Last week in sustainable systems class my class and a couple others viewed a screening for a movie/ documentary called “this changes everything. The documentary started off by proposing a question to the viewer about how we view the earth. I felt that this question wasn’t answered in the film which threw me off. throughout the film the narrator mentions the idea of polar bears and the melting ice that they rely on to live. she talks about the emotional response that this triggers within people and how this feeling of guilt in order to cause a change in people isn’t working and instead we have to take a different approach. Many examples of the environmental impacts we have on the earth were shown in the film such oil spills, and even positive ones like solar energy. After the film we had a discussion about the film and different ideas surrounding environmental impacts different industries have. in reflection of the film I learned a lot about the different people affected by all of these problems and the steps being taken or that need to be taken in order to prevent further destruction of our world. the documentary also made me question my own ideas on climate change and other issues as well as making me dive deep into the the many solutions that we can use. In terms of reflection on the use of class time it was nice to take a break from the routine classwork, i felt that this movie could have been watched just as easily in the comfort of our own homes. Although this isn’t supposed to be the major takeaway I feel that it would have made viewing the movie much more enjoyable not just because of a comfortable location but also the heat and interruptions from fellow classmates throughout the viewing were distracting.
