Open Blog 2

Mini-rant.

I do not feel optimistic about the way the world is going.

People are very stupid.  Backstory Justin Bieber visited the Anne Frank house. He said Anne Frank was a good person and hope she would have been a fan. I'm kind of really not ok with someone's response to the Anne Frank house being I hope she would like my pop music. Really? Nothing about genocide or realizations about life. In response, his followers freaked out and instead of googling Anne Frank they just kind of insulted her.

Combine THIS^ mindless following of pop culture icons with an incessant, ravenous need to keep up with technology. Then if you don’t want to buy the newest technology too bad! You have to. Schools require that you write papers online to save trees or watch videos as supplemental instruction and after a few years the computer you bought is just a hunk of metal because everything is flying forward too fast. It reminds me of my favorite movie/book Jurassic Park. Ian Malcolm complains that the scientists didn’t gain their knowledge. They stood on the shoulders of giants.

I feel like I am continually torn between John Hammond and Ian Malcolm. Should we act in the light of discovery and act because we are there or should we refrain because we don’t know the repercussions? Most days I feel like Dr. Alan Grant. 40s years old and running to catch up with the world. UGH I’m in college. That was way too pretentious a rant.

Anyway, I don’t like the fact that we follow celebrities like mini-gods. It feels like ancient Greece or Rome with dozens of gods and you chose the gods you like based on location. I dunno, Feels similar to me. Also pretentious. End of rant.

Open Blog- 1

This semester I did a recycling project with Patterson where the residents recycled their plastic bags. We recycled over 2,000 bags throughout the entire building. We recycled by giving them to the local homeless shelter so eventually they would end up in the trash. We could have sent them to the local Bi-Lo or Food Lion to be sent to a recycling area but the homeless shelter is always in need of plastic bags. I am still kind of uncertain about that. It is definitely good that we sent the bags to somewhere they were needed but I wish we could have ensured they would be recycled afterwards. BUT it would impossible and irrational to ask dozens of homeless people to travel to the local Bi-Lo. This particularly stuck in my mind because I have taken several classes both marine and environmental science that focus on plastic pollution in the ocean for a least a little while. The sheer size of it is horrifying. The Pacific garbage patch is the size of the United States (http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html). My little sister called to ask me some questions about it and I was surprised to learn that most people haven’t heard of it. A giant garage patch (to be fair it isn’t visible, the plastic is in small pieces, and under quite a bit of water) with 100 million tons of flotsam is mostly unknown. Humans are changing so much of the environment but we see so little. I cant wait to see a documentary coming out in late 2013 called Midway: Message from the Gyre. So sad but looks so good. It is called Midway. Message from the Gyre. It is about the Island of Midway  and its population of albatrosses. Although it is 2000 miles from the nearest continent, the adult albatrosses pick up pounds of plastic and feed it to their young. The adults can throw up the plastic but the chicks can't. The chicks eat the plastic, die, and their carcasses decay around it. It is haunting. I tried to link the video to this but I couldn't so I'll post the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbqJ6FLfaJc

Ecofem Blog

Ecofeminism is the combination of ecology and feminism that seeks to destroy all hierarchy.  Before I read these articles, I thought it might be that but I wasn’t sure. This is my group’s project so I have more of a connection to it and more information about it. I choose this group because I am very interested in feminism but I wasn’t sure how eco- would figure into it. Now I know this section of feminism is concerned with the hierarchy between humans and nature. It seems nice to want to keep a balance between the concerns of nature and humans but I don’t think that often when there are conflict between the needs of human and nature it is a matter of something’s life or death. If that instance, a human life will always be valued more and I agree with it.

The article about Vandana Shiva makes me hopeful for the world. She protects the heritage of her nation by protecting the seeds. A bit of ecofeminsism brings up the old sterotype that women are more connected than men to nature. This annoys me but it is nice to have something positive connected to women. The second article talks about the PMS woman as irrational and connects that to nature versus culture. I definitely agree with this. The annoying  sterotype of the irrational woman and valuing nature less than culture is something that resonates with my views of the world.  However, this article values women and nature and overall brings more of an idea of connectedness than I am used to.

