An Inconvenient Truth: None Like It Hot!

In all my life I have never seen a movie that could bore the living daylights out of me, but at the same time intrigue and open my eyes; and that is an inconvenient truth. I could not truly believe that I was watching a serious documentary about how our fossil fuelled lifestyles are eventually leading to Earths unfortunate demise. Because to me what I was watch was a sort of serial chat show style set up; in which Al Gore presented his slide show with detail and graphs about climate change, Co2 levels and greenhouse gases. Then out of nowhere he would say something really intelligent which had an added joke inserted in it, which amused the audience bringing them to life, then silence would fall as the chat show set up had broken into a documentary sequence.

An Inconvenient Truth is a documentary film like in the style of March of the Penguins, but with defiantly a lot less ice, directed by Davis Guggenheim. The film is about the former U.S Vice President Al Gore whose campaign to educate people about the effects of global warming. This film is not an action film like I thought it would be, but involves Al Gore presenting a presentation on climate change and what will happen to Earth. It is broken up between snippets of slideshow and film clips; where he talks about how global warming plays apart in his own life from education to family.

With the understanding of the nub and jist of the film I can begin to reflect on it; it’s overall message, how it’s presented, my overall view of the film and what I think the audience would have thought.
The films messages have complexities attached to them; In my opinion the messages are trying to open the audiences eyes; not in a “shut down all the factorise or the Earth gets it” type of way, nor is it saying “oh don’t worry, when the Co2 levels get really bad we will figure something out” kind of way. Though the first message that I personally picked up on was “as the citizens of this Earth this is what we are doing to it and boy we don’t really want a happy future do we?”. It’s showing to us the levels of danger that we could come into contact with if we don’t start sorting ourselves out, but in a way that immediately catches our attention. For example Al Gore uses examples from 650,000 years of Co2 levels against temperature. Where at first he explains that yes there has been in the past a natural global warming and cooling of the Earth, but the Co2 level had never reached over 300 parts per million, until people became more modern and screwed up Earths natural system. This screwing up of the Earth’s natural system has resulted in the succession of Co2 levels exceeding the 300 part per million level, which Al Gore then emphasises or to put as he said “exzardgerates” through the use of a cherry picker how far predations can compute Co2 levels will be in the next 50 years. This message comes in the form of a dark joke which says “ha ha yeah that sure is funny how he has to use a cherry picker to show how high Co2 levels will be, but hang on; if Co2 is related to temperature… we are going to roast, that’s not funny anymore”, and throughout the part of the film that I watched this sort of eye opening dark comic intellectual humour continues. With a message like this being showed off to the audience, it is a hazy and in some places a complex one to understand, this is because in my opinion the main message is climate change and how it is going to affect us but it is covered up by scientific explanations and jokes.

When deciding whether this approach of portraying the message in the form of in-depth scientific fact and humour is a double edged sword; this is because the message can be interpreted in two ways. The first way of interpreting it is by only seeing the facts, which in my opinion where blown out of proportion and emphasised a bit too much, which can quite easily lead people down the path of panic if miss interpreted. Whereas other people may only see the humours side of what is being said; only listening to and remembering the jokes and comments made around the scientific facts, which can lead to ignorance to what is truly happen, thus the appropriateness of how the message was approached depends on how the person watching the message interprets it.

Within the docufilm when it comes to determining whether the information in the film is the right information it is difficult to say because I don’t know if what is right for one person could be wrong for another, but in my opinion from seeing half of the film the information was sufficient for a main stream audience.  An example of some of the information given by Al Gore was that there are assumptions “that just ain’t so” in which people say that “that the Earth is so big we can’t have any lasting harmful impact on the Earth’s environment” (An Inconvenient Truth, 2006). But he sets the record straight by saying that we are affecting the Earth’s atmosphere which is so vulnerable because of how thin it is. This snippet of information about the Earth’s atmosphere may not contain the right amount of information, but if Al Gore went into depth with it, he could end up losing the point he was talking about and the audience. But a question that springs to mind is well isn’t all this in that GCSE geography textbook I had to read? Yes it is, but I do not think that a middle aged person read that one, so is having a look at this film for guidance, thus the information is relevant for them. 

