Destruction of Our Water Sources

When reading, Her Animals written by Emily Johnston, one of the quotes that I keep going back to was this one:

We’re Polluting our own house and our own land,” the mobster said.  “What are we going to drink?”

“You idiot,” the boss replied.  “We’ll drink mineral water.”

-Wiretapped Camorra Mobsters

New York Times, January 30, 2014

This quote stuck out to me because it covers an issue that many people in my community worry about.  Many of us worry about water pollution that is going on in our community because we are running out of clean usable water sources.  Water pollution not only effects our lake and rivers but also even some of our private wells.  This problem doesn’t just affect our community, but other communities and the world as well.

                Water pollution is a large problem within the world.  Every day within the world there is about 2 million tons of sewage, industrial and agricultural waste discharged into the world’s water which is the equivalent of the weight of the entire human population of 6.8 billion people (Pacific Institute).  From my understanding, we’re polluting water from our waste way more than what we should be.  Not everyone produces the same amount of waste and there are many people that produce less waste, however those who produce more waste make up for those who produce less causing the amount to be equivalent to the weight of the entire population.  It is estimated that the amount of wastewater produced annually is six times more water than exits in all the rivers of the world (Pacific Institute). If this much waste water is produced annually; it makes me wonder how much clean drinkable water, we may have left in this world. Now naturally a person may think that the waste may only effect water that is easily for such waste products to enter but water pollution not only affects rivers and lakes, but also can reach our groundwater sources. The naturally occurring arsenic pollution in groundwater now affects nearly 140 million people in 70 countries on all continents (Pacific Institute).  So, it is not only the contamination of our lakes and rivers that we should worry about, but also our groundwater.  We may not be able to stop the contamination of our water sources, however we slow this process down and treat the polluted water so that it can be used.

                It is possible to clean our water through water treatment to make water safe to drink, however the cost of treating our water can be quite high.  Point-of- use drinking water treatment through chlorine and safe storage of water could result in 122.2 million avoided DALYs (Disability Adjusted Life Years, a measure of morbidity), at a total cost of US $11.4 billion (Pacific Institute).  That is a lot of money for the US to use on cleaning our own water sources; money that could have been used on something else if we didn’t have as much contaminated water.  $11.4 billion is only about as much as the US spends on treating our water.  Now imagine how much it may coast the entire world, if other countries even had that amount of money to spend on treating their water.  Some may think that as technology grows we could find cheaper ways to treat our water but so far the prices only seem to have risen as we have more need for our water to be treated.  A case study in Texas in 1997 shown that for a three-year period for 12 water treatment plants had results that showed when regional raw water contamination is present, the chemical cost of water treatment is increased by $95 per million gallons from a base of $75 (Dearmont, McCarl and Tolman).  The prices of water treatment seem to be rising since then.  In 2000 the cost of treatment could range between $100 to $6,000 depending on the contaminant (Wellcare). Even though this is only estimating the coast of well water treatments, a person could imagine that the price of water treatment plants would have gone up greatly with the amounts of contaminants increasing within our water sources.  With the prices of water treatments not everyone can afford it; even many people in the US can’t so they are reduced to finding other ways to get clean water such as moving or buying their water from the store.

                Recently in my community there was a hearing about a concentrated animal feeding operation in the Town Hall of Forestville on march 2.  This hearing was to determine whether they should allow a dairy farm permit that would allow S&S Jerseyland Dairy LLC to increase its herd from 6,000 cows to more than 10,000 cows (Welter).  Now one may wonder what’s so wrong about increasing their herd size, but by increasing their size also increases the amount of pollution that adds to our rivers, lakes and groundwater. Many people who participated in this hearing were against the permit because of its endangerment to the water quality.  One participant said this, “I take my grandkids to the beach in summer and it’s closed because of E. Coli, and that didn’t used to be there years ago.” (Welter)  The E. Coli (bacteria) is from the large amount of manure that is spread on the farmers’ fields that is washed then into our rivers and into our lake.  While I grew up no one wanted to go swimming in the lake even in the months that they could because of the smell of the water or the scum that one could see floating on top; we just found the water completely disgusting.  Another person also made the comment, “I hope your water isn’t poisoned; mine is.” (Welter)  The use of both fertilizers and manure has affected many of the communities wells because there being so much of it spreading onto the fields and then soaking way to far into the ground and then contaminating the groundwater source.  There was one family I knew wanted to move because they had their groundwater contaminated from the farmers around them.  For the longest time, they had to purchase their water from the store.  What’s so bad about buying water from the store?  One is the coast, over all it cost quite a lot more to go buy your water from the store then it is to pay the electricity to have it pumped from the well.  Second, what happens if the water that you get from the store gets contaminated; granted I’m not talking about them selling contaminated water but if the source of that water they get that water gets contaminated.  This would mean there would be less water sources of clean water be attainable and the price would go up since the demand for water is also increase.

