final

The "planned obsolescence" thing from the Story of Stuff film really stuck in my mind, especially since I can really relate with it. Actually, perceived obsolescence was actually a part of my experience too. I was pretty late getting in on the iPod crazem and I only got one in 2005. I got the latest model out at the time, the Photo model. Then, a month or so later, Apple released their Video model and didn't announce it in advance and I was so annoyed that I just dropped 300 dollars on an already outmoded gadget. Apple did that on purpose I bet, and just like they planned, I got upset that my crappy old iPod wasn't as good as the shiny new one. I hate Apple.

part 2 later

Final blog topic

My two favorite readings this semester were the "Cradle to Cradle" book and the "lifeboat ethics" reading.
Cradle to Cradle brought up many interesting ways that we can redesign our world in order to live with nature. The most important concept from this reading was the idea of not being "less bad." Their ideas promoted technologies that are sustainable and work with the environment as opposed to technologies that are just better for the environment. It is important that we look to develop new products that can be recycled not just downcycled.
The lifeboat ethics article was much different than the cradle to cradle book. This article was very pragmatic. The idea that they propagated is that earth should not be viewed as a "spaceship" but rather a "lifeboat". Because of this, if we help others we are only reducing our standard of living. Giving food to the poor for example will only propagate further overpopulation. Famine should actually be viewed as a population check. While this view is not very humanitarian, it makes sense especially in the context of I=PAT.

Cradle to Cradle

I like the optimism that William McDonough and Michael Braungart have in Cradle to Cradle. With all the negative research and publishings we see today about the impact that we are having on the environment, it is refreshing to see a positive outlook. It was interesting to see how they both interpreted the relationship between the environment and industry. Personally, i think that the industrial revolution has had a negative impact on the environment, no matter what sort of angle one attempts to take. Technology is great, and i am thankful for it-i dont know how my grandmother grew up without running water-but i think that it has undoubtedly had an immense negative impact on the environment. Unfortunately, as much as i love McDonough and Braungart's ideas of innovative architecture and commodities, i dont know if they alone can save the planet, especially given the way our current society is structured. I think that using completely recyclable or completely biodegradable products is a wonderful step for consumption in the future, but it needs to in addition to practical disposal of old waste and most importantly, adjusted levels of consumption. i think that an issue that is just as important, and that should be raised simultaneously with what we consume, is how much we consume. solving the environmental concerns of one alone will not save the planet.

cradle to cradle

I thought that what the authors of the book brought up were awesome ideas. It's really a good idea to make stuff that goes back to nature or make garden cities or whatever else they were saying. Be one with nature: work with it as opposed to working against it. However, they might be a bit optimistic about this. Can the technology we have actually do all of this? Wouldn't this be really expensive since they'll have to change everything? Can the developing world afford to do all this? I want this movement to succeed though, so hopefully technology is actually affordable enough for everyone to implement.
Also, I thought this book was definitely cool (albeit a bit heavy and expensive and weird-smelling), imagine if all books were like this. You could read them on the beach without worrying about them getting wet or while lounging in a pool. Plus they'd be immune to water damage. Once, I had a textbook that got wet in the rain, and when I tried selling it back, they wouldn't take it because of water damage. That was 120 dollars down the drain, which would have been

question 7

I'm a city boy, but when I do experience nature, I usually enjoy it. Back in high school, our field trips were nature trips. We explored caves in freshman year, and we hiked up two different mountains in sophomore and junior year (we went to an amusement park in senior year). When I entered high school, I couldn't wait for senior year so I could go to the amusement park (they ended up making us do stupid physics problems though), but after experiencing all of the field trips, the nature trips were a lot more tiring and dirty, but definitely much more scenic, pretty, memorable and fun. Nature is so unpredictable, and thus so many funny things happened during the field trips.














In freshman year, our science teacher was an Australian guy and he was doing crazy things like climbing around the caves and jumping from rock to rock and it was so cool. After that trip, he would then be known to all of us as Dr. Indiana Jones. Here's a pic of Dr. Jones taking a picture. Also, we got to see what can be best described as the cave taking a dump, and it was pretty cool too. We were also supposed to go to the bat cave, a huge cave where tons of bats hang out, but some guy freaked the bats out, which freaked him out, so he fell and fractured his leg and the rest of us ended up not going there.

Sophomore year was even better. It was raining while we were hiking up to the flatrocks in Mount Makiling, so the trail was really slippery, which led to a lot of funny moments. One of my classmates slipped and was literally hanging from the root of a giant tree. He was crying out for his mommy and I thought it was hilarious. There was also a guy who actually fell and tumbled down the slope and we heard his scream from pretty far away, doppler effect and all.

Junior year was definitely the best though. We hiked up Mount Banahaw and it was so much fun. It's kind of this religious mountain journey thing, and there are things like carvings of the Virgin Mary and stuff like that on the way to the top, which had three wooden crosses. There was a slight drizzle, but at least it wasn't scorching hot like it usually is in the Philippines. There was this one tiny cave (they called it something, but I don't remember what) that you had to contort your way through to get to the other side. Supposedly, sinful people would have a hard time going through, so I didn't even try because I'd probably be stuck there forever. Here's a picture of us hiking up (there's me waving to the camera) and here's a picture of me and my buddy pretending that we'd just gone through that cave.
Those trips were definitely among my favorite high school moments. I actually kind of miss it, and I'd like to go to one of those trips again with my friends.

I think that nature is definitely something worth saving. Some people have a more "practical" approach to conservatism; they want to save the environment for self-preservation and to save us humans as opposed to actually preserving nature. I think that we actually have a responsibility to take care of nature though. It doesn't matter if we can eventually find replacements for the things that we rely on nature to give us, it would still be too different. I don't want my kids to not be able to experience what I went through during my field trips (or whenever my mommy drags me to the boonies). Nature has been around long before our civilizations, and hopefully we won't destroy it and when all is said and done, it will last long after human life as well.

Question 6

Over spring break six of my friends and myself drove down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I would say that the group was as environmentally aware as the average of American University students. Basically, the situation was that five of us drove down on Saturday and one had to come late on Tuesday. Because of this, we decided to drive three cars. Even though we had five driving down at the same time on the way there, because of convenience and comfort we decided to take two cars. When this situation is looked at in terms of environmental waste or gas cost this does not make too much sense. Because of this, I had a discussion with one of my friends about this on the way back.
I learned that the group generally cared about environmental issues enough, but did not want to sacrifice comfort. He understood how this situation did not make sense, but did not really want to do anything about it. This is probably the most important thing I learned; while some may care about the environment they do not want to make sacrifices to protect it.

week 5 question

The way we produce food in America is unsustainable. In our everyday lives it is hard to eat food that is produced in a sustainable way. For example, organic food production seems like it would be less detrimental to the environment however when it is shipped from halfway across the world this positive effect is negated. Making small changes can help, but in order to eat in an environmentally sustainable way we would have to:

1: Eat lower on the foodchain
2: Buy locally grown foods
3: Buy organic foods.
4: Do not buy foods with unnecessary packaging

To address these issues we need to look deeper than on a personal decision basis.

When I buy food I would say I think about the environment as much as the average American. I try to avoid buying things with unnecessary packaging such as bottled water. If an organic option is available I may buy it if it is not significantly more expensive. Aside from doing little things like this, I do not go out of my way to buy environmentally friendly foods. Of the goods I've bought in the last few days, I would say that a Brita water filter was the most important for the environment. Because of this I will not buy bottles of water any more, which is wasteful and also sort of silly when you think about it. In some places a bottle of water costs more than things like soda or juice, when you can just get water out of the faucet.