Ken Hiltner

ENGLISH 23

(A.K.A. CLIMATE CRISIS 101)

Deep Dive

Being the Change

After watching the documentary, I was fascinated by how Peter Kalmus reduced his emission by more than a factor of ten yet still kept an average lifestyle.

I got really irritated by Peter’s description of himself as any old “Joe Shmoe” who cut down his emissions because he made a concerted effort to do so, just like how anyone can. Ol’ middle class Petey is a scientist for NASA who went to college at Harvard. Most people are not Harvard educated NASA scientists. Most people are poor. There’s something about this guy’s self aggrandizing aura that’s deeply concerning. I think it’s because he’s found a way to make himself the hero of the climate movement for himself. All he talks about is himself, and we watch three to many guitar solos to understand that’s not by mistake. Maybe if he spent less time making documentaries about his sacrifice or putting vegetable oil into his car, he could see that climate is intersectional and has a lot less to do with people not wanting to poop outside and a lot more to do with the structures of capitalism that leave the majority of the population with nothing to think about but surviving.

I too felt that Peter Kalmus completely fabricated a false persona in the film “Being the Change”. As you stated, this guy is a Harvard grad jet propulsion scientist, and a simple google search will reveal that he’s worth anywhere from $1-5 million dollars!! In my mind, it’s hard to ‘walk the walk’ and inspire others to take personal action to mitigate the climate crisis from an elevated socioeconomic status.

[From buzzlearn.com: “Peter Kalmus’s net worth or net income is estimated to be $1 million – $5 million dollars. He has made such an amount of wealth from his primary career as a Physicist.”

and from the same buzzlearn.com page

“Peter Kalmus is a famous Physicist. He was born on January 25, 1933 and his birthplace is Slovakia.”]

I also agree that Peter Kalmus is the perfect example of living a happier life without fossil fuels. His life isn’t a situation where he is simply making the best out of what he has. In fact, he has the brains and the resources to make a lot of money, especially with his Harvard degree. He had the opportunity to drive a nice car, live in a big house, and do all the things that we think will make us happy. Instead, he gave up a potentially lavish lifestyle to live one that involves less things, and more happiness. More relationships, mindfulness, peace, and joy.

While we are not all scientists, and it is not very realistic nor practical to choose the same kind of lifestyle as Peter, we can all share his optimism. We can practice things like gardening, biking, and meditation to whatever extent we would like, and it still delivers a message louder than words. Personal action is a motivating example, and it demonstrates to others the importance of the climate crisis, without overloading them with a list of facts that leave them

Watching Peter Kalmus’ day-to-day routine was really inspiring to me! Where he lives, in Pasadena, is about 20 minutes away from my hometown! Seeing him in Pasadena really opened my eyes to how possible it is to live an incredibly climate-conscious lifestyle, while still living in a desirable place, and having different aspects of the so-called “American Dream.” While it was inspiring to see Kalmus so close to my hometown, it was also a bit disheartening, because I realized how little I know about the efforts toward mitigating the climate crisis in my community! Peter spoke about collecting veggie oil, free fruit stands, and going to community meetings, none of which I even knew about! And they’re right in my backyard!

I have seen how expensive and congested the gas stations can get, especially in a place like LA, so I think it would be very convenient to be able to use veggie oil and refuel at home for cheaper and knowing you are reducing your carbon footprint. The problem is the knowledge to do it, the American education system needs to do a better job at teaching people life skills so that they can have confidence to try acquiring other skills. I used to live in Mexico and over there they start teaching kids in middle school about mechanics and electricity amongst other useful life skills, which I have noticed mostly no one here has and it is no surprise that most people here just wait for someone else to fix the problem rather than attempting to contribute to the solution and that is a big problem, I think that if all high school students had to learn about working on cars then we would see many more veggie oil fueled cars.

When watching the film “Tomorrow” I was reminded that there are many good people in this world who want to make a difference. Sometimes I get really discouraged, not only by the damage that we are inflicting on our planet, but also by the number of people who are willing to do nothing and watch the world fall apart – or worse yet, continue to actively support the systems that are causing all this harm. It was refreshing to hear people discuss their solutions. I love how the film took us to different places around the world and showed us how people are making real changes in various locations. One of my favorite little changes was the public space gardens they introduced in the U.K. Not only do these gardens provide sustainable foods, but the fact that they are out in public on busy roads allows space for people to open up in conversation about them. Their public appearances spread awareness. I like this change because it doesn’t seem difficult to do. People in the US seem to be resistant to major changes, but I feel like many would support a small change like the gardens.

