Welcome to the Cross-Cultural RhetoricWelcome to the Cross-Cultural RhetoricEnvironmental Summit!Environmental Summit!

Professor Olga Kovbasyuko, Professor Carolyn Ross, and their students

February 12/13, 2009

Stanford University, USA

Khabarovsk State Academy of Economics and Law,

Russia

Focus on Global Environmental IssuesFocus on Global Environmental Issues

Environmental Education & Recreation

Environmental Ethics & Values

Sustainable Lifestyles: Living “Green” Environmental Policy, Politics,& Activism

Environmental Justice

Environmental Technologies

Goals of Today’s WorkshopGoals of Today’s Workshop::

• To exchange perspectives on global environmental threats

• To engage in intercultural problem-solving

• To ground students’ thinking about their specific research topics in international and global contexts

Your Team’s Task TodayYour Team’s Task Today

GROUPS A-F (15 minutes each):

1. Stanford students present: Summarize blog topic of the group Identify the relationship to their individual topics Restate questions posted on the blog

2. KSAEL students respond:

Kick off question-answer dialogue Address questions posted on blog

3. Group dialogue: For the rest of the time, the group continues an open

exchange of question/answer Raise additional questions for fruitful dialogue

Group A: Environmental Education & Recreation

Questions to explore:

What kinds of environmental education have you guys taken part in? Have you been on outdoors field trips, to museums, done special programs, etc.? Or, what have the other sources of environmental education in your lives been? Have you learned from parents or mentors?

Do you think that your country is doing enough with environmental regulation? What kinds of educational or recreational programs does the government support?

Can you take courses in environmental subjects? Such as environmental law or environmental politics? If so, what do you learn in these courses, and do you think that information is useful for you in your everyday lives?

Group B: Environmental Ethics & Values

Questions to explore:

In Aldo Leopold's The Land Ethic, Leopold suggests that our obligation to preserve the diversity of nature is not merely an economic one dealing with property but a moral and ethical one. How would you describe the relationship between nature and yourself? Is it one of equal stature, or is there a dominant partner?

What do you think of the notion of "restoring" a piece of land back to the wilderness it once was? Is it unreasonable to take land away from people in order to turn it into a "preserve"? Or do we have a natural obligation to the environment to reduce the amount of destruction we impose on it?

If an end is ever to be found for rising sea levels, increases in hurricane intensity, and habitat destruction on a global scale, to what extent do individual human beings have a responsibility to stop driving? Is this a societal problem that must be solved on a more international or national scale, or should an end to pollution start from the ground up?

In America, the group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is radical group of animal rights activists who might disagree with any sort of wildlife management. I have three questions that relate to wildlife management and values. 1. How big are animal rights groups in Russia? 2. How popular is hunting in Russia? Do any of you hunt? 3. Does Russia have any sort of National Park or protected land system?

Group C: Environmental TechnologiesGroup C: Environmental Technologies

Questions to explore:

In Russia or in Khabarovsk, how common are “green” buildings, like the one Rachel mentions in our blog, buildings that are aimed at conserving resources? Have you been to any?

Do you use recycled water in Khabarovsk or at KSAEL? If so, what do you use it for, where does it come from, and how is it treated?

In nanotechnology used in the manufacture of everyday products in Russia? Do people in the general population know that many common products -- ones that they likely use -- contain nanoparticles?

Group D: Sustainable Lifestyles: Green LivingGroup D: Sustainable Lifestyles: Green Living

Questions to explore:

Do you feel that most people know where they get meat from?

Do you know about the sustainability of the meat industries in Russia?

Are there a lot of vegetarians in Russians who abstain for environmental reasons?

Group E: Environmental Policy, Politics, & ActivismGroup E: Environmental Policy, Politics, & Activism

Questions to explore:

Are youth in your city taking an active role in conserving the planet? If so how?

What can be done to make recycling truly “green” and sustainable, bearing in mind social and economic constraints?

Is waste of any kind (electronic, medical, etc.) considered a problem in Russia as a whole and in Khabarovsk especially?

Group F: Environmental JusticeGroup F: Environmental Justice

Questions to explore:

Can you list any environmental injustices that are occurring in Russia that are directly or indirectly impacting your quality of life?

What sustainable behaviors (e.g. in food choices, recycling, composting, using fluorescent lights, etc.) do you engage in or not, and why?

How does political or policy change happen where you live?

What kind of groups or organizations are there that are devoted to environmental causes?