Into the Wild

Into the Wild tells the story of Chris McCandless, who later renames himself Alexander Supertramp, and his adventure into the Alaskan Wilderness.  Chris comes from a fairly wealthy family and a college fund of $24,500.68 upon graduation.  However, unlike the average American teenager, Chris has no desire for material objects.  He refuses a new car from his parents and gives $24,000 to charity.  With the $500.68, which he later burns,  he sets out for his adventure to find truth and freedom in the wild.   Chris's adventure starts in the South and becomes a long journey of hitchhiking and pit stops to the Alaskan Wilderness.   Chris meets many people along the way who become an important part of his journey and helping him achieve his goal of making it to Alaska.  When he finally does reach his destination, Chris enters the Alaskan wilderness, finds an abandoned bus and lives of the land where he enjoys the freedom and simple beauty of nature.  Chris never does make it out of wild, as he dies of starvation.  However, his journey did help him to find one truth, "happiness is only real when shared".

I think Chris can be viewed as a good example of a deep ecologist.  He recognizes the unity of people, plants, animals and the Earth.  He is not caught up under the spell of materialism but rather uses what he needs to live off the land and connect with nature.  He realizes that both human and non human life have intrinsic value and that humans should this value except to satisfy their vital needs.  Chris's journey and lifestyle show his appreciation of his life rather than the need for a higher standard of living and material goods.  Although Chris becomes "trapped" in the wild in the end, his journey was an important one of knowledge and discovery.

Animal Rights & The Cove

After watching The Cove in class, I was surprised and appalled.  Thousands of innocent dolphins are slaughtered each year in Japan for their meat.  The saddest part is that very little of the Japanese population know these slaughters are occurring.  The fishermen involved drive the dolphins into a secret cove that is surrounded by natural rock on three sides.  Within this secret cove, massive slaughters take place unknown to the public.  The Japanese government is highly involved in protecting the secret of these slaughters.  Dolphin meat is actually a less desirable meat compared to other cetaceans because dolphin meat is known for containing high mercury levels.  Instead, Japan falsely packages the dolphin meat as bigger cetacean meat so consumers think they are buying healthier meat and the fishermen make a profit.  Not only are these fishermen killing dolphins in mass amounts but they are also poisoning innocent people.  The Japanese government and the fishermen involved clearly know what they are doing is wrong which is why they work so hard to cover up the slaughters and keep the public away from the secret cove.  These dolphins are living beings just as humans are and they deserve to have rights.  The right to have their basic needs met, the right to protection, etc. In fact, all animals deserve to have these rights.  In order to stop these massive slaughters we need to educate people further about the situation occurring at this secret cove and the effects it could have in the future.  Killing dolphins at such a fast rate is not sustainable and the dolphin population will quickly deplete.  We need to give these dolphins their rights back and stop dolphin slaughters in Japan.

The Land Ethic

 Just as Ray's understanding and connection to the environment in Ecology of a Cracker Childhood was shaped by her childhood growing up in a junkyard, my relationship with the environment was shaped by my childhood growing up on a farm.  My parents taught me that the land we live on can be a benefit to us just as we can be a benefit to the land.  Every year my parents planted a large garden, using the resources of nature to grow our own food.  My family used a wood stove in the winter and we cut all our own wood to burn.  However, my dad had one rule and that was to only cut down trees in our tree line that were dead or had fallen from a summer storm.  I remember helping my mom plant flowers in various areas around the farm or putting stakes around new trees with my dad so they wouldn’t get run over with the lawnmower. One of my favorite childhood memories is eating apples and raspberries with my siblings off the trees and plants that grew in our backyard.  The rest of my family and friends loved coming out to “the farm”.  They found it relaxing and beautiful, a chance to escape the city life and see the beauty of nature.  My experience as a child has given me a better understanding and connection with the environment.  I think we need to educate more people about environmental ethics as the Land Ethic is becoming a more important issue in today's society as people and businesses are realizing the importance of "going green" and sustainability