Open blog 2

Open blog 2
So for the open blog I will mention the abandon bike event. The mean walked or road bikes around campus to tag bikes that appear to no longer be in use to be tagged an removed. This will provided available parking as well as provide a bike to a current USC Student. Since the team walked or road bikes during the event rather then using a motor vehicle, we did not emit any harmful gases into the environment. While this project does not directly affect the planet, it will promote the use of alternate energy. Students will drive a car to school if bike parking in unavailable to prevent walking, VisVersa if this is no car parking. By freeing up space, we are promoting the use of bikes. Now lets focus on the where the abandon bikes go. Parking services gives them to the USC bike center who will accept applications for the bikes. If accepted the student only pays for parts, not labour. At the end of the day, it is significantly cheaper than purchasing a bike form a local store, or even buying one offline.  This places alternate methods of transportation to those who might not have been able to purchase a bike in the 1st place. If the choice is to drive a car you already own, or pay $500 up front for a bike, which do you think most people will choose. On the other hand, if the bike only costs $79, thats much more affordable and the percentage of people able and willing to purchase the bike increase. Now once they obtain the bike, parking in front the buildings are available due to abandon bikes being removed, thus making it more convenient to ride rather than drive. Finally the income one will save on gas in amazing.

open blog 1

Open blog
Since these blogs are instructed to be based around sustainability, and since I am on the Transportation team, I decided to have my 1st open blog focus on how I am implementing the teams goals into my own life. One of the key values my team pushes is alternate methods of transportation instead of using the traditional car. This is exactly what I have incorporated into my life. I use my bike as my main method of transportation rather than my car. I use the alternate green transportation method 5 out of 7 days of the week while only using the fuel burning car 3 out of 7 days. Sure the bike takes longer at times but in the long run, there are greater benefits. One is that you emit less carbon into the air, second, it helps provided a healthier life style. Since the bike has become my main method of transportation, I have lost weight, increased strength in my legs, and have higher endurance level. The car is literally only used when traveling distances that would be longer than a 40 min bike ride, highway use, or when shopping for groceries. It would be to difficult to ride a bike and trying to balance 8 bags. One thing I also forgot to mention is the money I save on gas. I use to fill up once a week for about 30$ a tank equaling $120 a month. Now I fill up once every 3 weeks to a month and spend a total of $30. Because of this lifestyle change and working with the transportation team, i have been able to utilize what my team has to offer and discover the safest and faster routs between classes.

Blog 13

What do you think of ecofemisnism before you read, and after? Did you have any strong reactions? What do forms of dominance do you see in the world around you?
So I figured Ecofemisnism was mainly left wing feminist ideology with a hint a environmental values thrown in. But according to the reading, I was mistaken, "The primary aims of ecofeminism are not the same as those typically associated with liberal feminism."
After the readings it still seems to be closely related to the liberal feminism and I didnt have any strong reactions. Males have been the dominant gender politically and socially throughout most of the human history. So is it a shocking that males are portrayed as being Superior, no,  are males superior, no. We live in a modern era were we are all viewed as equals (for the most part). But we can never completely rid of the the sexism between the genders. Women will see stronger support to end any form of inequality once obtaining more political power following left wing ideology. But one must remember not all men in today's time believe they are treated better than most women and there are many women who believe the men and women are being treated the same. Its just how and what instances we focus on. While people get up that a Male CEO makes more than a female CEO in some cases, how often do we here complaints about a female server making significantly more than a male. There are certain fields of work that are naturally unequal for both parties which i understand that ecofemisnism wishes to correct. Im a strong supporter of pure equality among all citizens.
As for the statement about Ecofeminists disagreeing about whether these 'male' and 'female' qualities are innate to the sexes or are simply human character traits common to us all. I have to agree its not a male or female trait, its stoley based on the person. 

