Open Blog 2

Earth week wrapped up Friday night with "Do it in the Dark", an event put on by the green quad hall government. I was able to jump into the planning of the event and helped set up and run it. We had multiple events set up throughout the terrace to entertain those who came out to party. We had corn hole, bottle painting, ring toss, face painting and foursquare. Foursquare was a hit and there was a line the entire time, everyone wanted a shot to dethrone the king. We planned for about 200 people to come through and we had about 125-150 throughout the night. We went a little overboard on the food but it added to the fun. We got 40 pizzas from Za's, 12 bags of popcorn the size of a persons torso, lemonade and snowcones. Everyone loved the veggie pizza and snowcones. We probably served 250 snowcones and only went through half a bag of popcorn and gave the rest of the bags away. The event cost about $1000 and was a success. Guests were having a blast and hung out until we started to close everything down. Overall it was a fun experience planning and putting on an event for such a large crowd and everyone's attitude made it fun.

Open Blog 1

Earth week this year was full of different events and all of them had a pretty good turnout. My favorite event was Sounds of Sustainability that was held in green quad on the terrace area. There were multiple DJ's that each had a unique style and it made for a mellow, fun atmosphere. My favorite was the last band that played, I believe they were called Corner Cafe or something like that. They had a really cool sound that was a mix of reggae, hip hop and rock which is a recipe for a great jam band. The lead guitar player switched back and fourth from acoustic to a metal drum sound which I've heard before but never seen how it was done live, its pretty cool. 

There were about thirty or forty people that came out to watch but most of the apartment windows were open in green quad so there were a lot of people listening to the event. There were girls hula-hooping in front of the speakers and people bobbing their heads to the beat left and right. I stayed until about 830 and helped the group clean up after the event and talked with the band, who ended up being really down to earth. Overall it was a fun experience and I would go again. 

Blog 14

     I think that the process of environmental policy is just like that of any other new law or policy. It has to be voted and agreed upon by multiple different political parties which stagnate its progress like anything else. Another reason environmental policy hasn't taken root is because in many ways it would hinder profits and cause those people to resent it. I think the US should have ratified the Kyoto Protocol  simply because of the effect we have on other nations, we are a role model to them. Other countries want to be like the U.S. and if we adopt green policies, other countries are likely to follow our lead.
     I think that green policies need to start at the local level and as it gains momentum it will spread to the national and eventually an international level.

Blog #13

Questions: What do you think of ecofeminism before you read, and after? Did you have any strong reactions? What forms of dominance do you see in the world around you?

     To be honest, before I read I thought ecofeminism was just a way of attaching a feminine aspect to ecological issues/aims. I didn't think about it with regards to a deeper meaning of outward dominance by man over woman and nature as one. After reading, I was able to see how the relationship between domination over women and nature are very much alike. I agree with the idea that women are closer to nature than men, and that the exploitation and disregard of our environment correlates to the perpetual degradation and subordination of women in society. I don't agree with the notion that our species is the only one with a hierarchal structure and that it isn't found in nature. In most mammals there is an order to the groups of species and at the top is almost always an alpha male. This can be seen with dogs, deer, lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) and many others in which a male is at the head of the "social" order.
     I think that ecofeminism could potentially gain widespread support in society especially in our world today. There are many groups that are concerned with the environment and many that are still concerned with women's equality to men (mostly political now) and they could incorporate similar goals to foster support towards a unified goal. "...We need a decentralized global movement that is founded on common interests yet celebrates diversity and opposed all forms of domination and violence." Supporters think that ecofeminism is the movement that will bring this change. Although I think it is a good idea, it is just that, an idea. I don't think that there will ever be enough faith in humanity to cease the development of armies and nuclear weapons or that we will stop exploiting our resources until we have to go to a museum to see some trees. It is inherent in human nature to be dominant and unfortunately our species will continue to be the cause of displacement and extinction of many other species.
     The main ecofeminist point that I agree with is that we would not survive without nature, but nature could survive without us. I think the only way for other species to live in harmony is with the removal of the human race, only then will the natural world be able to prosper again.

Blog #11 Spiritual Ecology 

     I am an Episcopalian but was raised in a way that my parents didn't force religion on me. Yeah, I had to go to church on Sundays but that was about the extent of my religiousness, which I think has allowed me to view other ideologies objectively. Spiritual ecology emphasizes the relationship between humans and nature and holds that they should be a partnership, not dualistic. They are but a part of a bigger whole, not two separate organisms competing for resources. With studies from fossiles and soil I can see how the Gaia hypothesis has gained support in the scientific community. From our records, we found that the earth has never frozen or boiled, showing that there has never been an instance without life on earth. We also have examples of self-perpetuation like plants creating oxygen for us to use, then going back to carbon dioxide for the plants to reuse and others in the readings. Although I don't fully support the hypothesis, I can see that it does have a certain amount of validity and needs to be further explored.
    I agree with the idea that we live in a hyper-masculinized society, modernity and enlightenment are commonly argued as the start but I think it began when the Catholic church demonized pagan religions, who worshiped goddesses, and the eparation that there is "one true God", not multiple deities as the higher power. Recent political regimes have furthered the idea of the white man being superior throughout the world and Imperialism helped to spread this. It will be a challenge to get ourselves out of this hyper-masculinized society but change is possible. KCCO