Open Blog 3

What It means to Be Green

Being green to me means keeping our planet healthy and beautiful for the benefit of all beings and future generations. It means creating an environment where all can grow spiritually, emotionally and physically healthy - loving, living, and being happy - the way it was meant to be. A healthy environment means a healthy and happy soul. There are so very many ways one can contribute to the health and well being to our beautiful planet.  There is an old saying that goes, "Sayin ain't doin." We can talk about going green all day long, but until we actually do something, even if it is a tiny step, it doesn't really do much good, does it? To make a positive impact on the environment, you can start out by shutting down and unplugging all electronics when not in use, wash your clothes in hot water, recycle, use refurbished electronics (you can often find these at incredible prices), swap CD's and DVD's with your friends or a business that swaps CD's, DVD's and books, start using reuseable shopping bags instead of plastic or paper, and use energy saving light bulbs. If you don't think changing your light bulbs will make a difference, consider this: If everyone changed just ONE light bulb in their home to the more energy efficient ones, it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes a year. Other ways I have added to my green lifestyle are using environmentally friendly cleaning products, starting a compost pile for our organic garden, setting the thermostat lower, and instead of buying bottled water, I have installed a really good water filter in my house to help with this which has made all the difference.In today's world, I know I can't do everything, but I do what I can to contribute to a healthy environment, not only for our local community, but for our global community as well. Whatever we can do at home benefits everyone 

Open Blog 2

I have been noticing a lot lately that it seems that for many people eating organic and being green is a fashion statement, or a way of showing off how much money they have. In my opinion I don't really care why you do it, as long as it is helping. But when the fad makes it cheaper to buy processed foods than whole foods, something is seriously wrong. So here is list of ways to be green without breaking the bank. If you just start with these little things it will big difference. Here it is:

        -Find a CHEAP bulk food or whole food store and buy your stuff there, don't feel bad that       it isn't organic.

-Grow what you can. Guess what, if you grow it, it's organic! Just don't use chemical pesticides. These are easy to grow and can even go on a balcony: Herbs, tomatoes, small lemon tree, and peppers. I am sure there are more as well.
-Exchange produce with friends and neighbors. This is what people do in the country where i am from. You grow one thing, have too much of it, so you trade a little bit with a friend or neighbor who grows another thing. It is a fantastically cheap way to get fresh, and usually organic produce without having to learn how to grow a million different things.

-Farmer's market! In most places it is much cheaper and it is a great way to support your local economy. Plus they are a blast


Being green is not just an upper class luxury. It bothers me that our society has turned it into an expensive fad. It can actually be very easy if you just know where to look and change the way you look at things. 

Open Blog 1

I have always had an interest in being green but when it comes to practicing it I have really only gone as far as recycling. Even when comes to recycling I really have only tried to put bottles and plastic in the blue bin that the city picks up and when there is one near use put water bottles in the containers around campus. I also try to keep the lights turned off when I am not in a room and make sure the water does not run to much. I do have to admit that this is more to save money than anything. Over this past semester and in part due to this class I have tried to be more green and even taken the step of thinking green. I have tried to make being more green not so much of a chore but more in line with saving money. I have found that in many areas these to go hand in hand. If you just start look at things different there are things all around that you can recycle to make new things. It amazes me the things that people just throw out because they are either to lazy or do not know how to fix. Also things that are commonly thought of as waste can often be used for other things. For an example my roommate and I wanted to add to are backyard as it was to shaded to grow grass. We decided that we would a patio and firepit in. We did want to spend a lot of money on it and I decided that it would be cool if we could make it for free and out of stuff that we found with it still looking nice. We ended up using pallets and bricks that we found and it turned out really cool and has been a real hit with friends. It is always cool to see peoples reactions when we tell them we did it all for free. 

 

GREEN POLITICS: Blog Assignment for Environmental Policy

I do not think that the U.S. should have signed the Kyoto Protocol because it had fundamental flaws in its design. The first being that it did not act fairly towards both developed and undeveloped countries. One main problem that I found with it was that undeveloped countries could sell their unused emissions to other countries that were more developed and over their limits. Countries such as Russia who emits a large volume of emissions would be under it's limit and could sell to thier countries. This was the case because Russia has so much land mass.