12 repost

I CANT GET THE WHITE LINE TO DISAPPEAR, IM COPYING AND PASTING IT FROM WORD AND BLOGGER REFUSED TO CLEAR THE CODE, JUST HIGHLIGHT THE WHITE PART TO READ IT

So we begin this blog with the question "what is monkey wrenching and do your agree with it?"

Money wrenching is a sabotaging  equipment to cause serious economic damage, while temporary or permanently halting activities that cause damage to the environment. Personally I have no tolerance towards this type of protesting for 3 reasons. 1^st is illegal, 2^nd it a form of violent and destructive protest, 3^rd its harms economic activates while promoting illegal behavior, deeming it acceptable.  This is where earth first fall under.

Next we move onto the Green party. The piece of legislation I most approve of is not environmental policy, but economic.  Section E of the platform Fair Taxation  section 1.m“Federal and state taxes must be strongly progressive” is the policy I most agree with. This mean that individuals are taxed solely based off income. In this system, the citizens who make a 100,000 + pay significally more than citizens who makes only 25,000 a year. This allows for lower income citizens to keep more of their income. Those who have been so lucky to have a decent income pay more to help support the nation. They are not taxes to the point where they lose majority of their income. A progressive tax rate has been in effect in the US since 1900s.

Finally, would I join the Green Party? If some of the ideology changes then yes. The Green Party support strong leftists policies which I can truly relate to. The problem I have with the green party is the fact that is it was to strengthen and weaken government at the same time. While this is a flaw in green values, most green party candidates do not support the weakening of the federal government since its viewed as the protecting force for the people. If the candidate supports this ideology, then I would support the Green party. I did in the last senate election, I voted for Tom Clements. 

Blog #12

So we begin this blog with the question "what is monkey wrenching and do your agree with it?"

Money wrenching is a sabotaging  equipment to cause serious economic damage, while temporary or permanently halting activities that cause damage to the environment. Personally I have no tolerance towards this type of protesting for 3 reasons. 1^st is illegal, 2^nd it a form of violent and destructive protest, 3^rd its harms economic activates while promoting illegal behavior, deeming it acceptable.  This is where earth first fall under.

Next we move onto the Green party. The piece of legislation I most approve of is not environmental policy, but economic.  Section E of the platform Fair Taxation  section 1.m“Federal and state taxes must be strongly progressive” is the policy I most agree with. This mean that individuals are taxed solely based off income. In this system, the citizens who make a 100,000 + pay significally more than citizens who makes only 25,000 a year. This allows for lower income citizens to keep more of their income. Those who have been so lucky to have a decent income pay more to help support the nation. They are not taxes to the point where they lose majority of their income. A progressive tax rate has been in effect in the US since 1900s.

Finally, would I join the Green Party? If some of the ideology changes then yes. The Green Party support strong leftists policies which I can truly relate to. The problem I have with the green party is the fact that is it was to strengthen and weaken government at the same time. While this is a flaw in green values, most green party candidates do not support the weakening of the federal government since its viewed as the protecting force for the people. If the candidate supports this ideology, then I would support the Green party. I did in the last senate election, I voted for Tom Clements. 

Blog 10

What religion were you raised with and how does
that affect your view of spiritual ecology?

My father was Jewish and my mother is Protestant. Luckily my parents never forced religion onto me and I was able to research religion myself. I am not religious in anyway. So spiritual ecology doesnt have any effect on me.

2. What are your opinions on the Gaia Hypothesis?
Do you agree or disagree?

IIiIf Gaia Hypothesis states that the Earth is an evolving and growing along side organisms as a living creature, then disagree. The earth is evolving but not in the literal sense. The constitution is adapting (evolving) like a living organism with the times yet its not actually alive. The Earth is the same way. Its a not living mass that has living organisms on it. The organisms are what are evolving.  