Some of the information in the film may be right for different people but that does not matter if it is too technical, boring or leaves views confused. Though in my opinion the film is not too technical, it does not contain large amounts of numbers and scientific explanation like what some other documentaries cover, which means that a wide range of age groups and academic abilities are able to understand what is going on. Al Gore uses simplified methods of explaining how global warming occurs though the medium of images and graphics; he begins to explain the process of global warming with the usual textbook description such as in the book New Key Geography for GCSE (Waugh, D. and Bushell, T. 2002). Then into a more simplified comical explanation and between the two explanations even my 11 year old sister and my 9 year old brother could understand global warming; thus if children are able to explain the basic nub and jist of what the film is trying to explain, then it can’t be that technical. When looking into how boring the film is, it wins this round hands down; it is boring. Though credit needs to be given where it is due; yes the film is boring but as I have mentioned before it is eye opening in many ways. When I was watching the film especially during the part where Al Gore discussed the depletion of global ice coverage, my mouth just dropped I am sure I was  catching flies, because to me ice caps have always been so impressive and to see such a large magnificent creation just wither away shocks me, though I know that they are melting, seeing the images just makes it seem so much more real. Now when it comes to being confused whilst watching a documentary, for me at times it is inevitable but whilst watching An Inconvenient Truth confused was not part of my state of mind; the film to me was straight forward, Al Gore had laid it out by explaining global warming, how it is created, what it causes, such as increased natural hazards like hurricanes and droughts and explains what will happen in the future.

However I may be seeing the film in a too simplified light or just giving it too much credit, for the movie itself may be too simple treating views as children using only the tip of the iceberg of information. I say this because, the information as I had mentioned before can be found in a textbook or educational websites such as BBC Bitesize or in a newspaper for example information can be found on The Guardian online. The film explains how global warming is created through solar rays being trapped inside the Earth’s atmosphere, but then goes onto showing a clip from the TV program Futurama. This raises the question is it right to use a cartoon that doesn’t explain global warming in enough detail to make a coach potato sit up scratch there head and say “I should be worried about that”? Patronising the viewer is what this film does not have many elements of doing, Al Gore is not phonetically spelling out the word “Gu-Lu-Oh-Ba-All—Wa-Oor-Mm-Ing”, instead he is making his explanations simple enough to understand, but not so difficult to make the viewer feel stupid.

Though the views that I have given on the film An inconvenient Truth are what I personally think, others may see it completely differently, or in the case of the BBC movie review on this film some may agree with me. The BBC says that “An Inconvenient Truth, is not a drama or even a documentary. It's a slide show, delivered to a live audience, on the subject of the environment. Doesn't sound too thrilling, does it? And in truth, it ain't Die Hard. But be assured: this a really really good slide show”.
Whilst other people have an entirely different view to mine, such as those found on the site rottentomatoes.com which include reviews such as “has its heart in the right place but overall the film stands as a one-track doomsday warning with too little substance to achieve its intended effect” by Dustin Putman from dustinputman.com and “no matter how much generosity critics and activists show this movie, it is still a boring slideshow by a boring speaker with cool graphics and thus, a boring movie” by David Poland from Movie City News. But as I stated before people will interpret how they see the film and its message differently, and the opinions of others does not sway my own, for I see the film as a great movie, but in terms of how good it is as a tool to promote awareness about climate change and environmental sustainability in general, I’m still on the fence.

For the film An Inconvenient Truth to be a tool for promoting awareness about climate change it would need to connect with people from all walks of life. For example if I was not told to watch this film I probably would have not because I don’t usually go for that type of movie, I like chick flicks but also because I thought it was an action film I avoided it, but I know now that I was wrongly informed. The film also has trouble in my opinion at being a tool because when it does get shown to people they may instantly forget about it, for it is not hard hitting enough to be imbedded into peoples memory, thus doesn’t really promote awareness if people watch it but don’t see it. People need for something to either happen to them personally or to shock them to their core or the global destructiveness won’t get through to the middle class office worker who only worries for the day are “I wonder what’s for dinner and did I remember to feed the cat?”. Also to add, as the reviews had stated beforehand to some people the movie was boring, so do you really think they are going to remember it for its global awareness points?


