Sept. 3

Craven courage

By G. Rendell

So ... “climate disruption", you say?

I think I like it!

Meanwhile ...

Right after my clock radio switched itself on this morning (and well before I was ready to listen, much less comprehend), I heard a commentary by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. He spoke of two types of corporate spokesfolk — public relations and government relations, both of whom were in attendance at both political conventions. His main point seemed to be that the messages delivered by the two groups were often diametrically opposed to one another. If I had been more awake, I’m sure I would have been shocked. (Shocked!)

As noted previously, the leading corporate practitioner of speaks-with-forked-tongue on the topic of climate disruption (see, I told you I liked it!) for years has been ExxonMobil. They’ve recently agreed to stop funding faux science, but the aftereffects of their previous PR efforts won’t disappear overnight. Lots of folks, including a significant number of incoming freshmen at Greenback U, insist that we speak to “the controversy". There’s no point in saying that there is no controversy (or at least no legitimate controversy) — “The world is all grown strange. ... How shall a man judge what to do in such times?” (Two Brownie Points and a tip of the Hatlo hat to the first person to identify the quote without using a search engine. Five points to the first one to identify the “Hatlo hat” — same restriction.)

Well,one guy who seems to judge well what to do in such times is Greg Craven. Craven is a high school science teacher from Monmouth, Oregon, and he’s been posting videos on the subject of climate disruption (I warned you!) to YouTube for a while, now. Apparently as a public service, Craven (or someone acting in his behalf) has collected the videos and posted them at www.wonderingmind42.com ("wonderingmind42″ being Craven’s nom de net). If you want to see how to talk to incoming freshmen about ... well, you know ..., there’s no better role model than a good high school science teacher. Check it out.

Comments

Calculator

Not a really related comment, but are there any carbon footprint calculators designed specifically for college or university students? They never know what to answer about how many people live with them, or the square footage of their home. Does it make more sense to devise campus-specific ones on the basis of energy and heat sources campus wide? Basically, all that these calculators tell them they can do to modify their footprint is to drive and fly less. I’d love to see one that includes things like, “How many hours a day is your computer running/do you watch TV/play video games/spend in public spaces versus your room? eat meat? buy packaged drinks?” THOSE are some behaviors that would impact the institutional footprint in a big way. I may be on my own here, but perhaps readers could weigh in with anything they have seen/used/made? I’d love to use this for Campus Sustainability Day on 22 October.

L. Hyatt, at 9:30 am EDT on September 5, 2008