D11

After reading “Cradle to Cradle” I think McDonough and Braungart have made excellent points. In our 2^nd to last class, Professor Nicholson asked us to think of a way to combat environmental issues. My group came up with an idea similar to McDonough and Braungart’s-fixating on an industry and finding new green methods to improve production and reduce cost.

The “Cradle to grave” method is ineffective and severely hurting our environment. We should be producing things that are biological and technical nutrients. I really like their ideas. I especially like the product to service idea. A product to service is Instead of assuming that all products are to be bought, owned, and disposed of by “consumer,” product containing valuable and technical nutrients---cars, TV’s, carpeting, computers and refrigerators, for example---would be reconceived as services people want to enjoy. IN this scenario customers would effectively purchase the service of such a product for a defined user period---say ten thousand hours of TV viewing, rather than a tv itself. When they finish with the product, or are simply ready to upgrade to a newer version, the manufacturer replaces it, taking the old model back, breaking it down, and using its complex materials as food for new products.

I don’t see the product to service idea being implemented in the near future, but I think it is a very smart plan. It makes economical sense to reuse old products. Reusing old products will only save money, but research has to be implemented to figure out how to do that.

I really liked McDonough and Braungart’s point about the chemicals being used in every product we interact with. It is scary to think about how whatever we touch, wear, or eat have chemicals on it. I thought McDonough and Braungart’s research in finding healthy textile chemicals for a nursery was a smart plan. It makes me worried to think about the potential harms these untested chemicals will have on my family and me.

MCdonough and Braungart are on the right track and their optimism is not misplaced. However that does not mean their ideas are ever going to be implemented into mainstream production and consumption techniques. I think for their ideas to work, more chemist need to start doing research on the science behind consumption. Their needs to be dozens of McDonough and Braungart’s, who can help pave the way for new technologies and ideas of consumption. There will have to be more cooperation between companies on sharing technology and ideas. Governments will also have to get involved and provide economic incentive to implement their ideas. Tax breaks are always effective. McDonough and Braungart optimism is not misplaced, change can happened, it just isn’t going to be easy.

-Tracey Swan

D12

Sorry, have to resend so you can read it!!

I found this assignment really funny because my family is very environmentally conscious. I was at Thanksgiving dinner for about an hour before my Mother started talking about recycling. She mentioned how she hated the East Coast recycling systems, because they never had any public bins to recycle cans and bottles. She then proceeded to talk about how atrocious New York was with its recycling. I found this conversation amusing, because I did not even have to bring up the subject of environmentalism and global warming. Here was a typical family conversation about the environment.

My family normally looks at recycling as the best most efficient way to save the environment. I brought up the fact that recycling did produce waste and that the system was inherently flawed. They liked this point, but I still said it was the best method we have currently.

I discussed Braungart and McDonough thinking that we should not waste but rather should look at new ways to produce from biological and technical nutrients. My family was very receptive to this argument. It was easy talking to them about the environment, because they agree on all these perspectives we’ve been discussing in class. They liked Braungart and McDonough’s argument, but did not think it was very realistic. We are cynical and so we believe that the system of consumption and waste or “cradle by grave” is too strongly grained in the foundations of our society. My mother thought that product to services was a great idea, but would never actually happened.

I also discussed with them Maniates viewpoint of the “Trinity of Despair.” My mother thought it was a really good point that social movements don’t occur by popular support. Civil Rights was a struggle by the African American community, but most of America was in support of segregation. She thinks that the problem here is that global warming is calling on the world to change their entire foundation. Segregation was an easy fix, if you think about it. It didn’t cost a lot to integrate people. But for the United States to change from a coal and gas emitting country to a green emitting country, it is going to cost large amounts of money and affects all businesses across the board. With that to consider, and the fact that international cooperation has been very difficult to achieve-global warming is a problem with many hard decisions that need to be made.

D12

I found this assignment really funny because my family is very environmentally conscious. I was at Thanksgiving dinner for about an hour before my Mother started talking about recycling. She mentioned how she hated the East Coast recycling systems, because they never had any public bins to recycle cans and bottles. She then proceeded to talk about how atrocious New York was with its recycling. I found this conversation amusing, because I did not even have to bring up the subject of environmentalism and global warming. Here was a typical family conversation about the environment.

My family normally looks at recycling as the best most efficient way to save the environment. I brought up the fact that recycling did produce waste and that the system was inherently flawed. They liked this point, but I still said it was the best method we have currently.

I discussed Braungart and McDonough thinking that we should not waste but rather should look at new ways to produce from biological and technical nutrients. My family was very receptive to this argument. It was easy talking to them about the environment, because they agree on all these perspectives we’ve been discussing in class. They liked Braungart and McDonough’s argument, but did not think it was very realistic. We are cynical and so we believe that the system of consumption and waste or “cradle by grave” is too strongly grained in the foundations of our society. My mother thought that product to services was a great idea, but would never actually happened.

