CI class 10/20: Money and the Occupy Wall Street protests

Hi everybody,

Thanks for a great class last Thursday, 10/13, and thanks to everyone who participated!!  As always, I learned a lot from everyone, and I found the presentations and discussions to be very interesting.    

Last week, our discussion led us to a protester who lived in a 1000 year old tree for two years in order to save it from being cut down by loggers.  

Why did the logging company want to cut down such an old and irreplaceable tree?  

Why do humans cut down entire forests and destroy the landscape in order to get oil and coal?  

There is a high demand for quality wood and for energy sources like oil and coal, and the companies who supply these resources can make a lot of money!  

So next week's topic is Money.  

Money is not necessarily evil.  We all need money!  And we all want money!  

Personally, I like making money: when I have money, I can buy plane tickets to America and Norway to visit my family and friends.  I also need to make money: I have to buy food for myself and for my dogs, and I have to put gas in my car...  !!  

But it seems that the pursuit of money often leads humans to make decisions which harm our neighbors, our health, our earth, and our future.  

The Occupy Wall Street movement has gone international.  Ten thousand people marched in New York yesterday, and there were big protests in London, Frankfurt, Madrid, Rome, Sydney, Hong Kong, and many other cities as well.    

Jim Wallis of Sojourners says that the protesters are are "raising very basic questions about an economy that has become increasingly unfair, unstable, unsustainable, and unhappy for a growing number of people.

Protesters in the Occupy movement are "occupying" areas around and near financial institutions in big cities, in order to protest against economic inequality and corporate greed.  

In the US, protesters are pointing out that "almost 40% of US wealth is held in the hands of 1% of the population, who are taxed more lightly than the majority of Americans." 


"Protesters are complaining about tax breaks for oil companies, excessive lobbying in Washington, astronomical pay and bonuses for financiers, and the bailout of the banking sector."

(The above information is quoted from the Oct. 8, 2011 Guardian article at 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/08/occupy-america-protests-financial-crisis ).  Read the article for an in depth introduction to this protest!  

On 10/20 please feel free to speak about any aspect of money that interests you!  I hope both sides will be represented... the positive and the negative!  

Some questions to get you started thinking...  

Is there a "financial crisis" going on right now, and if so, what has caused it?  

Why has the Occupy Wall Street movement now spread to cities all over the world? 

What do the "Occupy" protesters hope to accomplish?  What are their methods?  

What do you think of this statement?:  
"There are those who say the system is broken.  It's not!  That's how it was built.  It is there to make rich people richer." 
- Trade union activist Bilbo Goransson 

Why do the 1% of people who have more wealth than the rest actually pay a lower percentage of taxes than the rest?  

What has happened or is happening in countries such as Iceland, Ireland, and Greece?  

What's a bank bail-out?  Why do banks have to be bailed out, and how do the bail-outs of banks or big companies affect economies?  

What are the tax laws in Taiwan?  

What is the attitude towards paying taxes in Taiwan?

What is the state of the Taiwanese economy?

What is free market and how well is it working for us?   

What countries seem to have an economic system that benefits their entire population?  

What improvements could be made in the way our society currently manages money?!  

I look forward to an exciting discussion about Money (and the Occupy protests!) on Thursday, 10/20!

See you then!

Sincerely, Abbie 

CI class 10/13: Trees, Forests, and Deforestation

Hi Everyone!

I hope you're all enjoying a rainy Double Ten weekend!  I loved the thunder and lightning storm.

Thanks for another great class last Thursday:  I found all the presentations to be quite thought-provoking, and I really enjoyed the ensuing class discussions.  Thanks to all for your participation!  

Next class I'd like to delve into the theme of "Trees, Forests, and Deforestation." 

As always, feel free to take this theme anywhere you'd like!  As as always, please try to limit your presentation to about 8 to 10 minutes or less.

