Nature and new media

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the readings this week, particularly Smith's article, Is There an Ecological Unconscious?  I read E. O. Wilson's book Consilience in 1999 and was deeply influenced by the message. I later read Biophilia and was captivated by the concept and fly bought into the idea that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems. To me this is pure logic, because after all how can we be separate from it when we are made of it?

So to come upon Smith article and read about the work of Albrecht, Bateson and Doherty was like a revelation to me.  I watched a TedTalk video of Albrecht (and made my husband watch it!) in which he further expounds on the concepts of solastalgia and soliphilia. Albrecht views solastalgia as a new form of psychoterratic disease, describing it as in a way as to lose solace in the loss of home environment, describing it as a feeling of "homesickness you have when you’re still at home”.  Soliphilia on the other hand is the love of the totality of our place relationships and a willingness to accept, the process to build life rather than destroy it. Albrecht is interested in relationships between environment, natural and human made and our human consciousness. 

Smith's article focuses on the work of people like Albrecht and Doherty who investigate the relationship between  the health of the natural world and the health of the human mind.  As we continue to develop the planet what impact is it having on our psychology?

The Wordle produced from the article made perfect sense to me highlighting words such as nature, psychology, ecological, ecospychology and health. The human race has contributed to the industrialization of the planet and thereby created the ecological challenges we face today, that continue to grow. Is there any doubt it might affect us detrimentally as it does the ecosystem?

It reminds of this video, sadly.

References:

Wilson, E. O. (1984) Biophilia. Harvard Press.

Wilson, E. O. (1998) Consilience : The Unity of Knowledge, Knopf.

Playin' New Media

Tetris®: One of my favourite electronic games ever. As a kid, I played Tetris game on a device as big as a smart phone. As a grown-up, I still have the game on my phone -- I don’t mind getting some points building  up the ‘bricks’ in a perfect wall. Thanks to the researchers, Bushman and Jodi Whitaker, now I know why: “these games not only relax players, but they can lead to . . . ‘kindness’.” (Moore, 2011, para. 4).

While I prefer to let others to appreciate my kindness, I can certainly say that the research findings are true for me: "Relaxing video games put people in a good mood. And when people are in a good mood, they are more inclined to help others." (Bushman, as cited in Moore, 2011, para. 11).

Even if Tetris can be considered the modern video games’ precursor -- it was released on June 6, 1984, I believe that Bushman’s findings are viable for my favourite game, too, as for other non-violent games, as well. As such, Wordle seems to ‘understand’ my appreciation for 'building walls'. It’s true, to me, Tetris is “entertaining’, “relaxing”, “enjoyable” in the “long-term”.

Creative misunderstanding

In picking one of this week's readings to plug into a Wordle, I decided to throw a bit of a curve ball by going with the lyrics to Bjork's "Sacrifice" (Internet song lyric sites are notoriously unreliable, but these lyrics seemed to match what she was singing).  Here's what Wordle gave me:

Given the title Bjork chose for her 2011 album, Biophilia, I read the lyrics metaphorically—as a plea to humanity to reconnect with nature:

Build a bridge to her.

Initiate a touch

before it's too late.

Having played a bit with Wordle, I see it as a kind of typographic Rorschach test—you often see what you're looking for. "love Now," Bjork seems to be commanding us, and we reply "Yes, before it's too late!"

The punchline to my little foray into Bjork analysis came when I probed a bit further on the Internet, to maybe get a sense of what drew the quirky Icelandic singer to Edward O. Wilson's writings. I found this Q&A from 2011, in which Bjork admits she picked the title for the album without having a clear idea of what the word "Biophilia" meant. 

"My bad sense of English thought it was feeling up nature or something — Biofeelingup. When I read about it online some people were speculating about the name — I think they went to a dictionary and saw that it means “love of life” and — and I was like “Oops. OK, I can go with that.”

Health. Environment. Human.

The following wordle represents the reading by Daniel B. Smith, 'Is There an Ecological Unconscious?'

The idea of ecological unconsciousness was fascinating and new to me. I have never considered the relation of the human impact on the environment and the resulting psychological effects associated with the health of our planet.

The most noticeable words in white: human, health and environmental are the most aligned with my interpretation of the concept in the reading and serve to support two key theories.

Smith coined the term “solastalgia,” which he defined as “the pain experienced when there is recognition that the place where one resides and that one loves is under immediate assault . . . a form of homesickness one gets when one is still at home.” I interpret that to mean that if the health of the environment suffers, the health of the human will suffer as well. 

Doherty is an advocate of ecopsychology which supports the idea "that grief, despair and anxiety are the consequences of dismissing equally deep-rooted ecological instincts." Again, human health is connected to environmental health. 

