This past week’s reading was very interesting to me. The thought that poverty-stricken people might have an influence on environmental degradation was a very confusing concept for me to grasp. I was assigned the ‘Yes’ article. The author brought up the point that there are differences between rural and urban poor and that they both affect the environment differently. I have never thought about the poor in that way before. As a society, I think that when we think of the poor our mind just goes to the average stereotypes, like living on the streets or under bridges in tents, not how they are affecting the envirnment. But in reality, there is urban and rural poor. The urban poor has more access to necessities than the rural poor, most likely making it easier to be in that urban poor category. I think that the rural poor has more of an affect on the environment than the urban poor. Rural poor are farming and maintaining crops, and when thise crops run oit, they are just picking up and leaving creating a hole that they are digging themselves deeper into and harming our environment in the process.

When my discussion group was posed with the question of ‘Should corporations help with the problem of poverty’, my group was a little conflicted. The right thing to say and do would be yes, but it is not that simple. I contributed to the group by pointing out that corporations have the means, resources, and influence to help with the poor community, but none of the big corporations have done that yet.  Major corporations are some of the leading causes of environmental degradation in our country, and I think that they should use their means to solve their own problems before blaming it on others and using their resources in that way. One thing that I did not bring up in my group was the view that society has on the poor. Our culture views them as charity cases and people that they are helping not because they want to but because they fell they have too. The poor are viewed as burdens to society, so no one wants to help with the problem because they do not necessarilyhave too. I think if big corporations got involved, our cultures view on the poor would change. Corporations have such a big influence on our society that if they begin to use their means, resources and influence for good, it might change the habits and views of everyday people. 

In the past two weeks I have gotten a lot better at practicing mindfulness. Taking 10 minutes out of my day to sit in silence and focus on myself, my thoughts, and my emotions has really relaxed me and calmed me down. With all the work I have going on, being able to sit still and take time for myself is helping me be a better student, and friend, and just a more pleasant person the be around. I really liked the color exercise that we did in class. It made me realize that I am very stressed out and that I might need to take even more time out of the day to focus on the way that I am feeling and just relax.