GreenMedia

This class has served as a pretty eye opening experience for me. When the semester started I believed that I would walk into the class and not really be impacted by the course materials. As the course has gone on, I slowly saw myself opening up more and more to the many topics that were being discussed throughout the course. I have no clue what my expectations were when I first registered for the course. I guess I expected to sit throughout the class and discuss how important recycling was. I always assumed that the major aspect of environmental work was that we don’t try to recycle more. I always believed that if we all did our small part as it concerns recycling then the larger project would just take care of its self. As I learned throughout the course is that recycling is just one of the minor problems that we are faced with as a society. The major problem that plagues are on our planet is that we have become this capitalistic animals. The reason I state that we have become these capitalistic animals is because we have basically fed into the whole idea of consumerism. This consumerism has greatly shaped out mindset to the extend that we don’t fully understand the extent at which we are really hurting the world and ourselves. We believe that if we just continue to behave as if nothing is really wrong with our lifestyle then the problem will just go away but the problem is that the problem has gotten worse. The level at which we impact the world and our environment is truly unsustainable. How does a society experience so much negative change within the last one hundred years of its existence?

It is shocking to see and understand the way that we have treated the world in the last few years. It does not just stem from how we treat the world but also how we treat its valuable resources. Our society has become so consumed with maximizing a profit that we don’t see the world as a place of life but a place a profit. We try to exploit every resource that we believe will return large financial gains. Often times these financial returns are at the risk of some disadvantaged group. Based upon the system that our society was built upon, losers are perfectly fine. As long as your bottom line is expanded then it is ok for individuals to suffer. These are some of the many goals of the course. It allowed me to once again think about the larger dynamic of our society. This course helped to reinstall in me green values that I had long forgotten. These green values are often time difficult to implement but they always serve as a solid foundation to start the discussion. Whether its at home with my parents or out with friends, I believe that my understanding of the messages in society will allow me to better inform them of what is going on.

This course accomplished its goal through the wealth of information that was provided throughout the course. We were given so much information and allowed to make our own decisions concerning its impact. I believe that allowing us the freedom to choose for ourselves made the course for impactful.  I don’t believe that there is one aspect of the course that I would seek to improve. The entire course went pretty well therefore I don’t believe there is anything that I would like to change. I enjoyed the course very much so I would really like to leave it the same.

Before I ever began this course, I can honestly say that I was almost completely disregarding of the green movement. I love nature, and hunting, fishing, and kayaking are three of my favorite things to do. And it isn’t like I hadn’t heard about the arguments or didn’t understand them. I heard about them all the time from teachers and the news, and I was focused enough on my biology major to be able to understand the science behind many of the claims. No, the honest answer is that I didn’t care. I either didn’t believe what they were saying would actually happen the way they thought it would, or I didn’t think it would ever happen in my lifetime. It was benign, blissful ignorance. When I came into the class, I never thought anything said would change my opinions. In my mind, most of the people championing the green cause were people that I would never agree with on any subject whatsoever. We are on opposite ends of the political spectrum, and knowing that tinged every argument with my doubts, and that was hard to overcome. Every time I watched a documentary or read an article, I only saw whining liberals doing what they do best, i.e. complaining about something, if not everything, and then doing really absolutely nothing to solve their problems. “What’s new?” I thought, this has been happening since humanity gained the ability to communicate with one another.

However, as we come into our final day of the class, I can honestly say that I have changed to a degree. I can also honestly say that my close minded characterization of the people involved in the green movement, while not necessarily completely untrue of their political leanings, was completely wrong about their dedication and resolve to make a change and make it as quickly as possible, no matter what it takes. I am at a point now where I see myself the destruction that is happening in the environment. Sometimes I feel sick to my stomach, and cannot believe that what is going on is allowed by the people in power. Other times, the old mindset takes over and I don’t believe the evidence right in front of my eyes. But even then, in the back if my mind, I cringe and wonder what must be done to change. Other times, I just legitimately don’t see the problem, and I probably won’t until it gets worse. When we watched the “Flow” movie about water, I just disagree with almost everything. I think my defenses get up when I think people are attacking the capitalist system, and at that point I shut down and won’t listen to any of the arguments. However, I think that me listening to any of the arguments is a huge achievement, especially for me. It takes a lot to take a staunch conservative, staunch republican, staunch capitalist and make him care about saving the environment. However, it has happened. I want to be able to teach my sons how to hunt, how to fish, how to kayak and sail and hike. And without the earth we’re destroying, I can’t do that. Things have to change, and I want to be a part of the solution, not the problem.

