As the quarter is coming to an end, and I prepare for finals and my sustainable presentation for next week I am very fortunate to have been able to take this course on regenerative studies and its big picture. As entering into this quarter I always thought that regenerative studies was a going “green movement”. As I have learned this quarter the going green movement is just a small part of sustainability, the bigger picture is regenerative studies worldwide. I have learned that sustainability is important to making sure that we have and will continue to have an abundance of water, materials, and resources to protect human health and nature. With the importance of sustainability it has led to the emergence of regenerative practices in our society. I have learned that sustainability requires the shift away from degenerative practices to regenerative “systematic thinking” rather than linear thinking. This was probably the biggest highlight of the quarter for me, learning that society works in linear thinking opposed to the systematic views that our needed to flourish within sustainability. I really enjoyed learning these concepts, as well as watching the film “Drive” by Dan Pink, reading the chapter on the unconscious mind and our unconscious sterotyping in society, and all the short films that presented sustainable efforts. I am glad that I have taken this course because I have also learned that in order to be sustainable it starts with my change of view in life and taking charge in spreading the word of regenerative practices.
Occupation Nation: An Occupy Wall Street Documentary
As I proceeded to watch this documentary it reminded me of the same set up and development of RIP! Remix Manifesto, a collaboration of experts, clips, music, and ideas to propose the big picture. I found it quite interesting to see the production of B Media use the 1920’s black and white, old fashioned lettering and carnival music in between key points such as the highlight for America not to forget the lessons of the past as it assimilates from the Industrial Revolution to one of a corporate typhoon having much lobbying power over the government. Essentially society must “not count their chickens before they’re hatched…..or forget the lessons of the past”. In the documentary we see society turning to the protest of Occupy Wall Street, David Graeber the leader of Occupy Wall Street expressed the attention of our economical revolution. A problematic system like this of the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer prevails. But through these movements and the mainstream media, there is no doubt that this problem has been brought to national and global attention; I just worry that its ultimate focus is ineffective. It seems that through all of these occupations and protests the media perceives the public is a negative epidemic and inevitably government and police forces seem to have the upper hand.
Huges, Shane “The Unstoppable Rise of a Collaborative Economy”
It was very interesting to view Shane Huges presentation on the fundamentals that our shaping our economy into a collaborative one. He had mentioned that environmentalists and entrepreneurs our changing our economy with features of the collaborative economy including the use of: networks, access, distribution of labor, collaboration, and sharing ideas. This was interesting to learn because throughout history courses in high school I was always taught and introduced to economy rising through the industrial movement. However Huges had presented the idea of a “cooperative movement” that 30,000 companies are already partaking in the U.S. In Japan the Mondragon Cooperative movement has led to a decrease in unemployment and a sustainable economy. Through the division of labor and sharing ideas he feels that our economy will grow into a change maker and become a strong collaborative one. As Huges closed his presentation with the genius idea that companies which can collaborate and participate in peer to peer financing are the best. I agree with him, if we changed our linear view on an industrial economy and open our collaborative minds towards a sustainable economy we could have firms working together and decrease our unemployment rate.
The Edge of Our Courage (assignment 9 Charles Eisenstein)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JKOcb3UygA,
As I was working on homework for finals and RS450, I came across a classmate’s post and reflection on Charles Eisenstein’s “Gift Economy” ,and after viewing the video myself I found that Charles’ spiritual words were just what I needed today. He introduces his speech with the discussion of activists and their quests as to how they can affect the thoughts and mindsets of others. Charles explains to us that with every aspect of life within society, there is always room for change and our hearts know that this is possible to make this happen both economically, scientifically, spiritually and socially however our minds cannot seem to understand where to start. An the big picture is that we spend so much time looking for answers or a finish line ha we truly do not understand the ideas and beliefs of one another regarding a new change in life. Charles believes in spiritual teaching as the new story for life’s knowledge. He feels that psychologically, economically, spiritually, and scientifically aspects of life all intertwine with one another and perhaps that is how the new self of a human being should be; interconnectedness. I agree. We should look at one another and see that essentially we are all the same, we should act on love and learn to understand one another to lead to new ideas that are also seen as interconnectedness. If we act with generosity and forgiveness these acts will essentially take away the idea that we are separate and out for only ourselves. I see this as a huge issue in my generation, we are always quick to judge, always in a hurry and can never seem to give one another the opportunity to express their ideas or knowledge. I agree with Charles’ words “every act of interconnectedness is spiritual, an act of a different story offers an alternative to the “story” of life we are used too”. We can create a NEW story through the act of disruptions with love and acknowledgment for one another. Society has been looking for sacredness of life, nature, and a new story for our people everywhere else except where it truly can be found and this will not be sustainable for long. I feel that all of us , including myself need to dare to be great, be in flow, let go the peridine of control and bow more deeply into service. We should all be courageous and learn to appreciate one another’s beliefs and ideas.
