Category: Blog English 110 (Page 1 of 2)

Why are we not doing anything to stop climate change when we know it is an issue?

We wonder why when a problem presents itself, why do some brush it under the rug? Could it be some are too stubborn to change? Or something as simple as laziness? We know that climate change exists and there is plenty of data to support that.  A lot of people hear statistics with a lot of numbers and shut down at that point. Then there are people, me for example, who actually have there minds changed from hearing the numbers. Others see movements and have there minds changed.  But some just think it is too big for anything to change and too big for one person. Bill Mckibben is an environmental activist and he supports this by saying, “There’s always stuff to be done and more of it all the time and that’s what movements look like.” (22:16) We have to start somewhere and when we do, that is when things can change. If we don’t believe that climate change is right then we have to do something. In the book If Your House Is On Fire written by Kathleen Dean Moore, she states “If the culture forces us to live in ways we don’t believe in, then we have to change the culture.” (6) We know there is an issue and spreading the word in any way shape or form can help.

When we hear of something that is destroying our planet it is alarming, but when we hear that it was caused by us, it’s sad. Climate change has been affecting our planet for generations and continues to get worse. Many experts have confirmed this and KNOW that eventually, it will become irreversible. Bill McKibben states in his movie Do The Math“We’re no longer at the point of trying to stop global warming, too late for that. We’re at the point of trying to keep it from becoming complete and utter calamity.” (6:31) But how can we stop this? It is hard to make a memorable and worth wild change but not doing anything is worse. Most know the issue and try to change small things through the day. Things such as avoiding plastic and other non-biodegradable items and more people are trying to recycle.

NAYSAYER

There are some who say doing those things are useless. Not using plastic straws is so small, it isn’t going to change much. Some believe that climate change will not get to the point of unsustainable living. Even with the small changes that we can do on a daily bases, they believe that it is not worth it and a waste of time. Even the skeptics cant argue with science and confirmed figures.  In Do The Math Bill McKibben talks about the question NASA answered which was how much carbon is too much to be in the atmosphere. They found that anything greater then 350 ppm is not sustanible for human development. Scientist say that today the atmosphere is 395 ppm and its rising 2 ppm every year (8:20). It is next to impossible to argue when NASA and scientist are involved. This would give anyone the information and answers that they need to prove their doubts.

Climate change has been a controversy for centuries and continues to be a problem, but it continues to be an issue. Why does something continue to happen if we know its a problem? Kathleen Dean Moore talks about the moral urgency of climate change. On big concern is the fact that many think we are too small to do something big. Moore heard a very strong argument against that when she heard Desmond Tutu. He gave an example about how this is incorrect; the thought that we are too small to make a change, “He knows from experience that it is possible to bring down entrenched institutions.” (3) We see from that even with that thought that it is impossible to bring down these corporations who have been part of climate change, that we do in fact have power. One big influence is a person’s morals. Morals are what tells us what we are doing is wrong.  Moore believes that moral arguments are the best appeal (8). She goes on to give three reasons why moral arguments are prominent. On example she gives is “Moral arguments speak to all people. Economic arguments speak only to a few.” This shows that even being small, we are still able to do something about these global concerns. Do we not have a moral obligation to face climate change? (2)

Change is hard to accomplish. When we see a problem in society and want to change it, it takes time and connections. In the movie Do the Math by Bill Mckibben, he talks about the effects that fossil fuel industries and the effects fossil fuel has on our environment. He also expresses the challenges that we face trying to end this crisis and how to begin to start this progress of change. McKibben states “My theory of change was I’ll write my book, people will read it and then they’ll change but that’s not how change happens.” (0:40) He expresses that he thought writing his book would get things going but in fact, it was much more difficult and complex than that. A movement doesn’t happen overnight. In comparison, in Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit he talks about how change is done from our strong and weak ties. Our strong ties are people that we are close to and weak ties are acquaintances.  Both of these people are important to get a movement started. Duhigg explains that ” A movement starts because of the social habits of friendship and the strong ties between close acquaintances.” (87) We can not start a movement with only our close friends. No one has enough friends to start any type of movement large enough to make a big change. Duhigg understands that we need people to make a change. Both Duhigg and McKibben talk about the same ideas and how we all want to get to the same endpoint, peace.  We can’t have peace without starting somewhere and we can’t have peace without connections. With both of these things, we can reach our end goal.

Global warming has been a big issue for a long time. We now are more accepted to the fact that if we keep going the way we are going, our planet may be damaged beyond repair. For many decades people believed global warming was a “joke” and many that spoke or did anything to address global warming were considered “quakes”. They are now respected but that doesn’t mean what they are doing by starting movements doesn’t end them up in some trouble.  Bill McKibben is an environmental activist that started the 350.org website and organization with a few students from Middlebury Collge. They all had a common desire to change the global problems that we are facing. As McKibben states “There’s always stuff to be done and more of it all the time and that’s what movements look like.” (22:16) One of the biggest issues with people not wanting to accept or start something is because they think they are only one voice. I myself have this feeling. I also have a feeling of hopelessness when I see things like this video. I think when we all accept the fact that something like this is going on but it is so large that we can not do anything right now to fix it, a sense of hopelessness takes over. But as McKibben said, there is always stuff to do. This is similar to the change that Duhigg talks about and how he discusses that not just one person can make a difference. It is about who we know and the ties that we make or already have.  It is also about starting somewhere and sometimes we have to fight for what we believe in. In that, we can change what is being done as Rosa Parks fought against the system saying that she needed to move to the back of the bus. Bill McKibben has been arrested many times for standing up for what he believed in. Sometimes that is what it takes.

