Such Passion!

Its the day after Thanksgiving so it only seems fitting that I start my post off this week talking about a reason I am thankful.  After all of the doom and gloom that we have been reading about in class I was so excited to finally come across some material that left me feeling energized and hopeful.  I do think we are talking about important issues in this class, issues that are not meant to be easy or lighthearted, but they are also issues that we should spend time working through.  Figuring out were you stand on an issue is incredibly important.  Working through your opinion, how you feel about it, and what this is going to mean in terms of how you live your life can be absolutely exhausting.  I've said several times that I have been having difficulty with this class because of its weight, but this week, after pushing through and working on what it all meant to me I have finally come across some ideas that resonate with me and it is absolutely exhilarating.

First of all "Sell the Sizzle" is finally a way of approaching Climate Change that does not make me feel like I am hitting my head against a brick wall.  Much of the material we have worked through to date has left me feeling perhaps a little guilty for not caring "enough" and at the same time apathetic.  I just don't have it in me to keep torturing myself by banging my head on that wall.  However this new approach is one I could get behind and incorporate into my work.

The other thing I realized this week is how wonderful it is to speak to people who are so passionate about their beliefs and fighting to uphold them.  Do you realize how amazing our world would be if everyone lived their lives as passionately as Cindy does? She truly is doing all she can to create a better world.  I'd like to believe that we are all working toward this in some manner.  Perhaps if we can just remember that when working through issues we would do much better at maintaining civility during those heated political discussions.  I am happy we were given the opportunity to have such a wonderful discussion, even if it was too tense for my comfort level at times. (Apparently I am not cut out for the political scene 0.O) I appreciate all of my fellow classmates who were able to articulate their thoughts and opinions on that day.  I am not suggesting that our conversation went anything like the video I am going to post, but it does seem fitting given the passionate discussions that took place.  Perhaps we all had this little girl in the back of our minds already when we were conversing that day.  It reminds me of the EEAI conference when it was mentioned that perhaps our world would be a better place if at every important policy and decision-making meeting a small child was present.  Then again maybe this is in the thoughts of those making the decisions already and our worldview does not allow us to see how they are striving toward the best world they can see.