What do you think? Is Christmas sustainable? How would it all work in a changed world?
Christmas offers people all around the world the chance to let their hair down and celebrate, whether this becomes over indulgence or not is not the issue. Christmas has been around for a long time, and presents haven’t always been given. Only recently has the issue of presents and waste been bought up. With the problem of over packing comes the issue of environmental damage and global warming.
Christmas is a time of giving, giving presents, cards and other things. Food is an issue to, can we use less and yet still eat more whilst wasting less, and the numbers don’t seem to add up. The biggest issue with Christmas is that people seem to take it all for granted, I remember when I was younger and all I wanted was an Exeter City football kit, I’ve never really wanted for much, but some of my friends were getting mountains of presents and just never using them or using them for a few months and then throwing them away. This doesn’t help the image of Christmas being this festival of love and joy. Can giving ever be sustainable? Especially on a mass scale.
In a world where everyone and every company are concerned with the impact of wrapping and wastage (much like it is seeming to be more and more) Christmas wouldn’t have to be much different than it already is. Presents could still be handed out, people could still have the odd glass of wine too many and eat just a little bit too much, but just as long as they weren’t wasting anything. Minimal wrapping paper, less food bought (or just enough for a second helping maybe?) and the wastage wouldn’t be such a worry for people, this also could be said about any of the worlds various religions festivals where food and gifts and natural resources are frittered away like they are nothing and just taken for granted.
The main point about Christmas is that it has been around for a long time, most people I know (and especially in my family, where Christmas is one of the only times where the whole family can and do get together) would just say the season only comes once a year, so leave it alone. Christmas does seem to bring out the best in people, so to answer the question, is Christmas sustainable? Then yes, I believe it is, but only because people seem to change and care about things more than normal at this time of year, because there is something about Christmas that brings everyone back to their childhood, it’s like snow, Christmas is a truly magical time of the year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDoDUC9M0Sg
Friday, 18 December 2009
Sunday, 6 December 2009
blogg #4
To what extent do the best selling UK newspapers cover stories related to serious issues? To what extent would you think that it is their role to do so? In your opinion do the tabloid media and 'low budget entertainment' (reality shows, soaps) have too much power and influence in this country?
The tabloid media in this country sell papers because they relate to the lowest common denominator, thus appealing to more people in this country than the broadsheet papers (the guardian, times etc...) and so get their message across and what they want everyone to think to greater effect. The fact that the sun only costs about 25p probably helps this fact, but even though the sun and daily star are viewed so poorly by the upper-middle class and upper-class, this still doesn’t do anything to diminish its popularity. The sun is the biggest selling news paper in Britain and as much as it is a bother to admit it but the stats speak for themselves; the sun had recently started backing the conservative party, the first time they haven’t been labour since John major was in power, the sun has always backed the eventual winners of the following years elections, this is probably why they are so powerful. It is no real surprise that there is only one broadsheet in the top 6 selling newspapers, broadsheets carry a certain stigma about them, people who read papers such as the independent of the times are seen as snobby or posh, this shouldn’t be the case, although people who read the broadsheets tend to be upper-class who look down on people who sit and read the sun. It all comes down to the fact that in this country there is still a big (not quite as big as once was, but still there) class divide.
Looking at the list of television programs, I’m not really surprised at what I see, the top show being the X factor; it is more surprising to see that there is no Eastenders on the table rather than no programs like, newsnight or question time. The reason, this country likes to pretend that we are trying to be sustainable and ‘green’, but what actually happens is that people go about their days trying to look sustainable and then when they get home, rather than watching a program about the world or how to keep your carbon footprint down, they would rather see someone’s life in the eastend of London fall apart, or see who’s being voted off of their favourite reality program. I can’t sit here and pretend that I don’t do this; I do, like everyone else. Although, I do watch newsnight and question time, this is to further my own knowledge of politics and what’s happened in the world, both locally and internationally.
In a country where we are always complaining that we are not informed well enough, we don’t seem to (statistically, I can understand that there are many people who don’t conform to the tables in the bloggprompt) do enough ourselves, granted it is the governments prerogative to keep us informed to a level that we are satisfied, but we have to do a bit of work too, we can’t just sit down and expect to be feed all this information that we want, not always need, to know. The power that the red-tops and the ‘trash TV’ seems to hold is massive, however, as long as there are people reading other papers and watching newsnight, we will still be able to seek out and find information for ourselves.
