During what the Scientists call the “Age of Plastic”, it is no surprise that my action was moved by the film Albatross.The film focuses on our society’s obsession with plastic and shows how it threatens a whole species. There is a huge shock factor, and the documentary film makes one consider life and death, and how closely these two things are… Read more »
Our action group chose to focus on a topic that hits close to home; approximately 88% of Americans actually. The majority of Americans are pet owners yet there is minimal news about the ecological impact that they have on the planet. The pet food industry it worth nearly $25 billion and most pets have a meat-based diet. Meat-based diets require… Read more »
The purpose of the final paper assignment was to write about our experience with the group action project, specifically, what we learned from the action project, what we gave, and how it relates to class themes and concepts. For the action project my group chose to host a teach-in focused around resilience and active hope in the era of the… Read more »
By Owen DeArmond-MacLeod My group action project, hosting a discussion forum on circular economy, both exposed me to circular economy as a concept and was logistically an exercise in systemic thinking. To prepare for our forum we created brochures and posters, compiling the research we did on the pros and cons of circular economy. In addition to the research we… Read more »
What started as posting questions and facts, which were inspired by the contemplative practices we had in class, around the University of Washington campus transformed into posting questions on social media and screening a movie. The film we screened was Albatross, a documentary by Chris Jordan that we watched in class that showed the system of death the albatross faced… Read more »
When I reflect on my personal carbon footprint, the ownership of a loving and playful golden retriever is not a lifestyle choice I’ve ever previously questioned. For my group’s action project, we focused on the negative ecological impacts of household pets, and analyzed the most effective methods to reducing a pet’s carbon emissions. The commercialization of pets has amassed into… Read more »
In my final paper I discuss in great detail the relationship I discover between the course themes of individualism, accountability and accessibility and their relationship to my groups action project. Here I discuss the alarming but fascinating dichotomy my group uncovered by incorporating both the online world and in-person world of participation as a pivotal aspect of our project…. Read more »
Originally planning to rally behind the upcoming global labor strike for climate justice, Earth Strike, our group began as a group of strangers with similar ideological perspectives. However, we quickly found ourselves feeling hopeless as we consumed the course material. Earth Strike appeared to be too vast for us to make a concrete addition, and as the strike date isn’t… Read more »
In my studies of household pets’ ecological impact, I was awakened to the environmental hazards of pet ownership that extend beyond perpetuating manipulative breeding, as well as how much more there is to the story in being a responsible pet parent. While there is virtually no avoiding the depletion of the environment by having a pet, given that cats and… Read more »
The contemplative practices we’ve experienced so far have given me a way to channel the course content into a more engaging thought process. I clearly noticed my way of thinking change after the screening of the Albatross movie. In each contemplative practice before this, I tried focusing on how I was experiencing my emotions after heavy ideas of death crowded… Read more »