About Me

       Hello and welcome to my blogsite. My name is Jonathan Jerram and I am currently enrolled at Elmira College in my senior year. I am a psych major, and at 34 years old I am much older than many of the other students. I have worked in special education for 8 years and originally got involved through my mother who is a retired special education teacher. I enjoy many hobbies including fishing, playing video games, bird watching, and just plain hangin with my friends. I am an outgoing person with a fairly positive outlook on life, and a strong family to back me in all of my endeavors. I enjoy helping others and through my work in special education discovered my interest in psychology. After leaving Elmira College I plan on pursuing a Master’s degree in clinical psychology with the hopes of helping people with severe mental illness.
       I hope that by people reading my blogs they will take the time to look further into the issues that surround many of the environmental concerns around the world. I am doing these blogs for my woman and environmentalism class, but my interest in environmental issues have always been strong and this class has given me the tools and the knowledge to voice these concerns through social media. I want people to take these issues seriously and to stop avoiding them or simply saying “someone should do something” like many people do without actually taking action and doing something about it themselves. I understand that its difficult for people to take action when so much often needs to be done, and I am guilty of the same thing, but if we all take small steps in our lives to make a change and save the planet then I feel the world could truly make a difference.
       I know that I have already been made aware of so many disheartening things about how we have been treating our planet just from taking this class, but the fact is that we can all learn so much more and never stop striving to learn and change so that our planet and the animals that inhabit it are here for future generations to enjoy. Thank you for visiting my page, and I hope that all of you who read my blogs and take the time to watch the media that touched me will feel the need for change as well. Above i have put a picture of my parents cottage on Cayuga Lake in New York which i have loved visiting since i was a child. I hope that i will continue to be able to enjoy it and so will future generations of my family, but if we don't take action to keep our planet safe I may not have that luxury. If your bored here's my family website www.jerram.org

Indiscriminate Killing

 

       The Cove is a very disturbing documentary about the killing of dolphins in Taiji, Japan. The movies main actor is Richard O’barry; a man who is best known for his role in the hit television show from the late sixties Flipper where he was Flippers the dolphins trainer. He and many other people in the film are activists against the whale market in japan. They are particularly interested in exposing the dolphin drive hunting in Taiji which is incredibly inhumane.
       The fisherman in taiji use sound to push the dolphins who are migrating through the area into a cove where they then slaughter them sometimes in the thousands. In Japan they try justifying the killing of dolphins in many way, for instance they have tried convince the International Whaling Commission (I.W.C) that dolphins belong to a lower family of whales that should be considered different from killing the much larger whales. They also claim that there is no definitive evidence that can show that dolphins are any more intelligent than other sea mammals. The exposure of the trading of these dolphins for high prices to places like Sea World is also a big surprise in this film, and should not be supported by the public who go to these shows and watch the dolphins perform tricks. The fact remains that dolphins are intelligent in the eyes of science and the methods that are being used to kill them are wrong, and their meat is dangerous for human consumption. Dolphins are top predators and they have an extremely high amount of mercury in their meat which in large amounts of consumption can result in many different birth defects and illnesses. The Japanese are actually being fed this dolphin as seen in the film and not even being told that that’s what their consuming.
       This along with the other corrupt government cover-ups in Japan are exposed by Richard O’Barry and his crew, and the methods they used to gather the footage were both clever and dangerous for their own safety. Thanks to them we can now see with our own eyes the tragedy of what’s being hidden in Japan from its people and the rest of the world.

Flaming Tap Water

 

 
     The other day in class we watched the movie Gasland. The movie was a real eye opener for anyone who doesn’t know about the horrible environmental effects that hydro fracking is having in our country. One fact that really stood out was that they claim that the U.S sits on an ocean of natural gas. The main character in the film Josh Fox goes all over the country interviewing the victims of the fracking industry. He lives in Pennsylvania, and his concern is that the gas industry is going to start fracking in his home town. He goes from town to town interviewing people who have had such horrible things happen to their home towns as a result of fracking. Many of the people he interviewed had undrinkable water because the methods used by the gas industry completely polluted the ground water supply. Many of these people complained, and tried to go after these big gas corporations for the damage that they did, but so far there has been little success in stopping these monsters. The ridiculous thing is that many of these people could actually light there tap water on fire because it was so saturated with things like methane gas. The amount of chemicals used in the Hydro fracking process is outrageous and many of them like formaldehyde are carcinogenic and hazardous in many other ways. The fact that the industry continues to get away with claiming that they haven’t caused any damage is just preposterous.
     There is hope thankfully with strong advocates who are willing to fight against these corporate giants. At the forefront of this movement is Sandra Steingraber. She was the first person to look into the chemicals that the industry was using and she has been a strong female voice in the fight against them. Another extreme advocate for the people has been Theo Colburn. She identified the chemicals being used in fracking and made the public aware of their potential dangers.
     It’s scary to think that people have allowed these corporate giants to make a profit at the expense of our beautiful planet. The money that can be made from this industry is huge and it would certainly help boost the economy, but money doesn’t replace the damage that will be done to our environment, and with no fresh water everyone will die. I am happy knowing that it has been banned in my home state of New York, but I have recently found out that they are storing the hazardous bi products under Seneca Lake.

Live Green

       My woman and environmentalism class watched No Impact Man the other day in class. The movie had an interesting take on being environmentally impact free in an environment like New York City, which at first seems ridiculous. The mass majority of people who knew of the movement that the main male character Colin was doing were extremely critical of it; some said he wouldn’t be able to maintain and some claimed it was foolish.

