Alejandro Cartagena - http://www.alejandrocartagena.com/
30 Days: Minimum Wage - Surrounding the basic notion of the documentary - society evolving beyond a minimum wage and establishing a living wage that allows a person to fulfill their basic necessities - what other ideas can you infer from the documentary that relate to the class? Talk about a living wage, but relate it to the class, not simply ‘everyone deserves to have their basic necessities fulfilled.’ Things to think about: creeping normalcy, individual responsibility towards the environment, reorganization of society, the control of our basic necessities, business concerns and rationales for their actions or lack of action, housing and urban development, cheap food vs quality food, Seventh Generation philosophy, lack of grocery stores in poor/destitute urban neighborhoods,...
Do not feel like you have to rely only on the ideas I put forth.
“Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in the art, with the pretty. It expands through the successive stages of the beautiful values as yet uncaptured by language.”
ReplyDeleteSand County, pg. 96
This is another quote I read in Sand County. I found this quote to be very true. We do view nature as we do art. We find it beautiful, unexplainable, and necessary. Yet I’ve never really considered this. Nature is art, and a lot of the time art uses nature as its subject.
While reading Sand County I find that I have been underlining quotes I find meaningful along the way. After flipping through the pages I seen that I have underlined several quotes just in this week’s reading. I find the book as a whole to be extremely boring and I tend to jump around but every few pages there will be a sentence or two that stops me and causes me to contemplate what he is saying. Most of the time I am wondering why I’ve never noticed these small details that are part of a much larger concept. Its as if the author is saying so much by saying almost nothing at all.
People have to have financial stability to have the power to take up the responsibility of environmental conscientiousness. This process can be compared to the same process in which people climbed up from being hunter/gatherers to farmers then industrial workers and so on (this is overly simplified I’m sure). Basic needs that are distributed on tiers need to be met before the next level of tiers can be satisfied. Tier One: Food, Shelter, Water, And Basic Necessities. If all of those are met and there is a surplus of energy and assets then Tier Two (I would guess would be Training, Employment, Saving, and Secondary Necessities, but I’m pretty sure I’m wrong) can be explored and hopefully satisfied as well. When all efforts are focused on employment, keeping a home, eating, and essentially barely surviving, there is no extra energy to use on working to be eco-friendly, conscientiously anyway.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there is no energy or asset for health conscientious behavior either. A 3-liter of Faygo pop (it is a Flint brand of soda pop, maybe it is sold around here somewhere) costs only a dollar while a gallon of milk could be easily over $2 at any given point in a grocery store, and probably closer to $3 or $4 in a convenient store. Most food in any gas station has a considerable mark-up price for those who are utilizing every penny they earn. State and Federal aid like Welfare, SSI, Food Stamps, and others do provide aid to people who qualify, but it puts them into a trap as well. If they earn up to a certain amount of money while on these need-based programs, they are for the most part cut off. To keep the “free money”, some people deliberately earn under the limit to remain qualified for funding that they are unable to make themselves. With this problem, people remain dependent on the state and unable to move upward on the social economical ladder. When people are unable to move upward and claim financial security, how will they become able to address environmental issues?
Watching the episode of “30 Days” put a lot of what we have been learning in class into perspective. Coming from an upper middle class family I have been given many opportunities I have never really appreciated. Some things I have I take for granted and do not even recognize as an opportunity because I have such a comfortable living. My family and I can afford to “go green” and spend more money on organic foods, since organic foods are often more expensive. People living at, close to, or below the poverty line take what they can get. More often than not that means the cheap, poorly made food. That means there will always be a demand for it and with the declining economy consumption of unhealthy, poor quality foods will increase. With statistics like this companies who are trying to make better quality foods will be discouraged. I cannot imagine living without furniture, always being cold, walking to work and eating canned meals. I worked over the past two summers for job experience, not to feed my family.
ReplyDeleteWhat irked me the most about the television episode were the hospital bills and the free clinics. The people who need help the most are not able to get it. There needs to be more immediate reform in health care. I am still confused about minimum wage because I see both sides. I understand that the minimum needs to change because it hasn’t since 1997 and I also understand that it will cause businesses to close down possibly raising the unemployment rate. The minimum does need to change, but in little steps. Increase it by a few dollars and observe results; but I still feel that health care is a number one issue. I do not follow politics too closely so I am not completely sure what the government’s intentions are with the program.