Duhigg expresses the importance of strong ties and weak ties. Explaining that they are both equally important but weak ties can be more impactful then strong ties.  They all do need to work together in the end. Duhigg states that our weak ties are the people that would tell us about an opportunity that our strong ties wouldn’t. When we are in a certain “clique” we are already aware of what they know because we talk often. For our weak ties, we see them so infrequently that they may be able to tell us about an opportunity that we are otherwise unaware of. However, I believe that weak ties would not be anything without strong ties. Without strong ties, weak ties would not exist. Our strong ties connect us to the weak ties and they would be the first to be there if something happened. As Duhigg stated “people have no problem ignoring strangers’ injuries, but when a friend is insulted, our sense of outrage is enough”, this expresses that we would be more motivated to help a close friend than an acquaintance.

In the text overviewing Charles Duhigg’s book “The Power of Habit” many topics and stories were told but the main purpose it came back to was social change/ social habits. In society, we have people who make an impact in the community by being involved and being a member of society. Duhigg talks about social habit, “Social habits are what fill streets with protestors who may not know one another, who might be marching for different reasons, but who are all moving in the same direction.” (Page 87).  This expresses the fact that no matter who we are or what we have done or haven’t done, we are all part of some connection in society. In society, we have strong and weak ties. Strong ties are your close friends and weak ties are acquaintances. At first, we all may think that strong ties are more important, but Duhigg contradicts that with the argument that weak ties are critical. When something happens our strong ties would know first and then the connection would end, but the weak ties are the people they know and someone I may have talked to once or twice. When we have acquaintances they extend our inner circle to make a much larger picture, but without strong ties, we would not have weak ties. They are all important in social change.

• Driving to camp on my mom’s bus
• A sense of nervousness
• walking into a college as a kid
• nervous where to go
• the smell of a gym
• talking to her, her being very nice
• playing games
• walking into the bathroom and seeing her again
• asking that big question

This story means so much because it changed the way I thought about people from other cultures and religions. I see so much hate in this world and it is for no reason. When we are all the same but may look different. As a child, I was brave enough to ask a question that may have offended another, but in fact, it changed me forever.

Why is racism still alive?

Can someone who has already made up their mind be changed?

How can we irrigate this forever?

How does audio play a role in the way this story is told?

The audio like in a movie, changes with the way the mood of the story is going. Due to the podcast only being something you listen to, the audio is important.

What parts of the podcast are particularly effective and why?

The part of the podcast that I found the most effective were the stories from people dealing with this discrimination and statistics which really gives you a perspective about how bad this issue is.

How does it compare to the more visual story we got from Martha Hall’s books?

Martha Hall’s books still showed pain but she expressed it in a different way, she funneled her pain into art which worked for her. These teens told their stories in hope that it will change the way people think about the LGBTQ community.

Some extra notes I toke:

• One of the girls that spoke came out as gay to her best friend and it did not go over well, her friends parents asked them to meet at Starbucks and one of her friends parents asked “why are you making this choice, you are hurting so many people you love, you are going to lose everyone you love”.
• People using the words “gay” or “faggot” in describing things they find worthless or stupid.
• Kids are afraid of losing their parents if they come out to them. We want our parents to be proud of us
• Parents don’t want their kids to be bullied so they want them to be straight.
• “being gay isn’t a condition” (Anne Hallward_
• 74% of gay or transgender teens report being verbally harassed
• A suicide hotline gets 45,000 calls every year
• 1/3 of transgender teens report being physically harmed
• 30% of LGBTQ teens attempt suicide
• “depression is a short road”
• The problem isn’t who they are, but how they are treated.
• “it’s terrible to feel like you don’t belong”
• Aiden’s mom said,” I don’t feel like I lost a child, I feel like I have gained an amazing son”
• When schools create GSTA, it actual helps straight boys more than the LGBTQ community due to the number of kids that are picked on for people thinking they are gay.

When I first started the video on Martha Hall, my first thought was how her books were any different than every other book in a library, but when she toke one about and talked about it, I thought they were definitely unique and not like any book I had ever seen. The way she made the books to not only tell her story but make them artistic which is what she loved, made them very special. After hearing her story than finding out that she passed away made me sad. She talked more about how she overcame cancer and used those books to express how she was feeling. Coming into class the next day, I thought we were only going to talk about the books but they were there to look at and read. I have to admit I was VERY excited to see them for myself and having the thought that they were ORIGINAL and there was nothing else like it in the world was surreal. She only spoke about two books in the video but seeing her other books spoke more then I thought they would. There was one in particular that seemed as if it had a stronger meaning then just to talk about her cancer. The book looked like a medical book about what to expect with her diagnosis, but the book was not highlighted or written on as you may think, it was ripped and stappled many times, there were even pages sewn together. Martha is not around for us to ask her what this meant but I think she was putting her pain into this book and showing how she really felt without having to write it. Some pages were even ripped, then patched with a bandage. Again, there was so much meaning in that book and in all of her books. I am very glad that her legacy is able to live on through those books and I am honored that I was able to see them.