Environmental Final Presentation

One of the final presentations that I enjoyed most was Rachel's and Caroline. I especially liked how Rachel talked about how didn't know what a compost was until we discussed it in class. I think that although many may not admit it, we are unaware of a lot of environmental communication in our surrounding. Similar to Rachel, I never knew what organic and all natural stood until I researched it and learned about through our snack show and tell periods in class. I also find myself noticing and paying attention to the ways that organizations are communicating about their environmental initiatives. The past few weeks I find myself analyzing the packaging more so than I ever had before. I also have become more critical about organic and all natural labeling as it is important to make an informed decision. In part, this is what I liked her Caroline's presentation as well as she talked about how she lost touch with the environmental and is now getting back in touch with it. I feel the same way as I used to be a part of green week initiatives every year throughout high school and now I find myself to be too busy.

Future of Environmental Communication

In class, as we were discussing the future of environmental communication. The idea of reproduction of technology came to mind in regards to Apple products. Apple produces products every year with little changes such as size of the mobile device or ipod (i.e. nano). There's not wasting paper but this can be considered referred to as e-waste. Are they recycling their products? Are they reusing parts from prior devices that were not sold? These are all the question that came to mind. After class, I did some research to see what they were doing about the large amount of e-waste that is or may be produced by their organization.

http://www.apple.com/ca/recycling/

"Apple recycles responsibly.

When you recycle with Apple, your used equipment is disassembled, and key components that can be reused are removed. Glass and metal can be reprocessed for use in new products. A majority of the plastics can be pelletized into a raw secondary material. With materials reprocessing and component reuse, Apple often achieves a 90 percent recovery rate by weight of the original product."

Therefore, it can be understood that organizations such as Apple for taking into account their effects on the environmental and ultimately trying to reduce their e-waste. I think this is something that needs to be explored for other organization as well to ensure that everyone is following the example of Apple and reducing e-waste. For example, Telus just began to review their waste and recyclying in 2013 (http://csr.telus.com/en/environmental_stewardship/waste_and_recycling/). In contrast, companies such as Fido and Wind seem to have no strict program in place to reduce their e-waste. This is something I never knew about Apple products and now because of this class I took the time to research about how the organization of reducing e-waste.

What does the future hold for environmental communication?

Gladwell, Kirilenko and Watersa all talk about the use of social media in environmental communication. Gladwell talks about how Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice. The example that came to my mind when reading this was Kony 2012. During the start of the campaign, a 30 minute film was uploaded to YouTube by the non-profit organization Invisible Children entitled "Kony 2012". This kick started the #STOPKONY campaign on social media. Their mission was to use film, creativity and social action to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony's rebel war and restore LRA-affected communities in Central Africa to peace and prosperity. Kony was a short documentary film that was produced by Invisible Children to make Kony famous, raise awareness for crimes that he was committing and hopefully leading to his arrest. I found it interested how Kony acknowledged that they were going to use these celebrities as a tool to raise awareness, inspire discussion and influence culture. The use of the word tool really stood out to me because grammatically it’s a device that is used to carry out a particular function. Therefore, their star persona is being used as a tool to catch the audience’s attention and raise awareness. This relates to the idea of celebrity culture in which celebrities obtain social power in exchange for selling a sense of intimacy with audiences. For example, in the video on the presentation Rihanna talks about how Twitter allows her to interact with fans and it can help them understand who she is. This speaks to the idea of generating intimacy with fans. She then brings in Kony and since it is youth driven, Twitter is the best way to generate awareness among her fans for the cause. The interview is also focused around the idea of her filming and getting in hands deep into the cause of Kony and its victims. However, this also relates to the idea of performed self and authentic self. As she attempts to create an understanding with audiences about who she is through Twitter and her support for Kony, she is performing her authenticity as a person in order to convince the public about who she is. This is evident as she comments on how she feels that not being Twitter creates a gap between her fans knowing who she is as a person and her personality. Therefore, she used Twitter as a tool to talk to fans one on one and create intimacy. However, her comments on Kony can be seen as performed and framed as she works with Kony to relay their messages to her fans. Framing which is a concept we discussed in week one is another aspect to consider for Kony’s documentary. George Clooney mentions in his video that a quote from a previous interview that was actually commenting on Sudanese president was used. Although, he didn’t mention it in relation to Kony, he did think that it related. Therefore, it is evident that Invisible Children used a series of media content to frame their awareness for their cause. Although, documentaries are supposed to represent authenticity with real life spots that are taken in the moment to tell a story, it is evident that the documentary of Kony was performed and staged.