       His goal was to live impact free by not using electric, prepackaged items, learning to plant vegetables, buying used clothes, not using the elevator and just living off the grid in general. The film showed how Colin the father and main character pushed this no impact life style on his family, and how it was difficult for all of them to adjust to the changes. His wife Michelle had the hardest time adjusting because she was use to buying expensive clothing and drinking her fancy coffees. There were many interesting role reversals in the film that highlighted the struggles they endured. One aspect of their lifestyle that was especially different was that Colin was the stay at home parent who would do the grocery shopping and the raising of their daughter while his wife was at work.

        Even though this assumption that each gender has specific roles is outdated and sexist it still showed some stereotypical reactions from each partner. Colin who was used to being the stay at home dad would complain and get irritated when his wife wouldn’t see how much of a struggle it was for him to keep the house going and continuing this no impact lifestyle. His wife Michelle is a businesswoman and is at work all day long and can’t see why Colin is complaining when she’s the one out in the real world working a job, and can’t see why Colin can’t be a little flexible in his no impact lifestyle which was forced apron her. Many times during the film there is a however a very typical struggle for couples. Michelle wants a child and Colin doesn’t, and wont to take her serious. He does participate in trying to have a child but won’t sacrifice his project which is hurtful for her. The couple do eventually get pregnant with another child, however there is a miscarriage. The family sees its ups and downs on this year long impact free lifestyle, but they eventually become stronger from it.

To Make a Farm

        In the documentary To Make a Farm five Canadians share their struggles and excitements as organic farmers. Its shows how difficult it can be to organically harvest livestock and produce, because the heavy regulations of the NOP(National Organics Program) serve to make the lives of these farmers extremely difficult and for farmers who are trying to make a living on small farms this is especially difficult. The movie shows several scenarios for organic farming, and shows many different things that threaten to impede on their lifestyle.
       One female woman is shown raising livestock, and organic vegetables all after having a long term career in a totally unrelated field. She shows how woman and environmentalism is growing, and how woman like her are strong, and in the film they are doing things which were stereotypical male roles for farms. The other cast shows the struggles of farming with crop losses and issues with raising livestock, often you can kind of get why they do the whole thing when you see how proud they are when it does finally work out for them.
        I could never see myself having the courage like they did to put it all on the line, and pack up everything to become a farmer, especially when you consider how different life is for them and how much they are at risk to loose. There was a lot to be gained from seeing this film and I was able to see how rewarding and tragic organic farming can be but I also learned how difficult organic farming, and sustainable farming can be. The movie as I should mention, because this is for a women’s studies class, has great stories of woman living a lifestyle that was once thought only a man could do, and shows how  women are now changing from living in the city to becoming farmers.

Tree Hugging

 

         My woman’s studies class went to Tanglewood Nature Center again on Friday, however this time it was much different than the last time we were there. My instructor told the class that we would be hugging trees, and that this time we would be going to a different part of the nature center. The idea of hugging trees was really funny to me at first; images popped in my head of extreme naturalists tying themselves to trees.
        The experience ended up being quite different than I imagined. We were in a more remote part of the park and the forest was very dense. The class split up into groups of two and were asked to put a blindfold on their head as their team mate would walk them hand in arm to the tree of their desire. The person walking you to a tree would try and disorient you to make it harder to later find your tree. I was paired up with one of the only other guys in the class, and this proved to be interesting. At first neither of us wanted to hold the other ones arm, however this luckily passed because walking without the aid of a partner would have been disastrous in this situation.  It was really unnerving trying to move without the use of your eyes, but the interesting part was how much more in tuned you became with the environment around you. This came in handy when you were brought to your tree, because it helped you to feel features on the tree that you normally wouldn’t; this would eventually help you identify which tree was yours when the blindfold was taken off. The features of each tree were different from one another and it was interesting to see how unique each of them actually was.
        I really liked this activity, and even though I was first filled with preconceived notions of tree hugging I was eventually able to see how it made me aware of the unique and special aspects that set each tree apart from one another.Check out this link for the benefits of tree hugging.

Scavenger hunt

     

        The other day my woman’s studies class and I went on a scavenger hunt at Tanglewood Nature Center in Elmira, N.Y.  I had never been to Tanglewood even though my parents live right near it, so this was an opportunity to finally see it. The drive to the nature center was really pretty, and the nature center had a remote feel to it even though it was only ten minutes from downtown Elmira. I was surprised to see that they had signs at the park for timber rattlesnakes warning people to avoid them. This is interesting because I was always told that there was poisonous snakes in that area, but there existence was not acknowledged by the D.E.C for many years. www.tanglewoodnaturecenter.com
        My group was given a list of items to find at the nature center. Some of these items included an animal larger than a breadbox, a squirrel, and various colored things. My group and I had a blast finding these things, and even though we weren’t able to find everything on the list the experience was enjoyable. At one point during our hunt we had to find something funny and capture it on film to show the class. My group chose to take a video of me trying to pet a goose; which was actually quite frightening because the goose tried to bite my hand off.
        The scavenger hunt was a great experience for me because I hadn’t been on one since I was a kid and it gave me a chance to slow down and appreciate the natural world around me rather than wandering aimlessly like I do when I normally hike. I would recommend doing this activity to any class that has the opportunity to go hiking, and I feel that no matter what your age is you will enjoy it, and it will help you to see details in nature that you may normally pass by unnoticed.