3 Concrete Steps

In the next week I plan to-

1) Schedule a time to meet with Lynne Jordan, the Development and Outreach Associate for the PCC Farmland Trust. She has already agreed to meet with me, now I just need to schedule a time and place that fit into her schedule.

2) Write a list of questions for my interview with Ms. Jordan that are relevant to my project topic (increasing awareness of the importance of eating local organic foods) and her job. I also need to read up on some interview skills and practice my interview, as I am notoriously bad at conducting an intelligible conversation under stress.

3) Construct a short “quiz/poll” asking elementary age students to identify a number of different plant foods (raw, unprocessed fruits and vegetables) and processed foods (like cheetoes or gogurt). The object of the poll will be to see if children are overall more capable of identifying whole or processed foods. I will then ask my mom, who is a third grade teacher, if she will be willing to let her students take the poll.

-Mollie

John Stewart says news is coming to him

Check this out



watch right around the 3:30

I think this kind of co insides with what we were talking about news and such. I wonder what he really means with he said the news box is coming towards him.

-Blaise

Project Goals

My 3 goals of this week are as follows:
1)Meet with Kara and Cindy on Thursday at 12:00 for a meeting. We want to start mapping out a rough sketch of our lesson plan. Also, I know we all have some great ideas about a project to do with the kids at the end so we will definitely need to make a decision on that. Once we make a decision, we can purchase supplies and set up the activity.
2)I receive an email from my interview subject and unfortunately they will not be available for an interview. I got some great feedback from Colin and am hoping to find an elementary school teacher who focuses on teaching the sciences. My main goal of the week is to set this interview up and conduct the interview next week.
3)I know that Cindy has been in contact with an old teacher of hers who has volunteered to let us teach in her classroom. I am hoping to set up a concrete date for our lesson plan. This is important since May will be very hectic with the end of school coming up.
4)HOPEFULLY get a head start on the project outline draft (in a perfect world)

-Atusa Rezaee

Hiskes Articles

The three Hiskes articles all discuss Obama’s decision to loosen restrictions on offshore drilling on the east coast. In the second article, the broad discourse seems to be centered on why Obama is choosing to loosen these restrictions. The major “signs” or interpretations of the discourse seem to be that either Obama is loosening the restrictions to encourage republican support of clean energy legislation, or that Obama is siding with the conservative resistance to clean energy. As the Corfee-Morlot article discussed, such interpretations are usually absorbed by the general public (and thus represented within people’s own minds) as “tidbits” or “sound bytes”. I suppose this article’s versions of such sound bytes could be “compromise” and “drill, baby, drill,” with the former representing the interpretation that Obama is attempting to compromise for support of clean energy legislation, and the latter representing the interpretation that Obama is siding with conservative clean energy resistance.

-Mollie

Project Plan

For my original project proposal, I was planning on designing an ecological education lesson plan for elementary-age children. I have decided to go in another direction because I think that my original project plan would have been difficult to complete in the given amount of time. I’m currently enrolled in two classes about farming; one which discusses the politics of the world food system, and another centered on the science and community potential of organic farming in urban areas. These classes have already opened my eyes to how little people know about where the food they eat comes from as well as the ecological, social and personal health costs associated with American eating habits. I hope to design a project that will raise awareness about the importance of “knowing your food.” I’m considering going to a few local farmer’s markets and asking people to take a quick survey about why they choose to buy food at farmer’s markets rather than grocery stores. I would like to do something similar at some grocery stores, but I’m not exactly sure any stores would let me do that, so I’ll be looking into it. I’m hoping to get an interview with a local farmer, however I don’t yet have anyone in mind. After I collect my survey results, I could make pamphlets to distribute outside grocery stores and farmers markets. I was also thinking of possibly taking a “guerilla” approach by wheat pasting signs and posters encouraging people to “know their food.”

-Mollie

Final Project Plan

I am planning to do an advocacy project on everyday consumption signals. Basically I will be looking at everyday singals that urge us to consume. Why they do this and how the signals are effecting people and the world. The comunication aspect is the signals that we recieve that make us comsume. I will be looking at ads, labels, enviroments were these signals are consumed. In an effort to reduce consumption I will try and get HFS to stop buying large fountain drink cups. I plan to do this using my internship and washprig to help sway HFS into adopting this policy.

-Blaise

Hiskes articles

I think the author makes a good point. At first when I read the title of the articles I assumed a kind of bias towards the article without reading it. but after reading all of them I came away with a more balanced view of what he was talking about. Given the title of the pieces it seems like the article was going to be focused on mudslinging but it actually wasn’t. Hiskes gave a pretty fair overview of what was going on and what was the plan. I really liked that he clarified that just because these new places are open to drill and explore for oil and gas, does not mean that the oil and gas companies will actually drill there long term.