Similarly, celebrities also use their social media to gain awareness about environmental issues. For example Alyssa Milano uses her Twitter account in 2010 to raise $92, 658 for a charity called Water which is a non-profit organization that strives to provide clean water for those who are don't have it. She also shares her love for animals through Twitter. In the article below, it states that she takes her eco-duties seriously as she posts photos, videos and blogs about various areas of interest. Her social media is used to vocalize her love for the environment. As Waters states that communication style reinforces public relations' writing strategies of keeping a message memorable for the audience by using dramatization and humor and comparing environmental issues to situation prevalent in the audience's daily life. This is shown through Alyssa's tweets because using her charity work for Water, she emphasized the idea of how important water is for everyone. Keeping this example in mind, I feel that the future of environmental communication will rely more and more on public figures such as celebrities and politicians to raise awareness about the environment. In doing so, social media the fastest source of communication with a large amount of audience members in a matter of seconds. I think that as social media networks and digital technology becomes more advanced, the use of electronic communication via the Internet will continue to grow. 

http://econewsnetwork.org/2011/12/eco-celeb-of-the-week-alyssa-milano/

Communicating environmental advocacy and activism

Stewart and Clark's article analyzes three South Park episodes and examines the use of adult cartoon media as well as its comical environmental themes. South Park is able to reach a large demographic and raise awareness about environmental concerns in a comical fashion. This paper helps to understand how negative stereotypes of environmental advocacy can be constructed in ways that may inhibit popular support for sustainability initiatives, while serving as a reminder that if environmental advocacy is to be broadly persuasive, its message and delivery must reflect widely shared American values. At first glance, audiences members may feel South Park is offensive with terrible humor but when taking a a closer it is evident that it utilizes offensive humor to encourage audience members to take a second look. The vulgar and offensive humor is actually a catalyst for life lessons, question authority figures and ethical messages regarding political and social issues.

The Simpsons Movie is a good example that relates South Park's idea of environmental communication. The movie starts off with the animated version of Green Day playing at a concert. After completing their performance, they ask the public to allow them to take a moment to talk about the environment. However, everyone doesn't want to listen and immediately decide to throw garage at the band. The band responds by saying that their polluting the water. This is a significant scene to consider when discussing environmental communication because it reflects what the public would do in this given situation at a concert if someone brought up a serious issue while they were enjoying themselves. Similiar to South Park, these types of scenes, provide messages to the public about taking a second look at their actions. The public describes Green Day in the movie to be "preachy" and in most cases this would occur in real life as well. After this Lisa Simpson decides to try and convince the locals to clean up the polluted Lake Springfield after what happened at the concert. She does so by holding a conference at city hall, called "An Irritating Truth" which is of course a parody of "The Inconvenient Truth". At this conference she explains how the lake can't take pollution. The scenes throughout the movie portray the idea of people becoming careless and how it affects the environment. Later on in the movie, Homer (Lisa's father) dumps pig silo into the lake which causes a huge problem for the whole town. Although Homer is an authority figure as a father, he is shown to be careless and continues to neglect the issues that his daughter, Lisa, fights for. Similar to South Park, the show is teaching children to reject authority and think for themselves which is what is shaping the next generation's thinking. As the issue in about the pollution in the lake becomes serious after Homer's actions, the President is shown to be making a careless decision as he randomly picks a plan for the town without reading and carefully considering his options for a solution. As many would argue The Simpsons Movie portrays the idea of selfish attitude being the main concern for the environment. This film goes on to communicate environmental advocacy and activism through the role of Lisa as she looks for public support for reducing pollution in the lake and portrays herself as a activist who campaigns to bring about change in the town.

http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Environment-themed_episodes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrodOi72Huo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v09KnqiYi-c

Greenwashing, consumerism and materialism as environmental communication

Budinsky compares the importance of the relationship between advertising and capitalist ideologies. The article argues that, "...major corporations and big media are deflecting our attention away from [the need for on-the-ground activism] and replacing it with the apparently easy solution of green consumerism" (Budinsky, J., (2013), p. 208). The problem with green washing is that companies are more so concerned with making money through the idea of "saving of the environment" but really their main focus is still not the environment. There main focus is about the consumption of their product. 