The film doesn’t manage to promote awareness about climate change to its full potential as it had been continuously bashed by scientists saying that some of the information is wrong or blown out of proportion. The BBC may have given the film the thumbs up but it also found nine 'errors'. For example “Mr Gore's assertion that a sea-level rise of up to 20 feet would be caused by melting of ice in either West Antarctica or Greenland "in the near future". The judge said this was "distinctly alarmist" and it was common ground that if Greenland's ice melted it would release this amount of water - "but only after, and over, millennia"”. With such negative remarks it can make people see the film as a dramatisation thus leading them to taking the information included in the film with a pinch of salt. However the film could be acting as a tool for creating awareness; it could be the push that some people need, to see that global warming is actually happening and is a real thing.

Even so, to conclude, in my opinion An Inconvenient Truth is one of those films that is not going to be everybody’s cup of tea, for it has an acquired taste, to one person it may be as tasteful as boiled socks to another it’s the cats pyjamas. The film brings the subject of climate change and global warming to the table quite neatly and the message is clear” this is climate change and this is what is going to happen because of it” with enough added information to not confuse or patronise the average Joe, but to bring about an awareness with whit and scientific fact at it's side. Though the film has been slapped around the face a few times by those in the know, it has managed to capture the attention off the girl who fell asleep watching March of the Penguins and has the theme tune to Sex and the City the Movie as her ringtone.

How sustainable is my community?

 

The definition of community is regarded as `a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage’ (dictionary.com), so with this in mind I regard the London Borough of Harrow as my community. Though it covers 19.5 sq mi (50.47 km²) and had a population of 216,200 in 2008 (Wikipedia),I live, work and play there, taking part in many of the community activities and using its facilities, making it a part of me, my community.  I know that over the 19 years that I have lived there, it has begun to become a greener area; for example there has been a heavy recycling policy put into place, where if it’s not in the correct bin all hell breaks loose, and when taking a closer look. However my community is roughly more located in a small town in Harrow, but to understand the extent to which the community is sustainable the assistance of the definition of a sustainable community is needed, thus with this definition I can see how my community fits into what a the definition is trying to portray, then it can be illustrated to what extent it is sustainable.

(http://www.areasoflondon.com/harrow.html)

 Harrow situated in the district of Middlesex, North West London has been said to be `a very ‘green’ borough, with many parks and open spaces. However there is also a thriving business community and a wide range of shops and facilities’ from the website Town Pages, which in my opinion is true; the 88 parks and open spaces in Harrow provide a greener more sustainable outlook on the area. Though the thriving businesses that go on in Harrow, may be thriving one week but are having a closing down sale the next, which does make the mind wonder how sustainable the community actually is. Though to make it easier, if I break down Harrow to my immediate community area in which my ward is situated, Rayners Lane, a small town in the borough, would be regarded as my community, I can begin to use aspects and factors of the town to help to justify how sustainable my small town community is.

So before I can start to decipher how sustainable my community is with the focus being on Rayners Lane, the definition of a sustainable community needs to be looked at. One definition is a sustainable community is "a place where people want to live and work, now and in the future" from the The Guardian. But this is not an in-depth understanding of the word sustainable in the context of `sustainable community’, thus another definition is needed such as ` Sustainable communities are planned, built, or modified to promote sustainable living. This may include sustainability aspects relating to development, water, transportation, energy, and waste and materials. They tend to focus on environmental sustainability (including development and agriculture) and economic sustainability. Sustainable communities can focus on sustainable urban infrastructure and/or sustainable municipal infrastructure’ sourced from Wikipedia.  Though this has been sourced from Wikipedia, which can be unreliable the majority of the time, the definition given makes it clearer to understand what sustainable community means. Thus I am able to interpret an understanding in the form of `a sustainable community is one in which the residence fulfill their lifestyles with the notion of making sure that what they do today doesn’t harm tomorrow. With this it is not just the residence but where they live work and play as well; the facilities, housing and the environment also play apart in keeping the community sustainable’.

Rayners Lane defined by how sustainable the community is and how well it fits into the definition of a sustainable community, can be looked at through various aspects of the community such as the amount of people that live there and how they travel around. Distinguishing factors such as those found in the document called Sustainable communities: building for the future, by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, can be used to determine what makes a sustainable community and what doesn’t,  such as: a flourishing local economy to provide jobs and wealth, a well-integrated mix of decent homes of different types and tenures to support a range of household sizes, ages and incomes and Good quality local public services, including education and training opportunities, health care and community facilities, especially for leisure. With the factors from the document I can begin to look at where my community is thriving with sustainable factors and where it is lacking, by looking at six main aspects of the community: people, housing, transport, facilities, community activities and lastly the environment. To help see if my community in Rayners Lane resembles a sustainable community examples from my own experiences are going can be applied.

