Oral History with Omi

So essentially Omi wants us to come and sit down with her and have a chat with a tape recorder. It shouldn't be that hard but I think that it is probably a good idea to just come up with with some basic questions we are interested in asking so that we have at least some where to start. Sooooo....I was thinking we could start this thread to just post some ideas of stuff we want to know about/things other family members want to know about.

Also Heid could you look into renting a or borrowing a digital recorder or maybe how much one might cost...it seems that digitizing this might make it easier to assemble? (you have a desktop so you probably have a ton of hard drive space if not then we can figure something out...the files shouldn't be huge...you know this stuff...Ms. LIBRARIAN!) I don't know. Or we could go the tape way...whichever seems easier to you.

Cradle to Cradle

I think the fact that these men kind of operate in the clouds rather than the weeds is one of its appeals. I understand the apprehension you have in that it doesn’t have a lot of statistics and doesn’t offer a whole lot in the way of solutions. However, one of the reasons I was so interested in this book is because the big discussion we had in class is that for the past half century or so we have worked in the frame of individual action, and it hasn’t gotten us far. The biggest and most visible accomplishment of the environmental movement was the end of the destruction of the ozone layer (and in the near future, its repair) which was a HUGE international effort and not driven by the individual in any significant way. The authors don’t talk a lot about what you can do because we can’t to much. The fact is if we think of ourselves as only consumers we take ourselves out of the equation, we certainly can’t be actors if we don’t even consider ourselves in that role. We aren’t limited by our wallet; individualization of the movement has done that. So I guess the reason why I had us read this book is that it gives a view of the environmental moment outside of “ten ways we can easily save the Earth”. We have to do more. We can’t just switch to this new world that, you know, actually promotes health, but we can empower our scientists, we can spread the word, we can join the movement, encourage our government and yes, we can buy light bulbs that help the earth. Their idea that we can just bury all of our terrible stuff until we find a way to make it useful again is silly but if we can focus on the first two of the three r’s then we buy ourselves some time and maybe someday we will have all plastic books.

I suppose that is a little unorganized but my views on the book are so tied to this amazing class that I have trouble separating them and making a complete thought. I hope you got something out of it and here we go with Deep Economy!

Starting Deep Economy

I think Thea still has to purchase our next book Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future by Bill McKibben so I think we should start the book on Thursday. If thats doesn't work, let me know and we can set a new day.

~Heidi

Cradle to Cradle/The Rules

Heeeeyyy Sisters,
Sorry for being out of touch and not on top of my blogging duties. I just got some reliable Internet. I am glad you are liking/liked the book. It should be about time to pick the next one. Does that mean we are starting Deep Economy? Just let me know. I will write a better response later when I have a bit more time I just wanted to draw attention to my favorite part of the book...I'm pretty sure its the last line where he says something like "It will be a lot of work and we'll have to do it forever, but then again that's the point." (paraphrased...good citation thea) But it's just perfect.

I'll write more later. Off to babysit.

Cradle to Cradle (finito)

Hi Sisters,

Thea- I like the idea for a new rule, it will be helpful to know where everyone is in the book.

Ani- When you have a moment could you write up a post telling us why you had us read this book?

The writing style used in the book is great and I am completely comfortable with the lack of statistics. I don't think statistics are central to their argument and, as they mentioned a couple of times, a little bit of a bad thing is still bad.

Actually, I think that is one of the biggest takeaways from the book and one of the hardest ideas to overcome as we head off into the world that they envision. Reduce, reuse, recycle has been the mantra of environmentalists for decades, though it has had little effect as it has been broadcast into a society that rewards ever increasing consumption. I don't know about the two of you, but I always got the impression that if I used less I could save the world, but this book punches some big holes in that theory.

The hardest part of this book for me was the lack of action that I could take as an individual. The change that the authors envision is so far ahead of where we actually are, it seems almost impossible to create and the authors don't give many ideas for enacting it unless you are a chemist, an architect, planning a building project, own a manufacturing company, or in general have gobs of money. I also feel like many of their ideas will lead to health inequities as most low income people will be priced out of the higher quality materials.

If you have any ideas of what we can do as individuals I would love to hear them.

~Heidi

Cradle to Cradle, post #1 (p.60)

Hey guys,

Whether or not we've *officially* started reading Cradle to Cradle, I went ahead and began reading it. Thanks, Ani, for the recommendation. I'm finding it very easy to read and informative. It's simple and straightforward in a way that most books about serious topics like the environment and design principles almost never are. Sometimes the flat way the authors have of describing things leads to excellent lines, such as "Even something as benign and necessary as clean drinking water can be lethal if you are submerged in it for more than a couple of minutes" (p.42).

Sometimes I find myself wishing for more statistics,more verifiable numbers. Of course, having just finished Damned Lies and Statistics, I know that numbers are as easy to manipulate as people. The fundamental change suggested in the book makes inherent sense. Do I really need to see any more numbers about how much food and water and oil is left on the planet? As long as our resources are finite we need to stop using them like they're never going to run out.

The thing that's most freaked me out in my reading thus far has been about the amount of toxic material we consume on a daily basis. At first, when I started reading about the way our shoes and exercise equipment are subtly poisoning us, I thought, Yeah, whatever, I've heard this before. Everything causes cancer. And while that's pretty much true the authors have an excellent point: If we can avoid poisoning ourselves, if there is an alternative way of living our lives, shouldn't we? Not just by avoiding the shampoo or deodorant or whatever that was most recently shown to cause cancer in lab rats, but by changing the way we make things in the first place.

So anyway, I haven't gotten to the part where they (I assume) talk about ways we can change things, but I am preparing to be inspired. Can't wait to hear what you guys think.

Love, Thea

p.s.-I have a proposal for another rule. I think, so that we're all on the same page, so to speak, we should put either at the top of a post or in the title what page of the book we're on. That way we can make sure we're caught up before reading a post. Not that I think Cradle to Cradle has any major plot spoilers, but hey, you never know.

The Rules

Hi Sisters,

I am really excited about reading books with you and I can't wait to get started. I decided I would start this blog off with a posting/discussion of the rules of our reading group. They are, of course, open to change, but they will make sure we are all starting on the same page.

1. Order of Selection: Ani, Thea, Heidi
   
2. Speed: We will start a new book every two weeks during the summer and every four weeks during the school year.
3. Posting: the person who selected the book should start the discussion by telling us why they selected the book and a little bit about it. Everyone should contribute at least two posts about the book, but can post as often as they want.
4. Guidelines for selection: Books should be thought provoking, but can be about any subject. It doesn't matter if you or someone else in the group has read the book as long as we are willing to reread it. For those still in school it is okay to select books that have been assigned for class.

I think that is every thing, but leave a comment if I forgot something.

When do we want to officially start reading the book?