[music plays]
ELLEN MOORE: Why do you think that I had you fill out that survey today,
and do the reflection?
Any ideas?
Why am I so interested?
Because we're doing a study,
and you will all be part of that study.
So, welcome to the Autumn 2015 Carbon Challenge.
JIM GAWEL: So, overall what's going on with this project is that a team of different faculty came up
with, um, an idea for, um, basically getting students to lose carbon.
JANE COMPSON: We're going to challenge you as students, and ourselves as educators
to lose at least 5,000 pounds of carbon weight.
ELLEN MOORE: We are actually going to be with nine other classes.
And Seattle and Bothell.
JIM GAWEL: The research project part of it is
looking at how you guys do that, or what works for you, right?
Did--was there something about losing the carbon stuff that was interesting?
Was there something that was really hard?
What did you in your own place find?
Uh, what didn't work? What did work?
ELLEN MOORE: We want to know how you're feeling about the environment?
Are you feeling optimistic? Are you feeling pessimistic?
Right? How are you feeling?
JIM GAWEL: So, a lot of what we're interested in the research project is you reflecting on
the experience itself. So, hence the first reflection you did today is basically your baseline.
Before we told you anything about the project, it's-it's your first shot at what you think
about those topics.
Does that make sense?
JANE COMPSON: You're welcome to contemplate lifestyle changes, [keyboard tapping]
such as transportation and the way you use consumables.
As well as more long-term, sustainable changes in the home...
Like, changing light bulbs, or turning down the heat.
To help you lose carbon weight, there are worksheets in the Gershon book,
"How to Lose 5,000 Pounds in 30 Days."
ELLEN MOORE: It actually tells you, like, a list.
Reducing water use for washing dishes...
So, it talks to you about that.
Washing and drying clothes efficiently...
Turning down the thermostat...
JIM GAWEL: Uh, in four weeks after we've talked about this for a while,
and you've kind of set things up...
You will sort of pledge what it is you're gonna try to change
to get to that 5,000 pounds.
Then, for the next f--uh--five to six weeks,
after that, you're going to try to implement those changes.
Okay? At the end you fess up as to whether you pulled off all of that stuff.
And again, there is no bad grade for not doing it.
So, there's nothing--you should be honest with what you pulled off.
Sound good?
[background music plays]
Let's move back into a conversation here...
Ellen kindly provided some readings for us.
ELLEN MOORE: I really appreciated, um, especially the Mezirow reading,
when he was talking about "critical reflection."
He defines it as, "challenging the validity of presuppositions in prior or earlier learning."
We teach a lot of abstract concepts in the classroom,
but I really wanted to get down to the practical aspect of
environmental issues.
ELLEN MOORE: When we teach about sustainability,
we are trying to sort of intervene between what they've already learned and the practices,
and anything else in the surrounding culture.
We're trying to show them a different way.
JM MILLER: For those of us who are teaching in a lot of environmental
themed courses--I know I run into the end of my quarter, and I just--
I don't know what to do.
Um, I don't know how to save the room.
And so, I just appreciated that sort of call for figuring out how to connect action
with, um, study and reflection.
You know, I'll start the course, um,
very much thinking about, who am I?
What does it mean to just go to a place, and be with that place?
And how do I use writing to start figuring out how to express
my relationship to place.
JIM GAWEL: Part of what I want students to reflect on is more
on the analytical side of, you know, if you're talking about sustainability,
how do you quanitfy that?
Does it matter that we do hydropower?
Does it matter that, you know, they drive a Hummer to their work,
or whatever that happens to be.
And so, that's part of it, but the other part is to try and use that information
because I see students who have all the access to the science
having to do with sustainability, and still do the same practices,
and somehow justify it, or don't justify it.
And so to me, the idea is to start reaching students.
Getting them to think about,
"so now that I've learned about this stuff, how might that affect my decision making?"
JANE COMPSON: In academia, particularly in our culture,
we tend to focus very much on the head, right?
The intellect. Um, but you know,
if you think of a human being with sort of a head, hand, and heart.
So, we have the ability to sort of engage activity in the world.
And make a difference in terms of our action engagement,
physically with the world--the hand.
And then there's the heart part, which is sort of
the emotional engagement.
It would be really interesting to see, what students have to say about that,
and how they respond.
I think it's important that we have an open--
We're open about that dialogue.
Because it's really challenging what we think our role is here in the academy.
[music plays]
ITZEL: So. definitely my first reaction was...
