In the documentary titled “No Impact Man”, we examined the journey taken by Colin Beavan, his wife Michelle, and their daughter to create no negative impact on the environment. Initially, they took measures such as buying from the local farmers’ markets, becoming vegetarian and using bicycles to go to work. However, there were some more dramatic changes that took place. Colin used worms to decompose their waste and scraps, and even resorted to using diapers made from organic wool as opposed to using plastic diapers. Even further, six months into their experiment, they rid themselves of electricity. They survived on candles, did laundry in a bathtub with natural components only, and made a pot contraption to keep things refrigerated. Although …show more content…
In terms of home energy, twenty-four tons are produced largely due to my dorm. My dorm room accounts for twenty-one tons on its own. However, due to my reluctance to control the usage of air conditioning, three tons are produced this way as well. Efficient lighting reduces half a ton of emissions. In the driving and flying category, I produce zero tons due to no flights in the past year and I do not own a vehicle. Although occasionally eating organic food removes close to a ton of emissions, I create five tons of emissions solely by my meat consumption. I remove one fifth of my waste by recycling but still manage to create almost a full ton of emissions in trash creation. In comparison to the average American’s carbon emissions (twenty-seven tons), I produce thirty tons. This is terrible on my behalf because I am a culprit in the issue of environmental impact. The world average for carbon emissions ranges around five and a half tons. I create nearly six times more than the average human worldwide. This is embarrassing and I will look to reduce my carbon footprint. I find it interesting that I produce more than the average American, despite not using forms of transportation. The reduction of air conditioning, even by a few degrees, is beneficial to the environment and energy usage. However, due to living in a shared environment, my suitemates are likely against this decision. In my …show more content…
While I enjoyed the documentary, I did have a few skepticisms. I appreciated his outstanding efforts and understood the core thought behind the extreme measures taken, such as removing electricity from the home for months. However, I do believe some of these behaviors crossed the line of rationality. Environmentalists were concerned due to the negative image that Colin Beavan’s actions of extremism were bringing towards the cause. It is fully understandable why concern would arise from this documentary. This experiment potentially gave an inaccurate representation of environmentalists’ concern to the general public. Also, many saw this as a marketing scheme to sell copies of his novel and film. I believe his intentions were positive but along with anything else in the entertainment industry, it must create revenue in addition to its success as a project. Towards the beginning of the documentary, Michelle mentioned her love for reality television. It seemed as the documentary continued, they spoke over some personal issues they were struggling through that were not related to the project. It is important to note that Colin even mentioned that these issues should not be brought up during the recording. However, this segment is still included in the final product. The segments where they argued about
Book Report: The Conundrum by David Owen Efficiency is not always the answer, according to David Owen, in his novel The Conundrum, explains that society is headed in the wrong direction, believing that to be greener we need to make our everyday lives more efficient when in reality we need to change our behavior. As consumers, people want to be sustainable and preserve the Earth while greedily expanding our collection of trinkets. Efficiency can be beneficial, but to make the world a greener one, it is essential for people to change their behavior, not efficiency of the products. The Conundrum describes how in modern times we have come a long way in increasing the efficiencies of cars, air conditioners, trains, airplanes, energy resources, or
Bridge to Freedom provides the historical documentary behind the events that served as the narrative for Selma. Instead of a drama, the viewers receive an actual documentary that shows the confrontations between the marchers and the government. Like Selma, it highlights the violence, the deaths, and the beatings, but also goes further back in time to show society’s treatment of African Americans.
By citing credible organizations and offering her own eco-friendly alternatives, she proves to the reader that she takes a particular interest in the environment and is educated to speak on it. Pairing powerful understatements and hyperboles to contrast with one another show the reader that the practice is both needless and selfish. These rhetorical techniques have a powerful impact on the reader, whose ignorance prior to reading the excerpt can no longer suffices to excuse the lack of action. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is a deeply persuasive book that not only advocates for an end to pesticides but also speaks to the obligation humans hold to protect their
On the topic of environmental impacts due to “industrial farming”, Bill McKibben and Blake Hurst share completely different perspectives. McKibben believes that industrial farming has simply left an unexcusable bad impact on the environment, saying that it is unethical and that the meat we eat is potentially killing our environment and us as well. McKibben states that “we should simply stop eating factory-farmed meat, and the effects on climate change would be one of the many benefits.” (page 201). McKibben addresses that the techno fixes brought in industrial farming are simply not enough to help our environment.
The documentary by Lockdown: Gang vs. Family by Gail Mitchell (2007) interviews gang members that are in the Utah State Prison. The state prison has more gang affiliated inmates than non-gang affiliated inmates. The goal of the prison is to stop or reduce gang violence in both the prison and the surrounding cities. In this film, the young lady they are interviewing is living proof of a sociological theory.
