Unit 3 In-Class Essay 1

Ehrlich 1
Ehrlich, Gavin
Prof. Speiser
English 101
October 19th, 2023
Unit 3 In-Class Reflection Essay
In John Green's book, The Anthropocene Reviewed, he talks about lots of different ways
the Anthropocene has affected the world and someone’s everyday life by reading different
stories he has experienced and reflecting on how this relates to the Anthropocene. We learned
how life back then wasn't the same life we have now, we are much more advanced in technology
but at the same time, it’s like humans never really evolved. I’ll explain this better when I tell you
about one of my favorite stories in Green's book “Air Conditioning”. Another chapter that I
favorited was “Super Mario Kart”. Which talks about the power of money or high status in the
real world.
“Air Conditioning” is a story about how the beloved cool air that we call air conditioning
has evolved in society. I like this chapter in his book because it goes back to the Egyptian times
and explains that even at that time there was air conditioning. “In ancient Egypt, houses were
cooled by hanging reeds from windows and trickling water down them. The eighth-century
Chinese emperor Xuanzhong had a ‘cool hall’ built in the imperial palace that featured water-
powered fans.” (Green 74). This quote explains how Egyptians, who don’t even have the
technological equipment for the AC we have now, produce cool air in their houses. This is what
I’m talking about when I say that humans haven’t evolved, we humans just now have the right
equipment to make Air conditioning. This changed my perspective on humanity. I now think that
we are very lucky to have the equipment that we have now and humans before us were just as
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smart as us. I also wonder what is to come for the future of us humans. I didn’t find anything in
this “Air Conditioning” chapter funny. However, I did find it very entertaining though. I learned
many new things like how AC works, and how AC is needed to make a lot of everyday things
like books. I also found out that air conditioning can even be sexist. It can be sexist because
people think it's disappointing that the men in their suits in the office place can get air
conditioning but the women who have to wear dresses who may be cold from this air
conditioning have no say for the air conditioning to be turned off.
Another chapter that I like is “Super Mario Kart”. I like this chapter because I was very
intrigued by the title. I grew up with Mario Kart my whole life so I was very interested in how he
was going to relate this to the Anthropocene. Green related Mario Kart to the Anthropocene by
talking about how the question boxes in Mario Kart can be a good or bad thing “Depending on
your worldview, the question boxes either make the game fair, because anyone can win, or they
make the game unfair, because the person with the most skill doesn’t always win.” (Green 183).
What Green is explaining is that in Mario Kart if you’re ahead it makes the game harder, but if
you’re behind it makes the game easier. This isn’t in real life though, if you have money you get
more perks just for having money. I liked this chapter not only because it was about Mario Kart,
but it changed my perspective on how I view the world. I believe that if you have a lot of money
you should get taxed more than people who are struggling for money. People who are struggling
with money should be able to pay less taxes than the rich. I found this chapter funny because it’s
funny reading about how Mario Kart, a childhood game that’s meant for family fun can go to a
deeper meaning. It was also entertaining to hear him talk about the different power-ups you can
get in the game when you’re ahead or behind in the game and how he put that concept of Mario
Kart to how he gets bank perks just for having a lot of money in it.
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I learned that different ways of writing essays are based on what you are trying to
explain. I learned that personal essays can be much easier to write since it’s based on your
background, your experience, and stories. Also, your own opinion, which is very nice because
you know that you can’t say the wrong thing. Writing in the third person is much harder in my
opinion because if it’s an essay about a book we read in our class we have to know what the
book is about and all the different characters in the book. What I thought about how our
everyday things impact larger phenomena in our world is that it’s sad that we humans are
destroying the world right in front of our eyes. John Green’s book opened my eyes to this
because he constantly talks about the problems of the world, or if it's even a problem but just a
norm that humans of this era have made. He makes the readers think about what we can change
or do to help the world. This book is meant for people with an open mind who can see both sides
of every story so they can understand the true concept of the Anthropocene era.

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Ehrlich 1

October 19th, 2023

Unit 3 In-Class Reflection Essay

conditioning have no say for the air conditioning to be turned off.

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