One potential reason why high speed rail ways work well in the countries discussed in the readings is that they are, aside from China, relatively small countries with lesser and fewer land areas to connect.  To my understanding, however, roughly 90 or so percent of China’s population lives on the eastern half of the country due to the high altitude terrain of the west. The country may therefore be able to meet its transportation needs more readily than say the United States (which is roughly the same size as China).   The countries discussed in the readings are also countries which may therefore have higher population densities either due to minimal total land mass and/or limited habitable land mass. We learned from the readings, for instance, that Japan’s ratio of habitable land to total land area is only 20% which results in high population concentrations in cities, particularly three main metropolitan areas.  In comparison to the United States, the countries discussed in these readings are also older and therefore have a longer history with developing their internal infrastructure.  This may enable these countries to more easily experiment with new technology because such attempts are less of a foreign concept to their inhabitants.    

 Hiroshi Okada summarizes the challenge to high speed railways best with his statement that “the railway is deeply rooted in land and society. Therefore, it is developed to match the nature and cultural climate of a nation.”  To build off this statement, it is clear that a number of factors such as weather, geology, and societal perception may influence the future of high speed railways in a country.  As far as the United States is concerned, I believe that it has a strong potential to implement such modes of transportation.  However, I also believe that its foreignness to Americans will hinder its construction in certain areas such as the South were public transportation is less common and population density is lower.

As the championing of alternative fuels becomes more and more commonplace, we find ourselves learning an ever increasing amount of benefits of alternative fuels as well as an ever increasing amount of problems fossil fuels cause in out environment. No one fuel source is a perfect solution to the problems we seem to be facing concerning our current system. However, currently, oil still dominates the world market, and shows no sign of letting up. While alternative fuel sources like electricity, hydrogen, and corn are almost certainly better for the environment, the amount of work it would take to change America’s fleet of cars to 100% alternative fuels would be absolutely incomprehensible, not even including what we would do with our old cars, how we would change gas stations to new refueling stations, and what we would do with the countless other machines we use every day that run on fossil fuels. As great as alternative fuels seem to be, it will take a lot before America changes.

When I started this class I had hoped it would connect to my work in engineering in some meaningful respect while also providing a pleasant contrast to what I was receiving in my new field.  I hoped as well that this course would be stimulating and eye opening.  Simultaneously, however, I was skeptical of the overall potential quality and usefulness of this class.  Trying not to set my expectations too high, I minimally expected to gain some new knowledge about emerging green technologies and the politics surrounding them given the title of the course. I can now say after finishing this course, however, that I was satisfyingly rewarded for choosing to take it.

I learned and accomplished many things throughout this course. First, I accomplished my goal of finding a stimulating and eye opening course which contrasted with what I was receiving through my engineering coursework.   Secondly, I managed to relate my coursework for this class back to my current work in engineering, especially to my former introductory course in environmental engineering.  In doing so I found myself frequently pushing my boundaries of understanding and interpreting the world I live in.  Moreover, this course brought to light many new ethical questions regarding my future work within the chemical industry.  I had never watched any of the documentaries we screened in class such as Yes Men Rule the World, Blue Vinyl, Food Inc., or Flow.  What I noticed in most of the above films was that engineering and the chemical industry has become involved in many major environmental and socioeconomic problems facing us today.  While I know that many engineers strive to improve people’s quality of life worldwide, my growing exposure to such information brings into question whether or not our means justify our ends.  I am thus motivated by this course to try to actively take part in finding new sustainable ways to build our future society and to holistically reconnect with the natural world.  This endeavor may prove to be a contradiction in itself but I truly hope it can be accomplished for the sake of humanity. 

