The Ethics of a "Global Warming" Debate

Scientific controversy in the classroom is normally thrilling for a teacher. It means that students are exchanging their ideas about science, debating their ideas like "real" scientists would. And this is good. 

Through the whole Creation vs. Evolution debate I have felt that I don't need to plug too hard for one side or the other because debate is healthy for science. 

But this morning I have felt that the debate over whether or not Global Climate Destabilization (aka Global Climate Change, aka Global Warming) is happening and we're causing it is not a debate I'm really willing to entertain.  

If Creationists are right, meh. cool. If Evolutionists are right. meh. cool. (My faith is not dependent upon creationism). However, if Global Climate Destabilization experts are right, then we need to act NOW. And if we're wrong. meh. let's not do anything. I would add that debate is only healthy when the debaters are acting in a scientifically "free" environment - the kind Richard Feynman refers to in his speech on Cargo Cult Science. And I'm afraid that the "sides" of this debate are not wholly free. 

This morning it was brought to my attention that scientists who did not buy into global warming were meeting in New York City at a conference to discuss how not-screwed we are. After poking around a bit, I found that it's put on the Heartland Institute.  

Who is the Heartland Institute? We're all wondering? And I think a better question is who's funding the Heartland Institute? Well, according to their website, their funding sources are secret. Right. Well SourceWatch has them tied to Walmart, Big Tobacco and Big Oil - specifically ExxonMobil. Yea like millions of dollars tied to ExxonMobil. 

When debate prevents action towards healthy choices I and my class shall abstain, thank you. Sorry ExxonMobil, I will not be your puppet. 

Renewable Energy Curriculum - Authentic Community Applications

Fairily soon my student teacher will be done with her soloing period, and that will mean I (finally) get to be back in my classroom with kids. It's been a really long time, and I miss them :_(
Ok, maybe not that much. heh heh.

But when I get back, we'll be working on renewable energy projects. The idea for these project is "study a real-life energy system, and make a proposal to the people who have influence over that situation". The rubric for this assignment includes

*Energy and Power Calculations (the content-related criteria)

*Evidence that they have contacted an expert in the community about their topic (notes from a phone call or an email)

*A presentation to the class and then later to the people of influence preferably using power point.

I have a student who is all about putting a wind mill on top of National Life (or at least the hill National Life is on), and so I can imagine that will be his topic.

I'm thinking we could either have "independent projects" (or groups of two) for this, where everyone's kind of working on their own deal, or we could pose the same question to each section, and groups in one class could work on solutions to the same problem. Or I could have all my sections of the same course work on the same problem/question.

Right now I'm leaning towards problems divided up by section, and so have everyone in the same section working on the same problem. I'll elicit their ideas for problems, I'll also put out some ideas of my own, and then I'll let them "choose" the issue they want to tackle as a section. And by "choose" of course, I mean, choice with my ultimate approval. (Aww, just now it was like I'm the Governor and they're the congress and I have veto power!). Except that my classroom is a benevolent dictatorship, not a democracy :P

National Board Exam - My Impressions

For those of you readers going for National Board Certification or thinking about it, I feel like it's my duty to warn you. The test is hard.

I was told that these were questions "any decent teacher would get right", and so I assumed that meant it would be easy. I checked out the study material online, it didn't look too tough, so I figured I was prepared enough. Although I don't know how I did, I do know that it was WAY more difficult than I anticipated, and so here is my advice: Study.

Basically i'm sworn to secrecy about the actual content - in fact I might have overstepped my bounds by saying it's hard. So, dear NBPTS, please don't drop the hammer on me - I just want people to take this test as seriously as you do.

Recent Biomass Media

Wow. It's been some time, but dang a lot has happened since my last post. Mainly in the area of media.

Specifically the rally got coverage in the Essex Reporter, where I did in fact get quoted. The hearing spawned a Vermont Public Television session last night where my independent study student called in. HA! and Yesterday morning my student and I were on WGDR (Goddard College's radio station) on Carl Etnier's show Relocalizing Vermont (you can listen to the show here). And we were invited to be on his WDEV show (out of Waterbury) on March 19th. Sweet.

And our service learning coordinator invited our group to present at the March 2008 KIDS Consortium conference in Maine - the kids are really pumped about that.

All of this leads me to the question though, to what end?

Why are we doing all of this? I'm hungry for some action.
Some of our students met with the UVM board of directors to advocate for a biomass research facility, and they seemed into that. Norwich is I think a little more eager to jump in, so we're closer to some action on that front.