According to the document Sustainable Communities when it comes to people and housing the density has to be suitable enough so that people are still able to lead their lifestyles but not to the extent of overcrowding. Thus there must be management in the community so that the communities carrying capacity is not breached, to add to this housing must utilise the resources to hand to their full potential `A well-integrated mix of decent homes of different types and tenures to support a range of household sizes, ages and incomes’.  In 2008 Rayners Lane was home to 8,079 people of different age ranges, cultures and social backgrounds which makes the community very diverse.

The age range in Rayners Lane is spread over a spectrum of ages, though the majority are between the ages of 25-49 which is the main working age with around 37%, then the percentage of those that are aged 0-15 is more with 22% than those aged 60+ with around 14% (data sourced from Office of National Statistics. Figures like this can be interpreted in two ways; it can be seen as a part of making the community more sustainable; those who are at the right age or able to work keep the local economy going enabling for the community to improve its facilities. Whilst the elderly people attend many community functions such as coffee mornings at the local church, and some even have allotments, where they grow their own fruit and vegetables thus providing an environmental incentive to home grow produce, instead of buying the same produce that has been shipped half way across the world. Also the combination of the two age groups 0-15 and 16-24 adds up to 33.5% of the communities population, meaning that in the future there will be a work force that can take over once those who are in the 25-49 age group have become elderly and retired.  

(http://www.cityfarmer.info/category/england/page/5/)

Another way at looking at these figures is in a more negative light by  looking at the high number of  25-49 years olds and saying that how many of them have children, want children and want more children which will slowly increase the population density as people in the area become more wealthy. An example from the Office of National Statistics for the average weekly household total income estimate is £840 compared to London which is £690 (Office of National Statistics), this shows that people in Rayners Lane may be able to afford more children.  

When it comes to housing and buildings, a lack of poor housing and residential area conditions place pressure on the sustainability of the community, with this house prices can also place an effect on the extent to which a community can be sustainable. For in Rayners Lane there were 523 dwellings in 2008 (Office of National Statistics)and in the different parts of the community the housing styles and the conditions vary, in which the community mainly consists of flats, terraced houses and semi-detached housing. With this these styles of housing change depending on which part of the town you are in, the same with the condition of the property. Rayners Lane could be seen as a form of suburbia because it has `extensive residential developments on the outside of towns, low density, large plots of land, structured around cars’ (from power point presentation called sustainable communities 28^th October) as shown by the Radburn design.

Housing quality is a key factor in the workings of a sustainable community, for example if houses are of good quality and in a good area people have a better quality of life, thus this makes the community better off for as nehboughs interact more due to their lifestyles. The same can be said for the type of housing, for example people who live in flats crate their own miniature community as they maintain and live in their shared living space. However as the document Sustainable communities states `homes in poor condition damage the health of those who live in them and can undermine the sustainability of neighbourhoods’ this is true for my community in which some parts of the area are of poorer quality, leading to people moving out and increases the chances of the area becoming rundown. An example could be that the road that I live on has very nice quality housing in a good area and down my road everybody knows each other’s business, whereas where my friend lives which is an area dominated my rundown housing and flats (mainly council estates) people don’t really have as much of a close nit community as we have down my road. Because the area is not very inviting and people have a lower quality of life making the sustainability of the area almost impossible as nobody interacts with each other creating no sense of place.



Le Corbusier's design for France, in my opinion doese
not look good in my community.



The density of the housing also affects the sustainability of my community, for example the flats that are by the town centre could be considered as a sustainable type of housing. This is because they use up the land available to their best ability by building upwards not outwards, thus allowing around 4-5 families to live on the same amount of land as one. Which means in comparison the 3-4 bedroomed 7 bay window houses that are selling for over £300,000 on the market, are more unsustainable due to space and the amount of people that they can accommodate. However these types of housing make the area look and feel better aesthetically which gives the community a better quality of life as stated before. Though in my opinion these flats that were inspired Le Corbusier design of tower blocks to solve Frances urban squalor, are unsightly and do not make the community look aesthetically pleasing.  But this problem is a double edged sward for as the area gets nicer the more people are going to want to move in, increasing the population density which could push the community’s carrying capacity over the edge. Another problem that could damper the community’s sustainability is that because Rayners Lane is a nice area close to good schools and the underground, house prices are going to go up as well as the demand for these houses, which could make the area too expensive for existing residence. 

