Your Life On Earth: Philosophy Project
Project: Collage
Reflection:
Paragraph 1: Project Description
In the philosophy project, we covered a lot of topics, got to have meaningful conversations with my peers and the ones wiser than me, and I started to understand my own philosophy. We started out this project by reading Into The wild, a book on a man and his existential journey, as well as covering other topics of philosophy like vices and virtues, eudiamonia, and other mind altering subjects. I didn’t really much like those subjects, I found I couldn’t connect with them very well. But, after writing enough journals and seeing that my views were changing, I started to understand it better. After speaking to these folks at Westminster Village, a retirement home where I got talk to Bob and Gene, I walked away realizing how important simply living life and experiences things for yourself is. Another lesson I walked away with is doing things for others, and just being a person that cares for others immensely. So, in my final project being my collage, I wanted to answer the essential question, “What does it mean to live a meaningful life.” So I reflected my personal philosophy being how I find the most meaning when I am experiencing things with my friends.
Paragraph 2: New Insights
Honestly for most of the project, philosophy didn’t click, my opinions were slim and my interest was low. But after I got a better grasp on things, I was able to think back to the topics we went over earlier in the project and made sense and meaning of them. An example of this is vices and virtues. Looking back on learning about it, I now see importance in working towards being virtuous, and not having a lot of vices. Even just being conscious about those things and how to cultivate them is a big step. Another insight I have is that every human experience is different, some people live their lives driven by their philosophies deeply embedded in their decisions, other’s live life simply not thinking about it. It took me a while to realize that, because in the beginning of this project philosophy seemed and still is a deep idea, that I didn’t really understand. I felt out of place because my peers were more well-spoken on the topic, and I didn’t really have anything to say at all. But I realized that that’s ok, my philosophy can simply be to just live and let things happen as they happen.
Paragraph 3: Further Questions and Intellectual Work Left to Do
I don’t really know what others questions I have, I am just curious where this life will take me, and what lessons I will learn.
Paragraph 1: Project Description
In the philosophy project, we covered a lot of topics, got to have meaningful conversations with my peers and the ones wiser than me, and I started to understand my own philosophy. We started out this project by reading Into The wild, a book on a man and his existential journey, as well as covering other topics of philosophy like vices and virtues, eudiamonia, and other mind altering subjects. I didn’t really much like those subjects, I found I couldn’t connect with them very well. But, after writing enough journals and seeing that my views were changing, I started to understand it better. After speaking to these folks at Westminster Village, a retirement home where I got talk to Bob and Gene, I walked away realizing how important simply living life and experiences things for yourself is. Another lesson I walked away with is doing things for others, and just being a person that cares for others immensely. So, in my final project being my collage, I wanted to answer the essential question, “What does it mean to live a meaningful life.” So I reflected my personal philosophy being how I find the most meaning when I am experiencing things with my friends.
Paragraph 2: New Insights
Honestly for most of the project, philosophy didn’t click, my opinions were slim and my interest was low. But after I got a better grasp on things, I was able to think back to the topics we went over earlier in the project and made sense and meaning of them. An example of this is vices and virtues. Looking back on learning about it, I now see importance in working towards being virtuous, and not having a lot of vices. Even just being conscious about those things and how to cultivate them is a big step. Another insight I have is that every human experience is different, some people live their lives driven by their philosophies deeply embedded in their decisions, other’s live life simply not thinking about it. It took me a while to realize that, because in the beginning of this project philosophy seemed and still is a deep idea, that I didn’t really understand. I felt out of place because my peers were more well-spoken on the topic, and I didn’t really have anything to say at all. But I realized that that’s ok, my philosophy can simply be to just live and let things happen as they happen.
Paragraph 3: Further Questions and Intellectual Work Left to Do
I don’t really know what others questions I have, I am just curious where this life will take me, and what lessons I will learn.
- Will I ever truly find my purpose in life?
- How do I live the most meaningful life?
- How will my idea of self change as time goes on? In what aspect will it change?
- I wonder if or when I will have a mid-life crisis?
Rhetoric Project:
Reflection:
- Shaw and I’s original plan was to create a podcast on the topic of climate change. We interviewed a conservative perspective by the name of Travis Price, and we also got resources from a liberal/left perspective by the name Grady James. The podcast didn’t end up happening because of technical difficulties, however, we created a script that includes common ground from both sides, as well as perspectives from Travis and Grady.
