Soapbox Project

Tayler and I focused on alternative energies and there use and accessibility in developing and developed countries. I have to apologize my sound files when uploaded sound "scratchy", so just turn down the volume and it should be smooth sailing from there. I learned a great deal while doing this, especially how many of these alternatives and there and available, just waiting to be invested in.

I hope you learn something, and enjoy our project!
Here it is!

Five Degrees

The big issue brought up in five degrees is the problem of habitability. Several themes mentioned in previous chapters continue to deteriorate in five degrees.

The various issues are as follows:

•     No ice sheets will remain as melting becomes inevitable.
•     Rain forests shrink or completely disappear (Like Dr. Karowe spoke of biome switches, so rain forests turning into savannas etc.)
•        Sea levels continue to rise; meaning floods increase.
•        Droughts as geographical areas such as the Sahara, Kalahari, Western Sahel etc. expand.
•         Inland temperatures raise more than 10⁰
•          New deserts will form because of these inland temperature changes and expansion of deserts in places in East Africa, Chile, Southern Europe etc.
•           Not all places will lose the ability to grow food or continue to be bread baskets, but places that are lucky won’t be able to feed the entire population. These places include Russia and Canada.
•           Methane hydrates will increase due to ocean temperature increase meaning more greenhouse gases. It is at 5 degrees Lyman believes that is where we reach the point of no return.

Habitable zones

The issue that was brought up, that was interesting to me was the idea of habitability. Dr. Tim Palmer used an example in class of increasing sea levels in Miami, will allow people to still move inland. Though places like Bangladesh, there is no more inland space that will be habitable and therefore that will cause refugee crises, even wars over resources such as land. I believe sometimes we forget the earth is finite and has its own boundaries and yes, even with technology we cannot make all space on earth habitable. Therefore, climate change should be an alerting issue.

Here is an interesting article on habitability, its where I pulled the graph from. I also posted this sea level video as a response to a previous blog but I think it drives home how devastating these degree increases will be! 

Solar Power

I read this research paper termed " Solar Power and Sustainability in Developing Countries." It began by reiterating what we have learned over the semester, which is we are too dependent on fossil fuels. In this case it focused on developing countries, that are trying to progress and how investing in fossil fuels will continue to do damage to the environment. Also, the resources available to these developing countries to ensure the distribution of electricity is really difficult because of places like isolated villages and poor grid systems.

Solar panels on village huts in Kenya.

So, their solution is solar power. Which for most developing countries is readily available to them and therefore would not be scattered resource. They also argued that because there are building more and more efficient solar power machines, that brings competition and therefore will lower down prices. Also there has also been a lot of international investment in the alternative energy in developing countries and therefore the foundation has already been built.

The only thing I disagree with in this paper, is it made the switch to alternative energy in developing countries seem super simplistic. In several papers I have read, it has been said that alternative energy is easily adaptable in developing countries but so far none of the papers I have read give a reason why these energies haven't overtaken in these countries.

Here is the link for the above mentioned paper.

That's it for now. More research.

Minimalism After Thoughts

Documentary on Netflix, book as well.

 This weekend I watched Minimalism on Netflix. It was a documentary centered around the two founders of minimalism and how it has affected their lives. The documentary begins the explanation of consumerism and how over the past 100 years it has gotten completely out of control.

The documentary mainly focuses on the psychological benefits of living a minimalist lifestyle. For example, feeling like you have purpose and control over your life because the things that are in your space are not just for clutter but for a purpose. It creates a community being able to ask others for help with things instead of just going out to buy it. For example, a pregnant woman who practices this lifestyle needed a formal dress and instead of going out and buying one, she asked her girlfriends if she could borrow one.

It touched a little bit about the ecological costs of over consumption which including burning of coal, use of natural gas. Also the social injustices such as sweat shops in order to dodge labor costs and so on.

