Education environment: sustainability timescale timespan wisdom
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Year 3, Month 5, Day 1: Have Another Hit, Babe…
Walter and Nan Simpson have an excellent piece in the Buffalo News. Here’s a bit to whet your appetite:
Earth Day is more than celebrating the little things we do to protect the environment. It’s time to look more broadly at environmental policy and take our planet’s pulse.
Are we doing enough to protect nature and endangered species and reduce air and water pollution? Are we maximizing the green jobs and public health benefits of environmental protection? Are we rapidly developing new green technologies to compete with global green export leaders like China and Germany?
Daring to answer these questions honestly is difficult. We all have our own priorities and problems. We are endlessly distracted by cellphones, computers, video games, hundreds of TV channels, advertising and shopping. We lead busy lives, detached from nature.
Few people want to be troubled by “inconvenient truths” that require significant action and sacrifice. Besides, polluting industries and their friends constantly reassure us there’s no problem. Case in point is the 1,000- pound polar bear in the room — climate change — the most serious environmental problem ever.
More like this, please. Sent April 22:
The flotsam and jetsam of our chaotic information environment can distract us from attending to the environment that really matters. While more and more people are connecting the dots between extreme weather and the burgeoning greenhouse effect, there are an awful lot of people who believe what they’ve been told: there is no crisis; it’s all a fabrication of the so-called “liberal media”; it’s all an excuse for environmentalists to raise our taxes, etc., etc., etc.
But the problem goes beyond the preening megalomaniacs of right-wing radio. The transient, helter-skelter nature of our media conveys an equally misleading message: that the 24-hour news cycle is the only one that really matters. The timespans of Earth move far more slowly; if we are to restore equilibrium to our troubled world, we must learn once again to think in the long term. There is no wisdom in a two-minute attention span.
Warren Senders
atheism Education environment: apocalypse eschatology theology theonormativity
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Year 3, Month 4, Day 30: “I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”
According to the Christian Post, some of the God-Botherers are apparently, um, seeing the light:
A professor at an evangelical university in Southern California claims that evangelicals are becoming more convinced of the evidence for man-made global warming ahead of Earth Day this Sunday.
Mark McReynolds, assistant professor of Environmental Science at Biola University, said, “Evangelicals, like the rest of our society, are coming around to the real evidence of global climate change. It is a big, complicated topic, with many implications for us in the U.S.”
“Climate scientists are in near unanimity that the evidence speaks loudly for human-caused climate change and the general public is slowly understanding the issue and its implications.”
McReynolds’ remarks come as Biola University prepares for a series of events to observe Earth Day next week. Titled “Creation Stewardship Week,” the events from April 23 to 27 include participation in the Global Day of Prayer for Creation Care, a tour of the faculty-student run Biola Organic Garden, and the screening of the film “No Impact Man,” which is about a family that tries to live a lifestyle without high environmental impact.
It’s still a little clunky, but if this story has any legs, I’ll send out a few more versions in the next few days. Sent April 21:
When I hear that evangelicals are beginning to accept the reality of global climate change, my emotions are mixed. While it seems a positive development that members of many Christian groups no longer reject the validity of climate science and its analyses, the question necessarily arises: how many of you agree that climate change is real, only because you see in the burgeoning greenhouse effect a harbinger of the End Times?
I am puzzled by those who enthusiastically assert that the Lord’s wishes involve the utter destruction of His own Creation. But the introduction of vast quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere makes Armageddon a matter of chemistry, not theology. It would be reassuring to know that evangelicals who are coming to accept climate change are not doing so from an eager anticipation of apocalypse, but from a desire to preserve the infinitely majestic web of earthly life for future generations — a wish I, an unbeliever, can wholeheartedly embrace.
Warren Senders
Education environment Politics: analogies rising ocean levels scientific consensus
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Year 3, Month 4, Day 29: Coming Up Snake-Eyes
Guam Pacific Daily News has an excellent editorial from a guy named Richard Alley, titled “Rolling the dice on climate change.” Definitely worth a read:
Science still says, “Maybe, maybe not.” But we’re rolling the dice in a serious game where the “jackpot” means we lose.
There’s very high scientific confidence that our fossil-fuel burning and other activities, which add carbon dioxide to the air, are turning up the planet’s thermostat.
