Last night we watched An Inconvenient Truth. What ran through your head as you drove home? Amazing individuals have been able to manifest strength in the face of environmental crisis, and do something about it. We can learn from and be inspired by their lives. Discuss the environmental hero biographies.
15 comments:
Watching the Inconvenient Truth last night had a great impact on me. When I woke up this morning my heart literally ached with fear for the state of our environment and the threat of global warming. I want so desperately to just fix the world and make it sustainable for everyone, but I cannot just do it over night. I am only one human being.
I did my ecological biography on Rachel Carson. She single handedly stopped the spraying of DDT in the nineteen sixties by writing the book Silent Spring. Rachel is an inspiration because she shows one woman has the power to make a very big difference, all you need is the drive and courage to make the change.
The part of The Inconvenient Truth that had the most impact on me was the time line diagram that showed the increase of carbon dioxide in the air from over thousands of years ago to now.
How did you guys feel about the time line?
Another thing I really liked about The Inconvenient Truth is the way Al Gore presents his data making a compelling argument that is easy for everyone to understand. His use of many diagrams, cartoons, and simple language made his point understandable to people that were not just in the scientific community. I feel this type of display of information is important in bringing real changes about. What do you think?
After watching Inconvenient Truth I was impressed with Al Gore's seeming sincerity and concern for the subject. I also felt that future bad weather may be inevitable. I had a real heartfelt empathy for parent raising young children, or grandparents etc. I imagined their concern.
I have no children (I made a Zero-Population-Growth decision in my teens and never changed my mind,)
but I love children and babies and often try to imagine what it would be like for some of my friends who are parents. I can't imagine, I don't think, the way it must feel to love your own child. But I do know it is a universal experience for parents all over the world.
Perhaps, it is this love that can help change the world. Especially mothers... if they could translate their love for their children into influence over the males in their lives, we might get some real action in reversing our ecological challenges.
Men still hold more places of power and influence in the world. Its just a fact, so that is why I say, women need to convince those males closest to them to make the world a better place.
I think one of the things reported to have ended the cold war was the bridge that was formed between parents on both sides of the wall who realized that everyone loves their children... and leaving the planet a better place than what you found it isn't such a selfish act.
Really, after listening to Al Gore talk about the trauma of his son's automobile accident and how it "turned his world upside down and shook everything out", it really isn't too trite to say...
Do it for the children.
Crystal,I too was amazed at how much carbon dioxide that was in the air. I never looked at Al Gore as being an environmentalist, but after watching Inconvenient Truth I can see how much he was fighting for the environment at the White House. What do you think that we have gotten any better educating the public. You still have the people that don't care. You have the big corporations that even if they do get find they have billions of dollars to pay it. I know personally every time I talk to somebody about recycling, growing your own vegetables from your garden, or composting they look at me and either call me a hippie, or naturalist. The rates that the public is going I do feel my grandchildren (when I have them) will not get to see some of the natural beauty we have. That is why I chose John Muir as my environmental hero. The amazing journeys he had, and how he describes them in his books. How John fought to keep some of our national Forest. It would be a shame after all his efforts to lose the forest due to global warming. I am speaking of when the pine trees was infested with the beetles the film.
Crystal,I too was amazed at how much carbon dioxide that was in the air. I never looked at Al Gore as being an environmentalist, but after watching Inconvenient Truth I can see how much he was fighting for the environment at the White House. What do you think that we have gotten any better educating the public. You still have the people that don't care. You have the big corporations that even if they do get find they have billions of dollars to pay it. I know personally every time I talk to somebody about recycling, growing your own vegetables from your garden, or composting they look at me and either call me a hippie, or naturalist. The rates that the public is going I do feel my grandchildren (when I have them) will not get to see some of the natural beauty we have. That is why I chose John Muir as my environmental hero. The amazing journeys he had, and how he describes them in his books. How John fought to keep some of our national Forest. It would be a shame after all his efforts to lose the forest due to global warming. I am speaking of when the pine trees was infested with the beetles the film.
