Blog 1 - - - Activities - John Francis walks the Earth

Activities - John Francis walks the Earth

Coming into this video with strong views on the world, you’ll find yourself questioning your knowledge that you believe to be true. John Francis has a way of talking that allows your mind to expand just by listening to him. With smooth following philosophies on life and the environment, he able to portray his points to the audience.
Perspectives on life, and how environmental impacts, can affect people in different ways. For John an oil spill caused him to give up his normal life and take action (TED,2010). This show how interconnected people and the environment can be. He didn’t have to do anything, like many people do, but he decided to take action. Having a green mentality with the environment can be a difficult thing to stick with. Many people view actions as insults to them for not being green or just a waste of time. The mentality is that people will follow, or help you with your cause, only to find many people just don’t care. Not everyone can take action and change.
After watching the video a couple times, I began to understand why John took certain actions, such as not talking or driving for seventeen years (TED,2010). The simple aspect of just listening is a skill that few can understand, and follow through with. I find myself doing exactly what he explained, of trying to think of a rebuttal to a person’s argument, before their argument is complete. I have personally missed information from not listening enough, and I though his explanation to be very valuable
Experience with determination, allowed John to receive degrees that he had not paid for yet, but exceptions were made, because he was an exceptional person. I like that part of his story, because it allows people to see motivation and focus can get you anywhere you want to be, no matter what restraints may be in the way.
Listening transferred over to his teaching style, kind of like mime learning, but turned out to be more successful (TED,2010). The listening aspect brought more discussion into the class room between the students, in return brought new ideas and concepts. To me this showed that stepping out of line and trying new way of absorbing and gathering information, can lead to a better understand.
Everyone else was talking and he was listening, allowed him to make the concept of “people are the environment, and we must understand the people in order to understand the environment” (TED,2010). This view was new to me, and I understand why he though this now. The environment is an interconnected system, with people being a large part of it. If people are not understood first, it will be impossible to understand how and why people interact with natural environment.
Progression was talked about next, and like motivation I enjoyed this topic. Focus was pointed in the direction of taking the next step, of many, in your life. Using the metaphor of a “prison”, he was able to show how staying in a certain place for too long, is imprisoning yourself from experiencing life to its fullest (TED,2010). Being an activist, makes people get out and try new things, travel, and take risks, all of which are necessary to increase a better understanding of your surrounding environments (TED,2010).
“Impacts we experience are vital, we are the environment, and how we treat each other, is how we will treat the environment” (TED,2010). That statement at the end of John speak, allowed me to make the connections of his topics into one. His initially concern with the environment lead him to understand why people weren’t as concerned as he was. Though his determination, people saw is motivation and helpful towards him. In return people being nice to him, John continued his journey till eventually through listening, focusing, exploring, he could help the environment. The cycle itself is connected in a negative loop manner; it only puts out what you put in, in John’s case that was a lot.
Watching John Francis speak, give me new insight on many important “life” topics, which I believe will go beyond this course.


References

TED (2010) “John Francis walks the Earth”, Retrieved January 20, 2010, from: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/john_francis_walks_the_earth.html