I also discussed with them Maniates viewpoint of the “Trinity of Despair.” My mother thought it was a really good point that social movements don’t occur by popular support. Civil Rights was a struggle by the African American community, but most of America was in support of segregation. She thinks that the problem here is that global warming is calling on the world to change their entire foundation. Segregation was an easy fix, if you think about it. It didn’t cost a lot to integrate people. But for the United States to change from a coal and gas emitting country to a green emitting country, it is going to cost large amounts of money and affects all businesses across the board. With that to consider, and the fact that international cooperation has been very difficult to achieve-global warming is a problem with many hard decisions that need to be made.

-Tracey Swan

Favorite Quotes

1. “The cowman who cleans his range of wolves does not realize that he is taking over the wolf’s job of trimming the herd to fit the range. He has not learned to think like a mountain. Hence we have dustbowls, and rivers washing the future into the sea.”---Leopold Pg 132

2. “Consumption occasionally enters the discussion, but only in non-threatening ways, and most often in the form of calls for “green consumption” or in support of some moral imperative to consume recycled or recyclable products.”----pg 2 Princeton

These quotes covered a range of topics we discussed in class. I like the Leopold quote because it shows how we perceive the environment and how we need to change our perception to a more environmentally conscious one. I like the Princeton quote because it shows how often times we view being environmentally conscious by consuming green products, but this is a backwards thinking. We should not view being environmentally conscious in terms of consumption. We should cut back on our consumption.

-Tracey Swan

favorite quotes

my two favorite quotes from this semester are

1)"We need to be looking at fundamental change in our energy, transportation and agricultural systems rather than technological tweaking on the margins." by Michael Maniates

2)"being less bad is not being good" in Cradle to Cradle

These quotes depict our attitude on the environmental problem. We only do easy things by being less bad. However, doing easy things and being less bad would never solve the problem.

Favorite quotes

Here are my two favorite quotes:

"Nature doesn't have a design problem. People do," (p. 16 of Cradle to Cradle)

and the last paragraph of The End of the Wild:

"The end of the wild does not mean a barren world. There will be plenty of life. It will just be different: much less diverse, much less exotic, far more predictable, and -given the dominance of weedy species -probably far more annoying. We have lost the wild. Perhaps in 5 to 10 million years it will return."

Favorite Quotes from the Semester

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from the semester, as well as explanations as to why they are my favorites.

1) This quote comes from page 396 of Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman. This is from the speech by the 12 year old girl from Canada, Severn Suzuki, at the plenary session of the Rio Summit.

"My dad always says, 'You are what you do, not what you say.' Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown-ups say you love us, but I challenge you. Please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you."

I really like this quote because it comes from someone who is young, and educating the young people will be instrumentally important when it comes to making a real difference for the environment. Also, the way this quote gives us all a challenge and a way to go forth is truly inspiring. I think that this quote is thoughtful and insightful, and it really stuck out to me when reading Hot, Flat, and Crowded.

2) This quote comes from page 186 of Cradle to Cradle by McDonough and Braungart.

"What would it mean to become, once again, native to this place, the Earth--the home of all our relations? This is going to take us all, and it is going to take forever. But then, that's the point."

I really like this quote because it really hits at the heart of the problem: we as humans no longer see ourselves as a part of the planet and as just one of its many creatures, and instead we go around trying to mow down and change the Earth to fit our needs. I love how this quote brings us back to that understanding that we are a part of the Earth, that the Earth is a part of us, and that we and the Earth need to coexist in harmony.

Thanksgiving talk

This assignment was the hardest assignment throughout the semester for me. I believe that I never had conversation on environmental issue with my family or friends, so I do not know what to expect during or after the conversation. I do not even know how to start the conversation or in what manner I should do it. I feel like it is somewhat wrong or uncomfortable to talk about such a serious or negative subject during holiday when everything is overly plenty and happy.
Instead of going back to Korea, I went to Atlantic City with my friends. I think this is little more environmental friendly than going all the way back to Korea. I shared a suite room with three other girl friends. I tried to find best timing to bring up the topic, but it was not easy. I was scared that I might ruin their holiday.
One morning when we all took a shower, I ask my friends to reuse towel rather than throwing on the floor of the bathroom. My request fired the conversation on the environmental issue. I explain to my friends how much we could save the environment by just simply reusing the towels. I also added that the environmental problems we currently face are real, serious and need reaction. One of my friends agreed to me and gladly reused the towel. However, my two other disagreed. First, they started by saying how much they pay to use the room which includes all the other supplements such a towels, bed sheets, toilet paper, water, electricity and many more luxurious items. They said that this holiday is only few days they could enjoy some luxury and really treat themselves nicely. In addition, they argued that they are paying more than they should if they do not use everything that is offered to them. I agree that they should get what they paid for and should enjoy their holiday. However, they could do it much eco-friendly way. We do not have to use new towel every single time we take a shower. The towels that hotel provided us were so big and thick that I did not even use half section of the towel to dry my body.
Then my friends said to me “since when you become a green person?” I do not consider myself green person at all. I still do many things that are environmentally harmful. I am just a same person with slightly more awareness of environmental issue than before taking this class. Then, my friends went on saying that we are over reacting to the environmentally issue. They believed that the media over emphasize the environmental issues. Since media only focus on the extreme cases such as Tsunami or hurricane Katrina, people are over reacting to the problem.
I was tempted to interrupt my friends, but I tried to be a good listener as professor Nicholson told us to do. I was very surprise what a big gap my friends and I had. It was very disappointing for me to see how people consider themselves apart from the environment. They are so num about the current environmental issue like they do not belong in this environment. I realized how this course has changed me. If I did not take this course I could be spending more wasteful holiday than my friends.