Sorry, I clicked twice when I should've clicked once. I am still learning about this blog.
Inconvenient Truth was really eye-opening, disturbing, scary, and motivational all at the same time. I knew we had a problem but I just never knew how disaterous it was. Seeing the statistics, the graphs, the photos, the videos, and listening Al Gore's speech, made our problem of global warming pretty much unarguable. I am baffled at the fact there are still people who think global warming is a cyclical event. It's almost like they are too scared to face the facts (inconvenient). The two parts of the movie that made me sick to my stomach (well, a lot of it did but these parts still run through my mind)were seeing the animals affected by global warming and the clips of Gore's fellow politicians basically bashing him and his work (Bush Sr. especially). Obviously not everyone agrees with Gore, but to show that much disrespect for him and his work was quite appalling.
On the other hand, however, as terrified as I feel about our planet and what we are doing to her, I felt motivated after watching IT. I want to be more cautious, make positive changes, be more active in promoting a sustainable environment. Yes, it was scary to see and to hear, but I feel more motivated than ever to help out.
I guess it's up to us to take our fear and knowledge and transform it into positive, effective energy.
Running through my head as I drove home Tuesday night was the thought, "It could have been so different." Meaning, I guess, that had Al Gore actually been declared president instead of Bush (and I say declared purposely instead of elected), the mess we are currently in might not be so devastatingly bad. He is a true champion for the environment, and the fact that he works so tirelessly to inform people by traveling the world with his slide show indicates to me that he is one of those amazing individuals Freeda speaks about who is trying to "do something about it."
As I read through the assigned readings this week, I have taken time to thoroughly study the charts, tables and graphs. What strikes me is that NONE of the information there is encouraging. All of it is bleak. A bad situation getting worse and worse. For example, IPCC report, page 10, North America: "Warming in western mountains is projected to cause decreased snowpack, more winter flooding, and reduced summer flows, exacerbating competition for over-allocated water resources." We see this happening here already, with dried up riverbeds and streams, lowest lake levels on record at Lake Mendocino, lots of flooding happening this winter. The same report, page 12, states that the likelihood is "virtually certain" that warmer and fewer cold days and nights will occur and warmer and more frequent hot days and nights will occur. How can anyone NOT believe that global warming is real, occurring, and potentially disastrous for humans?
As for being inspired by the amazing environmental heroes, I admit to being amazed by what Ken Saro-Wiwa accomplished, but I am not quite inspired enough to lay my life on the line as he did. It must have taken lots of courage and guts to do what he did. The research I did for the short biography on this Nigerian hero of the people and environment does inspire me to continue my efforts to speak out as a citizen. I have often written to my representatives in the assembly and in Congress, as well as all the Democratic presidential candidates, asking them exactly how they plan to help us address these environmental problems. Fortunately, in this country, I feel fairly safe in speaking to politicians about how I feel. Unfortunately for Ken Saro-Wiwa, doing the same thing in his country got him hanged.
I, too, was very taken back by Sar-Wiwa and his fight against Shell Oil. His courage was so amazing and! Although, I do have to agree with June in that I don't think I would attack the problem as he did.
I really grew to like my hero, Gifford Pinchot. He was an activist in his own way, not as extreme as Sar-Wiwa. I think he made a difference as he battled the government and still managed to preserve some great national forests we appreciate today.
I've been thinking about the movie 'An Inconvenient Truth' all week, since we viewed it in class.
I guess the VERY first thing that came to mind is: what is Al Gore's personal carbon footprint? Aren't there more eco-friendly ways to get the his message out, than by jetting around to cities all over the world?
I believe we all have the power to make changes in our lives; yet I am worried that the sum of all these personal changes can never offset the graft and bribery corporations foot, in order to continue their abuse and degradation of the planet.
I also kept thinking how smug we Americans really are. We take for granted that we have enough money to feed/shelter/protect our families. We have the luxury not to worry about the true safety and security of our families and communities. And we look with horror at places like Darfur or the Arctic, somehow never really internalizing the problems.