Borrow a cup of sugar from your neighbor

The one thing I enjoyed about this documentary was it is not again consumerism and it understands that the way to fix these issues is not by telling everyone to stop buying things. Instead it discourages "compulsory consumerism" which means buying things because that's what you ought to do, that's what it means to have made it and attained the American Dream. Instead ask yourself " Does this thing bring value to my life?" The movie understands that this looks different for everyone and therefore can be applied accordingly. Another interesting thing they mentioned was the use of space in American homes and how places like the dinning room aren't fully used and therefore end up being a waste of space. Coming from a country that is founded in community this was interesting to watch and see people live the way I remember living back home and learning to count on each other.

The psychological need to grow and continue grow is discussed just as it was in Eaarth. How marketing manipulates that need is very impressive and daunting what it has been able to make people do for years. So if you are interested in living in another way and want to contribute to a sustainable system, this is an important documentary to watch.

Use of space in American homes. Visit lifeedited.com  

Alternative Energy: Why haven't we switched over already?

Taylor and I decided to research on alternative energy. We keep seeing this key word in most environmental centered readings we have, they are shown to be the solution. Time and time again we keep seeing these technologies are available e.g, solar panels, wind turbines, hybrid cars etc. So why haven't we switched over yet?

If you all remember, at a class discussion hosted by Dr. David Benac, he had made a point about leap frogging technology in the developing world. Obviously the development of developing countries is of great interest to me. So, the first source I read tackles whether developing countries can skip the centralized electrification system and why it is so difficult for developed countries to do that.

William in Malawi builds turbines for villages

So first, leap frogging is just the ability for societies to advance to newer technology without using the infrastructure of its predecessor. For example, the use of cellphones in developed countries without using the landline infrastructure first. Can this approach be used for electricity as well? The issue in developing countries which I have also experienced in Uganda, is shortages and it is not because the technology to generate electricity doesn't exist but the distribution systems are not as efficient. This is because in most developing countries the cities and rural areas are vastly different and far. Suburbs exist but there is also isolated homes and isolated suburbs people distribute themselves all over. This makes it hard to create efficient grid technologies that are able to reach everyone.

Therefore these developing countries find themselves investing a lot of resources in grid expansion and still have a large amount of the population without electricity. While, the introduction of solar panels which can work for individual homes are easily installed and applies, because the grid infrastructure is not too efficient it is easy to override and leapfrog to new technology. While in developed countries since there has been so much investment into the current grid, and most homes are connected in each grid it makes it difficult to apply these new technologies to a grid.

Another interesting fact I read is that the United Nations has an initiative that was  introduced in 2012, with the aim to provide universal access to modern energy services by 2030. Which I didn't know about.

Still have lot of research to do, but so far the topic seems interesting.

Ishmael: Final Thoughts

"With Gorilla Gone, Will There Be Hope for Man."

The last final chapters of this text, bring everything full circle. Ishmael starts by asking the narrator to define culture, and we are able to see the differences between leaver and taker culture. We see that the leavers evolve just like other organisms and pass on the ways of life to next generations, While in taker culture, we take each lesson learned before and are always tweaking because, it is believed that there is only one way of living.

What I found interesting, is after learning the full story and how we got here, Ishmael's solution to the narrator is he too must be a teacher because it takes the changing of minds to change actions. It was in this point in the text, that I understood why he had said that was the point most people quit. I find myself suffering from the same frustration, when you are trying to help people see how trapped they are. I think its hard to just offer education as the solution, when many of us see how quickly time is running out and understanding in order to change someone's mind they must be willing to change.

Maybe that's Ishmael's point, to show that even though we are in a prison we don't know we are in,  there is a small part of us that knows something has to change. We just need to find the right teachers at the right time and we could have a thinking revolution.

I am reminded of a discussion, we had in class concerning environmental psychology. All the examples that were given of how learning about how people think could move us towards a more sustainable Earth. The truth is, that is the problem now is the language environmentalists use is either too alarming it is ignored. Or, its not said at the right time and again it is ignored. I read this research article focusing on pages 445-449. I found it helpful in understanding how to even communicate the things I'm learning in this class to other people so we can have smart dialogue.

I think, if we all adapt the stance of meeting people where they are, and understanding we were all once selfish or ignorant of the issues present today. There might be hope for man, with gorilla gone.