The tabloid media in this country sell papers because they relate to the lowest common denominator, thus appealing to more people in this country than the broadsheet papers (the guardian, times etc...) and so get their message across and what they want everyone to think to greater effect. The fact that the sun only costs about 25p probably helps this fact, but even though the sun and daily star are viewed so poorly by the upper-middle class and upper-class, this still doesn’t do anything to diminish its popularity. The sun is the biggest selling news paper in Britain and as much as it is a bother to admit it but the stats speak for themselves; the sun had recently started backing the conservative party, the first time they haven’t been labour since John major was in power, the sun has always backed the eventual winners of the following years elections, this is probably why they are so powerful. It is no real surprise that there is only one broadsheet in the top 6 selling newspapers, broadsheets carry a certain stigma about them, people who read papers such as the independent of the times are seen as snobby or posh, this shouldn’t be the case, although people who read the broadsheets tend to be upper-class who look down on people who sit and read the sun. It all comes down to the fact that in this country there is still a big (not quite as big as once was, but still there) class divide.
Looking at the list of television programs, I’m not really surprised at what I see, the top show being the X factor; it is more surprising to see that there is no Eastenders on the table rather than no programs like, newsnight or question time. The reason, this country likes to pretend that we are trying to be sustainable and ‘green’, but what actually happens is that people go about their days trying to look sustainable and then when they get home, rather than watching a program about the world or how to keep your carbon footprint down, they would rather see someone’s life in the eastend of London fall apart, or see who’s being voted off of their favourite reality program. I can’t sit here and pretend that I don’t do this; I do, like everyone else. Although, I do watch newsnight and question time, this is to further my own knowledge of politics and what’s happened in the world, both locally and internationally.
In a country where we are always complaining that we are not informed well enough, we don’t seem to (statistically, I can understand that there are many people who don’t conform to the tables in the bloggprompt) do enough ourselves, granted it is the governments prerogative to keep us informed to a level that we are satisfied, but we have to do a bit of work too, we can’t just sit down and expect to be feed all this information that we want, not always need, to know. The power that the red-tops and the ‘trash TV’ seems to hold is massive, however, as long as there are people reading other papers and watching newsnight, we will still be able to seek out and find information for ourselves.
Friday, 20 November 2009
Blogg #3
To what extent do you think that it is your duty as a citizen to be 'informed'? Are you informed? How do you get to be informed about serious issues? To what extent do you think that you should leave the complicated decisions up to others?
As an inhabitant of the earth I believe that I should be fully informed as to how to live as sustainable as possible and therefore help save the environmental, both local and international.
Empowered citizenship, to me, means that everyone both knows all (if not, then almost all) the facts about a certain issue and also does things to help the situation/issue.
I think that it is my right to know as much as I can about the environment and sustainability and how to live a sustainable lifestyle, but within reason, I trust the government to a certain extent, it that their sensor ship that they put into place is probably well founded. Although some times I think that the government are holding something back that could help the environment, or just not doing all it can in order to fully reduce greenhouse gases or just help the environment, for its own benefit.
Personally I think that information that I have received over my lifetime is sound enough that I have a fairly well rounded and informed Idea and knowledge of sustainability and global warming, in that way, I am fairly well informed.
Everyone should be informed as to sustainability and greenhouse gases, it is our right and duty as citizens of local areas, bigger scale governments and international conventions.
The way in which people get informed is by the media, the media Is the most powerful propaganda tool in the world, people all round the world can read a blogg, a website or watch something on youtube.com and form an opinion on a matter and even learn something useful.
When people become more informed and more involved, they start wanting to make more decisions or at least get more involved in the decision making process, lowering their trust of someone else’s decision making about the big decisions.
Empowered citizenship is a tool of the media; it is being used to, make the public feel like they can make a difference. They can, but in other ways, learn more about a subject that you feel part of, or something you’re passionate about. Write a blogg and use the worldwideweb to exploit and advertise your views and opinions, this will create a multi-national citizenship and global community.
As an inhabitant of the earth I believe that I should be fully informed as to how to live as sustainable as possible and therefore help save the environmental, both local and international.
Empowered citizenship, to me, means that everyone both knows all (if not, then almost all) the facts about a certain issue and also does things to help the situation/issue.
