Mar 27 2012
*Note: Since I forgot to ask for a scribe, this is a guest post by EvanR from last year from a similar lesson. A nice, concise post with links to more info. It is based on this 12 minute video about one of the first voyages to document the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Some scientists [...]
Feb 12 2012
If you missed Friday, we discussed the “next” industrial revolution. Did you know it was underway? The last industrial revolution gave us the linear material flow economy-the one we diagrammed earlier in the week. While recycling programs do reduce some waste disposal and some extraction, they focus on the “downstream” end of that flow (waste [...]
Feb 12 2012
In class on Thursday, February 9th, we had a debate on whether recycling was worth the trouble. Everyone in class was assigned to a team, either pro-recycling or anti-recycling (regardless of their actual opinion). There were 2 articles from which the teams got their information, “Recycling Is Garbage” (New York Times) is anti-recycling and “Anti-Recycling [...]
Feb 09 2012
In class on Wednesday, February 8, we discussed the Material Flow Economy, or, as our textbook calls it, “the waste stream.” Basically, the material flow economy talks about how goods are produced and where they eventually end up (this model began with the Industrial Revolution). In other words, products that consumers buy and use move [...]
Feb 08 2012
In class Tuesday, we discussed the generation of waste in the world and where we put that waste. We learned very quickly that there is no such thing as throwing something completely “away” but that the waste we expend becomes someone elses problem. Let’s start with the basics. EPA data from 2009 estimates that there [...]
Oct 25 2011
One of the parents that organized the recent Global Day just shared this with me. I thought it fit to share with you guys since we have been learning about ocean currents this unit. The clockwise flow of the gyre in the north pacific is driving debris from the Japanese tsunami towards our west coast… [...]
