Omicron Group Govt. 401 Reflections

R E F L E C T I O N S

Since 1989 this course has been the capstone of all the required courses in the Social Science major. It is a credit to the faculty of the department of the Social Science to have visualized back then not only making this course a required one but the capstone. At that time very few universities required such a course. However, more and more universities have been doing so ever since. In that respect, the department was among the pioneers. Developing and teaching this course would fall on me if I decided to accept the position. This offer was a major reason in reaching my decision to come and work at SSU. It was an honor to work with such colleagues in this department at this university.

I have taught at least one session of this course per each quarter since then. It has been and continues to be a fulfilling experience for me. I have used many texts, articles, films, and other resources so far. And not surprising, each one of them has been produced by persons far more eloquent than I can ever be in describing the subject matter.

In thinking about this segment of the digital course I became more and more convinced that it would be fairer to all if I let the words of others say it instead of me. Below, as such, you will find some of the many words that have been ringing in my mind for so long. They come from the past and the present, from all walks of life, they are from women and men, and from all the races of our single species. I hope you will agree they do the job well.

"The outrage of hunger amidst plenty will never be solved by ‘experts’ somewhere. It will only be solved when people like you and me decide to act." Frances Moore Lappe

"Only to the white man was nature a ‘wilderness’." Luther Standing Bear (Oglala Sioux Chief)

"Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty." Albert Einstein

"Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyles." Pope John Paul II

“What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.” Chief Seattle

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“If people destroy something replaceable made by mankind, they are called vandals; if they destroy something irreplaceable made by God, they are called developers.” Joseph Wood Krutch

“It is our task in our time, and in our generation, to hand down undiminished to those who come after us, as was handed down to us by those who went before, the natural wealth and beauty which is ours.” John F. Kennedy

When we speak of ecology, we mean the joining together of all parts. When we say the word 'environment'…it includes all life at once. We cannot think of who we are and what life means unless we conceive answers of that scale." James Parks Morton

"There must be progress, certainly. But we must ask ourselves what kind of progress we want, and what price we want to pay for it. If, in the name of progress, we want to destroy everything beautiful in our world, and contaminate the air we breathe, and the water we drink, then we are in trouble." Marjory Stoneman Douglas

"There is no hope, but I may be wrong." Pete Seeger

“Who Will Speak For Planet Earth?” Carl Sagan

“What I see in nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of 'humility.' This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.” Albert Einstein

“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.” George Washington Carver

“On Spaceship Earth there are no passengers; everybody is a member of the crew. We have moved into an age in which everybody's activities affect everybody else.” Marshall McLuhan

“The supreme reality of our time is ...the vulnerability of our planet.” John F. Kennedy

“The environment makes up a huge, enormously complex living machine that forms a thin dynamic layer on the earth's surface, and every human activity depends on the integrity and the proper functioning of this machine. Without the photosynthetic activity of green plants, there would be no oxygen for our engines, smelters, and furnaces, let alone support for human and animal life. Without the action of the plants, animals, and microorganisms that live in them, we could have no pure water in our lakes and rivers. Without the biological processes that have gone on in the soil for thousands of years, we could have neither food crops, oil, nor coal. This machine is our biological capital, the basic apparatus on which our total productivity depends. If we destroy it, our most advanced technology will become useless and any economic and political system that depends on it will founder. The environmental crisis is a signal of this approaching catastrophe.” Barry Commoner

“How to be green? Many people have asked us this important question. It's really very simple and requires no expert knowledge or complex skills. Here's the answer. Consume less. Share more. Enjoy life.” Penny Kemp and Derek Wall

“The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery, not over nature but of ourselves.” Rachel Carson

“But the basic value of a sustainable society, the ecological equivalent of the Golden Rule, is simple: each generation should meet its needs without jeopardizing the prospects for future generations to meet their own needs.” ” United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development