The goal with our Action Project is to raise an awareness of the Zero Waste movement in the City of Boulder and we have limited time and resources to devote to this project over the next two weeks. People often never try to affect positive change in their communities because they think the issues are too big, they don’t know enough, there is limited time, limited resources, etc. However, if nobody has the courage and initiative to address important issues in the community nothing will ever get done to address them. Given our limitations, is it still possible for us to accomplish our goal of raising an awareness of the Zero Waste Movement? How will you define whether or not our project is successful? Regardless of what we accomplish or how far we get with our Action Project, will the fact we even tried to tackle this issue in itself be a success?
A_Carr
I believe we will still be able to raise awareness of Zero Waste. It may be harder due to our time constraints, but we should be able to educate some people on Zero Waste. I think our project will be a success if we go out and try to educate people. We cannot force people to change their minds. If they know that Zero Waste is an important goal, maybe they will decide it is worth a try. Or maybe they will completely ignore us. The fact that we tried to persuade them is enough. Besides after the project is complete, we will know more about Zero Waste and be able to try it or tell others about it.
alicia
YES, it is very possible to raise an awareness of the Zero Waste Project. However, in order to do something about about the amount of zero waste in our community we must show how passionate we are to make a change, and really get the message out there “Reduce, Reuse, Recyle” however possible. (ie: Working with local business’s, making school announcements/presentations, events at the farmers market, or even just informing our parents and families of the Zero Waste Movement). We need to, as a class, force manufacturers to take a look at their products and take responsibility for the duration of their goods lifecycle and packaging. By setting goals to moderate the amount of trash each human disposes of each day, we are still making a difference, no matter how small. And that is what really matters.
alex stern
Yes, it is still very possible to raise awareness. Like it said in the journal prompt the only reason why people don’t try to make a change, is because they feel they do not have enough experience, recourses, etc. The bottom line is, anyone can do it if they really want to. Others and I think our class dose want to act on what we chose to do. I do realize that we are on a short time limit for such a big issue. But if we try hard and even spread the word to only a couple people, in my eyes that is a success because we have given our best effort. It will not be easy or fun at some times but it will be well worth it.
Jamie Shapiro
I think, from a certain perspective, we already have raised awareness simply by being aware ourselves. Personally, I had never heard of zero waste, at least not specifically, and neither had most of my family. I’ve heard that you can connect two people on earth in something like eight connections, which means that the fifteen of us could have quite an impact. As far as raising awareness in the greater community, I think that yes, we can. I like the idea of educating New Vista, but also I think we could take it much further. Our goals are very vague still, so I think it’s still too early to say whether our project will be a success. On one hand it is a success to even tackle such an issue, but I think that perspective creates laziness. Too much pat yourself on the back, and you never make headway. I think it is far better to aim for a goal you will never reach, and reach much further than planned.
Brittany
My answer to this question is a definite YES. I do think that our class can raise awareness about the Zero Waste Movement. I know I already have. I have told friends and family and they have all thought that it was interesting and a movement that they support. Even though we do have a limited time frame and our project is still in it’s infancy I know that at the end we will all consider the outcome a success. In fact I would say that it is a success already. More people know about Zero Waste now just by word of our mouths. I think our class is going to accomplish something to be proud of. What I mean to say is that who cares if we don’t change the world, we are individuals working towards that goal. That’s all that matters.
Jacob
I think that it is most definately possible for us to at least raise awareness about the ideal of Zero Waste, and the fact that there are numerous people already working towards that goal. I think that the reason most people don’t try to start things is because its scary to be “the first.” However, in this case we (sort of) have to do it, and that makes it much easier. Finally, with the ways we’ve been talking about getting this out (radio, TV, web) we’ve just about maximum media usage, which helps greatly. Also, once were done with this project we can share our knowledge with others.
johnny_shu
I think its still possible for use to at least raise the awareness of Zero Waste. I think that if we can at least change or improve a little part of Boulder, then I think I would consider us to have accomplished our goal, or a part of it because maybe then it will change on its own. Maybe we just need to give it a little push in the direction of Zero Waste. I think that just us trying to change our world in this big of an issue is an ccomplishment.
D.Jay
I think that our main goal seems to be education. Now if we were trying to sell something or trying to change the world we would have bigger walls to climb. But education is free. It takes a very pigheaded and “stupid” person to turn down any sort of knowledge. So I think with our time and limits we can still get a hell of a lot done. And if any businesses turn their noses up at zero waste saying, “What reason do we have to change?” they can take a good long hard look at Whole Foods. Whole Foods is kicking ass and taken’ names.
Jordan slaver
Our success in the zero waste movement will be defined by what we truly are trying to accomplish. We can be successful by striving for relaitively minimal yet realistic goals and getting exactly what we want to complete, completed. Althought this wouldn’t make a huge impact, it would make an impact by raising awareness and it would be possible because we didn’t raise the stakes too high. We can be unsuccessful by trying to accomplish too much and fail due to our restrictions in time and energy. I personally think that we should set our sights relatively high but not out of the boundaries of possibility. I think that will enable us to see the bigger picture and get more done. Overall, we’ll have made an impact even if don’t change the world, which is good enough, but we should try to do as much as we can.