                Even though it may look hopeless or that we may not be able to do anything there are still little things we can help to maintain our water sources.  We can help by cutting down on the amount of waste we contribute to the world, to limit the amount of water we use within our daily life, and inform others about this problem we are facing so that they too can follow lead and contribute less waste.  With the spread of word and people wasting less perhaps then the water treatments we do have could have the chance to catch up on the amount of waste that is produced.  Perhaps in the future we will find more cost-efficient ways to treat water but until then it is important that we help to keep the clean drinkable water from being contaminated not only for our sakes but for the worlds.

Sources:

Dearmont, David, Bruce A. McCarl and Deborah A. Tolman. Costs of Water Treatment Due to Diminished Water Quality: A Case Study in Texas. 10 1997. 26 03 2017. <http://agecon2.tamu.edu/people/faculty/mccarl-bruce/papers/535.pdf>.

Johnston, Emily. Her Animals. Seattle: Hummingbird Press, 2015. 26 03 2017.

Pacific Institute. World Water Quality Facts and Statistics. 22 03 2010. 26 03 2017. <http://pacinst.org/app/uploads/2013/02/water_quality_facts_and_stats3.pdf>.

Wellcare. Well Water Treatment options and Costs. 10 2000. 26 03 2017. <https://www.watersystemscouncil.org/download/wellcare_information_sheets/well_water_testing_&_treatment_information_sheets/DrinkingWaterTreatmentsandCostsFINAL.pdf>.

Welter, Liz. "Residents: Enlarging CAFO pollutes water." Kewaunee County Star-News 11 04 2017: 5A.

Birds of Symbolism

In Terry Tempest Williams’ book Refuge, each chapter is titled with a different bird, and each of these birds either seen in the chapter or are mentioned in it by the characters.  Some of these birds even play a more important part then one might realize.  When looking at some of the chapters I questioned the symbolism behind the bird and whether it correlated with certain events that were taking place in that chapter.  For some of these chapters I then decided to then dive deeper into them to see how the bird used for the chapter relates to the story and I decided to go over three different birds from the book.

The first chapter I would like to discuss is Barn Swallows on pages fifty through fifty-three.  Barn swallows are a cobalt blue color with a tawny belly that are known to build cup-shaped mud nests on mainly human-made structures (Barn Swallow).  Within the end of this chapter Terry comes across a barn swallow that has gotten caught in some barbed-wire; she tries to save the bird even though she knows that it’s going to die.  She then comes to realize that, “Dying doesn’t cause suffering.  Resistance to dying does.” (Williams)  I believe this scene with the barn swallow relates back to Terry’s Mother.  Her mother ended up with cancer and had tried to resist the cancer, however even after trying to resist the cancer her mother still ends up dying.  Within this chapter the author includes quite a few scenes that show the connection between a mother and child which I believe can relate to the symbolism of the barn swallow.  Barn swallows are a symbol for protection and warmth for the home (Bird Animal Spirits).  A mother is often very protective of their child and as a mother they try to create a caring environment for their children.  Another thing about barn swallows that may relate to this chapter is the legend about the bird, “According to legend, the Barn Swallow got its forked tail because it stole fire from the gods to bring to people. An angry deity hurled a firebrand at the swallow, singeing away its middle tail feathers.” (Barn Swallow)  When reading this one of my first thoughts was that the barn swallow may have ended up suffering due to helping mankind; the bird didn’t end up dying, however it had to live on without its middle tail feathers which would cause problems for the swallow at first.  The suffering of the barn swallow losing its tail feathers could relate back to the line of dying not causing suffering.