- Studying the political spectrum more deeply this project, my ideals have been changed. Getting the opportunity to talk to a conservative and a liberal panel, I found that I was able to connect with both sides more than I thought, as well as being able to disagree with a fellow “liberal”. The conservative panel made points that made so much more sense than that of the liberal panel. During this project, we took the political test. We would answer questions to figure where we stood on the spectrum. My test showed that I was a economic left/social libertarian. This test was a moment when I realized that my ideals as a young American were changing. I knew I stood on the left side, but the test asked questions that I found myself responding to with a more right/conservative view.
- I’ve learned a lot about rhetoric and ideology in this project. Coming into it, I had the idea that when people wanted to get their point across, you should just be well worded and get your point across. But it is much deeper than that. I learned that there really is an art to argumentation. There are so many ways to effectively get your point across. I’ve found that the democratic experiment is connected to rhetoric because in a democratic society, everyone has there own ideals, which they are free to express.
- In this project, there was a sentence that was thrown around; “the willingness to be disturbed.” This sentence opened up a connection to how the reason we are so politically divided is because we are all so close minded. Referring back to the conservative panel, I went into the interview close minded, not really wanting to hear what the other side had to say. But by opening my mind and allowing myself to “be disturbed,” I could connect to the ideas of those speaking. It is my belief that if we were more open to what individuals with different perspectives than us have to say, we could have a more common ground as politically active people. This directly correlates with rhetoric, and how people communicate their views. Rogerian rhetoric is exploring common ground, in order to come to an agreement. But at the same time, it is important that we have different views, it is inevitable that we would. It comes down to how we communicate with each other.
Project Script:
Today we are going to be talking about climate change. We were to interview and talk to one conservative and one liberal about their views on climate change. Shaw and I were trying to focus on the effects that climate change has on winters and the economy. In this podcast, we were lucky enough to talk to Travis Price, a world-renowned architect, teacher, author, philosopher, and a man who did it all. Travis was our conservative perspective. Unfortunately, we were unable to set up an interview with a liberal perspective. But, we were still able to reach out to Grady James, a local ripping ski guide, and an avid outdoorsman with a degree in snow science. He was kind enough to send us his senior thesis paper and some other resources that we looked over. We will let Travis’s speaking tell the story of how he feels about climate change and renewable resources affecting the economy.
But before we get into the interviews, let's lay down some common ground. Honestly, before I did my research, I had the idea that the majority of Republicans either don’t believe in climate change or just don’t support renewable energy. For the most part, the research I did showed that most everyone on the right side believed in climate change, and even partially supported renewable energy sources. From a couple of sources I read, they did, however, say that just because an energy source is deemed “renewable”, doesn’t mean it will be eco friendly or cost-effective. From solarpowernerd.com, “SolarPV energy efficiency is low. It ranges from 20% for commercial cells to 50% for expensive industrial purposes.” Having had my previous ideas, I was very surprised by these views, and I now can understand where a right/conservative biased person can be coming from. Now to cover the more left/liberal, I already had an idea of what I was getting into, so when I did my research, I just dived deeper into what I had already learned. Not only did I learn about how poor winters affect the environment and the economy, but I also learned about the new green deal and future president Biden’s plan for environmental change. What I could connect to what Travis touches upon in the interview, was the idea of protecting the economy. I was looking at an article that talked about the economic effect of things, and one sentence that stuck out was “Colorado, where winter recreation, largely around downhill skiing and snowboarding, supports some 43,000 jobs — more than in any other state”, from (ClimateCentral.org). When you add all of the ski resorts around the country and the number of jobs, you would get tons of winter jobs that are directly affected by the amount of snow.
“A lot of small companies already invented all the inventions for better efficient energy systems and when I worked for President Carter he came in with an agenda to go for more of that. The problem is all the good ideas then went into government regulations and bureaucracies. They wrecked the environmental movement at that point it just stopped because what you could do in six days or six weeks in the private sector 6 months 6 years in the government. In fact, we did a lot of calculations about how we can do this faster with or without a government grant. We might as well go out work at McDonald's and make the same money in one year and complete the project.”
“So the really big argument for me about why the private sector is better because that's where innovation starts. The current heroes being Elon Musk and others but also what the government is good for is just really looking at the big picture but not funding it not getting involved just making sure that if there is something that like NASA that you need to research at a certain point you might dive in at that point and you might augment. I can just tell you that the speed drops that's why I think the government should step away. If they start making restrictions like regulations maybe that's okay like every car has to go 50 miles per gallon.”
