Part I: "What Is Our children Learning" from local politics? I recently led an hour discussion for a class of 7th and 8th grade students at Barton School on "Ecological Economics." The session went very well, and I was invited back to lead a discussion for a 7th-8th grade science class on "Ecological Energy Economics." These questions relate to the notion of spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a stadium versus sustainable transportation and bioregional food and energy production.
Essential first questions: What will life be like here in ten, twenty, or thirty years? How much energy will be available to use? How will we get that energy? Will our neighborhoods look the same?..... transportation? Will we get our food as we do now? What will the effects of accumulating pollution be on our health, economy, and way of life? Will our world be more violent and volatile or more peaceful and stable? How do we prepare for the future? By 2030 we will probably only be able to make as much energy per capita (globally) as we did in 1930. In 1930 there were far fewer people, and many people were on or close to the farm. With over 8 billion people on the planet, mostly far from food production, the population bloom created by our naive use of fossil fuel will largely "die off" due to resource depletion, let alone the violence related to "resource wars." Volatile climate change (and numerous other changes) associated with global warming already set in motion, and various human health issues caused by dramatically increasing, accumulating pollution. What is a likely scenario for Minneapolis? Can we plan for the future? Industrial agriculture is "the use of land to turn petroleum into food." Where will we get our food? How do we gather, evaluate, and formulate plans based on scientific data and analysis? Is it possible to understand ecological feedback loops, so that we minimize the negative impacts (and maximize the positive impacts) of our actions for us and future generations? Do our cultural institutions mediate an accurate picture of our place in the world? What is the impact of distortions caused by economic or political self-interest? I had some good conversations with the 7th and 8th graders. We ended both classes with a look at my pedicab and some rides. The students seem to be very aware that we are presently engaged in resource wars to support our current energy-intensive culture. As they look at the way we adults continue to deny this reality at every level of politics and lifestyle, they are learning. They are learning to intoxicate themselves with dis-infotain-ment and drugs on the one hand, and they are learning that we adults may fetishize our families, but we don't really love them. We are pleased to burden our children with terrible economic debt. We are pleased to build more energy-intensive structures for our entertainment while we refuse to invest in sustainable infrastructure. We are pleased to leave our children in a more volatile, violent world whose people are increasingly enraged at our bloated, death-dealing lifestyle. What do you think our children are learning from the way we ignore real issues and piss away our precious time and resources on a baseball stadium? Why do you think so many children despair? "Is our children learning?" -- pedaling for peace and ecojustice -- from Lynnhurst for now -- Gary Hoover REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
