England-2011-gillian

Gillian's Journal

Greenland review I found Greenland quite a theatrical play due to the polar bear scene and the rain scene which I found quite outstanding. I also think the play did a good job in educating people about global warming and its effects due to the amount of details they provided. The actors were quite impressive too especially the actors who were delegates from Africa in the Copenhagen summit, their African accent was almost real. I wasn’t really impressed with the plot because it was hard to follow; scenes kept of changing from time to time each with a different story. Also even though a lot of details were given about climate change, global warming and its effects the play failed to give solutions to the problems. Furthermore giving out information about global warming through a play is not an effective method because firstly people have to pay to go see the play and they would pay if they are interested to know about global warming. If they are not interested they would not go and therefore would not get any information about global warming.

Reflections on climate change a) The main message on climate change is that it affects the earth and its inhabitants and the results are catastrophic for instance floods and global warming therefore people should reduce activities that lead to climate change and start using things that are environmentally friendly. Also greenhouse gases emission brings more global warming therefore people should reduce activities that encourage greenhouse gas emissions and should find other alternatives. b) I found museums more effective at communicating the message because it was more interactive. I learn more when I participate in the learning process rather than just sitting down and reading something or watching something. c) I don’t think there is any difference at all, both England and my home country plus Earlham almost have the same message on climate change which is reduce greenhouse gases and use resources that are environmentally friendly like renewable resources to fight global warming.

Science at Kew At Kew the science involved includes genetic research, conservation of different plant species and seed banking. The palm house was one of the evidence of scientific underpinnings in Kew because it was a collection of different plants from around the world and they were all planted and preserved in one place. Kew is important to society because it has the seed bank that stores seeds that can be used if any specie is becoming distinct or if species are wiped out in catastrophic events. Also pharmaceuticals can be made from the plant dry and be accessible to the society. People can also go to Kew Gardens as an area of attraction and spend time with their families in the beautiful gardens. Research is beneficial to people because they get to see different plants from around the world easily since they are all preserved in one place and they also learn more about plants.

Technology and sustainability talk I liked how this talk mainly focused on the way technology can be used to help reduce the problem of climate change and globalization and the way the lecturer gave further details on how those technologies work. However technology can only be easily available in developed countries and this made me wonder what the developing countries can do to fight climate change and globalization without heavily depending on technology. Things like smart grid, super grid and electric or hydrogen vehicles cannot easily be accessible in developing countries therefore what can developing countries use as an alternative that can be easily accessible to their countries to help reduce global warming?