Meeting 20 • 13 March 2014
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pictures of the week
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mini-text of the week (start): "…What an odd experience it was to find ourselves in these vast solitudes with a man who believed he was European, with all the vain pretensions, hereditary prejudices and mistakes of civilization, but whose only roof was a tree."Humboldt, "Personal Narrative", from Jaguars and Electric Eels, ed. & trans. Wilson, pp. 70-71 (read more) |
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• (05') Thought-bite of the week: How far are we from being "farmer[s] harvesting a fertile land"? How close to worshipping "gold dug from the ground"? How does our living standard compare to those of peoples elsewhere and of societies in the past? |
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• (05') Today's installment of Humboldtian reading for me: A World of Rivers: Environmental Change on Ten of the World's Great Rivers, by Ellen Wohl (2011). The Ganges: 1/10 of the world's population living under desperate conditions: lack of clean water, accumulation of toxins (especially toward the Delta), deterioration of means of living (fuel, fish, even rice), conflicts among the nations of the regions (none of them rich). Questions: 1) Who are we to tell them they should contribute to solving the problems of the environment? 2) What size hill of beans can our own efforts amount to, even if we accomplish them all? |
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• (10') "Hands-on" learning. Horizontal axis is time (from Now on left) to your choice of time in the future on right. Vertical axis is temperature, ±, with the zero point set to the current global temperature. a) Use fingertip to show your understanding of what that temperature will do in the future. b) Repeat with the right-hand margin of the time scale set to 21 August 2041. (Discussion of computer-modeling/predicting systems.) c) Repeat with the span set from 2014 to 2114, then to 202014, then beyond, at various expanding intervals, until the end of the Cosmos. Here's how to calculate the lifetime of stars, including that of the Sun: astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/M/Main+Sequence+Lifetime; here's the bigger picture from Wikipedia; and here's a source that really surprised me for a moment - can you figure out the mistake that is not a mistake? The point is NOT to encourage pessimism and relativism. |
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• (10') The Ganges thoughts are echoed by what two people wrote in their mid-terms: "When a human lifetime makes its own impact on the earth, it seems minuscule. When one billion human lifetimes make their impact, it is greater, but it does not compare to fifty generations of one billion human lifetimes making their constant impact on the planet. As the population grows beyond the billioins into the trillions, a number Humboldt maybe couldn't have imagined humans growing to, the impact is one of the greatest forces known on this planet. When that impact is done without cycle, without any plan for rebirth, when it is based on consumption and solely consumption, you leave very little room for anything to grow." (ng) "…our selfishness has brought us to a point where we do not care for the Earth's wellbeing, as long as we make our lives easier." (ld) Somber (but not new) conclusions from this: It ain't simple; it ain't gonna be easy; it was different then and it is different there; we're not at bright or good as we think (but maybe better informed - or else the handwriting on the wall is just clearer); there's plenty of blame to spread to plenty of offenders. Creating a sustainable environment is like physical therapy. |
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• (15') Recalling, sorting, expressing our knowledge of Humboldt and the origins of sustainable environmentalism. Suggest small group discussions of these topics (can you construct "FAQ" lists?): life, travels, world-view; research (events, methods, concepts, data); people(s) – maybe split into bioscience and math/physics etc.; cultures, economics, politics, ethics; the relation of those topics to sustainable environmentalism (then AND now) - (re)interpreting the past AND the present. Also: Powell as a bridge between Humboldt and his time/world and ourselves in our own world (Oregon / West / US in 2014). A practice topic - one that will NOT be on final but can help you prepare for it: 1) Energize your time-warp machines and: a) write the letter that AvH would write to us (interpret the present FROM the past); b) write your letter to AvH (interpreting the present TO the past) |
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• (10') (if time) 99% vs. 1% (of a different kind than "us" vs. "the super-rich") Quick point about the Chimborazo graphic: Humboldt's pioneering work in plant (and animal) geography: the 99% perspiration and data are combined with 1% inspiration and insight to produce the monumental, iconic "Chimborazo" graphic. That was the best they had "back then" about sustainable environmentalism: the data, the thought, the presentation in words and pictures. There was NO "Big Science": no government-sponsored science (until late in 19thC in US - Powell's fights), no corporate-financed R&D. Well, there was a little, especially for military purposes (mapping, weapons). But most science was "amateur" (gentleman and a few others), because science then was not regarded as important. Producing that engraving involved huge effort and expense, even after the data was collected. –Some other "iconic" images related to science (whether as concepts or as means to deliver data effectively). –Special points: natural history collections; rarity of travel; topographic mapping (Wikipedia; Geosciences, Idaho State U) The new "Cosmos" (Neal deGrasse Tyson), and the "original" "Cosmos". But of course we know… (and a little-known link provided by John Wesley Powell) |
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• (10') Some thoughts about this course. What can I contribute?? "The ORIGINS of Sustainable Environmentalism". NOT: the detailed causes of the problem, the blame for it, the solutions for it. "Origins": 1) the start of the data; 2) the consciousness of, initially, how "everything is connected" (in the good sense? in a neutral sense? and then in an alarmed sense). What we have NOT discussed much, and what I would do in an advanced course (WLL? UNST?): Our concepts of change (arrow, cycle, meaninglessness) Our focus on catastrophe, whether in ancient times or "modern" times (the War to end wars, the Bomb, the Population Bomb, global winter, Y2K, …) - a way to add meaning to life? When does "modern" begin? How does that affect our discussion of SE? How we (say) we FEEL about Nature / the Cosmos / our environment. (NOT: our opinions about policy, etc.) Our responses to nature over time, where we can document their expression: individual lyricism / awe; (semi-)organized and, in some way, spiritual / religious reponses, particularly within our own (?what is that?) culture (classical/ pagan; Judeo-Christian; interaction with other religions/ spiritualities), with particular emphasis on the controversy about "dominion over nature" Impress your friends/ adversaries with this term from Karl Löwith (Meaning in History): "the secularization of the Judeo-Christian eschaton" |
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• (02') Little stuff: May 29, 2014, 4:00 pm PSU 7th Annual Sustainability Celebration (chance to show off what you've done); Conference of Portland State ASCE Student Chapter, PDX, 25/26 April (Concrete Canoe Swamp Tests, Surveying Competition, Environmental Event, Steel Bridge Practice) |
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• (05') Advice (result of coffee with one of you) about "educated citizen" reading, with examples of: 1) individual texts (see course handouts for many examples; also the article for the mid-term, part of a much larger special insert; and, in today's handout, a much shorter article which, along with one from another source, can help with concepts and details for the final exam; 2) publications - with free copies – more of this and others on request). Why I regularly read publications that I usually disagree with. |
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• (03') Copies of the focus article to read for the final How to manage parts of your species description and group projects that aren't digital: see note on assignments/ deadlines page. |
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• Coffee / snack today? No free lunch tomorrow, but the invitation does not end with this class. |