Indigenous resistance and racist schooling on the borders of empires: Coast Salish cultural survival

The article “Indigenous resistance and racist schooling on the borders of empires: Coast Salish cultural survival,” is about the consequences of the creation of the United States and Canadian border for the natives.  The natives who have lived on the land for thousands of years were spread out in what is now the United States and Canada.  The Indians do not understand the concept of owning land, so after the border was drawn, the Indians continued to cross between the countries freely.  Although this is not legal, it is understandable because many families were split up when the border was set.  In addition to the Indians having trouble with being split up, many also were cut off from their fishing lands.  Since the Indians could not fish, many had trouble with eating and supporting themselves.  The Indigenous people also had trouble with attending school in both the United States and Canada.  Both countries attempted to assimilate the Indians and stop them from practicing anything relating to their culture.  The best tool to accomplish this was thought to be through the schools.  At first, both countries had residential schools, meaning that all of the Indians attended the same schools.  To assimilate the natives more, the countries decided to integrate schools.  This caused the culture of the Indigenous people to decline and for many students to experience racism in school.  Due to these negative experiences, many parents took their kids out of the integrated schools, and put them back into boarding schools, which were previously thought to be terrible.  Overall, the schooling practices in the United States seem to have been more positive for the Indigenous people than those in Canada.  However, in total neither system of schools succeeded in assimilating the native people.

Coastal Plains Fish Sustainablity

The North Carolina Coastal Plain region depends on fish as a major source of food and they beneficial to their economy.  Fish are caught in large numbers from the ocean and then sold to other regions in the state.  This provides a source of income to many fisherman.  The restaurants and stores which the fish end up at depend on these fishermen for their incomes as well.  If a seafood restaurant no longer had a shipment of fish coming in everyday, their business would suffer drastically.  Both of these reason are why it is so important for people to note the decline in fish populations.  If fishermen and business owners who rely on fish sales no longer can catch/sell fish, it could very well damage the North Carolina economy.  Fish are being caught at rates which are much higher than the rate the fish can reproduce.  If this kind of over hunting keeps occurring, some species of fish may become extinct.

Environmental Ethics Artifact

In the article “Polar Bears Still on Thin Ice, but Cutting Greenhouse Gases Now Can Avert Extinction, Experts Say,” the possibility for the extinction of polar bears is discussed.  Polar bears can be saved however if the people of earth decide to be more responsible with how they treat the environment.  Scientists have found, “if humans reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly in the next decade or two, enough artic ice is likely to remain intact during late summer and early autumn for polar bears to survive.”  These steps should be taken so the environment is not harmed even more.  

Polar bears were listed as a threatened species in 2008 due to the fact if artic ice keeps decreasing at the rate it is going now, the polar bears will no longer be able to survive.  A new nature study has been made which indicates “if greenhouse gas emissions were reduced substantially in the near future, rapid ice losses would be followed by substantial retention of the remaining ice through this century, as well as partial recovery of the ice that disappeared during the rapid ice loss.”  Polar bears need the ice because that is where they find their source of food, seals.  If polar bears are unable to be on the ice and find seals, they will lose about two pounds a day, causing them to eventually die.