chpt 2 summary and reflection by allison stein

Summary on Chpt 2

There is a spectrum of environmental ideologies that range from a bunch of different ideas. At one end of the spectrum there is unrestrained instrumentalism, which is the idea that everything that was put onto this earth was meant for humans, and other life does not matter. At the other end of the spectrum there is transformative ideologies, which is the opposite of unrestrained instrumentalism. They believe in restoring the Earth.

Reflection of Chpt 2

I believe that conservationism is the best and easiest ideology to participate in. Conservationism is the idea that humans are allowed to use Earth’s resources but to treat them with care and to not over use them. However, in today’s society I feel that most people are unrestrained instrumentalists. People are very selfish and just want to take resources for themselves and not worry about what they are doing to the environment. Now, our planet is running dry of these resources and scientists are panicking and trying to warn everyone that they should learn to conserve.

Writing Assignment 6: Communicating Nature Ch. 6, 7 & 8

Bryn Morgan

Chapter 6 discusses the shallow coat of advertising that is aimed at creating a “pop culture” message. Through this, they sometimes use nonhuman, “earth friendly” qualities to make people feel better about what they’re buying. By appealing to emotions, advertisers can skip over the real facts, and prey on the buyers “sense of doing the right thing.” Ads use a variety of techniques to appeal to the buyer, but the overall intent is the same: creating a desire for products and equating consumption with status and happiness. They do this by influencing the social trends in place, and making people feel like they’re forced to keep up with the rest of society. As people see these ads and become further and further detached from the natural world, we can only see the gap between humans and nature widening.

Chapter 7 deals with the humanistic attitudes toward animals, and where they come from. In short, the way we think of animals has come from messages that the pop culture has served us (in my case, it was Disney movies). Through false depictions of animals, humans have inferred certain messages, experiences, and emotions toward animals. This chapter also discusses the human need for animals, and how we need some sort of mystery or wonder outside our culture. Additionally, our attitudes toward nature are subjective; meaning we think about ourselves first in the context about why we care about animals and which ones we care about most. We see certain human characteristics in animals, which forms attachments to some, and hatred towards others. Whatever the attitude may be, animals have a large presence in our lives (so much that we have zoos for the purpose of observing them), and in order to preserve the future of animals, we must mend our actions and feelings toward them.

Chapter 8 focuses on the role of news and media in society, and the real process behind how a story is found, created, and presented to the public. Through all this, chapter 8 remains adamant that, though the media should be partially credited for the current importance of environmental protection among Americans, we are unable to rely on them as a “watchdog” for the environment. Instead of invoking some sort of great environmental change, the media goes with the grain of the current social environment. Though we tend to think of media outlets as independent, the majority of their stories come from entities “seeking news coverage.” Therefore, environmental groups with less funding, often start out at a disadvantage. The target of media outlets is usually the dominant class in society, and therefore, there is a bias in the stories that are covered. There are also the issues of how a story is framed, whether it is event-driven, or whether or not there are economic constraints. In short, there are many layers underneath a news story. Due to several limiting factors, the media follows the dominant power structure and has to abide by their rules.

Reflection:

My frustration comes mostly from chapters 6 and 8. Though I find humanistic attitudes and emotions toward nature extremely important, I feel like they are very possible to change. Children grow up with a very shallow interpretation of the wild, and as individuals become more educated about the ecology of our planet, I think appreciation for all species will be more widely accepted. Chapters 6 and 8, however, leave me feeling very discouraged. The advertising business is extremely powerful (due to the monetary value behind them), and since they plays a pivotal role in our media, I feel like society will continue to be controlled and manipulated to think they way they want us to. Though we live in a “free” country with a capitalist market, I feel like the U.S. is more communist than I ever realized. Whoever has the thickest wallet seems to have the upper hand, and without a large majority of people to expose it, they will continue to. How does our society get the word out when every media outlet is eating from the hand of the ad industry?!

Assignment 6

Summary:

Ch.6: Basing around the concept that advertisements are professionally done to purposefully persuade viewers one way or another. Corbett discusses this in regards to advertisements utilizing nature in order to suede people into their products, supporting their corporation, or opposing another. By using images of nature, the ‘go green’ stance, and so forth, advertisements involving nature always seem to strike a chord in humans.

Ch. 7: This chapter discusses how societal definitions and influences have raised us to develop opinions and stereotypes for animals just as we do on other people. For example, grizzly bears are scary and dangerous, but thanks to coca cola polar bears are unique and majestic. Elephants are more important to protect than a type of fish moments away from extinction because society has defined it this way.

Ch. 8: Specifically focusing on mass media and its influence and often misinterpretations. The chapter relates mass media to environmentalism towards the end. The main point that was made is that the mass media has such a stronghold on what information we receive or don’t that we always perceive what the news says as true and the only truth. If media stops coverage on, for environmental sake, deforestation in Costa Rica, we are immediately going to assume the problem is cured because we are no longer being fed updates on that issue.

Reflection: specifically speaking in regards to chapter 7… I do agree with the direction the chapter went, I would like to bring into perspective another viewpoint. For example, humans are afraid of mountain lions. But to me it is the same for the mountain lion who has no society influencing its opinion on humans. I believe the root of our stereotypes actually derives from instinct, but society just reinforces it. Instinctively the mountain lion senses that humans are a potential threat and choose to keep distance, just the same humans instinctively react to their environments and can sense danger.

Chapter Summary and Reflection: Ch 6-8- Alex Singer

Chapter 6: Faint-Green Advertising and the Natural World

Summary:

This chapter discusses how much our daily television ads affect our view on nature. Nature is used in four different ways, nature as backdrop, greed product attributes, green image, and environmental advocacy. Each way of advertising nature contributes to our own perspectives. Some companies advertise “green” or “recyclable” when in fact their product is not so green or recyclable. Advertising uses nature to get people to buy their products and we see it everyday.

Chapter 7: Communicating the Meaning of Animals

Summary:

This chapter reflects on how pop culture influences our perceptions of animals. Even as children we use books that tell us, “eyes of a hawk.” Pop culture influences our idea of a predator and hence we label them as mean and wicked animals, like lions, wolfs, and bears. Even our common Disney animals influence what animals we consider nice, and what animals we consider mean.

Chapter 8: News Media

Summary:

Corbett discusses the media as a whole and how “real” can we say the news is. As part as our society, we believe everything that we hear from the news is ture. The problem with the news is that it is only one sided and the media can influence the public any way they want on that particular story. She talks about how the environment is constantly competeing to be in the news, but more often then not it gets pushed aside for more “exciting” topics (like celebrities). Also environmental issues and topics can be too complex and scientific, and journalists lack the expertise on these topics. Corbett insists that there needs to be a social change in the media in order for important environmental topics to reach the media.

Reflection:

It upsets me that big companies would use nature to sell their product. To me it is fine if the do a jeep commercial out in the forest, but what upset me was when they looked into the advertisements on children. People need to express to younger generations how important recycling really is for their future and for generations to come. Not only is nature being used to sell products, but on the media they do not discuss in depth topic of nature and the issues that are arriving due to our everyday high maintenance lives. I think it is very important for the media to try to make social change and help influence the public to be more aware of their environment and how the public’s actions affect it. Also I think it is interesting to think about how much pop culture really does influence our view on animals because it does for me. I think it is interesting when they brought up the Disney movies and how even as a child, when we new nothing about animals, we developed stereotypes for certain animals. The general public is being influenced from all areas of entertainment, news, commercials, moves, and the list goes on. I think there are some easy simple ways to help get the public to be more involved with the environment, and it starts with social media needing to make a change to help nature.