If there is one issue more than any other that I see being explored in schools this year, it just has to be the Global Warming scene. Endless debates full of the proverbial hot air ring around the hallowed halls, I assure you.
So where do you stand on it all? Perhaps you’re not sure whether it’s really occurring? Maybe you’re uncertain about the scientific basis for many of the claims? Or then again, you may even be a convert who is convinced that the world will end within the next 5 years.
Like most other people who have a significant interest in the world being around for a long time, I’ve spent some time sifting through the endless research. And so, here are a few perspectives that you may consider offering to your class/es:
1. Greg Craven is a Science teacher in the US (see the video up above). His perspective is truly worth a look. An interesting 7 min challenge to offer to a switched-on class. See if you can find any flaws in his argument, and his justification on why we must take it all pretty seriously.
2. Yes, the world is warming up… and it’s at a faster rate than that of earlier warmings in human history. However, the evidence on the contribution to this warming from human activity is clouded in controversy. It’s basically because of the complexities involved in proving that our polluting interventions have directly affected world temperatures. Unfortunately (and in using that word, I’m displaying my own perspectives), this gives some credence to the right-wingers who wish to go on polluting to their heart’s content.
4. Regardless of whether or not we are contributing to ‘global warming’, we are overconsuming the earth’s resources (and the statistics support this very strongly). Again, a precise figure is difficult to establish; however, in mid-2008, the planet is consuming somewhere between 125% and 140% of its available resources. In other words, we’re existing beyond our capacities. If you earn $1000 a week, and spend $1400 a week, you will soon need to rein in your lifestyle.
Now, this is where I struggle with those who want to continue with our present overconsumption rates, by claiming that we’re not affecting global warming. I’d like to ask: What about the rates of consumption? How can they be justified, given that it will create shortages in the years ahead (as partly evidenced by present food shortages around the world ……what, you didn’t know about that?? Ah, you must live in a Western country then)
And what about the pollution being created? I’ve visited China twice, and I can assure you that the air pollution in the major cities is a bit scary. After 2 or 3 days, you feel quite sick simply from breathing. Interestingly, it will become all too apparent during the Beijing Olympics, and may even become a small but significant turning point in the world’s collective response to air pollution at least.
5. OK, say the global warming skeptics. Maybe it’s happening; maybe it’s not. But what’s the use of doing anything about it anyway, they say? India and China are now causing most of it, so we’re not going to make much difference if we cut our consumption.
I find this an astonishingly ignorant argument, and one that demonstrates very little collective concern for the planet. If we let that argument gain any credence, then we really are in trouble.
All change needs to begin somewhere. Small efforts can easily magnify, and create positive changes far beyond our initial efforts. Einstein’s theories on ‘critical mass’ indicate that just 2% of the world’s population can eventually influence the other 98%.
All through human history, we find that special individuals and groups decided to create change… and they did. William Wilberforce with the abolition of slavery. Nelson Mandela with South African apartheid. And soon…. you and I and everyone else with the overconsumption on our planet.
6. So what really do we each do?? Here are a few final possibilities:
* Cut your consumption of everything by 10%. It won’t deimate the economy, yet it will make a statistically significant difference to our consumption patterns. Just give it a go sometime. 10% less water. 10% less electricity (just turn off your switches at the wall). 10% less petrol (it’s called a bus. Or find the occasional share-ride). 10% less food (oh yes, it’s very possible. Simply eat what you need, rather than what you want).
* If you teach, or you’re a parent, then motivate young ones to take action. Many of them want to anyway. After all, they’ll need to live in whatever world we all create up ahead. Just don’t do the fear-based approach. It paralyses kids. Continually talk about what CAN be done. Set up an inquiry-based unit, and explore questions such as:
Q. What’s the scientific basis to both sides of the argument?
Q. Whose purposes are served by minimising or maximising the focus on ‘global warning’?
Q. 2050 will be a fantastic time on planet Earth. What must be done NOW to guarantee this?
And so, some final questions. I know that you’d already be doing lots of important things (especially if you teach), so can I just clarify: What are you doing right now? Here today?
