"Send It On" Video by Disney's Friends For Change

In a previous post I discussed Disney's Friends For Change, and how they are working to make an impact on younger generations by encouraging them to do things to sustain the planet. One of this program's campaigns was a music video of a song titled "Send It On." This video sends an underlying message of sustainability, and is in fact where I got the name for my blog. I think this video is very impactful to younger generations because it sends a message of sustainability without directly coming out and saying it using terms kids might not understand. It teaches the lesson using lyrics like "just one spark starts a fire" and "there's power in all of the choices we make." The message comes across as simply: our everyday choices can make a difference overall. It even exemplifies the "trickle down effect" by saying, "one small act of love that's meant for one can become two." Many positive messages about sustainability are conveyed in this video, and it reaches its intended audience very well. The message its teaching is left up to the viewers about what they want to do to make an impact, whether it be socially, environmentally, or economically, and can be interpreted many different ways.

I chose this video because it relates to one of my previous posts, and gives more insight to what Disney's Friends For Change is doing to promote sustainability and making an impact on a larger scale by starting small. It was also the one of first exposures I had to the concept of sustainability when I was younger. I attribute most of my sustainable actions to this video because when I was younger, I played this song everyday, and tried to do what the people singing said. I had no idea I was being sustainable, but it made an impact all the same. I could potentially use concepts from this video in my writing. I could also use my personal experience with it as an example to build credibility for these concepts, and how impactful they are to younger generations as the target audience.

Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-RpivcId8o

How Disney is Promoting Sustainabilty

Recently, I read a short article about Disney's "Friends For Change" program. The article was written by the World Wildlife Foundation, and explained what Friends For Change is, and how they have worked with them. Friends For Change is designed to give kids the incentive to change our world one step at a time, for a better future. This directly promotes sustainability because the message is being taught to younger generations, and stresses the overall impact it will make in the end. The program also provides tools to help kids make an impact. The World Wildlife Foundation has participated in Friends For Change promotions, and gained $575,000 through the Friends For Change programs donations.

I chose to write a post about this article and this cause because I remember when this program was first introduced on Disney Channel. I saw their first music video with my favorite stars in it, and automatically thought doing things to help the environment and make a bigger impact on future generations was one of the coolest things ever. They have brought stars current with their shows into the program, and I'm sure kids today had the same reaction I did. I could potentially use this cause as an example in a paper about sustainability. The success this program has had creates credibility, and reinforces the importance of impressing sustainability on the younger generations.

Article Source: http://www.worldwildlife.org/partnerships/disney-s-friends-for-change

Why Be Sustainable

With all the discussion about sustainability, I began to wonder why others felt it to be important. I read an article explaining why it will be important to become sustainable. The article's main points outlined environmental changes. It pointed out that even processes such as incineration that are thought to be sustainable still produce unsustainable pollutants into the air. It also discusses why many are afraid of becoming sustainable. The main factor is cost.  Many do not want to spend what it costs to become sustainable, but what they are failing to realize is that eventually they will have to anyways. Ultimately, everyone will have to become sustainable at some point if they want to keep their business, lifestyle, or home. If this is a last resort the process will be rapid, uncomfortable, and even more expensive whereas if it is done gradually the process will be sure, informative, and worth it in the long run.

I chose this video because it gets into the why of my overall class writing topic. Being sustainable is inevitable. I had no idea however why people would want to become sustainable later rather than as soon as possible. The cost had not come to mind until I read this article, but now I understand. I can now list the benefits of being sustainable sooner, and the cons of becoming sustainable later. Understanding the why of a topic creates an even deeper meaning for me, and creates a will to now elaborate and share what I have learned about sustainability with others.

Source: http://www.being-here.net/page/6660/why-should-we-be-sustainable

Millennials Video

Tonight I watched a video on the Millennial Generation, and began relating many points in the video back to sustainability. The speaker in the video is Simon Sinek, and he discusses the main problems with this generation. He does not directly relate the problems to sustainability, but they potentially could be related back in many ways. Sinek believes that millennials are the way they are mainly due to their upbringing. Their parents give them what they want and they never have to put in effort for it. They get trophies for participating, and they always receive instant gratification for mostly everything. When these kids are then put in a work environment, they don't see the value of process, and if things don't happen immediately they fear that they are not doing a good job because they don't get the instant gratification. They are impatient and as Sinek puts it, they only see the summit and not the mountain in front of them. The millennials also rely on their technology for this gratification, and this allows them to avoid forming relationships, and keeps them from the possibilities of letting the mind wander. It should be the corporate employers job to tech the millennials this skill set, but they are not concerned with specific workers, but the overall product as a whole. These problems will lead to future problems for millennials unless they are fixed.

I kind of happened upon this video randomly, but I ended up choosing it because it can indeed be related back to sustainability. By creating these problems with the millennial generation, and not fixing them, we are creating a very unsustainable future. If everyone is seeking instant gratification, no long term goals can be achieved or even realized. We as millennials will do what we do best and live in the moment, always seeking things now, and never looking at the bigger picture. Applying this to the world around us, we won't want to go through the process of developing new things. the phrase "Rome wasn't built in a day" will show no relevance to us because if we can't build Rome in a day, we wont build Rome. Nothing that has any long term timeline will be achieved. This is a very unsustainable path we are headed down.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPaQPWfqjmw

Social Sustainability Definition.

