Week 13 Biodiversity

Well, I think it's safe to say that we (humans) act as if we have multiple planets to live on. Our class seems to be well aware of how much waste, pollution, and destruction we are causing, yet none of us know what to do about it. The damage being done to the planet is on such a large scale that it can feel hopeless at times. And even when we think we might be doing good for the world by living a particular lifestyle, we never really know. We don't know the consequences to certain actions we take and we don't know if the way we are living is actually offending or hurting another living thing. Sometimes it's hard for me to see the point in even talking about it when there seems to be no solution. Oy. But I do believe that we can offer some help by helping to heal other human beings. I think the healthier we become on a personal level, the easier it is to make other positive changes in our lives. And the easier it is to do good onto others and the planet. Sick people are currently running the world, and I think that healing on  a personal level can actually be very beneficial, indirectly, for even the planet itself.

I enjoyed this weeks discussions, and I'm happy I got exposed to the article put out by Coca-cola. I tend to stay pretty far away from articles on current events because of the extreme opinions of both the article itself, and the bias of how current events get chosen to get written about, so having the chance to read articles in class can be helpful. I have always known Coca-Cola was evil, but this article confirmed it, with its condescending tone towards the people of the world and its cover up lies about wanting to help the world left a sour taste in my mouth. I also found the other articles interesting and I like that our class is bigger now. It's good to hear some new voices.
I think Hillary and Namonia had great points concerning the article titled "Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity In Socio-Ecological Production Landscape". They both brought up the points that this way of living ie, naturally off the land, pre-industrial, has been around forever and now western people are trying to compartmentalize it into a western way of looking at it, when in fact, it's been here since humans have. By the way, I like the definition of compartmentalize and feel it really hits the nail on the head... "Compartmentalization is an unconscious psychological defense mechanism used to avoid cognitive dissonance, or the mental discomfort and anxiety caused by a person's having conflicting values, cognitions, emotions, beliefs, etc. within themselves."
It's only now, that westerner's are beginning to take the indigenous way of living seriously. But what makes it so frustrating is that they're trying to group it into parts, and act as if it's somehow a new western theory. GO HUMBLE YOURSELF PEOPLE! Sheesh. Also, you can't put this way of living into groups, it's a holistic way of living. Some people will never get it, I suppose.