Energy and Place and Essential Questions
Artist statement
In my drawing I illustrated a broken overpass and destroyed cars and trucks to symbolize the demise of human kind. Cars play such a large role as a symbol of wealth a prosperity in our culture, i felt that they would demonstrate the complete ruin of the human era more clearly than any other creation we have made. They also almost entirely rely on fossil fuels, and in many ways we are the most ignorant when it comes to these non renewable power sources. As one of the aliens says, they saw it coming, and with gas it is pretty clear that it will not last forever, yet we do little to try and find alternatives. I also included a bulletin board over the high weigh displaying one of my favorite slogans, "The more you buy the more you save" I used this to emphasize our greedy and unintelligent culture of consumerism. Over all I hope to remind people how easy it is for a species to become extinct, how quickly over production, greed and indulgence will sap the earth. I want to stop people and make them think, "Oh ya, we do have all these problems but we aren't doing anything about it, isn't that funny, we will probably all die if we don't stop".
I made several different drafts, I used paint originally and then tried charcoal and pencel. My first drafts were unrefined and un clear. I ended up using dark pencil to creat a photograph like effect of a broken over pass. I used shading and light to make the image look more realistic. I cut a border from black foam mounting material so that the edges of my art would stand out against it. I cleaned the edge of this so that it was cleaner and looked professional.
My work was inspired a movie I recently saw called home, which showed images of the destruction that man has imposed on the earth. I found the movie depressing and it seemed to me as though we have no chance of surviving. We will all die and I wanted to remind people that nothing is perminate. I wanted to provoke though about will come after we are gone, how stupid will we look when we knew so clearly what was wrong.
This is the essay I wrote on sense of place.
We were happy, why did we evolve?
It never matters where I am; the rain
has always held a special meaning for me. Standing on a rocky plateau, I stare
up at the overcast sky and inhale deeply. I draw in the scent of wet rocks,
desert and scrub oak. I find peace in
the wild untamed parts of the world. Those places that give me time to relax
and find contentment again before throwing myself back into the constant drive
of school, work and requirements, the expectations put on the youth. It
depresses me that I put so much work into consumerism when it is something that
I do not actually support. Consumerism will never make me happy and will never
allow, for a sustainable planet. When I was young, I had a deep and profound
connection to The Lord of The Rings,
the intrigue of unknown, somewhat alien worlds.
I have lived in places with ready
access to the pine forests of the Southwest and the red rocks of Utah. I love
exploring new environments and finding new places in nature. The forests with
their dark secrets hinted at through the swaying of sun light between branches,
the green light percolating though foliage. I grew up continuously, moving from
one home to another, but always wild nature was there, keeping me grounded. My
parents were raft guides until they settled in the Durango area, and their love
of nature was nurtured in me. I remember once when I was eight and we stopped for
a couple days at a camp which sat at the base of a creek pouring into the San
Juan. My dad and I hiked up the side canyon and found three perfectly clear
pools nestled in the dark red water worn rock, this is where I first learned to
swim. Strangely enough, I have not been able to find the same place since,
despite searches on my other trips.
In middle school, I went to my first Renaissance
fair. I was instantly hooked. The entire idea that a group of people would get
together to forget about the modern times they lived in and just immerse
themselves in fictional lives, appealed to my longing for excitement and
adventure. I remember walking through a tumult of noise from different vendors
selling goods from their lavishly-colored booths, there were dark alcoves where
fortune tellers offered a glimpse of mystery hidden in their crystal balls and
tea leaves, and there were street performers who would follow me playing some
melody that sounded haunting and familiar while you would toss them some coins.
I find I am drawn to extremes, the most indulgent parts of the fair where
people would spend days sewing their booths by hand or played their characters
so well they could tell you their entire life history and what parts of Europe
they came from.
The sharp, purple, sage-spotted mountains
around my home, gained more value as my friends and I formed our clan. Skull
Clan awakened within me a love of nature. We made clan costumes out of sheets,
and armor out of leather and scraps of metal we found, and every weekend we
would sharpen our swords and head out to have adventures. We camped and used
the outdoors as a theatre for our fantasies. We fashioned spears from trees,
collected colored stones as currency and built lookouts, watch towers and forts
from underbrush. Every one of us had our own back story, and we all had our
specialized skills and abilities. We developed tools of each of our roles and
even made jewelry to represent the pillage we had taken from the numerous other
clans we had defeated. We came up with a currency and sold each other items we
handcrafted. I think much of what we did, although not directly useful to
school, helped us learn more about math and the value of work than our other
6th and 7th grade classmates.