Blog10

Blog 10

What is Social Ecology? What are your reactions to the readings? What forms of hierarchy are in our world today? Are these hierarchies natural? Are there any better alternatives?

Social ecology promotes destroying all hierarchy and creating a world with equality for everyone, nature and man.

My reactions to the readings are that social ecology is a nice idea but I think we should let it go since it is not feasible.

There are hierarchies between races, genders, those who have and those who have not.

I think certain hierarchies are natural. I think that if a new society where to start up tomorrow with no knowledge of previous societies that they would have their own hierarchies. In a perfect world it would be awesome to get rid of most of these hierarchies but even in a world were everyone is forced to be perfectly equal (which would be terrifying) there would be something that people valued and everyone couldn’t have.

Blog 9

After reading Arne Naess' "The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement," write a twenty-five-word (give or take) response to each of the seven Deep Ecology Movement principles. Do you agree or disagree with each of these principles.

 

Diversity- enhances the potentiality of survival and life’s richness. I agree diversity is important and increase survival rates. From strictly a human standpoint, diversity and equality within diversity should be encouraged to decrease dominance of one type of person against another.

Complexity- provides fail-safes for the environment such as redundant species that can substitute for a keystone species. Ecosystems are often so complex that humans cannot understand them fully and should therefore not mess with them (unless to clean up something). I agree with this.

 Autonomy- I agree with trying to keep the use of resources localized but ecology can often be injured by localization. Invasive species or new diseases can decimate a population not used to them.

Decentralization- This is similar to autonomy. It would reduce the amount of energy used to transport goods.

Symbiosis- There is no such things as true symbiosis in nature. Survival of the fittest is not polite and full of cooperation. It can be cruel and bloody. One organism always gets more from the other. We should strive not to be like this as people but keep in mind nature has no concept of justice.

Egalitarianism- The equal right to live and blossom. Soooo kudzu everywhere? As much as this is a nice, polite thought. It isn’t practical.

Classlessness- I think within current human society classes will always form. Look at high school and prisons. A system forms without classes being in place. Maybe future generations can escape it but we can’t.

After reading the article "Deep Ecology," do you feel that Devall and Sessions are accurate with their outline of the Dominant Worldview and the Deep Ecology view? Do you feel that the Dominant Worldview is representative of the average person? Please elaborate.
I think the average person is likes nature more than they think. If you ask people if nature and the wild is a ‘good’ thing to be protected most would say yes. They will not however place the needs of nature about those of their family. Deep ecology view seems far-reaching and very unlikely but I suppose these are long term goals.

 

Blog 8

What are the preconditions necessary for using consensus decision making in a group or organization?  What are the strengths and weaknesses of the process?

The preconditions for using consensus decision making are respect for individual thoughts, common purpose, and trust. Respect is necessary for each idea to be heard. A common purpose is necessary to bind the group together and move it along towards its goal. Trust allows the group members to follow the best course of action while not worrying about alterative goals or if they are against the verdict, to know that the group will not support decisions that will hurt them.

The strengths of the process are a close-knit community, reaching better decisions (based on two-heads are better than one), and creating a community that is more invested in the decisions made for their community. The weaknesses are that anytime trust in the group is threatened or someone does not want to meet the goal given then everything grinds to a halt. Also if the group is uncaring about the decision the facilitator seems to just make an executive decision in order to keep the group moving. This is necessary but not the best for the group. In my opinion this style of decision making can be used but only in very specific situations.