Now, on to Grady’s position. Good Snowfall in Colorado and all over the world is a very necessary thing. You not only get a good winter that helps boost the economy and create jobs you feel the effect much longer than you would think. Mountain runoff provides 65 - 90% of usable water in arid and semi-arid climates (James). This is very important because, without it, our plants and vegetation don’t get as much water during the summer. The small amounts of rainfall that we get are not enough to keep everything green and healthy throughout the summer. This leads to large wildfires. Because the vegetation is so dry, it doesn’t take much to start a fire that can quickly evolve into a huge wildfire. Durango experienced one first hand with the 416 fire in 2018. This fire devastated a large amount of wildlife and vegetation. This is a direct result of a bad snowfall that could not keep the vegetation hydrated. Not only does the vegetation and wildlife feel the effects of a bad snowfall humans do too. The Colorado river that starts from the runoff of snow in the mountains provides water for 7 states. With less snowfall each year we will see less water in the river for us to use.
After getting the opportunity to speak to both Travis and Grady, we have both been able to step back and come forward with new ideas. This project opened up my mind to understanding people who have different views from me. When we’re setting up an interview with Travis, even though I had already talked to him in the conservative panel, and I already knew that he was a very smart well-worded man, I still expected my reactions to be different. I thought that we would have pretty different ideas, and we aren’t really similar. But after conducting that interview, I found that both me and Shaw were able to connect with what he was saying. A point that Travis made that made sense to me was when we were talking about how renewable energy should be controlled/mandated. He made the point that private companies should do what they want with their energy sources, and the government should only step in when necessary. At first, I thought about how that might not be as effective, but then I thought about if companies weren’t controlled by the government and their goals, they could do some real good. To then compare to the resources that Grady provided, I was able to come up with a solution that made sense. Grady expanded my knowledge on how important winters are, and that poor winters do have harmful effects. After learning about both sides, I think that in order for us to make a change for the future of the planet, measures need to be taken quickly and effectively. The government needs to put policies in place for companies to take action, but at the same time, people need to step up on their own.
Bibliography
“Benefits of Renewable Energy Use.” Union of Concerned Scientists,
www.ucsusa.org/resources/benefits-renewable-energy-use.
Contributor, et al. “Why Renewable Energy Is Bad For The Environment: The Full
Facts.” Solar Power Nerd, 3 Dec. 2019,
solarpowernerd.com/why-renewable-energy-is-bad-for-the-environment/.
Conversation, The. “Hydropower Dams Can Harm Coastal Areas Far Downstream.”
EcoWatch, EcoWatch, 18 Dec. 2019, www.ecowatch.com/hydropower-dams-environmental-problems-2637609622.html.
DeSilver, Drew. “Renewable Energy Is Growing Fast in the U.S., but Fossil Fuels Still
Dominate.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 30 May 2020, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/15/renewable-energy-is-growing-fast-in-the-u-s-but-fossil-fuels-still-dominate/.
DSouza, Deborah. “The Green New Deal Explained.” Investopedia, Investopedia,
8 Oct. 2020, www.investopedia.com/the-green-new-deal-explained-4588463.
Emily Folk. “- The Many Economic Benefits of Renewable Energy.” Renewable Energy
Magazine, at the Heart of Clean Energy Journalism, Emily Folk, 12 Mar. 2019, www.renewableenergymagazine.com/emily-folk/the-many-economic-benefits-of-renewable-energy-20190312.
“Environmental Impacts of Renewable Energy Technologies.” Union of Concerned
Scientists, www.ucsusa.org/resources/environmental-impacts-renewable-energy-technologies.
Heinberg, Richard. “Renewable Energy Will Not Support Economic Growth.” Post
Carbon Institute, 14 Nov. 2019,
www.postcarbon.org/renewable-energy-will-not-support-economic-growth/.
HeritageFoundation. “Nick Loris on the Ben Shapiro Show: We Aren't Headed Toward
Serious Climate Catastrophe.” YouTube, YouTube, 15 May 2019,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvnUXo4b0fA.
James, Grady. “Historical Snowfall rates in the San Juan Mountains, Mountain Studies
Colloquium: Winter-2013.” PDF.
James, Grady. “Snow as Water Storage: Benefits of snow and ice reserves as a water
tower, Proposed solutions to help prevent a global meltdown.” Class Presentation, 2019, Mountain Middle School, Durango, Co.