October 13
ReplyDeleteI was quite fascinated by the “30 Days: Minimum Wage” episode that we watched in class last week. First of all, I haven’t seen Super Size Me or the 30 Days show before, so it was my first time witnessing Morgan Spurlock’s work. I think it’s great that such an average guy is choosing to do these experiments – it’s much more effective than seeing a big celebrity trying out other lifestyles. I was also impressed by how much Morgan and his fiancée delved into the working class lifestyle – they really put themselves in a position where they were forced to think from the point of view of someone living off minimum wage (although the shot of Morgan drinking Fiji water was questionable…). Through their experience I was really able to understand the difficulties that low-income and jobless individuals face in society today, and also to see how their lifestyles tie in with environmental and health issues. Unfortunately, most healthy and eco-friendly lifestyle choices are a bit more expensive than their less healthy and less eco-friendly counterparts, and therefore people from the lower class often end up making choices that are not beneficial for themselves or the world. This is an unfortunate reality, and it needs to be addressed if we are to fully succeed in improving our world. While the basis of the issue lies in the inequality of economic opportunity in our society, that problem is so deeply-rooted that it would take a huge amount of time and effort to make any effective change. Rather, we should look at the green revolution and how healthy and eco-friendly opportunities are mainly aimed at the middle and upper class.
It is a simple statistical fact that if a product or practice is made more available and less expensive, its sales and usage will increase. This offers a simple solution to the problem: make eco-friendly products and healthy foods cheaper, and more people will use and consume them. Easy enough, right? Wrong. This solution goes against everything that our economy runs on: big business, the strength of corporations, and trickle-down economics. It would harm big businesses if consumers stopped buying their cheaply-made, unhealthy products and turned instead to nutritious, locally-produced goods. Corporations like McDonalds, who provide unhealthy options for a huge portion of Americans every day, would suffer greatly. If everyone started buying environmentally-friendly goods, water bottle companies would fail, plastic and paper factories would decline, and a huge amount of people would lose their jobs. The question is: is a healthier planet worth a temporary decline in our economy? It’s a question that has much gravity, but is vital to consider in these times.
I found ’30 Days: Minimum Wage’ to be an informative glimpse into the unfortunate lifestyle so many Americans are faced with. Having worked a minimum wage job myself, I was initially skeptical that Spurlock would be able to pull off his assignment. And indeed, at the end of the episode Spurlock and his wife move back home tired, sore, and in debt. However I think it’s important to point out that the money he made for doing the show most certainly covers any of the expenses he incurred.
ReplyDeleteThinking about this show in terms of our ADP discussions, it would be naive to think that people living right on the edge of poverty would put forth an effort to “go green”. Most of the up and coming technologies you can invest in right now that reduce carbon footprint cost much more than their non-environmentally counterparts. This is why where our roles as artists become quite significant. Through developing and innovating on old ideas with the mindset that in order to be successful we must at first be applicable to all people regardless of wealth we can potentially make a huge difference in moving our country into a place of environmental efficiency.
After watching the episode of "30 days" and listening to the lecture that were presented today, I came to think about where real happiness is or what determines happiness.
ReplyDeleteIn the lecture, Joe have talked about happiness level being at the peak in 1956 and steadily decreasing until now. Even though I was born and grew up in a upper middle-class family, if I were to be doing a survey on how much happy I am, I would not be able to choose "very happy", but choose "Not too happy". Even though I have nice car, food, and house, these can only satisfy my want but not satisfy my mind to be happy.
In the show program of the "30 days", they seemed to be going through much of hard times as they were limited on how much they can spend there money on there needs. Also they were spending minimum times on sleeping and were working almost all day. Even they did not seem very happy. Minimum wage law was made to satisfy these daily workers to be at least be able to live a life which they would not have to suffer on thinking about spending money on what they would be eating daily or how they should be paying the bills for electricity and water.
No problem have been solved even though these laws to protect poor people have been passed or technology has evolved to produce energy more efficiently with lower cost. In the lecture Joe also pointed out that depletion will still continue no matter how much technology is advanced.
