Comm 4P18: Mass Media and the Natural Environment
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New York based Canadian magazine turned media conglomerate, Vice, does a lot of specials, exposes on social, political, cultural, and environmental topics. I believe that it is an engaging, forward thinking and provocative source for young adults to read and watch as a supplement to mainstream news. Vice as an interesting show available online called Toxic which recently did an episode about the pollution in New York City’s, Hudson River. Vice strikes me as an alternative source for environmental communication. The news source goes a step beyond typical information on environmental issues but still in a graspable and accessible form.
They also did special on extraction of coal from West Virginia mountains and the environmental implications of that. Blowing Up Mountains: Destroying the Environment for Coal.
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A car I see fairly often downtown St. Catharines.
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Hollywood. On your Marx, get set, the end.
This is going to sound terrible but I can think of at least two instances every single day that I think to myself, “I might as well jump off a bridge now and get it over with”. I assure you that I’m not depressed or anything and for fear of sounding too morbid I will elaborate. At least once I feel this like Marxist melancholy, we’re all just doom to this mind-numbing, capitalist existence and since Keanu Reeves’ characters aren’t real (or are they), jumping from a bridge seems a lot better than being lodged between a rock and a hard place. I swear I’m not depressed. The other time in the day I feel like jumping is when I feel like there is nothing left to do in the world, there are no more opportunities to be original, and Hollywood films have crushed any idealistic hopes of doing something important or worthwhile. I have very distinctive memories of watching, Erin Brockovich, Gorillas in the Mist, Evita, Silkwood, and North Country growing up. These were strong-willed female activists that made a huge difference. I’m not saying I want to be famous but Hollywood has glamorized and glorified these women that it is just daunting. Perhaps I watched these films too early in my adolescents but for some reason they resonated more with me than Elmo’s “r” stands for “recycle” spiel. I guess my point is, I feel more discouraged than empowered by these films but maybe that is the melancholy kicking in again. And of course we have movies like Deep Impact, The Day After Tomorrow, Twister, Dante’s Peak, The Perfect Storm, and 2012 that show us how really punishing the earth can be. The list of earth destruction films goes on and if the world is really going to end, why is Hollywood so invested in making so much money off of the idea.
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“When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.” — Dian Fossey -
Vegan stereotypes…
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“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” — Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) -
According to Luther P. Gerlach, there are three types of structural movement organizations, segmentary, polycentric, and networked. I have been been working with Brock’s chapter of Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) on campus, which is a networked organization. OPIRG links resources and interests with many different universities in Ontario. Gerlach says,
the diverse groups of a movement are not isolated from each other. Instead, they form an integrated network or reticulate structure through nonhierarchical social linkages among their participants and through the understandings, identities, and opponents these participants share.
I have noticed from working with people at OPIRG that no matter volunteer’s personal interest or focus within the organization, everybody is really supportive of reaching everyone’s goals. OPIRG is about building alliances with people and building networks of advocates for social (and environmental) change. Like Gerlach talks about, communication technologies like phones, internet, newsletters, and emails, keep members informed of upcoming group meetings or opportunities to help out. It’s nice being part of something bigger than myself and trying to do something meaningful. -
Corporations have latched onto this countercultural wave of environmental consciousness in advertising to try and ease the blow of constant consumption. Like feminist consumerism, green consumerism taps into a market of people who agree with a very broad idea; pollution is bad like anorexic models are bad. Michael Salvador says that,
The Green Consumerism paradox impacts environmental discourse in at least two major areas: (1) It tends to confound rather than illuminate the terminology of environmentalism; (2) It serves to diffuse the intensity of commitment among consumers to environmental recovery. (Salvador, 327)
I think that green consumerism depolitizes environmental concerns. People are not truly understand problems or why methane and nitro dioxide is bad and what causes them. If people understand the “how” and “why” of climate change then we can start to fix it. Basically, being green is a fad and being an environmentally conscious consumer is like eating quinoa right now, some of us have been doing it for years and others are just catching up. -
I can’t say that I listen to Jack Johnson on a regular basis, or ever for that matter. But once and awhile he comes on my iTunes when it is on shuffle and his song, “Anything but The Truth”, came on. I’ve never noticed the lyrics before, or at least they never resonated with me like they do now. Just another form of environmental communication.
If they tell me that the bees
Don’t make honey anymore
Then what am I supposed to tell you
And if they tell me that the ocean
Is tired of her shores
Then tell me
What am I supposed to tell you(Jack Johnson, “Anything But The Truth”, 2010)
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This is one of my favorite mini-documentaries. I love concise and digestable videos like this. I’m very intrigued by the idea of, “manufactured demand” - it gives me ideas for future research.
