Blog #11

I was raised with a Methodist background when I was growing up.  I attended pre-school at Trenholm Rd Methodist Church which is also where we attended church; my family did not attend church that often when I was a child, and once I was around the age of ten or so, we stopped going to church altogether pretty much.  My religious background does not affect my thoughts about spiritual ecology whatsoever.  I do not consider myself a religious person and therefore I am open to many new ideas.  Spiritual ecology is a concept that essentially states that all organisms on earth are connected spiritually.  Basically, you and me are connected to each other, who in turn are connected to our neighbor's dog, who is then connected to the bush in the front yard.  We then come full circle back to you and me because we are connected to the bush as well. 
The Gaia Hypothesis is an interesting concept.  It states that everything on the earth builds up one complete organism which is the earth itself; the earth is a living creature, and we are all essentially the cells that make the earth alive.  This is quite a radical concept, but intriguing nonetheless.  I agree with the idea that we are all connected and do make up something larger than what we see on the surface.  But I do not believe the earth is a living entity; we are just a part of the beautiful circle of life on earth.
I think we do most certainly live in a hyper-masculine culture.  The male gender has always been the dominant gender of our species since the beginning of history.  Today, I believe that this notion is changing dramatically.  We have women in many powerful positions in office in our government; for example, Hillary Clinton was recently the Secretary of State which is a coveted position.  Change is happening rapidly considering that women just got the right to vote less than 100 years ago. I could see men and women being completely equal in society one day.

Blog #10

What is Social Ecology? What are your reactions to the readings? What forms of hierarchy are in our world today? Are these hierarchies natural? Are there any better alternatives?


Social Ecology is basically the idea that social hierarchies are ultimately destroying the ecosystem, and that in order to change and to protect the environment we must abandon the traditional system of hierarchy.  I can agree with the idea that in Utopia we would be a classless species, however I do find it extremely impractical that humans will abandon the current hierarchy we have set in place.  I believe this because it is natural for humans to be in a hierarchy; it is all we have ever known.  If it were unnatural, as social ecology states, then why should we have to force change?
In American society today we have lower , middle, and upper class with much leeway; in our society, a person can start from the bottom and make their way to the top provided they are successful in their endeavors.  But a person can also be born in upper class and be very unsuccessful and ruin their status in society.  India has a caste system where you are locked into your social class at birth.  Asian culture has traditionally been centered around authority, honor, and respect for those who are deemed superior.  I believe this proves that it is human nature to have hierarchy. 
I do think that it could be achievable in the future, but we would have to be a much more intelligent, empathetic, and advanced species for it to work properly.

Blog #9

The views of deep ecology relate to everyone, as the the definition essentially states that every living thing is a part of nature, including humans.  I live a lifestyle fairly separate from nature; outside of doing any type of outdoor activity, I would say that I'm not exactly a part of nature.  I, much like many people in the world, live in a society extremely detached from nature and the natural way of the world.  I am most certainly guilty of being wasteful and exploiting the environment.  I try to be conscious about my actions, but it is almost as if having a master-slave relationship with everything else in the world is engrained in our brains.
I honestly agree with most, if not all, of the principles of deep ecology.  Humans are most certainly a part of nature.  However, I feel that civilization is a by-product of our intelligence, and some could argue is the pinnacle of human evolution.  I mostly disagree with this implication because I believe all living things are constantly evolving.  I also believe that, in our current state of evolution, we are learning that the continued exploitation of natural resources and other living creatures will ultimately be the demise of the entire human race.  As humans, we are absolutely in no current state to inhabit any extraterrestrial body; we could hardly make it to the moon and back.  Thus, we must change our ways and learn to respect nature as we are the most incredible product nature has ever produced.
The idea that we should respect all life seems like a no-brainer.  Life is the most beautiful thing in existence, and we should honor every aspect of it.  The third principle states that humans should only supply their "vital needs."  If we look at the rest of nature, it seems as though most living things simply do what the need to get by; humanity should embrace this concept because there are limited resources available to us, and at the rate we are going, there will not be much left for future generations.
I don't really have too many concerns with Deep Ecology because I agree with the idea for the most part. 

Blog #8

Blog#8: What are the preconditions necessary for using consensus decision making in a group or organization?  What are the strengths and weaknesses of the process?

There are many necessary conditions in order for consensus decision making to work in a group or an organization.  Firstly, the people in the group or organization should optimally share the same interests because if they have conflicting interests then it will be very hard for the group to come to a consensus and move forward.  Secondly, everyone needs to be open minded and willing to accept new ideas to achieve the shared goal or address the shared concern.  If not, people will constantly argue and would most likely be unable to again, come to a consensus.  It is also imperative that the group be smaller rather than larger when attempting to use consensus decision making.  This is important because as we saw with the Occupy Wall Street movement that consensus decision making does not really work that well when used with larger groups; people have different ideas and interests and are unwilling to listen.  Also in a larger group, many people may not really understand the concept of consensus decision making and therefore wouldn't know the prerequisites required in order for it to work properly.

I believe that consensus decision making is a great idea when used correctly.  It helps to resolve issues much easier and helps to resolve issues without creating as much hostility as conventional decision making.

Blog #7

Culture-jamming is essentially a social movement; culture-jamming "aims to the mental environment from the powerful grip of market-structured consciousness by reclaiming airwaves and public spaces to propagate ideas instead of plugging products"  (Bordwell).  I think culture-jamming is an interesting concept.  I agree with the fact that our society is highly consumer driven, and that advertisements are becoming increasingly present almost everywhere.  I also agree that people are walking advertisements.  Nearly everything we use or wear has a logo now and which is brilliant yet subtle way to advertise.  Culture-jamming is a step in the right direction in combating the powerful corporations that practically run American society.

Culture-jamming can take on many forms from organized protests to print "subvertisements" and television and video "uncommercials."  It is definitely a useful tool for activism, especially in today's world which is highly focused on social media.  With tools like Facebook and Twitter, culture-jamming is even more effective because videos and pictures are easily displayed and accessed this way. 

I thought the Adbusters website was pretty interesting.  Adbusters "are a global network of culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society" (Adbusters).  There are many different spoof ads to look at which were pretty cool.  You could also look at their different campaigns and access a culture shop which had a lot of interesting things for sale.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JajJCcUUVgk

Blog #6

 Spiritual Ecology is very intriguing and thought provoking.  It raises many questions about the meaning of humanism and whether or not humans are actually a part of nature as opposed to nature's ruler.  I picked this group because I thought that Spiritual Ecology would be an interesting topic to research and teach the class about, and so far I am right. 
I agree with both arguments concerning humanism.  I believe that humans are 100% animals and a product of nature, like every other creature on this planet.  However, I also believe that because humans have evolved into an intelligent species capable of complex thought and emotion, and therefore are the dominant form of nature, at least as we know it today.  I wish humans as a whole were more in tune with their natural side and more in tune with nature itself; it seems most people today have disassociated themselves from nature almost altogether.  As corny as it may sound, the way of life on the planet Pandora in the film 'Avatar,' to me at least, would be a utopian society.  If humans were able to learn to control their frivolous exploitation of resources, humans and nature would be much more harmonious.
We discussed the idea of possibly doing a game of Jeopardy to help teach the material to the class, but not really sure if that is what we are going to do.  We are going to look for interesting videos and try to create a game or activity that would get the entire class involved as opposed to just trying to lecture, because that would be boring.