Category: Uncategorized

‘Twas the end of the semester — and we ‘ve learned about climate change from many different perspectives. Two very different perspectives came from the books Exposure and Braiding Sweetgrass.

Exposure was a journey through the legal process of taking down DuPont for their wrongdoings to our environment. It certainly was an eye-opener for everyone who reads it – revealing the corruption and dishonesty that exists within large corporations. It highlights a perfect example of the problem — and all the troubles that go along with it. It made me very angry and upset to read the hardships that Billott had to face during the process, and makes me wonder why DuPont still gets to thrive under its name. The book gave a first-person perspective on the issues that large production companies cause the environment, and emphasizes the desperate need for change and strict regulation.

Braiding Sweetgrass is an entirely different take on the environment. It provides a grassroots-level way of thinking of what Mother Nature gave to us. It teaches the need to be more mindful of the environment and how one uses it in their everyday life, therefore recognizing its importance. The beautiful writing should press underlying questions like, “What would I do if I DIDN’T have this resource?” This book stresses the urgency of climate change as an issue, using the beauty of the Earth to heighten the volume of the call for attention and change. The way the Earth is depicted in the book is almost “youthful”, compared to all the negative and ominous things we read about climate change. Therefore, it could be more effective to someone who isn’t receptive to the aspect of climate change.

In Braiding Sweetgrass, the chapter, Allegiance to Gratitude, uses the daily Pledge of Allegiance as insight to how we should be thinking of the Earth. The Earth deserves our utmost respect, and a daily reminder is due of the allegiance we owe to it. I really enjoyed reading it along with the class — hearing from a diversity of voices was great way to give thanks to the Earth. After reading the thanksgiving to the planet, I believe that a shortened version should replace the classic Pledge of Allegiance to the flag everyday. Of course, that is not likely — but I have seen a trend of more and more people not standing to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Clearly, it does not matter enough to all kids — especially when everyone has different backgrounds and it becomes a bore to repeat the same thing on the daily. So, what would it mean to briefly acknowledge something great about the planet each day; perhaps every day, a new acknowledgement in the form of a haiku or reflection would be recited.

This spring, I had taken up more gardening than prior years. Due to the pandemic I had more time (fortunately or unfortunately?), as my hostess job was suspended and the semester was over by early May. I began growing tomatoes, different flowers, peppermint, and even a cactus. Only the tomatoes provided fruitful vegetation — the other plants did not want to grow strong. That was until I planted a few sunflowers; the seeds germinated overnight and by the end of the week, they were strong, happy stems. I thought the stems would remain pretty short, but they doubled in size each week — becoming sturdier and eventually taller than me. I hadn’t before acknowledged the strength and poise of sunflowers. In fact, when I was little, I thought sunflowers were ugly for their fuzzy brown center. Now, sunflowers being my favorite flower, I commend them for serving as a model to all plants: happy, confident, beautiful, and robust. I can relate this to the overall theme of the class reading, Braiding Sweetgrass, which is simply acknowledging the blessings that the Earth gives us. That is the problem with people nowadays — not enough of us recognize that we should be protecting our planet and the gifts it gives us. And we should always be giving thanks by acknowledging its beauty and speaking of nature’s currencies.

This week, the class discussed what an ideal world would look like. To me, an ideal world is different than a utopia, where everyone is the same and not allowed to breach the long-lived and well-kept utopian system. An ideal world, as I discussed with Sarah in class, would include a global consensus on climate change. This means that no one would be in opposition to it, so everyone would be on board with fixing the problem as a whole. Large corporations wouldn’t be as plentiful as they are, and they’d be regulated, so carbon emissions would be much lower and would have never reached the peak. Everyone would be protected with affordable healthcare, housing, food and clothing, as well as carbon-efficient transportation means. Ideally, cars could run on something as simple as apple juice! — Apples are sustainably grown and wouldn’t leave the air polluted. Violence would be much lower, as everyone would feel content with where they live and everyone is included.

During the presentations of our midterm tri-folds, I was most intrigued by Sophie’s project on fast fashion!

What made her project very unique was that she took the time to create a video of her own. She interviewed people in shopping areas during her time in Spain to see what people knew about fast fashion and its effect on the environment. To sum up the information, she worked with someone else to include a “draw my life” of a piece of fast fashion-clothing. This is relatable to the excerpt in the Bigelow and Swinehart reading, “A City of Factories”. The blurb was short, but it describes the module for the fast fashion industry — which is factory-driven. These cheap pieces of clothing are terrible for the environment and are being pumped out by factories at a miraculous pace. Workers in the factories, many of them from Asian countries are paid very low wages and work in terrible conditions. Sophie’s project was definitely eye-opening because it portrays how the life of fast fashion pieces never truly ends. Although it is nice to spend a small amount on clothing in bulk, there is a large price to pay for the damage it causes to the environment and the effect it has on people who work for the industry.

