Questions OCT 22

 PH -169 The City. GT 4.18--4.22 (thru Myth of Recycling). McK thru Wendell Berry...

Presentation - Gary Wedgewood

GT

1. What kind of change does Greta say we need? 280 
2. An average U.S. household contains how much stuff? What do we need to do about it? 282-3 [Cue George Carlin and Delbert McClinton]
3. What are Mike Berners-Lee's food rules? 288  And Michael Pollan's (see **below)?
4. How much plastic may enter the ocean by 2040? 293
5. The greatest example of greenwashing today is what? 296

McK

1. Where did the inspiration for "Big Yellow Taxi" come from? (489) Are there are recent pop hits to compare with it or Mercy Mercy Me?
2. What, according to David Brower, saved Grand Canyon? 497 Should Glen Canyon have been dammed?
3. On what scale did humanity appear on earth three minutes 'til midnight? 502-3 Does this insight reinforce for you a sense of humility or respect towards the natural world?
4. Wendell Berry is father of what? What does his Mad Farmer expect? How does he respond to a consideration of all the facts? 504-6
5. What is the true remedy for mistakes, according to Berry? 515
6. What does Berry say our history reveals about us? What's the only thing we have to preserve nature?  521-2

1. Do you want or expect to live in a city, suburb, small town, or the rural countryside in the future? What has been your experience with urban living?

2. COMMENT?: "What becomes of civilization... will be determined by what happens in urban and suburban environments." 149

3. COMMENT?: "Mayors are more effective than national or provincial leaders..." 

4. What do you think of PH's vision of what a regenerative city might look like? Do you hope or expect to live in one someday?

5. Did you know that Socrates spoke of solar energy? 150

6. Is Copenhagen appealing to you? 151

7. Do you support gas bans and rooftop solar?

8. Have you ever lived in a truly "walkable" place?

 

“Long gone are the days when automobiles expanded possibility and choice for the majority of Americans. Now, thanks to its ever-increasing demands for space, speed, and time, the car has reshaped our landscape and lifestyles around its own needs. It is an instrument of freedom that has enslaved us.”

As a fish needs to swim, a bird to fly, a deer to run, we need to walk, not in order to survive, but to be happy.”38 That thought is beautiful, perfectly obvious...”

“[...] most American cities have been designed or redesigned principally around the assumption of universal automotive use, resulting in obligatory car ownership, typically one per adult—starting at age sixteen. In these cities, and in most of our nation, the car is no longer an instrument of freedom, but rather a bulky, expensive, and dangerous prosthetic device, a prerequisite to viable citizenship.”

― Jeff Speck, Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time

9. Is there any good reason not to embrace LBC? 153

10. Should rooftop gardens be a standard requirement in new urban construction? 157

11. In light of the contribution of cities to culture (159), did Marx have a point when he referred to "the idiocy of rural life"? 

12. What can be done to rescue cities (and their young inhabitants) from "environmental generational amnesia"? 160

13. Will the promise of greater neighborliness and a sense of belonging to a community (163) persuade many to join the car-free movement, or at least scale back their dependence on driving?

14. How many amenities and necessities can you reach within 15 minutes on foot or bike? 164

 15. In view of the wisdom of carbon architecture and construction from biofibers (168), does it bother you that MTSU is so heavily invested in concrete?

 

Reinventing Concrete, the Ancient Roman Way

"…the manufacture of concrete is a major driver of climate change, producing 8 percent of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. By learning the secrets of Roman concrete, researchers like Dr. Masic are trying to devise greener, more durable modern options…" nyt

How Can I Get ‘Forever Chemicals’ Out of My Life?

Take your shoes off before going into the house (among other practical suggestions)... nyt

==

Kathryn's latest post.

In the last several weeks, weather-related natural disasters have devastated many parts of the globe. From hurricanes Helene and Milton slamming the southeastern United States while wildfires surged in the northeast, to flooding across Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Sahara desert, there has never been a more pressing need to discuss the global climate crisis. Furthermore, considering the severity of misinformation around climate change and its effects in the U.S., with rumors circulating that the government is causing these disasters with some type of device, it seems imperative that we try our best to combat this misinformation with scientific facts. Therefore, I wish to provide a brief overview of Earth’s unique climate and how anthropogenic – human-caused – global warming affects that climate and leads to more frequent and severe weather anomalies. I will follow up next week on how we can continue to address climate change. The most important message I wish to convey is that there is still time to change the direction we are headed in and save the lives on this planet; but, to do that, we must understand how we got here. Please remember this as I discuss the climate crisis and the science behind it in this post...

Interconnected Planet, continues

==

** 

Mostly plants

The news that 'Wildlife populations have dropped 73% in 50 years' is making headlines, but inside the report it states that this decline is "driven primarily by the human food system".

It is without a doubt that one of the most impactful things anyone can do is to adopt a plant-based diet.

==

“I realized that the answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated question of what we should eat wasn’t so complicated after all, and in fact could be boiled down to just seven words: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

― Michael Pollan, Food Rules: An Eater's Manual  

 

1. Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. "When you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can't pronounce, ask yourself, "What are those things doing there?" Pollan says.

2. Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce.

3. Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.

4. Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot. "There are exceptions -- honey -- but as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren't food," Pollan says.

5. It is not just what you eat but how you eat. "Always leave the table a little hungry," Pollan says. "Many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full. In Japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full. Islamic culture has a similar rule, and in German culture they say, 'Tie off the sack before it's full.'"

6. Families traditionally ate together, around a table and not a TV, at regular meal times. It's a good tradition. Enjoy meals with the people you love. "Remember when eating between meals felt wrong?" Pollan asks.

7. Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car.

And:

“Eating what stands on one leg [mushrooms and plant foods] is better than eating what stands on two legs [fowl], which is better than eating what stands on four legs [cows, pigs, and other mammals].”

“If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.”

“If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you’re not hungry.”