Greenwashing according to Budinsky is "...the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service" (Budinsky, J., (2013), p. 209). This includes trade-offs, no profit, vagueness, irrelevance, fibbing, the lesser of the two evils and worshiping false labels. 

There are many examples of greenwashing that can used as an example to portray how companies frame their product to portray the idea of helping the environment but really their main concern is money. An example I found really interesting was the Eco Collection bath mitt. Upper Canada Eco Collection states that the bath mitt is made from bamboo. However, many don't question the fact that bamboo is a tough grass that probably takes a lot of harsh chemical processing to turn it into a soft bath pit for consumers to use on their bodies. In this case, I agree with the article is saying that today consumers are urged to help the environment by purchasing eco-friendly products but how can this occur when the environment is still being portrayed as something that can be bought and sold. The Eco collection bath mitt is a perfect example for this. Consumers are buying it because they think that since it's able naturally it cannot harm the environment. However, what their forgetting is that the product is taking resources from the environment to create that initial product. I think the problem here is that companies think that because they are reducing waste and recycling, it is okay for them to take from the environment, even though it's not! CBC also states in their article that when contacted about their recyclable vinyl packaging, the company said their packaging has all the necessary information available for consumers to make an informed decision. This relates to Budinsky's statement about fitting a neo-liberal agenda where the responsibility is placed on individuals to change their habits, rather than corporations. There is no idea of society or a community coming together to make a collective change but rather individuals are blaming corporations and corporations are blaming individuals decision making. Ultimately, I think that what it comes down to is that both individuals and consumers will have to work together to save the environment. However, at the time, it seems that everyone will take what they can take until they are left with no other choice but to stop. 

http://www.uppercanadasoap.com/768500.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/10-worst-household-products-for-greenwashing-1.1200620

Music as Environmental Communication

D. J. Rosenthal's article called "Hoods and the Woods: Rap Music in the Environmental Literature" discusses how many rap artists narrate different regions and urban spaces in their music. Studying rap can reveal, "...the genres ability to narrate a 'metaphorical geography of Afro-American expression'. Thus, rap, ecologically informed and informative, constitutes an urban environmental discourse that both analyzes and comments on the built environment" (p. 662). Rappers often use rhythm and rhyme to tell long, abstract stories through memorable phrases and beats in order to get their message across to their audience.

The article brings in Lawrence Buell and his checklist of 4 characteristics that are used to tell how environmental a piece of work is. This includes the following:

1. Nonhuman environment is present and suggests human history exists because of it
2. Human interest is not only the legitimate interest
3. Human accountability is present
4. The environment is a process, not a constant or given

Although not all rap songs can satisfy the entire checklist, some still manage to do so. The song I would like to look at and relate to this checklist is Death in the Wilderness by J. J. Cale.

Death in the wilderness
It's a hopeless case I guess
Who's looking out for the wilder side
It will soon all be gone
You can tell it won't be long
We'll find the wilderness has died

We'll be the lonely one

Concrete plastic human throng
Tellin' one another have you heard the news
We'll mow it down, we'll rape the ground
'Til there's nothing left to abuse

The rabbit, he'll be gone
The bird will sing no song
The wolf, the bear, the lion too
The insect far and near, creatures like the deer
We'll put in cages at the zoo

Death in the wilderness
It's a hopeless case I guess
Who's looking out for the wilder side
It will soon all be gone
You can tell it won't be long
We'll find the wilderness has died

The stream will all dry out
The fish gone no doubt
We'll have no animals to fear
The tree will be no more
We'll use it to build the store
Mountain scene will disappear

These changes takin' place
Will affect the human race
We'll all know it when it's gone
God save this planet now
We've got to help somehow
We've left it happen way too long