Since Ken asked if this is the beginning of a movement, I personally feel like it is. I think that there are more people than before that care about saving our planet and are finding simple and even creative ways to reduce their carbon footprint. It really doesn’t seem that hard to do so, we just have to remember it’s not about owning more, but about owning less and just living a simple life. Walking or riding a bike to places instead of driving there, growing some of our own food, using less electricity, buying less stuff, wasting less food, and switching to a plant-based diet are not impossible things to do like older generations make it out to be. As you mentioned, Natalie, we need to take personal action to reduce our carbon footprint and as a generation, we can make the difference that is very needed.

As I scrolled through these comments, I noticed that many people said the most interesting part of the film, “Being the Change”, was the connection between meditation and the climate crisis. I can’t help but agree. I first thought, why is this part of the documentary so long? What does it have to do with global warming, and why am I watching it? But now that I think about it, the connection is rather obvious. We have learned in this class about how in the U.S., often the idea of happiness is linked to the American Dream and consumerism, which drives our carbon footprints through the roof. Meditation, as well as other practices (such as religion, lifestyle changes, minimalism, etc.) help us to detach from the idea that happiness must come from owning more stuff, having a bigger house, driving a nicer car, and flying to extravagant places.

[O]ne other thing I took away from this documentary was his motto/phrase about the climate issue. The motto: “head, hands, heart” was really meaningful and impactful for me and I loved how he put it all together. He explained that hands symbolize action. Actions we can take such as riding bikes and gardening that benefit us both personally and on a bigger level too. Head symbolizes having the realization that there is a problem, and realizing the impacts of actions on each other. Lastly, heart ties it all together. As he stated, “It’s where you find meaning in this. Where you translate understanding and action into making your life more satisfying.” What a beautiful way to put it. This is the approach we should all take when dealing with this issue. We need to first make an effort to realize and accept that we are facing a large problem. With this, we can begin to do research about it and learn what actions we can take on a personal level, and on a broader level. And as we take action, we need to remember why we are doing it. For example, we need to find meaning in our decision to stop eating meat. While some of us may love it, we need to remember that we are helping not only ourselves by excluding it from our diets, but we are also helping the planet. I took away a lot from this documentary. “Head, hands, heart” is something that I will definitely be reminded of constantly and hope to apply in my life.

This week’s film truly made me rethink the way I live. Seeing such a happy, mentally healthy family living their lives in a very sustainable way was eye opening for me. The most eye opening part of the film for me was just the simple fact that Peter went to Harvard, works for NASA, and has all the brains and probably money in the world to live in a massive mansion with ten cars, yet he lives in a quaint home in Pasadena with his vegetablebomile of a car and his happy little family. I wish I could say I would do the same if I had all the knowledge that he does, but I feel as if I could never be as extreme as Peter. This lifestyle is obviously unrealistic for the average American in this time and place, but it gives us a small idea of ways we can improve the world. No, we don’t have to all fuel our cars with vegetable oil, but maybe we can try meditating, gardening, biking instead of driving, and any other basic principle of sustainable living that Peter practices. This film gave me so many ideas on how to live sustainably and I hope to translate those ideas into my day to day life.

An important part of the film for me was the meditating segment. I have never associated meditating with the climate crisis, but now I do. Everyone I know who meditates frequently, including Peter, is so happy and content with living in the moment and being okay with their fate. We are on this earth not only for ourselves but to serve everyone else, as stated in the film, and that truly resinated with me. If I can use my life to improve the earth and to help others, that is the ultimate goal. We are nothing but tiny specks in the universe but knowing you’re making a change in the world is such a content feeling. I now have such a fascination and interest in meditating and hope I can start incorporating it into my daily routine. I think everyone could use a bit of relaxation and calmness in out day to day hectic lives, and receiving stress is certainly not a bad thing.