I am not sure that we will figure out how to correct some of these huge ecological nightmares, unless we have a truly catastrophic event that causes humanity to either realize we are one species who CAN affect change, or until we are annihilated. (I recall reading in many different places, how insects like roaches, may again, one day be the dominate creatures on our planet).
I show the movie to both of my high school freshman classes each year. And then ask them to do some research assignments around the school-wide theme of sustainability. I am planning to show the movie all day on March 18, as it is 'sustainability day' at Mendocino High School. I am really glad that Mr. Gore produced such a user-friendly product.
Environmental Hero comments
I re-read the Eco-Hero documents just now. The class picked Theodore Roosevelt, Colleen McCrory, Gifford Pinchot, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Rachael Carson and John Muir to write about. They all have such interesting stories, both historic and modern-day! I wish that there was an environmental component to graduation requirments at both the high school and college levels, for ALL students. Maybe there is in other countries?
I was taken surprise by the seemingly insurmountable tasks some of these heroes undertook. But they all serve to remind us that the individual CAN and DOES make a lasting effect to the planet and Earth's inhabitants.
What impressed me most about the biographies on the various environmental heroes was that each of those people spoke up, took action, did things in a real and urgent way that made others sit up and pay attention. These heroes had a great way of connecting with the general public and getting their points across in simple yet effective ways.
How different this is from the United Nations Environment Programme's GEO-3 Global Environment Outlook report, "State of the Environment and Policy Retrospective: 1972-2002." When you read this report you better have a good dictionary handy. How can they expect to fire-up and invigorate an apathy-prone public with words and phrases such as: "Other frameworks have included the pressure-stateresponse (PSR) and later the driving force-pressurestate-impact-response(DPSIR)" and "sub-regional differentiation analyses" and "the harmonization of national datasets and acquisition of global datasets." Take my word for it. Nobody is going to respond to those kinds of words. What Rachel Carson and John Muir and Saro-Wiwa and the rest of them did was to relate to the masses of people on a personal basis and force them to acknowledge that there is an unmistakable connection between humans and the planet. This kind of UN gobbledegookspeak is not going to make as big an impact as Al Gore's understandable and accessible slideshow presentation. And yes, I agree with Kathy that he probably has a big footprint traveling around showing it. Maybe he should find a better way to disseminate the information through the internet and in classrooms. In my view, the video ought to be required viewing for all high school and college students.
Crystal, I felt the timeline diagram presented in Inconvenient Truth was very effective in getting across the point that our carbon dioxide emissions have significantly increased in the last few years. You are right also that his use of simple diagrams, cartoons and anecdotes goes a long way in "reaching" some of our citizens who might not otherwise give two cents about what happens to the environment.
Christine, "do it for the children" is precisely the concept that Chief Oren Lyons speaks of when talking about preserving the earth for the seventh generation. Loretta, there will probably always be people who do not care, and those who do not understand and throw epithets around like Hippie and Naturalist (which personally doesn't bother me a bit, I actually kind of like it...along with Nerd and some other choice names!). But I think by trying to get the message out to the most people in a way that is generally understandable, in words that are readily understood, we stand a better chance of informing the masses about this important subject. Otherwise, only scientists, economists, and government employees are going to get past the first paragraph. Everyone else will have stopped reading....
As for environmental heros, we have one amongst us at Dominican. Robert Traer is an Ethics professor and environmentalist. I will be writing to him in the next week or two and hope to include his biography on my blog--for no other reason than because I think he is so cool.
His course on Ethics was great as he introduced me to complex notions like "zero sum gain" and other very weighty topics I could barely handle.
But I learned so much. In my own personal world, Bob Traer is a hero of mine... and just a plain nice guy!
You'll just have to wait a little while until I can get my information organized and I will tell you more at Hum3500@blogspot.com. Since my internship is at MEC, I think a biography about an environmentalist and activist like Bob Traer is appropriate and a way of honoring this inspirational figure.
See you there.
(oh, and yes, that was an advertisement! :)
Christine, that is apparently an email address, not a website. Can you clarify?
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