papers, exams and other such nonsense
2 short papers down, 2 long ones to go ... and a presentation... and a take home exam ... and an oral exam. whoa. it'll all get down... its just the late nights, over caffeination and thoughts of "i should have started this earlier" that'll kill ya.
tonite i went to one of the great institutions of academia - a panel discussion with a provocative title. "religious responses to the death of environmentalism" its hard to explain really... but it was great... apparently this paper: "the death of environmentalism" caused quite a hullabaloo in the academic environmental circles... and so the authors presented tonite a chapter of their forthcoming book... and two people responded. the one that was amazing was mary evelyn tucker who formally worked on the forum on religion and ecology out of harvard. she was great.
the basics were that we need to look at social sciences, political and economic sciences to really address ecological crisis... and we need a politics of possibilities rather than the politics of limits that the environmentalist movement has been working with. one of the presenters spoke about this paradox: the irrationality of human behavior and how environmentalists always think we need to do rational education about science in order to stem the ecological crisis. instead we need to better understand irrational human behaviors and promote the values and visions that will make changes in society. thats kind of a random summary... but i found it really interesting. the intersection of sociology, religion, politics, ecology and ethics was the discussion and i am interested in this intersection... a lot of the stuff is really interesting to me in relation to my sociology of religion course... maybe i will become a sociologist... hmmm....
there was a bit of discussion about global poverty that i would have been interested in exploring further and how it plays a major role in this discussion. mary evelyn discussed the radical changes in china and india in the past 30 years and how this must be addressed more carefully by environmentalists. anyways, lots of it was academic mumble-jumble... but some was really interesting and applicable... i think that professors, teachers and pastors have an important role in helping form part of the vision and values that we need to address the ecological issues we face and in order to do that we have to understand a bit of the sciences - political, social, economic and natural... and we have to have a defined hope and vision, ethics and values in order to face the reality.
i have been part of a bible study this fall looking at issues of empire in relation to the gospel of mark and it has been a really interesting study. we have used ched myers' books - binding the strong man and who will roll away the stone? which have been really fascinating... a political and social reading of the book of mark. looking at how we are called to live in our social contexts of oppression and injustice. i highly recommend the books.
another thing i have been working on in the past few weeks has been volunteering with a food/nutrition/gardening program at berkeley alternative high school... the woman from berkeley health dept. working on this project is amazing - super energetic and compassionate about getting the kids healthy, nutritious food to eat and really trying to connect them with the local farmers and gardening... help them see the way that food is marketed to them and how unhealthy most marketed food is for them and for the earth and workers that help produce the food... she has great vision and when i am with the kids i am often really cynical... but i am excited to stick it out and work in the garden with them this spring and see if i can help her in her project. its incredible how ridiculous the situation is for poor people, even in berkeley - this incredible haven of resources... there are no grocery stores in their neighborhoods - only liquor stores... so the ecology center is working to bring small farmer's markets into the lower income neighborhoods with at cost vegetables so that people without transportation and easy access to grocery stores can access locally grown produce. this woman has started all of this stuff! they are working to get a cooking program in the school too... its a great vision... and i hope some of it works! right now at the school she has started small with a combined hip-hop class, fruit smoothies and healthy lunch for those who participate in the class.
also - www.pandora.com is amazing. i love it. it will make your own radio station - streaming you all kinds of fantastic music you might never have heard before. and you can control it! fast forwarding and telling them what you like and don't like. its great.
i'm going home in 9 days. wow. with lots of books to read. ha. the more you read the more you realize you haven't read... so i have lots of books on my floor to skim or read...
i am about as sleepy and random as this post sounds... time for bed.
view this post on my webpage
tonite i went to one of the great institutions of academia - a panel discussion with a provocative title. "religious responses to the death of environmentalism" its hard to explain really... but it was great... apparently this paper: "the death of environmentalism" caused quite a hullabaloo in the academic environmental circles... and so the authors presented tonite a chapter of their forthcoming book... and two people responded. the one that was amazing was mary evelyn tucker who formally worked on the forum on religion and ecology out of harvard. she was great.
the basics were that we need to look at social sciences, political and economic sciences to really address ecological crisis... and we need a politics of possibilities rather than the politics of limits that the environmentalist movement has been working with. one of the presenters spoke about this paradox: the irrationality of human behavior and how environmentalists always think we need to do rational education about science in order to stem the ecological crisis. instead we need to better understand irrational human behaviors and promote the values and visions that will make changes in society. thats kind of a random summary... but i found it really interesting. the intersection of sociology, religion, politics, ecology and ethics was the discussion and i am interested in this intersection... a lot of the stuff is really interesting to me in relation to my sociology of religion course... maybe i will become a sociologist... hmmm....
there was a bit of discussion about global poverty that i would have been interested in exploring further and how it plays a major role in this discussion. mary evelyn discussed the radical changes in china and india in the past 30 years and how this must be addressed more carefully by environmentalists. anyways, lots of it was academic mumble-jumble... but some was really interesting and applicable... i think that professors, teachers and pastors have an important role in helping form part of the vision and values that we need to address the ecological issues we face and in order to do that we have to understand a bit of the sciences - political, social, economic and natural... and we have to have a defined hope and vision, ethics and values in order to face the reality.
i have been part of a bible study this fall looking at issues of empire in relation to the gospel of mark and it has been a really interesting study. we have used ched myers' books - binding the strong man and who will roll away the stone? which have been really fascinating... a political and social reading of the book of mark. looking at how we are called to live in our social contexts of oppression and injustice. i highly recommend the books.
another thing i have been working on in the past few weeks has been volunteering with a food/nutrition/gardening program at berkeley alternative high school... the woman from berkeley health dept. working on this project is amazing - super energetic and compassionate about getting the kids healthy, nutritious food to eat and really trying to connect them with the local farmers and gardening... help them see the way that food is marketed to them and how unhealthy most marketed food is for them and for the earth and workers that help produce the food... she has great vision and when i am with the kids i am often really cynical... but i am excited to stick it out and work in the garden with them this spring and see if i can help her in her project. its incredible how ridiculous the situation is for poor people, even in berkeley - this incredible haven of resources... there are no grocery stores in their neighborhoods - only liquor stores... so the ecology center is working to bring small farmer's markets into the lower income neighborhoods with at cost vegetables so that people without transportation and easy access to grocery stores can access locally grown produce. this woman has started all of this stuff! they are working to get a cooking program in the school too... its a great vision... and i hope some of it works! right now at the school she has started small with a combined hip-hop class, fruit smoothies and healthy lunch for those who participate in the class.
also - www.pandora.com is amazing. i love it. it will make your own radio station - streaming you all kinds of fantastic music you might never have heard before. and you can control it! fast forwarding and telling them what you like and don't like. its great.
i'm going home in 9 days. wow. with lots of books to read. ha. the more you read the more you realize you haven't read... so i have lots of books on my floor to skim or read...
i am about as sleepy and random as this post sounds... time for bed.
view this post on my webpage