Of the documentaries we have watched in this class, I enjoy the ones that take a positive attitude the most. This may just be me seeking comfort during turbulent times, but humanity needs hope during crises, so the timing of this could not have been better. Tomorrow gave me hard facts, but also gave me hope for our planet and for our humanity/future. Instead of taking the doom-and-gloom approach and only showing the seemingly irreversible devastation created by climate change, Tomorrow shows people from all walks of life suggesting strategies and taking positive action.

Power does, indeed, corrupt. This is why the government is viewed as untrustworthy by most Americans. As the documentary states, it would be wonderful if the powers that be had the humanity to change their ways, but wealth and power will corrupt anyone. Thus, I was really intrigued by the documentary’s suggestion of local power, local economies, and local business.

Most documentaries focus on important probems, allowing the audience to reexamine their own ways to provide solutions, but Tomorrow gives its viewers choices about their future instead of frightening them into change. Of all the films we have watched in this class, this one has instilled the desire to change in me the most. I will definitely try to stop eating red meat after watching this.

This week, I watched Tomorrow since I already saw “Being the Change” last quarter in Engl22. After watching it I’m honestly inspired. I feel like I want to go down to my local garden supply shop, go out into the backyard, and really get my hands dirty. Having grown up in a more rural place before moving to the suburbs at a young age, my family farmed and grew crops on the side while working their other jobs as a hobby (and took it as a supplementary income after retirement). I have fond memories from being a kid and going to the farmers market and selling our crop, and I still love going to markets and picking up whatever fresh produce looks good or whatever artisan goods look tasty. Although we stepped away from this whole lifestyle and I’ve grown increasingly metropolitan as I’ve aged, there is still a part of me that wants to get back to my roots, pun intended. One of the urban farmers from Detroit that they featured in the documentary named Malik Yakini really made me laugh. He said that urban farming is “the new sexy thing”, talking about how it’s been romanticized and made to sound enticing. To be fair, the way that the whole urban farming movement has been brought to the public sphere has been pretty pastoral. It’s being made to seem super simple, and to be fair, it is inherently simple as a facet of nature. But the interactions that happen between the crops, trade secrets, and the general finesse that goes into producing crops is a serious skill (like that farm in France that was working on their biodiversity). I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t killed my share of crops, since my thumb isn’t very green. But farming is just like any other skill. Understanding what goes into it, what works, and what doesn’t work, are really the most important facets to success. As time goes on and you work to improve the skills, you can really hone your craft and turn it into something successful. I figure I’ll start out small with a simple herb garden or something similar, and then move forward into more advanced things, but either way I think that I really need to bring myself back down to Earth and play in the dirt a little bit. It’s seriously meditative, and as corny as it might sound, there’s this inexplicable sense of connection that you feel to these little green organisms and the dirt they’re living in. Husbandry being brought to the city might seem like it’s a lot harder than people expected, but those who know how much work goes into it can show everybody else that it’s really not that bad, and the intrinsic satisfaction that it provides really makes it all worth it.

The film “Tomorrow” also reminded me a lot of my childhood. I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky which is the 15th largest city in the United States (despite people assuming there’s nothing in Kentucky). A big part of my summers in elementary school was “Garden Camp” which was hosted at a church run by some of my parents’ friends. The entire day is spent learning how to grow food, how to harvest it, and how to turn it into yummy meals. We picked tomatoes to make into pasta sauce, we ground up corn to make into fun dishes, and we learned about edible flowers to make pretty cakes. This was such a fun experience for me but because I was so young, I didn’t see the value in these skills and just saw a way to get dirty…

I really appreciated this film because it did more than just show us everything we’re doing wrong. It showed us more than just “be vegan.” I think it’s extremely important to see how interconnected our society and culture is with environmentalism. Being able to see these examples of communities doing their part brings me lots of hope that we can hopefully implement this in the United States more. Yes, it feels small. But it more and more small towns and cities are able to implement this, I feel like our larger government might start listening.

