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Thomas Hartmann Sustainability Problems Exam

The first way that corporations are a sustainability problem is because their single and ultimate goal is for profit. //The Corporation// describes how corporations are legally bound to make their stock holders a profit, regardless of the consequences. For example, corporations do not take into account externalities such as pollution and greenhouse gas emissions when making decisions. As a result, corporations have no regard for sustainability and environmental protection because there is no economic benefit to it.
 * 1.) Identify ways that corporations are a sustainability problem; referencing at least four examples from films you watched this semester.**

Corporations are also a sustainability problem because they harm everything from workers, consumers, animals, and the environment. For example, //The Corporation// described how many workers that are employed in factors for large corporations must deal with layoffs, long hours, low pay, and dangerous work conditions, which includes exposure to dangerous substances. Further, corporations often sell products that are dangerous to humans and the environment, which may result in health problems such as birth defects and cancer.

//The Corporation// also describes how corporations fit the description of a psychopath, which makes it impossible for them to be environmentally sustainable and caring for human health. For example, Monsanto did not show concern for human health and environmental protection and refused to admit guilt when it produced rBGH (Bovine Growth Hormone), which was found to cause infections and contaminated milk, and Agent Orange, which was used to deforest large areas of land during the Vietnam War and caused serious long and short term health problems to those exposed to the chemical. Even when corporations admit dangers, they trivialize the risks, which dangerously skews public perception.

Finally, corporations have too much influence on both politicians and consumers. For example, corporations often do the research that is required to establish regulations, which results in weak regulations. With regards to consumers, //The Persuaders// shows the surprising extent to which advertisements by corporations can influence the way we think and convince us to buy their products. For example, Apple has essentially created a cult of followers that are loyal beyond reason.

Although science is certainly part of the solution to sustainability, it is also the source of many sustainability problems. For example, many new technologies use a significant amount of energy, which contributes significantly to global warming. For example, while vehicles and aircraft make it easy to travel large distances, the amount of fossil fuels that they consume and the amount of pollution and greenhouse gases that they emit are an environmental problem. //Do the Math// describes how the growth of our economy, which is enabled in part by scientific and technological progress, is causing more carbon dioxide to be emitted than the earth can handle.
 * 2.) Describe how science can be a sustainability problem; referencing at least four examples from films you watched this semester.**

Similarly, science has allowed us to extract too much fossil fuel from the earth too quickly. For example, hydraulic fracturing, horizontal and deep water drilling, and extraction fo oil from the tar sands of Canada and Alaska are new technologies that are both sustainability problems in themselves and enable constantly increasing fossil fuel consumption, which is also a sustainability problem. As a result, almost all aspects of life today involve the use of fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. //Do the Math// describes how science could allow us to extract enough fossil fuel to emit 2,795GT of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is many times the maximum amount suggested by scientists.

Science has also contributed to the sustainability problem of overfishing, which is drawn out in //The End of the Line//. With scientific fishing techniques such as bottom trawling, fish detectors, specialized nets and hooks, and oversized fleets of fishing vessels, it has become too easy for humans to overfish.

Further, science has developed all of the chemicals that are used daily such as fertilizers, pesticides, radioactive materials, hormones, and other toxins. //Homo Toxicus// describes how this has resulted in many unexpected human health consequences, such as a weakened immune system, cancer, and asthma. Further, the use of the chemicals can lead to dependence on them. For example, the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and antibiotics often leads to resistant versions of these pests.

Mainstream media is a sustainability problem in the biased information that it often conveys and in the advertisements that it presents to potential consumers. Critical media literacy is a skill that most people do not have, which makes it easy for corporations to influence the message presented by media without the general population realizing the truth. This idea is drawn out in //The Corporation//. Because the ultimate goal of corporations is to make a profit, they will go to any extreme, including misleading advertising, in order to maximize profit.
 * 3.) Describe ways that mainstream media is a sustainability problem; referencing at least four examples from films you watched this semester.**

//The Persuaders// extensively describes some of the techniques that advertisers use to convince consumers to consume more. For example, the film explains Clotaire Rapaille’s idea that markets focus on reaching the reptile mind inside of use because it is what ultimately determines whether or not we will buy a product.

A second example from //The Persuaders// is the very careful, almost manipulative, word choice in advertisements that persuade us to think of a specific idea and that will eventually lead to greater consumption of a specific product. This constant promotion of overconsumption leads to sustainability problems such as the depletion of natural resources and pollution.