I believe that getting environmental policies signed at all levels is hard because everyone wants to protect whats in their groups best interest. This however is hard to do because not everyone has the same ideas and many times the ideas are very different from each other and only compounds with the larger the scale. I think that communities should try and fix this problem by looking at the bigger picture and what is best for everyone as a whole. I would like to see more policies supporting sustainable communities and issues such as reducing reliance on fossil fuels, supporting local farmers and merchants, encouraging green practices and building, consideration of native wildlife, and adoption of mass transportation and cleaner methods of commuting.

Ecofeminism

Before viewing the readings on ecofeminism I had a sort of a negative view towards it. I had kind of a negative attitude towards it. I had not really ever read a lot on it but what I heard and thought the idea about it was all about hating men. After reading on the subject I found the idea to be out there a bit. I found ecofenminism to focus to much on a mystical connection between women and nature and not enough on the actual conditions of women. I found form the readings that ecofeminism is the social movement that regards the oppression of women and nature as interconnected. I also saw that it aimed to examine the interconnections between sexism, the domination of nature (including animals), and also racism and social inequalities. I also gathered that it hoped to fight the oppressions of gender, race, class and nature. I did not really have any strong feelings on the subject. I think that if you look you can see the forms of dominance all around you. I think that a problem that sometimes occurs is that people trying to stop the domination of one group by another tends to shift to far and then begins to oppress the group that was dominating in the beginning. I think that this is something that people should be careful to avoid.

Blog # 11

I was raised Baptist but this really has no affect on how I view social ecology. My views have changed as I have gotten older and I tend to view things as they are presented to me with an open mind. I do not agree with the Gaia hypothesis. I do not think that Earth is a living breathing organism. It is an ecosystem that changes based on the what change each organism makes. If there were no organisms changing then there would be no change in regards to Earth. I do however see the thinking behind it. I believe that it is trying to say that both are codependent on each other and cause change in each other. This can be seen with changes that are caused by inorganic actions of the earth such as volcano and earthquakes. I however do not think this is enough to suggest that the Earth is a living organism by itself. I do believe that in some aspects that we live in a hyper-masculine society but I feel that it is some what exaggerated and villainized. I think that there is no question that being masculine is portrayed as a good thing in our society through the media, which can be seen in the movies and TV shows. I however do not think that in everyday life that such things that a idolized on TV are not so in reality. Things such as being violent and having an aggression toward women is not seen as a good thing. If one is over violent this is seen as for lack of a better word being a dick.  

Blog # 10

Social ecology is defined as the science of the relationships between human populations and communities and their environments. Social ecology advocates an empowered and re-constructive view of environmental and social issues, and envisions a moral economy that moves beyond scarcity and hierarchy toward a world that re-harmonizes human communities with the natural world while celebrating diversity, and creativity.

I found the readings to be very interesting and informative. The readings really made me thing about the way I see our environment. I really started to think about the hierarchies that we have in place. I have to be honest and say that that even though this way of seeing the world is a great thing to imagine I however do not think it possible for it ever to be like it. I see this way of viewing the world as ideal which is not how life works. It is like looking outside and seeing that it is raining but telling yourself “hey I wish it was not raining so I am not going to take my umbrella.” The fact still remains that your going to get wet. I do not not think there is a better alternative. Utopias do not work. Everyone that has ever tried to exist has failed. If they could work there would be one. There are to many different wants and ideas on how society should exist. Without hierarchy there would be ciaos because there would be no checks and balances. It would be akin to a football game where there is no refs, no coaches, no making play calls. It would be a cluster.

I firmly believe that hierarchy is a natural fact of being not only humans but also an animal. I think this a trait that is carried through out the animal kingdom. Hierarchy is needed, it makes things run smooth. People are to complex of a species not to have classes. 

blog #9

Deep Ecology looks at the world and sees social and ecological problems that are accelerating to a point where our very existence is threatened. Deep Ecology is the belief that the world does not exist purely as a resource for man's benefit. The world exists for its own sake. We are a part of this wonderful and diverse creation but we do not own it.

