National Resources Defense Council Case Study

Over the past years Native Americans had cared for their own sacred lands, the story and religion that their primogenitors had taught them. The Native Americans had still carried the strong belief, that their land shall stay the same as if it should've been until new people had come in from elsewhere to change the land to something we all see outside till this day. However, there is a new project “The Dakota Access Pipeline” that had crossed the line of Native American trust between the new people that had changed everything the Natives had had since their ancestors were still living. No matter what effect the pipeline puts on most people there are some positive causes that can change a person such as protesters to think positive towards the pipeline being built on Indian reservation land. Even if the pipeline can cause many people to have a thought that the pipeline should not be built, only if they can hear from both sides, they can have a second thought and allow the pipeline to be built.The Dakota Access

In recent years in can be noted that civil disobedience is prominent in American culture. This can be portrayed in the recent events of the Keystone Pipeline activists. Many activists have blamed the government for their problems just as Thoreau did in his essay “Civil Disobedience”. There can be a parallel drawn between these two topics even though they have decades between them. In these times it is still logical to believe that civil disobedience is the right course of action. Activists, wanting to make a change, have called for government reconsideration, health and safety issues, and discrimination on Native Americans.

Mahatma Gandhi once said that “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.” 1 The quote talks about how Earth gives us beauty and our basic needs, but when people get greedy it disappears and in my opinion I feel like this quote relates to the topic about the debate of Hetch Hetchy Dam. Back in 1913, there was a Congress hearing debating whether or not the Hetch Hetchy Dam should be built into a part of the California’s Yosemite National Park. The dam was being built so water could be brought to the city of San Francisco. However, during the debate there were some people who were about the dam being built and there were others who weren’t. The people who were for the dam being built were known as preservationist. An example of a preservationist was John Muir; he thought building the dam was being more useful to the nation compared to not disturbing it. But then there were people who argued against the debate like Gifford Pinchot. Pinchot was known as a conversevasionlist, and they were the people who cared more about nature and wanting

Texas is the second most populated and second largest state in United State. Due to its size, Texas contains diverse landscapes that resemble both American South and Southwest. Most of the population centers are located in areas of formers prairies, grass lands, forests, and the coastline. The current Texas Constitution was adopted in 1876. Like most of the states, it also provides for a separation off power. The state Bill of Rights is much larger than its federal counterpart, and has provisions unique to Texas. The Texas constitution defines the responsibilities of country governments, which serve as agents of the state. Greg Abbott is the current governor of Texas and Dan Patrick is the Lieutenant governor of Texas.

An interest group is, an organization of people with shared policy goals entering the policy process at several points to try to achieve those goals. Unlike political parties, interest groups in politics try to change policies without the intent to be elected. In this essay I will be explaining my opinions on why interest groups are helpful to the democratic process.

More government in a country leads to the creation of more interest groups. What is an interest group? It’s an organized group with a common goal or objective that is trying to influence government policymakers such as congress through direct and indirect methods. They differ from movements such as the Civil Rights Movement or the Women’s Right Movement. For example, an interest group would be Environmentalists trying to conserve nature from companies who see the evergreens as an economic necessity. In similarity, the National Rifle Association is another example for an interest group because when the government in the late 1970s decided to regulate or even ban firearms, members became politically involved since their interests were being endangered.

Groups who demand change to government policies and decisions are called pressure groups. There are many pressure groups, following the interests of economics, religion, health, human rights, or the environment. But are any of these groups successful? One environmental group that has made many accomplishments is Sierra Club BC.

America truly was once paradise, however paradise is scattered and almost vanished. This unit opened my eyes to things I knew little about. These writing are so heart wrenching especially “Scipio and the Bear” and “Death of a Mountain”. I knew that our environment is in peril. I just never really payed much attention to it the way I will now. Many Americans are so consumed with what they can gain right now they fail to look at the consequences to come or even to care of the devastation caused to American’s beauty. They don’t even seem to care about crimes done to their own kind. The more people were educated and read stories as these, they could change the way things are done.

1 Lobbyists and Interest Groups in Texas 2 A pluralist democracy, defined as a way for individuals to band together to find political strength in numbers, is the basis of political parties and interest groups in the United States. Citizens use both of these types of groups to promote and represent

Currently, in North Dakota, there is a major protesting taking over. Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe are taking a stand and protesting against the Energy Transfer Company. The protests derive from an oil pipeline that is in the process of being built. According to their official company website, the Energy Transfer Company are developing the pipeline to provide transportation of crude oil from points in the Bakken/Three Forks production areas in North Dakota all the way to Patoka, Illinois. The company claims that this will be more environmentally friendly and it will lower costs. This upset the tribe because the bulldozers that are being used to build the pipeline are ruining the tribes sacred burial grounds, prayer sites, and some culturally significant artifacts, as well

In April 1968, Martin Luther King on the night before his assassination had told a group of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee: “We’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. We’ve got to see it through”. On 1 February 1968, two Memphis garbage collectors, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed to death by a malfunctioning truck. Twelve days later, frustrated by the city’s response to the latest event in a long pattern of neglect and abuse of its black employees, 1,300 black men from the Memphis Department of Public Works went on strike. Sanitation workers, led by garbage-collector-turned-union-organizer, T. O. Jones, and supported by the president of the American Federation of State, County, and

Thousands of dedicated people march the streets of a huge city, chanting repetitively about needing a change. They proudly hold vibrant signs and banners as they fight for what they believe in. Expressions of determination and hope are visibly spread across their faces. These people aren’t using weapons or violence to fight for their ideas; simply, they are using civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is nonviolent resistance to a government’s law in seek of change. Civil disobedience is an effective way to bring about change because it is a harmless way of fighting an unjust law or idea, it can educate people about the cause, and it has been successful many times in history.

New inhabitants of the banks of river of Columbia started to oppose and tried to put an end to the fishing habits of Indian tribes reserved by Indian treaty and wanted them to abide by the fishing laws of Washington State on account of the complaint against the increasing pollution in the water endangering the ecosystem of salmon fishes. Police arrest of a tribal leader called Robert Satiacum followed after Washington State Sportsman’s Council favored the activities of conservation of life underwater and the case was pushed to the Apex Court. The first flickering moments of Red Power Movement were seen in the strenuous efforts of NIYC which got involved in loud manifestations of protest in public through marching which ware known as ‘fish-ins’

TransCanada is one of the largest company in the field of energy in North America (TransCanada, 2016). They own and operate many energy pipelines in Canada and U.S. They are the main promoters of Keystone XL pipeline (“Osborne, 2015). They have 65 years of experience in this field and have a solid financial track record. In the Keystone XL pipeline project, they failed miserably to manage the stakeholders. “At micro level, they were failed to convince the local land owners about the potential benefits from the project and local communities about the job creation from the project. At the macro level, they failed to engage with the labour unions and national environmental groups” (Casey,2011, para 3,4).

Mancur Olsen was from America. He was developed the theory of concentrated benefits and diffuse costs. His book is called “the theory of collective action: public goods and the theory of groups” it was published in 1965. He described the concept of free rider in his book.