This class made me aware of ecovillages, communities focused on sustainable living. In her article, A Whole New Way of Life: Ecovillages and the Revitalization of Deep Community, Karen Litfin discusses what ecovillages are, how they interact with the rest of the world, and their importance in facing climate change. She mentions these communities are not protest-oriented but rather affirmative…. Read more »
At the beginning of the quarter, I didn’t know what the Anthropocene was. On the first day of class, I learned it is the current epoch, characterized by unprecedented human impacts on the Earth system. We have become geological agents to the point where we greatly influence the planet’s climate, carbon cycle, and more. The problems of this time are… Read more »
For our action project, my two groupmates and I organized a yoga and dance party at the University of Washington. The idea was to teach people about the Anthropocene in a creative way that wouldn’t be overwhelming and paralyzing for participants. We would bring a yoga instructor to help us incorporate the body as well as contemplative practices for an… Read more »
Director Josh Fox’ film, How to Let Go of the World and Love All The Things Climate Can’t Change, is truly eye-opening. The part filmed in Beijing was most horrifying to me. Fox says when he first arrived in Beijing, he thought it was foggy, but in fact he was seeing pollutants suspended in the air. This pollution kills millions… Read more »
In his book, Defiant Earth, Clive Hamilton argues humans are at the center of the world, thus we are responsible for protecting the Earth system. He says, “human activity has modified the Earth’s processes so radically that we have disrupted the great forces of nature…so much so that it has shifted into a new geological epoch,” (51) reinforcing the view… Read more »
The idea of the Anthropocene is a very intriguing one. Humans have always had an impact on their environment, but since the industrial revolution, that impact has become much larger than ever before. The film Anthropocene, directed by Steve Bradshaw, introduces the idea that humans have become geological agents. We can now modify the structure of the Earth on the… Read more »
