"A Quotation At the Right Moment is Like Bread to the Famished" - The Talmud

So we just couldn't get enough SIS-388 this week, so before we delve into the final exam we thought we'd leave with our favorite quotes from the semester. We'll each be posting our two favorites, so check them out by clicking "comments" below!

Also check out Laura's journal entries from her participation in the No-Technology Project here.

I won't be leaving you with a quote of the week this time, so you'll just have to click below to get your quotation fix.

And that, folks, as they say, is that.

No Technology Journal Entries + Two Favorite Quotes From Class!

My two favorite quotes from the class come from Friedman and Mainiates.
Friedman: "We no longer know an act of God and an act of man"
Maniates: "Be like Rush Limbaugh- just a little."

Day 1

10/28/09 – 11:55pm- The night before.

There is five minutes until the 48 hours of no technology officially starts. I AM FREAKING OUT! I have done all of my work that requires a computer, but what if someone unexpected emails me? Like someone I haven’t heard from in two years or something? Not to mention that at this moment I have THREE instant messaging conversations going on, one with a friend from home, and I have to end them. And to top it all of the Yankees lost tonight and now I am missing game two of the World Series tomorrow- why am I doing this?!!

10/29- 12pm

I am sitting in the marketplace and fidgeting. Earlier I went to reach for my phone because I saw something that reminded me of a friend- BUT no, I couldn’t crack this early on, so now I hoping I see him so I can tell him instead. I am also thinking about the day ahead of me- Thursday- my busiest day. It might be a blessing because I’ll be in class until 5 and then have other things to do, but at the same time I am dreading the fact I cannot use my phone or computer to occupy myself in-between class time, like now. Also later, I made plans to go to the mall with my friend at 5:10 and meet her on the southside of campus, so I hope she remembers. Plus, I am supposed to drive, but I still use my GPS to get around down here- can I do that? Oh boy, this trip might take longer than expected.

10pm

Thankfully I just occupied myself for a good portion of the night. After the mall, I went out to eat with some friends, but now I returned to my room, to find my roommate- a Phillies fan- watching the game. I removed myself from the room with encouragement- more like scolding- from her. I am now planning on reading some books for class tomorrow- environmental policy- one of the few classes I actually read from a book.

Day 2

10/30/09- 11am

I have class in twenty minutes, what should I do until then? I woke up at 10:30 this morning, got dressed and then sat around like I am now. I decided to get the paper, but that was over in 5 minutes ago. I also just remembered I have to turn off my alarm on my phone because apparently it goes off even if my phone is off and I can’t have that happen in class again. The mission was to “get in” and “get out”, but as soon as I turned it on 6 text messages popped up, along with 4 missed calls and a voicemail. As soon as I changed the alarm and shut it off and threw it away from me, hoping that would help me not think about it. Obviously that didn’t work because here I am writing about it…And now I am thinking, “jeez how many emails will I have or facebook notifications. I cannot wait until midnight tonight to check them. But for now, I guess I will just walk to class extremely slowly and see if that works.

5pm

After class I went to work, where I work for my congressman on the hill. I prepared mentally for those few hours, to prevent myself from using any technology personally. Luckily I was busy with ground mail and taking messages. Now I am sitting on a bench waiting for my friend to pick me up. I went to her room last night to make sure we decided upon a place to meet considering I can’t call her. Then for the rest of the night it is my intention to attach myself to her as a liaison to my other friends, so that I knew what dinner plans were or what the plan was for going out tonight.

2am (10/31)

I know this is crazy to be writing right now, but I just had my moment of freedom. I was at my friend’s apartment for a Halloween party, so I didn’t really need my phone because most of my friends were there. And although normally, I do not think about technology I counted down to midnight. Then I grabbed my phone and text-ed the people that weren’t there to let them know I re-entered the world. I then took my friend’s computer and checked my email= 136! Lord, did it feel good to be in the “know” again. Then I checked the score of the baseball game and my hockey team. Now finally, sleep and in the morning I will just call someone to say I will be late for brunch, instead of having to be punctual and responsible or vice versa for he/she.

