We're headed back to Kenya in less than a week which means that the four feet of snow outside my window isn't as depressing as it might be. Or maybe it is. Western Washington hasn't seen weather like this in maybe, ever. Although the history keepers reside in Seattle where there has been both snow and very cold temperatures for an unreasonable amount of time in our moderate climes, up here by the Canadian border we are furrowing our brows and realizing that what we once knew, we know no more. Even twelve year old Sam, who is visiting from Southern California, can't figure it out. "I thought it was global warming," he says, pulling on the borrowed hip waders for a romp in the snow. I try explaining how "global warming" means shifts of pressure systems, which in this case, has shifted weather south that might have been intended for my friends up on Priincess Royale Island. He doesn't care.
The people who are also caring a little less than they used to are my friends in Ngomano, Kenya. Benson writes that we are lucky because much of Kenya is facing famine because of persistent and recurring drought. Because we have finally been able to create a sustainable water source, Ngomano families are able to grow enough crops to eat and even sell a little. Things are about to get even better. Accompanying us on this trip are Harvey Mudd Engineers for a Sustainable World. These students have been working for two years to help design a method of improving water quality. That's huge for a place whose biggest health problems come from unsanitary drinking water--even more so now that most everyone has mosquito nets.
So as the snow piles up outside, the calender year winds down and that pesky packet number three has been submitted, I have a little time to reflect on what a Goddard education has helped me accomplish. I certainly wouldn't have been thinking about the meaning of weather. People in Ngomano might not be sending emails to a house on the Canadian border thanking us for the help in not going hungry. And four students from Harvey Mudd College wouldn't be packing equipment for what I hope will be a trip that will impact them for a lifetime. Not a bad return on the time investment... maybe even the tuition investment. I'll try to remember that next week when I start pulling my hair out writing packet four.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
The Holidays are my favorite time of year to think about....plastic????
The other day my son invited me to lunch. This is a strange occurrence since he is even more broke than I am. "Mom, did you know your toothpaste has polymers?" Pretty random way to start the conversation, but like I said, the lunch itself was an oddity. "No, I was unaware of that. Are you trying to tell me you won't be around for the family holiday extravaganza." He had to be going somewhere with this. "No, it's that book you gave me."
One of the great unintended side-effects of a Goddard education is it can attack the whole family like a virus in winter. True, I had given my son Pete a copy of The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman. I'd been hoping to read it some day...like maybe after graduation. In the mean time it was sitting on my desk when he dropped in one day looking for something to read. That was months ago.
He was referring to the chapter entitled "Polymers Are Forever." The title may sound fairly James Bond, but the plot is a whole lot less entertaining. It seems scientists have been studying more than the obvious trash in the ocean. Beyond all the lovely things we know are there that are plastic and last longer than anybody can yet predict, there are microscopic polymers now ubiquitous in the biosystem, i.e. like the stuff we spit out after we brush our teeth that ends up in the sewers that end up in the waste water that ends up in the rivers that end up in the ocean. All of this ends up getting swallowed by little mircroscopic animals that are eaten by bigger ones and so on. Nobody konws exactly what the outcome is going to be. But imagine this. If that giant trash pile that is floating free in the Pacific (i.e. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch) has only taken fifty years to be created and may last as long as 100,000 years., what is the impact of continued and cumulative amount of hydrocarbon effluent? And it is in everything. Weisman also points out that plastic in water takes a whole lot longer to degrade (even from big to little peices) when in water so nobody really knows if it ever does. Further, he points out that a lot of the plastic bags we think are biodegradeable actually have some polymer content. He says biodegradable bags left in the ocean have been fished out months later and still are as strong as the day they first held groceries.
By the time my son finished giving me the upshot of just one single chapter in this book, I was too depressed to eat. "But mom, I'm buying you lunch," he protested. I hope this wasn't part of his plan.
In the mean time I've been procrastinating on my homework sewing reusable gift bags. It beats writing anotations, at least until this weekend when I plan to make up for lost time. And I swear, I'm using all natural fiber. Nothing to put in them yet, but I'm thinking more copies of Weisman's book might not be a bad idea.
One of the great unintended side-effects of a Goddard education is it can attack the whole family like a virus in winter. True, I had given my son Pete a copy of The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman. I'd been hoping to read it some day...like maybe after graduation. In the mean time it was sitting on my desk when he dropped in one day looking for something to read. That was months ago.
He was referring to the chapter entitled "Polymers Are Forever." The title may sound fairly James Bond, but the plot is a whole lot less entertaining. It seems scientists have been studying more than the obvious trash in the ocean. Beyond all the lovely things we know are there that are plastic and last longer than anybody can yet predict, there are microscopic polymers now ubiquitous in the biosystem, i.e. like the stuff we spit out after we brush our teeth that ends up in the sewers that end up in the waste water that ends up in the rivers that end up in the ocean. All of this ends up getting swallowed by little mircroscopic animals that are eaten by bigger ones and so on. Nobody konws exactly what the outcome is going to be. But imagine this. If that giant trash pile that is floating free in the Pacific (i.e. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch) has only taken fifty years to be created and may last as long as 100,000 years., what is the impact of continued and cumulative amount of hydrocarbon effluent? And it is in everything. Weisman also points out that plastic in water takes a whole lot longer to degrade (even from big to little peices) when in water so nobody really knows if it ever does. Further, he points out that a lot of the plastic bags we think are biodegradeable actually have some polymer content. He says biodegradable bags left in the ocean have been fished out months later and still are as strong as the day they first held groceries.