My folks are considering a pellet furnace, which is cool. But dang. We're asking people to make a huge capital investment if they can afford it. How do you spread the word to people with capital about the payback benefits (not to mention the ecological benefits) of biomass fuels grown in state? That's where my energy is going now, so we'll see what comes of that.

Meanwhile the students are meeting tonight and Sunday with college students from Middlebury College to possibly collaborate on Powershift 2008, or maybe even an April 1st "Fossil Fools" Day celebration of some kind. We'll see - the future is an exciting place!

March on Montpelier: Renewable Energy Rally!

Last night's renewable energy rally and subsequent public hearing on the effect of fuel prices on the Vermont economy was a HUGE success. It was a cold early-evening, so no one was just hanging out on the lawn and the legislators were not in session, so what was our goal with the rally? Media attention - bring awareness to this issue. And we certainly succeeded at that!



These are shots of us on the state house steps. Jessie (one of the student ring-leaders) spoke to the crowd, and then... we had a big dance party. We grooved to Deft Punk and Jackson 5. It was awesome. Until it was time to eat, and then re-assemble for the hearing.

I was interviewed by the Essex Reporter, so there will probably be a report about it soon, and we made the front page of the Times Argus. The best part though, was a big story by the Channel 3 WCAX news crew! You can check it out here, but you have to have Windows Media Player to watch it. They interviewed my independent study student and she was very articulate :) yay!

Since each individual only had 2 minutes to speak we chunked up our proposal for pellet stoves and prairie grasses into 2 minute chunks that students presented in shifts. It was incredibly organized and the legislators were "impressed". This was a great way to start conversation. I talked with the chair of the meeting afterwards, Rachel Weston, and she said that just because the deadline for bill proposals was already past, one of the purposes of this hearing was to gather ideas for next year.

I think in the meantime we'll shift our focus to the pilot projects. If we can show that low-income housing folks can manage a pellet stove with proper education and attention, and we can set up a Vermont-based pelletizer system, then man, we'd be golden. :P That's what we'll put our energy into for now.


Ok ~ AND:
I just found out - our group made the Boston Globe and a publication called Cogito - not for this rally, but for our proposal in general.

For more pictures check out the facebook group!

Rally for Renewables

I can't believe I didn't mention this earlier!

The kids with Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative are planning a "Rally for Renewables" on Wednesday of this week. We'll leave the High School at 5pm and march to the State House, where we'll hold a rally, with students signing up to give a little testimony about where they want their energy to come from in the future.

So far we've got 54 kids who've said they'd like to come to this rally from the facebook event page, and 189 kids who "might show up". Plus we've got students who've said "I'm bringing a car-full of kids", and other people saying that they're alerting their church groups, etc. It's going to be wild.

This is all leading up to a Public Hearing to be held at the State House that evening at 7pm regarding the effect of fossil fuel prices on the Vermont economy.

And Dude. I just got off the phone with a guy from Bernie Sanders office (Vermont Senator to the US legislature). He wants to come, cause he'll be in town that day! His schedule's tight, so he might now, but if he can he will. That's SO exciting. Gah!

I hope all the details work out. I'm a little nervous for that...

Addison County Legislators Talk to VSHI

This morning it was all bright and sunny at the Bakery and Cafe in Bristol where students from the Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative gathered with four legislators David Sharpe, Claire Ayer, Michael Fisher, and Harold Giard from Addison County to discuss next steps.

In my view this was the best meeting yet, mainly because we're at the point of taking action steps instead of just talking. Dave Sharpe said that he was willing to work on some small amendment to the current energy bill to try to allocate 1 million dollars that could go for a pelletizer station.
He also said that we need to talk to LIHEAP people about an "emergency furnace" fund - cause I guess if you're on LIHEAP and your furnace gives out, you can tap into this fund to get a new one. BUT what if instead of a new oil furnace it was a new pellet stove or furnace - for which the fuel is cheaper anyway! This seems like a very straightforward simple step in the right direction.

Claire Ayer gave us names of high up Ag folks so that we can get some farmers on board.

Harold Giard highly recommended that we get a general business plan together. If we could get 100,000 dollars right now what would that go for? He also recommended getting VTC involved with research aspect. Yay, that sounds like a great plan. :)

So, it's been a very productive morning, and tomorrow we'll have to divide up jobs among the folks there. (This is really turning into another full time job for me!) It's a good thing my intern is still teaching, I'm not sure how I would cope with this AND teaching simultaneously!