ENGLISH 23
(A.K.A. CLIMATE CRISIS 101)
Week #5
Making waste (of the planet)
Weekly Assignments
Reading
This week’s reading is Chapters 2-7 of Vance Packard’s classic 1960 study of consumerism: The Waste Makers. A PDF of the entire book is available online. (You are only required to read Chapters 2-7.)
Films
Please watch either the documentary The True Cost or “The Ugly Truth Of Fast Fashion” (from Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj) according to these guidelines:
1) If you have not taken Eng 22 (Intro to L & E) in 2019 or 2020, please watch The True Cost. It is available for viewing on GauchoSpace (GauchoCast). If you are not enrolled in the class, it can be rented for a relatively modest fee from YouTube, Amazon, Google, etc.
2) If you have taken taken Eng 22 in 2019 or 2020, please instead watch The Ugly Truth Of Fast Fashion on YouTube, which streams for free online.
Lecture videos
There are three required lectures this week:
First, please watch this lecture by Ken: “Flying, the absolute worst thing that you can do environmentally”
Note that you are not required to post comments to this video, even though there are hundreds of responses to it. These posts are from 2019-20, when responding was a requirement of the course, which it is not in 2020-21.
Second, please watch both of these “Deep Dive” lectures by Ken:
1) “Minimalism” (The written comments to which Ken is replying can be found here.)
2) “Walden” (The written comments to which Ken is replying can be found here.)
Weekly Assessments
Please note that assessments need to be completed by 6 AM on Monday, February 8. GauchoSpace will close the lecture quizzes at that time and any film comment made on YouTube past that point will be considered late.
Weekly Quiz
After completing the week’s reading and watching all three of the above lecture videos (the two short lectures and the two deep dives), please go to GauchoSpace and take the short quiz for this week, which is located in the weekly section.
Reading Response
After reading The Waste Makers chapters, please watch Ken’s video on YouTube introducing it and comment on this introduction.
If you cannot view the above video on YouTube (for example, if YouTube is blocked in your country):
1) The two lectures have also been uploaded to GauchoSpace (GauchoCast).
2) A forum has been opened under this week on GauchoSpace for you to make your comment there (rather than on YouTube).
Please note that six of your reading responses this term (i.e. 3 of the first 5 and 3 of the second 5) should be made to a comment made by another student in the class, regardless whether you are making your comments on YouTube or GauchoSpace.
Film Response
After watching one of the above films, please watch Ken’s video on YouTube introducing them and comment on his video. Note that while Ken’s introduction covers both of the above films, you only need to comment on the film that you watched. However, if you have already watched The True Cost, please feel free to reference it in your comment.
If you cannot view the above video on YouTube (for example, if YouTube is blocked in your country):
1) The two lectures have also been uploaded to GauchoSpace (GauchoCast).
2) A forum has been opened under this week on GauchoSpace for you to make your comment there (rather than on YouTube).
Please note that six of your film responses this term (i.e. 3 of the first 5 and 3 of the second 5) should be made to a comment made by another student in the class, regardless whether you are making your comments on YouTube or GauchoSpace.