“Tomorrow” might be my favorite documentary that we have seen so far. I really enjoyed how it encompassed many different aspects of sustainability and society as a whole by providing examples of people across different countries. I was glad that they stated that we only have 20 years to move things in the right direction to instill action in viewers. I thought it was interesting to learn about our farming industry and its reliance on chemicals and pesticides and how ineffective it is. We need to shift away from that industry and let the people farm their own food if we want a more sustainable and productive system. I also really enjoyed it when they showed us the Nordic style of living because people in those countries have such a high quality of life while taking the environment into account. As Ken also discussed in one of our course lectures, they examined biking culture and how beneficial it is not just for the environment but also for society. It causes people to become more active and stay in shape and also gets people outside of their houses and causes them to be happier and more sociable overall. However, my favorite part of the film was the segment on the education system in Finland. I was shocked by how different our system in the U.S. is compared to their system which is ranked as the best education system in the world. The teachers and students had so much mutual respect for each other while having such close relationships. The students collaborated so much and I noticed that they even took off their shoes in the classroom which is something I would never think would happen in the U.S. Students were also happy and excited to be in school and loved learning. I feel like in our culture in the states we often complain about school and how it gets in the way of the other things we want to do. However, if we want to see a change in the world a better societal system we need to have a better educational system which is why Finland’s approach is so important. It was really eye-opening that this documentary showed examples of democracy like in a village in India or in Iceland when citizens actually worked together to draft their own constitution. It demonstrated the multidisciplinary approach required to have a better society and planet and showed us the solutions that people have taken to inspire us to follow in their footsteps and adopt the more progressive strategies that other countries have taken.

I really liked how Peter Kalmus had his car running on veggie oil, it really resonated with me because my friend’s Dad also converted his car to use veggie oil. Converting a car to fully run on veggie oil is a very good way to reduce your carbon footprint if you travel alot and especially if you have kids. This conversion should be more widespread in commuter cities like Los Angeles, as it is very uncommon for people to not use cars and we could make a great impact if more people decided to convert their cars. What also really resonated with me was what he said about having children. Having kids is a very easy way to greatly increase your carbon footprint, and I am not seriously considering having no kids in order to save money and reduce my personal carbon footprint.

I really enjoyed watching this film because it outlines the ways in which an American family can live sustainably but also happier. While watching the film, the lifestyle changes that the family made seemed pretty straightforward and simple. It doesn’t seem hard to choose to ride your bike instead of driving a car or to buy locally produced food. But, I think it’s important to remember that being able to make these changes is a privilege. Growing up in an upper middle-class family gives me the opportunity to make these changes comfortably, without a financial burden. It is selfish to continue to buy more and more unnecessary things, drive our cars, and eat meat when it would be very easy to shift away from these things and reduce my carbon footprint. More importantly, it is selfish to not make these changes when there are thousands of families who can’t afford to. This week’s film made me realize that my family should be using our education and money to live a more sustainable lifestyle. When I brought up these ideas to my parents, they became very interested when I said that making these changes won’t only help the environment, they will make us happier too. People say happiness is a choice, so lets start choosing to live sustainably and allow it to improve our mental health. It seems like a no-brainer but it will take time to adjust. When I picture myself in the future, I am raising my kids in an eco-friendly way, using bikes as my main source of transportation, and avoiding fossil fuels. I know this future is drastically different than the way I am living now, but I am going to continue to make small changes until I get there. I think it’s important to keep in mind that living sustainably isn’t a complete switch, it takes time. For now, I am starting with eating more plant based meals and later on I plan to trade my car in for a bike. Eventually, all these small changes will add up and I will be living completely fossil fuel free.

My favorite part of this film was that it was very heartwarming, and your response just added to that. Similar to Minimalism, I love that Being the Change focused a great deal on mindfulness and living a fulfilling life. Many people believe that living sustainably means giving up desired things and suffering, but as we see with Peter Kalmus and his family, that is completely untrue. Watching this film and seeing how happy Peter and his family are while living this lifestyle made me want to get back into practicing meditation daily and working on my own sense of mindfulness and intrinsic values. I think mindfulness is super important when thinking about adopting more sustainable practices because living sustainably truly is a lifestyle choice, and it will make you happier, but only if you do things mindfully.