Day 3

11/5- 5:30pm

So today was another long Thursday. I continued the preparation of putting my email on auto-response, notifying the facebook world and my parents. I also decided not to preplan, but just show up places around the usual eating times and find someone to eat with. And so this is why I am writing now, because I am sitting in MGC waiting for someone to come by. Hopefully, someone I know will come along soon and if not I’ll just read because I printed out some readings for tomorrow.

10:30pm

So I did find three people to eat with and then afterwards I felt lost. I really had nothing to do. So I wandered to my friends’ rooms until I figured I was close enough to in time for me to return to the room, shower and go to bed. I am basically going to bed because I am bored. This whole day I have just eaten, slept, written in this pad, read or played with some balloons that are in my room from my roommates decorations (pathetic- I know). Just another 26 hours or so and I will not have to do this again!

Day 4

11/6- 6pm

This day was the same as last Friday, thank goodness for some type of routine in life. Although, as I started my slow walk to class, I contemplated if now I was allowed to use the elevator or listen to the radio in my car- I decided that I was because there has to be a line somewhere right? And those things were invented much longer ago than the TV or cell phone. Tonight I am thinking I will just stay in because I have a philanthropic event tomorrow early. And even though on these nights I would watch a movie- I cannot. I will just have to convince others to entertain me or play board games or something.

11/7/09

So last night I convinced “my little”, from my fraternity, to play board games with me. We went to the store and also bought cookies to bake and played STRATEGO AND RISK. I will admit those are not my favorite ones but considering I convinced him to stay in I figured I shouldn’t be picky. I have to say I am amazed and proud that I got through those final 48 hours. I thought it would be harder considering I knew what to expect, but with some pressure from my roommate not to “cheat”, helped. Not having access to technology was difficult not only because I as an individual was attached, but society is. Everyone corresponded with email or phones so for all that I knew I was on an island with no civilization- except for the fact I had friends. It made me value them more because they helped me and were supportive- even if none of them joined me in this task.

Week 12: The Final Blogging

Alas, the end of the semester is almost upon us. This will be our last blog posting, but we certainly hope to go out with a bang! To commemorate this most solemn occasion, please take a moment to look upon our fearless leader, Dr. Simon Nicholson, and reflect upon all that he has taught us to better our common future:

Dr. Simon Nicholson
"King of SIS Construction"

This week we will be choosing between two questions to discuss:

1. Think about the environment-themed conversations you had over the Thanksgiving break. What did you learn? Is it best to be provocative, conciliatory, or something else? Which arguments and framings from our readings and discussions resonated best with the people you talked with? What did your conversation teach you about how best to generate constructive change?

OR

2. Look back at the "Leverage Points" piece that you read for Tuesdays class, and to our class exercise. What does the future look like for the environmental movement? What is it going to take to generate positive, lasting action?

As always, click "comments" to read or join in the discussion!

Quote of the Week:

"Why do people give each other flowers? To celebrate various important occasions, they're killing living creatures? Why restrict it to plants? 'Sweetheart, let's make up. Have this deceased squirrel.'"
- The Washington Post

Week 11: Cradle to Blog

This week we'll be giving our impressions of the book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by revolutionary green architect William McDonough and green chemist Michael Braungart. We will be analyzing the book's message in light of the other calls to action we've seen over the course of this semester. What do we make of McDonough and Braungart's vision of a closed loop economy? Are they on the right track? Is their optimism misplaced?

This is a really fascinating discussion, so click "comments" below to read or join in!

Quote of the Week:

"Waste equals food, whether it's food for the Earth, or for a closed industrial cycle. We manufacture products that go from cradle to grave. We want to manufacture them from cradle to cradle."
- William McDonough

Week 10: The Bermuda Triangle Has Nothing On This

This past week our class enjoyed an insightful video conference with Prof. Maniates of Allegheny College. He presented his "trinity of despair", representing his concern that the environmental movement is less effective than it needs to be. Each corner of the trinity is a disempowering assumption about the human capacity for change and the mechanisms by which change is generated.

The three corners are:

HN = Human Nature (the assumption that people are selfish, only out for themselves.)

