Nicole Phipps

Option 1: April 2010 Oil Spill
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/opinion/24sat2.html?ref=gulfofmexico2010&_r=0

Option 2: Love Canal 
http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/lovecanal/01.html

“Do you believe that environmental crises affect you/your family today?”

Comments:

·       Shae Stevens yes

·       Brandon Carter That article brings up a very good point, we can’t just bury old habits with dirt and expect them to go away.  In order to be proactive in helping the environment and procuring safety for everyday citizens we have to be able to educate the future and fix environmental problems. 

·       Trevor White Yeah I do. I live in Idaho and my wife says it "always" smells. This smelly air can only the product of unknown environmental hazards

·       Stephanie Caplin Judd Hi Nicole, I read both articles and hope that my comment helps you out with your class. Sorry so long:

To answer your question whether I believe environmental crises affect my family today I must respond with a resolute yes! I feel too many sit idly unaware of what goes on in our nation in various aspects ranging from politics to genetically modified food, to unsafe and dangerous methods of allowing toxins and chemicals to enter our water and food supply areas, etc. It is saddening to see the care-free attitude many have of taking care of and nurturing our Mother Earth. Furthermore, I am shocked at the unsafe and appalling practices regarding the distribution and production of food being imported into America from many countries that care little about their own population and safe food production practices. Why are we allowing these things to happen in our very own country, to our very own children and population? As a mother, I see the benefits of feeding my children natural, wholesome foods rather than processed, color dye-chemical additive enriched foods. Studies are proving a link between autism, ADD, etc and what unnecessarily goes in our food to preserve it longer. I feel that the Love Canal scenario is the same sad story we keep hearing due to, perhaps, ignorance on the matter, or a choice to blindly accept other’s care-free stance on taking safe and protective measures for humanity and nature. With all that I have said, I feel I ought to include that I feel strongly that America should be self-sufficient when it comes to using energy sources, and that if we work together to find solutions to drill for divinely blessed resources, we will prosper. To me, the article written in the NYT of the explosion in the Gulf came across as just another left-sided spout, exploding itself, blaming the process of oil drilling on others. Using this unfortunate event as yet another slap on the hand to those who are trying to find ways to be energy source self-reliant won’t solve the problem. Rather, sitting down together as community members, mothers who care about their children’s welfare, politicians, scientist and environmental specialist who all try to reach for solutions together, can solve the environmental issues we see arising today.

Good luck with your assignment! XOXO

·       Nikki Phipps Well, to tell you the truth Nicole, I don't feel directly affected by the environmental crises. I know that others are greatly affected, and in the future I could be directly affected, but I right now I don't feel like I am. Part of it is that I have grown up with a lot of the environmental problems we are facing, and I am used to the indirect (like rising gas prices?) or possibly direct effects and therefore I may just be very unaware.

·       Sean Phipps Yes. For further discussion please call me. Also, I would like to hear your opinion on this important issue.

·       Michelle Phipps White Yes, government agencies set up laws to prevent/ eliminate environmental crises dictating how and when I can use public lands for recreational purposes.

·       Jill Armstrong Yes I do think that environmental crises affect our family. One not so obvious way is in that our children are being taught on PBS little mini environmental lessons. http://pbskids.org/games/environment.html

·       Linda Phipps Yes I believe that environmental crises do affect all of us today. In the incident of the Love Canal, those people were directly, although not immediately, affected. I find it hard to believe that people would feel okay about purchasing a home, where they would raise their children, knowing that the neighborhood was built on top of an industrial dumpsite.
As far as my family and me personally, I think that we are indirectly affected by environmental crises through higher costs of gas and food. I think that regardless of where you live, when the environment is contaminated it is going to affect you whether it is physical and health related or economical.

·       Sam Johnston Yes I believe that everybody is affected by environmental crises. High profile incidents like love canal are obviously terrible, but problems like global warming have an indirect, but just as terrible affect on the entire world. On a more personal note most of my family lives in the northeast and they were all affected by hurricane sandy (of course it is not certain that sandy was influenced by global warming).

My response:

1.Do you believe that environmental crises affect you/your family today?

            Yes, I think that crises like these do affect me and my family today. These particular ones didn’t affect me directly. However, the families who live in those areas are directly affected, especially those who live near Love Canal. I think my family and I felt the affects of the Oil crises through rising gas prices.

2.In your opinion are environmental hazards something we should be concerned about on a daily basis.

            Yes I think it’s important to be aware of the environmental hazards especially in the areas we live in. Awareness is always important in the case of an accident. That way the community can know how to respond during these tragedies. In addition we should be aware what the government is doing in order to prevent these tragedies.

           

3.Why should we care about something that happened over 30 years ago?

            We should care because crises like the Love Canal still affect people today. Those people that were exposed to carcinogens are still feeling the effects of that tragedy. These are real people’s whose lives were changed because of the carelessness of a corporation.