Students (and faculty)-
Please take the opportunity to introduce yourself, for example, by telling us where you're from and why you're interested in the topic of rural sustainability.
I am starting this discussion thread so that other who come follow the discussion link have somewhere to post. As the weekly multimedia discussion session have largely failed to allow us to discuss the topics of the course, this could be an adequate way to share ideas. Please feel free to post anything you want to share (including short excerpts from your assignments).
Because the online links have been so unreliable to date, I haven't been able to catch very many names of the other course participators. I suggest/request that the first time you post, you include a few sentences about who you are, what your studying at university, and what kind of perspectives and questions you bring to the topic of Rural Sustainability.
So, I'll start with: My name is Rurik Muenter. I am a student at UNBC in my last semester of study before completing a B.Sc in Natural Resources Management, majoring in Forest Ecology and Management and minoring in Global Environmental Change. > I am interested in Rural sustainability because I grew up in a rural area of southern British Columbia (near the small town of Nelson, which has a very urban/liberal American culture), and since having started university in the northern British Colombian city of Prince George (which has a quite rural/conservative culture as a function of being the only large city in a huge rural/wilderness landscape despite being a city almost 10X as big as my hometown). Also, although am environmentally oriented, I am aspiring to enter the profession of forestry, which has clashed with the environmental movement throughout recent North American history.
This has led me to become interested in the tension between rural and urban culture, which is a dichotomy which I perceive to strengthening as society become more urban, the youth migrate to city's, and rural population ages even faster than the aging Canadian population, and the pace of change of technologies and ideas increases. In my opinion, both urban vs. rural and liberal (green) vs. conservative ideologies are becoming more entrenched in their respective positions. Urban Canadians are political, social, and economic ideas become increasingly dominant, some rural Canadians are become more fiercely resistant environmentalism (anti-logging, anti- hunting, anti-mining) and perceive it to directly conflict with and encroach upon their way of life and identity. In summary, I am convinced that discussion of rural sustainability must take into account the culture tensions between the largely urban environmental movement and people entrenched in traditional rural culture.
Look forward to hearing what you all have to say about Rural sustainability. Rurik
I'm a third-year graduate student in MTU's humanities department. I am interested in rural sustainability primarily because I grew up in a rural community that is now, at least by some definitions, quite urban. In many ways, the community is facing an identity crisis -- while some farms remain, we certainly can't call ourselves a quiet farming community any longer. And, what happens to the farmlands that remain has been a point of serious debate in recent years. So, in short, I am interested in what rural sustainable practice looks like -- among other issues, of course!
Hi, I hope this Blog becomes more active, I personally find myself very concerned about the whole way we are producing our food.
It's kind of late right now, I have to organize my thoughts, but I strongly recommend you all to watch the documentary called Food Inc, and then share your Ideas with the community.
It talks about several things involved with our sustainability related problems in rural communities. I specially feel concern about how NAFTA and the subsidies on corn in certain parts have driven migration problems into America, and how companies profit with jobless corn farmers from southern regions. Please take a look at it, never stay with just one side of the problematic and I encourage you to share your pieces of information. Kind regards
Sorry for double posting, Just wanted to make clear that my position is not anti-American, If you see the documentary or even if you look for alternative sources of information you can see how the problematic also affect American farmers, This because the whole production system of goods is driven by credit and debt, causing farmers to become just employees of the big companies throwing very restrictive contracts. I just want to see how much we can put our thoughts together no matter our region.
I have been a faculty member at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada since 2000. I took the position while completing my PhD examing the role of Indigenous peoples in forest management in Ontario. I was born in Thunder Bay, a city in the heart of a large rural, forested area in northwestern Ontario. I spent my pre-school years in logging camps where my father was a bulldozer operator. We moved to the city when I was 6 and my father continued as a bush worker, commuting to camps to work during the week and returning home on the weekends. I have always been interested in what shapes our experiences as rural northerners and how we can control our destiny in the face of so many decisions being made outside the "hinterland" in the "core", mainly the U.S. I'm also focussed on how "northerners" can overcome the divide that exists between Indigenous and settler people, two solitudes created in the north that serve to divide people and ensure we have no control over our lands and resources.