Ishmael Chapter 9 "Limitless Growth"

Tree of Knowledge

Growth seems like an enduring theme throughout our class discussions. In Eaarth, McKibben discusses how we need to change that mentality in order to save earth and be able to survive the new conditions.  Ishmael goes on to build on how our mentality of growth came to be, through a lot of mythology.

Summed up, Adam is the cultivator of our culture, tempted by Eve (life). He then eats from the tree of knowledge, which more than allows for his distinction between good and evil. The fruit gives Adam the power to deem what is given the opportunity to live and to die. He then has two sons, Cain ( the farmer) and Abel ( shepherd). Cain kills Abel, setting up the replication for takers to kill takers in order to expand.

Cattle

The above culture foundation, is what we continue to build on. Move farther out, grow more crops in order to keep ourselves growing. The other thing which Ishmael touched on was the idea of curbing our population and how we keep this on the agenda for tomorrow. Which I believe is a metaphor for how we respond to the urgency of sustainability and how we keep pushing it for the agenda of tomorrow because what continues to matter is our continuous growth.

The last thing he touched on, that is near and dear to my heart. The growth of an abundance of resources to support different areas. Ishmael gives the example of agriculture in Nebraska supporting the food system of some country in Africa. Which is true, developing countries devote masses of land in order to supply to the needs of both luxury and necessary foods for developed countries. Take a read here,and see how we have to increase agriculture by 60% because the world is still starving.

Ishmael "Where do we belong?"

So we are back to reading "Ishmael", as he has already gone on to reveal how we got here. We have already discovered that man, believes the story that the earth was created for man, and man was meant to conquer it. We then go on to learn that man was meant to make earth a paradise =, but because we are inherently flawed we just mess up. One of the reasons we keep messing up is we believe that we are the exception to the law, we defy all laws.

The powerful example Ishmael gives to show this, is our understanding of the laws of gravity and aerodynamics. How we believe because we have made planes, we are defying the laws of gravity when we are simply supporting it, just using another element of support.

Now we are free falling, and there are those who are seeing we are about to crush, even though we have so much power and intelligence that built the aircraft but if we don't abandon it. We will crush and everything will crush with us because we are not the exception to the rule. This made me think of our past discussions on technological innovation and how that has helped or hurt us.

Don't we always think that technology has made us overcome the constraints of the earth, How different;y would we look at technological solutions if we understood that they didn't relieve us of these constraints but just allowed us to endure them comfortably? For example in the movie "Before the flood"rising sea levels in Miami is brought up and all the technology that is being used to keep levels from wiping out real estate. The mayor goes on to say that these solutions would only last 5-10 years and then something else would have to be done.

In class we also discussed sustainability, and the different views of sustainability. How different would it be if we looked at sustainability as something to attain, not a law to bypass?

Ishmael: The story of the Takers

"The world was made for man, and man was made to rule it"

Chapters 3 and 4 of Ishmael basically uncover the beginning and middle part of the takers story. How did they become takers, how did it begin? The character and Ishmael uncover it is because the premise is, creation was not complete until man was created and therefore nature needs man to conquer it.

I found this particularly interesting, since we are in a class titled "Our Place In Nature", the first two chapters make you ask yourself whether you are a taker or a leaver? Now I found myself wondering what role do I play in nature, what role do I believe I should be playing and what do I actually do? Ishmael reiterates often how this culture story has been told so much, that we don't stop to think about what it means.

Alexander the Great

This passage made me think of my little 11 year old brother, who is being told countless times that as humans we are the epitome of creation, in whichever way he looks. We are constantly told to conquer and that's all our culture is built on. Alexander the Great is revered because he was a great conqueror, "I came.I saw. I conquered".

That mentality is what we apply to nature everyday without even questioning it. It is why like McKibben says we don't question growth, we just do it. How would we look at the world differently if we just saw creation as just that, there was no hierarchy but separate niches that needed to coexist together? I also wonder what is the story of the leavers? 

Eaarth: Lightly, Carefully, Gracefully

The closing chapter of Eaarth concentrates on three things if changed could help us reach the  "350" mark in time to survive this new world. Those three things are agriculture, fossil fuels and the internet.