I didn't think it was going to be possible for me to do it.
VITA: I was kind of scared because, I'm like,
will I have to stop driving my car?
Will I have to stop eating meat?
It's terrifying a little bit.
ZAK: Dang...
I probably have a lot of stuff that I need to do to...
be less of a hyperconsumer.
CYRIL: I didn't think I was going to take it seriously as I did to begin with.
I thought I was just going to choose a couple things, and
just do that for like, the month, and be done with it.
NATASHA: I was really excited because I've always been intrigued
since I was little about, like, saving the environment, and animals.
But I never knew quite how to, and I think that's an issue a lot.
We don't want to hurt the environment. We just don't know how to avoid it.
MAKAYLA: So, I knew a little bit about it, but I knew it was going to be hard, um...
Because, I actually already do a lot at home.
JOSH: And I kind of just saw the challenge immediately, as, uh...
New way to, like, take what I was already doing, and, like, move to the next step.
Ya know?
Start really stepping up the impact that I was already reducing.
ITZEL: My plans to reduce carbon would be...
First, um, the first thing I thought of was going vegetarian five days out of the week.
VITA: And then maybe eventually become completely vegetarian...
ZAK: It's difficult [laughs]
I mean, I eat meat, like, all the time.
MAKAYLA: Also, I wanted to try and really reduce the amount of waste that we produce.
Because I live in a house with five other people.
CYRIL: It could be recycling every day, or...
Taking shorter showers. Stuff like that.
NATASHA: I have a strong attachment to my car, so maybe I could...
Stop, like, driving so much.
JOSH: And I've started making some of my own products, which is pretty exciting.
We've got plans to work on some soap,
and then I'm hoping to make candles this weekend.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, were you inspired by Lauren Singer when she came to talk, or...
JOSH: Oh, very much so, yeah.
LAUREN SINGER: So, again, my name is Lauren Singer,
and I'm here because I live a zero waste lifestyle.
And I have for the past three plus years now.
ELLEN MOORE: We chose Lauren because, one, she brings a really fresh perspective.
Because she produces no trash.
And that I think is really surprising to most people, even to think that they could produce no trash.
LAUREN: And to some people leaving no waste is an infrastructural thing.
To some people, it's a political thing.
And to me living to leaving zero waste is a personal thing.
And to me leaving zero waste means that I don't create any trash,
or any landfill trash. But I do recycle, but very minimally because I don't
really buy anything that needs to be recycled anymore.
And I do compost, which is what was one of the biggest forms of trash
before I started doing that.
I decided to go plastic free when I was a senior in college.
I was just inspired by a girl making a ton of plastic trash...
And she would bring this big, big plastic bag full of a plastic,
full of food, and a plastic fork and knife, and a plastic water bottle,
and a plastic bag of chips, and it really annoyed me.
And so, one day after class, I went home.
I opened my fridge, and I noticed that every single thing that I had in there
was packaged in plastic.
And decided, you know, that I couldn't just get mad at her.
I had to actually stop being a hypocrite...
And I made a decision in that moment to just stop using plastic.
I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I was like, I'm done.
I couldn't just buy my way out of using plastic.
I had to learn how to do a bunch of things, and start making these products myself.
And from there I learned about the Zero Waste Lifestyle Movement,
and was totally inspired.
When you hear "zero waste," it seems really daunting and really impossible.
Because it's a big umbrella term.
But when you actually look at living zero waste, and you break it down into
its pieces, it's just a lot of little one-time, or baby changes that have a
long-term positive impact.
Once you make one little change, then...
you don't have to do things over and over.
For me, when I started out...
I was learning all of these things with information.
And I was telling people, like, my mom for instance.
Like, "mom you cannot drink conventional milk, like, your boobs are gonna fall off
[audience laughs] there's like puss in it, like, all of this bad stuff is gonna happen. Don't do it."
And she was like, "you're crazy! Don't talk to me!"
And she totally blocked me out.
By telling them how to live, no one wanted to listen to me,
but when I stopped trying to tell people how to live,
and I actually looked at myself, and stopped trying to yell at people for
what they were doing,
I realized that people around me started to change.
My mom started drinking organic milk.
[background music plays]
My dad started recycling more.
My friends started shopping at the Farmer's Market.
I would suggest, you know, for me, it worked to just look at myself,
and ask, you know, how can I live my day-to-day life in a way that aligns
with the world that I want to see?
