Bobby Kennedy Jr. (Environmental Event II)

Bobby Kennedy Jr.’s lecture can easily be described as inspirational. Prior to taking this class, I never realized that there were discourses that argued the economic importance of protecting resources. The lecture was reassuring in that it showed that there are people in positions of power that know how to communicate environmental issues in a way that I think resonates with a majority of the population. His discussion on the impact of coal mining mentioned the challenge to the integrity of the environment it poses, but stressed the health and economic implications as well. While I whole heartedly believe that the environment holds intrinsic value, I also believe that this is not the best reason to protect it. Economic welfare and quality of human life obviously come first on Kennedy’s list of priorities, something which I think has been lacking in many of the environmentalist opinions I have heard. In the true spirit of being a politician, Kennedy did not hesitate to spout impressive statistics without necessarily backing them up. While this is obviously not something I agree with, it shows that we can’t just rely on scientists to reach people on environmental issues. We need people like Kennedy to reach out to demographics that are not ready to read the IPCC cover to cover, who would respond more to a charming man whose top priority is their livelihood within the context of preserving natural resources.

Farmers' Market (Environmental Event I)

Several weeks ago I visited one of the farmers' markets that are periodically set up near the alumni house. I first spoke to a woman selling organic cheeses. She explained to me that she collected fertilizer from her goats and gave them it to other local farmers, but then seemed dismayed that I couldn’t afford a 10 dollar piece of goat cheese. Afterwards, I spoke with a woman selling salsa, next to which was a sign stating “all local, non-certified organic”. I asked her what she meant by that and she explained that she and many other farmers felt that the government standard for organic was too lax and hypocritical. She said that according to that standard, only 20% of a product needs to be organic in order for it to qualify as organic. Also, that farms need to be of a certain size before they can be certified, pressuring farmers to use inorganic means of production such as synthetic nitrogen and pesticides. She described her own methods of production as “old school” organic, relating it to the methods used prior to the creation of the government standard. She warned me that most produce labeled “organic” was most likely treated with different kinds of chemicals that delay and initiate the appearance of ripeness, but do nothing to delay the natural process of nutrients being broken down. In light of our class’ discussion on the labeling of products as organic, I found this conversation to be very insightful as to the various opinions on the subject.