We're fortunate that the "Rachel Carson" lecture has been rescheduled for our meeting night (yes, we are!) So, that's going to be the game plan for tomorrow night.
Tuesday, April 24:
- Instead of our usual class meeting, attend the 2nd Annual Rachel Carson lecture by Tom Wessells about "the Myth of Progress" at 7 pm in the Auditorium. Post a comment here (or email me your comments) about what you thought was particularly compelling about his argument and what may have been weaker, in the context of your newly-broad understanding of contemporary global issues. Alternatively, you could ask in person an analytical question of the speaker, and not have to post anything here!
- Lastly, if you simply cannot attend at that time, I will post an alternative assignment for you... Here it is: with some jockeying around (they don't make it easy!), you can manage to read the entire first chapter for free online on Amazon.com. Follow this link... Start on page 1 and go to page 21. Any time the reader window won't let you page forward anymore, refresh the search results' link above and click on the page you need to continue with, until you get to page 21. At that point, post an analytical comment here (or email me with it). I think you'll find "emergence" a pervasive topic here! :-)
- TAKE THE POLL BELOW!!!
Thursday, April 26:
- "Soccer vs. McWorld" presentation by Joanna & Sarah B.
- Discussion of Pooh... READ UP THROUGH "BISY BACKSON"! (Quiz???)
Tuesday, May 1:
- Sea Dogs! Meet in our classroom at 5 pm and we'll drive down to the 6 pm game!
Thursday, May 3:
- First Annual "Capstone Awards Dinner" (tassels, anyone?) at my house! (I want to cook gourmet Italian for you, but Johnson wants a cookout. A food poll is being taken below... Be sure to vote!!)
- POLL:
6 comments:
What I got out of his presentation is that in order to live more sustainable lives we must become more connected with our communities and "do nice things for others." Why don't we focus on doing nice things for the environment and become more connected with Mother nature? For example, he talked about how useless it is to level the rainforest to install a ranch. However, he failed to discuss important connections, such as anticancer treatments that the tropical rainforests can provide. I'm sure the environment would appreciate me driving my Hummer to Wal*Mart (which is air conditioned), picking out a present most likely derived from fossil fuels etc etc. just to "do something nice for someone."
Overall his presentation was filled with more random stories, rather than maintaining his connection to his thesis.
Hoooooorayyyyyyyy heidi! I agree. i think i was so mentally stimulated imagining a mile worth of sand and contemplating my 1/3 connection to the sugar maple in the yard that i couldnt even figure out where his point went. He was done talking, and i was like "eh?" Though.. when he said that "top-down thinking isn't helping progress.. progress will come from the bottom up" i did groan and wonder if emergence had gotten him too.
Personally, the most I got out of tonight's presentation was "reflective practice." Being an education major, that is something that has been drilled in my head for the last couple years as a way of reflecting upon my teaching and student learning. I had never heard it used in relationship to environmental sustainability and I am not quite sure that he really made much sense when he spoke about it. I did not find his argument convincing in concerns to environmental sustainability. His basic argument was that we needed to become more connected with families and communities and decrease our consumption in order to live sustainably. I did not find his examples very convincing, as I found them more of his sharing of personal experiences that he strained to relate to the topic at hand.
He did, however, connect with the idea of "Emergence" and working from the bottom up, stating that in order to live sustainably we have to begin with ourselves and then move up to become more connected.
Overall, I found his talk ineffective and quite random. Had he shared more primary sources and concrete examples, rather than personal experiences, I may have been a tad more convinced.
Hi Dr Laughran-
I enjoyed the lecture, he did a good job presenting the information at an interesting and understandable level. I feel like I could relate to what he was talking about and apply it to life. He seemed very intelligent and I wouldn't mind looking at his book- I'm interested in stuff like that. you know, nature-people bonding stuff :)
I enjoyed the first portion on his theory that our economic growth can eventually lead to our destruction. There is nothing that supports that this type of growth is sustainable- the laws he discussed and the examples were interesting. Like human beings- they start out as one cell and grow to about 3 trillion cells- there is a point where growth stops.. just like blue whales and trees (to use his examples); there is only so much growth that is sustainable.
He seemed to suggest that having a migratory lifestyle was necessary. This is not possible obviously. Also, he didn't seem too keen on having a governmental system. Should we just run around as jungle people?
I think the part about reflective practices is really important. I totally agree with his ideas on contemplation, journaling, and reflecting. Also, his ideas on building community- and being involved, I felt was great too.
Those were my thoughts- See you thurs :)
Allison
Goldberg writes:
The theme of "emergence" is certainly evident in Tom Wessell's book. I am intrigued by two parts of the book, the beginning and the end (but rest assured I did read the middle). At the beginning he talks about working on a humungous mainframe computer at the University of New Hampshire. Just several years later he watched Jimmy Carter typing on a computer, and he came to the stark realization that all his training and experience with computers was obsolete. I think that we all feel that way today. After I got my brand new computer several years ago the novelty wore off within weeks when I realized that there were even newer computers with better technology. Technology is impacting our world immensely and is always evolving. We as humans must adjust and grow along with it, or we will be lost in the past.
Which brings me to the end of the book, when he discussed the current War on Terror. The interesting point he makes is that we have not completely emerged from past doctrines on war. We are still fighting this war based primarily on old military doctrine, which is not and effective way. He feels that we need to emerge militarily and change our fighting ways. I agree with this, and there has been some movement in this direction, but we still have some work to do. Emergence is a critical part not just with technology but everyday events.
From Devon:
I thought the presentation Tuesday night was very well presented and the topic was more interesting than I had thought. It did take a long time for the presentor to get to his point which made the presentation drag longer than I thought. I did like the description of the Mexican village the hardship that the natives endured in the face of such a beautiful location. Even though some of the questions posed to him didn't make a whole lot of sense, and knowing the people that asked them means they were talking just to hear themselves talk, he did a good job at portraying his point of view, though he didn't answer the question. I did laugh when I heard him talk about the need for a bottom up movement and that nothing big would happen if it were top down. If I attended the college where he teaches at I'm sure I would have persued one of his classes.
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