Pollution and Environment Essay - We Must Find a Balance Between Man an

We Must Find a Balance Between Man and natureAmericas beauty is truly unmatched by anything I have seen I thought with excitement and ecstasy when I first witnessed the splendor of Ameri plenty landscape. The alarming forests and azure lakes have surpassed the stories I heard while growing up. However, a puzzling sight hampered my sense of admiration when I arrived in New Mexico. though the steppe around me was untouched, No Littering and Save the Earth signs seemed to be everywhere. It puzzled me why so much effort was put into preserving a land already pristine. At the time, I knew only of the splendor of American landscape and felt that it was only natural for people to preserve the pervasive gem I had witnessed.Gradually, I conceived the on-going battle to preserve the environment. On one side, concerned citizens strive for environmental restrictions on industries to produce a cleaner, less technological environment their descendants can enjoy. Their formidable adversaries, th e economists, argue that these restrictions limit the nations productivity, thus degrading the general prosperity. Having witnessed the effects of overpopulation and pollution in China, I concur with the need to safeguard the environment. Yet this crusade to protect is flawed. Though many people push for restrictions on industries, they themselves do not truly understand what they protect. It seems that many citizens today mistake nature for a pure, untainted essence that humanity has not corrupted. Even worse, these people go through incredible lengths to seek its revitalizing touch when they lack an overall perception of nature.Though nature is not the quintessence that many believe, it is nonetheless valuable to humans. For me, nature ... ...apid growth in technology, many citizens are ignorant of what volition and will not deteriorate the environment. It is urgent to increase the public awareness of facts so a delicate balance between human expansion and natural conservatio n can be established. Perhaps in the future, mankind will have a new home among the stars, and nature on Earth will finally be left to freely run its course.Works CitedCronon, William. The Trouble with Wilderness The Norton Reader. Ed. Peterson Linda, John Breton, and Joan Hartman. 10th ed. New York Norton, 2000. 651-654.Eichler, Barrett. Personal Interview. 17 Oct. 2002.Kentucky Coal reproduction. Coal Education Question and Answers Forum. 20 Oct. 2002. .Pollan, Michael. The Idea of a Garden. Reading the Environment. Ed. Melissa Walker. New York Norton, 1994. 191-201.

Free Essays - Criticism of My Antonia :: My Antonia Essays

Criticism of My Antonia My Antonia by Willa Cather is a novel based on the memories of the protagonist, Jim Burden. Many critics affirm criticized this novel, and have focused on such literary elements as symbolic even offation, musical theme, and characterization. The strongest argument however is the one that states that the foundation of every element in the book is based on the personal memories of Willa Cather. Many critics have discussed the symbolism in this novel. One symbol that some critics have discussed is the plow. It was said that the plow suggests a way of life that not only helps the land to flourish besides the individual as well (Brown). Another symbol that many critics discuss is Marek Shimerda. The fact that Marek has webbed hands and feet sets him apart from the other normal children who seem to represent creativity and innocence (Shaw). The road that Jim Burden travels on is another symbol that critics focus on quite a bit. It is said that t he road symbolizes the road to mountain that America itself takes. (Brown). Critics have also pointed out that the red dust that covers everything, the intense heat, the burning wind, the wilting oak groves, and the stifling vegetation represent oppression, paralysis, submergence, and loss of vigor (as in the old ways of life) as opposed to the alternatives of the new world such as discovery and recovery (Holmes). One thing that many critics have discussed is that the plot of My Antonia revolves around the ideas of childhood and the fact that the structure of the novel is centered around scenes that have to do with children. This shows up in the beginning of the book as ten year old Jim is riding the train from Virginia to Nebraska and at the end of the book when all of Antonias children are around (Shaw). A contrasting motif to that of childhood is adulthood. Throughout the book, Cather describes how adulthood has many hardships as compared to the carefreeness of ch ildhood. Another element of the novel that critics spent a lot of time discussing is characterization. One critic pointed out the fact that many of the characters in My Antonia have im idols in their physical appearance that seem to bring out the imperfections of society that exist, and put the ideas of social perfection on the back-burner (Randall).

Arizona Needs to MIne Black Mesa :: Counter Argument

To the northeastern part of Arizona lay a debacle between the Native American citizens and a coal mining society known as Peabody Coal. In the seemingly unending conflict between the two groups, the problem began in 1968 when the Hopi and Navajo tribes both sign(a) leases to Peabody Coal for mining. The contract included paying both tribes more than $1000 per acre-foot of natural aquifer water each year (Peabody Energy Online par 4). As date drew on, many indigenous people were alarmed that the water was carelessly being depleted from their land. Mining on Black board should still be kept in progress because Peabody Coal seconds support the fight against high-cost electricity, recent findings have stipulated that mining on Black Mesa is not as potentially harmful as many would like to think it is, and it offers jobs to the local economy. If a group of people give certain privileges to another, and the affects of it prove to help the economic lodge surrounded by it, there really is not a problem. Black Mesa, a natural resource for water is still being occupied by Peabody Coal, the worlds largest coal company. Located on the Navajo and Hopi Reservations of Northern Arizona, the mining company pumps water out of the Navajo Aquifer (N-Aquifer) which is mixed with grated coal known as slurry. The slurry is thus pumped through a pipeline to Nevadas Mohave Generating Station where it is converted into low-cost electricity (Peabody Energy Online par 3). Peabody has two mines on Black Mesa which includes the Peabody Coal Mine as well as the Kayenta Mine, both help to produce enough coal that supports 1.5 million people in the Southwest including Arizona, Nevada, and atomic number 20 (Peabody Energy Online par 8). The low-cost electricity is quite affordable for the people who live in the area. Peabody Coal has many coal mines around the world which help fight to keep the cost of energy down.Peabody Coal had stated that they do respect the value s and beliefs of the native people that occupy the reservations. In that sense, the coal company consoled the U.S. Department of the Interiors Office of Surface Mining for concerned questions about the usage of the groundwater. According to the OMS 2004 annual report, the N-Aquifer is in a stable condition, the spirit is still excellent, and streams that were presumed to be in an unstable condition due to the mining, is not the cause