Giving Thanks for the Environment

Talking with someone about the environment can be a daunting task. It's difficult to know which way to approach the subject. In my mind, I pictured the conversation being awkward and forced. I would be sitting at the dinner table having a normal conversation when all of a sudden I would blurt out, "What do you think about climate change?" Everyone at the table would be stunned into silence and would stare at me in horror. "Why are you bringing that up?" They would ask. With this scenario in the back of my mind, I tried to think of alternative ways to broach the subject with my family over Thanksgiving Break.

Bringing up the environment to my father was interesting. My father is a lot like me: we like to avoid thinking about things which are unsavory. Unlike me, however, my father is a libertarian and believes strongly in personal liberty; he wants to live his life the way he has chosen to live it. I decided that the best way to bring up the subject with him would be to talk about what I had been learning in class without making it seem as if I was lecturing him or trying to change his mind, because then he might have been less open to what I was telling him. I felt that attacking his lifestyle choices or being argumentative would not be right way to get my point across, and would take away from the ideas I wanted to discuss.

The subjects I discussed with my dad emphasized personal lifestyle changes less and ideas about changing systems in order to make positive environmental living easy. It seemed to me that he would be more responsive to these types of ideas than to me telling him that he would need to change the way he lives his life. Additionally, I believe that these system-wide changes are much more effective in terms of helping the environment than individual actions. Therefore, I talked to him about the importance of getting rid of the concept of waste, and giving items back to manufacturers once they have completed their use to be broken down and reused, using all the materials from the previous item. I also explained how individual actions are important, but that changing the way that society functions in order to make environmental change simple is the way to go.

I was surprised by his response. He said that thinking about the environment made him feel guilty about the way he lives his life, even though I wasn't bringing up personal changes particularly. I feel like many people have such an ingrained idea about what environmentalists think people should do that even though I was talking about a different type of environmentalism which would require less lifestyle change personally for him, and more of a societal shift which would make being environmental easy, he was still thinking about those personal ways of living that would make him environmentally friendly.

This made me think about how much of what we have learned in class this semester. We have learned a lot about how making changes in the system instead of putting a band-aid on the system is the most effective way to help the environment. Many people who are not taking environment classes, however, do not know very much about this type of environmental movement. I think that much positive change could be brought about if more people were educated about the different ways in which we can help the environment, besides the relatively small-scale, practically ineffective measures of turning off the shower while you shave.

Talking to my mom about the environment was interesting as well. Her main point after our discussion was that she did not want many more different recycling bins cluttering our kitchen. For her, the environment is important but concerns about global warming are not a part of her everyday life. I tried to explain about how recycling is important, even though it is small-scale, individual change, because it keeps us thinking about the environment, and keeps these issues fresh in our mind, in front of us, in the form of recycling bins. I explained that more recycling bins in the kitchen might not look pretty, but they are a positive step towards being more environmentally friendly. I think, through listening to her point of view and thoughtfully responding with rebuttals of my own, I have convinced my mom to start recycling more of what we use in the house. Additionally, from our conversation, we decided to have a Turkey-free Thanksgiving. This was not only an environmentally-friendly thing to do, but also saved us a lot of time in preparing the Thanksgiving day meal.

Talking about the environment with people who are not actively engaged in the field or taking a course on the subject can be difficult, but sometimes some positive changes can result. This was heartening for me, because I saw that someone who does not necessarilly have the same views or the same level of concern about the environment as me can still be persuaded to be more conscientious about the environment. Having a Turkey-free Thanksgiving and adding some recycling bins to the house may not seem like much. It is small-scale, individual action, which is not as effective as a movement, as going to government and changing policies, as finding leverage points to change the system and make being environmental the norm in society. But it is not useless--it's a start.