Some possible directions are

Trees
* a certain type of tree (either rare or common!)
* your favorite tree!  
* personal experiences with trees!  (childhood memories of tree-climbing, your own tree-planting experiences, ... etc.!) 
* the biology of a tree
* how trees help humans 
* the world's tallest tree
* special tree ecosystems
* ...!   

Forests
* Taiwan's ancient forests 
* the History of logging in Taiwan 
* Rain forests
* Boreal forests 
* Old growth forests 
* Why forests are important for humans and for the earth
* personal forest experiences! 
* ...!

Deforestation:
* Causes of deforestation (such as logging, grazing, agriculture, etc.)
* Consequences of deforesation ( such as habitat loss leading to species extinction, drought, desertification, global warming, etc.) 
* Solutions to the problem of deforestation 
* Examples of people or groups who are fighting deforestation 
* ...! 

And here are some useful resources and links for you!...  

Trees: 

Have you ever climbed a tree?!  
Listen to a TED talk on the giant redwood trees of the Pacific Northwest:
"Richard Preston on the Giant Trees" (19 min 29 sec)
"Science writer Richard Preston talks about some of the most enormous living beings on the planet, the giant trees of the US Pacific Northwest. Growing from a tiny seed, they support vast ecosystems -- and are still, largely, a mystery."

As with all TED talks, you can get Traditional Chinese subtitles by clicking on the box next to "Subtitles Available In" under the video image. 
Mr. Preston  talks about "redwood time," being much slower than human time!  :D  And he shows us some serious tree-climbing, and introduces "sky-walking!" 


Forests: 

* "Primary forests are irreplaceable for sustaining tropical biodiversity."
for a review of an article recently published in the scientific journal Nature, as well as a graph of 2005-2010 primary forest loss, and links to other articles about forests. 


* "Old-Growth Forests Help Combat Climate Change," Scientific American: 
a quote from the above article:  "According to some estimates, less than 10 percent of forests worldwide can be considered old growth, or undisturbed for more than a century. And that is not just a tragedy for the plants and animals that require mature forests—it is also a tragedy for the world's climate, according to a study published today in Nature."

* Another TED talk, this time by a man who worked to save a forest in Congo:
"Corneille Ewango: A hero of the Congo Forest" (18 min 22 sec) 
"Botanist Corneille Ewango talks about his work at the Okapi Faunal Reserve in the Congo Basin -- and his heroic work protecting it from poachers, miners and raging civil wars."  
(Once again, you may want to use the Chinese subtitles.) 


Deforestation:

* A quote from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation :
"In many countries, deforestation, both naturally occurring and human induced, is an ongoing issue. Deforestation causes extinction, changes to climatic conditions, desertification, and displacement of populations as observed by current conditions and in the past through the fossil record.[4]"


* Please see this helpful National Geographic page:


Here's a quote from the above Nat. Geo. page:
"The statistics paint a grim picture. According to the World Resources Institute, more than 80 percent of the Earth’s natural forests already have been destroyed. 
Up to 90 percent of West Africa’s coastal rain forests have disappeared since 1900. 
Brazil and Indonesia, which contain the world’s two largest surviving regions of rain forest, are being stripped at an alarming rate by logging, fires, and land-clearing for agriculture and cattle-grazing."


has a good break down of the causes and consequences of deforestation.  
To quote from this page: "Indigenous forests now cover 21% of the earth's land surface."

* Below are some quotes from the article "Deforestation: the Hidden Cause of Global Warming," which you can read at 

** "Carbon emissions from deforestation far outstrip damage caused by planes and automobiles and factories."
** "The rainforests of the Amazon, the Congo basin and Indonesia are thought of as the lungs of the planet."
** "As the GCP's report concludes: "If we lose forests, we lose the fight against climate change.""
** "International demand has driven intensive agriculture, logging and ranching that has proved an inexorable force for deforestation; conservation has been no match for commerce."