[music continues]
ELLEN MOORE: So, today, uh I'm going to be making a Red Thai Curry...
Uh, and so before we begin with that I'm actually going to make my
coconut rice.
Well, you know, I was a real carnivore for a long time.
So, I ate beef quite a bit. I ate pork a lot. I ate a lot of bacon too.
When I started doing this Carbon Challenge,
not necessarily with just UW-Tacoma, but with the city of Tacoma,
I could see it coming.
And I could see the change coming.
So, at first I cut out beef. And then I cut out beef and pork.
And then I finally cut out turkey and chicken, as well.
And so now, we're just down to a little bit of fish, and lots of veggies.
In this sort of push to not have plastic packaging, and to eat more local foods,
we've really gotten to know the Co-op.
And it turns out to be one of the central places that we go.
So, the Co-op and eating healthy went hand-in-hand with trying to go plastic free.
And when I say, "plastic free," I really would like to stress that I think that our society
has not set us up for being plastic free yet.
There's just certain things that have plastic in them,
that my husband and I--
We haven't been able to get away from just yet.
Um, going to the Co-op, and trying to live plastic free,
really actually meant that we had to shift over to whole foods.
[in background] First, onions.... - First I believed that if you're going to eat vegan
[chopping garlic] I think that it has to be--you have to try to make it easy for yourself.
So, we really don't try to have in our house [laughs]
We really don't try to have complex recipes.
So, for this it's a Red Thai Curry, and the the basic ingredients are
coconut milk, fresh mushrooms, green onions, and then bok choy.
Oh, what I like about this dish is how easy it is.
The steps are basically chopping up the ingredients
[chopping vegetables] Chop up all the vegetables
[vegetables frying in pan] And you put them in a pan with the olive oil,
and you let them sautée.
You then add the red curry paste in there,
and you really allow it to get it to heat up and get fragrant.
And so once it gets fragrant, and it begins to move around the pan,
then you know it's time to open up that big can of coconut milk, and
um, dump that in, and then just let it simmer
[ingredients sizzling]
So, the shift to whole foods, has been, um, honestly,
it takes a little bit of time.
Because what you're asking to do is really change the infrastructure of
your household. We had to--
We didn't wanna use, um, plastic produce bags, you know,
where you put the apples and avocados, and we didn't wanna use those anymore.
But once you buy those bags on Amazon, you have them forever.
And then, we actually don't just shop at the Co-op.
We also go to our local grocery store. A bigger store.
And we will still use those bags. So, we are still able to be plastic free.
Even at some of the bigger stores.
Yeah, so the taring is something that we had to learn.
We would go in, and then we would actually fill up, and then we'd say,
"Oh, can you weigh this?" And so they'd look at us, you know?
So, that now we have it written down how much the glass itself weighs,
which is almost a pound.
And we did go to a few stores, where you can grind your own nut butters,
and it was really an uphill battle.
They said that they didn't know how to take the tare off,
and they didn't know how to do the weighing of the glass jar.
When you try to become sustainable, when you try to live a life without plastic,
it's really an uphill battle because the system itself, and the grocery stores,
and everything else, our food system is not set up to be waste free.
It is set up to be very wasteful.
You have to kind of commit yourself to--
As Wendell Berry said, perhaps being a little bit of a contrarian, and
being willing to swim upstream.
[chattering]
JM MILLER: I thought maybe we could read some poems.
This is "Seastars"
The sunflower star saved its grace from moonlight.
Sweeping the waves golden.
Dim mystics, supple in their swallowing of night.
Who has eyes enough for this?
Or ears?
To see the red-orange hearts clinging to the continent's shelf.
Unbecoming, all they've evolved to know about arms,
and the points of stars.
The stars are ill.
Their bodies collapsing into distorted tissues.
The rigid lines of constellations.
Giving away to lesions, consuming them.
Ocher stars
Six arm stars
Morning sun stars
Leather stars
Rainbow stars
Velcro stars
Unpeeling their orange skins.
But if a star is born from dust,
a gathering cloud...
Is its death no more than letting go of its shape?
Maybe hope is an emancipation from truth.
Or the spirit, opening its arms to the world.
Permeable to starlight and the viruses that contain us for a while.
Or to extinction, in life's warming waters.
That poem is so sad to me, and there's no way for me to say anything else
about it.
The idea of a species just melting.
So, as I was writing it, I was just thinking in my head at the same time,
I've been really thinking about the notion of hope.
