Give yourself a base on the scorecard for every question you posted a response to before class. (You can also respond to your own questions(s) or your classmates' posted comments. Respond not merely with the author's textual statements but also with your own thoughts & reflections.) Exams are drawn from the texts mentioned in our daily questions.
My other Opening Day questions, if you'd care to comment further:
- What do you consider to be YOUR environment?
- How does that relate to nature, the climate, and society?
- Do you think most college-age students are concerned about the present and future condition of the environment? Are you optimistic /pessimistic/melioristic about the future?...
EE
- (preface) What's the author's goal?
- When did the term "anthropocene" first appear in print? 2
- What is "the basis for marking new intervals of geologic time" (and thus the rationale for dubbing our time the anthropocene, the "age of humans")? 3
- What was Archbishop Ussher's errant calculation? 5
- How did Darwin birth a new origin story, and what did it imply about life?
- When did homo sapiens appear, on the cosmic calendar? 11
- What's the IPCC? 13
- Who wrote The End of Nature? 14
- Who was the first scientist to propose that the Earth's functioning as a system was transformed by the emergence of the biosphere? 18
- What is the Gaia Hypothesis? 18
- What changed everything? 21
- What did Charles Keeling publish in 1960? 25
- Who was Rachel Carson, and what did she document? 29
- Do you adhere to biospherical egalitarianism and Deep Ecology (see p.7)? Why or why not?
- Does your "true self" extend to the whole of nature (8)? In practical terms, what does that mean?
- What's wrong with anthropocentrism, ethically, ecologically, pragmatically, or otherwise?
- In what senses are we apart from and a part of nature? Do any of those exempt us from ethical responsibility to future generations of humans and non-humans?
- Is Stoicism the wrong philosophy for this moment, if indeed it counsels that we should "follow nature" and comply with the status quo? (17) [What about Stoic Pragmatism?]
- If you don't feel "at home" anywhere, do you lack an environment? (18) [But shouldn't we feel at home everywhere, given our cosmic identity as creatures of the stars? -as Neil Tyson said.]
- Are you an anthropocentrist, biocentrist, ecocentrist, or something else?
- What do you think about "needlessly cutting down a healthy tree"? (26)
GT
- Greta says you cannot be a little bit ___. 2
- What is the evolutionary force that will decide the fate of every species? 10
- What is the present cumulative total of global CO2 emissions? What was it in 1900? In 2000? 14
- What percentage of human-caused CO2 emissions have occurred since the founding of the IPCC and the Rio Earth Summit of 1992? 20
WW
- Warming of 4 degrees Celsius in this century could entail what outcomes? 6 What was considered a catastrophic threshold less than three decades ago? 9
- What is a "hyperobject" and why is climate change one? 15
- Why is Wallace-Wells optimistic? 34
- What have we already left behind? 38
I know many college students that completely ignore the future and present states of the environment, as well as many that are aware but so pessimistic of what can be done that they choose inaction. This is not to say that there are no students that are optimistic or working towards a better future, but at least that it will be a challenge to get a large community to work towards a shared goal.
ReplyDeleteEE 2. The word “anthropocene” first appeared in "formal" print in a 2000s scientific newsletter, but it was first seen in 1992 by Andy Revkin.
EE – How do you feel about the question posed “Does an age of humans mean the end of nature?”
EE 4. Archbishop Ussher calculated that the precise time that the Earth was created was October 23rd, 4004 BC. His theory is called the “young Earth” theory and there are still people who believe it to this day.
What do you consider to be YOUR environment?
ReplyDeleteWebster dictionary defines the word environment as "the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded". Using that definition, I would think the each individual finds themselves in many different environments even within a single day. If I were to describe my preferred environment however, it would be one filled with thoughtful, caring, and mindful people. I prefer an environment that values quality and comprehension over quantity and efficiency. I also enjoy an environment that is lighthearted but not superficial.
Who wrote The End of Nature?
Bill McKibben wrote The End of Nature. Published in 1989, this book was one of the first books about Climate Change that became popular.
What was Archbishop Ussher's errant calculation? 5
Archbishop Ussher estimated the the universe was only/exactly 6,008 years old.
- Gray
DeleteThe description of Darwin's 20 year long struggle to get up the courage to publish his findings was particularly interesting. He only lacked the cosmic calendar which provides enough time for natural selection and evolution to take place but feared the firestorm that his findings would cause in the Christian circles he was a part of.
ReplyDeleteAmazing how the planet functions: The Telegraph, Nasa makes discovery ‘as important as gravity’ about Earth
ReplyDeleteby Sarah Knapton, "A new planet-wide electric field that is as fundamental to Earth as gravity has been discovered in a major scientific breakthrough.
The ambipolar electric field, which begins 150 miles above the planet, has been described as a “great invisible force” that lifts up the sky and is responsible for the polar winds.
The polar winds interact with the jet streams to help drive the majority of weather patterns across the globe.
Until now, the field had only been theorised, but a Nasa team, which includes scientists from the University of Leicester, has now sent a rocket into the field and measured it for the first time.
It means Earth now has three energy fields: gravity; the magnetic field, which shields the planet from cosmic radiation; and the ambipolar electric field."
1.Erle Ellis’ goals is to aid the audience with background information and history to understand and define the Anthropocene.
ReplyDelete2. The term “anthropocene” first appeared in print in 2000.
4.Archbishop Ussher’s errant calculation was that October 23rd 4004 BC was the moment of creation.
5. Darwin birthed a new origin story be sketching a method of how species change into one another. This implied that no species lasts forever and that all living species have a common ancestor from the “tree of life”.
6.Homo sapiens appeared on the cosmic calendar 23:48, 300.
7. The IPCC is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change;.
8. Bill Mckibben wrote The End of Nature.
9. The first scientist to propse the Earth’s function as a system was transformed by the emergence of the biosperce was Vladmir Vernadsky.
10. The Gaia Hypothesis states that the biosphere regulates Earth’s climate by acting like a thermostat.
11. Photosynthesis changed everything.
12. In 1960, Charles Keeling publlished the “the Keeling Curve”.
13. Rachel Carson documented that artifical chemicals such as DDT were harming bird reproduction.
* I consider my environment to be everything around me. The trees, the small bodies of water and the large bodies of water. But on a smaller scale i consider my environment to be MTSU and all the living things I see here.
ReplyDeleteThis relates to nature because nature is the first thing i think about when i think of the environment because I think about the biodiversity we have in Murfreesboro and quality of our air and water and how we take care of that. How we maintain these things affects us as a society and greatly affects the climate.
I think college-age students are not concerned about the present and future condition of the environment but they are aware that it is unwell. If you ask the average college age student they will tell you that they know the current state of the Earth is not ideal but they do not know what the problem is and their impact on it. I have an melioristic outlook on the future because I know that if enough people are informed about how to sustain the Earth then the Earth can be sustained for future generations to come.