annebogeholm |
October 15, 2009
Yesterday I had a discussion on the climate issue with a good friend of mine. After long time of discussing and some glasses of red wine we reached the conclusion “the world is cruel – when people are dying and the world is on its edge why do people then still think of making buisness and money?!”. The conclusion that simply drags the will and courage out of one, you get the feeling that theres really nothing to do, so many problems around the world, and where to start!
“That’s always where our conversation ends” said Dea my friend – and yes, that was where our conversation ended. By making the statement “the world is cruel” we were no longer talking of the climate where we started out, we were talking of all the problems of the world and solutions seemed very distant and abstract. The conversation lead to confussion. Like it says in one of the textx(Chris Rose) in the syllabus, reflection leading to confussion will not make you act, but reflection can leave you with new impressions. I felt passioned while talking and argumenting for the case of adaption and the importance of putting it on the agenda - it is interesting to see how and if your message is recieved – Dea told me today that she felt she got some new angels on the climate issue from our discussion. So we ended up been frustrated both of us, we reached both common understanding and common confussion, but I think the discussion lead somewhere.
annebogeholm |
October 1, 2009
Today I went to a lecture on climate change at the university of Copenhagen with professor Diana Liverman from oxford university. Diana Liverman has been appointed to the new committee on ‘America’s Climate Choices’, that is ment to advise the Government on responses to climate change.
This lecture gave me a picture of how important the communication aim of our campaign is – to put climate debt on the agenda!
The main focus in this lecture was on the developed western contries. We should lower our emmissions, things are changing faster than expected and apparantly, what we are facing is a temperature rise of around 4 degrees - something needs to be done, now! I think Diana Liverman is completely right in this, but her reasons for this were focused on near, but future, consequences. She did not mention the consequences of climate change that are happening right now in the developing contries coursed by our emmissions.
To lower our emmision of green house gasses is ofcourse important but that is only one side of the case - what about adaption. I think one of the words Diana Liverman misses out on was RESPONSIBILITY and the whole issue of climate debt. As I mentioned above Diana Liverman is part of advising the US Government on how to responses to climate change – as an adviser on important stakeholders I think it is cruzial to notice her angle of looking at the problem focusing mostly on metigation.
The agenda has to be directed more towards of adaptation!
annebogeholm |
September 29, 2009
As a blogging task we were told to choose 3 words that described some of what we thought we had learned at class monday and then write a blog from theese words.
Monday we were evaluating on a work shop we did at a climate camp at a danish highschool last week, from wich I think I learned a lot. As the three words I chose “Evaluation”, “Pracsis” and “Message” – they are all related to the workshop and the evaluation.
Evaluating
At class we are devided into smaller, fixed groups of around 7 people, in wich we discuss different subjects. – they are called home-groups, and the name almost indicate the aim of theese groups, a place where you know the people and where you should feel safe to tell your oppinion when discussing. Monday morning we evaluated on how the work in the home-groups is going.
In the beginning of the course we decided on specific rules in each group for how to make sure to involve everybody in discussions. In the past week I realized how easy it is to decide upon the rules compared to the difficulties keeping them. Last week each group were supposed to plan and make a workshop at a climate camp at a danish highschool. In our group we had hard times reaching decissions during the planning of the workshop. One of the rules we in the group decided upon in the beginning was: “if you have something to say you have to put up a finger and wait until it is your turn, you can not just interupt”, this rule works very well in order to make everybody heard but it made the discussion move very slow. We kind of circled around the same subjects. When the discussion was moving and getting to a new point, it was pulled back again by someone who put their finger up two min. ago – like taking 2 steps forward and then one step back.
Suddently we were very low on time getting the workshop prepared, things had to go fast, and people quickly stepped into different roles, making the discissions much easier to be taken. Some took a leading role and some stepped more in the back – I am not sure if this was good or bad? Sometimes it is propably needed.
Back to my chosen word “evaluating“, I think the monday morning group-evaluating was very important. We decided to change the rules and now try to take turns of being the “discussion-dictator”, who is to decide whos turn it is and when a subject has been talked through.
Pracsis
The climate camp workshop really made me see how hard it is to use theory we have learned at class in pracsis. Fx. “the importance of partcipation when teaching” I really agree on the theory, but it is hard to use it and actually to get it to work. How to motivate people to participate? In this case I think the slogan “fail, fail better” makes very good sence, you have to try and learn from what you are doing.
Message
The workshop also made me see how hard it is to actually formulate your message in a clear and simple way so that the ones you are trying to teach get your point. Our mean for the workshop was to focus on adaptation instead of mitigation. We tried to explain the expressions “adaption” and “climate debt”, but we had troubles getting them to understand and get the picture of the words. So when we got to the interactive part of the workshop, where we wanted them to do a brainstorm on “their way to affect the descissions made on climate” they focussed very much on the mitigation part and how to lower our emmissions – things they are used to think about when talking of climate: “turn of the light when leaving a room” “ride your bike instead of taking the car”. So we did not really get our message trough, but now we at least know something about our target group for the campaign.
annebogeholm |
September 20, 2009
Okay.. I wrote my first blog, so I have got started – somehow. But that first one was an easy one. It had kind of an obvious headline ”the first” under which it seems obvious what to write: “I started this course.. It seems exiciting.. I am looking forward to see which campaign we end up doing..”. But now when we actually have got started, what should I write about then? Who am I writing to and what are my reasons? I see that blogging is a smart way of communicating and that is has become an important media - it really makes it easy to get your oppinions out in public and share it with others. But what do I have of important oppinions to share? What do I know?
This friday we used some time discussing upon the whole thing about blogging. Some are doing very well and some, like me, are not really certain of what to do with it . Those who are doing well tried to explain how they are using their blogs, which seems to be in many different ways. All of them makes perfectly good sence to me and still I find it difficult to start. Casper explained that he mostly uses it for personal reflection on the subjects we touch during class and he told that to him the important part of it is the learning process. ”That makes good sence..” I am thinking, I will try to reflect. But sitting down reflecting and really wanting big thoughts to pup-up does not really work for me, it probably does not work for anyone. Though I tell my self that the post can be about anything, really a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g this “anything” seems to be to big to reflect on, and even though I have been given the opportunity to write anything I still feel like writing something useful - eather useful for me or for others, at least useful in some way.
So I guess theese thoughts is what made me take so long posting my second post. Maybe I am feeling pressured by wanting to do blogging the right way, well, apparently that does not get me anywhere.
As my blogging mentor told me today: “the most important thing is not to see blogging as a duty”, and I really see the point in that.
annebogeholm |
September 10, 2009
So the Global Change course has begun, and I have a good feeling about it! We are 31 persons starting this course, all of us with very different backgrounds and experiences but everybody seems to be just as eager to get startet. The first two days has past and allready I feel like getting the campaign going - I want to share the knowledge that levitates in theese classrooms in Copenhagen with people out in the society. The solutions to prevent global warming seems so obvious, they are there, we just need to convince people that something has to be done. In small moments things seems so easy, and thinking big and being ambitious is no problem! To spent the day in theese MS-rooms full of people who all are ready to get engaged in this project fighting for climate and climate justice gives me a feeling of wanting to do something right now, even though it might not be easy and even though we can not convince the whole world to do better in one day.
annebogeholm |
September 9, 2009
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