Environmental Art | Action | Activism

Author: Dylan Powers (Page 2 of 2)

Activism: A New Perspective

After several years in retirement, David Letterman just came back with a new Netflix show called My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. On his first show, he hosted our 44th President Barack Obama. Early on in the interview, ex-president Obama said something that stuck with me. He said that he and Michelle are only special in that “[they] are exceptionally good at telling stories and relating to people.”

After our discussion of what activism is and isn’t in class on Wednesday, I decided that Obama perfectly encapsulates what I now think of activism. During my initial reading of The Monkey Wrench Gang I found myself continually asking, “how did this book inspire an environmental movement?” To me, Hayduke, Seldom, Doc, and Bonnie do not constitute a well-structured group with environmental activism in mind. To me, they exploit violence too often, and do not have a well-defined goal in mind. Since people usually describe this book as “the book that started the environmental movement”, I was confused after reading the first half of this book.

However, after Dr. Gould told me in class on Friday that some of the stories in this book are non-fiction (deeds performed by Abbey himself, I began to appreciate this book a little more. Then, after framing the story with Obama’s aforementioned quote in mind, I began to understand how this book effected a large-scale environmental movement. Abbey is not telling a story about four crazy people in the southwest wreaking havoc, but a story of four people who came together with a common mindset. He’s not telling a story about sex and violence, but a story about people who will do whatever it takes for justice. Last but not least, he’s not telling a story to brag about his personal accomplishments, but a story intended to relate to people.

Although this is somewhat speculation, I assume that Abbey’s novel did just that – related to people. Readers feel a connection to the gang (albeit maybe not the smoking and drinking), and are inspired to take action, no matter the severity. Abbey’s activism was first pushing tractors and burning machines; then, it was telling stories. In a way, Margaret Atwood’s article “It’s not Climate Change – It’s Everything Change” just tells a story. It tells a story of a bleak future, which causes people to feel strongly and relate to the piece. For me, I have never felt more strongly inclined to act after reading a piece than after reading that piece – which speaks to story-telling as a tool for activism.

After this realization, I don’t think that any form of activism is “too strong” or “too weak” – there is someone, somewhere, who will feel strongly about what an activist does. They, in turn, will act in their own sphere, setting off a chain reaction. Even if just one person relates to a movement, it was worth it in my mind.

For anyone who hasn’t seen it, I highly suggest watching Letterman’s new (lengthy) interview with Obama. It speaks to how he inspired a large movement in 2008, how he did it, and his reflections looking back. It’s a great watch for anyone interested in his style of leadership or his personal mantras.

 

What is “believable”?

Now more than ever, it’s important that every single one of us believes that climate change is real, dangerous, and happening right now. We can either let this situation end poorly, or we can try to save what little we have left. When Margaret Atwood talked about the three “pictures” of our future in her piece “It’s Not Climate Change – It’s Everything Change“, I found the first “picture” intriguing and almost overly upbeat. In the first picture, she talks about a world where people willingly go out of their ways to conserve energy and food – nobody eats protein, everybody wears warm clothes instead of using heaters, etc. As I read through it, I found myself hopeful, but also not convinced that any of it is possible.

I could not believe picture one because, put simply, people do not like to change. Picture two scared me – the thought of a “war of all against all” is particularly unsettling. However, I also didn’t find this 100% believable, because some people really do care. When she finally got to picture three, I finally thought to myself “this could actually happen”. Some countries change, some do not, but people come together to fix what we set in motion.

In class we talked about this notion of “believable”. What makes something believable? Is it the actual statistical likelihood that it will occur? Or does it depend more on our engrained beliefs? Even after discussing in class last Friday, I still do not have a concrete answer to these questions. I guess I found out that I don’t know enough about climate change (and environmental action) to make a decision yet. In her piece, Atwood talks about how now, scientific literacy is more important than ever – we all need to question, study, and confirm statements that we read or hear.

For that reason, I really enjoyed the group activity at the end of class. We all browsed the internet for relevant factoids about our area of study, and had interesting discussions on the validity and trustworthiness of certain sources (interesting factoid – climate change causes rise in aeroallergens, increasing allergic sensitization). Now that I more understand the importance of evaluating climate facts, I will approach all that I see with the same level of scrutiny. It’s important that we all do the same so that we can understand what is truly believable/not believable. I believe that is the foundation from which we will build our action plans.

On a final note, I particularly enjoyed this picture from Atwood’s article, courtesty of gettystation.com:

It speaks so much to how our use of oil harms the ecosystem. I never think about it when I fill up my car, but if I had to fill it up next to this art installation, I would probably hesitate a little more.

Introduction!

Name: Dylan DeVere Powers

I am from Centennial, Colorado, which is suburb just south of Denver.

I double major in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science, and I minor in Economics.

Three topics that intrigue me: Video game development, smart home technologies (mostly voice assistants), advocacy through public speaking.

I read recently that commercially-available quantum computing is closer than we think.  This will be our next major technological revolution, so I think it’s worth knowing.

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