Death in the wilderness
It's a hopeless case I guess
Who's looking out for the wilder side
It will soon all be gone
You can tell it won't be long
We'll find the wilderness has died
We'll find the wilderness has died

Read more: J. J. Cale - Death In The Wilderness Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

I think that this song represents at least two out of the four characteristics on Lawrence Buell's checklist. Human accountability is shown when the singer talks about how the trees will disappear because we'll use it to build a store. It also uses powerful words such as "rape" to explain how badly we abuse the environment. The second characteristic shown through these lyrics is the environment as a process, not a constant or a given. This is shown as the lyrics repeatedly mention that "We'll find the wilderness has died". By this the singer means that the environment will only be around for awhile until it can no longer exist because of human abuse.

The other two characteristics are not shown because the lyrics still suggest that human interest is the only reason why we should care about the environment. This is shown through the line that says "These changes takin' place will affect the human race, we'll all know it when it's gone". It also does not mention anywhere that human history exists because of the nonhuman environment.

The article is showcasing the idea that your talent can be used to educate the public about issues. Music is a significant form of art that is used to evoke emotions in its audience. This is shown when we watch videos about environmental issues online or in media. The images don't evoke as much emotion as the music does. We as audience members are more moved by the beat of music as they go along with the lyrics. Similarly, some musicians use their music video to portray the idea of their song. In this case, the music adds to the visual appeal of the song message. For example, when something sad happens and the music becomes soft. This evokes a feeling of sadness among the audience as they identify with the music and ultimately with the song itself because of its musical cues.

Art as Environmental Communication

In Jennifer Peeples article, Toxic Sublime: Imaging Contaminated Landscapes she introduces the concept of toxic sublime in order to analyze the visual representations of environmental contamination. She defines the term, "...toxic sublime as the tensions that arise from recognizing the toxicity of a place, objective or situation, while simultaneously appreciating its mystery, magnificence and ability to inspire awe" (Peeples, J., (2011), p. 376).

Edmund Burke argues that, while beauty is found in small objects, things that are smooth, delicate, elegant, graceful and clean, fair, and mild in color, the sublime portrays vastness, privation, difficulty, infinity, magnitude and magnificence. Furthermore, a German philosopher named Immanuel Kant concluded that beauty and the sublime functioned differently. Beauty portrays the feeling that the mind was restful and contemplative while the sublime creates the idea that the mind was moved.

This picture is perfect depiction of both beauty and sublime as it portrays the two sides of nature next to each order in order to explain the difference. The article mentions how, "Constructions of the sublime in nature, descriptions and images of majestic cliffs, soaring mountains, fearsome ocean storms and precipitous drops recreated an understanding of the human-nature relationship from one of fear and conquest to spiritual and political significance (DeLuca & Demo, 2000; Oravec, 1981)" (Peeples, J., (2011), p. 381). Therefore, anything that evoked terror was a source of sublime and beauty generated "the passion of love".

I found Vicky Goldberg and Robert Bruce Silberman description of three different compositional structures used by American photographers to capture transformed landscapes interesting. These three include photographic plea, environmental nightmare and the third composition, contrasts the plea and nightmare in the same picture. The article goes on to mention the noteworthy artists working in this genre. These include David Hanson, David Maisel, Chris Jordan, Alan Berger, Peter Goin, Emmet Gowin and Edward Burtnsky.

The first one is photographic plea. This includes images of the beautiful nature in its original condition and unspoiled. This image of Russia`s Lake Baikal is a perfect example. This is one of the world`s greatest lakes because it has 20% of the planet`s surface fresh water. However, as Russia`s tourism industry continues to grow and expand, this lake is in danger of growing human activity.

The second compositional structure is called environmental nightmare. This includes displays of apocalyptic visions of what is to going to happen to the environment as growth and exploitation continue to expand unchecked. This includes sprawl, pollution, waste and destruction. Therefore, this image created by a Digital Artist named Jonas Deros is a perfect example of a city like Toronto will look like after human activity has run its course and left nothing behind. As you can see there is no nature to be found in this image. There seems to be pollution and waste everywhere. The itself seems to be gone through major destruction.