Every time I look at this wordle, those three words continue to stand out even while my eye is drawn to varying secondary concepts such as ecological and environment. I definitely think that colour plays a major role in the interpretation and power associated with each word. 

To illustrate the point about colour consider the following image: 

Rubin’s vase: A classical example of figure/ground segmentation. The image is fundamentally ambiguous. People perceive a vase or faces, but not both at the same time. Wikimedia Commons

In both cases my eye is drawn to the negative space created by white on black. So I would presume, like in this sample, that interpretations of the wordle and where the emphasis has been placed will also vary.

ac·tiv·ism

ac·tiv·ism

noun: activism

1 the policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change.

Activism is such a big word, it implies commitment, energy, motion.  Yet online activism gets downgraded into slacktivism, something Morozov (2009) refers to as ‘political activities that have no impact on real–life political outcomes, but only serve to increase the feel–good factor of the participants’. Christensen  (2011) too believes that online activism is less effective and leads to lower overall levels of participation. Yet, I’m not so sure I agree with them. Yes, people may not be going down to the town square to protest or throw their support behind a movement such as the search for equality but there is the power to share, to make aware, to connect. Raine et al. (2012) argue that people who use social media are more politically active and civically engaged.  Why should using your computer or smart phone be less valid than marching in the street? 

Creating a petition for this assignment was empowering and informative. I sign  petitions online but never really thought about creating one, yet it is such an effective way to get a dialogue going on an issue and make people aware. And interestingly Mitchel & Hitlin (2013) note that the dialogue online can be very different than the one playing out in mainstream media.

Which brings me to my petition for the assignment. 

Deciding on a topic was very difficult because lets face it there’s a lot of issues out there. Having worked in the political world for the last six years and then in the oil industry, for a Norwegian company, Statoil, I’ve had some insights into how the industry is run and how government and industry work with or against one another.  The province of Newfoundland and Labrador, once the poor cousin to the rest of Canada, has been leading the country in growth for several years now, mainly due in large part, to our oil industry.  But part of me believes that we are not managing the resources well and its time  for government, whether its Liberal, PC or NDP, to be more accountable and responsible to the people who live in this province today and to the ones who will be here when the oil runs out.

While working for the Norwegian company, I came to admire their management style and their countries long-term vision for their resource. If I can bring attention to the issue of mismanagement here and get a few people on side with me, then who knows what could happen? Maybe the government in Newfoundland and Labrador will pause and think about how the revenues and structure of oil management is working for this province and look to Norway for guidance and inspiration. And that is what Cadwalladr (2013) is talking about. With effort, we can change the world, have our voice heard and maybe make a difference. And if it is to start with a Facebook post or a Tweet, then what’s wrong with that?

References

Cadwalladr, C. (2013). “Inside Avaaz – Can Online Activism Really Change the World?” The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/17/avaaz-online-activism-can-it-change-the-world

Christensen, H. (2011). “Political Activities on the Internet: Slacktivism or Political Participation by Other Means?” First Monday. Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3336/2767,

Mitchell, A., & Hitlin, P. (2013). “Twitter Reaction to Events Often at Odds with Overall Public Opinion,” Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://journalistsresource.org/studies/politics/elections/pew-research-twitter-reaction-events-odds-overall-public-opinion

Morozov,E. (2009). “The brave new world of slacktivism,” Foreign Policy (19 May). Retrieved from http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/19/the_brave_new_world_of_slacktivism

Rainie, L., Smith, A., Lehman Schlozman, K.,Brady, H & Verba, S. (2012). “Social Media and Political Engagement,” Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/10/19/social-media-and-political-engagement/ 

Remove The Cyanide and Other Toxic Ingredients from Our Table Salt!

Check your salt ingredients. Does this contain more than Sodium Chloride (salt) and iodine? Probably, yes. 

While iodine is a good agent, contributing toward optimum endocrine health, table salt may also contain harmful agents -- sugar, dextrose (glucose) -- known to increase the blood sugar levels in diabetics, and toxic chemicals -- cyanide, aluminium, bleach.

Although several studies have indicated that the continued use of refined salt will expose the consumer to aluminium, cyanide and/or bleach toxicity, this dangerous product is still on our tables because manufactures want to secure their profits, selling a long shelf life table salt with poisonous ingredients. This issue bothers me for a while, especially because I have noticed that people who usually are conscious about reading the ingredients on a food product, they omit to check what their salt box contains. This is because they expect the salt to be exactly what the name implies.

Reading about online activism throughout the course, I realised that social media is really capable of “rearticulating solidarity across the world” (Kennedy, 2011). For instance, according to Pew Research Center, “31% of social media users have used the tools to encourage other people to take action on a political or social issue that is important to them” (Rainie et al., para. 7).  Moreover, a report about #Occupy movement indicates that “77.3% [participants] posted about Occupy via Facebook”; and “62.1% signed a petition” (Constanza-Chock, 2012, fig. 3, p. 5). These numbers speak for themselves: They indicate the powerful influence the online activism has nowadays.

