Since the awareness of pollution entered the main stream media, activists have tried their best to find ways to grab the public’s attention and make an impact. However, there is a continuous battle between public problems (problems that affect most everyone or damage or threaten a public good) and private problems (problems that effect a select few and damage or threaten a private good) and their role in the Public Sphere. Jugen Habermas defines the Public Sphere as ‘a realm of our social life in which something approaching public opinion can be formed.’ Basically, Habermas is saying that private people come together to discuss common concerns of public issues.
Today there are so many different concerns and such a large variety of audiences that it is hard to deliberate for the common good. However, Greenpeace continues to draw attention to pollution problems around the world and widen the Public Sphere. Commercial media has been an effective way to bring up public issues, such as energy efficient light bulbs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQJd2DNLl28&NR=1
In the commercial above, Greenpeace uses a clever and funny way to get the publics attention about how to save energy. This is a public problem because the world does not have an endless supply of clean energy resources, especially not enough to keep up with the United States energy usage. This is a Problem that affects everyone who uses electricity… that means you reading this right now! However, there are some debates about what problems are public and which are private.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukoMEB_Wzbk&feature=related
In this commercial, also by Greenpeace, the topic of pollution from manufacturing and discarding videogame systems is brought up. Some may argue that this is a public problem because the waste from these systems goes into the environment compromising it for all those who live in our earth’s environment. On the other hand, many would argue that this is a private problem because like Hays states, ‘it depends on the parties involved.’ This is like hunting for dear that is on your own property. If it is on your land, it is yours to do with what you want. In the same nature, if a game system is in ones home, it is up the owners what to do with it and how to get rid of the machine if broken or finished serving its purpose.
