Mikayla Brailsford Public Feed
Mikayla Brailsford, Senior Capstone
Earth Day!
Mikayla Brailsford
Tasnim Aziz
Biology Human Body
20 April 2017
Part I.
Take notes about the history of Earth Day. Provide a summary of the history of Earth Day.
The inaugural Earth Day was celebrated on April 22nd, 1970 which marks the birth of the modern environmental movement. In the 1970s, we were blessed with the last Beatles album, we mourned the death of Jimi Hendrix, and we saw students who were staunch opposers of the Vietnam War. During this time V8 Sedans were being pumped with gas by Americans who had little to no care in the world about what was going on. Air pollution was the smell of prosperity. Nobody cared about the environment, it was just a spelling word, more than it was a major issue. Those who did care about the environment were granted a way to use their voice in a more powerful way. They were given Earth Day. This put Environmental Issues on the frontline, and people were going to have no choice but to listen. In 1969, there was a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California and then-United States Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin proposed for us to have a day to focus on the environment. The idea came from seeing the anti-war movement, and figured that there should at least be a handful of people who care about this issue. If they rally these troops, environmental issues would be pushed onto the frontline. On the inaugural Earth Day, over 20 million Americans were in streets, parks, and auditoriums for peaceful demonstrations for healthy, sustainable environments in massive rallies. There were colleges and universities that organized protests against the deterioration of the environment, and there were groups of people who realized they had similar values.
What organization runs the Earth Day event and why? (i.e. what is the purpose of Earth Day?) What is their role?
The organization which runs the Earth Day event is the Earth Day Network. The Earth Day Network runs the Earth Day event because they want to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide. The Earth Day Network’s role in Earth Day is to recruit partners in nearly 195 countries to build environmental democracy, and to get people to participate in Earth Day activities each year. The Earth Day Network works to broaden the definition of “environment”, so that the definition includes issues that affect our health and our communities, to diversify, which means to provide opportunities for civil engagement at local, state, national, and global levels around the world, and to mobilize which means to create programs with partners inside and outside of the environmental movement to take on new challenges.
What stakeholders are involved in Earth Day?
The stakeholders that are involved in Earth Day are Toyota, NASA, UPS, Southwest, and Connect 4 Climate.
Is Earth Day a public health concern? Why or why not?
Yes, Earth Day is a public health concern, as there are groups of people who gather to discuss their issues in a peaceful way, in hopes of their voices being heard, and something being done about said issues.
How can Earth Day be used to further meet public health needs?
Earth Day can be used to further meet public health needs by continuing to use their voices to fight for what’s right.
LINK: https://www.smore.com/mrnbc
Tower Gardens Photo Journal.
Water Pollution.
- In Environmental Science, we've talked a lot about Environmental Justice, and what it means to be environmentally just. The definition of environmental justice according to Wikipedia is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. In order for my project to relate back to this topic, I researched different issues that I thought would inspire me to educate the world on, similar to what I did with the Dakota Access Pipeline. I decided that I would discuss an issue with something that I use everyday, which was water. My group and I focused on the Delaware River as it runs through Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The issue of water pollution pertained to me because there are people who do activities in this water such as rowing, and the water which contains toxins, and bacteria can splash on them, and then they often will just get in their car with the wet clothes from rowing, and contaminate their car with bacteria, and they're unaware of it.
- The members of my group were Keya Ghosh, Samir Smith, and Jenna Cox. The role that I played in the group was the organizer. I helped to keep all of the documents organized, and made sure they were completed in a timely manner, and there were little to no errors. I also made sure that no group member had a bigger part than someone else and that we had enough time to edit the video.
- In regards to what we did well, I believe that I did well with organization, and proofreading. I could have done my recordings earlier in time though, because I could only hope that I spoke well enough, and loud enough for the video. I also think that I could have set a dress code so that we all would have been in the video instead of doing a voiceover.
- The most meaningful part of the creating the PSA is that I was able to collaborate with a new group of people who have different abilities, as well as learn more about a topic that I would have glossed over in the news. I hope that the right people come in contact with the video my group members and I created, and learn a lot about it. I was also able to incorporate prior knowledge of water issues into the PSA which made it even the more meaningful for me.
Standing with Standing Rock.
The Dakota Access Pipeline is a proposed underground oil pipeline, which spans for over 1,134 miles. The Dakota Access Pipeline is controversial because people don’t believe it’s necessary and it can harm the environment. Native Americans have opposed the pipeline, including but not limited to the Meskwaki and Sioux nations. The Dakota Access Pipeline has plans to go through the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Standing Rock Indian Reservation is a Hunkpapa, Lakota and Yanktonai Dakota Native American Reservation. Standing Rock Indian Reservation is a sacred/religious ground for these Native Americans, and if the pipeline is built, it would destroy sites, and items of spiritual significance.