For example, if I tried to use it with my residents in Patterson Hall, depending on the questions, I would most likely get apathy or a decision that would get me fired (like let’s get alcohol for the next hall meeting).  While I respect my residents for the great, smart, compassionate young women they are I do not trust them to keep decisions within the confines of Patterson Hall’s rules (because they do not have the same amount of responsibility to them as I do) and I work toward different goals. I work towards having a unified hall and getting certain criteria done put down by my bosses. My residents are not aware of these goals (nor should they be, its not their job) and while they would like to meet the girls in the rest of the hall, it would not be a personal victory like it would be for me. For most decisions I would get apathy because it would not affect them much.

 

Blog 7

Blog 7

What is culture-jamming?  What are its forms?  What do you think of it as a tool for activism?  Be sure to use specific examples for the readings and the Adbusters website.  For an extra point, find an example on youtube.

Culture-jamming is an advertisement made to criticize aspects of modern culture, like consumerism and drug use. They also highlight the way advertisers sell you products. I think it is a great tool for activism. Ads are a form of getting information people are very used to and I love how they highlight the prevalence and power of advertisement.  Last semester I learned that the average child can correctly identify brand names before they can read. That is terrifying! On the adbusters website, I watched the “real bears’ ad. It was about the dangers of drinking soda like weight gain, diabetes, tooth decay, etc.

I know all of these things instinctively about soda because it is just liquid sugar but hearing it specially attributed to soda is new to me, probably because that would be terrible press.  Also in the ad there were multiple ads from the bear’s soda company connecting happiness and soda. Now that I look at soda ads, very few sell the taste more sell a lifestyle.  

On youtube here is a video on culture-jamming. It is about the sexualization of girls and women and how it affects their mental health. Here’s a hint, it’s not positive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp6gjxCRuxs

Blog 6- I can't even.

What are your reactions to your GTP reading?  What are your preliminary ideas for leading a class meeting focused on this topic?

Ecofemism: Our roots and Flowering

This article made me genuinely angry.

The main reasons this article bothers me is being it uses a wishy-washy version of spirituality and it accuses men of causing everything wrong with our society. Society has its problems but both genders are part of it. She picks and chooses which values she wants from societies long before us that are either little known (Gaia and goddess type religons) or socieities that used women as social and political tools (medieval Europe). For example, Spretnak espunges the values of European fertility rituals where women circled the fields and transferred their fertility to the field. She says that the men and women of that time participated in the cycles of nature with respect and gratitude. They may have respected nature, but women had very few rights back then and for a long time serfdom was the norm.

It seems to me that all she values about women is their vaginas and potential to have children. She doesn’t mention anything else about women at all.

Valuing ‘The Godess’ as a religion instead of 70s hipsters garbling the archeological facts about an ancient religion and morphing it to fit their needs while using its age to being authority to their drug fuelled

This article says that agricultural and reproductive developments (instead of allowing society to bring more food  to more people or allowing people who would otherwise be infertile to have children) are all about taking fertility away from the earth and man.

 In her article, Ynestra King hits the nail on the head with another problem with this article. The patriarchal society is the one that assigned women as closer to nature. This is not a natural concept.

Ughhhhhhhhh I can’t even. This article is everything that bothers me about life.

Off the top of my head for my project I want to stay as far away from this article and  its ideas as possible. I would rather talk about equality and how we can bring  better ecological technologies to women and men in the third world.

Blog 5

Blog#5: Using the reading material for today as well as previous reading on green values (and referring to specific aspects of that material), write a blog entry outlining the goals and specific characteristics of a green learning community.  How would you know one if you saw one? 

The goals of a green learning community would be to create a group learning environment that facilitates group discussion, student led classes, and equality. They would discuss the ecological and societal consequences of the topic at hand.  It would focus heavily on cooperation skills and activities outside the classroom, mostly likely volunteer work and community building.

Some characteristics of a green learning community would be respect for all members of the community, a noncompetitive, cooperative attitude. They would focus on equality not just in the classroom but throughout the world, talking about privilege and bias that the typical student would not think about.

I would know if I saw one because the goals and characteristics above, like equality in the classroom, are very different from the classic teaching style of lecturing and receive grades based on tests of the material. Also having activities outside of the classroom is quite different from the typical classroom.

