Coast Salish Synthesis

The article "Indigenous resistance and racist schooling on the borders of empires: Coast Salish cultural survival" by Michael Marker talks about the Coast Salish people and how they have resisted assimilation through education. The Coast Salish people live in both British Columbia and Washington State. The people had to cross the USA-Canada border regularly for ceremonies and other important cultural practices. The United States and Canada attempted to assimilate the native people into the modern culture with schooling. Schools were set up in order to help blend the Coast Salish people in with the other residents. However, the Indigenous people wanted no part in this. Therefore, the schooling failed at doing away with the Coast Salish culture.

Food & Sustainability Issues in New York

When thinking about New York, we normally think of cities and pollution, not farms and other food sources. Parts of New York, such as New York City are extremely polluted, which can lead to health problems in residents. Besides this, New York City lacks farmland, which means that most of the food consumed is not locally produced. Importing food can be costly. In upstate New York, in cities such as Antwerp, there are more farms and less pollution than in New York City. However, it probably still would not be considered sustainable. In order to better the state as a whole, people need to start thinking about the long-term situation instead of just short-term goals. By doing this, perhaps they could come up with a solution to help make the state more sustainable and less costly.

Environmental History

I located an article that defines what "environmental history" really is. According to this article, environmental history is "the interdisciplinary study of human interactions with the natural world over time." Environmental historians try to understand many things, including how people modify the places and ecosystems that they inhabit, how nature sets limits for human actions, and how the natural world shapes values, economics, and cultures. However, the goals of environmental historians change throughout the world. They reflect the specific environment that is studied. Environmental history is most developed in the United States. 

Watson, Fiona. "Environmental History." The Scottish Historical Review 82.214 (2003): 285-294. Web. 30 Sept. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/25529721.pdf?acceptTC=true>.