A Change of Perspective

With knowledge comes awareness and with the awareness comes choices.
This class has given me a lot of choices to think about. Before this class I was aware of global warming and believed it was occurring. I didn't like being dependent on foreign oil or the bad emissions from cars that go into the air. I bought a hybrid not because I can get better gas mileage (which I do get about 52mpg) but for air quality. My car may not be the coolest looking or the fastest but it gets me to where I need to go safely, timely and I feel good about driving it. I have heard of the WWF and that we have to "Save the Panda's, the polar bears...." but I didn't understand the whole cycle of the way in which the environment, ecosystems and species worked.
I am overwhelmed by all the things we are learning in class. Some days I think, how is this ever going to get better? But I try and tell my friends and family about what I'm learning so they can see what I'm seeing. I shop at Farmer's Markets more. I am more conscious to buy local, California grown and in season fruits and veggies. As much as I might want to make guacamole, I just can't buy the avocados from Chile. I try and have meatless days 2 times a week. I've gone to the library and on-line for vegetarian dishes to try. I've thought about finding a spot in my small yard to grow vegetables, which never interested me before. I always bring my own bags when I shop. I turn lights off when I leave a room. During the colder months I wore lots of sweatshirts and jackets around my house and only turned on the heat when I knew company was coming. I'm not sure how I'll do in the hot months, but I'm already thinking about what I can do to keep myself from using the air conditioner to a minimum. When I run errands I think about where I need to go and try and make my stops in the same directions. Before I purchase something I stop and ask myself if I really need what I'm buying more than I have in the past. More times then not, I find myself putting items back on the shelf. Learning about poverty has changed the way I think about things as well. I have heard about the slum of India and have even read about them, but it was nothing compared to seeing the slum in the movie "Slumdog Millionaire". The massive poverty shown was jaw dropping and I know it was just one example of what is out there. Population, education, mining waste, agriculture, politics and our interdependency and the connectedness of all these topics, I never even considered before.
So, you ask if this class has changed my perspective? I would say that this class has changed my life and the way I live and view the world is very different than before.

Dr. Larid Thompson

I wasn't able to watch the program on t.v. because I had to take my daughter to the Dr. So I watched in on iTunes and the quality wasn't very good. I had a difficult time seeing the power point slides clearly. I thought his presentation was full of lots of complex and complicated slides. A little difficult to keep up with what he was talking about on the iTunes version. I wished Dr. Thompson had a pointer because that would have helped to see in which part of his slide he was referring to during his presentation.
He had a lot of information and I felt very informed when he was done. It is so scary too to see how our consumption is high and growing and the resources of oil and coal are depleting. His information on how we reached the mid-point of total production capacity in the 1970's was depressing. Also when he talked about that fact that 63% of oil, natural seeps into the earth and atmosphere was scary to me too. The fact that we are very inefficient and we use only 63% of the energy we produce made me feel like a greedy American.
The process of oil and where it was found was really interesting. I was one of those people who thought it came from dinosaurs although I did question this belief. I thought it was interesting seeing how the oil platforms and rigs work. The information on the barrel of oil and how it is refined was difficult to see but I can tell that it goes into making different things at the different levels in the barrel. I thought that was interesting.
I like the idea of biodiesel and did hear that Volkswagen is going to sell a Passat that is diesel and can run on biofuels. I thought the idea of switching from corn to switch grass was interesting except it is not native to the U.S. The fact that sweet potatoes and sugar beets can produce more ethanol fuel than corn was something I did not know either. But like Dr. Thompson said economics drives everything and with the corn farmer lobbyist out there I'm not sure if the use of corn can be changed or shared with another source.
It seems there has to be a better solution. Someone in class asked it a little bit of all the different ideas that are valid and being presented can be put into practice. I liked that idea. I think then it might not put a strain on one thing. Like with the corn crops it isn't great for the soil to keep having the same type of crop.
So the bottom line sounds like we need to be more efficient as individuals and be more aware of how we use our energy. There was a show on television that had a family of four trying to live off the grid. I watched a little of it and tried to tape it because I'd like to see what they did and how I can incorporate it into my life.

Joe Mederios - Sustainability

Joe's information was mind boggling. 50-100 species go extinct a day, 15 million tons of carbon is added to our atmosphere a day, 250,000 people are added to earth a day! I think back on the carbon foot print test we took and am frightened that we will never be able to solve this problem. I think a lot of people have forgotten that we are responsible for earth. Americans do tend to be blingaholics. A sustainable environment is important and impacts both the economy and our society. It would be nice if everyone did small things to help them sustain their own life and see what kind of a change might occur in the overall world environment that we life in.