Nunn, Ryan, et al. “Ten Facts about the Economics of Climate Change and Climate
Policy.” Brookings, Brookings, 6 Apr. 2020,
www.brookings.edu/research/ten-facts-about-the-economics-of-climate-ch
ange-and-climate-policy/.
“ON THIN ICE: How Climate Change Is Shaping Winter Recreation.” Climate Central,
23 Jan. 2020,
www.climatecentral.org/news/report-on-thin-ice-climate-change-shaping-winter-recreation.
Price, Travis. Personal interview. 4 Dec 2020
“Renewable Energy vs Fossil Fuels: 5 Essential Facts.” Amigo Energy, 25 Jan.
2018, amigoenergy.com/blog/renewable-energy-vs-fossil-fuels/.
RepublicanViews.org. “Home.” Republican Views, 14 June 2015,
www.republicanviews.org/republican-views-on-global-warming/.
Sommer, Lauren, et al. “How Warming Winters Are Affecting Everything.” NPR, NPR, 18
Feb. 2020,
www.npr.org/2020/02/18/803125282/how-warming-winters-are-affecting-everythi
ng.
But before we get into the interviews, let's lay down some common ground. Honestly, before I did my research, I had the idea that the majority of Republicans either don’t believe in climate change or just don’t support renewable energy. For the most part, the research I did showed that most everyone on the right side believed in climate change, and even partially supported renewable energy sources. From a couple of sources I read, they did, however, say that just because an energy source is deemed “renewable”, doesn’t mean it will be eco friendly or cost-effective. From solarpowernerd.com, “SolarPV energy efficiency is low. It ranges from 20% for commercial cells to 50% for expensive industrial purposes.” Having had my previous ideas, I was very surprised by these views, and I now can understand where a right/conservative biased person can be coming from. Now to cover the more left/liberal, I already had an idea of what I was getting into, so when I did my research, I just dived deeper into what I had already learned. Not only did I learn about how poor winters affect the environment and the economy, but I also learned about the new green deal and future president Biden’s plan for environmental change. What I could connect to what Travis touches upon in the interview, was the idea of protecting the economy. I was looking at an article that talked about the economic effect of things, and one sentence that stuck out was “Colorado, where winter recreation, largely around downhill skiing and snowboarding, supports some 43,000 jobs — more than in any other state”, from (ClimateCentral.org). When you add all of the ski resorts around the country and the number of jobs, you would get tons of winter jobs that are directly affected by the amount of snow.
“A lot of small companies already invented all the inventions for better efficient energy systems and when I worked for President Carter he came in with an agenda to go for more of that. The problem is all the good ideas then went into government regulations and bureaucracies. They wrecked the environmental movement at that point it just stopped because what you could do in six days or six weeks in the private sector 6 months 6 years in the government. In fact, we did a lot of calculations about how we can do this faster with or without a government grant. We might as well go out work at McDonald's and make the same money in one year and complete the project.”
“So the really big argument for me about why the private sector is better because that's where innovation starts. The current heroes being Elon Musk and others but also what the government is good for is just really looking at the big picture but not funding it not getting involved just making sure that if there is something that like NASA that you need to research at a certain point you might dive in at that point and you might augment. I can just tell you that the speed drops that's why I think the government should step away. If they start making restrictions like regulations maybe that's okay like every car has to go 50 miles per gallon.”
Now, on to Grady’s position. Good Snowfall in Colorado and all over the world is a very necessary thing. You not only get a good winter that helps boost the economy and create jobs you feel the effect much longer than you would think. Mountain runoff provides 65 - 90% of usable water in arid and semi-arid climates (James). This is very important because, without it, our plants and vegetation don’t get as much water during the summer. The small amounts of rainfall that we get are not enough to keep everything green and healthy throughout the summer. This leads to large wildfires. Because the vegetation is so dry, it doesn’t take much to start a fire that can quickly evolve into a huge wildfire. Durango experienced one first hand with the 416 fire in 2018. This fire devastated a large amount of wildlife and vegetation. This is a direct result of a bad snowfall that could not keep the vegetation hydrated. Not only does the vegetation and wildlife feel the effects of a bad snowfall humans do too. The Colorado river that starts from the runoff of snow in the mountains provides water for 7 states. With less snowfall each year we will see less water in the river for us to use.
