Multimedia Presentations

I prefer multimedia presentations over essays because they allow you to use more visual displays.  I would say that I feel less stressed when I'm working on a powerpoint than when I'm writing an essay.  Working on the asthetics allows my mind to have a break and makes the project more enjoyable. I think it is important for a presentation to appeal asthetically to the viewer.  I also think that I prefer explaining things vocally than on paper.  I put as much time into multimedia presentations as I do an essay, so I still feel satisfied in my work when it comes time to share.

Environmental Change- Glaciers

<http://www.androidworld.com/prod60.htm>.

The picture above displays the Upsala Glacier in 1928 and in 2004.  As you can see, glacier melting is happening at a very fast rate.  According to a CBC news report in 2009, sea levels may rise 3 to 5 feet due to accelerated melting (Glaciers Melting Faster).  Ice shelves that keep the glaciers from the sea are also weakening.  In the article, a member of the International Polar Year's steering committee said that "the biggest of the western glaciers, the Pine Island Glacier, is moving 40 percent faster than it was in the 1970s, discharging water and ice more rapidly into the ocean."  He also said that "the Smith Glacier, also in west Antarctica, is moving 83 percent faster than in 1992."  Glacier melting is one example of environmental change;  soon the large glaciers of the 1900s will be a memory from the past.

Works Cited

"Glaciers Melting Faster Than First Thought - CBS News." Breaking News Headlines: Business, 

          Entertainment & World News - CBS News. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.     

          <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/25/tech/main4829282.shtml>.

"The Solution to Global Warming." Android World - Anthropomorphic Robots &                    

        Animatronics. Web. 19 Feb. 2012. 

        <http://www.androidworld.com/prod60.htm>.

Religion, Environment, and Article Reflection

Yale University has a new program called 'religion and environment'.  This program attempts to bring two normally repelling ideas together in harmony based on different perspectives of religion.  No matter your beliefs, the environment and religion go hand in hand.  Religions all over the world must decide their place within creation. 

In the beginning of time, God bestowed humans resources to manage and take care of.  Many religions believe that it is the duty of the privileged to help those who are less privileged.  Every human relies on the environment for day to day needs.  Taking care of the environment, therefore, results in helping others.
Religion and the environment are not opposing forces.  Religion recognizes a creator, and the environment is part of his creation.  Therefore, you cannot support one and not the other.  


I read an article called Religion and Environment by Willis Jenkins and Christopher Key Chapple.  This article discussed the relationship between religion and environment from different world views.  I found out that many Asian religions approach environmental issues as moral issues as well.  Yoga (practiced in Hundu, Buddhist, Jaina, and Gandhian customs), display such unison.  Also, the beliefs of "plant sentience, stability, and karma" have all played roles in connecting religion and environment.  India, for example, has made environmental changes based on their religion.  One change that was made was tree protection due to the belief of tree worship.

Jenkins also asserted in his article that people who call themselves Christians approach environmental issues in different ways, depending on their encounter with God.  Many denominations teach to "appreciate beauty, revere sacraments, and respect creation".  From my experience as a Christian I found this statement to be accurate.  Many Christians view the environment in different ways, but I would say that most have at least some amount of respect for creation.

After reading this article, I agree that most religions have an interest in environmental health.  I believe that more and more people will accept combining religion and environmental studies into one category alongside their separate categories as time goes on.

Article Link:
( http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-environ-042610-103728 )

ENG 101 2/7/12 Shit Yogis Say

My English professor showed us a YouTube video called “Shit Yogis Say”.  This video puts a humorous spin on the everyday yoga participant.  It seems like hundreds of videos have recently been posted with the same theme.  They are all over the web.  I think this trend is funny, but is overused.  I don’t particularly like the ones where people play the role of the opposite gender.  It just doesn’t work.

Richard Kahn Essay Reflection

Kahn Essay Reflection

In his article Towards Ecopedagogy: Weaving a Broad-based Pedagogy of Liberation for Animals, Nature, and the Oppressed People of the Earth, Richard Kahn explains the different routes the fate of the Earth might fall into. 

“We move, then,” he says, “in a sea of possibilities and swirling energies. Amidst these energies arises the great wave; and it is crashing and we who are threatened with annihilation and asked to threaten others with the same are its driftwood. Will we then be smashed to splinters upon the polluted beach of no tomorrow? Will we surf the awesome tube of this grave peril and move laterally across it into newly imagined freedoms? Or will we head outward into deeper waters still, floating upon unfathomable depths, along with dangers and possibilities even as of yet unforeseen?”(Kahn 1).

He goes on to explain that Capitalism handicaps people to distinguish the delicate relationship between creatures and their environment.  Destroying the environment destroys the creature, and vice versa.  A capitalist world, he says, puts the two against each other. 

“. . . the fact of the matter is that capitalism as we know it rests by definition upon friction. It is predicated first and foremost by competition and growth, a predatory survival of the fittest approach to life in which “fittest” means most mighty and therefore able to grow further and out-compete rivals. There is no ecology of symbiosis in the dominant system today, no ecology of mutuality and compassion; and again, this lack exists not by accident but rather as the result of concrete historical forces at work in our world. . .”(Kahn 2). 

I can see where Kahn is coming from in his article.  Capitalism has encouraged business to produce as much as they can with their money, which can result in exploitation of resources, but it frustrates me that he does not provide an alternate method, at least, that America should work towards.  I also do not like how he blankets the whole system as an evil. 

He also states that Capitalist America is carrying the “murder” of trillions of animals on its back because of the growing popularity of fast food industries.  I found this argument weak because he did not give support to his claim as to how, exactly, the animal kingdom was being affected.  I would have liked to see past trends in animal deaths and scientific studies to back up such an assertive statement.

Kahn later mentions in his article that he believes ecopedagogy (or environmental education) should be expanded into the lives of average individuals.  Over the last couple of decades, he says, environmental movements have opened the eyes of individuals, changing the way people look at the world.

“In part, [the modern environmental movement] has developed ideas and practices of environmental preservation and conservation, struggled to understand and reduce the amount of pollution and toxic risks associated with industrialized civilization, produced new modes of counterculture and morality, outlined the need for appropriate technologies, and led to powerful legislative environmental reforms as well as a wide range of alternative institutional initiatives” (Kahn 5).

Enforcing an environmental education curriculum in schools could help raise a generation that is aware of the state of the earth and its natural resources.  It could also be used as a gateway to reaching the families of the schoolchildren.  One school that is taking matters into its own hands is the School of Environmental Studies in Minnesota, referred as the “Zoo School”.  This school lets juniors and seniors in high school take their classes at a nearby zoo so that they might observe the inner workings of the zoo itself, as well as the flora and fauna.  This supposedly increases motivation of the students and helps the students to connect lectures to real-life. 

I agree that environmental education is important.  People need to be aware that they contribute to the health and wellness of their world.  Teaching students when they are young will initialize good habits that they can carry on into their adult life and pass on to their children.  I think that the “Zoo School” sounds like it could be a good system for a select group of students.  I believe that it would be difficult for certain learning styles to assimilate in that setting, but I think it would be good for those tactical learners. 

Overall, I think that Kahn gave some good insight on many real problems that America, along with the rest of the world, has. However, it bothered me that he didn’t offer a solution to fix those problems.  I was skeptical while reading his essay because I didn’t find much science-based information and how it ties into the overall ecology of the world, and I wish that he had incorporated that into his work.

http://richardkahn.org/writings/ecopedagogy/towardsecopedagogy.pdf