Mountain Top Removal

Our topic for our class discussion the past two weeks has been the removal of mountain tops for mining purposes. As many of you believe, and I myself being an environmental science major believe this is just an absolute atrocity to nature. Sure we need coal and other natural resources to run things in our country but can we not try and support more environmentally friendly ways of this? Some day when all of our nations natural environment is destroyed because of miners and other companies destroying nature in order to make a profit, we will look back and wish we had found another better source of fuel and other things that would have saved us our beautiful landscape. If we choose to be a better greener nation than we will not only save our environment, but we will set a new goal for other nations to become like us and go green. It only takes one to get the ball rolling and once that happens, it's all downhill from there. In order to stop things such as mountain top removal, we need to get enough support from our people to stop this by organizing nonviolent strikes, petitions, and marches as well as get the support from our legislators and other officials who give these companies that destroy our environment the ability to do so. If we can get high officials backing our cause then we can slowly but surely get others involved and aware of what is happening to our environment and take down these giant monopolies that are in it for profit no matter what it does to the environment. Another way to help our cause would be to attempt to place some sort of law that forces mining companies to put so much money and manpower into rebuilding the environment in which it destroys, that way they can at least give back part of what they destroyed. The best way to save our environment however is to put more money into research for better, safer, and cleaner ways to power our country.

Gender Neutral Housing

The topic of gender neutral housing has been one that has been discussed by councils in colleges all over the world for ages. As it pertains to Juniata, we do not allow gender neutral housing as of yet nor do I see it happening anytime in the near future but why?? No one really knows the exact reason but it doesn't make much sense. In going to college, are we not becoming adults and have the rights to live where we want with who we want and do as we please as long as it doesn't break the law? I for one believe we should. Anyone else who does not go to college our age has the right to live with whomever they choose whether it be a man or a women so why not allow that on campus? We have every right to choose to live with whoever we want regardless of the situation or imposed "rules" of that campuses council. Whether men and women are allowed to room with each other or not, whatever it may be that is feared of happening by those in charge of these students such as pregnancy or whatever it may be can still happen. Juniata does not impose a curfew or anything and whoever is in your room is not regulated whatsoever. I personally have had my girlfriend stay with me quite often over night, and although she does not go to this school, she has not caused any problems nor do the RA's or RD's have any problem of any sorts with it. I feel that if we are seen as "adults" than we should be able to make "adult" decisions. As long as its not directly hurting someone who's to really say whom we can live with? If someone has a problem with living with females or males then there are other housing options that will allow them to live with someone they are much more comfortable with so why not allow it. I don't see the housing arrangements changing anytime soon but I feel quite strongly that nothing bad would happen if gender neutral housing was introduced to the Juniata campus, after all we are adults and can make decisions on our own.

Fear and Power Over Others

Throughout history it can be seen that nonviolent movements have overcome powerful dictators and rulers by using so much less force and aggression. A lot of this is due to the balance of power and fear. Although one might have total control over a group of people military and strength wise, they cannot totally take over if the ones being repressed have nothing to fear or have taken away from them. One example of this is one we talked in class about the other day where a teacher presides over her students because she is the one who gives out the grades and says whether the student passes or fails her class, you can use this example in many other situations as well, however as in the example of the teacher and student, if the student does not care about his grades or the class the technically the teacher does not hold any power over them and cannot control them. If all nonviolent groups find something that can be taken away from them and it doesn't affect them, then the ones who govern over them will lose their power and ability to repress. When this happens, the ones who were being repressed are now in control and the tyrant will fall. You can compare this to David VS Goliath, the smaller weaker group finds the weaknesses in the larger more controlling group and rises up to conquer.

Civil Rights Movement

I find the Civil Rights Movement one of my most favorite movements for the practice on non-violence. It is just incredible to believe they achieved so much through non violent actions, granted they did break the so called "law" a few times such as during the sit-ins and freedom rides but I believe it was absolutely necessary to get the attention of politicians and higher up people who had the power to give blacks all the rights they deserved. Even after slavery was outlawed these people were judged only by the color of their skin and not by what kind of person they were, how they thought, or how intelligent they actually were. All people saw was a different color of skin and that was enough for them to exile them from a normal life. Obviously this wasn't enough for black people. They wanted something better, something they've never had before and that was the freedom to do as they please which is what they rightly deserved.

The fight for freedom first actually began with a group of students, trained and proficient in the art of non-violence who attended workshops put on by other black members trying to obtain the same thing. These students, once they had learned how to be completely non-violent in their actions then preceded to go to lunch counters and sit in until they were either served food or arrested. As they were beaten by white people and arrested under the harshest conditions they did not once fight back or resist arrest, they just went along with the plan and more and more students sat down as others were arrested and wave after wave of students just sat down until the police didn't know what to do with them. As this continued they got the great idea to do what they called "freedom" rides where normally on a bus white folks sat at the front and black folks sat in the back but with the "freedom" rides, they switched it completely around and road from city to city and town to town proposing that it doesn't hurt anyone to be black, we are perfectly normal people and this actually worked. It changed how peoples thought process worked and with the help of president Kennedy, separatism finally ended! It's just amazing how perseverance and hard work as well as fighting with passion for something you really believe in can get you what you want in the end.