After getting the opportunity to speak to both Travis and Grady, we have both been able to step back and come forward with new ideas. This project opened up my mind to understanding people who have different views from me. When we’re setting up an interview with Travis, even though I had already talked to him in the conservative panel, and I already knew that he was a very smart well-worded man, I still expected my reactions to be different. I thought that we would have pretty different ideas, and we aren’t really similar. But after conducting that interview, I found that both me and Shaw were able to connect with what he was saying. A point that Travis made that made sense to me was when we were talking about how renewable energy should be controlled/mandated. He made the point that private companies should do what they want with their energy sources, and the government should only step in when necessary. At first, I thought about how that might not be as effective, but then I thought about if companies weren’t controlled by the government and their goals, they could do some real good. To then compare to the resources that Grady provided, I was able to come up with a solution that made sense. Grady expanded my knowledge on how important winters are, and that poor winters do have harmful effects. After learning about both sides, I think that in order for us to make a change for the future of the planet, measures need to be taken quickly and effectively. The government needs to put policies in place for companies to take action, but at the same time, people need to step up on their own.
Bibliography
“Benefits of Renewable Energy Use.” Union of Concerned Scientists,
www.ucsusa.org/resources/benefits-renewable-energy-use.
Contributor, et al. “Why Renewable Energy Is Bad For The Environment: The Full
Facts.” Solar Power Nerd, 3 Dec. 2019,
solarpowernerd.com/why-renewable-energy-is-bad-for-the-environment/.
Conversation, The. “Hydropower Dams Can Harm Coastal Areas Far Downstream.”
EcoWatch, EcoWatch, 18 Dec. 2019, www.ecowatch.com/hydropower-dams-environmental-problems-2637609622.html.
DeSilver, Drew. “Renewable Energy Is Growing Fast in the U.S., but Fossil Fuels Still
Dominate.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 30 May 2020, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/15/renewable-energy-is-growing-fast-in-the-u-s-but-fossil-fuels-still-dominate/.
DSouza, Deborah. “The Green New Deal Explained.” Investopedia, Investopedia,
8 Oct. 2020, www.investopedia.com/the-green-new-deal-explained-4588463.
Emily Folk. “- The Many Economic Benefits of Renewable Energy.” Renewable Energy
Magazine, at the Heart of Clean Energy Journalism, Emily Folk, 12 Mar. 2019, www.renewableenergymagazine.com/emily-folk/the-many-economic-benefits-of-renewable-energy-20190312.
“Environmental Impacts of Renewable Energy Technologies.” Union of Concerned
Scientists, www.ucsusa.org/resources/environmental-impacts-renewable-energy-technologies.
Heinberg, Richard. “Renewable Energy Will Not Support Economic Growth.” Post
Carbon Institute, 14 Nov. 2019,
www.postcarbon.org/renewable-energy-will-not-support-economic-growth/.
HeritageFoundation. “Nick Loris on the Ben Shapiro Show: We Aren't Headed Toward
Serious Climate Catastrophe.” YouTube, YouTube, 15 May 2019,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvnUXo4b0fA.
James, Grady. “Historical Snowfall rates in the San Juan Mountains, Mountain Studies
Colloquium: Winter-2013.” PDF.
James, Grady. “Snow as Water Storage: Benefits of snow and ice reserves as a water
tower, Proposed solutions to help prevent a global meltdown.” Class Presentation, 2019, Mountain Middle School, Durango, Co.
Nunn, Ryan, et al. “Ten Facts about the Economics of Climate Change and Climate
Policy.” Brookings, Brookings, 6 Apr. 2020,
www.brookings.edu/research/ten-facts-about-the-economics-of-climate-ch
ange-and-climate-policy/.
“ON THIN ICE: How Climate Change Is Shaping Winter Recreation.” Climate Central,
23 Jan. 2020,
www.climatecentral.org/news/report-on-thin-ice-climate-change-shaping-winter-recreation.
Price, Travis. Personal interview. 4 Dec 2020
“Renewable Energy vs Fossil Fuels: 5 Essential Facts.” Amigo Energy, 25 Jan.
2018, amigoenergy.com/blog/renewable-energy-vs-fossil-fuels/.
RepublicanViews.org. “Home.” Republican Views, 14 June 2015,
www.republicanviews.org/republican-views-on-global-warming/.
Sommer, Lauren, et al. “How Warming Winters Are Affecting Everything.” NPR, NPR, 18
Feb. 2020,
www.npr.org/2020/02/18/803125282/how-warming-winters-are-affecting-everythi
ng.