COLLECTION: Sustainability & Media - Teaching Stuff, Bottled H20, Cell Phones, T-shirts!
Recently, I had the pleasure of reading MC POPPER Antonio Lopez's new(ish) book The Media Ecosystem: What Ecology Can Teach Us about Responsible Me...
As is so often the case for me - after I connect with an interesting book/movie/film/song or whatever the universe seems to throw a lot of "related texts" my way. I guess this is why I keep posting stuff here at MC POP.
While Lopez's book is slightly more focused on media creation than media education it certainly speaks powerfully to both issues in relation to sustainability. One of the many passages I highlighted was in Lopez's introduction to Chapter 3 "Media as Environmental Education":
[Media] teach us how to act upon the world, encouraging a particular attitude toward living systems ... Just as media makers increasingly have become sensitive to the stereotyping of genders, cultures, nationalities, and sexual orientation, we no have to make a turn toward planetary ecology to become aware of how our forms of mediation impact living systems [underline for emphasis].
After finishing that book I pieced up a six-month-old copy of Yes! Magazine that had been sitting on my nightstand. The issue was built around the theme The Human Coast of Stuff.
In an article on "the last American Factories" Auggie Tantillo,"a consultant to the National Council of Textile Organizations, a lobbying group dedicated to the welfare of the U.S. textile industry" says:
"We've created a consumer mindset that has almost no social conscience," he says. "If something goes on within U.S. borders, we're quick to react to it and rightfully so. If it happens outside the United States, such as the disastrous factory collapse in Bangladesh, we're like, 'Whatever,' as if there's no connectivity."
While that is obviously a generalization it captures the truth that much of the supply chain around our goods and media are "out of sight, out of mind."
Wether it is a simple medium like a t-shirt or one as complicated as our mobile phones, there are a lot of excellent short media texts you can use to "become aware of how our forms of mediation impact living systems."
Most folks have likely seen the "Story of Stuff" and know about the the work of filmmaker/activist Annie Leonard.
This short was a springboard into the Story of Stuff Project (see their educator resources) that includes follow-up films like "The Story of Bottled Water"...
Leonard's project was featured as an exemplar in Lopez's book and she was the guest editor of the aforementioned Yes! theme issue. That issue also includes an excellent and provocative infographic "The Myth of Cheap Stuff" that you could use for discussions in ELA, Social Studies, Econ, Math and possibly science classes:
This infographic is one of many excellent and engaging non fiction texts in that issue. Additionally, the article, "Is Your Phone Smart Enough to Not Poison the People Recycling It?" would be powerful to couple with the powder-keg This American Life episodes "Mr. Daisy and the Apple Factory"(transcript available as the show was retracted) and the follow-up
460: Retraction
MAR 16, 2012We've discovered that one of our most popular episodes contained numerous fabrications. This week, we detail the errors in Mike Daisy's story about visiting Foxconn, which makes iPads and other products for Apple in China.
Marketplace's China correspondent Rob Schmitz discovered the fabrications.
From there, you and your students might explore the investigative reporting about electronics manufacturing in China by Charles Duhigg in the New York Times and clips of the completely mesmerizing (but only good in clips for kids) documentary Manufactured Landscapes:
Then, having just read Lopez's book, and the Yes! Magazine issue early in the week I was driving home and when this fascinating new series on NPR about how t-shirts are made came on the radio:
Our [NPR] Planet Money team is making a T-shirt and following the shirt around the world as it gets manufactured — from the farms where the cotton is grown to the factories where the shirts are sewn together. All this week on Morning Edition and All Things Considered we'll be hearing stories about the fascinating world behind that T-shirt.
Full collection of audio can be found HERE. And if the audio isn't cool enough for you they have also been uploading videos!
COTTON: Planet Money Makes A T-Shirt (Part I) from NPR on Vimeo.
The video series:
Part I: Cotton www.vimeo.com/77795980
Part II: Machines www.vimeo.com/78842170
Part III: People www.vimeo.com/78008299
Part IV: Boxes www.vimeo.com/78851013
Part V: You www.vimeo.com/78768385
These are just some examples of the high-interest texts that could help you meet Lopez's charge to (if I may quote him for the third time) "become aware of how our forms of mediation impact living systems."
If you have a minute please share any other cool related resources with everyone below!
RELATED RESOURCE POSTS @ MCPOP
From Antonio...
New greening media education resources.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Antonio Lopez on
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Ryan, great post--and not because you mention my book. I like how you connect all these different threads. I show the manufacturing landscapes film in my class--the students have a really strong, visceral response to it. I saw a kickstarted campaign for the t-shirts from the NPR series but had not seen the videos. I look forward to seeing them. Also, the Yes! Magazine info graphics are great. I'm currently curating a media and environment scoop.it page which is periodically updated with articles that connect these issues. If you are interested, here's the link:
http://www.scoop.it/t/greening-the-media-ecosystem
Incidentally, my next book will be about greening media education. I'll keep you posted!
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Also related, Lexicon of Sustainability:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-lexicon-of-sustainability
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Permalink Reply by Ryan Goble on
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ALo, Well your reading inspired all the connections - thanks as always for the addl. stuff - I'm watching your FB posts when possible! Always gr8 stuff. Feel free to cross-post / share here whenever. Next, I've got to read the dissertation but you know - one at a time, eh?
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