Desertification 

A quote from the above page: "Perhaps the most frightening aspect of desertification is that it tends to be what scientists call a runaway phenomenon. Once it begins in a particular area, it is almost impossible to stop, and it cannot be reversed within a human lifetime."

************

Enjoy thinking about trees, everybody, and see you this Thursday!  I look forward to many exciting presentations on Trees, Forests, and Deforestation.  (or anything else you want to talk about!  :D  )   

Sincerely, Abbie 

CI class 10/6: more inspiring people, Mongolia, and Julia Butterfly Hill

Hi everybody in CI class!

I hope you're all staying dry!  This rain just seems to be nonstop!  

It was great seeing you last Thursday.  I was especially happy after last class because I had been able to hear every single person's voice: some during the presentations, some during the discussions, and some while chatting with me during the break and after class!  Thank you everyone for contributing so much!  It was really a great class and I was so happy after I got home!  

Thank you to all of you who presented last Thursday: you offered a really interesting mix of people and subjects, and I loved all of your presentations!!

Thank you also to Jonas, who has created a great blog page for us on facebook, and a cool logo too.  

On Thursday 10/6 we're going to listen to the remaining presentations about People Who Have Made a Difference.  If there are any of you who didn't get to present about Someone Who's Made the World a Better Place last week, and would like to do so this week, please feel free!   

And then in the second hour this Thursday,10/6, we will finally get to hear Karen share about what she was up to in Mongolia!  

I think it's going to be an exciting class, so I hope you all can make it, even if it's still "raining dogs and cats"...!  

In the meantime, if you're looking for some reading material, I'd like to introduce another person who is making a difference in this world: Julia Butterfly Hill.  

She is known for her act of civil disobedience trying to save a 50 m tall ancient (more than 1000 years old!) redwood tree in California. 

She lived in that tree for two years (Dec. 1997 - Dec. 1999), so that the loggers couldn't cut it down.  She was trespassing, so it was illegal for her to be there.  If they had cut the tree down while she was in it, she would have fallen with the tree and died, so the loggers couldn't do anything.  And of course they were really mad and tried many ways to make her get out of the tree, including scaring her with helicopters flying really close, and trying to cut off her food supplies...!! 

After Julia came down from the tree, she continued trying to change the world...  According to Wikipedia, she was arrested in Ecuador in 2002 for protesting a proposed oil pipeline that was going to cut through a "virgin Andean cloud forest."  (I mention this detail since we've been talking about oil pipelines!  :D )  

Here's the Wikipedia article about her!  

Here's an article about what she has to say now, written quite recently (July 2011).  Many protesters are full of anger, but in this  article, Julia talks about how love is stronger than anger, and how every choice we make has an impact.     

And here's the google images page for Julia Butterfly Hill:  some of the photos there are from when she was living in the tree!  

If we have time on 10/6, we'll discuss Julia too!  I love to hear what you think about her! 

But we might have more than enough to talk about with the presentations and Karen's special sharing about Mongolia... !!  
We'll just see what happens and take things as they come!   

See you all in a few days!

Sincerely, Abbie 

CI class 9/29: some questions to start off with tomorrow

Hi CI class!  

Here are the questions I will ask at the beginning of tomorrow's class, as an introduction discussion to our topic ("People who have made the world a better place"), because sometimes normal, rational people feel they have to resort to desperate measures in order to make their voices heard.    

(If you didn't watch it last week, check out this short video: 
Tar Sands Action: Come Join Us!   (2 min 51 sec)   

What do you think of these people in the video who are getting themselves arrested, and what do you think of their protest method? 

Do you feel you understand why they have resorted to "civil disobedience"?  

How successful do you think "civil disobedience" is as a protest method?  

Also last time I asked:
 
What do you think of the protesters in this video?  What would you say to those who say the protesters are hypocrites because they also use oil?   

And, maybe the most important question that I'd like to discuss: 

How far would you yourself go to speak out about something that you believe in?  How far would you go to protest something you believe is wrong or unfair or harmful?  Would you get arrested for a cause you believed was just?  

