Extra Credit #5, Summary and Review of the Delta Sky Magazine article on Jane Goodall and Earth Day Activism
The cover article for the April 2010 issue of Delta Sky Magazine starts with an overview of the origins of Earth Day and goes on to spotlight activities and outlooks of some of the most well-known ecological activists in our modern world. In addition to Ms. Jane Goodall, the article also features sections on Robert Redford, Shai Agassi, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Ted Danson, Dr. M. Sanjavan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and a page of Full Disclosure statistics on “the challenges facing our land, air, and water” today.
The information on Ms. Goodall shows that she is far more than “just a monkey lady”, talking about her work as an author of several books and in founding both the TACARE and the Roots and Shoots conservationist and ecological awareness programs. It talks of other accomplishments of hers, such as being the only known invited speaker to North Korea to not have it required that their speech be pre-audited for approval and of the informal honorific title of “eco-warrior” she has earned due to her dedication in this arena. Though the article speaks of her being flattered by the sentiment, it also offers her counterpoint message as one of hope in education and socially instinctive activism by all, rather than one of violence.
In highlighting the other ecology activists – scientists, celebrities, artists, among others - this article demonstrates that they are people of passion, compassion, and action. It tells of the organizations they have helped found or to whom they belong, that are making a very real impact on ecology legislation and world-wide conservation practices. Website addresses are provided for these organizations, so readers who are interested in preserving our natural resources have a place to start.
The page on Dr. Sanjavan and the final page of the article were, for me, perhaps the most enlightening as a call to action. Solid facts are presented about the way we, as a society, contribute to the depletion of our natural resources and the steps we can take – today – to slow the impending ecological and societal crises we face if our habits do not change.
On a side note … the article came up in the circulating title spot of the provided link, offering to show us some pictures of this amazing lady before moving on to the scanned pages of the magazine, itself. In reading through the image captions for “Behind the Scenes of the Photo Shoot”, it really drove home for me how much of life in our society is staged for palatable perfection. Her work is so critical to our understanding of so many things about our way of life and how it evolved that, I guess, it saddens me to realize that, in a cover article for Earth Day, they chose to showcase her in a falsified mock-up rather than in an actual botanical setting.
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