so to provide support for technological advances.
Section 5
People believe that trade-off are necessary for the economical pursuit of economical, social, and environmental goals, so to reach the desired level of economical growth. Growth and environmental choices are often used alongside efficiency and equality terms. The economical balance refers to not being able to improve someone's financial well-being without lowering another's.