The problem of overconsumption is also described in //What Would Jesus Buy?// For example, the film describes how advertisers in the media take advantage of the guilt that parents feel if they do not buy gifts for their children. Also, the film describes how the idea created by the media of “keeping up with the Jones’s” only strengthens the urge that people have to keep up with people who are wealthier by consuming more.

The advertising industry is a sustainability problem primarily because it promotes overconsumption. Advertisers always promote ideas such as more is better, bigger is better, and faster is better, which almost always results the consumption of less sustainable and more environmentally damaging products. For example, this includes larger trucks, SUV’s, and Hummers and larger televisions that require more resources to produce, consume more energy, and produce more waste after they are used. Further, because many people are beginning to ignore advertisements or avoid them altogether, advertisers are going to further and further extremes to get their message across by weaving them into all aspects of life.
 * 4.) Describe how the advertising industry is a sustainability problem. Discuss the environmental implications of “communication for commerce,” the effort to create emotional connections between consumers, commodities, and companies, and the cultivation of “loyalty beyond reason” (//The Persuaders//). Also discuss whether sustainability advocates should borrow techniques from the advertising industry to advance their message.**

The idea of “communication for commerce”, which takes ideas such as emotional connection with products or companies and loyalty beyond reason is linked to environmental problems through the changes in consumer behavior that it causes. For example, the emotional connections that advertisers attempt to create contribute to misconceptions about what a product is. For example, //The Persuaders// uses Volkswagen owners to show how cult-like following of a product tends to give people a narrow view of what a product is that does not include ideas such as the fuel efficiency, safety, or longevity of the product. Further, the idea of loyalty beyond reason only strengthens the attitude-behavior split in humans, which makes it more difficult for people to do the sustainable or environmentally friendly thing in addition to knowing that it is the right thing to do. Loyalty beyond reason also creates the idea in people’s minds that they need rather than want a certain product, which increases consumption and removes all other considerations such as sustainability and the environment.

If the techniques used by the advertising industry to increase the consumption of their products are so bad, should sustainability advocates also use them? One argument is that sustainability advocates must take advantage of these techniques because otherwise, it would be impossible for them to successfully get their message across and influence a large enough audience to make significant progress towards sustainability. Although these techniques are sustainability problems when applied to consumers and products, they are sustainability catalysts when applied to citizens and sustainability problems.

Internet communication and other forms of new media are both sustainability problems and ways to become more sustainable. On one hand, the internet makes it significantly more convenient for consumers to shop for products. This increased convenience, which is essential in society today, increases the likelihood that someone will buy a product that they do not need and would have otherwise not bought or that someone will buy more of a product that they need. Further, the internet makes many more products available to consumers, which further increases consumption.
 * 5.) Discuss how Internet communication and other forms of new media are sustainability problems, as well as a means to sustainability solutions.**

The internet has also caused people to become addicted to things such as portable electronics, social media, browsing the internet, and computer games. Not only can these addictions be harmful to human health, but it also increases electricity consumption and electronic waste. For example, the number of smart phones and tablets that are lost or thrown away is incredible. Further, the internet has led to the spread of electronic currency, which is obtained from “mining”. A very large amount of electricity is required to “mine” for this electronic currency, which is essentially a waste of energy.

On the other hand, the power of the internet to spread ideas and to transmit information with very little energy is part of the solution to sustainability problems. For example, social media spread ideas more quickly and reach a wider audience than traditional forms of media such as newspaper and television can. It also eliminates the need for media companies to act as a middleman in transferring information from its source to an audience by allowing the sources of information to communicate directly with the public.

Further, the internet reduces the need for physical items such as paper and vehicles for transportation. Documents, transactions, and shopping can occur online. This reduces the need for paper, which helps to reduce deforestation. It also reduces the transportation required for people travel to and from a store, which both reduces fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

In Jon Stewart’s statement that comedy news acts as “soil enrichers” that act as “fertilizer to the soil so that real people can come along and grow things”, he is describing how comedy news does not directly affect politics that involve issues such as economic instability and sustainability. Instead, Stewart is arguing that comedy news reveals little insights, gives different perspectives, and provides bits of motivation for people to take real action to address problems that they feel are important.
 * 7.) In a 2010 NY Magazine article, Jon Stewart describes his media team as “Soil enrichers. Maybe we can add a little fertilizer to the soil so that real people can come along and grow things.” What does Stewart mean and how persuaded are you by the metaphor?**

One of the ways that comedy news acts as “fertilizer” is that it helps people to overcome obstacles to taking action such. For example, politics has become such a serious topic due to the current state of problems such as terrorism, a struggling economy, and global warming. Comedy news helps to show people that the decisions that politicians make are not necessarily the most sensible and can be disputed. Another obstacle that comedy news helps to overcome is the relative unawareness that the public has of current issues and events. Further, comedy news helps to break the momentum that can develop when a single idea or perspective, whether it is right or wrong, takes control. For example, comedy news has no fear in pointing out incorrect facts or misleading information such as the way Bush attempted to link the war in Iraq with the war against terrorism.

