A

The class with Ann Parker was very refreshing.  Sustainability is a subject that is often talked about, but I feel like its not clarified in detail unless you actually study this or something related to it. For me having a sustainable lifestyle is a subject that I tend to classify into an ecological corner. Having Ann share her view and knowledge on the subject definitely shaped my idea of sustainability in everything, she explained how we are all interconnected in every part of life with the spiral chart and using stories from her own life.

During class she had a fun exercise for us to do; we divided the class into different interest groups like: visual arts, writing, nature, psychology and yoga. The practice was for every group to share how we each think sustainability fits or can be part of our subject. I was in the visual arts group, in that group we talked from a to z about the possibilities of art being a sustainable matter. It was very interesting to hear what everyone had to say, I was very guilty about the background of my art materials but I also felt very happy to hear all these wonderful ideas from people with the same interest that care enough to want a change. After sharing a little about what materials we each work with we began to think of natural- impact free materials that we could use to substitute them. For example we talked about the idea of changing paints for natural dies, also we came across the idea that we would all like to have a class where we could research more about this subject, we want to learn how to make our own materials or find how to change them to less harmful ones. As artist we get attached to an idea about how we want our pieces to look like, but changing the materials would also mean changing our comfort for what we want (natural paint can be very dull).

 B

There is a common complex in humanity, in that we believe that we are both part of this planet and separate from it. However, as time goes by, we feel separate from the life around us, the system we live in has pushed us into believing that we have to act as individuals for our own sake and success rather than for a global benefit. There are many reasons why we might ignore the pain and destruction around us but I think that it is mainly because we have not been directly affected by any of these, at least that’s what we pretend to believe. Nothing is happening because it’s not in front of me! In reality we are so self absorbed with keeping our comfort and peace that anything that seems bad is simply pushed away. We think of ourselves as individuals separate from this planet therefore, we can’t feel reality.

On page 70, Information Is Not Enough, an interesting quote really caught my attention. Because I can relate this issue to my life I am able understand it better. “Presenting more shocking facts can just increase the resistance”. It doesn’t matter how much information is given to us, if we are and act heartless to the world nothing will be done.  A way that I was thinking about this is as a pedestal. We are standing high away from anything close to the ground, thus we are safe from anything that happens down there. We will not relate to what is happening below us unless the pedestal breaks and we fall into the mess. In my life a good example of this blindness, was my cigarette smoking. I smoked for nine years of my life and nothing in the world could make me quit. I read hundreds of warning in every pack I bough, read articles about the damage it does to our body and even heard about people having cancer and dying from it; but it didn’t stop me. I was comfortable doing something that I wanted when I wanted. The consequences seemed so distant that nothing could change my mind.

Finally, after nine year of looking at horrible images in my cigarette packs, I am no longer a smoker. Not because of the information given, but because my health was directly at risk. The second I saw what was happening in my body and how serious it is; only then was I urging to change what I was doing. Most of us are incapable of acting and shifting bad habits unless we leave our pedestal. We should not have to wait for fear to motivate us.

All that has been destroyed, extinct or in some way harmed, will not change. Many of our actions affecting this planet are irreversible. It is frustrating to think of a shift in our ways, the change has to be so strong, that it almost feels impossible because of the magnitude of the problems. I can only hope that people open their eyes and hearts to what is happening so that maybe something moves them.