DAy 9 of Fast, Filipino Climate Chief “Yeb” Sano Demands Rich NAtions to Pay for Global Pollution
With the tragic typhoon that hit the Philippines on Friday November 8, 2013 and having family there I found it an importance to myself to watch this conference clip which took place on Tuesday November 19 of Climate Chief “Yeb” Sano who Demands Rich Nations to Pay for Global Pollution. As of now the death toll due to the devastating typhoon tolls to about 4,000 people, Sano feels that if developed nations observe the environment and support countries that are undeveloped such as the Philippines both financially and technologically with this climate change that is happening. The Climate Change conference that is taking place in Warsaw, Poland is a huge matter for climate Chief Sano, as he is on his ninth day of a hunger fast to demonstrate a political message for immediate action to help and feed the people of the Philippines. His overall standpoint is that the world needs to find the courage to take the responsibility to prepare for our future. With the Philippines going through a climate madness, Sano speaks about how the climate changes from developed, rich nations such as the United States is affecting our civil society throughout the world. The U.S is the largest (one fourth) of human emissions in the world due to: fossil fuel burning, greenhouse gas emission, and low renewable energy providers; Sano feels that we need to address these climate changes for undeveloped countries and help them adapt to this environment. Sano along with the Philippines is in a Movement for Climate Justice and asks for human sustained development from richer nations. I really was intrigued watching this conference clip, I could not believe that Sano was on his ninth day of fasting to display a message for the Philippines. It was compelling to see that importance to pursue renewable energy from developed countries such as ours. I feel that the U.S needs to try to reduce global pollution and help support other less developed countries technologically to prepare for these climate changes that Sano speaks of.
Culture Emergent Effort
During Wednesday’s class towards the end we separated into our discussion groups to talk about how emergent efforts are taking place today within our society. We were given the option to discuss cultural, economic, and political “reality” emergent efforts. As my group and I looked at various aspects within these topics, I really found the cultural effort to be a big impact within our day and age as college students. I have a friend who works for Apple and he values the importance of sustainable energy. He along with myself view sustainable energy and living as an important part of life that should be taken more seriously within our world. He also works for Live Nation as a computer technician, and helps to prepare events such as Coachella, Hard Summer, EDC and any other type of music festivals. As part of a cultural emergent effort he was explaining to me that Live Nation is in the process of developing solar panel cell phone charging stations throughout these music festivals. Basically they would set up tents that would have lockers which would be powered by solar panels which will provide the energy needed to charge a cell phone. Spectators could plug in their phones in the locker during the event, take the key and then come back within a few hours to pick up their charged phones and leave the locker for another person. During these events which typically last all day, the importance of having a charged cell phone is a huge deal. With the way our society is technologically accustomed to their cell phones this has become a huge part of our reality, and I feel Live Nation’s idea is genius. This is just a small effort towards a culture emergent effort for sustainability but I do think that with the right organization and systematic thinking towards a sustainable “reality” we all could participate in these developments.