I think that it is my right to know as much as I can about the environment and sustainability and how to live a sustainable lifestyle, but within reason, I trust the government to a certain extent, it that their sensor ship that they put into place is probably well founded. Although some times I think that the government are holding something back that could help the environment, or just not doing all it can in order to fully reduce greenhouse gases or just help the environment, for its own benefit.
Personally I think that information that I have received over my lifetime is sound enough that I have a fairly well rounded and informed Idea and knowledge of sustainability and global warming, in that way, I am fairly well informed.
Everyone should be informed as to sustainability and greenhouse gases, it is our right and duty as citizens of local areas, bigger scale governments and international conventions.
The way in which people get informed is by the media, the media Is the most powerful propaganda tool in the world, people all round the world can read a blogg, a website or watch something on youtube.com and form an opinion on a matter and even learn something useful.
When people become more informed and more involved, they start wanting to make more decisions or at least get more involved in the decision making process, lowering their trust of someone else’s decision making about the big decisions.
Empowered citizenship is a tool of the media; it is being used to, make the public feel like they can make a difference. They can, but in other ways, learn more about a subject that you feel part of, or something you’re passionate about. Write a blogg and use the worldwideweb to exploit and advertise your views and opinions, this will create a multi-national citizenship and global community.
Sunday, 1 November 2009
blogg #2
Al Gore (and the IPCC) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 (BBC 2007) largely for the production of the film 'An Inconvenient Truth'
The committee cited "their efforts to build up and disseminate knowledge about man-made climate change".
To what extent do you think this was deserved? Having watched this film in class did you feel that your opinion (or perhaps the opinion of others) to the issue of climate change could be positively influenced? What did you think of this film? Was it effective?
The film ‘an inconvenient truth’ was created to highlight people’s knowledge (or lack of) of global warming, Al Gore, as a major promoter of ‘green living’ (http://www.algore.com/) presented the film as a documentary in a hall in front of not only cameras but an audience as well. The film did highlight the fact the people in general really have no idea of the damage that we are doing to the world and the fact the although global warming is a major newspaper seller, we really don’t know the extent to which we are polluting the atmosphere and causing ‘never before seen’ weather patterns, areas that once were covered in permafrost and sea level rises.
However, as good as the film was and as educational as it seemed this doesn’t mean that he was a worthy winner of one of the world’s most prestigious awards whose list if previous winners include the likes of Theodore Roosevelt, Ralph Bunche and Martin Luther King to name but a few. The reasons cited for Al Gore being given this award include ‘for his efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change’. I wouldn’t say that Al Gore didn’t illustrate that problem of Global warming, but did he do it on a wide enough scale? Did he address any alternatives to the way in which humans live their lives, non-energy efficient way, people still doubt that global warming is happening or at least being affected by human impact (ILoveCarbonDioxide.com).
The film is almost like just watching a PowerPoint in a lecture hall, the most important age group that Al Gore needed to address and influence is children, and I don’t believe he did this at all. Apart from a small clip from futurama (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=search_playlists&search_query=futurama+global+warming+clip&uni=1) he didn’t address the one group of people that are really going to make a future difference to the state of the planet and the ones who are going to have to deal with the problems that the previous generations have left them.
Al Gore also didn’t seem to approach the problem of the growing number of Americans who just seem to want to ignore the problem of green house gasses; it just seems to be one of those things that he simply accepts.
Al Gore being given the Nobel peace prize is a good way of enhancing the reputation of the film and of keeping the public eye on global warming but there were probably more worthy candidates for the prize in 2007.
The film did highlight the point that we as a race on this planet are seeing, even if not doing, things that have never been seen before and we need to keep being reminded that the earth was here long before us and it will be here long after we are gone.
The committee cited "their efforts to build up and disseminate knowledge about man-made climate change".
To what extent do you think this was deserved? Having watched this film in class did you feel that your opinion (or perhaps the opinion of others) to the issue of climate change could be positively influenced? What did you think of this film? Was it effective?
The film ‘an inconvenient truth’ was created to highlight people’s knowledge (or lack of) of global warming, Al Gore, as a major promoter of ‘green living’ (http://www.algore.com/) presented the film as a documentary in a hall in front of not only cameras but an audience as well. The film did highlight the fact the people in general really have no idea of the damage that we are doing to the world and the fact the although global warming is a major newspaper seller, we really don’t know the extent to which we are polluting the atmosphere and causing ‘never before seen’ weather patterns, areas that once were covered in permafrost and sea level rises.
