Another “click”

I finally chose my second unit for this semester – Environmental Peace, so I enrolled today and looked up the blackboard to see what I could see.

After having a quick look around, I had a look at the discussion forums, and the first post I read was written by a dear friend, who has just transferred to UNE to finish her Human Geography degree as an external student. And she is enrolled in the same course. I have a study buddy!!!

That is such a relief, as I was a little worried that some of the language will make me a little stabby. Things like –

Students engage in finding a personal connection to green living and environmental responsibility by constructing for themselves a ‘green practice path’ to sustainability in order to effect real change through a willingness to act appropriately in their own spheres of existence while influencing wider changes in the world. They learn about: reducing harm to themselves and ecological systems; empathizing with environmental suffering; gaining inspiration from green thinkers and workers; and linking the green path of environmental peacemaking to living in harmony with nature.

So, the whole unit description, basically. But with Dionne there, I know I can navigate the stabby feelings, and find the useful stuff in there.

10 thoughts on “Another “click””

  2. Holy crap, that language couldn’t be more fluffy if it were a feather bed. I would get stabbity as well if I were doing that course. I hope that the course requirements are in plainer language.

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  3. Wow, I don’t disagree with the concept, but that language is making me feel stabby too. It’s pretty criminal. Also: there’s a reason run-on sentences are discouraged.

    I just finished reading The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen. Similar ideas, much funnier presentation. Who doesn’t love references to the zombie apocalypse when discussing whether to use a tumble dryer vs. clothesline drying?

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  4. I hope they’re not planning to engage in critical thinking in this unit. I’d be critiquing that outline out of existence. Old hippies, much?

    I am very opposed to ‘academic’ units of study in which you have to (pretend to) be a certain kind of person to pass. All they do is encourage deviousness and personal dishonesty, or unthinking adherence to rhetoric. University is supposed to be about supporting you to develop your own ideas, not handing them out fully formed.

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    1. Yes, M-H, I am worried that it might encourage me to have an epiphany mid semester where I decide to become a vegetarian, sow a veggie garden in the front yard, keep chickens in the backyard, and only have one child instead of two. Oh, and I discovered this great thing called permaculture….

      I know I am being overly cynical, but I am a child of the ’70’s.

      PSYC101 is where I am expecting to do most of my actual learning.

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  5. Oh Lara I will love being your study buddy and help you navigate through the fluffy language. The text associated to your big case study, Mindfully Green: A Personal and Spiritual Guide to Whole Earth Thinking, will explain a lot and also help you identify a lot of what you already understand. Have you noticed that BOTH prescribed text books are written by women? Especially our very own Dr Nicola Markus http://www.bushheritage.org.au/news/media/media_releases_2009/onourwatch.html

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