Tolkien's descriptions still bring
back those memories from youth. The light thrill of unknown wilderness; old
trees that keep secrets of past civilizations-- risen and fallen, unknown evils
lucking in the darkness inside mountains. I think the most memorable
description I can remember was of a huge weather worn and twisted tree
described in the hobbit. I had one near the house where I lived and I would go
out and sit in it pretending I was in Murk Wood. “Not far from the road-meeting
they came on the huge hulk of a tree: it was still alive and had leaves on the
small branches that it had put out round the broken stumps of its long-fallen
limbs; but it was hollow, and could be entered by a great crack on the side
away from the road. The hobbits crept inside, and sat there upon a floor of old
leaves and decayed wood. They rested and had a light meal, talking quietly and
listening from time to time.” I find this same joy when I am in the wilds,
because no matter how they looked the last time I was there, you know that they
will be different the next time you arrive. They simply accept me, they do not
care how you are doing in school or if you have a girlfriend. Instead they
simply welcome you in with a hint a danger, that you must remember but does not
overpower. Often, when I am sitting in the woods, I long to just sit there
endlessly, the quiet breeze pulling long fingers through my worries and leaving
my head clear. Even with other people, I still find that peace, the
conversations of groups of people in the forest rarely seem to be dark or
brooding. But instead, hushed with thoughts floating through the canopy or
burst out with pure laughter over the ridiculous quirks of life.
Me and my good friends were happy
without the need to constantly consume. Instead of looking forward to new toys
or clothes, we anticipated having our first overnight camp in the woods or what
new weapons we would fashion. When I was not with my clan, I would read survival
guides and practiced fire-making. Many people argue that we would not be happy
without the accessories that we now have. Knowing how wrong this is first hand
gave me a unique perspective about how much we really need to develop and
advance. I understand that the lifestyle of living more simply will not work
for everyone, but when I hear people say that we MUST develop the oil recourses
in this country I find this somewhat ridiculous. Every day you hear about new
products and cars that can run without gas, like the Tesla Roadster. There are
considerably better options for fossil fuels than gasoline: natural gas is
easier to obtain, burns more efficiently, and it's currently being burned at
the top of oil wells.
As I grew older and entered high
school, I began to lose sight of that happiness from a more care free life. I
wanted an expensive car and a smartphone, the items that will surely bring any
high school male happiness and girls. I got depressed; freshman year was one of
the hardest of my life, torn between two different ideals. Only when I finally
began to see where this lifestyle would lead me and the environment, did I
begin to understand that it would not satisfy me. I could not find meaning in
going to collage to get a degree so that I could spend a majority of my life
paying off the bank loans for that degree. Looking into the future and seeing
that I would come home every night too tired to go outside, but just plug
myself into the internet to be entertained by cyber culture disgusted me. The
rebellion I have always harbored against the system and oppression would slowly
fall away as the slavery of consumerism gently drew me into its embrace, its
dark tongue flickering out to taste its prize. For a while I thought that I
would go into the technology industry but, now I know I could never be happy sitting
behind a desk like so many other people living the American dream. A dream so
ridicules that you would only believe it if you were sleeping. My philosophy on
life is you live for a little while, and then you're dead for a fucking long
time, enjoy the life you have, don't waste it, be happy.
At this point it may seem as though I
am somewhat of a hermit--one who does not enjoy the company of other humans.
But this is not true, I love good friends and have always also required human
contact to keep happy. I have just always enjoyed people who share the same
interests as me, the outdoors, having a good time and staying relaxed. If
everyone could just put more importance on human contact instead of material
contact we would live in a more loving world. Of course, this is even less
likely to happen now due to the internet constantly placing a barrier between
humans, it voids the need for human contact and allows for entire relationships
to be formed and broken without the humans ever seeing each other.
