Greenpeace

So my teacher screened "The Age of Stupid" in my Environmental Communications class, well actually in all her classes. I was only present for my class, which is the 7pm. Anyway; I would have expected a better reception from a class that is all about communicating about the environment. It wasn't all bad or anything but I wanted to gauge the response while we watched it. So... 2 people left within the first 15 minutes. There was an assignment attached to the film which they lost points on to leave early. 2-3 of the people were leaned back in the chair and may have been sleeping. The other 10 or so people were watching the film and at least 1 of them was emotionally invested. 

I say this to really put in perspective the challenge we are facing. How can we expect the nation to embrace the mobilization against humanities contributions to climate change when people who are interested in the subject seem to be disinterested? 

On a positive note, I am finally building the environmental education program. I should have something by December that is a bit more substantial than just a concept. I am looking to use my academic ego’s desire for excellent grades to contribute something to our future.

So we had the screening of "The Age of Stupid" tonight at Northern Arizona University. The event started with a critical mass bike ride that went around NAU and to parts of Flagstaff. Then we had our guest speaker, Carling Sothorn, Greenpeace Student Network Coordinator. Then it was finally time for the film. There were 20+ people in attendance and we laid on the lawn of the Communications Building and watched the film.

My thoughts:

I have seen quite a few environmental films, Inconvenient Truth, 11th Hour, Free Willie, etc. This film stood out amongst the others as it was blending the entertainment with the call to action. It didn’t preach science yet leaned on the collective scientific understanding that we all seem to share, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. 

I think the film would play a little better in the EU than it does in America, simply because it seemed to aim at the European audience a little more than others. Especially with the Iraqi family segments the US was directly in the crosshairs for the majority of the film. I do have to say that I felt a bit attacked, as an American, but I can understand that we do have the biggest impact, good or bad. If nothing else this film will get people thinking about their own lives a bit more.

Actions:

Ok. So what to do… what to do? Step one is getting people to watch the DVD copy the folks at Greenpeace were awesome enough to provide. Step two is to get the day of action set up and ready to rock. We already have some plans in place and we just need to hammer out the paperwork and details. Step three…. What to do next?

I have to say that this film, along with many other things, has left me to question what can be done. I may tend towards the negative with my long-term outlook but it is only because I focus on the science behind it all. While I am still learning more everyday, when I put the pieces together in my head I can only see things getting nasty in the future. The way I look at it, our responsibility is to try and change our ways and then focus on adaptation to the changing climate.

I also want to throw a shout out to PIRG who is trying to get established on our campus at NAU. So far, I think that we need someone like them on campus to help everyone with a message to be able to focus and get their thoughts turned into actions. 

I work with the Campus Climate Challenge here at NAU and we, along with a bunch of other groups, are going to be screening "The Age of Stupid" on October 15th at 7pm in front of the communications building. I am going to take my flip cam with me so I should have some video, or at least some pictures, to put up about the event. 

On a side note, Paul Ehrlch, the author of Population Bomb, spoke at NAU tonight. I got a chance to see him talk and I will be abel to get a bunch of extra credit for soing a write up on it. I like having a school where we get international speakers coming through every now and again. 

So I work with a few different groups on campus here at NAU. I am trying to be more involved with them but time is short these days. 2 seperate groups seem like they are going to come together to push a concept called "Energy Wars" or something similar. Basically it will be an educational competiton between different dorms, buildings, whatever. Hopefully we will get some of the details in the next few weeks. Not sure when it will all go down but there hopefully some good will come of it all. I'll keep everyone posted. 

I keep telling myself I am going to start blogging again and I continue to fail at the task. I will take a few minutes before the Campus Climate Challenge meeting I am attending to check in with the Greenpeace folk and vow that I will carve some more time out in the coming weeks to try and get a regular contribution. 

OK. So here we are in 2009 (towards the end of the year) and I still have people telling me that climate change is a political scam. I have offered to sit down with people and help them to understand the science is separate from the political discussion going on around the globe but so far I have no takers. I would like to think this is for the same reason that religious people don't go looking to other churches that disagree with them; it is just easier to believe what you already believe. The offer is still on the table for anyone that needs a little help. I am not a PhD or anything but I am working on learning as much as I can from some really awesome teachers here at NAU. One such teacher just published a paper that you may have seen or heard about. It was all over the news for a couple days. Here is a link to one article about it. 

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/view.php?id=40107&src=eorss-manews 

I have also taken a little better control of my health. I had to end my 14-month Vegetarian crusade in order to focus on getting healthy. I was eating a little too many carbs and cheese for my Dr's liking. I am still MOSTLY eating a vegetarian diet and I may go back once I have my weight and health under control. 

I was called up over the summer by the wonderful folks in San Fran to take part in the Greenpeace Lead Activist program. I accepted and I am trying to connect with some like-minded peoples on campus here to try and get the Greenpeace actions out to the Northern Arizona University community and the city of Flagstaff. So far so good. I have joined arms with the Campus Climate Challenge (with a goal of carbon neutrality by 2020) as well as the Student Environmental caucus and the Society of Environmental Communicators.  

Lastly I would like to say that I can be found online in a few locations and I am always happy to connect with people. If anyone wants to chat face to face hit me up and maybe we can get a skype going or meet up (if you are around Northern Arizona)

twitter.com/kordean

twitter.com/CCCNAU

facebook.com/kevinordean

Skype: kevinordean