I would like to concentrate on agriculture. When I still lived in my home country Uganda, every holiday we would visit my grandmother in the village. In our culture wealth is typically not only measured in money, in children, livestock and most importantly land. My grandfather is a son of a tribal chief and therefore had a lot of land,s o every holiday when all his grandchildren were around we would all work in the gardens, whether it was weeding, planting or harvesting.

McKibben describes that in order to survive on this new Eaarth we will have to move from mono culture farming to more small variety farming but this old new way of farming, needs something important people. He says " For one thing, all the kinds of innovative farming I've described share one feature: they require more people than conventional farming. Not one Kip Cullers in his mighty machine, but lots and lots of folks down on the ground. For a hundred years we've substituted oil for people, which is why we have more prisoners than farmers in the United States; now we need to go the other way"( McKibben 174-75).

The first part of this excerpt brings back the nostalgia of old traditional farming, where farmers and their families would farm small pieces of land for their own use and to bring income into their homes. In the rest of the chapter McKibben talks about the great yields that come from variety farming, higher resistance to pests, the nutrients that aren't taken from the soil. These benefits are only enjoyed when we switch from machinery and back to the use of our hands that are able to feel and see the tiny details that in Eaarth are very important. The more we can help the soil to retain more water and nutrients, the longer we can survive and industrial mono culture farming will not do it.

The last part of the excerpt " For a hundred years we've substituted oil for people...." this clause really caught my attention, it not only applies to farming, but our everyday lives. McKibben shows how we have replaced neighboring, farming, etc with machinery. I also thing McKibben is trying to discredit the idea that science and technology will dig us out of this mess. They will, but we need people; and equating people to machinery is to show us that we need lots of people, efficiently working people. So yes, technology is important but people are equally important and only if all work together will we be able to survive this new earth.

This book had a lot of shock value, as far as the numerical evidence but it is a great start to a solution. McKibben's idea of less growth and more maintenance, drives home the idea of sustainability. For him to call this chapter "Lightly, Carefully, Gracefully"is a pattern and method to practice. There is no abrupt change, it is a change of heart, mind and methodology in order to ensure our survival.

Ishmael 1&2 "Nazi Germany and Nature"

"They've been given an explanation of how things came to be this way, and this stills their alarm"(Quinn, 44).

I am a first time reader of the book "Ishmael" by David Quinn, I was in shock when the text started off pretty normal with a middle aged white male questioning an ad and then all of a sudden he is taking a life changing course with a Gorilla, yes a Gorilla! Which has so many meanings, one especially being that primates are used to symbolize "savageness" and white men symbolize civilization. Here, we have a Gorilla teaching a White man about the fall of man.

Ancient Civilization

There are so many important things brought up in these first two chapters. I want to concentrate on the parallel drawn between Hitler and Germany versus People and Mother Nature. Ishmael talks about a "story" that Hitler tells his fellow Aryans about what has been stolen from them, and what they need to do to get it back. His tale went on to create one of the most horrific events in human civilization, the holocaust. To this day, people are still baffled on how people could mindlessly allow it to happen. That's the point to us it's just a tale on supposed German victory to them it was a story meant to be turned to reality. How does this relate to us? Well Ishmael tells us humans are divided into takers and leavers. In the story of Germany takers are Hitler and Germany, leavers are everybody else. Takers have convinced themselves and continue to spread this "story"about who we are, and why we can do the things we do. While leavers which also include Mother Nature wonder how people aimlessly allow such horrific events to continue within their communities with no alarm.

The story hasn't been revealed yet, but my personal guess is, it's a story of growth and conquest one that dates back to the story of Creation whether you believe it or not.This story has huge implications on how our society runs today. We just started this story, so what are you a "taker" or a "leaver"?

"Backing Off "

So we have finally entered the "hope" part in this text. McKibben continues on his theme concerning the dangers of growth and what we can do to fix this. What I love about this chapter, is it more than just solutions. McKibben really tries to connect with the skeptics of climate change. Given that a skeptic is reading this book, McKibben does not suggest that we all live off the grid or the states secede the Union but gives them of examples of what others have done. The most notable examples I read were that of Vermont and the little town in Massachusetts.