Writer and director, Bob Nesson, in his documentary film Power of the Pedal, points out that the small ideas can positively impact the environment. He chronicles the business success story of Wenzday Jane who worked her way out of public housing and into a niche that has turned into a small business—Metro Pedal Power. Jane’s business is a delivery service for Boston and Cambridge MA. and the surrounding areas via cargo bicycles. Nesson’s purpose is to bring awareness to his audience that there are better alternative to the way society does various tasks in its day-to-day businesses that are less harmful to the environment. He does this by appealing to the eco-friendly, logical minded, and sentimental aspects of the viewer. He accomplishes this by showing a better way to deliver goods in a congested community, images of how the environment and community are better off with more approaches like the ones in this story, and finally with a heart-touching emotional story of how an underdog beats the olds.
No Impact was on the account of Colin Beavan, Michelle Conlin and their 2-year-old daughter’s life of eco-extremism: forgoing toilet paper, buying organic grown food 250 miles of Manhattan, and abstaining from the use of the television, the elevator, incandescent light, dishwasher, coffee maker, or any form of carbon-fueled transportation. Green concluded that the project “may seem at best like a scene from an old-fashioned situation comedy and, at worst, an ethically murky exercise in self-promotion” (Green). She sprinkled personal comments throughout in a quizzical and condescending
because it demonstrates that the whole film is going to be about women’s roles in the
...ishing. While it makes clear that changes need to be made politically, this is a film meant to appeal to the environmentally concerned citizen. The film-like elements, while distracting to those watching the film with analytical intent, would most likely evade the average viewer. Such thematic elements help to increase viewer engagement, already lacking in environmental films, as becomes significantly easier to watch. Rupert Murray created a film not to be picked apart by critics, but to serve as conversational material between average citizens. He takes steps to ensure that viewers are given simple directives and memorable arguing points, such as repeating images of the MSC sustainable logo. While the statistics may have be victim to claims of arbitrariness, it is easy to visualize an individual at a party asking if others have heard that seafood will end in 2048.
...unting Hurt or Help the Environment? Scientific American. EarthTalk, New York. Print November 10, 2009
... reduce natural gas consumption. Long-term I am committed to installing new energy efficient windows to truly reduce energy consumption. To help reduce the family’s water consumption we recently installed an energy efficient washing machine that uses over 60% less water than the previous model that was installed. As an additional means in which to help conserve water I will be installing a rain barrel in the summer to water our outdoor plants. While these actions might not seem significant, they can make a significant difference. According to Energy Star, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, if every home in America replaced just one incandescent light bulb with an Energy Star qualified CFL, in just one year it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes. That would prevent the release of greenhouse gas emissions equal to that of about 800,000 cars.
...pollute the Earth with massive waste. Society has the choice between wasting life on working in order to purchase good which contribute to the destruction of the environment or living a ‘full satisfying life’, occasionally scavenging or working your self-sufficiency skills to obtain the necessities for contentment, eliminating waste, and boycotting everything.
The way I live compared to a few classmates of mine, I have the most impact on the earth. As well as compared to my whole class I would say that I change the environment more than an average person would. For example my total footprint according to the ecological footprint quiz I took is about 28 acres. With the results that it had given me I suspect that my actions of using a lot of services and the way I use my transportation, are the most impactful way I affect the earth. The reason my mobility on the quiz is one of the highest percentages from the categories is because I drive a good amount, and on top of that I have truck that does not get good gas mileage which in results give off more emissions to pollute the air. I was not surprised with my ecological footprint because I knew I impacted my environment greatly, but did not know the exact or estimated amount. In comparison to my classmates I also was not surprised that we all affected the earth greater than an average person because I knew that I did, so it led me to think that there were people who in similar amount affect the
This is a critique of" Roger And Me", a documentary by Michael Moore. This is a film about a city that at one time had a great economy. The working class people lived the American dream. The majority of people in this town worked at the large GM factory. The factory is what gave these people security in their middle working class home life. Life in the city of Flint was good until Roger Smith the CEO of GM decided to close the factory. This destroyed the city. Violent crime became the highest in the nation, businesses went bankrupt, people were evicted from their rented homes. There were no jobs and no opportunity. Life was so bad that Money magazine named Flint the worst place to live in the entire nation. When news of the factory closing first broke, Michael Moore a native of flint decided to search for Roger Smith and bring him to Flint.
Many people assume that the environment is not in danger. They believe that as technology advances, we do not need to worry about renewing natural resources, recycling, and finding new ways to produce energy. They state that one person in the world does not make a large difference. In reality, each individual's contribution greatly affects our environment. Our natural resources are slowly disappearing, and we must work together to save them and the Earth from ruin.