Mixed Nuts
I've been really lax in my movie watching for the past...oh, two months or so. It's okay, though, because I'd racked up a lot of movies before then. I'd been stranded on number 46 (Stranger than Fiction) for a couple of weeks now, but I want to hit 50 before the month is out (the halfway point), and since I'm going sailing after Midsummer, I haven't got loads of time to get there so tonight I watched Music and Lyrics. I spent pretty much the whole movie going "who IS that guy in the music video?" HELLO! (Now aren't you sad you don't have the IMDb extension installed? ;-) Almost enough to make me feel like picking up FNL again.
Not watching movies doesn't mean I haven't been watching other stuff. Stuff like Big Love, season 1, which, if possible, has made my views on polygamy - and Mormonism, for that matter - even worse than they were before, and yet I can't stop watching. Like in the finale, when all that stuff came out at the Mother of the Year award thingy, I felt horrible for Barb, and at the same time I felt like it served them all right. I swear, if I keep watching this show (which I have a feeling I might), I fear for my sanity.
Planet Earth
I almost found these last few episodes talking about the politics of conservation the most interesting. Since I started watching the series I've been giving some serious thought to something that I've only entertained in passing before.
We in the industrial world have exploited our natural resources for centuries, and now that we're waking up to the fact that our resources are not infinite and we're pretty much doomed if we keep going like this, we're trying to impose our will upon those nations that are trying to achieve what we've already achieved. If we don't, everyone on the planet dies. If we do, only they die. Basically, it feels like we're screwing them over.
The only thing I can think of is for the industrial nations to pay the less developed nations to conserve wilderness areas. Sort of a "hey, here's a little something for not destroying the lungs of the world". Of course, this is to bring third world nations towards a more industrialized state, which brings me to the question: is it possible to move towards industrialization without destroying natural resources? I just don't know. I kinda doubt it.
In some ways, I feel hopeful because there are people out there who are trying to do something, but at the same time it feels like drops in the ocean.
There certainly don't seem to be any easy answers to the whole environment issue, but I did lend money through kiva.org, an organization that asta77 pointed out the other day. You lend out money, you don't donate. When the loan has been repaid, you can either withdraw the funds or lend them out again. I like that I had control over just who to lend money to, because for me it feels important that the money goes to a woman, and because of Planet Earth, I wanted it to be an African woman. I'm not even sure I can articulate just exactly why, but the African situation often feels that much more urgent. Maybe next time I'll look elsewhere.
Anyway, kiva.org only takes care of one aspect of the problem, and I'm looking around for a) a general nature conservationist organization, and b) an organization that focuses on sex education and contraception to donate to. So if you know of any reputable ones, I'd love to hear about it.
I'm feeling indecisive about what to watch next.
Poll
Not watching movies doesn't mean I haven't been watching other stuff. Stuff like Big Love, season 1, which, if possible, has made my views on polygamy - and Mormonism, for that matter - even worse than they were before, and yet I can't stop watching. Like in the finale, when all that stuff came out at the Mother of the Year award thingy, I felt horrible for Barb, and at the same time I felt like it served them all right. I swear, if I keep watching this show (which I have a feeling I might), I fear for my sanity.
Planet Earth
I almost found these last few episodes talking about the politics of conservation the most interesting. Since I started watching the series I've been giving some serious thought to something that I've only entertained in passing before.
We in the industrial world have exploited our natural resources for centuries, and now that we're waking up to the fact that our resources are not infinite and we're pretty much doomed if we keep going like this, we're trying to impose our will upon those nations that are trying to achieve what we've already achieved. If we don't, everyone on the planet dies. If we do, only they die. Basically, it feels like we're screwing them over.
The only thing I can think of is for the industrial nations to pay the less developed nations to conserve wilderness areas. Sort of a "hey, here's a little something for not destroying the lungs of the world". Of course, this is to bring third world nations towards a more industrialized state, which brings me to the question: is it possible to move towards industrialization without destroying natural resources? I just don't know. I kinda doubt it.
In some ways, I feel hopeful because there are people out there who are trying to do something, but at the same time it feels like drops in the ocean.
There certainly don't seem to be any easy answers to the whole environment issue, but I did lend money through kiva.org, an organization that asta77 pointed out the other day. You lend out money, you don't donate. When the loan has been repaid, you can either withdraw the funds or lend them out again. I like that I had control over just who to lend money to, because for me it feels important that the money goes to a woman, and because of Planet Earth, I wanted it to be an African woman. I'm not even sure I can articulate just exactly why, but the African situation often feels that much more urgent. Maybe next time I'll look elsewhere.
Anyway, kiva.org only takes care of one aspect of the problem, and I'm looking around for a) a general nature conservationist organization, and b) an organization that focuses on sex education and contraception to donate to. So if you know of any reputable ones, I'd love to hear about it.
I'm feeling indecisive about what to watch next.
Poll