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.