 


 

The transport factor of my community is a tricky area when it comes to the sustainability of the community, because though we have direct train and bus routes into London which cuts down on transport emissions, these forms of public transport are not wide spread throughout the community which still creates a heavy need for cars as the main means of transport. In Rayners Lane from what can be interpreted form the Office of National Statistics website; around 80% of the community have at least one car, this means that there is a lot of car emissions in the area which is an unsustainable part of the community. But the cars are needed as the majority of the major facilities such as supermarkets and shopping centres are quite far away from the town, making a type of suburbia where cars are needed to carry out the lifestyle.





This reliance on cars in the community creates a lot of congestion on the roads which puts people off walking unless they have to from fear of road accidents, which have accrued a couple of times on the main road going through the town. With all the congestion on the roads its unsustainable for another reason other than Co2 emissions, damage to the roads in my community is a big problem, there are always men in high visibility jackets mending the roads because of the amount of traffic that accumulate, this is highly unsustainable for the money that is needed to pay for the road mending comes out of the communities money, which means that roads are being fixed whilst recreational areas begin to die down. But the community does redeem itself by having many cycle lanes all over the town with many in the residential areas, so that if people want a green more healthy method of transport it is available to them, I am personally one of the users of the cycle paths, for example I would ride the 20 minute walk it took to get to my sixth form whilst my friends would take the bus or drive, though there not a widely used facility the cycle paths do show that the community is trying to be sustainable.

 The facilities available in Rayners Lane are well maintained by both the community and the council such as the local schools in which the one closest to my house my siblings attend in which my mother and several of her friends are a part of the PTA there, which creates a community inside the school but also the local area around the school, this a sustainable part of the community as the council, children, teachers and parents work together to make the schools in the area better for today and the future. Not only do the schools in the local area try to improve their own community they also try to improve the rest of the community through events such as that HA2 Can Do carnival that myself and my brother where apart of for many years which can be seen in the local paper Harrow Times and my old high schools newsletter ( page 7).



Another facility that is a part of the community is the high street which has a few local shops such as newsagents and some small supermarkets like Tesco’s express and some speciality shops such as Polish delicatessens and pure vegetarian Indian caterers, these high street provides the community with a place to meet due to the coffee shops and restaurants making the high street the heart of the community where everything is happening.

The use of facilities in the area such as the schools and shops are part of the glue that keeps communities together thus making them sustainable in the future as these facilities provide people with a sense of purpose or belonging. However this sense of belonging and community being brought together can be broken by the continuous changing of some of the shops in the high street, for example over the past couple of years some shops have changed for the worst such as the local Chinese restraint which went out of business during the recession, which has now been transformed into an empty nightclub/cocktail bar which not many people in the community are interested in, this leads to a breakdown of the community which is unsustainable in the long run as people are unwilling to adjust to change.



(http://www.guides-uniform.co.uk/)

Another aspect of the community that makes it sustainable is the social clubs and community activities that people attend, such as though’s mentioned before; allotment societies and local carnivals but there are others such as Scouts and Guides, Sports clubs, Dance lessons in church hall and so on. From my experiences of these clubs and community activities it brings people in the community together from all walks of life and of all age groups for example Scouting and Guiding brings the children of a community together along with adults to be their Scouts and Guide leaders creating communities for both adults and children alike in the home town. My personal experiences with the Guides have made me part of my community for the past 11 years through community based projects such as bake sales and Christmas shows. However though these activities are good at making the community more connected, people are split up into different groups within the community which in a way brakes down the overall community, and if there were an increase in activities it could become unsustainable in the long run.