In conclusion, humans unlimited want will just keep on lowering the satisfaction of the people around the globe and just deplete the earth's resources. Even if the resources keep on decreasing, people should take one step at a time to at least slow down the consumption of the resources that are provided by earth.
I really wanted to give them a hand after watching “30 days of minimum wage.” While I was watching it, it kept reminded me of “Supersize me.” They were experiencing themselves and sacrificing their bodies both physically and mentally by living with a minimum wage for 30 days. It was very surprising to see how they earn, save, and consume the money. This episode evoked me in many ways.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking back to my regular life styles while I was watching this. Relating to the lecture, I belong to the "overconsumption" in the list of Big 3 Consumptions:
1. Consumerism: Elevation of materials to status of dominant social paradigm.
2. Commoditization: Substitute goods and services for personal, culture, art, self provisioning, and well-being.
3. Overconsumption: more than what is necessary.
I am pretty sure that most people around me belong to Overconsumption, and they don’t realize any serious environmental problems.
In the “30 days of minimum wage”, I was shocked how they had to work even harder and eat less after they went to the hospital. I go to hospital any time I feel like I have to go. Although I did not have severe condition, I just went to hospital to check up with the doctor and bought medicines. I have many medicines that are almost all for the same purpose. I realized how much of the money I was wasting all the time. Their diet was also crucial. Eating is the happiest moment of the day for me. I usually spend about 40 dollars a day only on food. (Including coffee, drinks, or snacks) I eat whatever I want and I don’t cook at home because I thought that I don’t have much time. However, compared to what they’ve experienced, I should be the happiest person in the world.
It is funny how happiness strongly depends on the amount of money, but in fact, it is not for some people. People with less money could be happier than people with more money. Therefore, happiness depends on where one puts the weight (importance) on- different standards. During the lecture, I took notes about what research has demonstrated about Human Happiness; It says that Money and Goods can buy happiness at a point. However, some people think that family and community makes them happiest. (Money vs. Social interactions) It was also interesting to see how people in the poor country are happier than the college students. It is the matter of satisfaction. What is the end of satisfaction and what is the happiness for oneself? As people get richer, they want more “stuff.” Their standards get higher. However, it is very egoistic mind. Thinking in terms of environmental aspects, producing more and more stuffs is NOT good. The self storage business was top 5 growth and is still growing business, because people think that they get more happiness when economy assumes more Stuff. But the Question was “Are we really Happier?” At this point, people have to rethink how humans are related to the nature. People need to realize the serious issues growing up in this society.
30 days is very interesting and definitely brings light to a situation that needs attention (although the minimum wage has gone up since it was filmed) but it's good for people to be aware of how things that may not seem to effect US are affecting other people greatly. Although, i thought that really they were only scraping the very top of a more mundane and perhaps more serious issue than they made it look. They complained about everything when really there are people that would be pretty happy in their situation because really it can be much worse. They took taxi's when they were "just too tired" at the end of the day and splurged on each other's birthdays when really I think for someone who had been living in their situation for real and for longer would not go to that "fancy" restaurant and then complain lack of money later. Was it set up?
ReplyDeleteBut anyways like i said they still brought attention to something we don't normally think about and gave us a window into a life other than ours and the people we know for longer than a second- for 30 days. Perhaps it should be longer?
This show also supports this idea of how we are constantly unaware of our environment. The way other people live and suffer is part of our society and environment and can help you have perspective on how our the the country or even the planet actually is in a general way rather than what happens on our block and in our city. If you take care of at least the people in our society then we would be doing one thing right but right now it seems like we aren't doing that OR the environment. This class is like that show but MUCH better because it's bringing things into perspective. A Sand Country Almanac is bringing another world and point of view into perspective and more and more we are getting to see the bigger picture. If you slowly change someone's whole point of view on what their world looks like perhaps you can slowly teach them to do something about it and care in a long term way!
