Ecological Intelligence

1. Basically, what ecological intelligence is knowing what the impact of you everyday decisions are on the environment.

2. This relates the question 'Why don't people live more sustainably?' because people may not live sustainably because they do not know how to. If somebody doesn't have any ecological intelligence, then they can't really live sustainably. After reading this article, it seems to me that even the people that think they are living sustainably really are not. I believe that people really need to open their eyes to see what they are actually doing to the planet and analyze each of their actions to see if it really is an environmentally friendly move.

3. I believe that I don't really have that high of ecological intelligence. I believe that I really need to learn to live more sustainably. Even though I may not be very well educated, I do believe that I display some ecological intelligence. An example is that when I leave my room I always shut off the lights because I understand that when I waste power by leaving lights on, not only does it affect my power bill, but the coal mines all the way in Africa where the coal was mined that was used to burn to make the power, was just increase because of what I did. I realize that leaving my lights on doesn't only affect me, but the rest of the world as well.

Data Analysis

1. After looking at this data I was very surprised about many things here. First of all, why is it that 90 percent of people actually admit to leaving home electronics and appliances on? When you think about it, that means that so much energy could be conserved if that 90 percent of people would just turn off their appliances and electronics. If they're not being used, why do they need to be on? Anther thing that shocked me was that approximately 33 percent (the majority) said that they actually used their electronics and appliances two to three hours a day, but then over half of the people said that they leave them on for 2-3 hours a day. This means that people are using their appliance/electronics for the same amount of time that they are just leaving them on! This truly amazed me.

2. I was very surprised about the result that a lot more people than I would've thought actually invest in energy saving electronics and appliances. I wasn't expecting near as much as one third of the people actually doing that. I know that it's not a lot, but going out and replacing a refrigerator or a computer with an energy star computer or refrigerator is a really big deal. I think this shows that people are actually becoming aware of what is happening to the environment. 

3. I had a lot of expectation, some were met and others were not. For example, I thought that people would have a lot more than just 2-3 electronics/appliances that they frequently leave on. I thought the number would be a lot bigger, more like 5 or 6. Also, I didn't think near as much people would have invested in energy saving electronics/appliances but they actually did. The other thing that didn't meet my expectations was the fact that people would leave things on for the same amount of time that they use them.  I wasn't surprised to see so many people leaving on their appliances/electronics even though it was a very large number.

4. After analyzing this evidence, I feel the appropriate angle to approach this in is to make people use their common sense. I think that once we show people how stupid it is to have all of the things in their home on when it's not being used as for the same time that they actually use it. Once people realize this, they'll understand how dumb that is, which will cause them to change their ways.

The Dervae Family

After watching a documentary on the Dervae family, my mind has really been opened up to what people can do to live more sustainibly even if they live in the middle of the city. It really struck me that somebody living in a place as urban as LA can maintain such organic foods and be able to provide for themselves. This family's wants vs needs are way different then mine probably. For one thing, and food items can be taken off the needs list because they can grow all of their own food. Also, it mentioned in the documentary that they use alternate means of transportation which would eliminiate an cars and car maintenence of the list. This video ties into what we are reading on Ishmael because this is an example of a family who's food is not under lock and key because they grow it themselves. Also it is a great inspirational example of how such a simple famly can live so sustainibly.

Ishmael Questions - March 2, 2009

"anthropomorphism"

1. The representation of the Deity, or of a polytheistic deity, under a human form, or with human attributes and affections.

2. The ascription of human characteristics to things not human.

I think that Ishmael is saying that people mark their territory, except instead of doing it the way that animals do it, he thinks we do it by purchasing things and then using them. An example of this would be buying clothes and then wearing them, or buying a house and then living in it. It really isn't ours, but because we purchased it, we believe it is our teritory to defend.

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2a. Ishmael thinks that Erratic Retaliation is kind of like what goes around comes around. He basically thinks that if you are going to do things that'll piss another tribe off, then you should expect the tribe to do the same to you.

2b. Ishmael thinks that it keeps the peace because almost everybody agrees to it, and it was the only thing left they had to try, which ended up working.

2c. The reason that the Cawks to just annihilate eachother is because it is againts Erratic Retaliation. Also, if they went againts Erratic Retaliation, then all the tribes would think that they don't have to follow it either, and everybody would just completely go into a huge war and kill eachother.