Juliana Borges

12/13/12
Honors 220B
Final Term Paper
Taking the class Honors 220 B: Environmental Sustainability, Media,
and the Propagation of Good Ideas has been an experience unlike any
other in my undergraduate career thus far. And Im not just saying that;
the experiential nature of the course, the different perspectives and
backgrounds of my fellow students, the enthusiasm and experience of the
professor, and the course content itself all contributed to the great
uniqueness and overall success of this course. The objectives and the
questions presented as part of the required material proved very valuable
for my education, especially in terms of pushing me to reconsider my own
ideas and to think outside the box.
At the start of this class, we as a group and as individuals had nine
main objectives, as designated in the course syllabus. While I believe that I
accomplished some in a greater capacity than others, I did accomplish
every single one. The first three objectives dealt with the scientific nature
of the course, which I thought from the start would be interesting
objectives to assess since this course was designed for non-science (or at
least non environmental science) majors. Our first objective was to gain an
understanding of the scientific processes we read about throughout the
past few months. I did this adequately, although since I am a self-declared
non science person, this was definitely the most difficult objective for me
from the start. However, in the end, I felt I understood all of the lectures

and I always asked questions about aspects I didnt understand. I wish I

had done better on the scientific and conceptual parts of our homework,
but I still feel that I learned a great deal and my scientific and logical mind
capacity definitely grew. One specific example of a scientific concept that I
have a better understanding of after taking this class is the nitrogen and
carbon cycles. I havent taken science since high school, so that lecture
refreshed my memory and also reminded me how important it is to keep
certain scientific concepts in mind when considering our carbon footprints
and our perception of ecology concepts in our day-to-day lives. The second
objective was more specifically geared toward our ability to critique the
experimental design in the various studies and articles we read. I
accomplished this one to a greater extent, and this showed in my
homework grades I consistently performed better on the qualitative
analyses of studies than on the quantitative and evaluative, conceptual
work. The third objective dealt with our comprehension of ecology topics in
everyday life, which I believe I improved greatly upon throughout the
quarter. Before this class, I certainly had an understanding of the
environmental movement as well as an understanding of very basic
ecology, but I hadnt really put the two together before. Now, I have a
better grasp on how ideas like trophic structure and the biogeochemical
cycle fit in with environmentalism on a social activism level, as well as a
better grasp on the tangible impact of renewable resources such as solar
energy.

Two more objectives primarily addressed the media portion of the

course. One was about our skill at critiquing popular culture. This is
something I was aware of prior to this class, but I also definitely developed
this skill throughout the quarter. This objective was particularly applicable
the week that we listened to a lecture on global warming and afterward
watched Al Gores An Inconvenient Truth. It was an intriguing
juxtaposition at the start, we heard mostly unbiased facts, and right
afterward we had to discern for ourselves what was fact and what was just
sensationalized journalism. Another objective was to appreciate the role of
the media in propagating ideas surrounding the environmental movement.
This is an objective that I feel I definitely accomplished, mostly because of
the group projects that my fellow classmates and I presented. In particular,
the presentation on social media intrigued me because its so relevant to
my generation and how we will form our opinions in the future. So often
these days, people my age rely on Facebook or Twitter as a primary news
source, and we have to be more careful than ever to not believe
everything we hear or read.
At the same time, its worth remembering that various forms of
media play a beneficial role in social movements like the environmental
one. In fact, as I was writing this paper and taking an infamous Facebook
break, I noticed that someone posted on the University of Washington
Class of 2015 page about a new initiative concerning solar panels. The
post actually got a fair response from my fellow classmates, and it was

nice to see a topic like this getting attention from people my age. This
topic also corresponds well with another objective, which was to have a
deeper appreciation for the why of sustainable living. In other words,
what is the point of having an investment in the environmental
movement? After completing this course, I absolutely possess a more
significant understanding of the reasoning behind the popular adage
reduce, reuse, recycle, but I also understand that the environmental
movement goes far beyond those three sometimes-simplistic words.
The final three objectives addressed learning on a more personal
level. First, we hoped to enhance our lifelong learning skills. Because of
the experiential nature of this course, it was relatively easy to follow
through with this objective. I was constantly learning in new and different
ways, not just by taking notes in a classroom. We went on field trips and
asked questions of actual leaders in the community, we volunteered and
learned about sustainability in action, and we watched movies and had
guest lectures from experts in varying fields concerning the environment.
This class taught me more ways of learning than just the traditional one,
and this kind of active questioning and participation is a skill I will carry
with me to my classes in the future. Another objective was to practice our
leadership skills. This was most apparent during our classroom
presentations. I dont consider myself a very outgoing person, so outward
displays of leadership are usually very difficult for me, and this project was
good practice. I actually enjoyed it because we presented our facts but