This is the headquarters for one of the brewery companies in Tokyo. I think that it’s meant to be the foam on the top of a beer?? Yeah, OK.
I’ve just spent 9 days in Japan, and while I was there, I discovered a very special story about sustainability. One of the more powerful narrative I’ve ever seen. And it goes like this.
One hour’s train travel south of Nagoya, there is an unassuming small city called Ise (pronounced (Eee-say). And in Ise, you can find one of the most special Shinto shrines in all of Japan. There are two sites - the outer shrine (Genki) and the inner shrine (Naiku). About 15 mins apart by bus. This image of the bridge entrance to the Naiku shrine will give you an indication of the beauty of this area.
Now, the Japanese consider these shrines to be the most venerable in all of Japan. If the Japanese people were to visit one special shrine in their lives, it would apparently be these. And I can see why. Possibly one of the most inspiring natural spiritual sites I’ve ever seen in my travels all through the world.
Here’s the ’sustainability’ part.
Every twenty years, the shrines of Ise are completely rebuilt with the wood from the Cypress pines that are grown nearby, and in other parts of Japan. So, the forests are continually maintained, in order to rebuild these shrines every two decades. In effect, the ’shrines’ are actually a series of shrines, and they require 13,000 trees to complete this 20-year rebuilding.
When you visit these shrines, you find that there are two sites for each of the buildings. One is the present shrine, and the other is the space for the next building (in this case, the one that will be constructed in 2013). On the future site, a small structure is placed in the middle, to designate where the next shrine will be placed. Here’s an image of these present and future sites:
My query is: How do we sustain and rebuild our own lives? Do we have a nearby metaphorical forest that we can access for our near-future resources? How do we nurture that ‘forest’? How REALLY do we manage to keep everything going??!
We all know that it’s a top idea to stay physically healthy, to save a bit of money now and again, and maybe to even maintain the critical relationships in our lives. Yet what truly helps us to sustain these practices??!
I’ll ask a very direct question: What’s your forest?
Just love this video. Thank you to Anna in Wellington for posting this to me. She obviously worked out what inspires me about life.
I would just love to see schools everywhere develop similar video concepts. On YouTube, in podcasts, or online anywhere. Just imagine what we could do with all of those wonderful everyday achievements that are created in classrooms.
The music; the art; the academic achievements; the community initiatives. I’ll challenge you to consider the possibilities. Be warned. This is the New Age of inspiration. It’s the energy we all want to see in schools.
This goes for 4 minutes. If you love travel / dancing / life, please please please just watch this. And ponder what we could do in our classrooms!!
What does it mean to really LIVE?? To dance as though nobody’s watching (or maybe, as though everyone’s watching, for that matter??)
I mention this for a very direct reason. The great teachers / facilitators are those who have tasted the joy of life, and have the capacity to somehow share it with others.
I’ve watched several superb teachers in action over the past week or so, and while they each had specific characteristics that contributed to their efforts, they all had one thing in common: Each had a passion for what he / she was offering to the students.
Is it possible to somehow discover this deep passion during the course of your life, or are you perhaps born with it?? You can read thousands of books / articles / blogs about this concept, though it probably comes down to this: It’s what YOU choose to do in the everyday moments of your life.
I love books that challenge me to fully experience this joy of life. These texts do it for me. My shelves are full of them (including one that was written in 1692!).
And out of all of them, here is one of my all-time favourites. And I’ve even read it twice. For someone as time-poor as me, I can tell you that this is a significant effort.
It’s called Awareness. Written by a Jesuit priest called Anthony De Mello A fascinating character, I assure you. Died back in 1987. Yet his thinking was way beyond that of many people then (or perhaps even now). Especially within the Catholic hierarchy, bless their hearts. They essentially banned him, and I can see why. However, he didn’t just challenge only them. He challenged everyone.
In Awareness, he claims that most people are always asleep. They never really wake up to life. They sleep at night, and they sleep during the day.
So how do we wake up? According to de Mello, by developing a profound awareness and understanding of the various aspects of your life.