I think that this metaphor is very useful in drawing the line between where comedy news promotes change and where comedy news is meant just for the laugh. While fertilizer does not directly cause plants to grow, it makes it easier for them to grow larger. However, I think this metaphor can be extended because comedy news does slightly more than provide fertilizer for people to make real changes. It also gives people ideas of what should be done, which is analogous to providing people with seeds to plant and then giving them fertilizer to help them growth larger.


 * 9.) Many Americans are skeptical about climate change and climate science. What do you think explains the skepticism? What do you think scientists should do to further enroll the public in concern about climate change?**

While there is a general consensus in the climate science community that anthropogenic climate change is real, there are many reasons why this message is not successfully reaching the media, legislators, politicians, and the public. Catherine Cooney, in her article, “The Perception Factor: Climate Change Gets Personal,” argues that there is a disconnect between the scientific community and people such as legislators and the public. She argues that there is no need for further research on climate science itself. Rather, more research needs to be done on how to effectively communicate the evidence for and consequences of climate change to these people. For example, Cooney describes how a significant fraction of the public believes that climate change is not real, that it will not affect them, and that individual actions will not make a difference. Further, Cooney argues that the public is skeptical that climate change is a significant threat because there are many other threats that are receiving more attention such as the economy, terrorism, and health care.

Another factor that contributes to the public’s skepticism of climate change is scientists lack of skill in effectively and accurately communicating their findings. Dan Vergano, in his article, “Heroes Wanted in Climate Science Story,” argues that this is because the only way to effectively communicate with the public is through stories. He argues that scientists do not want to tell stories and cannot tell effective stories when they try. Scientists cannot simply throw a list of scientific results at the public and hope that it is interpreted correctly. Vergano argues that showing scientists how to effectively convey their findings through stories is the beginning of the solution to public skepticism of anthropogenic climate change.

Cooney adds to this by explaining that surveys show that there is a high potential in changing people’s views on climate change. Once this is accomplished, the next obstacle that must be overcome is turning people’s attitudes into behaviors. Although this is an entirely different problem, Cooney gives the idea of “behavioral wedge theory” as the beginning of the solution because it explains that information sources must be trusted by the public, the changes to be made must be easy and convenient, and the payback must be quick in order for people change their behavior to match their attitude.


 * 10.) Explain from your point of view what the U.S. government should do to advance environmental sustainability. What should the U.S. government //not// do? Together, your lists should include at least six items. Include concrete examples to illustrate your points.**

1.) The U.S. government should focus on educating the public about climate change. This should increase awareness of the issue, convince the public that it is real, explain the consequences of ignoring the issue, and give realistic solutions to the issue. This would include changes such as making information more easily accessible to the public and adding it to the curriculum in public schools. I think that a lack of awareness and widespread misconceptions surrounding environmental sustainability.

2.) The U.S. government should focus less on short term and more on long term issues, solutions, and goals. For example, short term issues such as a struggling economy always takes precedence over longer term problems such as the depletion of natural resources and climate change. One way that this could be done is by searching for actions that will be beneficial in the long run and require a minimum sacrifice in the short run. For example, investing in sustainable alternative energy may cost more initially, but it will help to avoid serious energy scarcity problems in the long run.

3.) The U.S. government should eliminate subsidies anything that makes environmental sustainability difficult. Most importantly, this means eliminating subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, including fuel providers such as coal, oil, and natural gas companies and fuel consumers such as power plants.

4.) The U.S. government should avoid negative actions and rely on positive actions, which will help increase public support of sustainability and environmental protection by giving it a positive connotation. Negative actions include regulations and mandates such as efficiency requirements for vehicles and appliances. Positive actions include subsidizing sustainable and environmentally friendly behaviors such as recycling and reducing energy consumption.

5.) The U.S. government should not go to war. Not only is war environmentally damaging and unsustainable, it is often meant to secure strategic resources such as oil and land. While this temporarily relieves the strain that resource scarcity is putting on society, this procrastination leaves us worse off for when fossil fuels are depleted.

6.) The U.S. government should better allow for change by easing restrictions that limit progress toward sustainability. For example, //Garbage Warrior// showed how difficult it is to both build completely sustainable houses and satisfy all of the building requirements.


