Updated Reading Schedule

Leaders Sec. 002:
12/01
Nature at the Mall: Linsday Balfour

12/08
Collapse: Chap. 16 "The World as a Polder: What does it all mean to us today?" (p. 486-525): Dani Battaglia
How Sustainable Agriculture can Address...: Shali Das & Megan Sawyer

Leaders Sec. 003:
12/01
Nature at the Mall: Anastassia Fulmer

12/08
Collapse: Chap. 16 "The World as a Polder: What does it all mean to us today?" (p. 486-525): Letao Zhang
How Sustainable Agriculture can Address...: Alexis Newton & Jim Christian

Action & Hope: A Durable Future

I'll admit that the data and material we have seen can be a bit of a downer. What we humans have we done to the planet, intentionally and unintentionally, has inevitably caused some major ecosystem disruption and irreversible change.

Is this all bad though? Can we "fix" it? Create a cleaner and more eco-friendly world?

What about The Green Revolution?

We are at the dawn of what some are calling the largest revolution on the planet. There are more people waging for change than ever. We don't have to live in a dirty dystopian future! What gives you hope about our future here on planet earth? What have you learned, seen, experienced, that has made you take action is some way, however small... however big...?
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Image from Fritz Lang's 1927 silent, 'Metropolis'

Bill McKibben, Activist, researcher, and author of the National Bestseller 'Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future' and creator of 350.org, refers to himself as "a professional bummer outer", though his bestseller is anything but. A must read.

What is dystopia?

Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time

Technology & Time

What do allow in your life, in terms of technology? Is it a technology free for all? Do you limit your computer, cell phone, or "media" time, and why?

Has taking this course encouraged you to reconsidered the amount of technology and media in our every day lives? From the ipod, to the cell phone, televisions, facebook, emails, indeed, sometimes it just feels like too much.

What can we do to be sure to include/integrate technology, but not let it over run our lives or take too much of our time?

What about being sure to include more organic experiences in nature? Is this component essential to you in any way? What do you think about the notion that we have created a world that makes us feel excluded/separate from nature, when indeed, we are nature?

CULTURE JAM! "Autumn"

Malaise (n.) 1. an indefinite feeling of debility or lack of health often indicative of or accompanying the onset of illness. 2. a vague sense of mental or moral ill-being

There is "the idea of consumerism and the media making us more detached and less considerate towards nature. Technology has detached us from nature." -Laura Gillmore

Commentary and Questions by Laura Gillmore

The reading begins by describing how our generation is made of culture jammers. But what are culture jammers? Pg.xi “we’re a loose global network of media activists who see ourselves as the advance shock troops of the most significant social movement of the next twenty years”. In other words culture jammers are people who observe our culture, analyze it, and creates solutions of adjusting to the how we will survive in this 21st century. Culture jamming will change the way we interact with the mass media by finding sincere meanings in our lives as oppose to what the media tells us is our meaning.
Basically the book discusses why we need culture jamming in our American culture. This is because America is no longer considered a country but a “multi-million dollar brand”. It explains that decades in the past had certain events which triggered social movements such as the civil rights was in the 60’s, feminism in the 70’s, and environmental activism blossomed in the 80’s – but now our country has become almost entirely focused on selling products, music, television and other commercial items. Lasn goes on to explain that we no longer have an authentic culture, ritual, or tradition because America has been branded. This branding has prevented our culture being created by the people. Overall, we are hypnotized by the media.

Quotes/Interesting Pages
“If the self is expanded to include the natural world, behavior leading to destruction of this world will be experience as self-destruction.”- An interesting idea which was brought up in A Sand County Almanac yet at the same time Lasn doesn’t necessarily agree because he describes consumption as a sickness. – We have this “seperation anxiety” from nature “when you cut the flow of nature into people’s lives, their spirit dies” – so consumerism, media etc. is causing this anxiety (pg 6).