I would not say that agree with one view over the other. I think that they both have their places. Deep Ecology is a great place to look at how humans should view themselves in the web of nature however at this time I think that Shallow Ecology has the better chance of making the greatest impact on helping the environment. People tend to resest change and I worry that Deep Ecology is to far of a leap for most people to take at this moment. This may not be right or how things should be but it is the way things are. I agree with most things that Deep Ecology says but I think it is hard to believe that humans do not stand at a higher place in nature than other things. Just as the lion is the king of the Savannah, humans are the king of nature. I think it is our place to protect it and cherish it. I cant help but think of a Native American proverb that says "WE DO NOT INHERIT THE EARTH FROM OUR ANCESTORS, WE BORROW IT FROM OUR CHILDREN"

Blog # 8

Preconditions for Consensus Decision Making:

Common Goal: everyone present at the meeting needs to share a common goal and be willing to work together towards it.

Commitment to reach consensus: consensus can require a lot of commitment and patience to make it work. Everyone must be willing to really give it a go. This means not only being deeply honest about what it is you want or don't want but also able to properly listen to what others have to say.



Trust and openness: we all need to be able to trust that everyone shares our commitment to creating true consensus decisions. This includes being able to trust people not to abuse the process or to manipulate the outcome of the discussion.



Sufficient time: for making decisions and for learning to work by consensus. Taking time to make a good decision now can save wasting time revisiting a bad one later



Clear Process: it's essential for everyone to have a shared understanding of the process that the meeting is using.

Active participation: if we want a decision we can all agree on then we all need to play an active role in the decision making. This means listening to what everyone has to say, voicing thoughts and feelings about the matter and pro-actively looking for solutions that include everyone.

Good facilitation: When your group is larger than just a handful of people or you are trying to make difficult decisions, appoint facilitators to help your meeting run more smoothly. Good facilitation helps the group to work harmoniously, creatively and democratically.

Consensus decision making does has it weakness one being that up to 49% of participants can still wind up being "losers" even though they were included in the decision-making process. This outcome is less than ideal when an organization is counting on everyone to implement a decision enthusiastically. In addition, a vote may be slanted by apathy, inadequate information, or the influence of authority figures who express compelling opinions. Even when discussions do take place before voting, many members of a group may choose to keep important questions, concerns, or alternatives to themselves.

Blog # 7

       Culture jamming is define as a form of political and social activism which, by means of fake adverts, hoax news stories, pastiches of company logos and product labels, computer hacking, etc, draws attention to and at the same time subverts the power of the media, governments, and large corporations to control and distort the information that they give to the public in order to promote consumerism, militarism, etc.

       The idea behind culture jamming is that individuals are not given the choice as to whether they are exposed to ads or not. Without consent every individual in our communities are exposed to thousands of corporate ads each day. Jammers believe everyone should have the opportunity to voice their opinions just like the corporate advertisers. They believe in the opportunity to respond to the advertisements. It is a great tool for activism. It goes to the core of advertising and goes directly to the people.

        Adbusters is at the forefront of an insurgent political movement known loosely as

“culture jamming.” This movement seeks to undermine the marketing rhetoric of

multinational corporations, specifically through such practices as media hoaxing,

corporate sabotage, billboard “liberation,” and trademark infringement.

Here is a link to an example of culture jamming on youtube.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vJVMIYffWQ

Blog # 6

My group teaching project is social ecology. I choose social ecology because I found it to be the most relative and most interesting subject out of all of the subjects we had to choose from. I found the readings on social ecology to be very informative and interesting. It is very in depth and will take time for me to digest everything.

I truly found Bookchin’s “What is Social Ecology” a great reading and thought his challenge of Darwinism to be very interesting and would like to bring it up during the teaching. I also found Trainer's “Third World Poverty” to be very powerful and touching. I think this will be the best to focus on during our GTP leading of the class. I feel that this would touch the class in the deepest way and will make this most profound effect on the class.