Without the constant need to make
stuff, our energy demands would be considerably less. We could focus the
remaining time and energy on development of the sciences and feeding the entire
planet. Renewable sources of energy would mean we could operate the planet
indefinably. Currently it is projected that we could sustain 1.5 billion people
on the planet if we developed out use of renewable recourses and stopped using
all of the dirty technology that is widespread among our country today(Worldpopulationbalance.org).
Unfortunately, the reason that capitalism works so well is because humans are
hard-wired to like it, we feel that the more we have the happier we will
be. This stems from the early days, when
hording food and materials was the only way to survive. Now we have food and
shelter, that desire is instead directed into wanting the newest tooth brush or
lawn ornaments. What it comes down to is, will the human species be able to
evolve fast enough to escape this destructive trait, or will it overpower us to
the point of destruction.
My goal now, is to use the system to
my advantage, get everything I can from it and then go into the forest service
perhaps as a woodlands firefighter, or a ranger. I just cannot see myself ever being
happy without a deep connection to nature. Years from now, I can see myself
living comfortably in a small house close enough to a city so that I can still
have contact with people but maybe set back in Washington's Cascade mountain
range, so that whenever I look out my window I can see the forests. I would
travel for work to fight fires so the rainy, moist environment of Washington state,
would be a welcome relief. But there is another reason why I need to live this
way, I need to feel as though I am doing something to help, at least by preserving
these natural places of beauty maybe someday other kids will have a chance to
experience the world in a similar way to how I did.
These thoughts race through my head as
I exhale and start down the backside of the plateau, darkness gathering in the
folds of the sky closest to the horizon. I look down the canyon slope below me
and see the dark ribbon of the river winding its way through the desert. Next
to the water I see my friends and our camp nestled among the boulders that
litter the bottom of the canyon. The light of our fire barely cuts through the
dark to me, here high on the cliff. I know that when I reach that warmth, there
will be music, food and laughter, but before heading down I turn back and take another
deep breath of the rich moist air.
Project reflection:
Leading up to this project I studied in both chemistry and humanities about energy. In chemistry I researched the basics of how energy worked and the different was we produce it. I even went to talk with Conoco officials. In humanities it was a much more emotional and reflective approach. We though about were we found home and what we wanted to see in our energy futures. We read manuscripts from other well known authors and reflected about there values. We though back over all the moral research we had done that year and implemented it to decide what we felt was a responsible approach to the energy crisis.
I found that it was easy for me to decide how I felt about nature and my sense of place. I have always loved the outdoors. So there was never really an "ah ha!" moment, I found that really looking back on my child hood and what parts of it I loved were what drove me. I think the largest place i grew a a person was finally realizing how important the earth was for me and how close we are to loosing it. This project really gave me incentive to work at protecting the earth and living a life that I enjoyed. Not just one that would make me money. Refinement was really a struggle for me in this project. At this point in the school year thinking and focusing a really making beautiful work is really challenging for me. The out doors are so much more inviting and it took me several different attempts to get my visual and written piece right.
I was really proud of how easily my visual piece managed to display my message about the earth. I enjoyed that people would be surprised and reminded just how stupid humans are. I liked the idea that I could change opinions with just one drawing. I also really liked the work i put into the shading of the over pass and the outlines of the suspension bridge.
I really liked the way that the two classes complemented each other. Not only did they manage to provide a larger view point on the entire energy scene but it made it easier for me to think about school. Instead of thinking about four different classes it was more about thinking about three different classes. I liked the way that often in the same day the different classes would actually talk about the same subject even if it was from two diffident angles. For instance from both scientific and emotional stand points.
Korematsu v. U.S. (1944)
I did not have any written components in this project.
In this project we studied the case of Korematsu v. U.S. (1944) and were assigned roles as different characters in the trial. We then studied for our parts and worked to come up with a case (I was a defense attorney). Finely when we were prepared we went to our local court room and had our mock trial.
I found that working with a team was very helpful for me and it was a great experience to bounce ideas off one another. Some times i worried about how i would be individuality graded and worried that i was not doing enough. In the end though it felt really good to be working with a group of other people towards a goal that we all wanted.
I wished I had made my questions for my witnesses less leading and had come up with a way to just ask simple questions that my witnesses would come up with more suitable answers to. I did not have very much writing but i also wish that i had more evidence.
