doctoral candidate in rhetoric and scientific and technical communication
environment
inside –> out
03 years ago
“There are trees in our hearts.”
Nalini Nadkarni
On Facebook yesterday, my friend, Betty Schlueter, (who is an amazing photographer), posted a link to the TED video of Nalini Nadkarni, an ecologist who looks at tree canopies, interdisciplinary studies, and urging people of different backgrounds to unite for a common cause.
The first time I watched, I was attracted to the emotional appeal. I’m a tree-hugger. I love trees. I love to touch them, smell them, and talk to them. I’m not ashamed to admit that. I was interested in the idea of creating bonds between people who don’t have that connection to nature to nature itself. But I was also amused by her humor and the way she connected that humor to a very serious issue.
My second time through the video, I began to see the similarities in the way we approach our particular fields of inquiry. She invites artists into the forests to interpret them in a way that connects two seemingly different areas of interest: the sciences and arts. And this is how I approach my studies and teaching practices.
Yes, I’m a writing instructor. But I started off in geology. I like looking down, thinking about how everything is constructed from a foundational support, how it is built, layer upon layer, until it becomes something stronger and more stable.
When I’m in a writing class, I think of writing in different terms. I don’t think about how I interpret it. I’m much more interested in how the students in the class interpret it and how they can find it useful.
We’re working on the final projects of the semester. My classroom is entirely collaborative and students are working as a part of a team to put together the projects. I asked them, “what matters to you?” “What are your interests?” The class isn’t about me. I already know how to do this stuff.
So I ask them to be creative. Not because I expect them to be artists. I don’t. Many of them are pre-professional (med, vet, dentist, etc.), and others are business or agricultural students. While some of them may consider themselves artistic, what I really want to encourage them to do is to look outside of the box to think about what will suit their project the best. Sometimes that’s a wiki, sometimes a webpage, sometimes a video, and sometimes a message in a bottle (yes, I’ve received projects in all of these forms).
It’s about taking what is inside and bringing it out. It’s about going into the forest, looking up, and seeing the possibilities. It’s about looking into their hearts, and seeing the roots that grow there, waiting to connect to something bigger.
It’s about communicating with one another, sharing the excitement, and watching a project come to fruition.
I haven’t been disappointed yet. Each of them is amazing and contributes in ways that I could have never imagined.
water, water anywhere?
04 years ago
I’ve written numerous times about my irritation (to put it mildly) with aberrant water usage. Living in a city that has constant water restrictions, using a cistern (hauled water) for my own water usage in my home, and watching the lake volumes dwindle, I have very strong feelings about the ways we use (and waste) water.Wired Science recently aired a segment on the ways that Phoenix is being innovative in the use and management of water. The problem with the segment is that it ignores how much water Phoenix is using at the expense of the rest of the state. They have lush green lawns and burgeoning trees and beautiful flowers while the rest of the state is on restrictions, practices xeriscaping, and deals with the real issue of dryness leading to catastrophic forest fires and bark beetle infestations.
What really set me off, though, was this morning’s NPR segment on the drought in the southeastern U.S.
I understand it’s bad. I do. But the issues that they are dealing with are issues that we, in the west, have been dealing with for decades. Some of us have to haul water. Most of us have to go without lush green lawns and pretty flowers. Our lakes aren’t down just a few feet. Oh, no. They are down METERS. Some have dried up.
So when I hear of people drilling wells on their property just so they can irrigate those pristine lawns and keep those flowers blooming, I get angry. I get angry because they are taking water from a ground supply to do something unnecessary. They are taking water that may be able to help others with water necessities to keep up their unnecessary habits.
When we hear that water is the next oil, we should consider this carefully and look at the examples that people in Georgia are setting. The “haves” are drilling for water to make their lawns green. The “have-nots” are begging for water to be hauled in to their towns just to be able to drink and clean.
The war of water is not in the future. it’s now. And it’s time that we do something about it.
blog action day
04 years ago
Thanks to daisies for the heads-up on blog action day.
