Hello all,

Due to the current political electricity in the air, this week’s blog post will be dedicated to what you, as a single American citizen, can do to change the political discussion surrounding climate change. What examples from the book can be referenced in order to make a change in your own life? How do politics and the environment relate, how about politics and scientific fact? Should our representatives be required to recognize scientific fact? Should a widely agreed upon scientific fact be above the realm of ideological debate?

Feel free to answer any one of these questions, or all of them! Best of luck,

Casey and Kim

This week you should analyze something Colin talks about from a systems perspective. How are some of the systems that Colin discusses interrelated? How do they compare to the systems you are studying in your J201 and ENVS201 classes?

1. What does “local” food mean to you? What aspects of your food’s production,  growth and the distance it travels should be important when considering lowering the impact of your food?

2. Did you make an effort to pay attention to your food choices this week? Did you find it easy to choose local foods while living in the dorms?

Happy week 3!

After you read Chapter 3, post your thoughts on the blog about the following:

1. On page 42, Colin muses a bout why garbage bags are not transparent. What do you think would happen if bags were transparent?

2. On page 45, Colin talks about living in the moment. If we could all live MORE in the moment, how might our environmental impact be affected?

Have a great week!

For this week, address the two questions posted below. You should have read the first two chapters of No Impact Man already, so utilize the issues discussed in the beginning of the book to provide your thoughts on these questions:

1. The author (Colin) describes differences between himself and his wife, Michelle, in the first part of the chapter. Today, are you more like Michelle or like Colin? Why?

2. Colin talks about the goal of his No Impact Year as to align his work with his values. What can you do to make your work (being a student) align with your values?

To comment, follow these steps:
1. Visit the class blog

2. Click on the speech bubble on the right of each week’s post

3. Put in your name and post your illuminating and profound thoughts on the subjects we discuss each week. You may not see your comment appear immediately, but as long as you press “Post Comment” at the bottom of the page, I’ll see it and approve it.

4. VOILA! All done! I will try and post the weekly discussion questions every Sunday

Please complete your first blog post before our first class this Friday (10.3) I greatly look forward to your thoughts! Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Please post before class this Friday (10.3)! Have a great start to classes, and we’ll see you on Friday.

Welcome to the No Impact Experiment class blog. Both Kim and I will be using this throughout the term to post updates, relevant news articles and anything else that may help us all examine the connections between media and environmental stewardship.

You will also be using this blog on a weekly basis to post your thoughts and reflections on No Impact Man. Your blog post can be informal, there is no word count to meet or certain typeface to use. Simply post your thoughts on the issues that are discussed in the book, how the issues relate to you as a college student and how they relate to the world at large.

Looking forward to reading your posts!

-Casey