The Power of Voicemails

Future coast is a very interesting game and reminds me of geocaching. The game is to create fictional voicemails that could happen in the future. When our class was told to each create our own voicemail the first thing that came to my mind was a plague or sickness. This is an issue due to climate change because eventually there will be no hospitals functioning. This reminds me of in the short story “Diary of an Interesting Year” no one could go to hospitals because all were shut down. I think Future Coast is a great project because it leaves people a personal voicemail. The purpose of the voicemails is to explain a situation that could occur. For instance, about buying extra food incase of a disaster. Also, explains what the future could look in different years. When making a voicemail you can pick what year this message is from. I think this is cool because it shows people who don’t know anything about climate change what might happen. The voicemails are very unique because it’s a individual call. It’s usually an urgent message and the person is calling for a reason. You can hear a tone in the persons voice and can evoke emotion. The purpose of the voicemails is to create emotion and the goal is for people to react.

The voicemails are an example of cli-fi because no one knows what is actually going to happen in the future. They are hypothetical situation that people think are going to happen and with research could actually. Some people in our class made up imaginary characters and situations that were cause because of climate change. Some students talked about advanced technology and how disasters are offering. Many of us talked about floods that were going to happen and how we called to warn our loved ones. I think the voicemails send a clear message about show we want to prepare people for the future. I think if someone doesn’t know much about climate change and got a voicemail it would terrify them. I personally would be scared to listen to a voicemail from the future and think about what might happen. Most stories we have read in class have different situations that are cause by global warming. The story Odds Against Tomorrow was a fictional story about New York in the future. New York is going to experience a flood that will ruin everything. The story has imaginary characters that are trying to convey a message to be prepared for the future. I think fiction is important for everyone because gives us a sense of the future. No one on this planet can predict the future but instead can be creative and use our imagination.

I loved this activity because it was personal and I could connect with some of the voicemails. One of the voicemails was someone calling their family to say goodbye because they don’t think they will make it out of the disaster. It puts you in the shoes of someone else and you imagine if that will actually happen.

Chasing Hope

A few days ago, I tried to talk to my roommates about climate change. They know I’m in this class and I talk about it all the time because I’ve learned so much, but they just don’t see things the same way. They laugh, saying “Oh yeah, of course it’s climate change” in a sarcastic tone, then change the subject. But this past weekend, we went to a movie and one of the previews was for a special screening of a documentary about climate change. Oddly enough, they seemed incredibly interested in the preview.

The documentary was called “Chasing Ice”. The basic information we got about it from the preview is that it was an idea started by a National Geographic photographer who noticed Icelandic icebergs melting and wanted to prove to other people that this is a cause of a warming planet. This turned into a project, with cameras across icy locations in the world, taking one picture every day lit hour, for three years and then creating a time-lapse of the results. During the preview, we got a glimpse of the time-lapse, and there’s no denying the ice melted. Sometimes it only melted a bit, but other times, it disappeared all together. I turned to look at the reactions of my friends, and they were shocked. “Yeah, do you believe in it now?” I asked.

Contine reading

Climate Change: The Conversation Starts Here

I have to admit that if I weren’t getting extra credit for going to see Amy Goodman speak, I wouldn’t have gone. And when I realized that she wasn’t even attending the event herself, her speech was pre-recorded from New York, I felt like this was a huge waste of my time. Why should I be here if the keynote speaker isn’t even here, herself?

Well, my frustration was quickly shot down and I felt guilty about those thoughts real quickly. Amy said that, first of all, she was busy being a successful climate change activist (understandable), and secondly, she didn’t use any fossil fuel to get here. She touched on how amazing it is that she can connect so personally with the people in this small town of Eugene from New York City, almost 3,000 miles away.

Anyway, she began to speak about the extreme weather conditions in the North East and how much media coverage it’s receiving. Which is great for promoting climate change, except for the fact that no one is mentioning climate change. The mass amounts of snow in New York, Massachusetts, etc. is the topic of countless conversations around the nation, and even the globe, but they aren’t leading to any solutions or call for reform. All it takes is for someone in the media to show the science of how humans are affecting these weather conditions and it will facilitate numerous necessary climate change conversations. Contine reading

Cli-Fi: America’s newest depressing novel genre

One great thing about college, the main reason why we’re all here is to learn new things. Something I learned this term is the literary genre known as “cli-fi”. The thing that I learned about cli-fi stories is this: they are depressing and do NOT excite me about the future at all.

Pretty much every story we’ve read in class has been set in the very near future and seem as though they are in a post-apocalyptic society where the feel is that they’ll get attacked by a zombie at any point or die due to something completely random.

There was only one story this term we have read for this term even had somewhat of a happy ending (happy being used very loosely). The graphic novel was the only story that had the happier ending. The ending being more optimistic with no one dying… at the end of the story. The very end. Contine reading

We Shall Not Be Silent- PIELC

I attended the event called PIELC Changing Current on Thursday evening and a lot of people all over came to the conference. PIELC stands for public interest environmental law conference and was the 33rd annual meeting. Amy Goodman and Kathleen Dean Moore spoke at the ceremony. Amy Goodman gave a video message and talked about the extreme weathers. Changing currents is the title of the conference and wants to enforce a message about climate changes and how it plays a role. There are always weather reports that display extreme weathers and they should be linked with the word climate change. She talked about how people need to know that climate change plays a role in weather and how different places experience such highs and low temperature. I agree with her on the statement that people are in denial and don’t want to face that fact that global warming is happening.

Goodman wants the media to tell the truth about everything that is going on whether it is oil, war, or weather. She is a very passionate speaker about climate change and wants to make people aware of the issue and spread the word. Also, she talked about places all around the world that are trying to bring climate change to justice. She made me think about how much power the media has because the media can brainwash people on climate change. Fossil fuel industries have a lot of power but people have a chance to make a change and help with global warming. She explained how serious this issue is and how thankful she is that people have gathered together and are taking a stand. I would say it wasn’t a positive speech but it definitely was an informing message she had to share with everyone about climate change. Her last part of her message was “we shall not be silent” and that was a very powerful statement.

The next speaker, Kathleen Moore, was another inspirational speaker about climate change. Contine reading