When I'm writing poetry, I always wanna go back to it.
I want the ending of the story to be represented by hope.
That's my desire.
As I get further through my studies, and my experiences, and my feelings,
the more I'm not sure that the notion of hope is anything more
than a story that has been built up and handed down.
And I'm not sure I can agree with the definition.
When I wrote the line,
"Maybe hope is an emancipation from truth,"
I think what I was think--
No, I know what I was thinking, was...
that maybe we need to detach this notion
of hope that we have.
And try to find this new truth instead.
Because we are already going through all of the things
that we are so scared are gonna happen.
INTERVIEWER: Would you be tagged as a cynic?
JM MILLER: [laughs] I think about that a lot too.
INTERVIEWER: I mean if there's no hope, what is there left? MILLER: Yeah
INTERVIEWER: Like, what would replace, or redefines hope? MILLER: Yeah
For me, I don't think I'm a cynic, and I don't think I'm a pessimist.
[laughs]
And I'm also like, what does that mean?
Um, what I think we can do, is I think we can think more radically,
and in a more of a revolutionary way.
And if we can get out of the box of thinking and living that we are in,
and come at life with a more radicalized notion of what it means to be alive,
then we've got it. [background music plays]
JIM GAWEL: I started riding my bike when I first started at UW-T about
sixteen years ago. But it was pretty sporadic.
And the reason was I'm able to walk a block from my house,
and get on the bus that takes me downtown.
Bus service got really infrequent after we had budget cuts several years ago.
The last bus going home leaves 6:00PM, and a lot of times things hold me here,
after that. And so, I just started biking more, because that allowed me to set my schedule.
And I found that I got here faster than I would on the bus by biking.
Um, I actually, even in the rain most of the time, I kind of
enjoy biking. And it's, you know, occasionaly it's really nasty.
Um, and I really am just slop and wet when I get in,
but then I feel good about the fact that I actually did it.
I think it's one of those, you know, I toughed it out.
And I made it in type of thing.
One of the things that I've seen over time in Tacoma was that it was really--
There has been an increase in how many people bike.
And that in itself is the huge difference that makes it easier to bike.
Because if there's more people on the road, people may
pay more attention. And it just becomes safer no matter what else you do.
So, the more people they get out there the better.
And one of the things that Tacoma's been doing is they've been adding
bike lanes--And bike lanes have pluses and minuses.
Um, they make it obvious that there's a place on the road for the biker.
The downside is that they put it right next to the potentially
opening car doors, which is, you know,
having learned how to bike in Boston, you always are wary of what's going on,
and the park strips along the sides.
So, it does help still.
Tacoma's moving forawrd on that.
They're definitely improving things as they go.
What I always suggest is, for getting going is
meet up with a friend, right?
Or get, you know, somebody that's going to get you to go.
So, if you meet up with people--
It's like exercising. If you set it in your calendar, go running every morning.
You're likely on your own to stop doing it because it's wet out,
or I'm tired, or whatever.
But if you have a friend that shows up, and it's like, oh now you're on the hook.
You don't want to leave them hanging.
And it also, having two bikers next to each other increases security,
because the driver's more likely to see more than one biker.
And so there's a lot of that---
Plus you can learn, right?
One of the things they found is that people don't take the bus because
they don't know how the bus works, so they're afraid to be that newbie
on the bus that gets yelled at because they don't know, how to use or work a card.
So, the same thing goes with biking is that people won't go just because
they don't know what's the best way or how do you avoid traffic,
or what's the rules of, you know, how should you pull up at intersections,
and things like that?
The more that we can kind of build that culture on campus, um,
then it becomes the cool thing to do.
It becomes the thing that, "Hey, you can join the other group
of people that's doing it" and have a great time. [background music plays louder]
NATASHA: The Carbon Challenge has been going well.
I think the biggest challenge, is...
Actually turning down the thermostat because I'm a naturally cold person,
and this has been such a struggle.
And one of the easier tasks was eating meat free.
I think it's been great, and more of like, an adventure to find
new recipes.
VITA: It's...
It's kind of hard because I live with my parents, and
the way they were raised, and the way we raised us,
we have meat with almost every meal.
Like, salads are great, but salads with meat are even better.
Because they grew up on farms and then,
when my parents got married, they had a huge farm.
And you know, obviously, everything was organic, and then when we moved
here, they couldn't really do that.