I deeply enjoyed this project, I love competition and the comradeship of my team. It was also very fun to be in a real court room. To any one who is attempting this project in the future I would suggest that they get all of there reading out of the way before they start talking to there witnesses, because it is a great hassle to do at the last minuet. Also I would suggest that you practice with your witness a couple times before you go to court so that your answers are more smooth.
Op-ed article
The argument for abortion draws funding and attention from both sides of the political debate. It is time to stop focusing so much time and energy on unborn fetus and direct it towards the people that can actually use the help.
The argument discusses the rights of the mother, or the rights of the fetus or if rape plays a part. So many conflicting opinions from the tea party, the catholic church, the democrats, the republicans and whatever mind set Mit Romney has decided to take this week. All this effort is given to something that hasn't even developed the ability to feel pain or emotion, to think. By the time that the child has been born, the emphasis and attention has been lost. The same groups that advocated so had for that child's life are suddenly doing their best to make sure that growing up in our decidedly lower class society is as difficult as possible.
Although prolife groups argue that all men are created equal and we do not have a place to interfere, Under the XIV Amendment of the constitution it clearly states that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States." This meaning that un-born fetus are not American citizens. They do not have any rights to being equal members of society.
The citizens that have been born, and are looking for a way to sustain the baby that they decided to keep deserve the most support. According to Utilitarianism (A philosophy that looks at the consequences of an action, to determine whether it is right or wrong depending on its benefit to society) "behavior is evaluated by rules that, if universally followed would lead to the greatest good for the greatest number." ~Charles D. Kay. Thus it is more valuable for society to have healthy and happy families so that the need for abortion is reduced. Considering that abortion is usually used to prevent a child from growing up in an inadequate family setting, it better for society as a whole to maintain the option of abortion so that children would grow up nurtured and willing to contribute. Families that cannot support there off spring properly often tend to add to criminal activity, or more lower class families; repeating the cycle. Until there are programs that will insure that lower and middle class families will have welfare, maternity leave and enough support in general to insure that children born will have good and nurtured lives; that abortion is essential to maintaining a strong society that does not wallow in keeping the lower class low and the rich rich.
It is more important to save the life of a mother who actually has rights and the capacity to understand the pain of living below the poverty line, than trying to "save" a fertilized egg.
Moral development essay
Moral Theories Essay
Jasper Graves
A child is wandering into the road in front of you, but then you also see an elderly gentlemen stumble into the street. You can only save one; who do you choose? how do you choose? Moral reasoning is what holds humans above the other species on our planet. It determines the difference between us humans and the dogs that we keep as pets. It is celebrated, and considered to be the defining virtue by some. But do all humans have moral reasoning? Is it a species wide trait? what about the cruel CEOs that extort the poor? is there always a morally right answer? How does one decide when the situation becomes more difficult than feeding a starving human or saving a child? Many philosophers have tried to categorize different ways of moral reasoning. In this essay we ask a few questions to try and label our interviewee into some of these different moral alignments. I have changed my subjects name to protect identity, in the essay he will be referred to as you know who. He is a 50 year old unemployed man with 3 kids. Although the responses of my interviewee did not score high in the moral theories he was compared to, it does not mean his was wrong; moral theories are not necessarily correct.
You know who seemed to be most aligned with Rights Ethics, Rights Ethics is a theory that says every human being has the right to life, property and free speech, you are allowed to do anything you like as long as you don't interfere with anyone else's basic rights. I saw this clearly when You know who said "it is ok switching the direction the trolley car was going because I have no other choice. But when it comes to the fat man I feel that pushing the man is not ok because it was not his fault to be on that bridge at that time" (9/21/12). He went on to say that it would be taking away his freedom if he pushed him. You know who also said that the decision of just turning the trolley car was different than pushing the man because no matter what, one of the groups had to die where as the fat man was not in any danger until he was pushed. As John Lock said "The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, ... That being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possession ... And that all men may be restrained from invading others rights..." These two examples, first from You know who and then from John Locke are closely linked. You know who talks about how you cannot impose on the rights of the fat man to die, agreeing with John Locke in that you can only give rights but not take them away. You know who is clearly a Rights ethicist. This of course is only one of the moral theory's that philosophers have come up with. Unlike most, rights ethics, does not rate people on their level of moral reasoning, the next theory I compared You know who to was Kohlberg's stages of moral development.