This evening I read a collection of different definitions people have developed for the term "Social Sustainability." The range of definitions creates a very broad overall definition of the term, thus showing how broad the subject is. One element each definition had in common in one way or another was simple: relationships. Each and every definition talks briefly about social sustainability dealing with humans interactions with others and the relationships we create. One definition states that to be socially sustainable, a society must "satisfy an extended set of human needs" and shaped in a way so humans and reproductive capabilities are preserved for a long period of time and that the values of dignity and participation are upheld. This is a general definition, but the message comes across that this topic is very general, and can be taken deeper if a specific topic is chosen.

I chose this collection because I wanted to get a basis of what I am relating my topic back to in my definition essay. The better understanding I have of this definition, the more effectively I will be able to relate it to the topic of my essay, and thus the more credibility and outside connection I can develop. I had a general idea about what social sustainability was, but with an actual concrete definition, my understanding has grown, and I feel more confident relating my topic to this broader topic. I also feel more confident that my essay topic is indeed a discussion of social sustainability, and not another category of sustainability.

Source: https://clas-pages.uncc.edu/inss/what-is-social-sustainability/

Why We Should Be Polite

I recently read an online tutorial on why it is important to be polite to others, and what exactly politeness is. The article was written to inform others on politeness in America, but I found it very interesting. It discussed being polite in certain situations such as meetings and conversations with people you are just becoming acquainted with, but how it is also okay not to be so polite when you are with friends, etc. This is not to say that in these situations you can be rude, but just showing that some situations require less politeness than others. The article outlined 3 tips to being polite: don't impose, give others options, and make the other person feel good. This allows the politeness to feel natural and not so forced. The article also went into depth about assessing your intentions in a conversation and also the other person's intentions, then deciding if politeness will help to achieve what you want. It ends by giving examples of situations and how to deal with them. 

I chose this source because it relates to a definition essay I am in the process of writing. I am describing impoliteness in more specific terms, but getting information on the general idea of politeness will help me to formulate my definition when the time comes. The section of this article that deals with being polite will also help me make suggestions to my audience on how to avoid and remedy impoliteness. I intend to use information from this article in my definition essay. I believe it will add to my reader's understanding if I can explain my specific topic in more general terms as well. 

Source: http://britishenglishcoach.com/what-is-politeness-and-why-should-we-be-polite/

Manners

Tonight I read an ABC News article on manners. The article was very informative and gave many examples of how others view one's manners as opposed to how one views their own. It also gave statistics to back these examples up. The main thing this article discussed was different examples of good manners, and ways to remedy bad ones. Technology was also listed as a common cause of bad etiquette. A direct quote even calls cell phones,  "one of the best but rudest inventions of our time," (Onion,1). This article is also a fresh breath of air, however, because it doesn't solely bash on our collective bad manners, It gives us the benefit of the doubt by saying that if we are made aware of our bad manners by those around us, often we will realize our faults and apologize. The author also references a site created to discuss manners and to refer people to if they want to know more.

I chose this article because it discusses what many constitute to be bad manners, and among those constituents is my topic: technology. It was one topic that all the sources in the article could agree contributes to bad manners. Technology is also talked about at length in this article, not just touched on and forgotten. The article also discusses more technology than just cell phones. I believe that cell phone use at inappropriate times is rude but so are other things such as emailing someone when you could talk face to face. Emails could also be misconstrued as cold or angry very easily. I was glad to read an article that focused on manners as a whole, and not just technological rudeness. I have found a lot of new information to contribute to my topic of social sustainability and manners in present and future societies.

URL: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=118277&page=1

More Tech Etiquette...

In conjunction with my previous post, I have read another article about technology use and how it relates to manners. This article discusses how people feel about cell phone use in certain situations, and what it does to the conversation when it is interrupted by technology. It also lists results from a survey by the Pew Research Center, who asked Americans many different survey questions. The article lists the results in written form and graphical form,  in addition to having a link to the survey conductors reports of the surveys embedded in the article as well. Overall, a lot of statistics were presented and interpreted in different ways. Many possible reasons were given to explain why people use cell phones with someone sitting right in front of them; these reasons included "fear of missing out," wanting to document the situation you are in, or wanting to disconnect from the conversation. This article was ultimately very helpful, and I intend to use information from it when creating an essay.

I found this article useful mainly for its survey statistics. I chose it to obtain factual evidence for my future writing, in an effort to include more than just narrative and personal examples in essays. I personally see things backed up with facts as more believable and influential, so I felt it was important to see if what I believe is factually accurate. This will also be important to defend my position if need be. I feel that the factual information will be a good groundwork for this, as well as making my paper more influential to those who read it, and making my audience more willing and likely to realize and contribute to fixing the problem.

URL: http://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/cell-phone-use-among-friends-how-rude/2983035.html

Today I viewed a short slideshow from Business Insider on technology and its correlation to manners. The article listed "11 ways that technology is making us rude." These reasons were things like, taking out your phone in the middle of a conversation, using email text and social media to have conversations better suited face to face, and even belittling someone for asking a simple question because they could have googled the answer. It also brought up the use of proper launguage and how abbreviating things is easy, but not appropriate or professional. The ideas in this slideshow were very broad, and not many remedies were suggested for the problem. I do belive, however, that the purpose was to bring this rudeness to attention, with the hope that those being rude will realize it and try to fix their actions.

I chose this source becuase I think the concept of manners could be looked at as a form of social sustainability. Individuals have not had to use basic social skills such as manners because most conversations are typed out, not spoken. Growing up in the technological age, I have also had many personal experiences with this. Viewing this slideshow made me think about my own actions and made me see from a different perspective how unprofessional I could potentially seem to someone who didn't grow up texting and posting. I now see the importance of sending manners to future generations, and not making them a lost art.

Slideshow URL: http://www.businessinsider.com/tech-manners-and-etiquette-2013-4#