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"