However, as good as the film was and as educational as it seemed this doesn’t mean that he was a worthy winner of one of the world’s most prestigious awards whose list if previous winners include the likes of Theodore Roosevelt, Ralph Bunche and Martin Luther King to name but a few. The reasons cited for Al Gore being given this award include ‘for his efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change’. I wouldn’t say that Al Gore didn’t illustrate that problem of Global warming, but did he do it on a wide enough scale? Did he address any alternatives to the way in which humans live their lives, non-energy efficient way, people still doubt that global warming is happening or at least being affected by human impact (ILoveCarbonDioxide.com).
The film is almost like just watching a PowerPoint in a lecture hall, the most important age group that Al Gore needed to address and influence is children, and I don’t believe he did this at all. Apart from a small clip from futurama (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=search_playlists&search_query=futurama+global+warming+clip&uni=1) he didn’t address the one group of people that are really going to make a future difference to the state of the planet and the ones who are going to have to deal with the problems that the previous generations have left them.
Al Gore also didn’t seem to approach the problem of the growing number of Americans who just seem to want to ignore the problem of green house gasses; it just seems to be one of those things that he simply accepts.
Al Gore being given the Nobel peace prize is a good way of enhancing the reputation of the film and of keeping the public eye on global warming but there were probably more worthy candidates for the prize in 2007.
The film did highlight the point that we as a race on this planet are seeing, even if not doing, things that have never been seen before and we need to keep being reminded that the earth was here long before us and it will be here long after we are gone.
Monday, 12 October 2009
blogg #1
What actions could you (in theory) undertake that would improve the 'sustainability' of your lifestyle? What might be preventing you from doing these?
Personally I think my life is fairly sustainable. I try to live fairly healthily, eating right (as right as you can with a student loan) and I try to do as much exercise as possible. I am aware that as I get older and as my student loan goes it’s going to be harder and harder to live in the way that I have become accustomed to, at that point it will become harder to live in the same way, and therefore my life will become less and less sustainable.
The way in which I live in accordance with the outside world and how I contribute to global warming probably isn’t sustainable, here in Northampton, I don’t drive but back in Exeter I do and probably unnecessarily which doesn’t help the environment much. I think the average human has the same concerns about the environment and the damage we are doing to the earth and that the social conscience dictates that most people want to do something to reduce the effect of human impact on the environment, but people are generally uninformed on how and more importantly WHY and WHAT effect that one change in a lifestyle can have on the earth. I, like most people, don’t mind doing something to help, but I also like to see something coming out of the end of it.
In order to help the world I could probably do ‘the little things’, like buying bags for life or taking the bus, walking & cycling, buying fair-trade etc... But something inside me makes me not do it. It could be my teenage (I’m still just about a teenager) belief that I’m just not going to die and so helping the world isn’t one of my top priorities at the moment. But that will change, it will HAVE to.
Personally I think my life is fairly sustainable. I try to live fairly healthily, eating right (as right as you can with a student loan) and I try to do as much exercise as possible. I am aware that as I get older and as my student loan goes it’s going to be harder and harder to live in the way that I have become accustomed to, at that point it will become harder to live in the same way, and therefore my life will become less and less sustainable.
The way in which I live in accordance with the outside world and how I contribute to global warming probably isn’t sustainable, here in Northampton, I don’t drive but back in Exeter I do and probably unnecessarily which doesn’t help the environment much. I think the average human has the same concerns about the environment and the damage we are doing to the earth and that the social conscience dictates that most people want to do something to reduce the effect of human impact on the environment, but people are generally uninformed on how and more importantly WHY and WHAT effect that one change in a lifestyle can have on the earth. I, like most people, don’t mind doing something to help, but I also like to see something coming out of the end of it.
In order to help the world I could probably do ‘the little things’, like buying bags for life or taking the bus, walking & cycling, buying fair-trade etc... But something inside me makes me not do it. It could be my teenage (I’m still just about a teenager) belief that I’m just not going to die and so helping the world isn’t one of my top priorities at the moment. But that will change, it will HAVE to.
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