Art in Action

So I spent the past week camping with a bunch of highly active and interested environmental adults and youth. The Alaska Youth for Environmental Action (AYEA) is a youth lead environmental organization under the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). AYEA hosts several of these youth gatherings.

The Civics and Conservations Summit is held in Juneau for youth between 14 and 18 years of age. Here the youth are given several bills reguarding environmental issues that are presently runing through the senate or house. They are taught how to read and understand the language of the bill, learn how to approach their senator and representative, and ways in which they can get involved in the passing of the bill. The whole deal is a week long. During that week they have the oppertunity to meet up with their senators and representatives and attend a legislative scession.

The summer Art and Action is one I just got done attending. The location this year was in the Arctic Valley, just a half hour drive north of Anchorage Alaska. We at about 14 to 17 youth from all across Alaska. We slept in tents and did our meetings in a building on site. The gathering took place over a span of 6 days. Here, the youth were given the oppertunity to create spoken word poems and digital stories. We also had several guest speakers throughout the week. The youth were educated of environmental issues reguarding the state of Alaska. Many of the youth addressed the issues reguarding their own community. At the end of the week the youth present their creations to the public in a place in Anchorage.

For more information about AYEA or how you can help visit www.ayea.org

Oil Consumption Chart by country

Here is a pie chart of oil consumption by country for the year of 2007. America takes more oil than China, Japan, Russia, and India combined. A quarter of all the world's oil is going to America. Fifty five percent of that oil is produced from within America while forty five of the oil in America is imported. Our standing to those oil countries we depend on is fragile. You can bet our country kisses ass when it comes to the oil countries we depend so much on. Should something happen to our relationship with those countries, and another Embargo takes effect on our country, we would go down, I believe. I am not too into politics or the economy, but I do know lessening our dependency on foreign oil will lessen our need to butt kiss the countries we receive our oil from. Opening up new oil fields in America isn't going to work. Come on people, think! Think RENEWABLE, think ALTERNATIVE!!!

NationMaster.com. Energy statistics (2009, April 10). Retrieved April 10, 2009 from http://www.nationmaster.com/red/pie/ene_oil_con-energy-oil-consumption

Youth Involvement - Free Post

Youth action on issues such as global climate change or global warming is more common and well organized. I had the opportunity to participate in one of the largest gatherings of youth on the environment, POWERSHIFT. This took place in Washington DC in the month of February. This was a 4 day event with over 12,ooo youth participants. Throughout the 4 days, meetings, classes, and panel discussions were held within Washington Convention Center. Some of the gatherings included topics such as: the history of coal and mountain top removal, working with indigenous impacted communities, building an effective coalition, and many, many more. There was a definate sense of diversity and passion amongst the people present. When the week was done, we broke up into regions and met with our legislators to discuss any environmental issue we felt should be addressed. It was an awesome experience.

If you wish to know more of the POWERSHIFT organizaton check out www.powershift09.org

Earthly Changes

Living in rural Alaska, the changes happening in the environment are more noticable. The hunters of the community are able to notice if and when the migritory birds and various land animals arrive early or late. Small changes in the weather or water temperature can mean the difference between a good hunting season and a bad one. It is said, by the elders within my family, that with each passing year the salmon is less and the salmon are smaller. The people of the village are begining to rely more upon store bought foods when the hunting season is poor.

Ionia Alaska

This is the homepage website for the community of Ionia. Ionia is a small "ecovillage" on the Kenai Peninsula. Ionia is a community within Kasilof. The website tells of the small group's effort in becoming a self sustainable community. It is an interesting establishment. I have met a few of the people from Ionia. As far as I know, the majority of the people of Ionia are vegans. They farm their own food and build their own houses. If you are interested in looking into a small scale, selfsustaining community check this site out. The site gives pleanty of pictures and links to the different activities Ionia hosts each year.

Ionia Inc. Retrieved April 7, 2009 from http://www.ionia.org/index.cfm

Renewables

This site breaks down the different types of renewable energy. It has helpful diagrams that help explain how the different types of alternative energy works. It also has a map of the country that shows where renewable energy sources, like hydro-power, biomass, and geothermal, are used through out the country. Some of the maps also include potential uses of alternative energy. If you are looking for a site that would better explain the different types of renewable energy power plants, this is the place for you.

National Atlas of the United States. Renewable energy sources in the United States (2008, April 29). Retrieved on April 5, 2009 from http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/people/a_energy.html

"The Use of Energy" - Wendell and me

I agree with Wendell Berry. In his essay “The Use of Energy,” he states that we have moved so far from what we used to be traditionally. Before machines and gadgets we knew how to survive out in the wild. Today, we rely too much on cars, cellphones, and computers when it comes to our everyday lives.

In a way you can say that we are spoiled. One can also argue that the things that we have now are essential to living. As time goes by, man takes what he has and makes it better. As we grow we adapt; the standard of living is adjusted. Small things, like ipods and cellphones, become so apart of your life that you cannot comprehend living with out them. Pretty soon nothing is a big deal. We have the world at our finger tips. Everything we do is so different, so machine like, but we’re used to it. We've adapted. We’ve changed. We’re man, nothing can stop us.