What this course also helped me to accomplish was to connect more to my current generation and the community of Columbia.  Strangely enough, despite the fact that I am in a technology related and driven field I am very behind the curve so to speak when it comes to modern social networks and technologies.  I am also still learning about all that Columbia has to offer in terms of entertainment, education, activism, enrichment, etc.  I thus enjoyed how this class approached learning about emerging green media through a diverse curriculum of active class discussions, videos, readings, field trips, events, and projects which highlighted things I formerly knew nothing about.  These varied teaching and learning techniques were the aspects of this course which best helped me to accomplish my initial goals for this course.  They also helped stimulate me to develop more holistic ways of thinking which I believe is invaluable. 

The aspects of this class that I believe could be improved are few but I will make some suggestions nonetheless.  I would have enjoyed, for instance, learning more about local establishments which help promote green values and green media through additional field trips.  I would have also liked to have been able to screen more documentaries because I believe images are a powerful tool of learning.  Moreover, I wished there had been organized service learning opportunities to partake in for the sake of learning outside of the restraints of class time.

Although I am going to be a senior in the fall, and political science is my minor, this is the first political science class that I have ever taken.  I remember being enlightened to the truth about a lot of commercials after watching the Ad and the Ego on the first day of class.  This was really interesting for me to see because as a marketing major, I have spent the last few semesters learning about marketing techniques from a business standpoint instead of from a consumer standpoint.  In essence I have been learning how to convince people to consume, although that is not exactly how my marketing professor might word it.  For me it was very interesting to see another standpoint on the implications of marketing on people and the enviroment.  It will be interesting to continue to take my marketing classes as someone who is informed about things like greenwashing, culture jamming, and green values in general.  Now I find myself thinking about these things much more, and actually really have taken a liking to green values.  It is not so much specific green values that I like, but rather the logic used to form those values.  I like the way green values encourage becoming involved and taking action, and there are numerous ways to realistically go about doing that. 

When I signed up for this course, I did not really know what to expect.  At the time, I didnt really know what green values were, and certainly didnt consider what kind of impact we could have on the enviroment.  Through this course however, I feel that I have accomplished a lot.  Taking business class after business class tends to get boring, and this class was a great change of pace.  It felt good to read and watch things that were relevant, and then write your own opinions on the issue or just share what you thought was interesting and why.  My favorite part  about the class was being able to watch movies relating to the material we learned and read about.  Something that I feel I have accomplished through this course is becoming informed on actual issues that are going on regarding the enviroment.  It surprised me to find out how much I actually took an interest in the subjects, and available media sources definitely enhanced my interest and comprehension.  Also, as I am planning to go to law school after I graduate, I have recently been thinking of what kind of law I would want to go into.  I remembered that my uncle was an enviromental lawyer, and I gave him a call to ask him about what kind of stuff he handled, and he had some really interesting things to say.  I think that it might be interesting to include a class during next years schedule on enviromental law, and the kind of people who battle some of these issues out in a legal setting.  Overall, this has been my favorite class at the University of South Carolina to date, and I intend to take more classes about green politics.

Mass transit has proven a huge success in many places. Japan’s high speed railway, shinkansen interests me a lot because of the steps and planning that they did in designing the rail.  From the reading, I gathered that there is not really a set way to design a rail, it depends on the enviroment and set up of the country/countries.  Japan seems to have flawlessly integrated their railway into the country in terms of how it is setup.  With most of Japan’s population living in cities, and most of those cities being located on the coast Japan decided to make stops up and down the coast in certain cities.  Another smart move on Japan’s part was to set up the railway before and during the actual development of their modern cities.  Because of this, expansion in the cities started at the train station and moved out, which ensured the development of good feeder networks.  Another aspect to note about Japan is that they have very strict enviromental regulations.  Since there are so many people who live around the actual railway, Japan wants to ensure that no one in the surrounding area is bothered or harmed by loud noises and vibrations. 

I know that certain high speed railways exist in the US, however I have never been on one.  The US could definitely use principles that Japan used to create some long distance railways that would fit perfectly into the landscape of the East Coast.  Just as Japan decided to make stops at many major cities up and down their coast line, the US could do the same by making stops all the way from Miami to New York City.

When I first started this course I was honestly thinking it was going to be another boring politics class. I was not too happy to be taking politics because when I thought of politics I thought of a class talking about the government and the issues within it, but I was wrong. When I walked into the Green Quad, I was a bit confused because I was thinking that a politics class would be held in the business building. The title of this class, using the words YouTube, Cellphones and Media, actually caught my attention and I knew this class was going to be different.