Green Club’s Free Store Thursday Nov.21,2013
This week for community service hours I came out to help out the Green Club set up their free store on the pancake stacks. It was a great opportunity to display free items that many students were able to use. The free store is an excellent idea because it is a system that allows clothing, books, posters, appliances a chance to be recycled and reused. This store services a great purpose to recycle and sustain our environment. Overall it was a great experience and turnout for a rainy day(:
Implicit Association Test
After taking a quick ten minute test online https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/Study?tid=-1 to learn my results on my preference for European Americans compared to African Americans, I was quite astonished to learn my results. According to my results from this test I learned that my data suggested I had a moderate automatic preference to European Americans compared to African Americans. I do not consider myself o be racist or preferential towards a race, so I found it quite surprising to have these results. In the result portion of the test it had mentioned that some of my answers are influenced by my culture or environmental upbringing. This might in fact be correct because where I grew up in Santa Fe Springs and the Montebello area there were not that many African American residents in my city. I feel that my results are negative in a sense that I do not prefer one race over the other, I could be able to correct my result association by becoming involved within school on a more culturally diversed level.
The Corporation
After viewing today in class The Corporation and the roots to these profit driven entities I was mind blown to learn how corporations were born. Corporations began when an association of people coming together to build a function, these were known as charter corporations. However as money became powerful and great profits were the big idea, these corporations learned to gain protection to become powerful entities to continue to generate and gain the most profit at the cheapest labor. Corporations eventually have only learned to care for their stockholders (the rich), and have no soul to its stakeholders (the rest of us). As money has been the main driving force in America, corporations have grown into externalizing machines. The externalities that are being affected from these multi-billion dollar corporations are its workers. Many of the harms that corporations have brought to its workers and stakeholders are layoffs, infrastructure building that has led to the over crowd ness of skyscrapers in downtown cities, sweat shops in third world countries, and union busting. There are factories in Bangledish where the poor there area starving to death, and all they have to offer in order to survive is low cost labor. Yes, these residents have no other option but to work for as low as ten cents an hour in the factories of “the corporation” just to earn enough to not starve to death. This is sad to see this science of explotation within corporations. These workers rarely make enough money to feed their families, let alone their economies and corporations and industries know this and take advantage of these circumstances to maximize profits. Years ago there was a cancer epidemic in factories, toxic waste and pollution from synthetic chemicals exposed to workers killed many. However these industries that were responsible for deaths and birth defects had no remorse and continued the habitat destruction. The sad thing about all this is that no matter how much we are aware of these resistances to sustainability, they will probably never be fixed because in the end profit motivation and maximization is what drives American money.
“BLink:THe Power of Thinking, Without Thinking”
After reading Malcolm Gladwell, “The Warren Harding Error: Why We Fall for Tall, Dark, and Handsome Men” I have gained a better insight as to why society behaves and judges in the systems that it does. I feel that the reason why we stereotype is due to our unconscious behavior and decisions. In this chapter I learned that error is the dark side of rapid cognition, a root of a good deal of prejudice and discrimination. In this chapter it opened up discussing the election of Warren Harding and how he was acknowledge based on the simple fact that his charisma and charm of being a tall, dark , and handsome man was the underlying reason to his election. An once he was in office, the reality of the matter was that he was not suitable for the position and these stereotypical judgments are what society sometimes ends up making in positions of enormous responsibilities. This whole act of rating people off of first impressions leads to the fact that sometimes we can know more about someone or something in the blink of an eye, rather than with months of studying. This rapid cognition acknowledges and understands this. There have been Implicit Assessment Tests created by psychologists Anthony G. Greenwald and Brian Nosek that has led to the idea that “we make connections quickly on ideas we know rather than what is unfamiliar”. Their tests have led to the idea of “Pro-White Associations” within our world. With these tests we can see that our attitudes towards race and gender operate on two levels: conscious level (what we choose to believe, what we use to direct our behavior deliberatley) and unconscious level. The test also shows that our unconscious attitude maybe utterly incompatible with our state conscious values. As with the Harding story society automatically associates leadership ability with imposing physical structure. This is sad because we have began to think less rational and make prejudgments of people. As with sustainability I feel that we sometimes consciously do not participate in sustaining our environment but also a lot of it has to do with our unconscious behavior. We can be wasteful at many times without even realizing the wrongful doing. I feel we can alter this thin-slicing of our enviroment by changing the experiences that comprise our impressions of our natural world.
rs450flores 