This third is a contrast between the actions and effects of human activity and original purity of nature shown in one photograph. Therefore, this is a perfect example because it shows the natural environment with no human activity in sight. The environmental in this picture seems to have its original purity. However, human impact is growing and spreading underwater as the dolphin swims with a plastic bag stuck on its wing. Therefore, this image depicts the idea that human activity is inescapable and eventually will reach all parts of the earth and ultimately create an environmental nightmare. 

How are stories of nature as tourism and environment told?

Milsteam's article Somethin' tells me it's all happening in the zoo: Discourse, power and conversationism discusses how zoo discourses materially and symbolically construct nature and animals. He uses the examination of discourses which often reveal multiple ideologies in tension - as dominant ideologies asset and reproduce themselves and alternative ideologies resist and challenge dominant ways of thinking and doing. The three dialectic's used are mastery-harmony, othering-connection and exploitation-idealism.




The first dialectic is mastery-harmony which looks at the tension between mastery over nature to societal progress and harmony with nature married to the belief that industrial progress threatens to disrupt such harmony. To challenge mastery, one should keep the cultural tension between mastery and harmony in mind. An example of this is a circus where the ringmaster expresses control over nature but at the same time, harmony was shown when they communicate about taking care of the animals.



The article discusses how much institutional discourse, plus science and globalization, differentiates humans as standard dominant groups from other animals, nature, and at times other humans - others framed by subordinated others. Othering serves to justify exploitative views and practices but also to divorce humans from the knowledge that they are, in fact, animals and part of nature themselves. Connection resists dualistic perceptions that frame nature as a subordinated other to humanity and instead seek to recognize reciprocity with nature. An example of this is an aquarium. Connection occurs when we go into their environments. Othering occurs when we give these animals from the other side of the glass. They keep them in the glass to differentiate them from humans.
This shows how we think animals are not humans and therefore, should not be treated as such.



The last dialectic is exploitation and idealism. Exploitation serves to reify nature as something that exists to be appropriated and commodified for ever-increasing accumulations and profits. Idealism circulates the desire to preserve and respect nature, as well as to reverse destructive human impact on nature. An example of this is the African Lion Safari. Exploitation is generated when we go into their environments and create a commodified environment where we watch and observe them. Idealism is shown when we we visit these safari's and showcase the idea of viewing animals in their natural environmental. This in turn reflects how we reflect nature.

Why does the communication of extreme weather matter?

Good does a framing analysis to explore the story of climate change at a specific moment. She argues that there should be a shift from "Is climate change happening" to "What should we do about it?". For her argument she employs a comparative analysis of American, Canadian and International newspapers to see how they are framing climate change. An example of this is the snowstorm that took place in New York. All news channels were covering the storm and talking about how big it was going to be. I also agree with my classmates in saying that news channel often over dramatize the weather and label it as breaking news or alerts. However, I think that the communication of extreme is very important no matter how they do it. Good explains that the framing of climate change has many different perspectives and there is always a discussion about whether or not scientist are correct in their findings and whether or not news is correct. For scientist, it is said that they lack communication skills and news channels lack factual information. However, I think that regardless of the news channel being right or wrong, or even the scientist, the communication of extreme weather matters no matter what. Individuals rely on media to find out what they should expect everyday and news channels rely on scientist for that information. It's more so a chain of communication. If the storm has turned out to be huge then everyone would have been thankful for the consistent storm updates for what to expect.

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/lmu7eu/snowpocalypse-2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abDSppJUD-0



An example that came to my mind during the discussion was the sudden severe storm that led to a flood in Toronto on July 8, 2013. Many commuters, families, tourist and residents were unaware of the upcoming storm. There was coverage for heavy rain but no mention of the chance of a flood. People were stranded for hours in their car waiting for emergency teams to come and rescue them. I remember that day really well because I had been working in Downtown Toronto that summer. I was commuting everyday back and forth from Niagara. During my workday, everyone had mentioned that there would be a storm but no one was panicking. When the day came to an end, everyone was on their way home and still there was no panic. Thankfully I finished work on time and caught the 4:30 p.m. bus back home. If I had stayed even a little later and taken the 5:15 p.m. bus I would have been stranded as well. When I came home, I remember my dad asking if everything was okay and I had no idea what he was talking about until I turned to my social media networks and news channels about what was going on. I was quite thankful for missing the flood that day but if I had been stranded, I would have hoped for news channel to communicate the warning early in the day. This is where I think extra caution in situations such as the New York storm is important because as climate change increases, the weather becomes unpredictable. Although, media channels may dramatize extreme weather coverage and scientist may not be able to communicate, the awareness of weather is important. Individuals need to time for preparation! Advancement in technology is the only way to better predict what's about to happen in specific areas, even if they may be wrong sometimes. Being prepared and knowing about it is beneficial regardless. Without communication, many would not have survived various other storms.