After being in the class for a couple of days, I learned so much. If it was not for this class, I probably would of never walked into the Green Quad or participated in yoga. After watching the No Impact video, it triggered something inside of me that made me realize that this is our only planet and we need to cherish it. I knew about recycling and the affect our waste is doing to our environment, but I never felt so determine to try my best to go Green and help educate others about it as well. The true knowledge and understanding of what going Green really means is an accomplishment.

At the end of the semester the class surprised me with the topic of Green music and freedom of opinions and beliefs. I use to think that going Green just meant helping the environment, but its also means standing up for something you believe in. I learned about independent artist and film makers that promoted creating an healthier environment or promoted something of their choice.

I believe the tours and the documentaries helped me accomplish the aspect of my accomplishment of fully understanding the meaning of Green music. The visit to the nickelodeon theater was my favorite tour because it gave us the opportunity to visit a place that many have not gotten the chance visit. The different independent films we saw helped show us that individuals that are not with labels or have film contracts can still do their own thing. This visit made me realize that their our a lot of independent artist, and festivals out there, be we just have to deep a little deeper to find them. I learned that grassroots media has a lot to do with the promotion of the people who listen or watch these independent artists.

The only thing that I can say that can be improved more would be the time spent in class. Because this was a may mester class, the classes seemed very long and not that interesting. Regardless, I still learned the true definition of “Green” is, but because the class were so long and me having other outside obligations outside of class, I tended to doze off a tad. Overall I would recommend that class to future students, because I believe we need this class to help save our environment. I have adapted some new Green ways and qualities that I hope is only the beginning of my new Green adventure.

When I first started this course I was honestly thinking it was going to be another boring politics class. I was not too happy to be taking politics because when I thought of politics I thought of a class talking about the government and the issues within it, but I was wrong. When I walked into the Green Quad, I was a bit confused because I was thinking that a politics class would be held in the business building. The title of this class, using the words YouTube, Cellphones and Media, actually caught my attention and I knew this class was going to be different.

After being in the class for a couple of days, I learned so much. If it was not for this class, I probably would of never walked into the Green Quad or participated in yoga. After watching the No Impact video, it triggered something inside of me that made me realize that this is our only planet and we need to cherish it. I knew about recycling and the affect our waste is doing to our environment, but I never felt so determine to try my best to go Green and help educate others about it as well. The true knowledge and understanding of what going Green really means is an accomplishment.

At the end of the semester the class surprised me with the topic of Green music and freedom of opinions and beliefs. I use to think that going Green just meant helping the environment, but its also means standing up for something you believe in. I learned about independent artist and film makers that promoted creating an healthier environment or promoted something of their choice.

I believe the tours and the documentaries helped me accomplish the aspect of my accomplishment of fully understanding the meaning of Green music. The visit to the nickelodeon theater was my favorite tour because it gave us the opportunity to visit a place that many have not gotten the chance visit. The different independent films we saw helped show us that individuals that are not with labels or have film contracts can still do their own thing.

The only thing that I can say that can be improved more would be the time spent in class. Because this was a maymester class, the classes seemed very long and not that interesting. Regardless, I still learned the true definition of “Green” is, but because the class were so long and me having other outside obligations outside of class, I tended to doze off a tad. Overall I would recommend that class to future students, because I believe we need this class to help save our environment. I have adapted some new Green ways and qualities that I hope is only the beginning of my new Green adventure.

Since this is my group’s blog i would like to explain what i think about this topic. In my opinion alternative fuel and other resources are the future of our generation, and the future of America itself. The  U.S. government is in many ways. is way too much influenced by automobile companies, oil companies, and lobbyist’s… Lobbying is the most influential impact on the topic, and in many definitions lobbying has been called the fourth branch of government. Law makers nowadays often times start thinking of their next election once they get into office rather than the goals and tasks that they promised during their campaign. This gives lobbyists a lot of pull and power in legislation since they give a ample amount of money and advice to guarantee lobbyists’ a reelection opportunity. Alternative fuels offer America with less dependence on foreign oil, which translates into less middle eastern relations, and less war… This is because it is one of the main reasons we are in the middle east besides the war against terrorism. It would also help Americans save money at the gas pump, and make the world a healthier place to live.. who could argue with that?