MAKAYLA: So, I found out that you could put fruit and vegetable scraps
and anything like that in the yard waste bin. I didn't know that for Tacoma.
ITZEL: So, the easiest change I could make was definitely starting to, uh
recycle. And probably compositng's a little difficult just because I live
in an apartment downtown. I don't really have, like windows.
And so like, the flies just swarm into my apartment.
ZAK: I'm trying to use things that I can use more than once
that can be used optimally and multiple times, or for longer
periods. So, I'm trying to cut out plastics, uh...
I'm using the same cup whenever I get coffee or tea.
MAKAYLA: One thing I found for the five minute showers was, um...
I don't have to wash my hair every day, and so that was one thing that
was easy to do. Like, "Oh, I just won't wash my hair every time I shower."
That reduces my showertime , like, significantly. 'Cause I have a lot of hair.
CYRIL: Um, I've been driving a lot more...cautious.
I used to just go as fast as I could, like, most of the time.
But now I keep it under, like, two revs, as much as I can.
And uh, I'm trying to get my family to do this stuff.
They made fun of me for eating tofu when everybody else was
eating chicken, but I kept up with it.
Being supportive--Like, they're family. It's what they do, but of course my family
likes to joke around a lot, so they've been like poking and prodding me
this whole time, but the more I, like, get serious about the activities,
I see, like, they're trying to pick up a couple of the stuff I do.
And, like, changing their habits.
Like, the thermostat used to be at, like, 75 every day, and now it's, like, at 69.
But everybody's, like, wearing hoodies now at home and stuff, so
that's pretty cool.
BRANDON: So, one of my biggest supports was actually my work crew.
When they found out what I was doing they thought it was awesome.
I had a friend named Chandler, who um, when I told him about it, he was like,
"Wow, you're like saving the world, but at a little step at a time..."
And I'm like, that's funny that you put it that way.
But I mean, it was really, really helpful.
NATASHA: One of my oldest sisters is vegetarian, so
we've kind of bonded on that level of finding new recipes, and like,
cooking with each other, so that's been fun.
MAKAYLA: My roommates are my family, so, um, there was--
I wanted to do a vegan night.
I cooked the dinners for the house, and so um, kind of if I was going vegan,
everyone was going vegan. And so there was a little bit of push back with that.
Um, everyone was kind of cool with cutting garbage. That was the one thing
that everyone was down with figuring out how to do.
[background music plays]
[inaudible dialogue]
JIM GAWEL: So, your job today is basically to help analyze the garbage
of the campus. And we've uh...
we've made this a news flash, so people can come and check it out, and look at what your results are.
What are we looking for?
COLLEEN: Uh, garbage cans with garbage in it
with possibly recycle cans next to it.
GAWEL: Yes, that's what we hope for, right?
COLLEEN: Oh, yes.
GAWEL: Yes. What do you think you're gonna find?
COLLEEN: A lot of the opposite?
GAWEL: Yeah. So, you think you're gonna find stuff in the wrong bins?
COLLEEN: Yeah
GAWEL: So, a lot of what we're doing here is interest in them just learning how to
do science. And so, part of it is just how to learn--learning how to do data collection.
What kind of info you're looking for.
What kind of intersting findings, or hypothesis you might come out of this.
[shuffling through plastic bags]
[inaudible dialougue]
[laughing]
GAWEL: So, we'll put the tash bags over here, and recycling bags
over there.
COLLEEN and AYANA: So, do you want us to weigh them first?
GAWEL: Yes! Weigh them as best as you can.
AYANA: 135 with the bag...so five pounds...
JONATHAN: Five pounds, okay...
GAWEL: How about proximity? Was there any big differences, in which one's came
from where? Proximity-wise?
AYANA: Yes.
GAWEL: Part of it is also looking at how we as a campus deal with recycling,
and trash. What do we throw away? Are there ways that we can reduce our
waste stream as a campus?
[rustling garbage]
GAWEL: So, you wanna try to note mostly kind of big problem areas...
Like, here you're getting multiple recycling items that are not
being recycled...
COLLEEN: A microwave that has no recycling bin next to it.
GAWEL: Nice...
[inaudible dialogue]
COLLEEN: Water bottle...
Can I, like, just pour this on the grass?
Um, professor, can I pour this on the grass?
GAWEL: We wanna dump it into the waste...
COLLEEN: It's water, though.
GAWEL: Well... COLLEEN: Aww
[water spilling]
Water bottle recyclable.
Are lids recyclable too?