Then there are the environmental factors that need to be considered, Rayners Lane is home to several parks and open spaces such as Alexandra Park and Roxbourne Park, where people are able to meet in the community providing them with a sustainable area which is maintained by the council. For example the parks are used as sports grounds and children’s play areas playing a vital function to the community. Another aspect of the community that keeps it sustainable is our recycling policy, where by every house hold has three bins: one for recyclable waste, non-recyclable and kitchen and garden waste, this is a part of an incentive from the council to be more green and eco-friendly, this more green way of recycling can be seen on the Harrow Councils website. Though these rules and regulations have been put into place by the council for the good of the community, the sometimes get kicked to the curb, for example in my house were supposed to separate out all the rubbish that we through away, but in some cases it’s a hassle that we can do without, and my family are not the only ones to “forget” to recycle properly.

So in conclusion, I would say that over all my community in Rayners Lane, Harrow, is a sustainable one, I do think that it is a place where people want to live (though I wouldn’t really say work) and it is being modified to promote sustainable living through incentives from the council such as having so many bins it’s easy to get what goes where wrong, but the bigger picture is that it is good for the future of our community and that’s what counts. Though we may not be building the community of tomorrow from scratch, we are improving on the community of yesterday to bring it towards tomorrow, through community factors such as a diverse population with people who are working to keep our community afloat to those who are being educated for the future, as well as having miniature communities through Guides and PTA meetings, thus in the long run it  builds to a better community as the mums on the PTA hand out flyers for the Guides church coffee morning. Other factors that make us a sustainable community is that we work together to strengthen our community and that of others such as the HA2 Carnival in which all the schools in the community take part and everybody gets involved, even the town next door to us.

However we do have are sustainable slip ups such as the Co2 emissions that the mums taxi’s create in the mad rush to get to school before 9 o’clock, the popularity of the area that is pulling people in could be the reason for pushing people out as the community begins to reach its carrying capacity and the incredible large amounts of space wasting 4 bedroomed semi-detached houses.

But all in all I think to be a sustainable community you need to have flaws in the system otherwise it’s not a true community, because those who can see past the run down council estates and through to the smiles on people’s faces as they dance down the high street in carnival colours, are the people who make my community of Rayners Lane a sustainable community.  

How sustainable is your lifestyle?





(http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sustainable-Living-Dummies-Michael-Grosvenor/dp/1740311574)



To enable to understand how sustainable my life is, definitions of what is a sustainable lifestyle need to be considered. For example, with reference to Wikipedia “sustainable living can be described as living within the innate carrying capacities defined by these social, environmental and economic factors” Wikipedia: sustainable living. Though referencing from this site needs caution. Another definition of a sustainable lifestyle is “Living happily by making full use of all resources we have in order to have a guilt-free pleasurable life” from Sustainable lifestyle. So it can be concluded that a sustainable lifestyle is where decisions that are made in our life, are taken with consideration to whether they will compromise future generation’s wellbeing, though at the same time still allows us to have a fulfilled and healthy lifestyle. 

With this understanding, the sustainability of my life needs to be looked at through both my university and home life and my personal views that affect my lifestyle both the good and the bad.  At university I make it a ritual to turn off all electrical appliances when not needed, saving electricity. I also take showers instead having  baths, which is one of the things I don’t do out of choice, but are due to my circumstances, others due to this reason include taking the bus and only doing clothes washing when I have enough to make it economically viable. Whereas at home I get driven to places I need to go to and my washing is done when mum decides to put the washing machine on. Also since my parents pay for the bills in my house, I sometimes forget that running the bath, playing music on my IPod speakers and changing my clothes several times a day is bad for the environment, thus unsustainable in the long run. Though one part of my lifestyle that I do both at university and at home is recycle; I make sure that all the rubbish that I have, is separated properly into the correct bins, this activity is partly done by choice (I want to make sure that the rubbish I produce is properly dealt with) and partly to do with my circumstances (at home the council fine you for not separating rubbish and this also happens at university).

(http://gubinskycpa.blogspot.com/2010/07/bottled-water-costs-how-much.html)

However the majority of my personal lifestyle choices are made because I want to do them, for example if I had the time I would prefer to ride my bike to places I need to go to, utilising the resources that I have at hand to their full potential. Another lifestyle choice that I make with sustainability in mind, is deciding not to drink bottled water. For in my opinion it is easier, cheaper and uses less energy in the long run to drink and bottle my own tap water, rather than buy tap water that is more refined and has had a fancy label stuck on the front. My opinion is backed by evidence from NRDC: bottled water (point 7) where statistics show how polluting bottled water really is, and the video clip called "the story of bottled water" also examines how much a bottle of water costs us.