I decided to review Maddie Precht’s website! The first thing I noticed is that she had edited her website to be very pleasing to the eye! I love the dark background, and the right side panel that allows you to check out her most recent blog posts. Her decision to discuss Neil Young as a famous environmentalist was clever! She also personalized her website with a photo from her childhood. I also find it really cool that if you scroll all the way up, the entire screen is a beautiful photo of a natural waterfall — perfect for an ESS class! Overall, Maddie’s website is super impressive and definitely makes me want to go back and start playing around with the creative theme tools on my own site’s dashboard!

Canva has always been my go-to when it comes to designing ANYTHING — including school projects! They have a weird way of letting you view your final project, though.

Before delving into research regarding oil and fracking artwork, I had wanted to write about the film, Anchorman 2 (with Will Ferrell) that intentionally makes jokes about British Petroleum being reliable and one’s “best friend” to the audience at Sea World. It’s supposed to be a joke because the movie takes place in the 70’s. Instead, though, I looked into artwork regarding BP and found a whole website dedicated to BP comics.

I really like the use of oil sludge covering the BP CEO and calling them “bs” while turning their logo from green to brown. This is a good use of color scheme, because BP is anything but green — so they don’t deserve to have a bright green logo! The use of the dialogue blurb that ends with “are we done filming yet?” signifies deception to the public from BP — that they lie for the media to save their own name.

I love these comics because they are easy to understand for people who do not know anything about the dangers of fracking. Most people have not read the readings by Bigelow and Swinehart enough to understand how oil spills and fracking affect the world around them. I think it is very important to have artists depict these dangers through art such as this, and provide resources so that others can view them. It is surely a way to spread the word to people who are uninformed or even misinformed about fracking. It’s also really important to show larger corporations that we are not stupid: that we are in on the games they play and won’t be fooled anymore!

After our discussion of the children’s books that relate to the Bali Climate Principles, I conducted some research to find another piece of art to review here. I came across a photo that I really like, and I think it should be on billboards across America.

Of course, this DIRECTLY relates to the principles, but I really appreciate the color scheme in this photo. The use of the color brown, to spell out “Leading the Way”, is very symbolic. The other colors in the photo shows inclusion of people of all colors. I like this notion, because often our friends among less common cultures are drowned out by cultures of large numbers. Furthermore, the wording in the photo is important to identify as a direct contrast against the norm. Usually, members of large, Western corporations are the ones looked to to lead the way, but in this context, indigenous peoples are the ones we must take an example from. I think this photo is an important piece of art, because it tells a much larger story without being too involved or complex. It’s also not forceful or demanding, which might turn some people off and serve the opposite purpose.

Being someone who doesn’t read or watch the news all that often, I am unfamiliar with many environmental leaders. I have noticed, though, the abundance of Amazon commercials campaigning their efforts towards sustainability. Apparently, they are involved in the production of many renewable energy sources and upgrades, including their goal to become Shipment Zero, with half of all their deliveries releasing zero CO2 by 2030. To be frank, this seems too good to be true. I’ve been thinking about the credibility of these claims from Amazon for quite some time now, as Amazon is a major resource to me. It’s a large corporation, which is one of the key themes running through the Bigelow and Swinehart reading: that large corporations in a Western world are some of the greatest offenders in regards to environmental degradation.

Is Amazon actually part of the answer to retain the Earth’s natural resources? Through my research, I discovered Kara Hurst, the leader of Amazon’s role in the fulfillment of social responsibility of sustainability. Basically, she’s boss lady. Through my unfinished research, she seems largely responsible for most of Amazon’s success in what they’re striving for, but there are grey areas, as Amazon is not being completely transparent with what exactly they’re doing. They’re seen as “quiet”, compared to Apple, who is very vocal about the environment and their sustainability practices. So, if there’s anybody I’d like to learn more about, besides Elon Musk (who can do much more with his money to help), it’s Kara Hurst — she’s not throwing herself all over internet platforms and becoming a celebrity, so that’s a good sign. Hopefully, she and the sustainability “dream team” at Amazon are all as sensitive as the guy in the commercial who is trying to make a better future for his two daughters. I like Amazon — I want them to succeed, because I believe they really do have the power to make change. They can serve as a role model to other large corporations, tying this back to the Bigelow and Swinehart reading. If Amazon can use electric vehicles to deliver packages, so can many other companies in the industry. The key stressed by the book is that influence is what causes change, whether it’s through education, culture, or example. Perhaps Kara Hurst is the future, moving away from the incorrect-environmental-textbook past.