AUENV 421 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Social Class, Permaculture, Regional Policy Of The European Union
29 May 2018
School
Course
Professor
Natasha Mutize
Rel 271
September 19, 2017
Portfolio Paper
Reflections
Objective 1: Begin to understand how ecological health is connected to spiritual and cultural
health.
Life is full of challenges, instead of drowning in sorrow, contemplation and finding the
positive in the misfortune is the answer. The first objective looks at ecological health is
connected to spiritual and cultural health. My definition of ecological health is an ecosystem
where there is balance between the people’s use of the earthly resoures ad the aility for the
land to flourish, remain vital and be resilient after extraction. My spiritual and cultural essence
is composed of my religion and my connection to the land; they are interconnected. My
religion, Christianity, and my indigenous ties to the Shona culture make up and strengthen my
spirituality. It is possible to survive with only religion or culture but to feel a stronger
connection to myself both aspects are crucial.
In my Shona tribe the land and its animals are sacred. We connect to the land through
our animal spirit. As soon as a child is born they inherit their father’s aial spirit. Rituals are
performed to celebrate the ownership. Most of times an animal is killed as a sacrifice to the
ancestors thakig the for the gift of the hild ad askig for protetio i the hild’s life. W
way we keep our ecological health in our Shona communities is by controlling our hunting
practices. The abundance of the wildlife decided whether a sacrificial ritual was to be done or
not. If a area does’t hae as ay speies opared to preious years e liit hutig i our
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tribes. Some animals and plants are not culturally acceptable to be eaten at certain times of the
year and by engaging in this practice I feel included in my culture even though I am miles away.
From a young age my connection to ecology has been guided by my spirituality and this
continues till today.
Objective 2: Be able to do a rapid diagnostic of the ecological health of an area
The second objective looks at the rapid diagnostic of the ecological health of an area. I
diagnosed the ecological health of Camrose city and in Harare, Zimbabwe. After conducting a
couple of interviews with Camrose residents we were able to construct a tree of life for the city.
The tree showed us that major big box corporations as Walmart and the agricultural sector
played the biggest role in Camrose, therefore, they are the roots that hold the Camrose
together. Politics and the socio-cultural factors extend from the roots. Drawing the tree of life
allowed me to see that Camrose is sustainably progressive. Despite the fact that the industry
and big box companies bring the city together, other efforts as sustainable city planning, green
initiatives are still being successfully conducted in the city. The ecological health of the city is
one of the socio cultural goals of Camrose and the programs that the City offices are putting in
place in Camrose support the
The Camrose tree of life inspired me to analysis the ecological health of my city
Harare,Zimbabwe. The environmental situation in Zimbabwe is bad especially waste pollution.
On my last visit to Zimbabwe I was able to see the pollution myself and to say the least, I was
not impressed. Not only was the waste polluting the land and the air, drinking water ways were
polluted as well. The pollution was worse in low income and heavily populated neighborhoods
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Document Summary
Objective 1: begin to understand how ecological health is connected to spiritual and cultural health. Life is full of challenges, instead of drowning in sorrow, contemplation and finding the positive in the misfortune is the answer. The first objective looks at ecological health is connected to spiritual and cultural health. My definition of ecological health is an ecosystem where there is balance between the people"s use of the earthly resour(cid:272)es a(cid:374)d the a(cid:271)ility for the land to flourish, remain vital and be resilient after extraction. My spiritual and cultural essence is composed of my religion and my connection to the land; they are interconnected. My religion, christianity, and my indigenous ties to the shona culture make up and strengthen my spirituality. It is possible to survive with only religion or culture but to feel a stronger connection to myself both aspects are crucial. In my shona tribe the land and its animals are sacred.