3. Do you believe we live in a hyper-masculine
culture? If so, how do you see it changing

 Yes, I do believe we live hyper-masculine culture which I do not see changing drastically any time soon. Our society is still politically and socially dominated by the male culture thus influencing our way of life. We are slowly seeing this culture changing but not at a significant pace. Once women and feminism play are stronger role in political society, we might then see the hyper-masculine culture weaken beyond recognition. 

blog 9

Deep Ecology is, in my own opinion, the relationships that humans and all organisms have with the existence of others within ecosystems. They strive and depend on all living organisms whether it be a plan or an animal. Humans are causing the destruction of the environment which poses a threat to not only humans, but to all organisms. Everyone depends on the cooperation of each other.

The value that I agree with most and relates to all of our social lives is that the resources of the Earth are limited. When we think about resources, we tend to focus on coal, water, trees, and metals. But what we tend not to think about as a resource is life. Our food sources like fish are drastically declining, this RESOURCE is depleting and its because of human intervention. We demand the life styles we are use to yet are unwilling to make alterations to sustain such lifestyles. We are fishing the fish population dry, continuously draining the limited oil supplies, cutting down more forests then we can replace. Resources are limited and we must adapt to prevent depletion.

Now I don’t have a value that I really disagree with, just a statement. “More recently Christian Theologians and Biblical scholars, Father Robert Murray, Margaret Barker, Vincent Rossi, have begun to question the traditional Biblical interpretation that Man was granted dominion over all God's creatures, ie granted the absolute right to exploit, and that instead there was a Cosmic Covenant and that Man's role was to help maintain the cosmic order for all of God's Creation. An interpretation that would have been recognisable to St Ephrem the Syrian, St Dionysius the Areopagite, St Maximus the Confessor, Hildegard von Bingen and forms the world-view of vernacular man and chthonic societies. Organisations like ARC and REEP are attempting to reconnect mainstream religions with their environment.” The readings states that we need to rethink modern religions. We do not need to rethink them, just understand why humans do act in a certain way. It all relates to Machiavelli’s might make right. Humans are the dominant species and will take advantage of species while justifying the reasoning. We are not above the rest, we only believe that we are. 

BLOG 8

BLOG #8

The group consensus decision requires everyone contributes in coming to a decision. This decision making process requires respect among peers and trust. The goal of the consensus decision making process is to come to a universal agreement that everyone call fallow and accept for the most part. It’s a compromise.

The Strengths are that everyone is included in the decision, people learn to compromise, everyone’s views are respected, people feel apart of the community, the community bond strengthens, promotes equality, and a decision is made that everyone can work towards.

The weaknesses are that the best choice might not be made due to having to compromise, the discussions may become repetitive, it often fails, difficult in large groups, and it crumbles without trust.

Blog# 7

Blog #7

Culture Jamming is an anti-consumerist social movement. One of the most famous pictures is the American Flag with the corporate logos replacing the stars. The types include:

Sniping and Subvertising which attacks a specific target or company

Media Hoaxing which is fooling journalists into covering false reports. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lMQCcOSfaYw)

 Audio Agitprop which utilizes digital samplers to deconstruct media culture and challenge copyright law. This means the attempt to remove DRM programs.

Billboard Liberation which is changes the messages on large public billboards

Shop Dropping, where one leavs products in store.

Hacktivism Culture jamming is where groups like Anonymous take down Websites or alter them.

Adbusters is one of the major sites that takes part in culture jamming. They have released commercials (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhVWoPGH2b4), magazines, and a website.

Personally, I disagree with all forms except subvertising. All other forms are technically illegal or harm the public good. Subvertising can really be powerful in attacking both the consumer sector and political sector. But the problem with this type of activism is that is practically resembles art. Many viewers don’t truly understand the message they see, it resembles art not a movement to them. The more direct ones gain stronger support. One of my personal favorites is http://ldrlongdistancerider.com/images/Freedom.jpg While I don’t agree I understand where the creator is coming from.

