In this Section: SAS004 Introduction Water Scarcity Water Scarcity Discussion Floods Flood Insurance Discussion Water Quality Water Quality Discussion Water & Psychology Water Psychology Discussion Conquering Nature Conquering Nature Discussion Pro Poor Water Pro Poor Water Discussion Arctic Socio-Ecology Indigenous Knowledge Earth Stewardship Earth Stewardship Discussion Global Climate Change Global Climate Change Discussion Coastal Zone in Crisis Coastal Zone Crisis Discussion Course Review

SAS004 Introduction

Reminder:

It helps a lot if you take the time to view the whole SAS004 website to get a better understanding of what the class is about and how it is organized.

Required Reading:

Look over this web site

Video Podcast: Course Introduction

Course Introduction, Part1: Individuality as Mass Conformity

Watch the 25-minute video below to see the first part of the course introduction presentation. This video lays out the thesis that promotion of a culture founded on the promise of individuality is larrgely a strategy to promote mass conformity. The video traces the development of this in "modern times", as in since World War II. Topics covered later in the course will address individuality time and again, because out society is saturated with this message.

If the streaming video player below does not work for you, then you can download the video to your computer and watch it thereafter by clicking on one of the links below. If you can watch it streaming, then you do not have to download a video file at all.

640 x 480 (480p) format that balances speed and quality. (263 MB file)
1920 x 1080 (HD) format for best quality. (1.63 GB)

Course Introduction, Part 2: Peep Culture

Watch the 34-minute video below to see the second part of the course introduction presentation. This video looks into the concepts that help explain why individuality works so well as the foundation of mass conformity and it tracks the Millennial era of internet-based "peep culture".

640 x 480 (480p) format that balances speed and quality. (383 MB file)
1920 x 1080 (HD) format that balances speed and quality. (2.53 GB file)

Course Introduction, Part 3: Environment in Pop Culture

Watch the 17-minute video below to see the third part of the course introduction presentation. This video begins to ask what the ideas of lifestyle cultture and peep culture mean for the environment and the topics covered in this course. it also presents some general information about the course.

640 x 480 (480p) format that balances speed and quality. (119 MB file)
1920 x 1080 (HD) format that balances speed and quality. (695 MB file)