 

Blog 4

What do you think of “green values?”  Which ones do you most believe in?  What surprised you the most about the readings? 

I had ENVR 501-S last semester so I am familiar with green values. Last semester, I was surprised to learn that green values describe a new society and they are much more than environmental concerns. For example, I did not know equality was a green value. 

I believe in conserving the environment the most but gender equality is a close second. For me, gender equality will not matter much if the environment is unlivable. Often in classes like marine ecology and Oceans and human Health, I hear how exactly we have messed up the environment and I am frustrated by the general apathy towards the environment. It honestly scares me when people refuse to believe global warming is happening. Gender equality is important to me because it frustrates me seeing someone's talents wasted or seeing a culture that encourages gender stereotypes. 

What surprised me those about the readings was probably hearing about the variation in green values.  It seems that green just means conservation but hearing about the differences, even if the goal of the articles is to consolidate the ideals of the movement, shows the variability of the green movement and what it can mean to each person. It seems that everyone has differs values and different ranking of those values. I think this is beneficial to the movement because every aspect of the green movement is rallied for by those for who this aspect is their highest value. 

Blog 3

Prompt: For the AASHE and Sustainable Carolina websites, describe the specific program that you find most interesting in each one and explain why you find it interesting. Plus, write one question for Margaret Bounds, based on the Sustainable Carolina website.

For the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) website, the more article was about integrating sustainability into the curriculum. It’s advice seems applicable to my work as a resident mentor. Specifically it talks about inviting speakers and going on field trips. For my hall, I could invite a speaker to talk about sustainability, have some food, and some games. I could make it a sustainable tailgate.   

For the sustainable Carolina website, the Right Choice Fresh Start Farmer’s Market seemed the most interesting. I love farmer’s markets, both at home in Cincinnati and here in South Carolina so I would love to help out. Unfortunately, this is in Orangeburg.

While the information was interesting, I would have liked to see more upcoming activities. The website did not seem updated recently.

My question for Margaret Bounds from the sustainable Carolina website is what is next for Sustainable Carolina? What is the plan for the rest of the school year?

Blog 2

My name is Julia McGuire. I am 20, which makes me a junior. I was born in Oak Ridge, TN, and I have a little sister. I moved to Cincinnati, OH later and consider myself from there. My major is marine science.

I don’t have a definite of idea of what to do with my major  but even if I did I’m fairly sure it would get derailed at some point. My interests within marine science include pollution, cetaceans, corals, and anything else I read about. My dream job would involve studying whales in the wild. I have a big moral problem with dolphins and whales being kept in captivity.

When I was in high school, I worked at the Newport Aquarium. I have also worked at a pool, and a pizza shop. Currently I am a resident mentor, and I have been for the last two years, at Patterson residence hall. It’s very difficult and time consuming but very rewarding.

This is me and my RM staff going laser tagging. I am in the farthest right in the first row.

Here is me and my boyfriend last thanksgiving.

Blog 1

Green values are anything that protects the earth. Green used to be a term associated with hippies and granola but today it is used with everything from corporate goals to new technology. Green values also include equal opportunities for everyone regardless of race, gender, etc. ‘Act local, think global’ is a green slogan encouraging everyone to preserve their local natural resources while thinking about how this can impact the world. Last semester in ENVR 501S I learned about different types of environmental thinking ecocentric, athrocentric, and biocentric. Anthrocentric is preserve the environment but only as far as it will help humans. Biocentric focuses on saving the life within the environment. Ecocentric focuses on saving the entire environment.

I hope to get a better understanding of green community in this class and what resources I can utilize to live green outside of USC.  I would like to learn how and why equality and green values are so interconnected. I am a resident mentor in Patterson Hall so at some point I would like to get my residents involved in some of the volunteering or talks (but I may need to incentivize it with food). At the end of the year I would like to have a better picture of how I can act green within my future and current workplace.