Its hard to use examples from the readings since almost all the external links are broken. But I cannot agree with any other forms because its vandalism, illegal, etc. One of the readings even stated it a form of artistic terrorism. Hacktivism has been occurring more frequently with groups like Legion and Anonymous hacking or DDOSING sites like Sony, major banks, and The USSC (http://www.businessinsider.com/anonymous-hacks-us-sentencing-commission-2013-1) But any way we look at it, most of it is illegal.

Blog #6

Blog #6

I was extremely shocked about how bold Green Democracy readings were. While extreme,  they do show the need of something that the green party values attack, a strong central government. The readings mentioned that communities are not all created equal in the United States; for example, some communities are “poisoned” without government taking any form of preventive action. Also environmental regulations have not benefited all areas minorities are affected by this. When I read these, it still screams for the need of a more powerful federal government to enforce and protect the populous.  I know many Green party candidates understand this because quite often in their platforms, the idea of a stronger more productive government is mentioned.

I was also shocked to see how much the readings focused on racism, to the point that it became obsessive and unrealistic at points. From the studies I have done, it’s not so much that the world is racist and trying to negatively impact these communities. It’s also not minorities vs whites. It mainly comes down to the rich against the poor. These communities are not targeted for being Black or Latino. They are targeted for being lower income and weak voting turnouts. Communities that prevent or change such negative situations do so by politics, whether voting or lobbying.  The minority lower income areas might see longer periods of harmful actions due to less political action. If we look at polling data, in nation elections, African Americans and Latinos each make up 10% of the vote totaling to 20% compared to whites who make up around 70%. These numbers get worse in state elections and local elections. We also see wealthier individuals vote significantly more than lower income citizens.  Lower income African Americans and Latinos vote less than lower income Whites. When we taking voting out of the main picture, all that we are left with is that wealthier citizens can afford safer areas, and statistically speaking, there are more wealthy whites in American than minorities. This is why the problems in the reading occur. So I believe the readings are looking at these situations completely wrong. Its not a race issues, it’s a voting and income issue.

My group came out with a rough outline about the ways in which to teach our subject. One area we will have to discuss in detail is the Green Party platform, since it is one of the most important topics within green democracy.  Also I believe it could be useful to show the legislative green democracy alongside the radical activists like Earth First! To truly know a topic, one must know all the angles, positives and negatives. 

Blog # 5

Blog # 5

From the readings, the green learning community shares the same values that the green ideology. In students in charge, they talk about the harmful effects of democracy, but acknowledged that it is crucial if done correctly. This is why democracy is brought into a green learning community, but not in a way to pin a majority against the minorities. It attempts to create a democracy that makes consensual decisions. The small classes work well with this system allowing for discussion and a participatory democracy. With this democratic structure, authority becomes lost, student take on the responsibility of teaching, and the class room, including the professor, become equals.

It also mentions the support of a the class can combat negatives characteristics like student bias. Students can be more influential than the professor times. This is because students crave for the respect of their classmates. I can agree with this statement and that would explain one reasons why our class stresses so much on building a connection between class makes. We are attempting to build a community.

Green learning communities are easy to spot because they are decentralized. All decisions are made in a compromising consensual style. It wont look like a class but like a true community coming together.

Blog # 4

Blog # 4
Green Party values vary from groups but they all share a left wing ideology. From the values I have read tonight, it reminds me of a very mild Libertarian and Socialist mix. This is were I become 50-50 on Green Party values. I consider myself an democratic economic socialist. I strongly agree with values " COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMICS AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE" and the weakening the economic disparity. The main green value I disagree with is the a value strongly supported by democratic socialists. This value is the non aligned internationalism and decentralization of a central government. The worst idea is to create a confederation system because peace can never be obtained by such a way. Human nature wants power. I believe the best 2 options would be to support a strong federal government that protects the working class enforcing economic socialist values. The second option would be to a federation type idea  or uniting under one banner while removing all boundaries; uniting under one central government. 