For that reason, I took this opportunity to write a petition to address the salt table issue. Ok. Maybe this subject is not so interesting as the #Occupy subject is, yet if you think that every one of us consumes salt with every meal, it is essential to be sure that this will not kill us.

https://www.change.org/p/the-public-health-agency-of-canada-stop-the-cyanide-aluminium-and-bleach-poisoning-with-table-salt

I am aware that this petition might not reach its 100 signatures target. Yet, if some people will check the ingredients on the salt packages, and make the right choice when buying salt, this petition will make a difference. And why not? Maybe, someday, because of our informed choice, all the salt brands will be safe for consumption. It is time to act! Sign this petition! “[The] ‘real’ change can only come from outside the representative democratic system” (Juris, 2012, p. 261). 

References

 (2015). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXeUIYyDE0g

Corriher, C. (2015). The Truth About Table Salt and The Chemical Industry.Healthwyze.org. Retrieved 15 March 2015, from http://healthwyze.org/index.php/component/content/article/115-the-truth-about-table-salt-and-the-chemical-industry.html

Costanza-Chock, S. (2013). Mic Check! Media Practices in the Occupy Movement: Social Movement Studies. Retrieved March 13 http://web.mit.edu/schock/www//docs/pubs/mic-check-2012-costanza-chock.pdf. 

Juris, J. (2012). “Reflections on #Occupy Everywhere: Social Media, Public Space, and Emerging Logics of Aggregation.” American Ethnologist, (2), 259. doi:10.1111/j.15481425.2012.01362.

Kennedy, M. (2011). Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and Historical Frames: 2011, 1989, 1968. Jadaliyya.com. Retrieved 2 April 2015, from http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/2853/arab-spring-occupy-wall-street-and-historical-fram

Louix Dor Dempriey Foundation,. (2011). The Difference Between Refined Salt and Unrefined Salt - Louix Dor Dempriey Foundation. Retrieved 15 March 2015, from http://www.louix.org/the-difference-between-refined-salt-and-unrefined-salt/

NaturalNews,. (2015). Confront Salt Confusion. Retrieved 15 March 2015, from http://www.naturalnews.com/026080_salt_sodium_health.html#ixzz3UIjunn4G

Rainie, L., Smith, A., Lehman Schlozman, K.,Brady, H & Verba, S. (2012). “Social Media and Political Engagement,” Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/10/19/social-media-and-political-engagement/

My homework assignment changed the world

March 15:
Scott speaks to McDougall congregation about his petition

Okay, so my blog title might be a tad optimistic at this point. But, I really do believe that this little homework assignment will have a lasting impact on Edmonton’s historical, artistic, and literal landscape. In 30 years I fully expect to drive down 101 Street and say to myself, “My #NMN homework assignment helped save McDougall Church.” I am thrilled by this thought.

I had been dreading this assignment because, to be brutally frank, I’ve always viewed online petitions with a jaded eye. I would have become actively involved in the fight to preserve McDougall Church regardless of this assignment—but an online petition would likely not even have been on my radar.

[See the petition here.]

Almost as soon as I created the petition, however, my attitude changed. I felt encouraged by readings like Rainie et al, which talk about people’s political engagement on social media, and by my own independent readings—including this article from the Guardian—that discuss the power of online petitions in spreading awareness and generating publicity.

My petition passed 500 signatures in the first two days, and today (March 15) stands just a few shy of 1,500. Along with the list of names—from across Canada and around the world—the petition has already generated hundreds of eloquent and passionate user comments (read them here).

I have been particularly moved to see the petition spread through social media—and far beyond my own social network. I have seen Facebook posts by complete strangers and tweets by prominent Edmontonians, including this one from renowned choral director Leonard Ratzlaff (U of A professor, director of U of A Madrigal Singers and Richard Eaton Singers, and member of Order of Canada):

City of Edmonton and Government of Alberta: Save McDougall Church http://t.co/fwwuEdY6sf via @CdnChange
— Leonard Ratzlaff (@lratzlaf) March 7, 2015

In my MACT program so far, I have been lucky enough to have several opportunities to apply my schoolwork directly to real-world projects. This unexpected fringe benefit has enriched my learning experience immeasurably.

References:

Rainie, L., Smith, A., Schlozman, K., Brady, H., & Verba, S. (2012, October 18). Social Media and Political Engagement. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/10/19/social-media-and-political-engagement/

Lowery, B. (2013, April 12). Small online petitions can effect change. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2013/apr/12/small-online-petition-change