{"id":6765,"date":"2020-12-25T22:15:15","date_gmt":"2020-12-25T22:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-hiltner-english-ucsb-edu-v05.pantheonsite.io\/?page_id=6765"},"modified":"2021-03-08T19:01:21","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T19:01:21","slug":"week-10-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hiltner.english.ucsb.edu\/index.php\/week-10-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Week #10"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Back to Syllabus<\/a><\/p>\n

ENGLISH 23<\/span><\/p>\n

(A.K.A. CLIMATE CRISIS 101)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Week #10<\/p>\n

The Climate Crisis<\/p>\n

What It Was and What Each of Us Did About It<\/p>\n

Weekly Assignments<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the exception of five short webpages (noted in #4 below), there is no reading for this week. In its place, you have an assignment, which is to evaluate your carbon footprint. Here are the details:<\/p>\n

1) Please watch Ken\u2019s YouTube video on \u201cClimate Footprint<\/span><\/a>.\u201d If you cannot view this video on YouTube (for example, if YouTube is blocked in your country), the lecture has also been uploaded to GauchoSpace (GauchoCast).<\/span><\/p>\n

2) Go to the online Ecological Footprint Calculator<\/span><\/a> and calculate your personal carbon footprint. If you are given the option to \u201cadd details to improve accuracy,\u201d please take it. When you are finished, please note how many Earths we would need if everyone lived like you. Then, select the \u201cResult Part 2\u201d tab and also note your \u201cCO2 emissions in tonnes per year.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

3) In the lower right corner, select the option to “re-take the quiz.\u201d This time, play around with the settings. Curious what would happen if you just changed one thing in your life, such as eliminating beef or lamb from your diet? Then go ahead and run the calculator again, but, in order to see the climate impact of this decision, make this single change on the \u201cdetails\u201d popup of the page on animal-based products. If flying was a significant part of your initial footprint, try cutting it in half. Spend some time experimenting, repeatedly re-running the quiz to see what can be learned about your climate footprint<\/p>\n

4) Finally, after playing around with your footprint, select the \u201cSolutions to MOVETHEDATE” tab and select \u201cLearn More\u201d for each of the five categories (i.e. City<\/a>, Energy<\/a>, Food<\/a>, Population<\/a>, and Planet<\/a> – or just click on the preceding five links). Please read all the relevant text on these five webpages (you do not need to read any linked pages). Note that while some of this material is similar to what we read in Project Drawdown, there is new and interesting info here as well. The information on these pages will be included in our weekly quiz.<\/p>\n

Films<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) Rewatch AOC\u2019s short (7-minute) \u201cA Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/span><\/a>\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

2) Watch its sequel, A Message from the Future II: The Years of Repair<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Lecture videos<\/strong><\/p>\n

Please watch both<\/em>\u00a0of these \u201cDeep Dive\u201d lectures by Ken:<\/p>\n

1) Drawing down greenhouse gas emissions by being the change<\/a>. The written comments to which Ken is replying can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2) Are we destroying the planet in a misguided pursuit of happiness?<\/a> The written comments to which Ken is replying can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Weekly Assessments<\/strong><\/p>\n

Please note that assessments need to be completed by 6 AM on Monday, March 15. <\/em>GauchoSpace will close the lecture quizzes at that time and any film comment made on YouTube past that point will be considered late.<\/p>\n

Weekly Quiz<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

After completing the week\u2019s assignments, please go to GauchoSpace and take the short quiz for this week, which is located in the weekly section. The quiz this week will cover material from the five category webpages (i.e. City, Energy, Food, Population, and Planet) noted above, Ken\u2019s two introductory videos this week, the two \u201cMessage From the Future\u201d videos, and the two deep dive videos.<\/p>\n

Reading Response<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

After playing around with your carbon footprint, please watch Ken\u2019s YouTube video on \u201cClimate Footprint<\/span><\/a>\u201d and comment on this video. Make sure that you watch Ken\u2019s video before commenting on it, as it outlines how to make this special comment.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

If you cannot view the above video on YouTube (for example, if YouTube is blocked in your country):<\/span><\/p>\n

1) The lecture has also been uploaded to GauchoSpace (GauchoCast).<\/span><\/p>\n

2) A forum has been opened under this week on GauchoSpace for you to make your comment there (rather than on YouTube).<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Film Response<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

After watching the above two \u201cMessage From the Future\u201d videos, please watch\u00a0 <\/span>Ken\u2019s \u201cThe Climate Crisis: What It Was and What Each of Us Did About It (A Message From the Future)<\/a>\u201d<\/span> video and comment on it. Make sure that you watch Ken\u2019s video before commenting on it, as it has full details on how this somewhat unusual comment should work. <\/i>If you would rather read than watch, the full script of Ken’s lecture is appended below.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you cannot view the above video on YouTube (for example, if YouTube is blocked in your country):<\/span><\/p>\n

