Materials Chapter Reflection Questions
- I have seen the story of stuff video multiple times before throughout school. I definitely agree that we have a throw away culture in our society. Consumerism is a big part of how are society functions, it drives our economy and it is very convenient. When we have a product that breaks it is very easy to go on amazon and order a new one that will be there in a few days. It is very easy to forget about the impact we make with our daily decisions because often products are produced in other countries where we never see it. We definitely choose to replace rather than repair a lot of the time. Phones, computers and fast fashion are examples of things that are designed to not work for a long amount of time so you go back and buy more. We need to focus on using things as long as they will last and repairing them when they break instead of just replacing it.
- Consumerism is designed to draw you in and make you always want more. I think it is important to stop and think do I need this before you buy something and not just buying things because you want them all the time. In chapter 3 the authors discuss reduce reuse recycle; we learn about this at a young age in elementary school, but we typically just learn to toss old papers in the recycling bin. We are taught primarily about recycling but I feel that they are in a very intentional order. First reduce your consumption, then reuse everything you can before replacing it, then if you really need to get rid of it recycle it. A lot of us already have what we need, yah maybe it would be nice to get a new phone every year or new clothes but going without those things really will not affect you that much.
- UNE’s maker space could be a place of ethically sustainable innovation. Connecting to the chapter’s idea of the three more R’s restore, regenerate, and redesign, the makers space could focus on redesigning things we use in more sustainable ways. Using green materials, and reducing waste is one example. The ethical part of it I think would be transparency. Many companies green wash what they do because people are becoming more aware of environmental issues and somewhat more conscious of what they consume so there is a big push for companies to be green. UNE doesn’t have to be perfect, but if they acknowledge what they do that is not “green” and strive to improve upon that and really work to improve what they can, I think that is as ethical as they can be.
- I feel that a lot of the food we eat on campus could be greener, all the food options at any of the locations besides the main dining hall come in single use plastics. I’m on a meal plan and I need to eat so its hard to avoid using those things and throwing out the packaging because I do not really have a choice. Greener options would be nice for sure.
- At UNE the food waste in the dining locations gets composted through the garbage to garden program. I also compost the food waste I create in my dorm using the garbage to garden program. I know that UNE also practices green chemistry in labs which the chapter talked about. UNE also has a recycling and waste removal program on campus. I know that returnable cans and bottles are recycled separately from the rest of the recycling, and then all the other waste I assume goes to a landfill, but I do not really know where it goes.
- The three more R’s section was an “uh-oh” moment specifically the redesign section. I think UNE could be doing more to maximize sustainability awareness and optimize living experience on campus. UNE does have some sustainable practices in place, but the population of students is too large for the campus. I think there are things they could be doing to make the campus more suitable for the student population size using sustainable practices. Also, I feel that I am probably not aware of all of the sustainability initiatives going on at UNE.
Governance Chapter Reflection Questions
Page 76 question:
- Of all the values listed I value responsiveness. Speaking from personal experience trying to communicate with people in positions where they do not have to respond to students it is very refreshing when someone like that takes the time to respond. I am an athlete on campus and have tried to communicate with the athletic director about my program and they just did not respond. That makes me feel like they do not care at all. President Herbert actually makes more of an effort to reach out to the cross country team than the athletic director. Responsiveness from a president of a university creates an atmosphere where communication through people at all levels of the universities structure is easier.
Anthropocene:
- My interpretation of the word Anthropocene is a human centered view of our world. In the chapter they describe it as planetary environment, where human action effects everything. I think it is accurate because everything we do has an impact on our environment. Our environment can refer to what is immediately around us, but as a collective the human race has huge impacts on what they described as the planetary environment. The implications it represents are that humans are the center of attention. We see the planet as our home, which it is, but we share it with many other species. What we do has a bigger negative impact than any other species on this planet and I think if humans did not view themselves as most important things could be different.
Leadership Qualities:
- To spark transformational change one can exhibit the leadership qualities of good governance. In order to cause change, there needs to be collective action. It is hard to implement change without having multiple interest groups on board. On page 80 of the text the author discusses good governance and says “Good governance requires wise leadership. It demands a sophisticated understanding of how to implement change, while satisfying multiple constituencies, and building collaborative efforts.” Sparking transformational change is not easy because implementing more sustainable practices may cause some one to have to change how they do a job they have been doing for a very long time, but if you get them on board to make the changes, implementation will be much easier.
Dichotomies:
- I relate to the Urgency and Patience dichotomy the most. I find this relatable because I am constantly balancing prioritizing schoolwork, applications, job (urgency) with time to relax and not getting too stressed (patience). In this section of the text they discuss the competitive higher education climate which I find very relatable. I also think this applys to our global climate. We have to balance changing things fast enough to combat climate change with how our society has functioned for a while.
Questions:
- Is there any accountability from a party that is not the leader, for leadership roles such as university presidents?
- I could research on the UNE website to find out the answer to this question pertaining to UNE.
Curriculum Chapter Reflection Questions
Learning Chapter Reflection Questions
I have participated in a few of the co-curricular sustainability opportunities the author described including the composting program with the food scraps in my dorm, I live in a LEED certified building, and I was in Tom Klak’s Chestnut tree class where we worked on the native garden. Besides Tom Klak’s class all of the sustainability opportunities I have been involved with have been my own choice to be involved with. I feel that outside of the environmental department there is not a lot of sustainability initiatives involved in UNE’s curriculum. In the college of arts and sciences we have to take ENV 104 regardless of our major, and chemistry classes practice green chemistry. I feel like there is more that could be done as far as implementing sustainability into our curriculum such as a sustainability life skills course that we discussed is class.
Page 160
I think that preaching to the choir is true within the environmental studies department. I do not think it is true for the entire university. I have just observed in passing people not doing things that you think would be common sense like recycling. I think there are definitely initiatives that could be extended to other programs on campus, but people will not involve themselves if they do not want to. The author mentions green residence halls, UNE has a LEED certified dorm which was also discussed in the reading, but I do not think people choose to live there for that reason and a lot of them probably do not know what a LEED certified building is. A lot of students will also move out of those residence halls and live in houses and drive to and from campus every day. I think to bridge the gap in sustainability experiences to reach people that do not share sustainability ethos we have to inform people about how living in a not sustainable way will affect their way of life.
