Greetings PPPM 280. I'm back.
I’ll start with the news article of the day regarding the environment from the Oregonian. This article is tracking the current environmental policies that are in affect or about to be introduced in Oregon and nation wide. The article is titled "This Week in the Oregon Legislature: plastic bags, virtual schools, handguns and honey."
"On Tuesday, the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on Senate Bill 536, the much-talked about bill that prohibits the use of single-use plastic bags at retail stores."
I think this is a great bill that will force people to bring in their own bags to the grocery stores. Small things like this will start a big change in environmental policy.
Mckenzie Watershed Report
The McKenzie Watershed Council seems to be doing great things in the McKenzie river basin. The purpose of this council is to maintain the water quality and life in the area. As development increases throughout the state I’m sure that it has become much more difficult to maintain water quality standards. Looking at the map of the watershed projects, you can see the city of Springfield. There is not doubt that Springfield is the type of city that grows out not up due to its demographics. This council is going to have to prepare for major change as the economy turns and development starts again in full force. It is very cool to see all the projects that the council is doing in the area. From rebuilding culverts to maintaining water purity, they are doing work that is needed in the area for improved living standards. It is also important that people in the area of Eugene and Springfield are educated on the work of the watershed council in order that the people see the importance of the work.
Paul Hawken’s Commencement Address
What a powerful commencement address. I really like the quote from the address, “ the earth needs a new operating system, and you are the programmers.” From this article I am going to focus on the section where Paul discusses people working for the environment, social justice, human rights and many others. He states that this is the biggest movement in the world. I think this is a very cool thing. To see people helping other people that they have no connection to shows a certain quality in people to help those less fortunate. By this being the biggest movement this is where the jobs are in my opinion. As I am about to graduate I am seriously looking where the best opportunities are. I have a passion to work and travel overseas helping those who do not have the basic human rights and needs. Paul states, “But for the first time in history a group of people organized themselves to help people they would never know, from whom they would never receive direct or indirect benefit.” This is an awesome thing to see in a world that is full of violence in war. It is truly our generation who must take a stand for the injustice in the world.
A Guide to Environmental Nonprofits
This was an interesting little article that shows how some organizations can look similar in name but their focus is quite opposite. Some of the organizations work to protect marine life by lobbying for less off shore drilling. While another organization says that they are an oceanic research nonprofit, but they work for more drilling. Most people will not be able to tell a difference between these organizations by just looking at their names. And that is what a lot of people do, they don’t really look into organizations cause before donating their time and money. It is important that we know about the organizations we support or are prevalent in our community to know if they truly have good intentions.
Saving the Environment for a profit
This was a very interesting article that discussed nonprofit versus for profit environmental organizations. Much more money goes into private businesses that are working on environmental technology. Environmental commodities will be valued at 1 trillion dollars by 2012. That is a crazy number that shows how much money is in environmental technology within the private sector businesses.
Well that’s what I have for everyone.
Cheers.
First of all, I’d like to point out a grammatical error in your opening paragraph. Sorry, I’m a nerd like that. There is only one difference between the words affect and effect. They both have the same fundamental meaning, but “affect” is a verb and “effect” is a noun. “Affect” is the action of having an “effect” on something, so your sentence should read ‘current environmental policies that are in effect…..” I’m not trying to be a jerk; I used to do the same thing (all the time) until some finally told me the difference, and now I’m paying it forward.
ReplyDeleteExcellent article about the ban of plastic bags (and other fun environmental topics). Hopefully now we’ll work on getting rid of the Texas-size cluster of plastic bags and miscellaneous waste in the Pacific Ocean. I'm glad that people are beginning to understand that agencies are slightly taking advantage of the "green movement" and making their organization seem more environmental than they actually are. And, yes, Paul Hawken's address is very powerful.
That’s about all for me. Good work. See you in class.
I think Paul Hawken's speech had the greatest "affect" on us this week. Reading things like this pumps me up for the future. I also feel somewhat anxious; we can do anything with our lives, but the question is where to start? That's what I love about nonprofits. They give you a place to start by following your morals and beliefs. They connect you with people who think the same way and are great for building communities. There also seem to be a lot of job postings for nonprofits out there so that's definitely and plus for us!
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