ES = Environmental Strategy or Easy Stuff (the assumption that we build social movements by getting people to do the easy stuff first -- asking people to screw in a new energy-efficient light-bulb will get them, in the future, to take more far-reaching actions.)

SC = Social Change (the assumption that we need to get everyone on board to make change happen, and that the only way this will occur is if some kind of large-scale disaster focuses collective attention.)

We will be answering the following questions in this week's discussion:

1. What do you make of Prof. Maniates' "trinity of despair?"
2. Has it helped you think in new or different ways about how to be an effective environmental change agent?
3. Are elements of it bogus?
4. Can you point to any examples of social change or social action that seem to support or that run counter to Prof. Maniates' contentions?

As always, click "comments" to read or join in the discussion! Some folks who beat me here this week posted their comments on this discussion on last week's Lorax post, so make sure to check that one out again as well if you haven't already.

Quote of the Week:

"Give a man a fish, and he can eat for a day. But teach a man how to fish, and he'll be dead of mercury poisoning inside of three years."
- Charles Haas

Week 9: The Lorax 2 - Return of the Barbaloots

This week we are breaking from our usual format somewhat. For class we read Dr. Suess' book The Lorax, both a classic children's tale and critical examination of our society's environmental practices. We were assigned to write a new ending for the book, utilizing what we have learned about the global environment. Each "blog group" will be writing their own ending, which will soon be consolidated into a single work on our class blog, and can be found here. Here is our group's submission to this lofty endeavor:

The boy runs home and yells "Dad! Dad!
I know why the Onceler is sad!
The trees are all gone and they aren't coming back
Unless we call the for the big guys to act."
"But, son, son, don't make a fuss;
this problem is much bigger than either of us."
"So let's call all our neighbors, friends, and even our aunts
Let's come together and all take a stance
to bring back the animals, fresh air, and plants
Let's march down and talk to the guys in suits
and have them bring back all the cute Barbaloots
Let's have our congressman pass some bills
to clean up the water that gums the Hummingfish gills.
And once we do this, we can't stop there,
problems will just get worse, it will be too much to bear.
Let's implement policies before its to late,
Let's take control and decide a better fate
"That's wonderful, son, now go out and act
for there is only one true unmistakable fact
that this planet we live on is all that we've got
for the others are too rocky or gaseous or hot
and those big guys in suits don't quite understand
that more than their term in office is at hand
for the water and air are rocks are one sum
the only difference is hydrocarbons, silicates and aluminum
and if they disappear then we will too
and the big guys in suits will have nothing to do
for if not for the hummingfish and barbaloot breeds
then what is the point of a bright colored thneed?
this is something that must be addressed by the guys on top
for alone this destruction of the planet we can't stop
And the boy nodded as his father patted him on the head
"maybe I'll start tomorrow since it's time for bed"
his father agreed and quietly said
"that's right my green son, now go and sleep
and while you slumber I'll put in a call to Greenpeace"

Week 8: Evaluating Scientific Claims

We're entering a portion of our class where we will be discussing climate change over the next few weeks. In preparation for this, we will be looking at two websites, each with a message concerning global climate change:

1. Friends of Science

2. Grist's How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic

We will be comparing the purposes of these websites and trying to make sense of them by evaluating the scientific claims they make. We will try to determine if one of the sites is more convincing than the other, and if so, why. Take a look at the websites, and like usual, click "comments" to join in the discussion!

Quote of the Week:

"If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos."
- Edward O. Wilson

Week 7: It's A Great Big World Out There - Is It Worth Saving?

After a brief hiatus for the midterm exam, we're back this week with another timely discussion on the natural world. Over the next few weeks the focus of our class will shift towards biodiversity and environmental ethics. In light of this, we will be answering two key questions:

1. What's the most thrilling/magical/enchanting engagement you've had with the non-human world?

2. Is "saving nature" something we should concern ourselves with? Why, or why not?

These are heavy questions and it is unlikely any two people will have exactly the same answers to them. If you find yourself intrigued, click "comments" to join in the discussion!