http://www.thestar.com/business/2013/08/14/july_flood_ontarios_most_costly_natural_disaster.html

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/toronto-floods-a-look-at-the-storm-s-toll-by-the-numbers-1.1359574

Who's winning the climate change framing battle?

Public relations is the practice of managing the spread of information between an individual or organization and the public. This is why many theorist such as Weaver et al refers to PR as the information management machinery. Greenberg approaches, "...PR as a mode of communication that is part of a conflict over political and economic power, but also as part of a wider struggle around the production and use of social meaning whose outcomes are more contingent" (Greenberg, J., (2011), p. 68). He begins his argument by touching on Habermas's theory of the public sphere which is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems. Years ago, this discussion began in salons, coffee shops and pubs and it was innocent of political and economic influence and power. However, now this form of discussion has lead to influence political action.

Greenberg touches on The David Suzuki Foundation (DSF) in order to explain how NGO is increasing its influence and PR industry connections to influence the global warming debate. They use tactics such as television and radio advertisements that promote both individual and government action to combat climate change. For advocacy groups, he uses the Friends of Science as an example. The PR tactics they use to spread information include the production of numerous material and information packages for the media and public. This includes a website, 23 minute video called Climate Catastrophe Cancelled, radio ads, climate change migration inittiatives and an annual public outreach luncheon in Calgary. They also mention organizations such as Greenpeace USA and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, however, their efforts in adapting PR strategies and tactics are minimal. Therefore, Greenberg's article discusses the importance of PR strategies and statics in getting the public attention. He mentions that advocacy groups have been successful in bringing the environment more and more into the media because of the adaptation of these strategies and tactics.

For my show and tell example: 

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2014/sep/23/leonardo-dicaprio-un-climate-change-summit-speech-video

Similar to Leonardo, President Mohammed Nasheed of the the Maldives in 2009 attended the  the UN summit on climate change to discuss action needed towards climate change. However, the summit ultimately failed to create any concrete commitments to resolving the issue. Now in 2015, Leonardo DiCaprio's is back at the UN summit for climate change to discuss the need to action towards climate change yet again. He mentions how little changes such as changing your light bulb will no longer make a difference. If our ecosystem collapses, the economy will die. Ultimately this will lead to the downfall of everything on earth.

Second example: 

Obama makes a similar statement about climate change by saying that we need to protect the only planet we have. Therefore, he has put a plan in place to address climate change.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPtK9tm1kp4

http://www.weather.com/news/weather/video/president-obama-addresses-climate-change-in-the-state-of-the-union-address

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/highlights-of-obamas-plan-to-cut-carbon/263/

These two videos relate back to Lakeoff's article from last week where he mentioned that small changes are okay and do make a difference but political action is only way to create a meaning and strong change for these environmental issues. As been in these two videos, climate change is finally front of mind for many as politicians and celebrities are now ensuring that climate change isn't being neglected. PR strategies and tactics are finally being employed for spreading information about political action towards climate change. Therefore, it seems that soon there will be no mention of who's winning the climate change battle, but rather, an idea of coming together to resolve the problem will be implemented.

Why does it matter how we tell stories about the environment?