Social Media has people fighting for social justice by creating Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat pages to educate people about the Dakota Access Pipeline, changing their names on Twitter to reflect their stance on the DAPL by changing their names to #NoDAPL, sharing videos to educate their followers, and friends; as well as sharing a petition.
Some of the hashtags people have been using in regards to the Dakota Access Pipeline are #NoDAPL, #NorthDakota, #DAPL, #DakotaAccessPipeline, #StandingRock, #StandWithStandingRock, #HonorTheTreaties, #STOPDAPL, #SacredWater, and #RezpectOurWater.
I believe that Social Media is an effective form of fighting for Social Justice, because the social media sites people are using have huge amounts of users. Twitter has over 320 million users, while Instagram has over 500 million, Facebook has over 1.59 billion, and Snapchat has over 100 million users. These are the biggest social media sites that people can be found using every day. President-Elect Donald Trump is a frequent Twitter user, and so if #NoDAPL, or #DAPL is trending, he could see it along with the petitions, and could intervene in the situation.
Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies, according to Wikipedia. When you think of the role that social media plays in environmental justice, let’s take it a step back and think about the role social media plays in social justice. We can look at the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Black Lives Matter is a movement which campaigns in opposition to the innocent killings of African-Americans by police officers. The Black Lives Matter began as a simple hashtag: #BlackLivesMatter and has since grew to something so much bigger. It has lead to chapters being set up, and non-African-Americans joining in on the campaign for better treatment of colored people. Social Media plays an important part in the fight for Environmental Justice because there a certain people who get all of their news from Social Media, and they’re reading the hashtags, and seeing people who are in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline, will inspire them to educate themselves on the issue, as well as join the fight, and spread their knowledge onto other people.
PART II.
The article “Norway’s Largest Bank Sells Assets in Dakota Access Pipeline Company”, is an article that talks about how DNB is in favor of the North Dakota Access Pipeline Company. The DNB has sold over $3.8 billion in assets to help finance the project. When I read that DNB had sold over $3.8 billion to fund the DAPL, I was disappointed because this money could have gone to bigger and better things, but it only goes to prove that people are only interested in getting a bigger payout, which seems like DNB will get that, if the DAPL is built.
After reading that a huge foreign company just invested in the DAPL, I want the Americans to know that we need to fight harder, and we need to continue to spread the word about the DAPL, and what it will do to the religious grounds in North and South Dakota. If we continue to educate people on the negative effects of the DAPL by using social media, and protesting, we will see powerful companies such as Fortune 500 companies, and organizations such as the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, etc. stand up and donate money, time to protest, etc.
CITATIONS.
"Dakota Access Pipeline." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
"Standing Rock Indian Reservation." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
"News about #NoDAPL on Twitter." News about #NoDAPL. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2016.
Un Viaje a El Salvador
Español II: La Poesía Española.
Español Dos: Las Noticias Benchmark
Children's Book
Conversational PowerPoint
College Interview Project
Dia de los Muertos
Mikayla Brailsford and Imani Washington (Stop Bullying)
2) What did you learn while completing this project?
We learned that this project will require patience. Lots of it.
3) What was the hardest part about completing this project?
When our stuff was deleted.
4) What was the most fun/exciting part?
The most fun part was finding the pictures and the statistics.
5) If you were to do this project over again, what would you do differently?
We would have added more pictures and made it more interesting.
Mikayla's Blog
Describe your project
For my project, I went back and worked on my second quarter project and added some more details to it. I added music to play in the background while you’re on the site, I added more blog posts and I added a feature where you can subscribe to updates on the blog.What knowledge did you already have about the project before you started?
I knew my way around Webs.What new skill did you want to learn coming into the project?
How to make it an RSS feed, how to add trackbacks, which enables the user to be notified of a new post being added, embedding videos, have music playing in the backgroundDid you accomplish the goal of learning this new skill?
Yes, I did, I couldn’t make it an RSS feed, , or figure out how to add trackbacks.How do you know you accomplished the goal? If you didn’t accomplish your goal, why do you think that is?
I accomplished the goal because I showed my project to other people along with the proposal and they said that it looks like I accomplished the goal.What other skill(s) did you learn along the way?
None.What are you most proud of in this project?
I’m most proud of the outcome.What would you do differently if you had to do the project over again?