For Winter 2008, this blog continues at http://lifeboatsandtrolleys.wordpress.com/. Thank you Edublogs for a great quarter!

There are three $300 prizes, and certainly any essay from this class would be highly competitive for the “most persuasive” prize, since our efforts all quarter have been on increasing the clarity and strength of our arguments. In addition to the cash prizes, some additional essays will be chosen for the final publication, and this in itself is a prize worth aiming for!

But PLEASE NOTE: the DEADLINE is TODAY!.

The first clip was the trailer for Koyaanisqatsi, which was released in 1982.

The film consists primarily of slow motion and time-lapse photography of cities and many natural landscapes across the United States. In the Hopi language, the word Koyaanisqatsi means ‘crazy life, life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of life that calls for another way of living’, and the film implies that modern humanity is living in such a way.

The second clip was the Introduction to Powaqqatsi, released in 1988.

Powaqqatsi is a Hopi word meaning “parasitic way of life” or “life in transition”. While Koyaanisqatsi focused on modern life in industrial countries, Powaqqatsi, which similarly has no dialogue, focuses more on the conflict in third world countries between traditional ways of life and the new ways of life introduced with industrialization.

The first scene is of a gold mine in Brazil, called Serra Pelada, in which the miners carry sacks of dirt for processing. Towards the end of a scene, we see some workers carrying another who has been struck by a falling rock.

In addition, see the course schedule for instructions about completing two carbon footprint models.

The footprint models show what percentage of the Earth’s resources would be required if everyone on the planet lived a lifestyle just like yours. If everyone were to use equal amounts of the earth’s resources at a renewable level, and if we set aside just 12% of those resources for all the other species, about 39 acres would be available per person. Currently the global population uses abotu 58 acres per person. That is clearly not sustainable in the long run! Many scientists believe that we should set aside about 33% of the earth’s resources for other species, which reduces the human share and makes our current consumption look even more harmful.

Thanks to Environmental Science professor Karl Korfmacher for collecting the carbon footprint model resources.

In grading the project, I’ll be looking for several things:

1. the quality of your activity. Did you have an original idea? How much time and effort did the activity require? How challenging was it to you, or how far out of your comfort zone? Does it open up ideas or opportunities for future ethical actions?

2. the quality of your written description of the activity. Is your story interesting to read? Do you provide enough background information so that I understand the context of your activity? Do I get a clear picture of what you did, why you did it, and how it affected your thoughts and actions? Was the activity what you expected, or did it present unexpected challenges or surprises? Does your narrative give a vivid picture while excluding unnecessary or irrelevant detail?

3. the depth of your reflections. Have you made the relevance to the course topic (or to Deep Economy) apparent? Do you make use of the experience to examine a difficult question? Did you learn something or expand your horizons, and have you reflected critically on what you learned? Can you relate something about your experience to one of our ethical frameworks or to one of the ethical problems that we’ve discussed?  Do you use it to highlight some particular conception of “the good life” or of “right action”? What impact did your activity have on other people, now or in the future? Were your attitudes transformed as a result of the experience, and if not, what were the obstacles to transformation? Is there something you wish you had done differently, or do you have advice to pass on to future students about this activity?

Finally, let me remind you that the reading for Monday is the essay by Garrett Hardin in our Moral Philosophy textbook.

Oh, but don’t feel too bad, because at least our score is up from last year! Also, even the leaders only scored an A-. Read about other area campuses here.

But surely, as a technological institute, we can make larger efforts to improve our sustainability score, especially since such strong reasons have been given for the role that technology can play in finding ways to improve sustainability without devolving to a 19th century lifestyle.

Here are some of my recommendations for films that are related to the issues raised in Deep Economy and other problems in environmental sustainability. Many of these have trailers available on the web. I’d love to hear your further suggestions!

About our energy economy:

• Who Killed the Electric Car?
  

About climate change:

• An Inconvenient Truth

About wildlife:

• Being Caribou

About local economies:

• WalMart: The High Cost of Low Price

About waste:

• The Story of Stuff (20 min., online)

About food:

• The Future of Food

• Super Size Me

• King Corn

• Wegmans Cruelty

About industrialization and natural environments:

• Manufacturing Landscapes (showing on campus in January)

• Koyaanisqatsi  and Powaqqatsi

• Darwin’s Nightmare