Communal living among Villages in African countries

Co housing in European countries

Both states show a way to live communally which is McKibben's point in this chapter, how different would society, especially growth oriented societies behave if we increased national pride in our communities. Not the, perfect lawns and identical house living but where you actually knew your member and get this....actually shared things. Communal living is not a new not even to the United States but it is practiced in several other countries such as Denmark or third world countries where it is a form of survival.

While reading this, I began to ask myself why is it to some that being more successful means we need to reduce our dependency on each other?Or why sharing things among ourselves is a sign of underdevelopment? It seems like a practical way of living and increases the efficiency of distribution of living. For most people who aren't used to that type of living, for example people in the United States, start with communal dinners or just share a bag of sugar. See how it goes 😃

"High Tide"

Yeah, that was depressing. The chapter "High Tide" hit you with more facts about what he have done to the Earth. This time McKibben concentrates on how these issues affect person to person interactions, he touches on economic instability, resource wars, diseases, insurance claims and so on.

One of the mini issues he touched on was, the idea of environmental justice. We have pretty much manipulated or fully destroyed our ecological set up. The problem is nature, isn't going to choose who it is or isn't going to punish. We all suffer. I felt overwhelmed and angry to think about developing countries such as Bangladesh or Darfur that are simply trying to follow the economic growth model to escape poverty. That is the problem, though growth. We just keep growing and encouraging each other to keep growing.

Growth, Growth!

Growth is what has caused us to keep drilling, keep burning and keep expanding. It has allowed us to put environmental issues on the back burner but as McKibben says environmental issues catch up, and they catch up fast. He goes on to give the change in fishing industry in the Canadian Province Newfoundland, that literally has no more cod to catch. Resource depletion is happening in front of us an it is scary that stories like these aren't showcased to show how quickly it is happening.

I also found fitting that this, book speaks on President Reagan and his views on economic expansion and I can't help but think about what is happening now. McKibben says " It would be nucer to fire up the engines one more time, a la Reagan. But we can't grow. ....There's too much friction. We're on an uphill planet. So we'd better change"(McKibben, 97). Yet aggrivating enough, despite all lthe stats and facts Trump truly believes we can still keep growing. He carries the same "sunny optimism" that Reagan carried, which according to McKibben and this wondnerful thing called Science allowed us to emit more carbon in the air, reverse any progress President Jimmy Carter tried to push. It is scary how fitting that past reality stares back at us again.

Except this is worse way worse, past the research that is show in this text. This is now and we NEED to change.

Nothing Was The Same

Some people are familiar with the album title "Nothing Was The Same", by rap artist Drake. The album cover has gone on to be a factory for memes about people or things that will never go back to being the same,just for laughs. I thought about making one with Earth on the album cover, but it is not funny. Bill McKibben's "Eaarth" makes that very clear from the first page. It hits you with statistics left and right, funny enough acknowledges how abrasive the text is and lets you know you have to keep reading, the many statistics need to mean something to you. 

Nothing Was The Same Album Cover Art 2013

As you go on to read, it stops being another environmentalist talking about doomsday.. No, there are facts and so many of them and the biggest fact of them all doomsday has already happened. There is no going back, we have already fundamentally changed what is happening to us and what will happen to our children and grandchildren. Even with all our hard work, he says " We are not, in other words, going to get back the planet we used to have, the one on which our civilization developed. We're like the guy who ate steak for dinner every night and let his cholesterol top 300 and had the heart attack. Now he dines on Lipitor and walks on the treadmill, but half his heart is dead tissue"(McKibben, 16). 

We are still eating steak, smothering it in the butter we do not have and just assuming that it will always be there. There are a few of us, who have don't butter the steak anymore, who only eat steak once in awhile and those who don't eat at all. The point is, we are already there, we are already at 300 or in carbon parts per million we are at 390. To be healthy, we need to be at wait for it... 350 and the problem is we keep living like we still have room for error. 

Earth now 2012.

The tone of this book is everything that a skeptic needs to listen to. It's funny I am reading this at a time where it is 60 degrees at the end of January in Michigan or that we just discussed tone in my Environmental Policy class. How people don't take global climate change seriously because the tone is so futuristic. 