It’s a perfect accompaniment to Nobel Peace Prize award that went to Al Gore and the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
noise
05 years ago
Where I live, there is very little in the way of noise. If anything, I hear more animals than anything else: horses, dogs, turkeys, llamas (yes, llamas make chirping noises), goats, and various other animals. In fact, the other night I even heard the yodeling of coyotes. Living out in a more rural area of the city, I realize how affected I am by noise.
At work, I have a corner office next to the lobby. I have an opening in one of my walls that opens right out into the lobby and makes it so I can hear everything that happens out there. People congregate beneath the window and lean against the wall (sometimes hitting it or tapping on it while they lean) and it makes it difficult for me to concentrate on the work I’m doing. When someone particularly loud is out there (and I don’t think people realize how loud is loud when it echoes into an adjacent office), it reverberates through my office. It’s an odd thing — and I’m more affected by it than I would have ever thought I would be.
But it is getting worse. The heating system is also right over my office and it has this sort of pounding silence that beats against my office. Now I’m being affected by light noise. Ambient light is starting to hurt my eyes. If it is harsh, I have trouble seeing things correctly and tend to squint, which gives me headaches. At home, I hear everything because it is so quiet. I can hear the hum of my Tivo. My water pump can keep me up until it goes off. When the refrigerator runs (and it is very quiet), it drives me to distraction some times.
So this actually got me to thinking about something. Are we so used to so much noise that we don’t notice just how much noise surrounds us? In this part of the country we think of noise pollution as the helicopters flying over the Grand Canyon. But I’m wondering if we aren’t dealing with noise pollution every single day in all that we do: the computers, the machines, cars, people, etc.
I think I’m a bit odd. I do get something in my head and then can’t let it go until the noise goes away (and I’ve tried wearing headphones but then I get rashes on my ears or very sore ears (with earbuds)). I keep trying, though, and will find a solution to my problem.
I don’t think the noise pollution is going away any time soon and is probably something I need to learn to deal with or find myself ostracized or living like a hermit in the middle of a deserted island somewhere (if there are any deserted islands left). I can deal with it in small doses (I visit cities on my of my vacations) but I really like the quiet. It is peaceful to me.
Addendum: I think this makes me sound like I’m a freak or something. That could be true but my issue with noise is not so bad that I don’t go out or do things. I do. I just prefer the quiet if I can have it.
barriers
05 years ago
I haven’t really talked about my trip to Mexico. I think, in a lot of ways, I’m still processing it and thinking about it. I think, too, that it bothered me too much and I just can’t express what it was about it that bothered me.
But I’ll give it a try.
The trip itself was beautiful. The drive down took us into an amazing sunset that glowed red over the desert mountains. The saguaro, organ pipe, and ocotillos actually gleamed in the sunset.
My brother’s house is cozy and comfortable. It’s about 200 yards from the tidal bay (Choya Bay). The roads are all sand. His neighbors are a mix of American vacationers, American ex-pats, and Mexicans.
Everyone we met was generous and kind. There wasn’t a sour face or an unkind word. Even the street vendors were incredibly kind in their hawking (even to the point of complimenting the kids over and over).
The food was delicious (but I do tend to be partial to Mexican food).
The colors were wonderful.
But…
In my brother’s neighborhood, I mentioned that there are a lot of American vacationers. They have come in and bought up houses at very low prices and have now raised the property values so high that it is not possible for the locals to buy in to the neighborhoods any longer.
And while some may say that’s not bad, as someone who lives in an area that is being bought up by more wealthy people, I can say it is a huge struggle to exist. It’s almost impossible to buy homes, food, clothing, etc. It’s too expensive.
That’s not what bothered me the most though.
I have a big disdain for people who go into foreign countries and treat them like their playground or their dump.