AYANA: No
COLLEEN: One, two...
JONATHAN: At least I put it in the right spot.
COLLEEN: Three, four silverware.
JONATHAN: That's recyclable. If it's paper...
GAWEL: The cool thing is that we actually have a lunch.
JONATHAN: Um, sandwich...
COLLEEN: Well, today we went through the big building over there.
And we got all the garbage cans, and recycling cans in sight.
And we took it all, and we brought it back down here, so we could
see what our garbage habits are, and how well we're actually doing
at being "green," I guess you could say.
And what we found out is we're not really as green as we'd like to think we are.
In here, we have just a bunch of things that could've been recycled,
but now they can't because they've been contaminated with food, and
stuff like that. So, the percentage-wise, is roughly around 25 percent of what we found
in our garbage cans was supposed to be recyclable, but it wasn't.
One thing that campus could do is make sure that there
is a recycling can next to every garbage can, just so that students
have the option, instead of having to walk down the hall way because...
we're lazy.
[background music plays]
ELLEN MOORE: I had students--
They had to do a video about some kind of sustainability,
and so as a result, the videos were so much fun.
We had one group, where one student posed as Captain Planet,
who helped students to become more sustainable.
We had one group that filmed sustainable change through the lens of film noir.
So, it was very dark, and very darkly funny...
YARO: We were like, hey, let's maybe do something like, more of a dark side black and white.
And so, we were starting to just brainstorm, and find funny ideas.
And we kind of just got on board of doing a detective scene.
Kind of like, criminal--
You're kind of a criminal against the environment, and so we
kind of just got really on board to making it funny, but also educational.
But I guess I kind of just wanted the person watching it to know, is she guilty for what
she's done? Did she further her lifestyle that she's changed?
Is she really a new person now?
And kind of left that up to the audience to incorporate.
[laughs]
BRANDON: Our class media project that we're working on is [ laughs ]
we're kind of going off this idea of...
Like, a news reporter. Me and my friend Josh created this character...
JOSH: I'm playing Chop Zuckowski.
He's a news reporter for KSUP News.
BRANDON: He's trying to get to the bottom of this breaking news on the
UW Carbon Challenge...
JOSH: Uh, we'll be doing some scooter commuting,
he's going vegan, and uh, he's going to make his own deodorant.
BRANDON: And so, he takes the challenge maybe a little bit too far.
That's kind of what we were trying to go for.
Kind of like, the comedy, and the perceptions of the way
people see the challenge. It's like, this crazy feat, but Chops just wants
to join in and have a good time, and see if he can do it.
CYRIL: For my group, we're going to do, uh, kind of a revamp of Captain Planet.
So, we're gonna have Captain Planet sitting for an interview, like this...
And have him get interrupted by the bad guy, and have him
basically duke it out over certain environmentally friendly habits,
like, recycling water bottles, or recycling paper, or like, not
carpooling and stuff like that, uh have him head over ideals about that.
NATASHA: Okay, so I love Jimmy Kimmel, and he does this thing
called Live Witness News. And so, people, you just go out on the street,
and ask people this question, and so, we're taking that and forming it into
what is a Carbon Fiber Footprint, and how are you reducing it?
So, we've been asking a lot of people around campus...
What--first was a carbon footprint,
and then how they're reducing it.
A lot of people know, which I did not expect, so next week,
our mission is to go to a shopping mall, and see the
difference in their take on what a carbon footprint is--
And if they care, or not.
ELLEN MOORE: For this challenge, I think that, really, it got students
thinking about sustainability, truly in a new way.
They really were learning as they were making these videos,
which for me was the most rewarding. [background music plays]
JANE COMPSON: In our class, we talk about...
We talk about Philosophy, but we also talk about the ways that
you value things. It's a kind of, um...
It's not just an intellectual process,
but it's an emotional process, and so, um...
In our classes, we focus--we do some exercises
called contemplative exercises, where students go into a more
kind of reflective space. Then, sort of the purely academic critical space.
And so, one of the goals of this class is always to encourage students to
experiment with that way of knowing, and see what kind of
arises for them. So, they do contemplative reflections every week.
Part of that is that they have, at the beginning of the quarter, they
plant a seed.
And that becomes described as a non-human teacher.
Any seed will do.
Hold the seed in your hand.
Notice any colors, its patterns, its texture...
Feel the weight and temperature.
Notice how it feels in the palm of your hand...
And in between your fingers.