By the time my son finished giving me the upshot of just one single chapter in this book, I was too depressed to eat. "But mom, I'm buying you lunch," he protested. I hope this wasn't part of his plan.
In the mean time I've been procrastinating on my homework sewing reusable gift bags. It beats writing anotations, at least until this weekend when I plan to make up for lost time. And I swear, I'm using all natural fiber. Nothing to put in them yet, but I'm thinking more copies of Weisman's book might not be a bad idea.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Second packets are in and many of you may be in the mid-semester, pre-holiday, how-am-I going-to-get-fired-up for the next packet slump. It maybe the last thing you think you want to do, but three books actually got me through writing a sixty some-odd page first draft of my final project. If they can do that, they may get you right out of any sluggishness you are experiencing. The first is Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman. Maybe you read The World Is Flat. Friedman kicks it up a notch in this book in addressing how population, global warming and the "flatness" he coined in his earlier work combine in a truly urgent and alarming way. Okay, okay. We know that. What allowed me to keep reading rather than put my head in the oven (it's electric anyway) is that in the second half of the book he offers his well-researched ideas about solutions. I won't spoil the ending, but if you are suffering from seasonal affective disorder, you may want to just read the second half.
The next book I picked up was Peter Senge's The Necessary Revolution. I thought I would rather be reading a good detective novel about now. Our days here in northern Washington State seem about three minutes long and with the clouds, it is DARK. Instead I accidentally landed on an antidote that like the Friedman book, reignited my activism. Part of my dysphoria is that I volunteer for about six non-profit organizations, each of which is having its own anxiety about the current economic climate. Since my responsibilities are always about fundraising, you can see how I might be a little nervous myself. Senge (the same guy that wrote The Fifth Discipline) has a lot of great chapters about how people are cooperating to create a more sustainable world, but my favorit chapter--at least today for blogging purposes--reflects on orgainizational "vision." My favorite quote from this book is "It's not what the vision is, it's what the vision does." (I have probably now quoted it in five committee meetings and two board retreats, so if you heard me say it a few times, sorry.) What Senge says is, "There is one and only one way to assess a vision: what is attained relative to what might have been attained without the vision." He isn't just talking about non-profits here, and his ideas about how to redesign organizations has been a major influence in how I've been participating in both my volunteer activities and my work-to-pay-the-rent activities. Check it out.
And finally, if you really can't read one more peice about sustainability, social responsibility, or whatever your area of focus may be, get yourself a glass of wine and a copy of Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. You will be entranced from page one. Not to make this sound like I'm a bookjacket writer, but this will rock your world. It also allowed me to reconsider that I am never going to be great at anything without ten thousand hours of practice, so I may need to get back to work. But for those of you just now checking out the blog, check in. I'll be back at you next week with breaking news about Michael Baumgart's trip to Bellingham Washington and other interesting facts.
The next book I picked up was Peter Senge's The Necessary Revolution. I thought I would rather be reading a good detective novel about now. Our days here in northern Washington State seem about three minutes long and with the clouds, it is DARK. Instead I accidentally landed on an antidote that like the Friedman book, reignited my activism. Part of my dysphoria is that I volunteer for about six non-profit organizations, each of which is having its own anxiety about the current economic climate. Since my responsibilities are always about fundraising, you can see how I might be a little nervous myself. Senge (the same guy that wrote The Fifth Discipline) has a lot of great chapters about how people are cooperating to create a more sustainable world, but my favorit chapter--at least today for blogging purposes--reflects on orgainizational "vision." My favorite quote from this book is "It's not what the vision is, it's what the vision does." (I have probably now quoted it in five committee meetings and two board retreats, so if you heard me say it a few times, sorry.) What Senge says is, "There is one and only one way to assess a vision: what is attained relative to what might have been attained without the vision." He isn't just talking about non-profits here, and his ideas about how to redesign organizations has been a major influence in how I've been participating in both my volunteer activities and my work-to-pay-the-rent activities. Check it out.
And finally, if you really can't read one more peice about sustainability, social responsibility, or whatever your area of focus may be, get yourself a glass of wine and a copy of Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. You will be entranced from page one. Not to make this sound like I'm a bookjacket writer, but this will rock your world. It also allowed me to reconsider that I am never going to be great at anything without ten thousand hours of practice, so I may need to get back to work. But for those of you just now checking out the blog, check in. I'll be back at you next week with breaking news about Michael Baumgart's trip to Bellingham Washington and other interesting facts.
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