Solnit asks "Are we missing the big picture of climate change?" and I think we definitely are. There seems to be more concern on human interest than the interest of the ecosystem and natural environment. He says, "To grasp climate change, you have to think in terms of species and their future. To know how things have already changed, you have to remember how they used to be...". This relates to the idea not knowing who you are until you discover where you came from. Therefore, he points out that if we didn't pay attention to species before then we would have no idea about how much they have decline. Thanks to scientific data collection we are able to tell how many birds died due to the 2010 BP Oil Spill. He concludes his article by stating tell we should tell stories that make us alarmed about our conventional energy sources. The birds that died shouldn`t be our only focus, but rather we should think about survival for whole species and the nature of the planet. I think I would have to agree with Solnit about this. Yes these types of story that alarm us are scary but their important to tell because we respond to fear and ultimately take action to protect ourselves. If stories weren`t framed in an alarming manner, I think that everyone would take the topic lightly and follow through with what they do in daily activities. However, I also think that little changes and cut backs won`t do much either. Even though, often enough the media frames the idea of protecting the environment through minor cutbacks.

Lakeoff refers to hypercognition which refers to forms of knowledge, awareness and thought that go beyond the familiar norm. He says that this is something that we are suffering from because human don`t understand that the environment is tied to us greatly. It`s also tied to issue areas such as economics, energy, food, health, trade and security. Ultimately, what he means is that we nothing without nature because it`s our other half. I agree him in saying that little changes are great as mentioned above, but political action is greatly missing. Without this, nothing can be achieved in terms of change. This is where frames come in. Framing is the act, process, or manner in which something is constructed. This refers to how the media communicators use words to activate certain frames and ultimately shape public opinion. This relates to the idea of agenda-setting as media presents what they want the audience to think about and believe. Therefore, how we tell stories about the environment and how it is framed is very important because it shapes our actions. By telling stories through animated films or scaring the public through action films, they are framing the idea of there still being enough time to protect the environment if human activity is changed. Repeated messages and/or frames resonate with people better then if the environment is framed using frames that people aren't familiar with. If they don't understand it then they will ignore it! Therefore, it is important for political action to take place in order to keep this top front of mind and ensure change to save the environment.

January 22nd: Show and Tell

For my show and tell this week I brought in an ad for Tide. Their campaign called "Green" Your Household is focused around the idea of households doing their part to creating a change for issues such as global warming, climate change, alternative fuel and renewable energy. Their online information says, "...there are small, easy changes we can all make in our day-to-day lives that have a big effect on the environment. Not only can these practices help in reducing the negative impact we place on the plant, but they can also save you money!" (http://www.tide.com/en-US/article/green-your-household.jspx). This relates to the idea of framing as mentioned by Lakoff. According to Lakoff, all thinking and talking involves framing because a single word can activate not only its defining frame but also much of the  system its defining is on. In this advertisement, the idea of global warming, climate change and doing your part is all activating different frames at once in the mind of consumers. As mentioned in class we all want to do or part in making the environment a better place. Therefore, advertisements that encourage us to make small changes help us to believe that little actions are making a difference. They frame the issue and product in such a way that we feel we are doing our part. However, Lakeoff also mentions that these small changes aren`t the only actions that will create a change, ultimately political action is still needed to ensure the survival of all.

http://www.tide.com/en-US/article/green-your-household.jspx

How we know what we know about the environment?

For me, I know about the environment because of what I've given taught through school, volunteer activities and the media. When I was little I always used to watch the Magic School Bus and it was one of my favourite shows. They talked about various topics that related to the environment such as exploring the ocean, the world of animals, weather and the environment in general. I think that these types of shows are really beneficial to have when growing up because they make us more aware and educate us about the world around us. I think that if I didn't watch the Magic School Bus, I wouldn't know how certain parts of the ecosystem work. For example, I remember watching one show where they explained beehives and how they work. The episode starts off with them questioning whether or not they should be taking honey from beehives. Tim argues that the bees have honey so that we can take it. This relates to the reading from last week which talks about the environment being there for the human taking. The MA Board released 10 key messaged after the assessment which basically outlined how humans were living beyond their means and what it was doing to the environment. After analyzing the beehive in the show, the characters later identify that the flower pollen is put into the honey combs and then they fan and stir the nectar until the water evaporates. After which it becomes thick honey and lasts longer for bees. They also mention how bees need honey to feed themselves and their babies. Although in the end of the episode they do take honey away from the beehive, I think what they were trying to communicate was that we need to take care of environment otherwise we shouldn't be taking a part of it away from them. With little messages such as this in shows like the Magic School Bus, I think we begin we know what we know about the environment at at very young age. However, I don't think we fully understand it until we get a really older and actually understand what was being communicated to us. Nonetheless, shows like this are key components to understand the role the environment plays for us everyday and they help us understand that our relationship with the environment is a give and take type of scenario. This relates to what was being discussed in class in regards to FernGully and what message the movie was trying to put out. The media plays a huge role in educating us about the environment. However, as we become older I think we reply too much on technology to teach us instead of experiencing the environment and understanding it's value.