The GTP leading our class should be very interesting and I am not sure exactly how we should go about it. I think we should make it as interesting and as informative as we can. Seeing that social ecology is

an interesting and important topic it should not be to hard to get the class involved. 

Blog # 5

By promoting the design and construction of new green schools and by greening existing schools, we can make a tremendous impact on student health, school operational costs and the environment.

These schools are built and operated to be full of clean air and sunlight and to be free of toxic materials and harmful chemicals. Green schools are energy efficient, helping to lower utility costs, conserve resources and reduce waste. Green schools showcase a community's commitment to its children and their future, who in turn learn from an early age the importance and benefits of acting as responsible stewards of their communities and the larger world.

Characteristics of a Green School

• Conserves energy and natural resources
• Saves taxpayer money
• Improves indoor air quality
• Removes toxic materials from places where children learn and play
• Employs daylighting strategies and improves classroom acoustics
• Employs sustainable purchasing and green cleaning practices
• Improves environmental literacy in students
• Decreases the burden on municipal water and wastewater treatment
• Encourages waste management efforts to benefit the local community and region
• Conserves fresh drinking water and helps manage stormwater runoff
• Encourages recycling
• Promotes habitat protection
• Reduces demand on local landfills
  
  
  
  centerforgreenschools.org/why-green-schools.asxhttp

Blog # 4

I found the “Ten Key Values of the Green Party” very interesting. I felt that there where a lot of good ideas that everyone could benefit from following and at the very least reading. If everyone was to follow just one of these ideas the world would a better place, as cliché as that may sound.

Out of all the values I found the “Ecological Wisdom” to be the one that I most believe in. I feel that it kind of wraps up all the other values into one. I strongly feel that we have a responsibility to protect the environment not only for our own sake but for that of future generations. I think it is very selfish and unacceptable to use the resources given to us by the environment with reckless abandonment and with no regard to the impact it will have on our children and their children. Self preservation is something that we all must have and if I believe that if we continue the same way we have there will be too little left to preserve. Following this I believe that having “Ecological Wisdom” is something that everyone must have.

I was most surprised by the practicability of the “Ten Key Values of the Green Party”. What I mean by this is that all of the values in some way or another are all very practical and would serve the greater good of the World tremendously.

Blog # 3

The program that I found most interesting on the Sustainable Carolina website was the "Greening the Mind" team. I found this most interesting because I think in order for anyone to change their way of doing things one must start with changing the way they think and live. I feel that the "Greening the Mind" team is a great place to make an impact on someone trying to be more green. I have also been a big believer in meditation so I think the Mindful Meditation would be very interesting to observe and participate in. 

On the AASHE website I really like the fact that they have Campus Operations Resources. Under this you can find such things as better building, transportation, dining and many other resources on how to make daily operations greener. I think this a great thing because many campuses may want to be greener but do not know where to start. This gives them a great place to start. They even have case studies posted online as a reference point on real word examples that work. The website is a great place for anyone that is trying to figure out how to become greener on their campus.

What is the best way that someone can make an impact on becoming a greener campus?

Blog # 2

My name is Patrick Hoadwonic and I was born in Beaufort, Sc but grew up in Lexington, SC. I am always outdoors when I am free. I fish all the time and in the past few years have taken up  freediving spearfishing. I love it because it takes hunting and fishing and kind of combines them together. I am a senior in finance and plan to be a financial adviser when I am done. I want to do this because I love meeting and talking to new people and also love sales so this career will allow me to combine both together. I am a very talkative person and I love being around people. If anybody wants to know more just ask.

Blog # 1

 I hope to gain a better understanding of all aspects of green politics by the end of this course. I hope to have a better understanding of such things as deep ecology, spiritual ecology, social ecology, green democracy, ecofeminism, and evironmental policy. I am really interested in becoming active in the green community around campus and learning about all the ways that you can get involved. I have always felt that being "green" was important and look forward to finding how not only I can be more green but also get others around me to be more green.