Another chapter that I would like to discuss is the Western Tanager pages one fifty-three through one fifty-eight.  It isn’t until the end of the chapter that the western tanager is seen by Terry, “A western tanager, red, yellow, and black, flies to the low branch of a lodgepole.” (Williams)  The western tanager is an orange-red headed bird with a brilliant yellow body and coal-black wings, back, and tail; it is often described as looking like a flame (Western Tanager).  The colors of the bird can relate back to the sunset at the end of this chapter.  Sunsets can also be described as looking like a flame with its orange and red hues in the darkening sky.  A western tanager can symbolize a secure food-filled home (Bird Animal Spirits).  Within this chapter there are three main holidays mentioned, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Fourth of July.  Holidays are a time were the family tends to get together and usually have a big meal.  Terry even goes through to cooking food to show that see could carry out the traditions.  Even though she is unsuccessful at making the food she states, “there was a warmth and closeness to the evening,” (Williams) showing how with her family she feels comfort and security. 

The last chapter that I want to go over is Screech Owls pages two seventy-one through two seventy-three.  Screech owls are superbly camouflaged birds with colors that can be grayish, brownish or reddish-brown with flecks of white on their upperparts, a breast and belly with pale dark, spidery streaks, a pale face outlined with dark arcs and bright yellow eyes (Western Screech-Owl).  Most of this chapter has owls in it.  At the beginning Mimi keeps expecting to see an owl starting a conversation between Mimi and Terry about the owls.  Terry then asks Mimi that when she dies if she can send a sign so that she will know Mimi is fine in the afterlife.  Perhaps this indicates that she wanted the owl to be this sign because later in the chapter she has what seems to be a dream like sequence that involves two screech owls.  Owls are creatures of the night who often go about unseen (Bird Animal Spirits) which allows me to believe there is a further connection between the owls and Mimi.  Owls are unseen and when Mimi passes away maybe this portrays that see may not be seen but she is still there with Terry. 

Though these three chapters the birds are not only seen or mentioned but they also can symbolize parts of the passage or share connections between the chapter and the bird.  I find it interesting to see how these birds are used throughout the book and have some sort of impact on her life.  It tends to remind me of the birds that are important in my own life such as the humming bird, great horned owl, and the bald eagle.  The humming bird is something that I enjoy with my grandmother and for me they symbolize spring.  Every year they come back around spring time and fly next to the window just to let my grandmother know that they are there so that she can put food out for them.  The great horned owl always reminds me of the summer nights by the campfire with my father since my father tended to imitate their calls to talk back to them when we heard their calls.  Bald eagles remind me of home since my father collects statues of them and our house is now filled with their presence.  Birds and other things in our environment can symbolize many things for a person in their life and I think it would be interesting to further consider why Terry Tempest Williams chose the birds she did for each chapter and what each of these birds meant to her life.

Sources:

"Barn Swallow." 2015. All About Birds. 08 03 2017. <https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barn_Swallow/lifehistory>.

"Bird Animal Spirits." 15 01 2017. Spirit Walk Ministry. 08 03 2017. <http://www.spiritwalkministry.com/spirit_guides/bird_animal_spirits>.

"Western Screech-Owl." 2015. All About Birds. 08 03 2017. <https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Screech-Owl/lifehistory>.

"Western Tanager." 2015. All About Birds. 08 03 2017. <https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Tanager/lifehistory>.

Williams, Terry Tempest. Refuge. New York: Vintage Books A Division of Random House, Inc., 1992.

Feral Birds

In the story Becoming Feral by Sue Hubbell she uses the turkey hunters and other birds to show a connection between women and herself to the wild birds that live around her.   The main bird spoke of in the story is the turkeys, however the other bird she uses are the barn owl, the indigo bunting, cardinals, Carolina chickadees and sparrows.  Each of these birds serve a purpose in Hubbell’s story by connecting her to nature.  This connection starts with the turkey hunters, which leads her connecting the turkeys to woman, and then her directly connecting herself with some of the birds.