Just to give you a taste of this guy’s thinking, here are some excerpts from Awareness. Keep in mind that specific quotes such as this will invariably be out of context with the book’s flow of text. However, I still find magic in these words, even when I reread them in isolation.
If you teach some forward-thinking philosophical students, see how they respond to the first quote:
* There’s only one reason you’re not experiencing bliss at this present moment, and it’s because you’re thinking or focusing on what you don’t have.
* When you fight something, you are tied to it forever. As long as you’re fighting it, you are giving it power. You give it as much power as you are using to fight it.
* Negative feelings are in YOU. No person on earth has the power to make you unhappy.
* It’s only when you’re afraid of life that you fear death.
For the past few decades, health authorities around the world have exhorted us to find 30 mins (or more) a day to exercise our bodies. For very good reason. All other things being equal, we’ll each live a longer and more physically satisfying life if we engage in that exercise.
So, what about mental exercise? I would like to see an equally focused effort placed on intellectual exercise from the mental health authorities. In this case, it would involve a mass encouragement for us to stretch our intellect for 30 mins every day. The implications of not doing so are, in many ways, even more profound than the lack of physical exertion.
Now, some would say that their brain already works endlessly throughout the day, and thus it does not need to do anything further. Yet surely that also could be said about the body. Most of us need to walk around for much of the day, yet this hardly constitutes quality exercise.
So, what would worthwhile intellectual exercise really involve??
You could start with the plethora of technology that is presently being marketed around this theme. Lots of online and offline brain exercise devices abound, and some of them thankfully go much further than just moving coloured dots from one place to another. It’s worth having a look at some of them.
If you’re that serious about training your brain, what would be some of the cheaper (and in most cases) more effective ways of intellectually exercising your Self??
Well…let’s see. Reading books that challenge your longheld beliefs. Listening to people who have markedly different viewpoints to you. Studying a topic that is just a little bit beyond your present intellectual grasp. Learning a new language. Developing a different skill. The list is exhaustive.
The Ridiculous Key
However, here’s one of my consummate favourites. Just challenge the status quo, on almost everything. No, make that everything. And here’s a simple process for doing this. I call it the Ridiculous Key.
This is one of my twenty Thinkers Keys. And during my own lessons, it’s often proved to be the one that stretches students’ thinking the most. It works like this.
Make a totally ridiculous statement about some issue. And then set out to demonstrate how it could be done. You need to make the statement as over-the-top and as outlandish as possible. Here are some examples:
All mobile devices (eg cellphones, online mobile laptops) need to be banned during daylight hours. Without exception.
Some justifications:
People would get more creative about sending messages to others eg they’d start using carrier pigeons, they’d actually write love letters on paper, they’d ask someone else to pass the message on, they’d rediscover morse code
An underground movement called Let Us Decide (the LUDs) would build up around the world, protesting about this latest intrusion on privacy, and creating a sense of collaboration never before seen in society
There would be fewer traffic accidents, especially with drivers who previously were not focusing on their driving while talking on their mobile
Not as many people would be injured when walking into lamp-posts while texting someone
Fewer teenagers would go into debt with their mobile phone contract
More people might actually talk with each other in real life
It would allow authorities to fine people who persist in using their mobile devices in the day, and thus boost the funds in the public purse (hopefully to be used for educational expenditure)
Now it’s your turn. What type of justifications could you find for the following Ridiculous statements?
1. All schooling is to be provided online by 2010, without exception.
2. Advertisements on TV must feature in a single full hour from 7pm to 8pm each night. No other ads will be allowed at any time.
3. No one, anywhere in the world, can ever again complain about anything. Instead, every conversation about an issue must focus exclusively on solutions.
I could only dream of pulling this stunt. You have to admire this guy for pulling his Mr Cool act. Even if this was a set-up, it’s worth a look. Just 2 mins. Sit back and get ready for the punchline.
Hi! Many thanks for visiting. The reason for this blog? To offer lots of life and learning perspectives that will help you to make an inspiring difference with your work. Enjoy!