Episode Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gLRdxJPvOU

Environmental Autobiography

In high school, I was always encouraged to care about the environment. By doing little things, we could create a much larger change. Often in classes, we would do little things such as turning off the lights during hot summer days and using sunlight to keep the room lit up. Or we collect used batteries from the whole school and recycle them. Most importantly, every Thursday was garbage day. On this day all garbage would be collected and sorted into the right compartments. During this time, we didn't have big fancy organized bins for each classroom. Therefore, students weren't really in the habit of recycling anything.

After reaching grade eleven, I decided to become a part to spreading these types of messages around the school. Therefore, I became a part of environmental communication when I joined the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Committee in grade eleven. Five students from each of the five high schools in Niagara Falls were selected through an application process to become a part of this committee. The members were seen as a communication link between youth and City Council as they worked together to make Niagara Falls a better place for everyone. We had many different sub committees for members to choose from. However, each member had to be on at least two committees. One of the sub-committees I chose was in charge of hosting a Green Week for all of the elementary and high schools in Niagara Falls. Throughout the year we worked hard to organize different activities and events for the week of April 19^th to 23^rd. Earth day fell into this week as well. Some of the activities for the event included a Moonlight Monday, Trash Snatch Thursday, Fresh Air Friday and a Green Art Show. Moonlight Monday encouraged elementary and high schools to turn off their lights and computers for one hour during the day. For Trash Snatch Thursday students cleaned their school yard by picking up all the litter they could find. Fresh Air Friday asked everyone high school to plant one tree in their yard to recall and respect the week. The final event for the week was a Green Art Show where students were encouraged to create art work from recycled material. By encouraging the youth to become active in sustaining our environment, I began a part of environmental communication for the community.

Another initiative the whole committee took part in was called Adopt-a-Street. This is when a street is adopted under the committees name and we ultimately become in charge of its maintenance. Therefore, every month we would put on our gloves and pick up garage along the street. We always made sure to recycle anything we found and put litter in garbage bags. Similarly, in April we assisted the community with an event called Community Clean Sweep. Various volunteers from all over the community would come out on a Saturday or Sunday and pick up garage all over the city of Niagara Falls. Our main goal was to sustain the beauty of our environment by keeping it clean and tidy as much as possible.

After finishing my two year term in the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Committee, I didn't have the chance to organize more community events or activities that would help the environment. However, I do remember that when I was in my Geography class in high school, the environment unit was my favourite. I designed a whole project around the concept of my ecological footprint and what needed to be done in order to reduce my results. However, after that I didn't get a chance to take more courses on environment until now. Nonetheless, I would say that my relationship with the natural environment continued to develop in a different aspect. By going for hikes, nature walks, visiting gardens and exploring different natural parks around the Niagara Region, I expressed my love and awe for the natural environment. I had never been interested in hiking along the natural environment. Actually during school trips, I often didn't like the idea because I was afraid of so many animals and didn't like bugs. I think that I have built a different perspective on the environment due to what I had learned about it. Otherwise before when I was younger I wasn't educated enough to know that every aspect of the environment is important. Now I feel the natural environment is being communicated to me as something that needs to be saved. I like seeing its natural beauty but when I find litter around these parks I feel others don’t realize what they’re doing. Although, there is a need for a larger group of people trying to recycle and sustain our resources it’s really hard to change the habits of the ones that don’t care too much about it. However, I would hope that in the future this would change as we become more and more concise of how we contribute to the sustainability of the environment.

My artifact for this class is a newspaper article that I was featured in: http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2010/04/14/niagara-falls-students-seeing-green