Choya Bay is beautiful. It is a tidal bay that ebbs and flows with tides. There are points during the day when you can walk across the entire expanse of it (quite a few miles). People go out clamming and kids can be seen roaming, looking for the perfect shells.
But there are also people who treat it like the land doesn’t matter. They drive across the Bay (which is illegal). They use it as a driving range, littering it with their golf balls. They stumble out drunk, leaving broken glass bottles and sharp aluminum cans on the floor of the Bay. It makes it dangerous to play in the sand. It makes it look like a dumping ground.
By and far, these people are Americans. And it embarrassed me to be an American because of the way they treated the land.
That’s not to say that the nationals don’t dump things. They do. The roads are littered with trash that people just throw down.
But if you’re going into another country, it is important to treat it as well as your own home, if not better.
Would we want people driving through our tidal bays? Throwing trash in our backyards?
We wouldn’t. And we shouldn’t be doing it either.
environment and politics
06 years ago
I linked these two issues because, to be honest, the environment plays a huge part in politics for me.
My politics can only be labeled as liberal. I am not a conservative person, politically, whatsoever. I believe that is the onus of each American to contribute and support one another. If this comes in the form of taxes, then so be it. I think, in recent years, we’ve lost a fundamental part of our society when we’ve forgotten that each person in our community, our state, our nation, is a neighbor, is brethren. We are willing to adopt children of other nations, willing to send military support to other countries, but we, as a nation, are so adamant about keeping our money for ourselves and not helping our own people. We do have children who go hungry each day in the U.S. We do have severe environmental issues within our own country. We have homeless, abused, and lost people.
I am not a straight-ballot Democrat. I will vote for the right person, whether that is a Republican, Independent, Green Party, or whomever. I want the best person to be in office. This means, of course, that it’s the best person from my point of view, for my issues.
I have worked many campaigns in my life, from very local (mayor) to national (Senate/Congress). I love politics. I find it fascinating and exhilerating. I have also worked on specific issues for elections (such as Prop 101 in Arizona, retaining women’s right to choose), in addition to working in the local elections office on election nights. I feel that it is a duty of Americans to donate time to this. We so often take our “right” to vote as something that is not a responsibility.
Too often, the environment becomes a toy in the whole political game. From placing higher restrictions on polluting industrial plants to placing plots of land on monument status, the use of quality environment is a pawn for current politics. I can say that I absolutely detest dams and what they do to the environment. I hate the way they kill rivers, hamper eco-systems, and change the way the earth looks. However, I can also say that I know dams are some of the cleanest producers of energy, they can create wonderful recreation areas, and they add to the employment of local areas. I think that is where the problem arises.
And, again, too often, in politics and the environment, the issues become black and white, all or nothing. While sustainable development is not a new term, it seems to be a forgotten one. There can be a happy medium. There can be preserved lands AND mining in outlying areas. There can be a National Park and timber industries next to one another. It’s a matter of finding a compromise, of helping one another. I think that it would be better to find a compromise than to lose it all.
What I find, most often, is that no one wants to hear the views of others. They assume, (incorrectly for the most part), that they already know all of the answers and know what the other “side” will say in regards to an issue. This leads to stalemates and no one really gets what s/he wants in a situation like this.
I challenge you. Find out what the opposition has to say and why they say it. Learn all sides of an issue before making a judgment or an assumption. Make informed opinions.
Get active, share your passions, make a difference.
More information on some of my favorite places and the liberal point of view follows. I don’t support all of the issues that are within these sites but it is a good jumping-off point.
winter…spring…la-la-la…
07 years ago
What time of the year is it?
I wrote this to Jonathan this morning:
“I was awakened early this morning (around 1, I think) to crashing and banging. We were having quite a thunder and lightening storm. A few times, the lightening seemed to be right on top of me. Then, it started snowing. It’s been snowing for a few hours now.
Spring? What is that? Heh.
I’m looking forward to sunshine in Vancouver.
Okay. Is that weird? I’m fleeing Arizona for sun in Vancouver. *laugh* Totally weird.