“The US has a higher rate of depression than almost every other country etc..” – see core point (stuff doesn’t necessarily mean happiness and America has the most). But at the same time Lasn says we could be “suffering “ not because of scarcity or deprivation but because of plentitude.- nothing ever hardwon when everything is at hand (pg 10).

An example of the media hypnotizing us (see core points) is using Jolts (different camera angles, abruptness,), shock, and selling fear causes us to be in fight or flight mode which keeps us alert.

The way institutions use their power and televisions stations run are similar. They allow certain commercials to be on TV. British Columbia being told that their forests are being taken care of but the industry was balatanly lying and the environmentalists had the money to buy the airtime but couldn’t so they were basically censored. This is because the sponsor is the “king” and can make choices of what is on TV and what is not (pg 30).

QUESTIONS
•This book was written 10 years ago and this maybe an obvious question but has our culture worsened in terms of buying into commercialism and the media? How?
•Read quote on XVI: Follow up question: It has been 10 years since the book, and culture jamming still hasn’t “begun” as Lasn says it would. When do you think this will happen and what kind of events would cause us to change/start culture jamming?
•What do you think of this idea of America suffering because of plentitude?
•Do you agree with all that Lasn has to say? If not, what?

Discussion Template: ADBUSTERS

Hey class, sorry I had to canceled today. Here are some notes from your colleague, Natalie Freilich, which we would have gone over together today. Feel free to comment or add your own response, for sake of participation.

"Major Companies are trying to keep their multi-billion dollar industry afloat and prospering by subconsciously brain washing us into this media/advertisement/consumption culture cycle that we cannot get out of. It is time to stop and take a step back to see how we are being manipulated." -Natalie Freilich

Key Tensions/Questions Generated by the Reading
•The range of Adbusters’ readers vary from high schoolers to people in their middle ages. Who do you think will take the most action to change their lives? The cynical youth or the tired adults?
•What can we each do to diminish major corporations and brandings hold over our lives?
•Is branding and monopoly the same thing? If one is removed will it diminish the other or will one continue to flourish on its own?
•The youth controls what is “cool.” How did we psychologically make branding the most important things in our lives?
•Do you seek the truth behind what your professors say? Or simply write down your notes to pass the class? Do seek further information?
•Have you made some change lately? Step out of the box and take a look at your life – do you want the American Dream or your own?

Definitions/New Terminology
•Mental Detox: The act of stepping away as much as possible from technology and proceeding to live your life for a period of time without it. To stop living virtually and begin to experience life in real time and the real world around you.
•Neocon: A liberal who has turned conservative. Usually from an intellectual community. Modern liberalism has not turned out the way they wanted so they switch to neoconservatism. Some have dropped out of the government and gone into colleges and the media futher influencing others.
•Heterodox: not conforming with accepted or orthodox standards or beliefs.
•Branding: the promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and distinctive design.

Notes
•Major corporations have led to major consumption, which in turn has led to increased destructiveness of our environment. As we learned at the beginning of the year, more people know of the Mercedes Benz car logo than what poison ivy looks like.
•Wanting to become a graphic designer with advertisement, that would perhaps entail me working for one of these large corporations. AdBusters has made me aware since last year of the negative effects of large scale branding. If possible, I would like to work on a smaller scale with smaller and local companies, improving their design and logos.
•Declutter, declutter, declutter. Declutter information, stuff, and propaganda.
•Anyone can do this, it is not limited to the youth or the old.

Adbusters Articles, take a look (links below):

Neocon Indoctrinataion
A Textbook Insurgency
McCrriage of Justice

Adbusters & Kalle Lasn's 'Culture Jam'

"Dreams, be definition, are supposed to be unique and imaginative. Yet the bulk of the population is dreaming the same dream. Its a dream of wealth, power, fame, plenty of sex and exciting recreational opportunities." -Kalle Lasn

“Face the absurdity of the human condition, not to master the chaos, but to create within it.” —Simone De Beauvoir