You know who rated relatively low on Kohlberg's stages of moral development (2-3 Preconvention), a theory that scores people on their selflessness and attachment to society. You know who felt that Heinz shouldn't steal because stealing was wrong: "The consequences outweighed the results". You know who went on to justify this by saying that "If he went to jail then what would have been the point of saving his wife to begin with?" When I asked You know who to put himself in Heinz place, he felt quite different, saying that "You have to do whatever you can to save a human life, and I think I would do anything to save my wife" This goes to show that You know who is grounded in a punishment based mind set, and feels that he is above other people in the concept that he can break laws but everyone else should respect authority. You know who "assumes that powerful authorities hand down a fixed set of rules which he must unquestioningly obey." (Cain p.118-136). What sets You know who above sage one is the fact that he also thinks it is ok to break laws, albeit only him. "At stage 2, in contrast, punishment is simply a risk that one naturally wants to avoid" (Cain p.118-136). You know who feels laws are essential to everyone except for himself, and that the most important goal is getting what you want without getting punished.
Or these philosophers may not be perfect, You know who was not the easiest to place as one category or the other. Moral philosophy is not cut and dry, that is why there are so many different theories. Many people feel that every ones reasoning is different and cannot be placed in a particular category. For instance in a Startreck there is a culture that feels everyone should commit suicide at the age of 60, because of the way there society has progressed everyone feels it is right "it is the way it has always been, it is a beautiful part of our customs" -Startreck. For our modern culture human sacrifice sounds terrible but the Inca people felt completely comfortable with it: "they of this valley cast lots whose luck it shall be to be sacrificed, and they make him great cheer, on whom the lot falls, and with great joy they crown him with flowers upon a bed prepared in the said ditch all full of flowers and sweet herbs, on which they lay him along, and lay great store of dry wood on both sides of him, and set it on fire on either part, and so he dies" and "that the victim took great pleasure in being sacrificed" -Friar Marcos de Niza (1539). I would have to argue that depending on how you have been raised, what you are thought to think is right and through what window you view the world has a much larger effect on your moral reasoning than anything else. In this case, how can a standard be set for what is right or wrong? Who decides what the standard for all morality is when they too have been socialized to have their own beliefs on what is right or wrong? You know who says "The reason for why it is important to do your work is because you will spend most of your life there so you should enjoy it" is this a sign that you know who is less advanced in his moral reasoning than other people because he is selfish and does not think about the whole of society? Or does he have a deeper understanding that his happiness is more important than every other person in the human race? does he know that no matter how "Functional" society is it won't matter is no one is happy? Or is it because this is what his parents have told him from the time he was born? These questions are why I cannot agree with moral theories, or the category they place people in.
So what would you do? Save the old man or the child? Should you use utilitarian reasoning and equally judge the consequences? Or should you choose the option that will preserve your personal goals? Or should you turn you back and walk away? No moral reasoning can tell you the "Right" way to choose. The culture you grow up in is what truly decides what is right or wrong. There is no universal standard.
Sources
l W.C. Crain. (1985). Theories of Development. Prentice-Hall. pp. 118-136.
l Niza, Friar M. wikipedia. N.p., 1539. Google. Web. 28 Sept. 2012. <http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice#section_2>.
l Star Treck. Dir. Gene Roddenberry. NBC, 1966. CD-ROM. Sept. 2012.
Reflection:
In this project we learned about different moral philosophies that explained how to decide if something was moral. We interviewed people and then sorted them into different categories depending on how they answered moral questions. We then chose a political issue and took a stance on it according to what we had learned about morality. We then wrote op-ed articles about these to a news paper of our choice. After this we drew posters expressing our opinions.
The habit of heart and mind that i used most in this project was refinement. I made sure that all my papers were spell checked and my poster had been changed from its first draft so that it expressed its message more clearly. In the past i have been graded down for having poor spelling and grammar so in this poster I refined as much as possible.
I think my project is most strong when it comes to creating a persuasive argument that is original and challenging to peoples preconceptions of an argument. I think my project is not quite long enough and could use an argument that challenges people on the idea that no matter what life should not be taken no matter what the form. Over all i believe that my project deserves an A or 95%.
There is nothing that i can honestly think of that i would change in my project at this point. I was actually ahead when we were near the end of our project and had free time while other people finished