-Blaise

project plan

I went to my event which was a book talk about global warming and our food that we eat. I’m also going to attend the McKibben talk on Tuesday night to see if I can go another route for my project plan. I set up an interview with a King County Hazardous Waste specialist. She deals a lot with water contamination, chemical exposure, etc. I want to ask her questions about how water contamination affects our health and why it is important to spread the word. I also want to find out more on the chemical exposure and who are exposed to this and where and the effects of this on the environment. I hope that the talk on Tuesday will help me tie these things together because I don’t think I can use my first event and tie it in with my interview.
-Tiara

Hiskes articles

In the Jonathan Hiskes articles I found them to be more clear and easier to understand than the Morlot article. First he basically overviewed Obama’s plan to open the Southeast and Alaskan coasts to offshore drilling, at the end of his article he then has certain sections such as “on gas prices and your money” that help clarify some questions that the audience might have. He asks questions to leave the audience thinking. His articles seemed pretty neutral which was nice because it gave the reader room to have their own opinions, yet still challenging themselves with the questions that Hiskes asks.
-Tiara

Pretty Much Final Project Idea :-)

With the world’s growing population, there is a need for more houses, buildings and infrastructure in general to support the population. This requires building materials sometimes taken from what little resources we have left or building materials that are not very environment friendly. For my project, I want to look closer into the new term called “Green Building.” For starters, I want to find out how the term is being communicated. Somehow, I have heard about it before, yet I have no idea how or what the concept even means. This means it is reaching outsiders which could potentially be a good thing. Within green building, I want to focus on energy efficiency. How do you design a building to make it the most energy efficient? I plan to learn more about solar panels, windows and other materials the help the flow of energy to disperse and be preserved. I am also interested to learn about whom these types of “Green Buildings” are available to in the social sphere and if it is something that will change in the future.

-Danica

Hiskies and his Writings

Jonathan Hiskies seems like a broad audience type of writer. In his articles, he is pulling a variety of information from others to draw on his points. He poses a lot of questions, often allowing the reader to engage in his thoughts with him. It allows the reader to begin to form their own opinions as they are reading as well. When communicating through writing, it is important for the writer to get his thoughts across, but he should also not be selfish in thinking the writing is all about him. Hiskies did a good job on thinking about the audience while writing his pieces. His stand on Obama’s decision on off shore drilling seems hard to pick out at times. He doesn’t seem to be an extremist either way which also allows the reader to engage with the writing and listen to his thoughts rather than being frustrated with his tone. Overall, he is communicating well. His writing is understandable and not overwhelming.

-Danica

Progression of the Project

For my project, I hope to do some sort of paper or presentation about the influence of salmon in this region and how it is a cultural icon. This icon effects the cities economically, socially, and environmentally. I want to look at how salmon runs are hurting due to climate change, intrusion from humans, and what is being done to help restore salmon runs and how it can remain an icon if salmon are disappearing. This also effects local Native American tribes, cities, and communities with depleting runs and rivers. I hope to investigate this and see how media can help salmon and give it it's help it needs.


-Mary Jane-

Functions of Hiskie

The articles by Hiskie use codes and functions of every day talk and language. It is educational yet relaxed and easy to read. The information about offshore drilling is informational yet opinionated in a respectable manner. He uses facts alongside his thoughts and concerns "I’m holding out hope that things appear worse than they are. Because the key isn’t how much offshore drilling is allowed. The crucial issue is whether oil and gas companies decide it’s worth their money to go out, find, and retrieve the stuff." This little section demonstrates his easy writing flow to whatever audience and provides some excellent information and facts that helps back his first person perspective. His coding and discouse are enlaced with facts, news, and perspective.

-Mary Jane-

Final Project: Making Progress!

Project Planning is well on its way and at some point in the next week Kara, Cyndy and I will meet to discuss our classroom lesson plan. We have already agreed to do some sort of project with the kids after we first test their knowledge about global warming. We want to inform them of their carbon footstep but in a clever and fun manner which I think will appeal most to younger students. We have all also decided to interview teachers in order to get a better idea of how to most effectively teach younger students.

-Atusa

Hiskie and Use of Language

After reading a few of Hiskies Articles, I noticed a common language pattern among them. In Halls reading he focuses greatly on the use of language and how it is a linguistic representation of the image that we are trying to portray. I noticed his use of single words with a period after them making up a complete sentence. Examples of this are “This is … stunning. Baffling.” and “What?” To me, this form of language represented a sign that he is appealing to a much broader audience and getting his point across as clearly as possible. As part of the language that he uses I noticed he incorporates many clever statements. His writing was very light and clearly understood. I would love to ask Hiskie about who his intended target audience is when writing his articles and how he thinks his writing style affects them. The discourse that he focuses on in his articles are that of Obama and big oil. He also frames the need for jobs, energy and gas prices, which Americans are highly focused on at this point in time. In my opinion his use of language to discuss offshore drilling provides a very successful and useful contribution to the public sphere.

-Atusa