I can't drive 55

well, I misspoke in class this morning. It was President NIXON, not Carter, who signed into law the National Maximum Speed Law of 1974 , which established a national speed limit of 55 miles per hour as an energy conservation measure. "Wildly unpopular," as the Wiki article says, the law inspired Sammy Hagar of Van Halen (not David Lee Roth as I said in class) to write the 1984 hit song, "I Can't Drive 55."

Here, for your musical and ethical edification, is Mr. Sammy Hagar singing about the ethical dilemma he faces in trying to subordinate his selfish individual preferences to the greater good of society. Enjoy.

To answer the question

Truman lived under a paper moon

One of my all time favorite movies is Paper Moon. While Nat King Cole sings it best it is the lyrics that really embed the meaning. (worth looking up for those interested - movie and lyrics)

What is real to us? Do we ever truly know our friends or acquaintances? How do we verify if our surroundings are even concrete? Just because we can touch, feel, see - are we actually experiencing reality? Or is it just a fleeting glimpse of someone else's design? And if so, who? What? These questions have been pondered by some of the greatest minds that have ever pondered. But are we any closer to the answers??

Truman was brought up to think his world was real. His entire 'reality' as he knew it was a construct of his creator, Christof. Christof designed this elaborate world to disguise the outside REAL world from Truman. Truman could even taste the salty air surrounding his menagerie, and yet it wasn't true. So eloquently put: "We accept the reality of the world in which we are presented," responded Christof in interview. If Emerson were alive today, I think he would have retorted with one of his lines: "The mind does not create what it perceives, anymore than the eye creates the rose." R.W. Emerson

What are your thoughts?

Morals of money Part I

This clip is essentially a bit of a slight of hand trick mixed in with just enough jabber to confuse anyone trying to count out bills. In life - and especially in the South during Great Depression - you can never know who to trust. Watch as Moses Pray pulls one over on an unsuspecting shopkeeper. He makes it out with a free ribbon (for Addie) and some dough along the way... $5 for $10

Welcome to Ethics and the Environment, 2010!

Hi everyone,
welcome to the class blog for NTRES 3320.  Have fun with posting items of interest and discussion of issues that relate to the course.

Jim

Angry Mermaid Award!

Vote for which corporations have made the greatest effort to sabotage the prevention of climate change! Keep in mind, each of these listed corporations have made "bullshit" proposals to help battle climate change that end up being much more profitable than effective!

Angry Mermaid Nominees!

Optional Paper topics

Hey Everyone,

So I'm thinking about the optional paper topics and I want to write about the ethics of reading, and draw heavily from Thoreau's essay in Walden on reading. It was a close call between that and plastic trees. I was wondering what other people picked for a third topic, and, would it be possible for us to put our third papers online or something for the whole class to see? It might be fun to just see the variety of specific things that interest different people. If you don't like the idea, feel free to veto it.

-Arjun

PS--I haven't done the Blog so far b/c I thought I was bad with computers, but this is pretty easy.

New National Park Service Director

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113697978

Here's a link to an interview with the new director of the National Park Service. Pretty short, but mentions restrictions on snow mobile use in Yellowstone.

-Dana

Life After People

We were talking about anthropocentrism in class today. Many people are concerned about how the environment will change but is this really about how the environment will change the lives of human beings? What about life after people?

The History Channel made a film about this (link below)

Life After People

Hope you enjoy it!

Child Labor in Uzbek: Repercussions of Speaking Out

This is going back to the 11/10 lecture and the article referring to examples of paternalism... I'm wondering if the individual who divulged the information to BBC would have changed his mind if he knew he was going to be harmed out of his attempt to help others.

Activist 'beaten' after BBC story

Groundhog Day

For anyone interested in watching part or all of Groundhog Day, here is the link to Part 1 of ten on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MoOvPIuKAY&feature=related

A Series of Great Films to Accompany Great Literature

We have been reading a lot of thought-provoking material in the past weeks on various ethical issues and approaches to core ethical question of "How should one live?"   There seem to be a number of films coming out that deal with ethical issues we are discussing in class.  Adding to the post before mine, there are a few films that are out in theaters in the coming weeks that may be worth your time. 

In addition to"The Invention of Lying" (which was very thought-provoking - is the world actually made better if there is no lying?), there is also "Surrogates," "Where the Wild Things Are," and "The Box" (coming out November 6).  "The Box" poses the following moral dilemma: pushing a button will instantly earn you one million dollars, but will also kill someone you do not know; do you push it?

"Where the Wild Things Are" does not necessarily fit in the category of dealing with ethical issues, but is in the broader category of how should one deal with issues in general, and the foundation of a person's character.  I wanted to share a link to a NY Times Opinion article related to the movie that I found to be very well-written on this subject of morality:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/opinion/20brooks.html

- Jess

"The Invention of Lying" On the Topic of Lying vs. Bullshit

I just saw this preview for "The Invention of Lying" recently and thought it'd be interesting to share with all of you considering it's fairly pertinent with what we had been discussing just a week ago. It's literally about a man who stumbles upon the ability to lie in a world where no one has ever lied before, and how he exploits it. Enjoy.

The Invention of Lying

-Brian Han

The rights of nature

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) is a Pennsylvania nonprofit dedicated to asserting the rights of nature and having such rights codified into law. Check out their website at:

http://www.celdf.org/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

How far do rights go?

Here's a clip from Ghost in the Shell that made me think of class today (9/29), how far do we go with rights? Like other sci-fi robot films (AI or iRobot), what rights do they have? They can think and act, even independently, so what rights do they have. So if a robot has rights, can the earth??? How far do we go with rights?

Austin Powers: is this international man of mystery doing or allowing harm?

You decide: is Austin Powers doing or allowing harm?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLlUgilKqms

Interview with Harry Frankfurt on bullshit

Here is an interview with Harry Frankfurt that can help you with understanding his essay on bullshit.

originally posted 9/21/07

Soda Tax

While reading the NY Times today, I ran across an article (found online at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/business/17soda.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=soda&st=cse) on the front page of the Business section about how a tax should be imposed on sugary beverages like soda. This, supporters argue, would help fight obesity and raise funds for the health care reform. As someone who doesn't drink soda, I can honestly say I am biased in favor of such a tax, but what do you think? Is it right for the government to influence what we drink?

Neurath's boat

There are many references to Neurath's boat in various places on the web, and one nice paper that relates to ethics is by Gilbert Harman of Princeton University. "Three Trends in Moral and Political Philosophy" is available as a pdf file and may be of interest to some of you.

for more on Apollo 13:

Welcome to Ethics and the Environment, Fall 2009 version

Hi everyone,
glad to get the class started today. Enjoy the blog, and please do share items that you run across that relate (however broadly) to the subject matter of the course.

Jim