So yesterday I went kayaking again. That seems to be a reoccuring theme does it not...
It was lots of fun though and we had a blast despite the hot sun. I think kayaking has become one way that I've been able to get through this summer. It keeps me connected to the river and away from offices, the color grey and unproductivity.
After our watery trip, Emily and I ate dinner at the wednesday night dinners that some of the other students on campus are hosting. I brought one of the loaves of zucchini bread that I had made earlier, and everyone LOVED it! I was amazed. I mean, it was pretty good, but there wasn't any left after dinner. Hm...I guess that means I can sort of make zucchini bread now. Cool.
Then I did laundry because it was getting to the point of absolute necessity. I think all of you know what that means. Cough*nounderwear*Cough
And while I was doing laundry I ran into (although not literally) Kevin, who I knew was on campus but had not had a chance to talk to yet. So we chatted about work and other things. It was good. However, I was supposed to watch Memento with Beth, but by the time I was done watching Keving iron (hahaha! yeah, if you know Kevin you'll be laughing too) Beth was already tired so no movie. tear. We'll watch it soon though, because I've heard good things about it.
Then today I drove out to WPAFB and attended this workshop, conference, seminar thing that included 3 speakers, lunch and a keynote speaker during lunch. The morning speakers were good and I actually knew one of them so that was interesting. The topic/theme was energy and specifically how it related to engineering (despite the fact that I am not an engineer). Acutally, I was the youngest person there. *shrug* It was a worthwhile experience. Then lunch was good except for the fact that I asked for a vegetarian meal and then had to wait an extra 5-10 minutes for them to make something and then bring it out. By this time though everyone else was mostly done. And they brought me linguine in a butter sauce covered with mushrooms. Gross. I do not like mushrooms because they have spores. Ew. Spores are just gross. Seriously people. SPORES! Just think about that for a while. The keynote speaker was very interesting though because he worked for the state of Ohio and had some important information about how Ohio is addressing various energy issues. One thing that I found very positive was that somehow (I think he said through some sort of tobacco lawsuit or something, I'll find out) they have $5 billion to put towards building and refabing schools. BUT the catch is that all of the schools have to meet LEED Silver certification at the very least. This is not only good because it helps schools, promotes LEED, and works towards environmental sustainability, but it also encourages more people/businesses in Ohio to get LEED certification so they can actually build these schools.
Ok, enough ranting about LEED. It was a good morning/lunch overall even though I got a stain on my shirt. (Does this always happen to anyone else?)
That takes us to about now. I'm at work. I've done some stuff, but not much. I've listened to some NPR and some music. And that's about it.
Tonight though should be good because Beth and I are going to meet up with some friends and go to this swing dancing event! Yes Drew and Pete, we're going to swing dance without you. Wish you could come but...you chose to leave the country and so must live with that decision. It should be lots of fun though.
Then tomorrow I'm going to eat perogies!! Which are delicious and if you don't know what they are look them up. Then Saturday Miss Alice will be here!
Other then that, not much has been happening.
One thing I have been thinking about though is that I kind of wish/regret that I had chosen to go to a more liberal school. Now I know that there are liberal minded people here and all but, I just think that maybe I could be profecting my protesting skills and getting more substantial goals accomplished related to environmental sustainability and justice and peace and nonviolence. However, maybe it's good that I'm here so that I can change people's minds here, but that is one hard task. I really bothers me that some people want to hear/care about is the $bottom line. Seriously people, money is the last thing that is important. Now I don't really want to have the debate about money, but I really think that if people just thought about the economy, business, profits, capitalism and the politics in an unconventional and creative manner instead of perpetuating the cycle of cutthroat capitalism then maybe we could solve some of the world's truly pressing and important problems. Any thoughts?
I will let you get back to your life now, but one thing that I would challenge everyone to think about: What is the big picture? And I mean think about this in relation to everything and anything.
introspectivly yours,
Kate
5 comments:
Curse the staining spores. Grrr...
I am jealous of your swinging opportunities. Nobody here knows it, and I don´t know enough steps to teach it.
