Hello, and welcome to my blog!
I’m Eric, a 33-year-old father of one daughter living in Montana’s capital city. I work as an educator for a nonprofit advocacy organization that serves people impacted by domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. I also work as an EMT for the local ambulance company, and I volunteer with my county’s search and rescue team.
I’m enrolled in the UMass Dartmouth Women & Gender Studies program with the goal of being a better educator, father, and partner. I look forward to interacting with you all.
While seeking inspiration for this blog, I found Journal of the History of Ideas, a collaborative blog with many contributors that explores philosophical issues from a variety of times in history. You can find their excellent blog HERE.
The JHI blog is a great model for me to use in my work because it is interesting to look at, has many interesting articles, and the writing is fantastic. Contributing writers do an excellent job of introducing a topic, explaining with the intent to educate, and supporting their arguments while citing sources.
I will not be collaborating with others in my work here on my page however, so I will not use JHI as a model in that aspect of this adventure.
In Montana, as in all Western states, wildfires are a significant cause for concern and wildfire management is a constant topic of debate. On average, Montana spends $30 million each year on fire suppression, with some years being far more extreme than others. Montana’s legislature created an excellent document that introduces the topic to anyone who may be interested.
Of course, we’re all keeping an eye on the news currently for updates about the wildland fires that have killed 28 people and made many thousands homeless in the Los Angeles area. Thankfully, Montana hasn’t seen a deadly fire to that scale, yet. As population increases in western Montana’s cities, we will certainly have instances of wildland fires destroying homes.
Hopefully, with respectful debate and continued conversation, Montana can be prepared for such incidents to the best possible extent.
Food for thought.
Until next time,
Eric.
Hello Eric,
Thank you for sharing. It is nice to meet you.
First, I would like to thank you. I appreciate the work you do, as gender-based violence is a significant issue in this world, and all people deserve support and respect, especially when they have faced adversity.
You mentioned using proper source citation and topic introduction with the goal of educating an audience as some of the inspiration you drew from the blog as a model. I chose to review their website after viewing your post, and I was intrigued by the forums for Women’s International Thought and Black Intellectual History. In the article, “Women and the History of International Thinking,” Glenda Sluga writes, “The salient points of [women’s] absence in the context of (the) foundations of modern international thought is its dependence not only on preconceptions of who is an intellectual, but more specific to the history of “international intellectual” history, on women’s place (or not) in the older state-focused history of political thought” (JHI). Put more simply, the lack of women’s perspectives comes not only from historical (and present) assumptions of women’s inferiority (and thus, oppression of their voices) to men’s intelligence, but also due to the previous lack of their shared knowledge, which furthers such dated beliefs. Something will not change until the first person has done it, but society prevents these changes because they differ from how life had previously been. This leads me to believe, if “Bookchin saw that the domination of nature was legitimated by the social domination of humans by other humans (hierarchical thinking), and vice versa,” and the continued degradation of the environment correlates with the oppression of diverse groups, then to improve environmental and social health, we must work to raise diverse voices in order to encourage harmony and equality, so we may also dedicate ourselves to preserving the environment (McHenry).
Regarding wildfires and natural disasters, what actions do you think we should take to inform others, address the problem, and hopefully prevent further destruction? Do you think advocacy is enough, or does true change require more?
Piper
Work Cited
McHenry, Kristen Abatsis, Dr. “Introduction: Learning Module: Environmentalism Background.” University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, myCourses, WGS 307-7101: Ecofeminism: Philosophy & Practice – On-Line (2025 Spring CE1). n.d. umassd.umassonline.net/ultra/courses/_36339_1/cl/outline. Accessed 26 January 2025.
Sluga, Glenda. “Women and the History of International Thinking.” Journal of the History of Ideas Blog. 9 March 2022. http://www.jhiblog.org/2022/03/09/women-and-the-history-of-international-thinking/. Accessed 26 January 2025.
Hi Eric, thank you for enlightening me on wildfires in Montana. Am new in the States.it is so sad to imagine that wildfires are the problem and cause of destruction of many things including taking human lives. But to imagine that this destroys within days or hours something that was acquired or built in years is heart-drenching. I hope that the government invests in finding the cause of these wildfires and how to stop or perhaps contain it so it doesn’t destroy many things or take any lives.
Hi Eric!
It’s awesome to connect with someone living in Montana’s capital city, especially since most of the people I encounter in my online courses are from Boston or close too. It’s funny how you mentioned working as an EMT is particularly intriguing because my good friend just started a course to become an EMT as well. Even though I may not have explored blogging myself before in past courses, my experience with discussion boards has shown the potential benefits of this academic growth. Blogging gives us students access to reliable resources and gets a sense of the community. When you mentioned the wildfires in Montana it honestly shocked me because something similar randomly happened in the woods a few miles away from a friend. With their growing frequency and intensity, wildfires are a serious threat to the health and safety of our people and ecosystems. As climate change continues to influence wildfire behavior, it is imperative that we remain proactive in our strategies for prevention and response.
Hi Eric,
Thanks for sharing! I am based in San Francisco, we’ve had our fair share of large wildfires but escaped fire season in 2024. To your note regarding LA, the destruction is unprecedented, and there’s concerns that the upcoming rain storms may cause other natural disasters. It’s terrible to think of what this means for residents, but I feel relevant to the current discourse regarding climate change, as the it has played a role in changes in natural weather patterns.
Hi Eric! I really enjoyed reading your post and am looking forward to hearing your perspective on other topics! I think your reasons for enrolling in the program are great and very thoughtful. I also work as an EMT, so I thought that was pretty cool, too! I unfortunately wasn’t really aware of the wildfires in Montana. I remember hearing about wildfires there a couple times, but definitely not anywhere near the coverage wildfires in California get. I’m sure that will change if there starts being property loss and/or loss of life, so I do not look forward to hearing about the wildfires there on the news. Hopefully the people in charge are able to take heed of the lessons from California, especially LA, in order to be better prepared. This past fall in Massachusetts we had such a severe drought that we had several very large brush fires. That was difficult enough, I can’t even imagine dealing with something on such an unimaginably large scale.
Hi Eric! Your blog post really drew me into reading more! First of all, i think its super cool that you live in Montana! I have always wanted to go to Montana. Secondly, i have also been monitoring the wild fires in California which are leaving many people and animal’s homeless. The fire suppression precautions that Montana have are incredible to me. These are all facts i had no idea of and happy to have read your blog.
Hi, Eric!
I think it’s wonderful that you’re interested in expanding your education and knowledge of WGS, and I know that it will have a beneficial impact in your field of work and all the volunteer work you do as well!
I hope you do not experience the tragedies of so many in CA, I was not aware that Montana also had a high vulnerability of wildfires.
Thank you for sharing your research and knowledge with us.
Megan
Hello and welcome from your ecofeminism professor!
Make sure you check your settings so that people’s comments can post or you will need to constantly approve them.
I love reading an article that will make people
think. Also, thanks for allowing for me to comment!