Flames of the Future.

In my last post, I pondered the irony that a historical figure, standing at a breathtakingly epic spot of a truly historic journey would feel that they had not done much with their lives. Frankly, I agree with a childhood friend (also a military man) who commented that Meriwether Lewis's rather pensive comments were more a reflection of the task at hand and a commitment to the future than it was his uncertainty about his own self-worth.

I also think it is a reflection of how none of us can fully see the future in our own time. One of the reasons I love teaching (and there are many) is that it is an opportunity to try to mold the upcoming tomorrows. One of my favorite teaching quotes: "Education is not the filling of a pail, it is the lighting of a fire." I like that.

Fire is the perpetual metaphor; our first technology, simultaneously symbolic of life-giving warmth and cataclysmic destruction. From a very scientifically objective, carbon-conscious perspective, we humans have been lighting far too many fires lately.

On one of the last days of Summer, on a 42 mile ride through beloved Sonoma County, we came across an intense sight.

Upon first glimpse, the smoke was deeply unsettling in its grandeur; rising like a mushroom cloud or volcanic eruption over the landscape. It was actually the Jerusalem Fire, freshly ignited, spreading quickly over nearby Lake County. One of dozens of fast-moving fires that have etched across drought stricken California in the past few weeks.

It would go on to destroy 43 homes, char 70,000 acres and billow smoke across the Bay Area. For the people who watched their homes reduced to embers, the concerns about a warming climate and the destructive power of nature must have suddenly seemed more personal than political. Rather than characterize the motto "Live Sustainably" as some sort of hippie mantra, it should be recognized for what it is: a much-needed strategy for survival.

In a world of 7 billion plus, it matters to consider what personal tactics we can use to support that overall strategy. For myself, I often come back to teaching. In a way, this too is ironic: a profession that is often characterized as igniting fires used to combat a global conflagration.

In another way however, it is fitting. Any firefighter that works in the forest can tell you that lighting fires is one of the best tools for fighting them. This practice, sometimes called back-burning or swailing, has always struck me as poetic.

This morning is also struck me as a good representation of what I am trying to do in the classroom. Yesterday I taught my first day of a new school year. Today, I rise early, and feel excited to fight for the future.

This day I completed my thirty first year...

One of my favorite snippets of writing was a introspective note written by legendary explorer and fellow Leo - Merriweather Lewis on his 31st birthday. As most people know, Lewis and Clark had been given the assignment by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the vast new territory of land that America had just 'purchased' from Napoleon. Morally, I think there are a lot of issues with the idea of being able to buy land already inhabited by scores of indigenous tribes, but realistically, the Louisiana purchase was a clear turning point in American history. No denying that, and for that reason alone, the Lewis & Clark expedition (a.k.a the Corps of Discovery) would be a major event in history.

But it was much more than just the herald of territory expansion. The Lewis & Clark expedition has captured imaginations (and lent its name to my chosen college) over the centuries for a number of reasons. The expedition was a symbol of many of the best aspirational ideals of America. Decades before the Emancipation Proclamation or the Seneca Falls Conventions, a black man and a native female teenager became two of the most critical members and default decision makers on the expedition. When confronted with the raw, basic truths of the unexplored wilderness the institutionalized inequalities of society gave way naturally to the science of survival. The trip was also a scientific bonaza, a tour de force of cartography by 'dead reckoning' and the diligent, systematic examination of hundreds of new plant and animal species. Finally it was a voyage of peace. In an American history too often characterized by treating blue-collar soldiers as expendable and being callous towards native peoples, the Lewis & Clark expedition crossed thousands of miles of uncharted territory twice without losing a single member of having a single violent episode with any native tribe. On top of all this, it was a damn epic adventure.

Lewis was the leader, and he (along with several others) kept a frequent journal of the trip. On his 31st birthday, the group reached a milestone. The day was August 18th, 1805 and the group had left the Endless river of the Missouri behind and was standing on the Continental Divide. On that day, Lewis wrote the following entry:

"This day I completed my thirty first year, and conceived that I had in all human probability now existed about half the period which I am to remain in this Sublunary world. I reflected that I had as yet done but little, very little indeed, to further the hapiness of the human race, or to advance the information of the succeeding generation. I viewed with regret the many hours I have spent in indolence, and now soarly feel the want of that information which those hours would have given me had they been judiciously expended. but since they are past and cannot be recalled, I dash from me the gloomy thought and resolved in future, to redouble my exertions and at least indeavour to promote those two primary objects of human existance, by giving them the aid of that portion of talents which nature and fortune have bestoed on me; or in future, to live for mankind, as I have heretofore lived for myself.—

Yikes.