In a warmer world, we expect more record highs and heat waves but fewer record lows, just as we’re observing. Warmer air can carry more water vapor, so a warmer rainstorm can deliver more inches per hour. Hair dryers have a “hot” setting for good reasons, and warmer air between rainstorms can dry out the ground faster.
Thus, we expect rising CO2 to bring more floods in some places and more droughts in others, with some places getting more of both. That might seem contradictory, but it’s not. And with more energy to drive hurricanes, the peak winds may increase, even if the number of storms drops.
But couldn’t nature have caused the ongoing changes without our help?
Imagine playing dice with a shady character. Suppose, after you lose, you discover that some of the corners are filed off and there are carefully positioned weights inside. In court, your lawyer could say, “The dice were loaded, double-sixes came up three times in a row, so the defendant owes restitution.”
His lawyer, however, might counter, “My client doesn’t recall where he got the dice, the modifications are really quite small, dice games are inherently variable, anomalous events do happen, so my client is innocent and should get to keep all the money plus the plaintiff’s wallet.”
Time to expand the analogy. Sent April 20:
In games of chance, the amount we wager depends on how much we can spend. The embezzlers who lose vast sums of other people’s money at racetracks or card games are the exceptions, not the rule.
Or are they? The past several decades of climate science have revealed the unintended consequences of industrial humanity’s century-long fossil-fuel binge; we clever apes find ourselves in the unenviable position of a losing card player who’s squandered not just his own resources but those of generations to come.
And like compulsive gamblers, we deny there’s a problem. We loudly assert that our civilization’s progress depends on burning the fossilized sunlight of ancient eras; if we want a present, we must consume the past. But if our descendants are to have lives worth living, we can no longer wager their happiness and prosperity in a rigged game with stakes exponentially higher than we can afford.
Warren Senders
atheism Education: doubt evangelicals
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Very Powerful…
I never had to go through much of this stuff. I was raised a freethinker by scientific parents, and I had almost no content with mainstream Xtianity when I was growing up. Nobody in our family or community circles ever asked about religion; open religious advocacy would have been considered bizarre.
I was bullied in school and hated every bit of it — but this is bullying of a whole different order. This kind of bullying starts at birth.
How appalling.
Education music: acoustics physics of sound tone
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Pulse to Pitch, Series Two: Simple Harmonic Intervals
Here is another series of videos demonstrating the transformation of simple rhythmic ratios into pitch relationships.
These show the following ratios:
2:1
3:2
4:3
5:4
5:3
Yielding octaves, fifths, fourths, major thirds and major sixths respectively. The next set of videos will show more of the two voice intervals…stay tuned!
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Rhythmic octaves
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Two against three — turns into a perfect fifth.
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Four against three — turns into a perfect fourth.
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Five against four — turns into a major third.
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Five against three — turns into a major sixth.
atheism Education environment Politics: assholes denialists evolution idiots Republicans theocracy
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Year 3, Month 4, Day 20: He That Troubleth His Own House…
This is entirely expected — but it still sucks:
NASHVILLE — Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam today allowed a controversial bill allowing teachers to discuss the “weaknesses” of evolution and other scientific theories to become law without his signature.
It is the first time Haslam, a Republican, has refused to sign a bill passed by the GOP-led General Assembly.
The legislation has been derided by critics nationwide as a modern-day “monkey bill,” a reference to a 1920s Tennessee law that outlawed the teaching of evolution and spurred the arrest and trial of Dayton, Tenn., teacher John Scopes in the infamous 1925 “Monkey Trial.”
“I have reviewed the final language of HB 368/SB 893 and assessed the legislation’s impact,” Haslam said in a statement. “I have also evaluated the concerns that have been raised by the bill. I do not believe that this legislation changes the scientific standards that are taught in our schools or the curriculum that is used by our teachers.
“However,” Haslam added, “I also don’t believe that it accomplishes anything that isn’t already acceptable in our schools.”
I wish they’d never been allowed to rejoin the Union. Sent April 11:
Although he’s allowing HB 368/SB 893 to become law without his signature, Governor Haslam cannot avoid soiling his fingers on a dirty piece of legislation. The bill’s language is entirely disingenuous. It is absolutely obvious that this is an attempt to undermine a genuine and robust scientific consensus under the guise of “discussing the weaknesses” in scientific opinion on evolution and climate change.