Now, close your eyes.
[music plays in background]
Where did the seed come from?
What is the potential in the seed?
[music continues]
We can become really fond of our favorite place, or
favorite animal.
And... you know, to actually-- it's really easy to get kind of nebulous,
and intellectually removed, but to actually sit there, and investigate,
and experience that sense of relationship...relationality.
I think, if you don't do that, when you're talking about...
the non-human world, then there's something missing.
You can't really talk about relationship with the natural world,
purely, intellectually...
I think... I think...
At least, if you do, it's impoverished--
It's an impoverished investigation.
[chattering]
JM MILLER: So, tonight we're going to welcome eight writers.
Don't be scared, it's not a long, long reading...
Eight writers to perform works that respond to what I think we
all feel like is a really unique moment, and I guess I would just say
since it's an Eco Poetry Night.
In our species' history.
The Eco Poetic's event is for now, just an annual reading, um...
That's going to happen during the month of Frack Down,
which is during the month of November.
So, I invited two authors from Seattle.
Emily Johnston and Drew Dillhunt.
I wanted to bring them from Seattle, but
I wanted to feel like reading in Tacoma by people around Tacoma.
And there were student voices that I really trusted.
When climate change denial, when they were kind of at this
turning point where climate change denial,
was something that's--I think fading away, and if we could just
talk about that at the end of the reading--maybe not.
I don't know, I hope it is...
MAKAYLA: [laughing] Okay, so um... climate denial and I...
So, my article is titled,
"The NRA Becomes the NRAACC:
"Natural Rifle Association Against Climate Change."
Today the Natural Rifle Association decided to add to its core values.
It began with,
"Protect America's rights" and added "Protect America's land."
Uh, we started off a relationship when I first heard about climate change.
Because it was kind of an, okay! What am I gonna do about it?
They will hence forth be known as the Natural Rifle Association
Against Climate Change.
CEO, Wayne LaPierre says he is avidly against fracking
and attempts protests in his free time.
Rather than restrict laws on fracking and deep sea drilling,
LaPierre suggests they be banned all together.
Where the planet's health's concerned, he says,
"We can't lost precious time debating legislation that won't work."
I was thinking about the type of people
that I grew up with that would totally join the NRA.
And like, what would happen if all of a sudden they all accepted
that climate change was happening.
Or if someone like a big leader in that community
was like, "we needa do something about climate change!"
LaPierre says that America shouldn't be worried about
the government coming down on them with AK-47s.
Rather, when the government succeeds in restricting gun size of the common man,
the covert real issues of big oil will make it impossible to
change over to a greener energy.
Quiet assassinations of millions who oppose the oil giants will happen, and
where will your assualt rifles be?
Your sole line of defense?
Confiscated by Big Brother.
This is why it is so imperative that the NRAACC fight not only
for our second amendment rights, for our rights to clean air
and clean water.
It'd be like, an armed movement against global warming.
The sudden shift in the NRA left many torn on where to stand.
Many of its supporters were climate change deniers.
But upon seeing how strongly a leader in their community
feels about the destruction of our planet, some were willing
to change.
Robert Ellis, Texas native and former neo-conservative climate change denier says,
"When I think about it, I don't know how any
patriotic American could stand for the destruction of our world,
and most importantly, our great country. I need my
shotgun collection to defend my home, and my solar panels to
defend my planet."
[laughs from audience] [applause]
Doing-doing the satire piece I felt was more helpful than doing
any of my other essays combined.
Because when you're arguing against someone, they're
immediately going to get defensive.
But when you're making them laugh...
What is there to be defensive about?
[background music plays]
JANE COMPSON: By the end of the course...
Students submitted their worksheets in how much carbon weight they
had lost. And cumulatively, it came just shy of 300,000 pounds of
carbon emissions.
It is equivalent to removing 28 passenger cars from the road for one year.
VITA: I actually went over.
It was over 5,000.
CYRIL: 8,800 carbon pounds lost...
BRANDON: Um, so it estimated around like, 6,000 pounds...
I think we did the math...
MAKAYLA: It ended up my goal, it didn't reach 5,000 like,
because I knew I just wasn't going to be able to do it.
But I was able to get pretty darn close to my goal.
I think it was around 3,500.
JANE COMPSON: What I thought was kind of neat by that was that you could
see actual results.
And also, that it sort of underlined the individual action is important,
but then when you sort of add it up, and see the effect of
that collectively, it's more encouraging.
