ENGLISH 23
(A.K.A. CLIMATE CRISIS 101)
Week #9
Can the climate crisis make us happy?
Weekly Assignments
Reading
Please read two chapters from the book Being the Change, by Peter Kalmus (on which the documentary of the same name was based): “Leaving Fossil fuel” and “Collective Action.”
Incidentally, if you find these two chapters interesting, Peter Kalmus has made all of the chapters from Being the Change available for free on his personal website. Here are the chapters (perhaps one or more of the topics, such as biking, slow travel, meditation, or love will interest you!):
Part1: Waking Up; Beyond Green; Global Warming; The Science; Global Warming; The Outlook; Growth Always Ends; Our Mindset.
Part 2: Trailheads into the Wilderness; Like to Bike; Leaving Fossil fuel; Slow Travel, Meditation, a Foundation of Change; Reconnecting with Mother Earth; Opting Out of a Broken System; Collective Action; Community; Love
Films
Please watch the documentary Happy according to these guidelines:
1) If you have not seen Happy, please watch it. It is available for viewing on GauchoSpace (GauchoCast). If you are not enrolled in the class, it currently can be rented for a relatively modest fee from Amazon.
2) If you have already seen Happy, watch it again. It is even better the second time. Seriously!
Lecture videos
There are three required lectures this week:
First, please watch this lecture by Ken: “Pulling it all together: 20 things that each of us can do to save the planet“
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) Communicating the Climate Crisis (The written comments to which Ken is replying can be found here.)
2) Being the Change (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, March 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 four 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 Kalmus chapters, please watch Ken’s video on YouTube introducing them and comment on his introduction.
If you cannot view the above video on YouTube (for example, if YouTube is blocked in your country):
1) The lecture has 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 Happy, please watch Ken’s video on YouTube introducing it and comment on his video
If you cannot view the above video on YouTube (for example, if YouTube is blocked in your country):
1) The lecture has 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.