Will Tennessee’s teachers really explore the relationship between feedback and forcing in climate models — or will they promulgate attractive and convenient pseudo-facts (“carbon dioxide is our friend!”) offered by well-funded denialist groups? Will they explore the relationship between punctuated equilibrium and phyletic gradualism in our understanding of evolution — or will they offer attractive and convenient pseudo-facts from well-funded creationist groups?
When the world’s climate is perilously close to spinning entirely out of equilibrium, we can no longer afford the luxury of substituting ignorance for knowledge under the guise of “teaching the controversy.” This will not end well — for Tennessee, for America, or for the world.
Warren Senders
Education environment: agriculture monocropping sustainability timescale
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Year 3, Month 4, Day 19: Too Soon Old And Too Late Smart
The Peoria (IL) Journal-Star discusses a recent study by scientists from Arizona, on the impact of climate change on the “corn belt.” Hmmm…not so encouraging:
PEORIA —
The Corn Belt may be in trouble as the planet gets warmer, according to a decadelong research effort on climate change.
The study, published this week by a team at Northern Arizona University, shows that plants may thrive in the early stages of a warming environment but begin to deteriorate quickly.
Researchers found that long-term warming resulted in the loss of native species and encroachment of species typical of warmer environments, pushing the plant community toward less productive species, said Bruce Hungate, a Northern Arizona professor and a senior author of the study.
“Ecosystems have feedbacks. The initial response might not be the long term one,” he said.
Squirrel! Sent April 10:
The key word in any discussion of the Northern Arizona University study of plant survival in a transformed climate is “long-term.” For the past century, our civilization has steadily lost the ability to imagine a future more than a few years away. With the support of a complaisant media, our civilization has built a 24-hour news cycle and a fashion-driven consumer economy that is entirely dependent on the predictability and dependability of our food supply. Since scientists’ predictions have consistently underestimated the severity of climate change, it’s a fair bet that our agricultural infrastructure is far more vulnerable than any of us ever believed.
With enormous industrialized monocropping, we have accomplished prodigies of predictability and productivity — but lost our ability to think in the long temporal cycles that governed agriculture until the advent of chemical fertilizers and giant factory farms. To survive and prosper in the coming centuries, our species must reclaim this wisdom before it’s too late.
Warren Senders
Education music: acoustics physics physics of sound pulse sound tone vibration
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Pulse to Pitch, Chapter 1
I’m teaching a class for my daughter’s homeschool community in which we explore some of the relationships between music and math. As part of that process, I began making these videos. This set of five “movies” shows the transformation of pulsing single sounds into pitches through the process of repeated acceleration.
Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting as complete a set of the harmonic intervals as I can manage, all derived from polymetric superimpositions of click tracks in various tempi.
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This video starts with a 60 mm click track and accelerates it repeatedly by a factor of 4: 1 beat per second / 4 bps / 16 bps / 64 bps / 256 bps / 1024 bps. The transformation of pulse to pitch is very clear.
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Instead of a click track, this video uses a bilabial fricative to provide a more timbrally complex starting sound. It’s moving at approximately mm60, and I accelerate it repeatedly by a factor of 4: 1 beat per second / 4 bps / 16 bps / 64 bps / 256 bps / 1024 bps. The transformation of pulse to pitch is clear, but the complexity of the original sound makes for a somewhat “fuzzier” pitch identity.
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Instead of a click track, this video uses handclaps to provide a more “organic” starting sound. The claps move at approximately mm60, and I accelerate them repeatedly by a factor of 4, from roughly 1 beat per second to 4 bps, 16 bps, 64 bps, 256 bps, 1024 bps. The transformation of pulse to pitch is clear.
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Instead of a click track, this video uses a low-register piano tone (C#) to provide a tonally complex starting sound. The impulses move at approximately mm60, and I accelerate them repeatedly by a factor of 4, from roughly 1 beat per second to 4 bps, 16 bps, 64 bps, 256 bps, 1024 bps. The transformation of pulsed pitch to pure pitch is clear (by the time the signal is accelerated 3 or 4 times, the relevant portion of the sound is no longer the original pitch, but the “attack” of the piano note).
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Instead of a click track, this video uses a low-register piano tone (C#) to provide a tonally complex starting sound. The impulses come more slowly than the previous default tempo of mm 60. As I accelerate them repeatedly by a factor of 4, the transformation of pulsed pitch to pure pitch is clear. By the time the signal is accelerated 3 or 4 times, the relevant portion of the sound is no longer the original pitch, but the “attack” of the piano note — note that the final pitch at the end of the movie is quite different from that at the end of the previous video!