(from Rurik at UNBC via Alex Mayer)
ReplyDeleteHello fellow Rural Sustainability students,
I am starting this discussion thread so that other who come follow the discussion link have somewhere to post. As the weekly multimedia discussion session have largely failed to allow us to discuss the topics of the course, this could be an adequate way to share ideas. Please feel free to post anything you want to share (including short excerpts from your assignments).
Because the online links have been so unreliable to date, I haven't been able to catch very many names of the other course participators. I suggest/request that the first time you post, you include a few sentences about who you are, what your studying at university, and what kind of perspectives and questions you bring to the topic of Rural Sustainability.
So, I'll start with: My name is Rurik Muenter. I am a student at UNBC in my last semester of study before completing a B.Sc in Natural Resources Management, majoring in Forest Ecology and Management and minoring in Global Environmental Change. > I am interested in Rural sustainability because I grew up in a rural area of southern British Columbia (near the small town of Nelson, which has a very urban/liberal American culture), and since having started university in the northern British Colombian city of Prince George (which has a quite rural/conservative culture as a function of being the only large city in a huge rural/wilderness landscape despite being a city almost 10X as big as my hometown). Also, although am environmentally oriented, I am aspiring to enter the profession of forestry, which has clashed with the environmental movement throughout recent North American history.
This has led me to become interested in the tension between rural and urban culture, which is a dichotomy which I perceive to strengthening as society become more urban, the youth migrate to city's, and rural population ages even faster than the aging Canadian population, and the pace of change of technologies and ideas increases. In my opinion, both urban vs. rural and liberal (green) vs. conservative ideologies are becoming more entrenched in their respective positions. Urban Canadians are political, social, and economic ideas become increasingly dominant, some rural Canadians are become more fiercely resistant environmentalism (anti-logging, anti- hunting, anti-mining) and perceive it to directly conflict with and encroach upon their way of life and identity. In summary, I am convinced that discussion of rural sustainability must take into account the culture tensions between the largely urban environmental movement and people entrenched in traditional rural culture.
Look forward to hearing what you all have to say about Rural sustainability. Rurik
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI'm a third-year graduate student in MTU's humanities department. I am interested in rural sustainability primarily because I grew up in a rural community that is now, at least by some definitions, quite urban. In many ways, the community is facing an identity crisis -- while some farms remain, we certainly can't call ourselves a quiet farming community any longer. And, what happens to the farmlands that remain has been a point of serious debate in recent years. So, in short, I am interested in what rural sustainable practice looks like -- among other issues, of course!
See you Friday-
Katie
Hi, I hope this Blog becomes more active, I personally find myself very concerned about the whole way we are producing our food.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of late right now, I have to organize my thoughts, but I strongly recommend you all to watch the documentary called Food Inc, and then share your Ideas with the community.
It talks about several things involved with our sustainability related problems in rural communities. I specially feel concern about how NAFTA and the subsidies on corn in certain parts have driven migration problems into America, and how companies profit with jobless corn farmers from southern regions. Please take a look at it, never stay with just one side of the problematic and I encourage you to share your pieces of information. Kind regards
Arturo Salazar Martinez
Sorry for double posting, Just wanted to make clear that my position is not anti-American, If you see the documentary or even if you look for alternative sources of information you can see how the problematic also affect American farmers, This because the whole production system of goods is driven by credit and debt, causing farmers to become just employees of the big companies throwing very restrictive contracts. I just want to see how much we can put our thoughts together no matter our region.
ReplyDeleteNow I am reading.
ReplyDeleteI have been a faculty member at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada since 2000. I took the position while completing my PhD examing the role of Indigenous peoples in forest management in Ontario. I was born in Thunder Bay, a city in the heart of a large rural, forested area in northwestern Ontario. I spent my pre-school years in logging camps where my father was a bulldozer operator. We moved to the city when I was 6 and my father continued as a bush worker, commuting to camps to work during the week and returning home on the weekends. I have always been interested in what shapes our experiences as rural northerners and how we can control our destiny in the face of so many decisions being made outside the "hinterland" in the "core", mainly the U.S. I'm also focussed on how "northerners" can overcome the divide that exists between Indigenous and settler people, two solitudes created in the north that serve to divide people and ensure we have no control over our lands and resources.
ReplyDelete