Kind of an epic mid-life crisis. I mean here was a young man leading a truly historic mission, embarked on a grand adventure, at a major milestone. And what is on his mind? That he hasn't done much of anything. I mean seriously, if that is the case, what hope do any of us have?

Of course, reality is messy, and there are a lot of ways to interpret this journal entry that make it seem both more uplifting, or far darker.

I'll share some of the thoughts I have on what significance this quote has for the modern world next week. In the meantime, what do you all think? Is Lewis depressed? Optimistic? Overly Self-Critical? Future-thinking? I am curious how other see it.

The Rocky Mountains at the Continental Divide

Teach the Change you want to see in the world

In a few short weeks, I will begin my 7^th year as a classroom science teacher. This journey has taken me from East Oakland, to the Bayview, to the rapidly changing Excelsior District of SF where I now live and work. When I look around at the gargantuan challenges facing our global civilization, it is easy to feel small and hopelessly outgunned. The technological, political, and economic changes our world has experience in the last century are profound.
There have been technological changes. In the past two centuries, we've seen communication technology go from this: 

 to this

"Nice little gizmo you got there, but I bet it's not faster than ma horse." 

Billy bob lost this bet. He also lost a career. And the world eventually gained emoticons. Plenty of other changes; we saw transportation go from this:

 to....

this:

and cutting edge technology development go from this: 

 To this

Unless you teach inner city public school science, in which case your supply closet may still include Hygrometers. 

In short, the changes in human civilization have been breath-taking. And they have been mirrored by tremendous changes to the planet. 

At the heart of it, there is this change:

Which is really the big one. When combined with some of the technological and consumption changes it has created oddly similar graphs such as: 

And...

In case, that last graph is unclear, it shows the rise of extinctions in the past centuries, to the point where we are right now, with thousands of species going extinct each year, at a rate much, much, much higher than what it usually is. We are in the sixth mass extinction are planet has seen since there were animals on it, and generally, large creatures (like us) don't do well when the planet changes and this many different types of things start dying. 

As Thurgood says in Half Baked: "We're in a whole lot of trouble guys." 

And while most people get that abstract idea, feeling it at the level of continued urgency it warrants is difficult. Feeling it and doing something productive (not just panicking) is even harder. 

The Following Course I am teaching this year is my most recent attempt to follow the "Better to Light a Single Candle than Curse the Darkness" philosophy:

Environmental Problems, Politics and Solutions:

Coming of Age in a Time of Peril

            This course is envisioned as an advanced upper level course. Think of it as a future-looking, interdisciplinary course that will be a bridge between the two AP courses that all our students take. It will be open to juniors and seniors.

            This course will be a solid addition for college going students because a) it will have a high level of daily reading that is expected, assessed and required, b) it is a precursor to many college courses that span disciplines, and c) ecological system knowledge is likely to be an ever more important piece of economies of the future.

           

            Four Over Arching Units: Each unit will last about 2 months; together they will provide a comprehensive approach to solving some very complex problems.

            Scale of the Problem:

            This unit will cover both scientific and political limitations on current action. It will begin with some of the large scale issues that are endangering our world today: drought, food shortages, rising oil prices and increasing scarcity, increased desertification, ocean acidification and global warming. This unit is heavy on both science (of the above issues) and history (looking at how many past civilizations rose or fell based on environmental factors). This unit is daunting.

            Environmental Heroes:

            This unit is an answer to the previous one. It highlights the efforts of individuals and communities around the globe to protect the health of their communities and the strength of natural systems. Recently, Luis and I attended a ceremony honoring this year’s winners of the Goldman prize. This struck me as a powerful way to simultaneously teach global awareness, community organizing and environmental activism. Each individual’s story will last a week, and will give students a chance to look at: a) a particular global region, b) a localized problem that harms that region, and c) how individuals organized themselves to successfully address that problem. Luis’s mother and I spoke about the possibility of partnering with that organization (http://www.goldmanprize.org/ ) which would be a huge win for the school. Even if we don’t, their awardees present a wonderful way to organize a unit.  This unit is inspiring.

            Legal and Political Systems:

            This unit focuses on the national and international law making systems, how they were created and what they respond to. It is great for students considering law or politics as a career.  This unit will involve numerous classroom debates, in which students will take sides of a particular issue and look at how the side they are representing could work to use the legal and political systems to advance their goals.

            Avenues of Action:

            This unit is cumulative. It gives students much more freedom to use the knowledge they have gained to create their own project that will put into action what they have learned.

The course will also be heavily focused on partnerships, with considerable emphasis put on bringing outside experts into the classroom, encouraging students applying to scholarships, study abroad programs extracurricular opportunities, etc.

Should be an interesting year.