In 1972, an environmental legal case involving Disney was taken to the Supreme Court. The case of Sierra Club v Morton began when The Mineral King Valley was still an undeveloped part of the Sequoia National Forest. With thoughts of profits on their mind, Disney wanted to build a ski resort on untouched land in the National Forest. Although Disney won the legal case, after doing research on the lasting, negative effects they would have on the land, the company decided not to move forward with a project that was worth millions of dollars. The ongoing struggles to fight for inanimate objects such as the land in question brought light to a sensitive subject; what if nature itself had legal rights? This work will combine rulings from the Sierra Club v Morton lawsuit and professional opinions along with factual information that shows that humankind should examine what it would mean to give legal rights to the natural environment.

For many cities in the American Midwest, decaying steel and auto industries have pockmarked their neighborhoods with empty factories and miles of unusable brownfield land. This article showcases a study of the environmental history, as well as the socio-economic downturn that industry has played on Canton, Ohio. Specifically, it investigates the Southwest neighborhoods that were built in response to companies such as Timken and Republic Steel. Data for this research was primarily acquired through secondary sources, namely news articles or journals that relate to the subject matter. Both economic and environmental data relating to these industries are well publicized over the span of the last 30 years. The study reveals that not only have the residents of these neighborhoods suffered from a loss of work, services and property values, but also have faced environmental hazards over the years due to the close proximity to industrial sites. These actions have particularly resulted in the gradual decline and lack of support for this region in response to the closing and outsourcing of industrial work from Canton to other places in the United States and across the world.

The meaning of Norse symbolism remains obscure in both popular and academic spheres, exacerbated by the appropriation of these symbols by Nazism; given the rising popular interest in pre-Christian Scandinavian religion, understanding the symbolism is critical to ensuring its proper use. Whereas many scholars feel comfortable treating the social, ritual, or linguistic elements of Norse religion, the methodology outlined in The Interpretation of Cultures by Clifford Geertz, utilized in the present paper, enables us to connect those elements to the metaphysical aspects of religion. We will apply those methods to the study of Norse wealth symbolism, since it clearly demonstrates the connection between society and metaphysics. Our sources will include the Prose and Poetic Eddas and associated mythic sagas. We will find that wealth symbolizes power, status, and skill in battle, reflecting a world transformed by war, ordered by the gods, and shaped by inexorable fate.

Jazz Jennings is an LGBT rights activist, a television personality, and a remarkable inspiration to many.  Jazz is one of the youngest people to be identified as transgender, at age five. Her story and struggle with finding her true self has greatly impacted the life of others, including myself. Jazz is very vocal and passionate in order to help transgender children know that they are not alone. I created a video based on Jazz’s book, Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen. Within my video, I share the story of Jazz’s life, the challenges she has faced, and her efforts fighting for LGBT rights. As a future educator, I find it extremely important that students accept and understand all differences. The video that I created brings awareness to the LGBT community and enforces Jazz’s message of loving yourself and knowing that it is okay to be different from others.

Food production has changed drastically over the years in the United States. As the population continues to grow, so does the demand for food. To manage the growing demand for meat, intensive farming systems were created to increase agricultural output and reduce costs. Around the world seventy billion farm animals are produced for consumption annually as a result of factory farming. However, producing vast numbers of livestock in a short period of time leads to environmental degradation. This paper determines how intensive animal agriculture contributes to environmental pollution and resource depletion. Intense animal agriculture leads to air pollution, water pollution, and deforestation. The global demand for animal protein is projected to more than double by 2050. Continuing on this path of over production and consumption will lead to irreversible environmental degradation.