The Dangers of Overpopulation and How They Affect the Human Race
Our Project Reflection:
Throughout the process of creating this presentation I have learned a lot more about climate change and how is a growing issue. This film has brought many specific effects that our growing population has on the world that I had not previously known. When Attenborough brought up instances where he was in a place at a certain time and came back years later only to see the decline in natural life, this made me feel for him and want to pay more attention to the film. Due to the fact that the film follows the life of David Attenborough, it was more intriguing just because I knew who he was because I am familiar with most of his documentaries. The data that Attenborough brought up in the film about the increasing rate of the decline of nature and all of its ecosystems was eye-opening and made me want to learn more about climate change. When I got to the point that I had to do some research for this project, I found the information that I was learning about extremely interesting, even if most of it concerned the negative effects that humans have had on our world. Also, trying to include the most important parts of the documentary was a little challenging but it made me think about the main points and messages that I should touch on in the presentation. This helped me to come up with my own interpretation of the collection of information that Attenborough brought up which made me appreciate the documentary even more. Also, this film helped to teach me how to approach a new topic in order to understand the purpose of it.
Teddy’s Reflection
Before going into the meat of my experience in this class, I just wanted to say this: before going into this class, I was fairly certain I had signed up for writing about comedy. This isn’t to say that I was upset about being in this class, it’s just to say that, over the course of this semester, I became pleasantly surprised about how much fun I would have venturing into new types of writing and stretching my viewpoint. I was also able to stretch my creative side by doing a podcast with my project partners, which is something I’ve always wanted to try out. During my high school days, podcasts and comedy specials always fascinated me, and being creative to a crowd was one of my bucket list items for my first semester in college. Unfortunately, COVID delayed those plans, but this class and project were able to light that spark up again. If I were to continue doing this podcast, I don’t know if I could have the knowledge about the environment to make it environmentally focused, but it would be nice to bring it up every once in a while to bring it back to it’s roots, but also to help my understanding of it along the way. Along the steps of this project, it definitely was weird trying to find my audience. In the beginning, I was just trying to think how I could make the podcast good just for my class, but in the long run, we had to make it not only factual, but entertaining for the big audience we had to present to at the end of this journey. Not only that, but we had to find a way to work around all not seeing each other in person, since COVID restricted that opportunity. Thankfully, that was another light at the end of this weird tunnel. This is because, after months of using Zoom as a format of both conversation and entertainment, it made the process not only easy for us, but easy for our audience to engage while watching. We got a great note in a small group that the Zoom format actually made people feel more in tuned with the conversation, and I’m glad some people feel that way. It’s always nice to hear good feedback on something you’ve worked hard on, and that, along with many other things, added on to my want to do more creative work outside of this class. To wrap this all up with a nice bow, a poignant note on all projects(in school or in life), is to find the right people. If I didn’t have a supportive teacher, helpful co-workers, and engaging classmates, I don’t think this project would have worked out well for my group, or any group in particular. This project and class have helped me grow in many ways that will outlive my college years, and I can’t wait to see what comes in the future. I know it’s helped me grow by showing me that my goals don’t have to stop because of obstacles, and no obstacle should stop any person from perusing dreams of their own.
If time permitted, I think that I would keep working on a Podcast. As an acting major, this is something that really excites me and makes me want to keep working on it. The day that we recorded the podcast was so much fun and it was great being able to see everyone’s different ideas and hear what we had all been working on separately. It was really interesting having to create the project for two separate audiences because I had only really listened to podcasts that were designed for the general public. Having to make sure that the podcast was intellectually stimulating while also down to Earth was a challenge but I think that as a group we worked really well together and ended up with a great final product that anyone could listen to. This project definitely challenged my idea of what kind of a scholar I was. I had no idea that we could create something like this as well as we did. I had always convinced myself that it was a lot of work to get a podcast up and running and yet we were able to get it done in a week or two which was incredible. I had no idea that I was able to be such a detailed writer and yet we were constantly blowing ourselves away with the quality of work we put in. In Chapman and out of Chapman I now feel far more confident in my abilities to contribute to a project like this while remaining intellectually stimulating through my work. This is very exciting as it makes me feel like I can work on more difficult work that can branch the realms of the general public and a scholarly audience. I can definitely see myself working on more projects like this in the future and am actually in the process of making a podcast with my roommates because of this project.
The collaborative aspect of this project did have its own unique challenges but overall was helpful to have. There were multiple times where I felt as though I was being suffocated by all the work I had in various classes and my group mates were always understanding. It was also great because each one of us brought a different skill set to the work that allowed for our project to get done from a variety of viewpoints. This made it possible for our work to branch the different worlds of audiences and allowed it to be impactful to everyone who saw it rather than just actors or English majors. I grew a lot during this project, not only as a student but as a professional. This made me excited for future projects that I can apply these skills to like the podcast I am creating in my free time. I would like to continue getting better with writing. Since I am a dyslexic, this has always provided a challenge to my life but working on a podcast almost fully eliminated this. I didn’t have to write everything down which made the work so much more exciting and interesting for me. I am glad to have done this project and am looking forward to continuing growing as a person, student, and scholar.