So now going back to the values I support. I am a strong believer in human rights values, Gay a lesbian equality, racial equality, and pretty much all the social green party values.  These social values are strongly shared among left wing ideologies though and are not strictly green values.

Nothing really surprised me in the readings since I have knowledge about the green values and party. I was a strong supporter of Tom Clements in the senate election so I understand the party values.

BLOG #3

BLOG # 3

On the Sustainable Carolina site, I was most interested in the Transportation project. I mainly use my bike around Columbia instead of a car so I have a few ideas to help make Columbia biker friendly. Also since they coordinate with Vehicle Management and Parking Services, they would be able to suggest areas that need more bike racks. One example would be in front of the Jones building. I mainly believe I can really contribute to the project since I use my bike on a daily basis.

As for the AASHE site, I found the Campaign for Environmental Literacy (CEL) to be the most interesting. CEL attempts to acquire and increase the amount of federal funding dedicated to environmental literacy and funding for environmental education programs. As I have said before, I am very liberal thus education is an important fundamental factor to my ideology. Fundraising or lobbing for educational funding is something I could find entertaining. Plus it would have a positive outcome on the community while increasing the value of education and informing the public and environmental politics.

If I had to ask Margret Bounds one question, I would ask if USC has considered about investing in any form of solar energy. While it may be expensive, the green quad could run completely on green energy.  To be more specific to the projects, I would ask if the Transportation project ever meets with the SC legislatures. I would be interested in attempting to modify current laws about bikes on sidewalks.  

Blog #2

    So by now everyone knows my name is Matt and that I am a yankee (sounds like the intro to an AA meeting). I was born in N.J. and have spent a lot of  my time in Manhattan NYC. I moved to S.C. a few years after September 11th which I remember just as if it happen yesterday. Any way, I am a political science major and very active in the political sector. During the 2012 election, I worked with the DNC in the outskirt areas of Charlotte N.C. I also participated in several campaigns at the statehouse for USCA and for several other projects. 

     So besides my political "career," I have also been working as a cook for over 5 years and at one point worked for the City of Aiken at a tennis center. My job was to assist customers, manage customer files, record the profits, manage the courts, and assist in retail. As for my cooking experience. I started when I was 15 at a place called Wingplace to help pay for my father medical bills. He had a terminal illness. I stayed with the company for about 4 years until offered a job by Cracker Barrel who I have been with since. 

     Even though I have stable jobs, I have no intention on staying with the companies after graduation, although they have been very good me. Once I graduate I will attempt to begin my career with a local News station as a political or news analyst. This will hopefully build some name recognition and allow me to transfer to a station back home in NYC. My main goal is to work with MSNBC if I can be so lucky. 

     So the last things I'll mention are what I do for entertainment. I'm a debater, it comes with the politics. I am always looking for a political debate. Besides debating I also working with computers and play some games at night I'm not out with friends or working on something. Finally I love to be on ice rinks. I have spent a lot of my life on the ice rinks whether it be ice skating or ice hockey. Oh one last thing, I never turn down a walk around the city. 

Me in my biohazard grill cleaning uniform----->

Blog#1
I took the Green Political course mainly due to my ideology. I have a very strong liberal ideology thus resulting in my support for alternate energy. While I may support the idea of sustainable clean energy, it has never been a major factor in my political decisions. I have normally put economic prosperity over the environment in many cases despite many of the negative outcomes. My hopes are that this class will help create a better understanding of "Green" policies and add to the current information I already know. Then I will determine at the end of the year, if my political thought about Green Politics has changed throughout the semester. Personally I do not believe my opinions will change due to already hitting the age of political crystallization.
  I also took this course to learn about local green projects and committees around Columbia, and how they gain funding for such projects. Whether the funding comes from private donors or state or federal grants, the fundraising campaigning would be both entertaining and useful information to know. Whether I work on Green projects in the future or not, there is a good change my career will require some form of fundraising knowledge or experience.
  The final reason I took this course was simply because it appeared to be different from any other political class I have taken before.