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By yhama
November 22, 2015 - 22:11
Plans and actions
November 20th, 2015
I have been thinking about the possibility that we can fix the environment which is going to be messing up. Kolbert states that “Wouldn’t it better, practically and ethically, to focus on what can be done and is being done to save species, rather than to speculate gloomily about a future in which the biosphere is reduced to little plastic vials? The director of a conservation group in Alaska once put it to me this way: ‘people have to have hope. I have to have hope. It’s what keeps us going’.”(Kolbert, p.262)
By Sasha M. Foster
November 21, 2015 - 13:13
Sasha Moiseyev-Foster
Professor J. Cohen
Changing Our Stories
20 November 2015
We Still Have Time: Hope in “The Collapse of Western Civilization
By bluish
November 21, 2015 - 10:48
Jones and Freire: (Eco)semiotics in Social Structures
By Lavender_Gooms
November 20, 2015 - 17:11
Elena Luedy
Professor Cohen
E-Sem
11/13/15
The ideas of environment in Oreskes & Conway’s book The Collapse of Western Civilization are very different than those of Kolbert’s book, The Sixth Extinction. These both are again different from Kolbert’s interview with Van Jones. The messages are different, yet the moral is the same. This begs the question, how would the four authors interact with each other?
By calamityschild
November 20, 2015 - 16:57
An initial comparison of “The Collapse of Civilization” by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway and “The Sixth Extinction” by Elizabeth Kolbert lead to the suggestion that the two represented opposing approaches to the examination of a burgeoning global climate disaster. However, a close read of Kolbert’s article “Greening the Ghetto” warranted a reevaluation and eventual rejection of this binary.
By haabibi
November 20, 2015 - 16:55
Take It Real
For the past few weeks, Facebook newsfeed could never have been flowed more with political and social issues, mostly about campus racial incidents around the country and ISIS terror attacks in Paris and Beirut. Through Facebook ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ buttons, the world shared their fear, anger, grief on internet, and tried to send their consolation to the bereaved through prayers and words. Living in a very complex world, where human rights can easily be infringed by those who hold power, mere words would not help alleviate such complexities.
By awkwardturtle
November 20, 2015 - 16:55
Small Humans in a Big World
Last week, I contrasted the the many references of living organisms in Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction to the lack of any individual characters in Oreskes and Conway’s The Collapse of Western Civilization. This week, I will again focus on the lack of individualism in Collapse, specifically the generalization of humans into the vague label of “western” and everyone else. In addition, I will apply Vásquez’s ideas of Latino representation in environmental studies to further analyze the effects of generalizing individual humans on environmental thought and action.
By purple
November 20, 2015 - 16:51
Just like other organisms on the planet, we as humans are primarily concerned with our own survival. However, unlike other species, we are also very much concerned with our own advancement. Arguably, the most significant factor in whether or not we care about something is how much it actually affects us. With all the issues that take place in our world today it is difficult to follow every problem, much less actively involve ourselves in the issue. This is especially true when it comes to environment becuase many environmental problems are not immediately clear, and do not directly impact us as much as other worldly situations do.
By ai97
November 20, 2015 - 16:16
“Knowledge is power” is a phrase often emblazoned on classroom posters, embedded into motivational journals, and largely unchallenged as true. Knowledge is power, but it simultaneously isn’t. This paradox is explored in both Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History and Naomi Oreskes’ and Erik M.
By Tralfamadorian
November 20, 2015 - 16:13
Argument VS Action
Global Warming and Climate change are often thought of as being synonyms. In actual reality, global warming is the cause of climate change. Humans cause greenhouse gas emissions that lead to global warming, and global warming is the cause of droughts, tornadoes, and other extreme weather. Despite this hard science, there is controversy attached to global warming and climate change. The only proof anyone needs to prove that climate change is happening is opening their eyes and looking outside. Global warming and climate change are controversial, indeed, but where the controversy starts is whether or not humans started it. Where the controversy should end is in resolving the issue.