 * 12.) Identify ten developments (in education, law, media, etc.) that you think would help mobilize greater public awareness of and commitment to environmental sustainability.**

1.) If the scientific community learned how to more effectively communicate their results and ideas directly to the public, it would help to increase trust in the information that the public receives, which is important for the public to become more aware and committed to problems such as environmental sustainability.

2.) Focusing on positive rather than negative actions, such as giving rewards for sustainability rather than administering punishments to not being sustainability, would help to create a more positive view of environmental sustainability in the mind of the public.

3.) A new form of news that is entertaining like comedy news but is also focused on education would help avoid the arguments against comedy news such as the failure to truly increase the audience’s awareness of a certain issue.

4.) Advances in technology may allow for the sustainability or environmental friendliness of an individual to be continuously monitored and translated into a score like a game. This could take advantage of competitiveness to increase environmental sustainability.

5.) Developments in society that help avoid the laziness of people which prevents people from doing what they know is the right thing to do. For example, this could mean determining a way to provide recycling to people for free. This may be accomplished through volunteers or prison workers.

6.) Another development that is already occurring is the digitization of many aspects of life. This helps to reduce transportation and paper consumption (which means fewer trees are cut down, fewer chemicals are used, and less energy is used to make paper). People are lazy; they do want to avoid tasks such as driving to the store and commuting to and from work every day.

7.) Another development that would increase commitment to environmental sustainability is making it more convenient to use sustainable forms of transportation by adding more sidewalks and pedestrian walkways, adding bike lanes to roads, and adding restricted bus and carpool lanes to roads.

8.) Establishing laws against large corporations that would prevent them from influencing politics in their favor would help both allow politicians to make better decisions and allow the public to be more confident in the government (and therefore let politicians do things that would otherwise not be trusted).

9.) Teach children (by teaching parents) to fight urges of laziness. I find that this is a significant problem. For example, people today will not do simple things such as turning off the lights when you are not in the room, turning down the heat when you are away, and taking shorter showers to be more environmentally sustainability simply because they are lazy and do not feel like it. These things need to become second nature.

10.) I think that relocating meters for utilities such as electricity, gas, and water indoors an developing a more user friendly and informational interface would increase people’s awareness of their consumption of these resources.


 * 15.) Assess how each of these videos about problems with our food system would likely impact viewers. What message is delivered by each film? What does each accomplish, and not? Which audiences would be most responsive?**

//Transport: Food Miles// This film argues that the food system used by the United States and much of the world is unsustainable in many ways. With all of the fossil fuel that is used for farming equipment, fertilizers, pesticides, and transportation, many times more energy is used today in producing food than has been used in the past to produce the same amount of food energy for the human body. The film makes the viewer think critically about the food system. For example, it describes how sugar cookies are both imported to and exported from Denmark. Further, the film argues that things appear sustainable may not be sustainable in all situations. For example, while localization of food and other resources reducing the energy consumed in transporting these resources, this may become unsustainable if it is too difficult to grow food or obtain resources locally. For example, in areas with little water or poor soil, it may require more energy to grow food locally than it would take to grow and import it from other areas.

The type of audience that would be most receptive to the film is anyone who is at least mildly interested in sustainability and how they can do their part in being sustainable.

//The Pig Picture// The film draws a stark comparison between how pigs are naturally raised and how they are raised in factory farms. For example, the film describes the poor living conditions that pigs are forced to live in. The film itself is very blunt, yet is able to create a strong emotional connection between the viewer and the pigs. The film gives an almost human personality to the pigs. For example, it describes how the pigs exhibit abnormal behavior in the confined setting of a factory pig farm as if they were going insane and had the same psychiatric disorders that are seen in humans. Finally, the audience that would be the most responsive to the film would be animal activists. It focuses entirely on the inhumane techniques that are used in factory farming and how it causes the pig’s lives to be very poor.

//The Meatrix// The film uses a simple cartoon animation to point out the side of farming that people do not usually see. The cartoon describes the poor living conditions and treatment of animals in factory farms, how we are becoming reliant on the use of antibiotics to keep the animals healthy, and the waste produced by factory farms is not being disposed of properly. Further, the film blames these problems on large farming corporations that are taking over small family farms and replacing them with factory farms. The film ends on a positive note by suggesting that the viewer can make a difference by helping to spread the word and changing their consumption.

The film would receive the strongest response from children who are just learning about issues such as factory farming and sustainability. While the film successfully introduces the issue and suggests a solution, it is lacking detail (although this is expected in such a short cartoon).