The sound of the rain while I sit alone in my near silent apartment has to be one of the moments I feel the most grateful. The whistle of the wind, which sounds as if my neighbor is playing the recorder, and the patter of rain hitting the windows make me feel content and safe. I sort of feel like… Read more »
I would like to submit a piece I wrote in my journal 2 years ago during one of the rougher stretches of my life. I do feel like it relates to the bigger picture, however, so bear with me. Please forgive the edgy and melancholy language, but I suppose it wouldn’t be the work of a millennial without it: Anxiety…. Read more »
We are a group of undergraduates at the University of Washington with varied majors, but we created this video with hopes of inspiring others to increase their awareness about the water they consume every day! Special shout out to our Professor Karen Litfin (go check her out–she’s written a lot of cool books, too!), and her course Political Science 301:… Read more »
In the realm of climate change denial, there is a pervasive myth of “natural warming”, the idea that the Earth’s climate just naturally fluctuates between the extremes of very cold and very warm, so the warming we’re seeing is just part of that natural change. This myth takes many forms with various scientific concepts serving as the logic behind them,… Read more »
Some climate change deniers claim that the recent increase in carbon emissions should be of little concern because carbon is not a pollutant. It is true that element carbon is found naturally throughout the environment and is even considered a building block of life. It is true that animals, including human beings, breathe out carbon dioxide as a natural part… Read more »
The idea that the Earth is not actually warming is one of the most pervasive myths about climate change, and it is also one of the most straight-forward. The basis for this myth comes from the fact that the global average temperature in 1998 was close to the average temperature today, and so one can draw a line between the… Read more »
The myth that “climate change is good” is widely broadcast by a variety of social interests, politicians, and their combined constituencies hoping to get or stay empowered in many countries, especially northern (developed) ones like the United States, Canada and Russia. The loudest voices on the “is good side” are usually hydrocarbon interests, corporations and oil oligarchs and their public… Read more »
When you look at major scientific organizations and the true number of scientists who support the idea of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change, the widespread myth that there is not a consensus in the scientific community is evidently false. According to NASA, at least 97% of “actively publishing scientists” are in agreement that climate change is human-caused.[1] Through the assessment of… Read more »
February 17th 2016 During contemplative practice in lecture today, Professor Litfin asked who we are in the anthropocene, then read a poem to us. Without forcing myself to think, I was caught in the question without an answer. I was extremely caught in the question and could not hear a word when professor Litfin read the poem. I was not… Read more »
As I thought what I should write for a journal, I wanted to rethink about the clip that I watched in the class. The name of the clip was “Space Monkey-it’s not a planet, it’s our home”. As I watch this clip, I first thought that what is this, what is this telling, or what should I feel as I… Read more »