Education environment Politics: assholes denialists idiots Republicans
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Year 3, Month 4, Day 15: Harper Valley PTA
Neela Banerjee writes in the LA Times about Tennessee’s embarrassing new legislation, which is eagerly awaiting its gubernatorial flourish before slime-spattering students throughout the state:
WASHINGTON — Tennessee is poised to adopt a law that would allow public schoolteachers to challenge climate change and evolution in their classrooms without fear of sanction, according to educators and civil libertarians in the state.
Passed by the state Legislature and awaiting Republican Gov. Bill Haslam’s signature, the measure is likely to stoke growing concerns among science teachers around the country that teaching climate science is becoming the same kind of classroom and community flash point as evolution. If it becomes law, Tennessee will become the second state, after Louisiana, to allow the teaching of alternatives to accepted science on climate change.
The Tennessee measure does not require the teaching of alternatives to scientific theories of evolution, climate change, human cloning and “the chemical origins of life.” Instead, the legislation would prevent school administrators from reining in teachers who expound on alternative hypotheses to those topics.
The measure’s primary sponsor, Republican state Sen. Bo Watson, said it was meant to give teachers the clarity and security to discuss alternative ideas to evolution and climate change that students may have picked up at home and want to explore in class.
Morons. Sorry — that should be Morans; my bad. Sent April 7:
When contemporary conservatives want schools to “teach the controversy,” it’s a sure bet they’re referring to controversies they’ve created themselves. Tennessee’s new legislation is an excellent example of this; the notion that science teachers are somehow restricted by requiring them to actually teach science is a fabrication of the evangelical subset of American conservatism.
The arguments within climatology concern the details of feedback and forcing mechanisms in Earth’s environment, and what they portend for the future of the planet and its inhabitants; the human causes of global warming are as fully settled as the basic processes of Darwinian evolution. Assertions to the contrary are either mendacious or ignorant; probably both.
But what the hell — let’s teach the controversy: is Marxist economics valid? Is the Earth flat? Does your astrological sign influence your life? Is Elvis alive? Is Paul dead? Is there really a Flying Spaghetti Monster? Welcome to school.
Warren Senders
Education environment Politics: analogies Buckminster Fuller slavery timescale
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Year 3, Month 4, Day 14: Ventilated Prose Edition
Curse you, Jim Hansen! Why must you be right, all the time? The Guardian (UK):
Averting the worst consequences of human-induced climate change is a “great moral issue” on a par with slavery, according to the leading Nasa climate scientist Prof Jim Hansen.
He argues that storing up expensive and destructive consequences for society in future is an “injustice of one generation to others”.
Hansen, who will next Tuesday be awarded the prestigious Edinburgh Medal for his contribution to science, will also in his acceptance speech call for a worldwide tax on all carbon emissions.
In his lecture, Hansen will argue that the challenge facing future generations from climate change is so urgent that a flat-rate global tax is needed to force immediate cuts in fossil fuel use. Ahead of receiving the award – which has previously been given to Sir David Attenborough, the ecologist James Lovelock, and the economist Amartya Sen – Hansen told the Guardian that the latest climate models had shown the planet was on the brink of an emergency. He said humanity faces repeated natural disasters from extreme weather events which would affect large areas of the planet.
“The situation we’re creating for young people and future generations is that we’re handing them a climate system which is potentially out of their control,” he said. “We’re in an emergency: you can see what’s on the horizon over the next few decades with the effects it will have on ecosystems, sea level and species extinction.”
This is the first time I’ve been able to invoke Bucky Fuller in a letter. Sent April 6 (I’m now 8 days ahead — yay me):
Dr. James Hansen has it exactly correct. Just as the slave trade’s poisonous legacy continues to haunt the United States a hundred and fifty years after the “peculiar institution” passed into history, the consequences of a century’s worth of profligate carbon consumption will be felt by the next twenty generations of our descendants.
Since the advent of the industrial revolution, we have become accustomed to an apparently inexpensive and endless supply of what the futurist Buckminster Fuller called “energy slaves” — fossil-fueled technology that replaces captive human labor. But now, as climatology reveals the damage wrought by burning all that oil, gas and coal, it is becoming apparent: those energy slaves weren’t cheap after all, and the bill is coming due.
A globally-implemented carbon tax is essential if we are to transform our economic system into one that is not ruinous to the earth upon which all of us depend.
Warren Senders