It’s these types of personal lifestyle choices that make me feel that my lifestyle is sustainable, though a slightly large chunk of my life brings me back down from my sustainability dreams, and that is consumerism and convenience.     

living outside the box: sustainable lifstyles
(http://www.theecologist.org/tv_and_radio/tv/549725/what_is_a_sustainable_lifestyle.html)

I am not proud to say that I own enough clothes to run my own fashion show and I’m not happy to say that when a new gadget comes out I’m drawn to it, like a magpie to a piece of shiny tinfoil. But this happens because I am seduced by the thought that products might make my life better or make me happier, but usually they don’t and when the seduction wares off I have a wasted product which is totally unsustainable. Though the real question is why do I think that I must buy the latest IPod and the brand new designer handbag to make my life better, when all along the ones I have already are fulfilling my life. The answer is due to the new culture of consumerism, with a way of thinking that states “if you don’t have it, your life is not complete”, the short musical called Consumerism: the musical shows briefly that the most mediocre things make people splash out the cash, just so they can try to make their life better and to make themselves look good, but people can manage to have fulfilled lives without having to be unsustainable. The video clip from the Ecologist called living outside the box: sustainable lifestyles, shows how material consumables don’t actually make you happy, which I am now beginning to agree with. Another aspect of my life is that I’m sometimes unsustainable due to the convenience of the situation, such as putting the heating on rather than an extra jumper; this is more closely linked to my home lifestyle than at university. 




Working in kenya



But there are some areas of my life where I have to be less sustainable to enable to have a fulfilled lifestyle, for example I like to travel abroad both with my family and friends which involves a lot of pollution. But with some of these ventures  I am able to balance out the unsustainability of flying with other sustainable contributions to the world, for example over the summer I flew to Kenya to build schools for underprivileged children, enabling them to gain access to education so that they can have a better life. This shows that, though I was being unsustainable in an environmental sense, I was being sustainable in social sense by creating a brighter future for a group of children.  Another reason that I have to be less sustainable at times is when I can’t afford to be sustainable. In one sense being sustainable involves a lot of money especially when it comes to food, for example food that is good for the environment (organic and hasn’t travelled far to get to the supermarket) is often more expensive than food that is less good for the environment because of the way it is produced and distributed. Another way in which I can’t afford to be sustainable is when my back is metaphorically against the wall and the only option is unsustainable, for example at home when I’m late trying to get somewhere, the quickest option is to ask my parents to give me a lift instead of a sustainable method; such as walking or taking the bus and being late.     

(http://cartoonsnap.blogspot.com/2009/02/she-getting-fat-she-balloon-jack-kirby.html)

After anylising my lifestyle from riding my bike and not drinking bottled water to buying up shiny gadgets and traveling around in Mums taxi, I have come up with the decision that my life is semi-sustainable. I have come to the conclusion of semi-sustainable because some of the characteristics of my lifestyle such as being a cyclist and a keen electricity conservationist, this shows that I try to be sustainable wherever possible in my life; where it fits in and doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg.  Also when it comes to my personal lifestyle choices, I am strongly for being sustainable, and I try not to be unsustainable when I don’t need to be, such as buying bottled water when it comes straight out of the tap and not of the back of a lorry. However as I am human and programmed to want to consume (as Lily Allen says “…I am a weapon of massive consumption, and it’s not my fault it’s how I’m programmed to function…” The Fear), it is easy for me to be drawn into being unsustainable; especially when it comes to shopping and how much easier it is to turn up the thermostat instead of rummaging in the back of my closet for a jumper. But my lifestyle is also semi –sustainable because parts of it are controlled by forces that take over the situation. An example would have to be taking showers and busses because this is what has been provided to me in my life, altering my lifestyle. Other examples include having to buy non-organic food that has come from the other side of the world or I won’t be able to by textbooks, I know it’s not good for the environment, but if I was to be sustainable the outcome would not be particularly good for me. Then the final reason for being semi-sustainable is that I have to break the rules sometimes to create a better outcome, such as flying 4263 mi /6861 km to Kenya to change the lives of a couple of hundred children.

So to answer the question, “how sustainable is your lifestyle?” I would say semi-sustainable, because even though at heart I want to be an ecowarrior I still need shoes and text books.