Day: August 24, 2014

Questions and Answers about the Epidemic of Bullying of Asian American Students in Public Schools


I have written several posts about the unaddressed bullying of my Asian American daughter (who excels academically and athletically) at her former school. After some brief research, I soon learned that my daughter’s mistreatment was not unusual for Asian American students attending American public schools. In response to this bullying epidemic and other issues facing the Asian American community, President Obama established the AAPI Initiative to seek redress for these issues.(See http://www.whitehouse.gov/aapi.

The article linked below contains numerous resources of assistance to one seeking information on bullying of Asian students.

http://www.askhelpbox.com/when-students-especially-asians-get-bullied-it-is-mostly-verbal-name-calling-or-physical-attack

 

 

 

Native Americans concerned with the effects of fracking on the water table on their sovereign lands


Mountaintop-mining (a form of surface coal mining where the tops of Appalachian mountains are removed to expose valuable coal reserves) and “fracking” (a form of accessing oil and gas reserves that many claim to be destroying water quality and causing subsidence and small earthquakes), are both forms of extracting natural resources for energy production. Both processes involve highly charged support or opposition by the coal/gas & oil industry (and their service industries), on one side, and environmental groups (and their supporters) on the other.

Pro-Mountaintop Mining Coal Miners

Leveling Appalachia

 

As an environmental attorney working in Appalachia, I have had the misfortune of working on both mountaintop mining issues and oil & gas fracking issues. Unlike other highly charged issues on which I have worked during my career, there is virtually no opportunity for any compromise on either side of these issues, turning political policy decisions on the subjects into metaphorical IEDs, ready to explode and alienate a large segment of voters, regardless of which side benefits from a given policy.

Fracking Policy–Supporters & Opponents are Polar Opposite

Anti-Fracking Process Description

 

Although I have worked with Native American tribal liaisons regarding ancestral artifacts and human remains, I have never worked with them on issues related to natural resource extraction/exploitation–though I did discuss the issue hypothetically in a graduate level Environmental Ethics course I taught as an adjunct professor. As expected, the students in the course were divided in their strongly held beliefs on both sides of the issue of whether natural resources should be allowed to be removed by private industry from Native American lands, with obvious environmental effects, if the action would result in cheaper electric bills. 

Native American view of land as sacred

 

The Nation of Change article linked below shows one Native American tribe’s views toward the practice of “fracking” and the effects this process will have on their traditional lands.

 Native Americans Launch ‘Love Water Not Oil’ Ride to Protest Fracking Pipeline

Anishinaabe Native American Activist Poster

Anishinaabe Native American Dance Troupe

 

I would be interested in receiving feedback on readers’ particular views on these two natural resource extraction methods.

Privacy? What is privacy in the Information Age?


The death of privacy in the digital age

http://www.kentucky.com/2014/08/19/3387373_vincent-cao-too-many-believe-that.html?sp=/99/349/&rh=1

 

 

In the past I did harbor some measure of concern about my social media privacy, but eventually I came to the realization that there was no longer a reason for my concern–Big Brother has (or will have) all of my posted information anyway . .. so there is no need to worry. I simply strive to be a little more cautious about what I post to social media or what I say in email to friends.

 I do, however, constantly preach to my teenage daughter about the need for caution when using social media, even though she has yet to give me a single reason to question her judgment on such matters. When I see some of the posts she shows me from her classmates, I cringe about the many interviews and opportunities that will be denied them by prospective employers or boards reviewing applications to professional schools.

The linked article above provides a very good description of the current state of privacy in our addicted-to-wifi society and our “digital thumbprint.”

Digital fingerprint–evidence for the rapidly approaching future