Luther Standing Bear and Chief Seattle

Luther Standing Bear's main theme is that humans should be one with the environment. Their tribe loved all things in nature and let the wilderness rule their life instead of humans ruling the wilderness. They also preferred a lifestyle that was never hurried. They always gave time for thought instead of a rushed conversation that could be insincere.

Chief Seattle's Speech is mostly about the fatalism of his people. He is not optimistic about their fate and strongly believes that they must spend their days that they have well, because there will not be very many left. As Arnold Krupat describes, the tribes people "had suffered considerable depopulation as a result of the introduction of Western diseases to which they had not developed any immunity" (4). Chief Seattle thinks it is a better idea to accept the offer to move onto the reservation because it could be the only way of keeping his people alive.

Chief Seattle's speech was delivered either in 1854 or 1855 during meetings with Isaac Ingalls Stevens, the newly appointed governor of Washington Territory. The governor's goal was to persuade the Puget Sound Indians to give up most of their lands in Kitsap County for a reservation at Port Madison. The translation and first publication of  of the speech was done by Dr. Henry A. Smith. There is not proof that Dr. Smith was at the speech. Krupat states that the "speculations about Dr. Smith's presence or absence at Point Elliott are pointless because Dr. Smith himself stated very clearly that he did not hear the speech at Point Elliott and he even said himself that he did not attend the speech" (2). He took notes on what he heard about the speech and later added to the notes by getting information from articles about the speech. The fact that he added more information at a later time lowers the accuracy of Chief Seattle's original speech. Some of the versions of this speech after Dr. Smith's were also edited to portray certain environmental and ecological views. All this controversy makes many people wonder if anyone has a accurate depiction of Chief Seattle's famous speech.

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_indian_quarterly/v035/35.2.krupat.html

Chief Seattle's Speech

Chief Seattle's speech was delivered either in 1854 or 1855 during meetings with Isaac Ingalls Stevens, the newly appointed governor of Washington Territory. The governor's goal was to persuade the Puget Sound Indians to give up most of their lands in Kitsap County for a reservation at Port Madison. It was not published until 1887 by the Seattle Sunday Star. The translation of the speech was done by Dr. Henry A. Smith. It was reprinted and translated numerous times throughout the years after that. The problem is that it is unclear whether or not Dr. Smith actually attended the speech. Smith said he got his notes from other meeting about the matter and could have gotten them from other not as accurate sources. Some of the versions of the speech were also edited to portray certain environmental and ecological views.

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_indian_quarterly/v035/35.2.krupat.html

Southern Environmental History

The South has a reputation for being slower in all matters of life, including environmental history. It wasn't until the past 5-10 years that the south included environmental history in their scientific journals or periodicals. This could be because the south's main concerns were always slavery, war, race, and gender. They never paid much attention to the environment. The south's history in general is also not well integrated into the main history books. The South is only referred to briefly just to talk about cotton or logging. They're obviously needs to be some changes in way we all handle history in the south.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=014b21f8-64e8-4ee3-8f3b-c814b0d200de%40sessionmgr115&vid=2&hid=106

Class discussion 9-20-11

I throughtly enjoyed the class discussion on Tuesday, but at points I thought it was a little offensive. People can express their opinions without bashing others. I love having debates like this in class, but I especially loved talking about the connection between religion and the environment. I thought the video that Dr. Taylor showed us gave us a good starting point for our discussion. I found that I was getting a lot more involved in this discussion than I am in many of my other classes, so it showed me that I was truly interested in the subject.

2011 Intelligent Use of Water Film Competition

For the fourth year in a row, the Intelligent Use of Water Film Competition has featured films that focus on water efficiency and how important it is. Jack Hanna was in charge of the event and showed the films to an audience as well as judges who are experts in the environmental field. The purpose of this event is to use film to influence others to conserve water. It is also to show that film as a very influential effect on how our society views certain matters such as water. The competition encourages other filmmakers to use film to increase the public's knowledge on environmental issues.

GE's new technology

GE launched a new power generator that uses no water. It is called the FlexAero and is faster and more efficient than a lot of other power options on the market. The FlexAero was a multimillion dollar investment for GE. It is able to adapt to fast paced energy demands because it takes less than five minutes to reach full power. It is also easy to install as well as the most flexible energy generator. Darryl Wilson, the CEO of this endeavor, states, "This unmatched combination of speed, reliability and efficiency gives independence to an expanding world of non-traditional power generators who want to plan for fast-changing energy demands.The GE FlexAero gives our customers energy certainty in a rapidly changing world." Not only it is energy efficient, it eliminates the use of water all together. So the users of this machine get the power they need without using more of our most precious natural resource.

http://www.power-eng.com/news/2011/09/1501898284/ge-launches-advanced-energy-technology-for-fast-flexible-use-of-abundant-natural-gas-with-no-need-f.html