MODULE SIX

Explain:

What new learning or reflections have you take from this module?

news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8214000/8214150.stm 

This week, my learning or reflections are probably more renewed than new. From the beginning of the lesson, with the words “In a sense, we're like lobsters living at the bottom of an immense ocean of air, trying to understand the invisible medium in which we dwell, usually obliviously,” I was reminded of one of my favorite books, The Spell of the Sensuous, by David Abram. Abram’s experiences are remarkable, his understanding impressive, and his eloquence masterful. The fact that he is not an indigenous person gives testament to the fact that our relationship with the world is not limited to indigenous people but is part of our common human condition.

Abram observes that people of the modern world consider the “unseen depth between things” as “empty space.” For modern people, air isn’t really noticed until it becomes brown, or it begins to stink, or it carries a visible or otherwise noticeable irritant. For the rest of the time, as Abram says, it’s simply empty space.

But in the indigenous viewpoint, air and breath are estimated quite differently from the way they are perceived in what has become the modern world. There are no rules and laws that guarantee someone the right to say anything they want for the most part without consequence, and words are the audible manifestation of our interaction with the air. We breathe the same air as do trees and dogs and the leavening bread. As Abram says,

Phenomenologically considered—experientially considered—the changing atmosphere is not just one component of the ecological crisis, to be set alongside the poisoning of the waters, the rapid extinction of animals and plants, the collapse of complex ecosystems, and other human-induced horror. All of these, to be sure are interconnected facets of an astonishing dissociation—a monumental forgetting of our human inherence in a more-than-human world. Yet our disregard for the very air that we breathe is in some sense the most profound expression of this oblivion.

Picking up one of my favorite books to refresh its lessons, I was struck by the shared perceptions among this philosopher and the scientists who contributed to this module’s information.

  www.pbase.com/hljungback/image/89115186

Extend:

How might you use this week’s information and resources in your lessons?

I’m sure that much of the information will be useful one day. I especially like this video that my research led me to “Land is Breath: respecting nature in Altai”

"Land is Breath"

Evaluate:

How useful, insightful or relevant are this module’s information and resources?

I have to say that I was also reminded of the colonial phenomenon wherein the colonizing culture creates crises that wound the colonized culture, and then devises would-be solutions to inflict upon the wounded culture, usually doing more harm. I first described this syndrome to a Fetal Alcohol conference at which I was invited to speak. The circumstances seemed so plain to me: a culture had destroyed all values, standards, and ties from the old culture, generating cultural trauma and its aftermath, not the least of which is fetal alcohol syndrome, and then arranged studies and conferences and laws and foster care systems to confound the problem even more. 

A character in my book by the name of Young Tom is hired to go up to Prince William Sound and clean up a bad oil spill but could not bear to stay there. In his mind, the same system that allowed—created—caused—the catastrophe in the first place was now sending people to tell everyone how to clean it all up.

 
As I told the conference, Young Tom’s experience was a metaphor for many other experiences: the system that removed children and took land and ridiculed beliefs was the same system that was now telling everyone how to clean it all up. My hope is that this is not the case for the pollution and global warming and so many other consequences of the consumer society in which we now find ourselves:

Clean Air, Healthy Villages: Diesel Emissions

Clean Air, Healthy Villages: Diesel Emissions

Colleagues:

I appreciated Tracy’s mention of Chinook winds—because I was able to relate to that, I went on to read the whole article with great interest.

Dave’s blogspot is nicely formatted—quite professional looking—and I was gratified to read that he, too, finds some things puzzling. 

I found Sandi’s blog helpful—I like her tip that she starts with weather—and her graphics are very well done.

Module V

Explain:

The movement of Earth and the movements on Earth are like a symphony. My favorite visual was the one where we could see the changes in plant life over six years. Of course my eyes kept being drawn to what is now Southeast Alaska, but in this and other videos, the movements of plants and currents and winds on the land and waters of Earth made plain that this planet corresponds and harmonizes with the greater symphony of the solar system and the galaxy whose images we’ve all seen. It made me want to think about the music created by all these movements, and about how suitably everything fits.

 Available Hubble.org

Helpful Links:

Here’s a great link to Nasa multimedia educational material—watch out! The live space video link made me dizzy.

As far as scientific subjects, I’m afraid that my speed is more suited to websites and explanations such as this one explaining tides, found at Oceanlink.island.net. But I did take a studious look at Ocean News’ History of Climate Change, and together with Module V’s information, I was able to overcome the dizziness that usually befalls me when thinking about the magnitude of our world, and scratch the surface of understanding.

 

Available Msnbc.msn.com

The second video from this page of Encyclopedia Britannica online was a helpful reminder for me as well.

Personal Meaning:

As a child in Juneau, when I would run and play all day long from one end of Juneau to the other, climbing mountains, exploring gold mines, splashing in pools, fishing off the docks, I do remember wading in the warm shallow water of the Gastineau Channel and being told that the water was warm because of a special current called the Japanese current that brought warm water all the way to our shores.

  

Encyclopedia Britannica Online Available http://www.britannica.com/bps/media-view?1 

 It turns out that the childhood pleasure of dipping my toes in warm water is related to the Kuroshio current, Western boundary currents, climate changes, and intertidal biodiversity. Somehow knowing that adds to my sense of the harmonics of creation.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com...RXxg/s1600/galaxy_17.jpg

Extend and Evaluate:

I’ve recently decided to explore ways that I might spend at least one more summer on the water, and all of these lessons will greatly contribute to my ability to answer questions and communicate with visitors to Alaska. In previous years, I managed to master the elements of long days and glacier movement and plate tectonics, but I’m confident that this series will increase and strengthen my knowledge and understanding.

There are two specific places along the Inside Passage where when we sailed by, the inevitable question always arose: what is that line of brown water? I would explain to the best of my ability that the brown water didn’t go all the way down, but in fact was fresh silt-bearing water from the Stikine or the Katzehin rivers floating on the denser saline water. Temperature and salinity! Thanks to this module, my understanding is stronger.

Three Colleagues:

I enjoyed Sandi’s blog for presenting a clear understanding of the science in this week’s module. The graphics in Kevin’s blog, along with his discussion, were also very helpful to me. Kenai Kathy’s blog was interesting and helpful for the same reasons.