Watching the Episode of '30 days' in combination with the lecture brought about some enlightening thoughts. The concern with the environment is of interest to all of us; but who really is going to do something about it. Basically it takes money to 'go green'. Sure you could grow your own food and freeze and can it, but who has the time to do that, especially if you are trying to meet your expenses by working in a minimum wage job. To purchase food that has been grown or produced with the environment in mind is expensive; which then means you have to be economically stable to be able to participate in the world of 'green'.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to imagine how people are making it in this world with the economic conditions of our time. I worked in an unpaid internship during the summer, primarily to gain experience in my area of study; and then too I worked at a Country Club just to be able to get some cash for my miscellaneous expenses. I think how does a person survive when they are working in the job as I did, only they are trying to pay living expenses for themselves or possibly a family. So then I think, if that were the case, would I really have any interest or energy to think about my impact on the environment.
In our current economic condition, I have a hard time believing that we can get our society in tuned to the woes of our environment. It is something that needs to be addressed, but our 'state of economics' will have to improve. As a society we need to enforce the importance of being concerned with being green.
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ReplyDelete30 Days Minimum Wage, was a strong documentary in that it presented something not all are aware of. Spurlock and his fiancee were putting themselves in an unfamiliar environment. Their perception of what it was going to be like was completely different from the outcome. They ended the thirty day period without any money and were very much physically tired. The field research project is much like this just not as dramatic and life threatening. We are researching something less familiar and probably entering it with perceptions. Our perceptions about living wage have changed over the years too. A living wage should produce food, clothing, and shelter. Today though a living wage could encompass technologies such as televisions or anything that is a luxury item. What is our responsibility as citizens to the environment then? The Declaration of Independence says all humans have these unalienable rights "Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit Of Happiness". What happiness is a person entitled to? What does it mean and has its meaning changed over time? The environment needs a stable "soil-plant-animal-man food chain(Leopold, 178)" and we also depend on it. In Sand County Almanac Leopold talks about how we have placed to much dependency on industry and not on the ecology of land. This is very true and now we are seeing the fall of these industries in their unsustainability. The American society is separated into the poor, middle class, and rich who all mostly function separately. Our responsibilities as citizens is to recognize the importance of community, share the wealth and receive it from the land that shapes our lives.
ReplyDeleteWell, I have worked for minimum wage before. I was a "bagger" who puts items in the bags in a grocery store. There were lots of workers that have worked for minimum wage for many years. Like cashiers in age of mid thirties, their wage is, of course, above minimum wage, but very slightly, and although it was an extreme pain in the ass, they worked through their hardships to retain their households.
ReplyDeleteHowever, they never had smile off from their face. I mean, their life seems to have any problems. I am pretty sure that the cashier job is not what they expected to become when they were young, or they like the job. They must be seduced by the surrounding, the people. Based on the work hours and their effort, they have to get paid for enormous amount of money. People there were so great and nice. The workers and I are still making good relationships even though it was two years ago when I used to attend high school.
A book I read for other class defines the money as proof of who we are. I disagree with the idea in a way that the amount of money represents the goodness or personalities of a person.
Money is not what the problem is, we are. Our instinctive thinking that has been influenced by social medias make us think that we have to live in an urban area with great clothes or great cars. We can live happily ever with the minimum wage, with low quality of living standard. In that sense, we don't have to worry about living in a forest or using less technology. We have to wake up from ourselves hypnotized.
By showing an inside look at our countries minimum wage, Morgan Spurlock’s documentary 30 Days reveals our low income jobs to be extremely dysfunctional. I am inspired by this film to do the same thing Morgan and Alex have done: live in the standards of other people, and learn the reality of their situation through experience. I would love to do this project, however I am not as extreme as Morgan. I would not mind having less of one thing or less of everything, but knowing his previous film Supersize Me I would not eat McDonalds food for thirty days. In this case, I already know McDonald’s food is extremely bad for you, so I don’t eat their food anyway. I wouldn’t go through an experience to prove a point that I already consider a fact. However, I would undergo a lifestyle of another human being in order to understand where they are coming from, what is important to them, and why they see things the way they do. The most shocking thing in 30 Days was the expense of Morgan and Alex’s hospital visit. The fact that the hospital charged 3-5 hundred dollars to each of them, just for being in a room, makes me extremely upset with the U.S. government’s policy on health care. I don’t understand why a country would go against its own citizens by making it difficult to people to receive health care while making the cost of the care detrimental. This made me want to actively protest both minimum wage and our current health care system.
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