When I wrote that, there were only a few inches of snow on the ground. Since then, the college I work at has been closed for a snow day. The university in town was closed (which rarely happens). So, no work and no school for me…right before spring break!
I just measured the snow on top of my car and we’re at 10 inches and it’s still snowing.
HOWEVER…this is what really amuses me…you probably won’t hear much about it on the news. Boston got 10 inches last week and it was major network news. We can get two feet and no one talks about it.
I think we’re made of rougher stock out here in the west. I do. We usually delight in the weather we get and are celebrating the heavy snows this winter (FINALLY!!! YAY!!!).
It has always struck me as something humorous when the northeast and the mid-atlantic states complain about the HUGE amounts of snow they get and for us, it’s a blip on the screen.
Heh. ;-)
But it’s still a snow day here today…and my car is stuck…and I’ve already played in the snow.
Now maybe I should be taking pictures…
But maybe a cup of hot chocolate first.
Hmmmm….
saving our earth
07 years ago
On Saturday, February 12th, Sister Dorothy Stang was assinated in the rainforest in Brazil.
Sister Dorothy had worked in the Amazon for 37 years. She was a vocal opponent to illegal logging and large corporations who stole land from the small landowners in the Amazon.
It is thought that Sister Dorothy, who was shot three times, was killed by those who did not like her oppositions to the changes in the rainforests.
To read more about Sister Dorothy Stang, please visit Politiscape.com.
—
The Kyoto Treaty/Protocol/Agreement went into effect today around the world. The United States and Australia are the only two “progressive” nations that did not sign the Treaty citing economic hardships if the Treaty went into effect. The United States government has claimed that because China and India are not signing the Treaty, it puts undue hardship on the U.S. economy for them to do so.
As an American, I find this so irresponsible. When we are dealing with issues that concern the earth, we are not only affecting the citizens of this nation. We are affecting the rest of the world. As one of the world’s leaders in economic and political arenas, we are also responsible to be a leader in environmental arenas.
Unfortunately, we currently have an administration that does not treat the environment kindly. Our air, water, and forests are under a direct line of attack. The current administration would have Alaska drilled, the forests in the West logged, mountains mined, waters polluted, and the air thick with pollution.
I’m sickened by our mistreatment of the earth. I’m dismayed that an administration that has a blatant disregard for the environment around us has been re-elected.
I hope that this can be turned around and that the United States can be a world leader in environmental issues and not the country that refuses to clean up its act.
prescribed burns
07 years ago
by dawn
in environment
Today the city fire department is doing prescribed burns in town. They are doing them across the street from where I work. The school I work at is surrounded by forest (in fact, you can’t even see my school unless you know it’s there because the forest is so thick).
The smoke is surrounding us. I can smell the smoke in my office right now. You can’t see across the parking lot and people are having a rough time breathing right now.
I always think it’s odd in how they determine how and when to burn. Why wouldn’t they do this on a weekend when the area is almost vacant? Why wouldn’t they warn people about how bad it is before coming in?
I think the burns are a good idea but it is a health hazard.
eruption
08 years ago
At 8:32 Sunday morning, May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted.
I was living in Missoula, Montana on that day. I was 13 years old. I can remember when it happened and how it affected us like it was yesterday.
While we were on the other side of Washington (barely over the state line), we were still covered in a few inches of volcanic ash. We were warned not to go outdoors because the ash was so fine and it could damage our lungs.
We were kids, though, and while our parents were at work, we went outside to play. I can remember playing basketball at a friend’s house in the ash. It would billow up around us with every dribble.
We missed school because the ash caused problems with cars, with transportation, and with general business. We had to go to school on Saturdays that year to make up for the lost days.
Everyone collected the ash. It was a collector’s item. I still have a small container of it, labeled with the date.
It was a huge event in my life. Something I will never forget. I can still remember writing the date in my 13-year-old penmanship in my homemade journal.
May 18, 1980.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget that day.