I have never thought of power as both a noun and a verb. Before reading Active Hope, I considered “power” to be something that an individual has or acquires, usually because they have more of something compared to the rest of the population. Macy and Johnstone defined this as “power-over”. “Power-with”, on the other hand, suggests that “the whole is… Read more »
While reading the assigned parts of Jeremy Rifkin’s Emphatic Civilization, I was struck by how his idea of humanity’s use of a “theatrical self” is applicable to the divide within America’s stance on climate change. Rifkin describes the theatrical self as a set of skills each person uses to adapt to a social situation. Each of us also possess a… Read more »
I’ve known that I have a strong addiction to my laptop for a while now. Photo from: http://www.cfdlearn.ca/importance-internet-research-implementing-law/. When I was growing up, I lived in a low-tech house. We didn’t have cable or television (only VHS), and I didn’t get a cell phone until high school. I was sheltered from the constant company of electronics. However, when I moved to… Read more »
Within the past year, I underwent a personal transformation following a severe mental health crisis that forced me to briefly withdraw from school. I found therapy in the most unlikely of places: stories. I read books on the human condition. I found companionship among patients at the hospital as they poured their hearts out in an unfamiliar “language”: emotion. I… Read more »
Through my learnings so far about the Anthropocene the things aspect that stands out the most is that we know nothing, and when I say nothing I mean what fools we are to put ourselves in a predicament like this without a plan. In my time on this planet, in this epoch I’ve learned a few important things such as… Read more »
The point of this class is to care enough to learn and then spread awareness about the impact of our actions. I came in not knowing what the word ‘Anthropocene’ meant. I now know it means humans are a geological force. We are glaciers and meteors and our change is affecting the entire world. However, with the dawning realization of… Read more »
Out of all the readings, class discussions, and media I’ve covered so far for this class I was by far the most taken aback by Donella Meadows’s piece, Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System. Reading this piece turned into such a delight for me, a rare experience where just reading her writing made me fully aware of how… Read more »
India and China, two increasingly populous countries driving local development and deleterious emissions, will inevitable be limited by the natural resources available for their use, much like a chemical reaction (Steffen). In this manner, the planet checks the expansion of humanity. However, between biofuels and antibiotics, our species continues to defy the parameters that hinder the advance of other life… Read more »
I think one of the most startling aspects of a concept such as the Anthropocene is its ability to elicit a sense of both optimism and pessimism. While reflecting on our past two weeks of class and readings, I realize that I have been consistently torn as to how to approach the topic. Recognizing the strength of Michael Maniates’s argument… Read more »