You feel like your little drop in the ocean.
Maybe when you do, it makes more of a splash.
[laughs]
BRANDON: About three things that I focused on was trying to cut my carbon footprint
by driving. That one was achieved by me.
CYRIL: I started making my own toothpaste.
I also tried making deodorant--
I didn't like it, so I went back to my old deodorant.
ZAK: I showered for five minutes usually.
NATASHA: That was also hard. -Yeah
VITA: I realized, I don't need to wash my clothes as often as I did.
Like, and plus, I don't have to buy as much clothes now,
because I don't wash them as often, and they don't get ruined.
BRANDON: The vegetarian part of my challenge was actually a success.
I went two months without eating any meat.
I was surprised. I was actually genuinely surprised that
I was able to get through that.
ZAK: I definitely ate chicken last night, though.
And I felt really guilty about it.
NATASHA: No, it's okay. -Yeah...
NATASHA: I still haven't eaten meat...
I was really---
ZAK: When's the last time you had meat?
NATASHA: Like...
September.
[laughs]
CYRIL: Apparently, eating meat like two of the three meals,
is like, almost like, 700 pounds a meal.
MAKAYLA: Because meat takes up so much energy...
It actually takes 660 gallons of water to produce
one quarter pound of beef.
JIM GAWEL: The thing about any classroom exercise,
I don't like classroom exercises that are just for class.
I want them to be able to do something meaningful with it
that isn't just turning in the paper at the end of the day, and then
they're done.
And so, the Carbon Challenge has that potential, actually.
It already takes it outside of the classroom, and
affects changes that will have positive impacts
for sustainability.
INTERVIEWER: What practices do you think you will continue?
CYRIL: Probably eating vegan two days a week still.
Probably change my driving habits a little bit...
Step off the gas a little bit.
Um, I might keep up with the toothpaste.
I actually like it now. At first I hated it, but now it's okay.
VITA: The meat...
INTERVIEWER: The meat?
VITA: Yeah, and my sister--
She's just recently has been really into like,
healthy eating, and like, for her husband and her kids--
She has four girls--
And we've been agreeing on a lot of it.
And I feel like maybe like, we'll both become vegetarian within
time. Like, that's my goal.
BRANDON: Biking to work will still be something that
I will be looking forward to doing.
I still love it. I love doing it. It just makes me feel better.
Um...and also losing weight is a wonderful thing.
MAKAYALA: Putting food scraps in the yard waste bin.
That's a really easy change to keep going with.
And I really enjoyed the CSA. The fruit and veggies that we get.
And I don't eat as much meat, and I don't think I need to eat
as much meat as I did before the challenge.
There is some things where like, yeah.
But I feel like I need to adjust a little more slowly.
ZAK: I'd like to wean myself off meat, if I can.
I think maybe going from, like, 70 to zero and like, trying to
do that like, every day was too much.
CYRIL: Uh, advice for future students...
I'd say just start small, and build from there.
It's not as hard as you make it seem to be.
It's not like I'm farming, or anything.
I'm doing the same things, just using less, and making more
stuff for myself.
MAKAYLA: When I told my family I was going to do this,
and when I told my friends I was going to do this,
they were like, that just sounds hard and unpleasant
and not fun...
But it actually is a lot of fun to figure out ways to do
these things.
BRANDON: To believe that you're able to make the change is the...
has to be the mindset in what you need to do to go into
this challenge.
ZAK: Uh, I'd say don't make a change that you don't wanna
make for a lifetime. I mean, the point of it is to do something that's
not just to better yourself for two months through the quarter, but
try and enhance your life, your wellness, and also enhance
the wellness of the environment.
ELLEN MOORE: The one thing I'd say is, you know,
honestly, the system is built for humans to pollute, currently.
If you want to eat, you use plastic containers, and things like that.
Um, you know, if you want to get somewhere, the system's
really set up to make it easy to drive.
We're swimming upstream a little bit because we're teaching students
one, how to be critical, but two, how to begin to navigate a world
that invites them to pollute.
And invites them to use fossil fuels.
JIM GAWEL: But I would love to see more of it tied to turning it into
the next stage of effecting policy changes,
or coming up with solutions for campus.
So, teaching the students how would you make that change?
That's what I would like to see in the future of this is-is taking the data
that you get from that, and building it into the next stage of
students becoming more active and involved, and learning,
how the system works to fix it.
Not just identifying where the problems are.
[background music continues]
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