1) The lecture has also been uploaded to GauchoSpace (GauchoCast).<\/span><\/p>\n

2) A forum has been opened under this week on GauchoSpace for you to make your comment there (rather than on YouTube).<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Climate Crisis: What It Was and What Each of Us Did About It<\/p>\n

(A Message From the Future)<\/p>\n

AOC\u2019s \u201cA Message From the Future<\/a>\u201d is a great short film and a great concept for a film.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one thing to imagine the future and make plans for it, but, imagining yourself decades into the future and looking back on what happened because of our actions (or inaction) can get you thinking about the issue in new ways.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, with respect to the climate crisis, if we do little or nothing, then we might rightly shudder at what the future holds.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, we can imagine a future in which we full on acknowledged and faced the climate crisis in 2020 – rather than continue to deny<\/em> its reality and delay<\/em> action on it. Moreover, we can imagine a future where we took up the challenge of acting on this knowledge in the opening months of 2020.<\/p>\n

In so doing, we can not only begin to imagine how to get there from here, one step at a time, but also underscore that it is, in fact, possible. This can be both heartening, as well as inspire us to action – even in the midst of an extraordinary crisis that threatens the very future of our species. Incidentally, nothing in AOC\u2019s imagined future is at all implausible.<\/p>\n

As the film notes early on with respect to the Green New Deal, \u201cWe knew that we needed to save the planet and that we had all the technology to do it, but people were scared. They said it was too big, too fast, not practical. I think that\u2019s because they just couldn\u2019t picture it yet. Anyways, I\u2019m getting ahead of myself. Let\u2019s start with how we got here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, the film ends by noting that \u201cthe first big step was just closing our eyes and imagining it. We can be whatever we have the courage to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is, of course, a wonderful closing line, as we, as a culture, can be whatever we have the courage to see. In other words, within reason, whatever we can imagine for our selves and our culture in the future we can bring about, starting today.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, note that AOC believes that we \u201chad all the technology to do it\u201d in 2020. In other words, what is needed is to make sweeping cultural changes, as well as to apply the technology we already have, such as by installing far more solar panels and wind turbines. Sure, newer and better technology can certainly help, but there is no need to wait for it, as we can begin without it now.<\/p>\n

I started these lectures by reflecting on what my generation knew about the future. What we knew would likely happen if we did not act – and act quickly and decisively. Well, even if you didn\u2019t watch those lectures, you know that we did little or nothing.<\/p>\n

Even though scientists were making pretty dire predictions about the year 2000, let alone 2020, as 2020 was forty years in the future when I was 20 years old, it seemed incredibly far off. Conversely, given the predictions that were made when I was a child and a teenager (throughout the 1960s and \u201970s), this frightening future seemed, somewhat paradoxically, close and real. In my mid teens, I remember reading books like Diet for a Small Planet<\/em> and The Whole Earth Catalog<\/em> and being really frightened for the future.<\/p>\n

This course began on the opening days of a new decade. Scientists are not only in agreement that our global climate is changing, but also in agreement that we need to act now, in this decade. True, we should have acted forty or fifty years ago, but there is still time to act if we do so quickly and decisively – now, in the decade that we just entered.<\/p>\n

In a way, AOC has thrown down the gauntlet for each of us. Can you imagine, given the current reality of the climate crisis, a future in which you would like to live? Equally important, can you imagine how to get to that future from here?<\/p>\n

I would like to offer the YouTube comment space as an opportunity for you to do just that.<\/p>\n

The title of this course is \u201cThe Climate Crisis: What It Is and What Each of Us Can Do About It.\u201d Imagine yourself forty years in the future. For many of you, this would mean you’ll be about my age now, 60. Imagine, forty years in the future, reflecting back on \u201cThe Climate Crisis: what it was<\/em> and what each of us did<\/em> about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In imagining what it was<\/em>, I am not suggesting that this crisis will be passed by 2060. Rather, I am inviting you to reflect on the nature of this crisis, what it is now, in 2020. In other words, what we knew in 2020 could happen if we failed to act. For example, our first reading for the course, The Uninhabitable Earth<\/em> by David Wallace-Wells, mentions quite a few things.<\/p>\n

Mainly, though, I am inviting you to imagine \u201cwhat each of us did<\/em> about it.\u201d (If you prefer, you can just write on what we did.)<\/p>\n

This is very much like what AOC did in \u201cA Message From the Future.\u201d In fact, what I am suggesting is that, like AOC, you write a message from the future (in this case, 2060) to today (2020).<\/p>\n