Quote of the week:

"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect."
- Chief Seattle, 1855

Week 6: Eco-Tourism's Impacts

This week we will be discussing the social and environmental impacts of eco-tourism. In class we watched the film Life and Debt by Stephanie Black, which chronicles tourism in and contrasts it against the economic woes of Jamaica. We learned that many rich tourists have little interest in the social and environmental impacts of their visits to nations in the global South.

We will be sharing our thoughts on eco-tourism. For example, should the environmental harms associated with flying be included in the costs of a trip? Our own experiences traveling may be included as well.

For reference, here is the first "webisode" in a six part series on eco-tourism being developed by some of our peers at American University. Like usual, click "comments" to see the discussion!

Quote of the week:

"Oh Beautiful for smoggy skies, insecticided grain,
For strip-mined mountain's majesty above the asphalt plain.
America, America, man sheds his waste on thee,
And hides the pines with billboard signs, from sea to oily sea."
- George Carlin

Week 5: Not All Food Is Created Equal

It's true that many environmental issues aren't immediately noticeable as we go about out daily lives. However this week our discussion turns to something that consumes our attention two, three, or more times a day - the food we eat. Food and the environment are inextricably connected, and we will be answering two important questions pertaining to our thoughts on this connection:

1. What, exactly, goes through our heads when we make food choices at a market or restaurant? Do we have environmental considerations in mind when we are deciding what we are going to eat? Or do we think about other stuff?

2. We will take a few moments to consider everything we've eaten in the last day or two. Of the food or beverage items we've consumed, which, in our estimation, has had the greatest environmental impact? Why?

This is a fascinating topic and one that guarantees there will be a wide variety of opinions, answers, and lifestyle choices. Like always, click "comments" to see the discussion!

Quote of the week:

"Your descendants shall gather your fruits."
- Virgil

Week 4: A Futuristic District

This week our discussion will take a turn to the creative side, as we discuss our visions of a future Washington, DC. We will be envisioning the District in 200 years time, in two different ways. First, we will describe how we think the District would look if few changes are made in the way our society functions. Then we will incorporate our hopes, visions, and dreams for what the District might look like if we were to change some of our less beneficial practices.

While much of this vision will be based on our in-class discussions, please feel free to join in and share your opinion regardless of whether you were there. Consider issues such as energy, food, water, transportation, and housing. Click "comments" to join the discussion!

Quote of the week:

"Because we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us."
- Henrik Tikkanen

Week 3: It Ain't Easy Being Green

This week's regularly scheduled discussion will focus on this article by Michael Maniates.

Maniates offers a unique perspective on consumption, appropriate for the day it was printed: Thanksgiving 2007. We will sharing our opinions on Maniates' argument, particularly focusing on the way his views compare and contrast to the mainstream environmental movement. This is way more exciting than whatever is on your TV, so go ahead and click "comments" to see the discussion!

Quote of the week:

"We never know the worth of water till the well is dry."
- Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

Comparing Future Visions (Blog Group Presentation)

In addition to our weekly topic, this week we will also be discussing a selection from the book Wild Earth: Wild Ideas for a World Out of Balance by Tom Butler. Click "comments" to see the discussion!

Full citation:
Tom Butler, ed., Wild Earth: Wild Ideas for a World Out of Balance, (Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed, 2002) pp 131-141.

Week 2: The Debate of Stuff

This week we are discussing Annie Leonard's film The Story of Stuff. The short film can be viewed here.

Like anything dealing with such a heavy topic as our nation's consumption habits, the film has sparked spirited debate. Read some of the debate here, here, and here to get some background info on our discussion this week.

Even if this is not your class assignment, please feel free to join in. We like our discussion like our food - organic. Click "comments" to see (or join) the discussion!

Quote of the week:

"It wasn't the Exxon Valdez captain's driving that caused the Alaskan oil spill. It was yours."
- Greenpeace Advertisement in the New York Times, February 25, 1990

Week 1: Introductions and "I Pollute, Therefore I Am"

This week we are introducing ourselves and discussing the article "I Pollute, Therefore I Am" by Dr. Stanley Fish which can be found here. Click "comments" to see the discussion!

Quote of the week:

"Only when the last tree has been cut down,
Only when the last river has been poisoned,
Only when the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten."
- Cree Prophecy