EnERGY AND PLACE ESSAY:
Reflection:
The purpose of this project was to learn about and address our personal environmental ethic and sense of place. This entails addressing the way you attribute yourself and the worldly community to the environment, while also addressing the place you feel the best in. Examples of environmental ethics include; preservationism, sustainability and conservationism. All of which I happen to relate to for my philosophy. Once we as students had these ideas in mind, we heard from various guest speakers who taught us about various energy sources, both renewable and nonrenewable. From there we began to write our papers, keeping in mind our own energy consumption philosophy, while talking about the way we want to protect a place that may be important to us, this place could be anywhere. We began writing, while thinking about our own ethics, place of importance, and energy in order to create something that showed how and why we wanted to protect a certain place, while addressing our personal energy dilemmas. During this assighnment my writing went through various transitions, mostly in the aspect of showing not telling, and language usage. However, in the beginning I went through a lot of content changes, mainly because I ended up writing about more than one place, rather than writing about one singular place, meaning I had to address how my own energy ethics affected me in various places around the world. This ended up being very difficult however, a possibility when I looked upon the own guilt I sometimes felt while traveling. Another thing I always struggle with, and honestly didn't improve much with on this project is spelling and grammar, because sometimes I lack the time/ am too passionate to take the time to go back and refine. However, where I feel I improved most is language skills. For example, one of my most satisfying language usages says, "We disembark, and my tired black vans take their first steps onto an oddly familiar land, like a duck to water, I immediately feel comfort over take my body. " This was a final addition, however I feel that it adds significant beauty to the paper, and I sort of wish I had thought of adding more. Growing up in Colorado, it was fairly easy for me to elect a sense of preservationism/ conservatism as my ethic, based on the community I live in, and what our surrounding environment is. However, based on the fact that I always changing my global positioning, it was really hard for me to choose my place. In the end I decided that not choosing a singular location, but the act of moving would be the most honest to my character. Although in the end I'm not sure the way I ended the paper, based on the fact that it sort of ends forcefully with my environmental ethic; I do think I managed to communicate my own philosophy, and the way I attribute my life to sustaining the planet. VIVA LA TIERRA!!! First draft of energy and placeHappiness and Meaning ProjectEssential Questions:
a. What is the purpose of your existence? b. What is happiness and what makes you happy? c. What does it mean to live a meaningful life? d. To what extent can literature shape your personal philosophy on happiness and meaning? Project Description: https://docs.google.com/a/animashighschool.com/file/d/0B5ktO3NLUDlcems1NU1kbjZudWM/edit) Visual PieceMy visual piece will actually be split into four peaces representing my view on compassion.
To learn about my inspiration go download the "Just a Little Bit NIcer." TED Radio hour off of itunes. This will show you why compassion drives my happiness, and why it is essential in the human race. My visual pieces will latter be turned into stickers and the money gained from their selling will go to an organization benefiting what each image depicts. ReflectionThroughout this entire project I have encountered a lot of inner struggles. Many of them stemming from personal insecurities, others from a lack of personal comprehension. However, the biggest thing I learned was that I do not exercise enough compassion in my life. At the beginning of the project we read a book called, "A Tale for the Time Being", the book follows three main characters, one of them being a 104 year old buddhist nun. She goes through life with such grace, and you can't help but find yourself admiring her ability to respect and find love for every single thing around her. I mean everything, even the toilet. So, she stemmed the inspiration for my project, I wanted to understand how respecting and finding compassion for others could reflect onto yourself. And what I found was that there is no negative effect of compassion, I mean none. Yes, it is hard to be mindful, and yes it is hard to respect people you may despise, but that really is ht whole point of the practice. The results of experiencing compassion in your daily life are incredible, and I speak from experience as I have tried to begin to do at least five compassionate things a day, and I already feel like a more holistic person. My happiness comes from loving others, therefore learning to love myself.
Further Questions: 1) If the entire world exercised compassion, where would life as we know it be now? 2) How are you being kind to others in your every day life? 3) How can you being to exercise more compassion? 4) Who in your life has been compassionate to you (big or small ways) and how has that effected you? 5) How does it feel when you are kind? |
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