Feel free to go about this in any way that you like.<\/p>\n

For example, you could take AOCs lead and write about what we, as a country, did. You could, like AOC, talk about important milestones, such as when \u201cDemocrats took back\u2026the Senate and the White House in 2020, and launched the decade of the Green New Deal, a flurry of legislation that kicked off our social and ecological transformation to save the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

You could also talk about what we did as a species, rather than as just one country.<\/p>\n

Alternately, you could zoom in on yourself and talk about the actions that you took, from changing your personal habits to climate activism to political actions.<\/p>\n

Or zoom out a little and reflect on what you and your friends, perhaps your generation, collectively did.<\/p>\n

In some sense, this is sort of like a New Year\u2019s resolution insofar as it encourages us to imagine life as we would like it, rather than how it is. Moreover, it expresses a well-defined, personal commitment to try to make this happen.<\/p>\n

As with a New Year\u2019s resolution, things may not turn out the way that we hope. For example, Democrats may not, as AOC hopes, take back the White House in 2020. Still, the important thing is that she has resolved to do everything that she can to try to make this happen.<\/p>\n

The question is, what will you resolve to try to make happen?<\/p>\n

The operative word here is \u201ctry.\u201d It is perfectly fine to be realistic. To acknowledge, for example, that things did not go according to plan, or took longer than expected. Perhaps you tried to immediately begin eating a plant-based diet, but it took three years to finally get the hang of it.<\/p>\n

It is also ok to be pessimistic, if that is how you really feel. Perhaps the 2020s was the decade that we tried and failed to pass the Green New Deal and similar legislation. Perhaps the American Dream of bigger houses, more cars, and mountains of stuff not only proved unstoppable, but spread to the rest of the world as we quickly consumed the planet in the next forty years – or at least destroyed its ability to sustain our species.<\/p>\n

Regarding format, it is entirely up to you. Here are a few possibilities:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. As with AOC\u2019s example, it could be a general statement sent out to everyone.<\/li>\n
  2. If you are planning to have a child or children, you could write it as a letter to them.<\/li>\n
  3. You could write it as a letter to yourself. Sort of a time-capsule to be opened in forty years.<\/li>\n
  4. You could even imagine yourself as a teacher in front of more than 800 students confessing that your generation fully knew that radical environmental action was imperative when you were 20, but instead your generation chose to do nothing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If you like writing and sci-fi (and cli-fi in particular), great, feel free to go a little crazy here.<\/p>\n

    If you do not think of yourself as a writer, that is ok too. As with all the comments in this class, even though it is an English course, I am far more interested in what you have to say than if you make a grammatical mistake or two.<\/p>\n

    Since this one comment is taking of the place of the three that we ordinarily have every week, it should be approximately three times the length of an average comment (and, accordingly, it will be worth the same as three comments with respect to the course grade). And too, since there is no reading or film assignment, please take the time that you would have devoted to reading and watching to think about the future.<\/p>\n

    If you need a little inspiration, I suggest re-watching AOC\u2019s \u201cA Message From the Future<\/a>.\u201d In addition, let me end with the description of that video provided by the filmmakers, as it nicely lays out what AOC set out to do in it:<\/p>\n

    What if we actually pulled off a Green New Deal? What would the future look like?\u2026<\/p>\n

    Set a couple of decades from now, the film is a flat-out rejection of the idea that a dystopian future is a forgone conclusion. Instead, it offers a thought experiment: What if we decided not to drive off the climate cliff? What if we chose to radically change course and save both our habitat and ourselves?<\/p>\n

    We realized that the biggest obstacle to the kind of transformative change the Green New Deal envisions is overcoming the skepticism that humanity could ever pull off something at this scale and speed. That\u2019s the message we\u2019ve been hearing from the \u201cserious\u201d center\u2026that it\u2019s too big, too ambitious, that our Twitter-addled brains are incapable of it\u2026<\/p>\n

    This film flips the script. It\u2019s about how, in the nick of time, a critical mass of humanity in the largest economy on earth came to believe that we were actually worth saving. Because, as Ocasio-Cortez says in the film, our future has not been written yet and \u201cwe can be whatever we have the courage to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Incidentally, just in case YouTube is not around in 40 years, my goal is to also upload these comments to the Internet Archive<\/a> in the hope that you can, if you are interested, look back on your message from the future in 2060.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6765","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hiltner.english.ucsb.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hiltner.english.ucsb.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hiltner.english.ucsb.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hiltner.english.ucsb.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hiltner.english.ucsb.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6765"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/hiltner.english.ucsb.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7822,"href":"https:\/\/hiltner.english.ucsb.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6765\/revisions\/7822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hiltner.english.ucsb.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}