Frank DeCourten

Scary!!! All his visual aids and data about of how we are getting hotter and hotter. Yikes! Plus we are the problem! I guess the good news we can start making a difference today. We can be careful with our transportation/fossil fuels and electricity use. We should think about how we move things about we can be more careful and buy locally grown foods. We can think walking when we can to do things instead of driving. We can inform our families and friends that global warming is occuring and we are a big part of the problem but we can make a difference. I liked all of Frank's visual aids and charts. Some were difficult to understand but interesting to see what climate scientist are looking at and coming up with.

Religion and the Environment

Jane's lecture was really interesting. Looking at the environment from the different religions and seeing there point of view about the environment. I got the impression that they were all utilitarian points of view. Chaos was tamed for us to reign yet we are also responsible to take care of nature. From the book of Genesis Jane talked about Adam and Eve making a bad choice and why did they do this. I think it really echos how the general population sees the environment. It was brought up on how Adam and Eve made a bad choice because they didn't value what they had and they also didn't understand the consequence of their choice. But it leaded us back into chaos with their disobedience. I think it was also interesting when she talked about the Eastern views and the Law of karma. What we fix today will be something we will not have to fix in the next lifetime. I also thought the Hindu religion was interesting on how it sees how the world was created.

Lynn Mederios Rocks!

I loved Lynn Mederios talk on facts vs. values! She was energetic, and entertaining and passionate about the subjects she was talking about. I appreciate her sharing stories of her life to help us better understand her point of view. The time in class flew by! I thought is was interesting about background beliefs and I liked that she reminded everyone to keep an open mind even if you disagree with what the speaker is saying, because in the long run you might just learn something. Our background beliefs should be evolving and we should challenge ourselves to critically think and evaluate information. We should also be able to throw out what is longer held up by facts. I like the idea of finding out all you need to know about an opposite point of view because when you have a clear understanding of the facts than you are able to make a better argument. She made me want to learn more about history because then I might have a better understanding of how we got to be where we are today politically, environmentally and personally.

My view point of the Environment

First off, I have to say that my view point of the environment has changed slowly through the years and especially since the beginning of this class. I have Spring time allergies so my view point of the environment for me is partly associated with sneezing, watery eyes and a runny nose. I grew-up only going camping a few times with my family and with Girl Scouts. I think my family's idea of nature and the environment was more utilitarian. Although my Mom loved plants and we had lots of plants around the house and in the front yard. She was constantly weeding. She was also constantly buying new plants because she did not have a green thumb and replaced the ones that died. But again it was more in a utilitarian way. I just recently read a book by John Connolly called, "The Book of Lost Things". It is about a boy who grows up and loses his innocents and sees death, danger, betrayal, friendship and love in the world in a grown-up perspective. The author uses fairy tales and twist them to make his point and it takes place in a dark forest. The dark forest has creatures that want to kill him making it a very dangerous place. The description of the forest was a lot like the one Snow White sees when the woodsman takes her to the deep dark forest as the Queen requests to cut out her heart. I suppose this is the point of view of the environment that is easier for me to associate with. Although, I look around me and think that the trees, ocean, birds and streams are beautiful. I love spending time at the beach where all the elements meet (air, sun, earth, water). But now I go further and think about the species that live in the ocean and the layers of biomes that are out there. It takes on a different significance and meaning to me. I walk through a ravine every Saturday morning and enjoy the sounds of nature and seeing the ducks and the heron in the stream near by. It wasn't until taking this class do I appreciate the homes of these species in a whole new way. I am seeing that the environment exists for more than just myself. The world really is diverse in so many more ways and on so many different levels and here for us all to exists together.

Vernon Martin - Finding Nature in the Mall

I thought Vernon Martin was an interesting speaker. He made me think differently about the mall. I haven't been to the mall in a long time but it is true how they try and bring a false sense of "nature" to inside the mall. The natural lighting and trees and water elements surround you as you walk around. I see parents bringing kids to the mall to play on the little play structures they have set up and sometimes I do wonder why they don't just take them to an outdoor park. I was really fascinated with the way marketing and advertising has changed. It was interesting to see the "er" of advertising in the 1950's to what is it today with giving us a sense of belonging and something to believe in when at the end of the day it just a tennis shoe. It is almost scary how easy it is to buy into this advertising. I can now see how I have done this in some of my purchases in the past. It is sort of like Gigi in the movie "He's Just Not That into You"and how she thinks she sees the signs of how the guy feels but really she is misreading and looking at something that isn't real. So we walk into the Rainforest Cafe and we think we are experiencing something real and but it really isn't. It is just an idea of what is palpable for most of the public to understand and digest and feel comfortable looking at. It was also interesting to see how we used to buy things like a television, new car to signify our class status and today we buy name brands to signify who we are. Are you a Coca-cola vs. Pepsi drinker? Are you a Mac vs. PC user?
I really liked the quote by Baudrillard," It is no longer a question of imitation, nor of duplication, nor even a parody. It is rather a question of substituting signs of the real for the real itself" Interesting stuff to think about.