Creative Journal #6 -- Response to Patti Lather

I will fully admit that many of the concepts that Patti Lather brought up went far over my head.  There were far too many -isms that I'm not familiar, I guess.  There were a couple I understood, of course.  I mean, she mentioned the classic feminism, which is something I've had a lot of experience in,

I consider myself a feminist, and more specifically, and eco-feminist.  This is where I was able to make a few connections between our class and the lecture.  In essence, eco-feminism is the bridge between feminism and ecology.  There are many connections between women and nature -- think "Mother Nature."  Because we view the earth to be a female figure, society feels as though we can repress and exploit it.

Think of it like this: Women are generally treated as inferior to men, and nature is treated as inferior to "Man."  I think this is why eco-feminism is so appealing to me.  The duality and the parallels of it is very interesting.  I'd suggest any ESCI 302 folks to look more into it -- it's probably something that might appeal to you as much as it does to me.

My drawing for this one is fairly straight forward.  I put a poorly drawn version of the earth in the center of the trans symbol.  I understand that the symbol can be seen as problematic -- adhering to a gender-binary, and all -- but hey, that happens.

Creative Journal #5 -- Butt Out (Hah!)

This creative journal is more or less something that just bothers the hell out of me.  Every year, without fail, once the melt hits, there are cigarette butts e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. Walking around campus, one can't take more than 5 steps before seeing the remnants of a cigarette on the ground.

I think the thing that gets me the most is the fact that there is a radius around the ashtrays that are littered (hah!) with butts.  It's as though they're trying to miss the receptacle that is placed there for one reason.  The wind takes these butts and they fly around campus, into crevices and gardens alike -- areas where it's super difficult to clean them up.  Often they'll end up in storm drains, which is also a huge issue.  All because someone who smokes decides they're too important to use an ashtray.

I know that there are some people who think that this is a ridiculous request (I Imagine they think i'm like Pheobe from this scene of Friends), but I mean, it's such a simple thing to do.  I've started calling out my friends when they do it -- I encourage others to do this, too!

Creative Journal #4 -- Environmental Racism

Environmental racism is a topic in which I feel very invested in.  I'd go as far to say that it's the branch of environmentalism that I like to explore the most.  I think it's due to the fact that it seems to cause the most discomfort, as it touches upon two things that people tend to shy away from.  When we were starting our Action Learning Group Projects, I watched a documentary called Tipping Point: Age of the Oil Sands, which focuses heavily on the tar sands of Alberta, and how they are affecting the Aboriginal population who live downstream of the project (specifically those in Fort Chipewyan).

I actually used this documentary during my internship and it sparked a whole lot of conversation.  I had a number of students who were for the tar sands, and a number who weren't.  It was really interesting to see their perspectives of the topic.

In my (very crude) drawing, I have the Keystone XL pipeline going through the Wood Mountain Reserve -- near Assiniboia.  My best friend is from that reserve, and when the Keystone XL talks were going on, if my memory serves, the pipeline would be going right near his old stomping ground.  This was something that irked the both of us.  Usually he's not very invested in his Aboriginal heritage, but this was something that got to him.

Film Review: Project Wild Thing

The film is essentially a 2013 visual version of Richard Louv's The Last Chid in the Woods. He has two children who (likely) suffer from NDD. He goes around speaking with children/young adults about their adversity to nature, and he speaks with nature "experts" on how to "sell" nature. His end goal is to "Sell" nature as if it is a product.

If we're talking "intended audiences," I would suggest that there are two main ones: Parents of small children and any adolescent person with autonomy. They’re really the ones who decide whether or not children get to go outside. In terms of social positions and locations, I think this is one of the few times that they’re irrelevant. Bond never discloses his job – he only calls himself “The Marketing Director for Nature.” (I mean, we know he’s a filmmaker, but that’s as deep as it goes.) He meets with people of different societal standings, races, ages, and backgrounds to get their viewpoints on the subject. Nature is universal.

I was really struggling with finding a resource that I found related to our action learning group project, that I found to be relevant, and that I connected with. Just through a little bit of googling, I was able to find this documentary. It’s almost as though our project was a Canadian version of Bond’s idea. He shared the same facts that we were looking up, and as I mentioned before, it seems as though he pulled most of his inspiration from Louv’s text – much like we did. I thought Bond’s idea of “Marketing” nature as if it was some kind of product was really interesting. It really added some “flair” to the documentary. There is a point during the film that he makes note of putting too much “effort” into this marketing scheme, and that he is beginning to lose a connection with his kids. (This part seems quite contrived, but the idea is there.) He seems to understand that we are not going to get rid of screens – they’re a constant in our lives, now, and he has embraced it. He’s created a free Android and iOS app called WildTime that offers loads of kid-friendly activities that are super easy to take part in. As a person who has done nature programming for children between the ages of 5-13, I love this.

Overall, it really does solidify what I already know – I have a disconnect with nature that I really ought to fix.

In terms of further reading to better understand this documentary, why not use the book that (I imagine) it was based off of:

Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-deficit Disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin of Chapel Hill, 2005. Print.

My Story as an Environmentalist.

By my own standards, I'm an environmentalist.  I don't think there are any rigid standards to being an environmentalist -- acknowledging the fact that the world is in pretty rough shape and that we should do something about it is about it.  I think that's where people tend to get hung up on the idea of what it means to be an environmentalist -- that "something".  What is that something?  How do we figure out this something?  Am I doing enough to mend this something?
I sure as hell don't know.  If there is anyone out there who does know, please give me a shout.

Anyway, to get back to the topic at hand, I'll share my story.  It's fairly boring, realistically.  Ever since I was young, I've had a fascination with being outside.  I grew up in Pierceland, SK. My house was at the edge of the town, so my back yard was quite literally the Boreal forest -- I had active beaver lodges 5 minutes from my back door.  I loved the outdoors.  I guess that's what sparked my internal environmentalist.

Since then, I've always tried to live my life in an Environmentally conscious manner.  I've always recycled, never littered, enjoyed carpooling, and so on.  While all of those amount to a great start, it's still pretty "juvenile" in a sense.  It's important to continue to learn about what's happening around the planet and what we can do to counteract it.

I guess that's the "no frills" version of my environmentalism.  There was no revelation or big moment in my life to make me an environmentalist -- to some degree, I've always been one.