then led a discussion afterward and got the whole class involved. Outside
of the classroom, I developed my leadership skills by talking to my
roommates and friends about our volunteer work and encouraging them to
do it too, either with the environment or any other cause they were
passionate about. Finally, one of the main goals we had as a class was to
increase our involvement in the community. As previously described, we
did this by touring and volunteering with local environmental agencies, as
well as by taking initiative and volunteering with an environmental-related
organization outside of the organized class field trips. Collectively, I am
very satisfied with my achievement of our nine learning objectives.
As a vehicle for completing the aforementioned objectives, we as a
class were faced with a number of questions in the syllabus, which
pertained to our understanding of the environmental movement at both a
global level and a personal one. One of the questions from the course
description that really captured my interest was the one asking why we
believe some communicators of ideas, but not others. This is a thoughtprovoking offshoot from my earlier discussion of social media and our class
presentations. One group taught us a lot about blogs they pointed out
that much of our perceived legitimacy of blog writers comes from whether
or not they earned a degree in a related or relevant field and if they are
currently an expert in the field based on their career. At the same time,
though, we often dont research blog or social media authors very
thoroughly; we accept what they have to say at face value and then

proceed to form our own opinions based on what this person presented as
fact. This is convenient, but it can also be problematic if we dont have
sufficient background information to form an educated opinion. More often
than not, retweets and posts of politically minded blogs end up
dissolving into fights via Facebook comments, wherein half the audience
types heated arguments in all caps and the other half kicks back with a
bag of popcorn. I dont generally think of the environmental movement as
being a particularly heated one, but recent legislation and strong opinions
about global warming and climate change have begun to bring this
movement to the forefront of the publics consciousness. Also, relying on
communicators from the world of social media is potentially dangerous
because we run the risk of feeling we have accomplished something when
we really havent contributed much at all. For example, the Kony 2012
movement that ran rampant on Facebook and Twitter for a couple of weeks
is now virtually nonexistent, without ever accomplishing the goal that so
many people professed commitment to.
However, this isnt to say that social media is entirely detrimental to
social movements, because it most certainly is not. Take the Haiti
earthquake from a few years back as an example. This was an enormous
environmental disaster that a few decades ago would not have gotten
nearly the amount of attention it did, simply because it wasnt always so
easy to communicate the need for help. Now, with the push of a button or
the click of a mouse, we can spread awareness, show our support, and

give donations. The enormous spike of donations and volunteerism in the

wake of the Haiti disaster is a perfect example of our worlds evolvement
in the world of mobile giving and global awareness in general. Its also
worth noting that these relief efforts werent just limited to dollars and
cents; many people congregated through social media outlets like Twitter
and mobilized to personally deliver aid to those in need. The Twitter
hashtag #HopeforHaiti promoted the benefit concert Hope for Haiti Now:
A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief, which went on to set a record for
most single-day presale orders. All proceeds were donated to various relief
funds, and the worlds eye was focused on Haiti for a long time afterward.
Even though eagerness to donate and volunteer has since died down
disproportionately to Haitis decrease in need, this disaster response is an
excellent example of the positive power of communicators in social media.
As for communicators of ideas beyond the Internet world, we have to
consider news outlets and particularly news channels, since people in
this era are prone to multi-tasking, which is easier when watching TV than
it is while reading a newspaper or magazine. Especially precarious in this
context is deciding which channels to trust. There is inherent bias in most
news sources, but especially Fox News (politically right-leaning) and
MSNBC (politically left-leaning). To complicate matters further, my
generation is increasingly more likely to bypass those traditional news
sources and opt for channels like Comedy Central in fact, Comedy
Central was the most-watched news source for people between the ages

of 18 and 24 during this years presidential election. No matter how

unbiased some news channels or other sources of information may be,
these days it is ultimately up to each individual person which source to
follow and trust.
Another question that piqued my interest from the start of this class
concerns my personal choices regarding the way I will live my life in the
future. Weve been taught from grade school that we can take shorter
showers or learn how to sort our recycling, but rarely do we get any real
environmental education past that point (unless its of our own volition).
Living in a fairly green friendly city like Seattle is definitely an advantage
and a head-start to being environmentally conscious, but its simply not
enough to sit idly by and observe organizations like SEED and EarthCorps
do their work and perhaps send the occasional dollar their way. If this class
has taught me anything, its that the environmental movement transcends
past the environment. Put simply, without a healthy planet, none of the
other social movements we are dedicated to so dearly can exist. If we
waste our resources, we will ultimately be faced with an environmental
disaster that will require all of our energy at once. Instead, we should
focus our energies on both the environment and other social movements
now. If we focus in moderation and treat the environment like we do our
other missions and causes, we will have better hope as a planet in the
future.
As a segue from that point, one question that has popped up for me
often in my college career and particularly this quarter is the question of

