Sasha Stevens- Free Response- South Newport News heat islands

Today I visited the exhibit on redlining in the Torgler and its affects on Newport News and surrounding areas. Every part of this exhibit was impactful with the graphs of data and pictures and stories from the community. So much of it is exactly what we are going over in class and very relevant to environmental issues people have to face due to redlining. The most impactful for me was seeing the lack of greenery in our area and the need for it. I believe that with this information I now have even more evidence on the need for greenery in NN.

My experience with the exhibit was that this is an area of people that need help because of the past. More efforts need to be done to help improve these area and help the people live to their fullest lives and become happier with where they live. Seeing the way that money was invested into communities based on occupation and race was appalling to see because of how racially disparaging it was. My dad is a white man so his experience with money has been very different in life than the black community. I haven't dealt with being rejected or judged for my race and I lived in a middle neighborhood. The areas around CNU are very different than what we are living in and this issue needs to be fixed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nature Walk

 I took a walk around the Noland trail last week to just be able to say I have done it before my time ends at CNU. This was always a bucket list thing to do and after the 6-mile walk, I wish I had done it a lot earlier. I felt at peace during the walk like I didn't have finals coming up or papers to write. The only thing that was going through my head was "Wow it's been an hour already". The walk calmed my nerves and prepared me for my finals week and everything to get crazy. I wish I did this freshman year so I could have made it a habit before my final semester.
Read more

Reflection of Discussion 4/18 - Trey Walton

 Dr. Redick spoke of a hole encountered on a hike in a trail.  I loved the thought that the hole was almost cleansing both literally and metaphorically.  It reminded me a lot of forest bathing and how nature has the ability to practically baptize you.  "even seeds and water bodies have souls" - Such an interesting quote.   "Needing to eat and drink as bondage.  I wanted to be free"  I loved the section where a vison was held about the body decomposing into the soil.  This really stuck with me as it was a reminder that even though we are humans and we are at the tippy top of the food chain and live in towering skyscrapers, we are made up of the same compounds as water, animals, and even the soil.  We will eventually go back to the food cycle when we are decomposed in the soil.  Broken down by fungi and tiny animals.  Fertilizing the soil and starting the whole cycle again.  It's truly fascinating to think about.  ...
Read more

14. Sharayah McDonald- Outside Reading 5

 For my last outside reading, I wanted to focus on Dr. Redick's paper he shared with the class entitled "Feet Forbidden Here". This article peaked my interest, for I had never before thought about my feet being a way to observe the earth. When we speak of the 5 senses of sight, taste, hearing, smelling, and touch, often touch is interpreted only as touch with the hands or fingers. I never even thought about experiencing the world through the sensations in feet, however, it is true that we as humans learn about our world through walking. As the article discusses, the huge highway systems disrupt the natural, indigenous way of reacting with our environment by walking through it. This statement makes me question if we as humans would be more compassionate and loving towards our environment if we could return to these simpler ways of interacting with it. If we slowed down from our busy, self-centered lives to actually process and appreciate the world we live in. Also, this di...
Read more