Due Wednesday 9/6
Instructions: Using the following questions as a guide, develop a response essay for your viewing of The 11th Hour, Into the Wild, and 180° South. Your essay should incorporate some of the ideas in the assigned readings for these films. Make sure you discuss at least two of the three films, but do not simply answer the questions--use them to guide your thinking (i.e., keep them in mind) as you write a response essay. Use the readings assigned for that class day on the Schedule, as well as anything mentioned and/or linked to the study questions for that film, or what is linked below. You may use other assigned readings in addition to these, but not as a complete substitute.
Length should be 3-4 pages double-spaced. You can partner up with one other person to complete this, but see me first if you plan to do this.
The 11th Hour
1. Several of the commentators contend that human thinking is both our greatest asset/advantage as a species and the underlying cause of our current predicament. Explain this contention (compare to Quinn’s analysis in Ishmael).
2. Explore the claim that the idea that we are separate from Nature is a “thinking disorder.” How so? How does the idea of human dominion over nature (compare to Leopold and/or Carson) relate to this “disorder”? And what does this thinking disorder have to do with environmental crisis?
3. In what ways does the ideal of growth contribute to ecological crisis? What is the origin of this ideal and what perpetuates it? Explain the point about growth as a means as opposed to an end. Why is the recognition of this distinction an important part of our ecological reorientation?
Into the Wild
4. Compare Chris’ journey to escape civilization and find absolute freedom to Muir’s decision to become a vagabond and to Thoreau’s admonition to lead a simple life of freedom. Consider Thoreau’s description of the majority of men leading “lives of quiet desperation” (Walden, Economy) and his description of “absolute Freedom and Wildness” in Walking.
5. Alex says that money makes people cautious and burned all his money; he doesn’t want it—he wants to risk it all alone in the wild. Even tramping is too easy with money. Compare to Muir’s comment that in a storm “Nature has always something rare to show us, and the danger to life and limb is hardly greater than one would experience crouching deprecatingly beneath a roof” (Wind-Storm, p. 92).
6. Alex paraphrases Thoreau: “Rather than love, fame and fairness, give me truth.” Why does he juxtapose these things with truth? Explain, using Emerson’s discussion in Nature, as well as Thoreau’s Walden.
180 South
7. Compare Jeff Johnson’s lifestyle to that of Chris McCandless in Into the Wild. Consider the early life of Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins. Relate all their journeys to Thoreau’s idea of ‘Wildness’ (with a capital ‘W’) and his comments on the etymology of ‘sauntering’ in Walking (of “holy landers” homeless and at home everywhere in the world).
8. Rapa Nui (Easter Island) illustrates a society that has exceeded its resources and as a metaphor for the planet. Jeff recalls a quote from Aldous Huxley: “Men do not learn very much from the lessons of history; and that is the most important lesson of history.” Compare these musings to the reflections of Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson.
9. Jeff says that when you spend your life outdoors you develop a sense of responsibility for protecting wild places. Compare this to the comments of Yvonne’s friend in Santiago, Juan, when he describes how people’s disconnect from nature is facilitated by urban sprawl, and that in turn makes them lead empty lives. Compare to Thoreau’s comment about the “lives of quiet desperation” in Walden.