                The short story starts with two turkey hunters imitating a barn owl.  The hunters make these call to locate the tom within the early morning or late evening.  The owl hoot is used to cause a shock gobble from the tom and then when the hunters know the turkeys position and are ready they then use a hen call to lure in the tom.   Hunters normally make these calls 30 minutes before sunrise during the time that cardinals begin to sing (Gulvas).  They stop the owl calls a soon as the crows begin to call and then they switch over to imitate crow calls if needed.

                Within the story, Sue Hubbell uses the turkeys that the hunters are hunting and connects them to women.  One of these connections is when she says that men are attracted to females who are in their breeding years and sill want to build a nest.  This nest can refer to a woman wanting to find a home they can call their own to create a family.  These women see the home as a safe environment in which that they can live and peacefully raise their young.  The same goes for the turkey who build their nests after finding their mate so that they can lay their eggs.  Hens try to find a place to build the nest that is safe so they can raise their young peacefully without worrying about predators.

                The author’s connection to the birds allows her to desire to be closer to nature.  In the second to last paragraph she states, “I want a turkey too, but I want mine alive.”  “I want indigo buntings singing their couplets when I wake in the morning.” This leads her to also want other things in nature and wanting to know more about the nature around her.  Which allows her to decide to sleep outside where she may achieve gaining a closer relationship with nature. In a way using the they turkey and the indigo bunting in these last paragraph shows us that she may also want to be young again and to feel the love of a family.  Since the turkey can symbolize fertility and the indigo bunting can symbolize love. 

                I’ve only briefly gone over the relationship between birds with woman and the author, however it is amazing how much can still be uncovered in this short story.  Becoming Feral by Sue Hubbell is a story that I have enjoyed reading just to see these little relationships between the nature around her and lets us know what she may want in life which shows what she treasures.  This could also ably to the nature that we live in; it has the possibility to show us the little things we value in life and maybe a little about ourselves.

Sources:

Gulvas, Denny. Wild Turkey Sounds. n.d. 26 02 2017. <https://www.nwtf.org/hunt/wild-turkey-basics/turkey-sounds>.

 Swenson, M. (2003). I Will Lie Down. In L. Anderson, Sisters of The Earth (Second ed., p. 53). New York: Vintage Books.

Appreciating Bats

I enjoyed reading Emily Dickinson’s poem “The BAT is dun with wrinkled wings” because she describes the bat as a positive creature.   There are people that see bats as being ugly, scary and sometime as pests, however I enjoy having these creatures around and they do play an important role in life.  In Dickinson’s poem she discusses how fascinating a bat is and that the creator of the bat should be praised and I agree with her; bats are fascinating and important creatures.

In Dickinson’s poem she goes into great length to describe the bat for what it is and praise the creator of the creature.  She uses the first two stanzas just to describe how the bat looks and how it flies.  By describing the bat looking, “dun with wrinkled wings,” means that the bat had wrinkled brownish-grey wings. This can tell us that the bat that she is describing could very well be one of the common brown bats that live in the area where she lived because these bats have a brown fur, but yet their wings are more of a grayish pigment to them.  She also describes the bats movement as, “Describing in the air an arc alike inscrutable, Elate philosopher,” which shows her fascination of how bats don’t have a pattern when flying and even philosophers wouldn’t be able to predict their movements.  In the last third stanza Dickinson wonders who designed the bat with stating, “Deputed from what firmament of what astute abode,” and then states that the creator should be praised in the last stanza with these two lines, “To his adroit Creator Ascribe no less the praise.”  Showing that she appreciates that these creatures were created and that the creator of these creatures should be praised for creating such an interesting being.

I personally grew up knowing bats where good creatures to have around and was fascinated by these creatures.  It was my father that told me that they eat many of the mosquitoes which controls the population of mosquitoes so there are less of them to bother us while we are outside.   My father even set up a few bat house so that more of them would stick around.  I also find bats very fascinating to watch fling around on brighter nights.  The way they move is so swift that it is amazing that they can fly so fast and change direction so quickly without normally running into anything.  There are some bats I even find cute because of how small and vulnerable they can be.

