Environmental History Artifact

This post had the potential to be a really neat post; however, I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for! This website: http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2011/04/03/cuban-coastline-retreat-up-to-2-5-meters/ explains that the Cuban coast is receding approximately 1.5 meters each year. I was hoping to find a map with the change over time to show how this is considered to be environmental history. However, there is not a helpful map for this, so I'm just going to stick with the website. This site doesn't say what is causing the problem, it just identifies Cuba to have a problem with receding coastlines.

Free Write - Shit People Say

The video we saw in class today was meant to be funny, but in my opinion it is only funny when you have a personal connection with the word in the middle of shit and say. For example, I've seen "Shit Girls Say" and it was hilarious because I know exactly what it was making fun of, and I experience it pretty much every day. I'm not really a yoga person, so this video, "Shit Yogis say" was not as funny because I do not have a personal connection to yogis. I've done yoga maybe once or twice, but that's about it. I've also seen "Shit App Students Don't Say." Parts of this were really funny to me because I have friends that go to App, and they tell me about different experiences they have, and about the sterotypical people that go to App. However, it was not funny in its entirety because  I do not go to App, and do not have a strong personal connection to App. This is why it is important to find out who your audience is, and what the main idea you want to convey to them is.

Response to Kahn

Richard Kahn’s “Toward Ecopedagogy” is the first article for this class that I have not enjoyed reading. He spends a good portion of the article throwing out facts about the environment: mass extinction statistics, pollution levels, etc. If one is reading this article, obviously he/she knows that the environment is in danger and that is due mainly to human activities. Kahn could have reduced the four pages he spends explaining environmental problems to probably one page, and it would have had just the same effect. This rhetorical strategy Kahn uses is meant to have a drastic impact on the audience, when reality it bores the audience and serves little purpose.

After Kahn’s pages of extended environmental information, he finally starts the article about four pages by stating that environmental revolution “will require a pedagogical revolution equal to its present socio-economic counterpart.” Once he starts explaining this main idea, the rest of the article picks up and is much more interesting and informative. Kahn uses the example of the “Zoo School” as a rhetorical strategy to mention an environmental initiative that on the surface seems to be benefitting the students as well as the environment by teaching the students valuable environmental skills. Kahn then picks apart this model and explains why it is not useful, and why it is not helpful ecopedagogy. This is a strength of Kahn’s that is highly effective because it helps the audience understand what exactly ecopedagogy is. However, once again this portion of the article is too long and too drawn out. It would be much more effective if Kahn was more concise with his explanations because the reader would have an easier time at knowing exactly what Kahn is suggesting.

Though I do agree with Kahn’s major points, that ecopedagogy is an integral part of environmental revolution, I do not think his rhetorical strategies are the best way to convey this information to the audience. Ecopedagogy is definitely necessary, and our education system should have a reform in which they include ecopedagogy in the curriculum. However, this article is not persuasive enough to convince the public that this is necessary. It is too long and too drawn out for most readers to pay attention to. Kahn should be much more “to the point” so that his audience does not get lost in translation and in turn stop reading.