moving beyond good intentions to actually perform good works and make
a difference. This is something I explored in a couple reflections after our
Thursday field trips. In particular, I delved into this question in depth in my
Duwamish Greenbelt reflection. After volunteering on that day, I began to
wonder if volunteerism with environmental organizations experiences
huge dips in the colder months. From there, I pondered the thought that
when volunteering or giving our time seems too hard, we often either
make excuses or decide to donate small amounts of money instead. Dont
get me wrong here Im not trying to put down donations, because
money can be put to very good use by non-profit organizations. But too
often, people stop there and forget about where their money is actually
going. We become disengaged from the actual impact of our good deed
and are able to go home and take a guilt-free long shower while
congratulating ourselves and basking in that warm fuzzy feeling. However,
I dont mean this to sound depressing and pessimistic; to be sure, every
little thing we contribute to any charitable organization is going to do
some small bit of good. But the question to ask ourselves is whether or not
this is the type of help we want to be giving, and if it is having the impact
we think it is having on the surface.
This idea can also usefully be transmuted to a myriad of other social
movements. While researching this theme, I discovered a very applicable
book called Beyond Good Intentions by Tori Hogan. While this book is
primarily about overseas aid, the ideas and themes within it can, I think,

be applied to the environmental movement as well. Its all about asking

those hard questions do we have good intentions or do we have good
action? Is our money going where we think its going? Do we really care
about the organization were supporting? Do we follow up with
organizations after we donate to them, or do we blindly trust that the
money has done some good? These are questions Ive been asking
myself about my volunteerism for the past year or so, but this class made
me ask these questions about the environmental movement in particular.
Ive volunteered to plant trees on Earth Day, cleaned up community parks
on several occasions, and done my fair share of blackberry hacking. But
Ive recently begun to ask myself which of these activities has actually had
a sustainable impact. The keyword and something of a catchphrase of this
class is that word sustainable. At its very core, sustainability means the
capacity to be maintained, to continue to exist long after man has
exercised influence upon something. And more often than not,
environmental sustainability is made possible through advocacy and
getting the word out about the importance of this goal, rather than
cleaning up a park for four hours one morning and forgetting about it the
next day. Its crucial that we remember that these one-day volunteer
projects are often temporary; even if we pick up garbage one day, its
going to come back. Our energies would be better spent, for example, in
educating youth and in posting signs that remind the public not to litter in

the first place. The environmental movement needs people speaking about
it and advertising for it, not just picking up after it.
The aforementioned methods of volunteerism and the suggested
methods of education and advocacy are what keep the environmental
movement thriving. And more than anything else, what made this class
effective was the experiential component of the course, when we put
these ideas into action. This was an extremely valuable addition to
traditional classroom lectures. The conjunction of a weekly classroom
session with a longer weekly experiential session contributed greatly to
my growth as a learner. Our weekly reflections, rather than being overly
sentimental or bothersome, presented us with an opportunity to
communicate our weekly newfound knowledge. I appreciated writing these
reflections because they made me think, really think, about the impact we
had made (or not made) on the environmental movement that week. It
also enabled me to do some further research if a particular topic we
discussed was especially interesting. For example, after my visit to the
Bertschi School, I decided to research the LEED certification process a bit
further, and then I found out that the University of Washington has
eighteen or so certified buildings and is in the process of building more. So
even though our university doesnt get the same publicity as schools
entirely devoted to sustainability like Bertschi, our carbon footprint is still
relatively small and we have made significant headway in the
environmental movement here on campus. Also, my visit to the Bertschi

School was both inspiring and confusing, so I decided to share the

experience with my roommates. In the end, we couldnt decide if we were
happy that such an incredible school existed and was functioning, or
frustrated by the fact that it moved the environmental movement up the
socioeconomic ladder. By creating such a school under such an
astronomical budget, the effects were mainly restricted to those whose
parents can afford private school. I can say without a doubt that this is a
conversation I would never have had if I had merely watched a PowerPoint
presentation of Bertschi rather than visiting it myself and seeing
everything in person.
My opinion about the experiential nature of the course was
reinforced by the immense variety of our field trips. Our schedule provided
us with a unique combination of volunteering and touring. In the time span
of ten short weeks, we visited a farmers market and a wastewater
treatment plant, as well as volunteering to garden at a community farm
and removing invasive blackberry at a local greenbelt. In other words, we
werent just going and picking up litter every week we were learning
from community leaders who made aspects of the environmental
movement their lifes work. We were volunteering with both traditional and
nontraditional organizations, and we learned how to get there via public
transportation. We were forced to think outside the box and question our
preconceived notions of sustainability and the meaning behind the
movement.

I believe it is a true indication of the positive impact of this class that

it forced me to reconsider my own convictions for volunteering and
wanting to save the world. Yes, it was primarily about sustainability and
the environmental movement, but the themes I explored in this class can
be applied to so many different social movements and methods of
learning. I learned about what really constitutes my carbon footprint (who
knew eating meat made such a big impact?!) and I learned about the
science behind sustainability. But I also practiced leadership and pushed
the boundaries of our class assignments by considering my own insights
and further research in our weekly reflections. This class enabled me to
explore the theme of the actual impact of good intentions, which is a
phenomenally important one for me as I move forward with my education
and try to determine exactly how I want to go about helping others in
my future career. Above all, learning is absolutely enhanced when done
outside of the four walls of a classroom, and I am grateful to have had the
opportunity to do so every week this quarter. This is not a class I will be
forgetting anytime soon.