There are many species of bats around the world and each of them play a very important role in life; the world would be a very different place without them.  About 1,300 species of bats consume insects which includes some of the agricultural pests (batcon.org).  Bats control these populations so that not as many crops are damaged which is a large benefit for humans since a large amount of crops and money that is saved when they eat these pests.  Some bats even help with pollinating certain plants.  Plants such as the giant cacti and agave in the North American deserts depend on the bats to pollinate them and without pollination these plants wouldn’t be able to seeds or fruit (batcon.org).  This then would affect other animals in the desert since a lot of them rely on such plants for shelter, food, and even water.  There are also some bats that contribute to restoring forests such as the fruit-eating bats (batcon.org).  They effective disperse seed into forestlands to start new growth.  This growth helps regenerate many of the clear-cut forest since the bats start the forest’s undergrowth that provides shelter for the other animals that then come and spread more delicate plants though out the forest.

Bats are very significant creatures and Emily Dickinson and I agree that bats are both interesting and important creatures to have around.  There are over 1,300 species of bats all over the world and it is important that people get to know these creatures more because of how essential they are in the world (batcon.org).  Knowing this maybe people will take more consideration for these creatures because many of their lives are threatened by humans.   I believe Emily Dickinson’s poem sheds some light on these creatures and perhaps by reading this some people will take more consideration on their importance and begin to appreciate these creatures more. 

Sources:

"Bats Are Important." 2017. Bat Conservation International. Web Site. 12 02 2017. <http://www.batcon.org/why-bats/bats-are/bats-are-important>.

Cullina, Alice. Chainani, Soman ed. "Emily Dickinson’s Collected Poems “The Bat is dun, with wrinkled Wings –” Summary and Analysis". GradeSaver, 26 July 2009 Web. 12 February 2017.

Dickinson, Emily. "The Bat is dun with wrinkled wings." Complete Poems. 1924. Poem. 12 02 2017.

Closer to Nature in Death

When first reading May Swenson’s poem I Will Lie Down I began to wonder if the speaker is mindful or not to the environment around her. I also began think on how the nature may correlate with the speaker.  Towards the end of the poem I began to realize that in death she seems the closest to nature and perhaps as she lays there she feels closer to nature. 

In Swenson’s poem the speaker seems to know what is going on around her but she doesn’t seem to appreciate it.  This is most apparent in the fifth stanza as the speaker states, “I will sleep face down in the burnt meadow no hearing the sound of water over stones.”   She knows that there is a water source near her since she mentions it, however she does hear the sound of the water, whether it is because she is too far away or for what I believe is that she doesn’t want to hear it and is blocking out the sound.  I came to this conclusion because in the poem the speaker states that she slept face down.  Sleeping faced down she is not able to see what is going around her and yet she knows about the environment around her.  After seeing everything around her, she chose to lie face down and when doing so she chose not to acknowledge what was going on around her was more concerned about her own death.

The nature in the poem relates most to the fact that the speaker is dying.  In the last stanza of the poem the speaker states, “Let snow hide the whiteness of my bones.”  The snow covering her bones suggest the association between her death and winter.  This then connects the speaker waiting to death to overtake her, to the season of autumn.  Autumn can be considered the age before death since many plants begin to die off or prepare for hibernation before the winter.  I believe that Swenson used the seasons to show the relationship between the speaker waiting death since both autumn and the speaker prepare for the next stage in life whether it be winter or the end of life.

The speaker though out the poem seems to be the closest to nature as her life comes to an end.  Even though she doesn’t to acknowledge the environment around her she still seems very close to nature in the way she dies.  There are many environments that the speaker could be preparing to die in such as at home in bed or in a hospital, however she decides to die peacefully within nature.  Nature often has peaceful qualities and dyeing within nature gives her death a peaceful attribute.  I believe that she may have wished to be closer to nature and that is why she prepared to die here.  Perhaps by dying in nature she could become one with it before she took her last breath. 

I really enjoyed reading I will Lie Down because of the correlation between nature and death.  For me the poem creates the sense that death can be beautiful because of its balance between the peaceful atmosphere of nature and the darker undertones of death from the speaker.  This would be a poem to keep analyzing to understand more on how nature and the speaker’s death relates.  I am still curious if the speaker may actually wish she was closer to nature in her life and that is why she decided to be closer to nature in death.  

References:

Swenson, M. (2003). I Will Lie Down. In L. Anderson, Sisters of The Earth (Second ed., p. 53). New York: Vintage Books.