After reading the text, I went back to look at the album cover and noticed how fitting it is that a younger Drake is looking up at an older Drake with a clear blue sky in the background. People always say "we are doing this for our grandchildren". No, we NEED to do this for us, right now. 

"Walking" Thoughts

Prior to class, we had been asked to read the long passage in Old English named "Walking" by renowned writer Henry David Thoreau. I will speak more on my experience with the text later. It is what we decided to do before we discussed the text in class today, that sums up pretty much everything Thoreau was trying to get across.

Before we discussed "Walking" we did just that, we walked. The goal of the walk to just think, stay within your thoughts. Whoever wanted to aimlessly lead the walk could walk up to front and the rest of us physically aimlessly followed but were supposed to keep thinking and about what we were thinking about. Of course we all talked, got to know each other a little better and even though this wasn't part of the instructions,it was great! There were moments where we would  get these little pockets of silence, and you would pay attention to the wetness underneath your feet, the bus noises, people talking and so forth.

When we got back we were asked to do a fast write for seven minutes, where you don't stop writing whatever is on your head is what you write. The prompt was "Walking makes me think...."I divert back to the actual piece Walking. As expected it is a long passage in Old English, it has a very preacher tone to it, Thoreau has found freedom in nature and pities those that cannot see what he sees. The quote that really stood out to me particularly after this class activity was

                               

"The best part of the land is not private property; the landscape is not owned, and the walker enjoys comparative freedom. But possibly the day will come when it will be partitioned off into so-called pleasure-grounds, in which a few will take a narrow and exclusive pleasure only,—when fences shall be multiplied, and man-traps and other engines invented to confine men to the public road, and walking over the surface of God’s earth shall be construed to mean trespassing on some gentleman’s grounds." (Thoreau, 233). 

As we walked today, we noticed how manipulated nature is on the Campus and is in our lives, we want to feel apart of nature but it has to look good and serve our aesthetics. Thoreau's point is that's where the freedom lies, the wildness of nature and part of the pleasure we receive from it, is the fact that it is not owned nor tamed. It allows us to reach our higher selves, which was so vivid when we began our fast write exercise. You don't realize how many things you think about, different sounds bring up different questions and the amount of clarity I felt after writing all that down was surprising!

"Walking" is a good read, Thoreau's point is well beyond walking it is what the connection with nature does for us. So the lesson, take a walk and if you would like to try a fast write exercise  it is well worth it! 

"The Audit"

    This is a short story, was very informative particularly on the topic of carbon footprints. Which is a way of calculating your impact on the earth as far as your daily routine goes, how much energy you use up and how much energy is used to keep your lifestyle the way that it is. I liked that it showcased all this information without losing the narrative style to it, which makes it more compelling to a wider audience one that perhaps needs to hear this more than anyone.

  Bill's journey to being awakened is nothing short of a fairy tale but the lessons that are brought up through his experiences allow us to begin conversations with those like him. What I think this short story also brings up, are how should the solutions for these environmental problems be executed.

Tiny homes, alternate lifestyle

We go from reading " How Close to Savage the Soul" which just shows the world completing collapsing to this that offers the solution of the Global Climate Audit where individuals are now forced by the government to live a certain way in order to keep our environment in order. One must really think is that what we want? Or the idea that Bill could go to Goodwin in order to continue living the way he does, which reminds me of the cap and trade system now which allows developed countries to keep outputting as many gases as possible, while developing countries are forced to remain stagnant economically.

Surprisingly Bill is able to see that maybe he can have the best of both worlds but sadly alot of people do not want to change their lifestyles whether that means having less, or eating better food. It is just hard to think about your impact on the environment when you have families to feed and money runs every aspect of it. I think solutions come in different shapes for different people, the key is making sure one's intention/ goal is to be as sustainable as they can be so future generations can do the same.

Introduction

My name is Bethel Mwenze. I am interested in the implications of Western relationship with nature on developing countries. How these perspectives and reflecting policies can help and/ hurt developing countries and their sustainable efforts and cultural preservation. I hope this class and the discussions had, will widen my views on our roles in nature and its interplay with culture.