The Dead and The Environment

If I was married for 48 years to one person and they had one request upon dying, I would, no doubt, agree to anything they ask. But if this request was to be buried in our front lawn, it might take some mulling over.

All James Davis’ wife, Patsy Davis, wanted was to be buried in their lawn. So, Mr. Davis was determined to do just that. After going through all the necessary paper work and being denied by the city and even The Alabama Supreme Court, Mr. Davis did what he was told anyway. A month later he was sued by the city. For the next four years Mr. Davis became thousands of dollars deep in legal fees.  He stuck to his guns. He even ran for Mayor and lost. His neighbors weren't bothered by her, so why should the government be and how is this related to environmental news? The city’s attorney Parker Edmiston said” If you allow it for Mr. Davis, you allow it for Ms. Adams, Mr. Jones and everyone else,” and that would mean bad news for the rest of us.

The process of laying a human to rest nowadays requires many chemicals including formaldehyde, which is toxic to all animals and has been the cause of death to some adult humans. So you can only imagine how this chemical seriously contaminates the ground and the plant life it comes in contact with. If everyone began burying their loved ones in areas where there is life and community, toxins would build up and eventually start to affect the living.

There are more environmentally friendly ways of resting. Including cremation, (which has its only pollutants to worry about, but it’s still not as bad as cutting down millions of rain forest  making steel vaults, and concocting embalming fluid) and natural burials which is done without chemicals. The deceased is put in a biodegradable coffin or casket and the area where the person is buried is kept as close to the original state as possible. Just like our ancestors did. Awesome. 

Read about it.

Midterm Instructor Assessment

Does this course match your expectations
I wrote the syllabus and course description, so not too many surprises here. But you never really know what you’re going to get in a college class. Honestly, I am pleased about your interest in the subjects from class. And you’ve all brought some great material for discussion. I don't expect everyone to love history, but it will prove to be useful as we move into more current topics.

What are the most valuable things you gained thus far?

• Cornish students are engaged with the world. 
• No one seems to feel the blog posts are “busy work.”
• You're enjoying the mode of class

Supported learning

Based upon your comments, I could more effectively support your reading of the text. Several of you made this comment. Did the reading questions help? This is always a tough line to walk. Granted, it is a lot of pages. And there are not a lot of spaces in your course work at Cornish to refine your skills with long, social science reading. I’m prepared to meet you half way here. I will devote more time to discussing, explaining, preparing you for the reading. However, reading comes with the territory. 

What challenges?

The agenda in this class is ambitious. We’re working on subjects in the past and present. Encouraging you to read things that are outside your normal zone is difficult, but important. Otherwise, we go sliding across the surface and never dive into the subjects in more detail. I could tell you that America’s relationship to the rest of the world was guided by a missionary zeal for civilization. But what does that mean? To really unpack that difficult concept requires a lot of context and work. 

What would you change?

For the second half of the semester, we’re going to spend more time in discussion. There will be more time for you to explore topics of your own interest. As we march stridently towards the present, our topics will become more and more relevant to the present day. The trick will be to convert the historical foundation you have into useful knowledge about the present.  There are two long documentaries.

How to be successful

Keep up with the reading. There's only one "big" assignment. Thus far, most of class has been passive learning – I talk, you learn. The second half is going to require you to be more active learners. The relaxed atmosphere in class has to be balanced with utter professionalism and a sense of perfection in your written work. 

Additional comments

• Some of your classmates have expressed frustration with the amount of talking and side conversation. That will have to change.
• We’re gonna have to strike a balance between lecture and discussion. I’m going to do less talking for the remainder of our time. That’s perilous, because it means you are responsible for the success of class. But ultimately, the pay-off is greater. 
• I want to work on adding depth to our current events discussions. How can we make them more than personal interest stories? We are turning into a society that reads headlines, captions, and twitter posts. What happened to the substance and meat?
• I’m really enjoying this class. It’s a joy to interact with ya’ll and I wish we had more time in class. This class is a lot of work. But when it’s working, it can be very rewarding.

Hunks: Muscular Men Around the World

I'm gearing up to teach a unit in my IS class in a few weeks on the emergence of new ideas about gender and sexuality in the Modern age - flappers, gender-bending, end of the Victorian age, etc.  In my search, I came across this book review from the Atlantic Magazine, Universal Hunks: a Pictoral History of Muscular Men Around the World.  

Low and behold, it is topical for our class as well.  The authors trace how the male body served as a platform for nationalist display.  Each country attempted to assert its power in the 20th century.  Like this guy:

The emergent field anatomy [who's taking anatomy?], closely related to the science of eugenics at this time, also used the male figure as a scale to measure the progress of civilization.  Matt Jacobson is sitting in his office, feeling very pleased about the influence of his "Parables of Progress" idea.

Other pieces in the book, explore the growing acceptance of "The Hunk" in popular culture as an illustration or referent to an emergent post-war gay subculture.

The Brits Nuke Up

Prime Minister David Cameron spoke at Hinkley Point B Nuclear Plant.
His orange hard hat makes him stand out in a stately, powerful way, nay? 

Like the US, the UK is making strides to cut their emissions, but their feat is rather more ambitious. In 2011, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne told parliament that the UK would cut emissions in half by 2025. A goal like this called for some drastic measures to be taken, and of course for coal plants to be shut down.

This leaves a huge void of reliable energy production that must be filled. Developed European nations have led the way with renewable energy, but it is neither consistent, vast, nor inexpensive enough to take over the main load of British power production in the near future. Nuclear power is the only logical choice for a fossil fuel alternative. On Monday, Great Britain announced its 26 billion dollar deal to build twin nuclear reactors in Hinkley Point B.

At this time, unfortunately, the market of nuclear energy is shaky, and the best deal UK officials were able to find includes multiple international parties and some outdated technology. The UK reached its deal with the French state-controlled utility the EDF Group. To reduce the risk of the several billion dollar investment, Great Britain has opened the door to Chinese investment, with China General Nuclear Corporation and China National Nuclear Corporation taking as much as a 40% stake in the project.

This project doesn't come without a pricetag to UK residents. According to EDF projections, the per-megawatt-hour prices of energy could double for the next 35 years when it begins producing in about a decade. Parliament for the Greens member Caroline Lucas called this endeavor "a terrible deal for billpayers."

Regardless of the expensive and foreign-funded aspects of this operation, I think that the UK project is to be admired, not dreaded. Rather than wait for an ambiguous future where it  might be more convenient to make the leap to alternate power sources, the European super-power is taking its part to do everything they can as soon as they can to help save our planet. This move, more than anything, sends the message that the need for change is immediate and that our planet's health takes precedence over financial independence and low wholesale energy rates. 

Read more about it HERE.