("How far would you go" here refers not to actual physical distance, but to "the lengths" to which you would go, meaning "What would you be willing to do in order to make your voice heard?"  
for example:
Would you be willing to write a letter to the government?  Would you be willing to join a protest?  Would you be willing to get arrested and sent to jail?)   

We'll take about 15 or 20 minutes to discuss these questions at the beginning of the class, and then we'll go on to your presentations about people who are making or who have made a difference in our world!  

Sincerely, Abbie 

CI class 9/29: People Who Have Made the World a Better Place

Hi everybody!

As I said last time, the theme for next class is: 

"People Who Have Made a (Positive!) Difference" 

or

"People Who Have Made the World a Better Place" 

This theme was inspired by the people who are fighting the Keystone XL Pipeline, because they feel they have to stand up for what they believe is best for the people and the earth.  These people are using Civil Disobedience to get their message across, and they mention Gandhi (the leader of the Indian independence movement), Martin Luther King (the leader of the American civil rights movement), and Susan B. Anthony (the leader of the women's suffrage - right to vote - movement) as some of their inspirations:  people who changed the world through nonviolent means.  

There are lots of problems in our society and on our earth, but there are also lots of people in the world who are doing positive work and trying to make our world a better place!  Let's learn about some of them!  Hopefully we will all be inspired!  

I hope everyone will prepare a presentation about someone you feel has made a difference or is making a difference in our world!  And I hope that you each will feel free to talk about any person you think fits the description of having made a positive difference.   

This person can be someone who's done environmental work (as per our last discussions), but you don't have to limit yourself to the field of the environment.  It can be anyone you feel has made a difference through political activism or journalism or bravery or poetry or principles or art or medicine or music or science or ... anything!!!  :)  

As I said in class, please limit your presentations to no more than 8 - 10 minutes.  And if you want to give a shorter talk, 2 - 3 minutes, or even less, that's just fine too!  :)  

If you are stuck for ideas, here are some questions to ask and to possibly answer:

Who is this person? 
What problems did he/she face?  
What situation did he/she want to change? 
What did he/she do to make that change?  
What challenges did he/she have to overcome? 
Why is the world better because of his/her work?  

It can also be about someone who is doing their work right now, and who hasn't succeeded yet, but who is bravely trying to make a change against all odds.  

I'll send another email soon!  The next email will contain the questions that I mentioned at the end of last class; we will explore our answers to those questions at the start of next Thursday's class.  

Take care, and see you in class on Thursday!

Sincerely, Abbie 

CI class 9/22 Keystone XL Pipestone

civil disobedience = 溫和抵抗 or 不合作主義
Hi everybody,
In preparation for next class, here are two more videos for you to watch, and an article for you to read.  
I know there are only two evenings left before our class; so if you don't have time to read the article, please just watch the videos!  :)  They're short and informative!  
If you do have time to read within the next two days, the article I've included is excellent, and the comments below it are enlightening as well, and come from people both in favor of and against the pipeline.  
Here are some important terms for the below two videos:  

boreal forest = 寒帶森林
arrest = 逮捕
(These definitions are according to my dictionary: the old-fashioned real book kind!  Let me know if you have any better Chinese definitions for these words!!!)
* The first video introduces the proposed pipeline and calls people to join in an act of civil disobedience in front of the White House in order to protest the proposal:
Josh Fox for the Tar Sands Action (4 min 39 sec)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5QqsLsMroM

* The civil disobedience protests have already taken place, during the last weeks of August and the very beginning of September.  This video follows some of the protesters as they prepared for their action and protested peacefully and got arrested.
Tar Sands Action: Come Join Us!   (2 min 51 sec)   


The website mentioned in the videos can be found at:   



*  Finally, here is an excellent article from Yale Environment 360; after you read the article itself, read the thoughtful comments below the article as well:


Sincerely, Abbie 

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