I also really enjoyed this week’s film, “Being the Change”, as well. I thought this was a great video to view and help me internally reflect many changes I would need to make in the future. I had my doubts about being able to consume less and be happier, but this film provided yet another example about how reducing our consumption and being more environmentally conscious can make us happier. Another appeal of this video is that it was an entire family living this way. This made me really happy because often the road to a more sustainable system can seem very lonely. Previously, when we read Thoreau, I was not convinced I could be happy living like that because I would have nobody to enjoy my life experiences with. Seeing the family all cohesively work together for this change and still truly be happy was really beautiful to see. This gave me hope for a better, and less lonely, future. After reflecting, I realized that I want to learn and begin my change so when I do have a family, I can continue teaching them this important information. I definitely agree with your point that this change will take a while to adjust to and be difficult. Even though it will be difficult the more support and momentum this idea, this movement, has the easier the adjustment will be. I definitely hope to ride my bike more and hopefully when I am well-off fitness wise, I will be able to cut meat out of my diet as well. These small changes will not be nearly enough, but I will be a good start in changing my ways in hopes for a better future. Educating the upcoming generations is going to be critical, but the change really starts now with us. I am excited to see more environmental policy be put in place and pushing toward a more sustainable and happy future.

When I was watching this film, I too was very surprised at the way Peter lives. Like Ken mentions, living the way Peter lives isn’t just a setback and painful, it could honestly be better. This really surprised me because I never thought of it that way. All this time I think to myself solving the climate crisis will be difficult because it’s hard to convince people to give up so much of their lives that are powered by fossil fuels. However, if you put a different lens on it, it’s not that difficult. Quite honestly, it sounds nicer and more peaceful. Like you mentioned about the meditation, everyone who meditates seems so content in life. It seems as if they know everything happens for a reason and they take it day by day. It’s the small changes, like biking instead of driving that could make life better. For example, if you go biking you may pay attention more to your surroundings a notice a new coffee shop you may want to try.

I really resonated with what you said about the meditating segment of the film. Meditation is such an easy way to make you feel more connected to the Earth and clear your mind to get in touch with what you can do for it. I often feel incredibly overwhelmed by the climate crisis. There are just so many different problems with what humans are doing, and it feels impossible to make change when the climate crisis is so broad. Whenever I drive anywhere, seeing how many cars are on the highway leads me to think about how many cars there are on every highway in the US, and then I think about just how many cars are driving on the road everywhere in the world at that moment and letting out carbon dioxide. Thoughts like these can cloud our brains and make us feel frozen in terms of action towards the climate crisis.

Connecting back with the Earth and asking the land what it wants through meditation can easily help one get clear on what actions to take. It allows for one to not be consumed by the overwhelming amount of problems. Focusing on everything that’s going wrong won’t make a difference. Instead, through meditation, one can focus and get clear on positive change. I always tell my mom how worried I am about the climate crisis. She always replies with a solution similar to that of the film’s. She says hold the intention of a healthy Earth and humanity, and image what you want the Earth to look like. She always tells me to go out in nature and ask for solutions from the wildlife, trees, or ocean. I find that whenever I clear my head in nature, I always have more clarity on how to act with the Earth’s best interest in mind.

Tomorrow is oddly, the scariest movie/documentary I’ve seen thus far. The reason for this lies in the fact that as soon as I think I don’t know enough about the climate crisis, there’s mountains more, spiraling me into even more uncertainty. This is very overwhelming! People are surely confused on the symptoms and causes of the climate crisis—and this is really scary. People think the climate crisis is simple: either it’s caused or not caused by human activity, and if it is, we have some flooding issues, and it can all be solved by recycling. NO! This is all wrong! The frequent natural disasters like mega wildfires, category 5+ hurricane’s and tsunamis, winter ice storms (hello!!! Texas, 2021) are just the symptoms! The cause of this problem is beyond humans pumping co2 into the atmosphere. It’s beyond the fast fashion culture, the throw-away culture, the buy more and more stuff we don’t need culture—it is beyond all of this! The real problem is stemming from laziness. Laziness does not start with action. It starts in the mind (mental), the way we think. The citizens of the planet are the laziest and ignorant pieces of crap to probably ever exist! This lazy thinking moves into actions, and this actually translates to no action at all. People are not doing what they need to do to save this planet. People are always focused on the next place (a new city or country), but don’t realize there is no other planet you can just go live on right now. There is no next place. The lazy thinking has prevented us from seeing/acknowledging that the way we spend, create, and circulate money, the way we learn and teach children (Finland), the fact that we can power life with wind, water, and sun energy but choose to give all the money and power to the fossil fuel companies (which already control pesticides and fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, synthetic fibers, construction materials, power, transport, heat, light) are all factors in the climate crisis. This whole thing is much more complex than we think it is. This is the reason this is so scary.