What does the future hold?

The film Just Add Water displays the themes and values that are shaping the future of America. It seems that family is no longer important, as is displayed by Ray’s wife Charlene, and teenagers are getting more involved with drugs as is demonstrated by Ray’s son Eddie. Two articles, Michael Specter’s “Big Foot,” and Benjamin Phelan’s “How We Evolve,” can also be applied to the way our future is changing. Are these changes affecting the way we evolve? Are we even evolving?

About halfway through the movie, Ray finds out that his wife Charlene has been cheating on him with his brother throughout the entire relationship. His son is not even his. Charlene exemplifies what it is to have poor family values. She was willing to entrap Ray in this marriage (they only married because she was pregnant) for selfish reasons, and not because she wanted a healthy partnership that would give her child a better life. Phelan discusses a similar trend in his article: the fact that marriage is no longer about partnership as it was for thousands of years, but is now about love, and what effect this trend will have on evolution. “Mating is no longer a privilege that males beat each other senseless to secure. As a result, even the less fit get to pass on their genes. Promiscuity and sperm competition have given way to spiritual love; the fittest and the unfit are treated as equals, and equally flourish” (Phelan). Because marriage is no longer about finding a partner who will help produce the healthiest children, hopefully giving them a better life, having children is no longer about passing along the desirable genetic traits.

It is unfortunate that marriage has taken this turn. Many of my friends believe I am crazy for admitting this, but I do not think marriage should just be about love. Of course love is an important element in marriage, but there are other important factors to consider, such as: how my partner will handle financial matters, how they will be as a father, and if we will have a good partnership and agree on things such as how to raise our children, as well as what values to hold about others. People are quick to forget that the love they feel early on in a relationship is quick to fade, thus it is important to have a good base of a partnership.

Just Add Water also focuses on the burden of others. For example, when Ray is trying to overthrow Dirk, the towns own teenage meth-baron, he has to make sure that the others who are helping, his neighbors who are not nearly as smart as him, do not mess up the plan. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, America, as well as other rich nations, is becoming a burden due to the high amounts of carbon they release into the earth’s atmosphere. “Since 1850, North America and Europe have accounted for seventy per cent of all greenhouse-gas emissions, a trend that is not improving. Stephen Pacala, the director of Princeton University’s Environmental Institute, recently estimated that half of the world’s carbon-dioxide emissions come from just seven hundred million people, about ten per cent of the population” (Specter). It is extremely unfair to the poorer nations of the world that they are suffering from the effects of global warming when their impact on the situation has been so small.

If human evolution ceases to continue, how can we adapt to the changes that global warming will have on the earth? When it gets harder for humans to live on this planet, will they build new buildings and think up new machinery that will help them live? Or will humans be forced to forget about ‘spiritual love’ and form relationships with those who will help their children advance in this world?

Unfair

In John Broome's article "The Ethics of Climate Change" I read the line: "By emitting greenhouse gases, are the rich perpetrating an injustice on the world's poor?" This line really got to me. I completely agree with this statement because it really is the rich that are contributing to global warming. The poor do not have the money to use anything (cars, machines) that could contribute to global warming. And the rich really are committing an injustice because the lives of the children of the poor and their children's children will be different and there is nothing the poor can do about it. They can not stop the rich from emitting greenhouse gases and they can not do antyhing to help reverse global warming.
America's capitalist society is partly to blame not just for global warming but for the fact that we do not seem to care that we are also effecting the poorer nations of the world. Capitalism has taught people to worry only about themselves and the profit they are gaining. Ethics plays a limited roll in capitalism and it is unfortunate that these are the values that Americans are teaching their children. Even if people see the negatives of capitalism, these values come into play in all parts of life.

Music

Animalcules

I can not describe Smith's keen pleasure in observing the animalcules because I myself would never find pleasure in such a thing. I also have no interest in writing about this article, but I can however discuss what I would fine pleasure in, my number one being music. I have always loved music, as I have been playing the piano since the second grade. Music was what got me through high school when I was unhappy with the people I was surrounded with, and it has even helped me through my rough days of college. This semester, I picked up another instrument: the guitar. I've been having my friend teach me how to play things, looking up chords and tabs, as well as writing my own songs. It really is amazing how much of an outlet writing music can be, and I had never realized until this past week.

Are we evolving?

Perhaps I did not read the article closely enough, but the whole article did not seem to be about self-inflicted extinction, but just about the ways that humans are evolving... even if it is a sort of backwards way of evolving. Phelan made a great point about why we are not evolving the way we used to: "We nurse our sick back to health, and mating is no longer a privilege that males beat each other senseless to secure. As a result, even the less fit get to pass on their genes. Promiscuity and sperm competition have given way to spiritual love; the fittest and the unfit are treated as equals, and equally flourish." These days we do not need to marry people who will produce children with the best chance of living because it is hard to find a child who does not have a good chance of living.
It is funny that we had to read this article because just the other day I was thinking about this and wondering if we evolve. Our environments are so easily customizable that I can not think of any traits that actually hinder someone from living. For example, if it is too hot, we turn on the air conditioner. My father suggested that people of the future will need longer fingers because of things such as blackberries where people have to text very fast, but it's not as if having stubbier fingers hinders someone from texting and makes it harder for them to live.

Food Miles - "Big Foot" by Michael Specter

Michael Specter makes a valid point when he says "Possessing an excessive carbon footprint is rapidly becoming the modern equivalent of wearing a scarlet letter." Although I think this is an exaggeration, because nobody knows the exact carbon footprint of anyone else, I still think it holds true. It is hard to find a person who does not contribute to the problem of excessive greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but some do more to decrease their emissions than others. And those who do nothing to decrease their emissions, or even contribute to the problems excessively (I'm looking at you Hummer drivers) are definitely judged their peers. However, in terms of food miles, unless the subject is being followed in the supermarket, nobody will know their footprint. I do not even know where any of the food I buy comes from. When I first read John Elkington's claim, "We are in an era of creative destruction," (292) I was unsure of what he meant, but the way I translate it is that although we (human beings) are unable to stop destructing our planet, we are finding 'creative' ways to attempt to reverse the effects.
There is no question that I contribute to global warming, because as a consumer in a capitalist nation it is impossible not to. I do not think I excessively contribute, but I am sure I could do more to be more conscious of staying green. I should unplug my phone charger when I am not using it, but unfortunately I never think about this. After reading this article though, my eyes have been opened and I will try to walk more places and be more conscious of my actions.

Phelan comments that humanity is self extincting. How does G. Carlin’s routine reinforce this notion?

- George Carlin does a very good job of making a mockery of all the people who say we need to go green or the earth will die. While I do think we should be conscious of our actions and how they affect the earth, after watching Carlin’s routine, I am almost convinced that maybe everyone is going crazy over nothing.

What emblem/image/symbol best exemplifies the film “just add water”

I am unsure how to answer this question, and I do not see the point. It is probably going to contribute to the next paper we have due, but I am not even sure when that is due or what the premise of that is. I will surely find out before I have to hand it in. It is hard for me to focus on this question right now because I am so tired and all I want to do is jump in my bed and sleep.

Examples people are giving:
Football field
Sand
Stevo the turtle
Chevron station
Rite Value
Lightning
Love seat
Tin box
Rotting flower
Tumbleweed
Poster from the movie "holes"
Grandma's secret recipe