5 billion sounds like a nice amount of money, and (silver) LEED-certified school buildings sound like a fantastic investments for that 5 billion. That sounds like a groovy conference -- I wish I was there.
I do wonder what´s going to happen in the future. Food prices and gas prices have already skyrocketed. I think that in the short future, it can only get worse - prices will rise higher and living conditions everywhere will deteriorate. Everywhere, that is, except in pockets of wealth. Let them eat cake. I hope that a solution or a number of solutions arise soon. LEED is good, but we´re still incredibly wasteful. And we ignore a lot of the world.
For a bit of a big picture, how´s this--
Whether or not we screw up the environment, and no matter what happens (excluding worldwide nuclear holocaust), the human species will most likely survive on. What more could we ask for? What more is the purpose of life than to have fun and reproduce? Why should we enjoy ourselves less just to let younger people and future generations enjoy themselves more? Will I get any part of their pleasure after I´m dead and gone? Even if we do protect the environment, there´s a reasonable chance that they´ll screw it up anyway. Why bother? Why is it important?
Always the devil´s advocate,
(That is, asking hard questions to look for good answers!)
Pete
P.S.
Sorry to go on such a downer. On a brighter note, General Electric invested heavily (that is, bought a majority share) in the thin-film solar cell manufacturer PrimeStar Solar. Who knows what´ll happen there. Also, Arizona State University is acting on its plans to build a massive solar installation (one bigger than Google´s!). Excellent things are in store.
While I agree that our current economic thought regarding environmentally freindly investments is greatly flawed because it doesn't look (far) past the cost, the fact remains that money matters. We need to have appropriate policies that enable would-be investors to decide to make the jump and go for the (more) sustainable choice. Right now, I think Germany has some terrific policies in their EEG (more on this later in my blog).
The US could benefit by studying what other countries have implemented, since we didn't see up to the task of being a world leader here.
I find it funny that the last bill that tried to get pushed through the senate was a Cap and Trade agenda. Why would we introduce this before any other form of federal subsidy? There is a right way to do this and a wrong way as well. As I said, more on this theme later in my blog.
Some points, Katie.
1. Awesome conference! I really wish I was there, and you´ll have to tell me all about it when I get back.
2. I too hate mushrooms. Mostly because they usually come out all rubbery, and food shouldn´t be rubbery.
3. Jealous of your swinging opportunities. There aren´t any here. You´ll be happy to know that in my downtime I play the guitar and write poetry. I´m trying to perfect the art of combining danceable backbeat with UD street poetry to create danceable music that´s relevant to us now. There´s precious little of that in this day and age. My hope is to eventually build up the UD/Dayton music scene.
4. I feel your frustration. The way we change people´s minds is that we have to change their hearts - sometimes slow, sometimes frustrating, but it works. Slow changing of habits. I see it here in Bolivia, the way we constantly go out and demonstrate stoves and more and more people are starting to use them. At UD, it´s little things - the growing support for the River Stewards, your work with Sukh, the local market that´s about to hit campus (about which I´m very excited,) the creation of a sustainability committee in SGA. People are beginning to listen.
You know that quote by Archimedes? "Give me a lever long enough and I´ll move the world?" We´re putting levers beneath the world. Some of them are short - national policies, the Kyoto protocol, big things with lots of money and powerful people and organizations. Short levers which need a lot of force to move a lot of inertia. Those might not move as quickly as we would like, but they´re moving. And when they finally do move, the world will move a lot.
The other side of it are the long levers - all the little things we do, small organizations and people with a lot of passion. Long levers don´t move things a lot when they get pushed, but there are a lot of them and more every day. Every day we´re pushing more and more levers beneath the world - short ones and long ones, and more and more people are pushing down. The tide of the seesaw, this intellectual tug of war between us and the neoliberal old ways of thinking, is starting to toward us.
And you know what? The world is beginning to move.
Drew, you make me happy about the world. Thanks :-)
I LOVE mushrooms!
Chelsea
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