Class Log February 24th

Headline News from Class Log:  E-mail Dr. H or Robyn with top 3 choices for work assignment groups by noon February 25th.

Work Assignment Groups, with number of students needed for each

~ 2 electricity & cooling
~ 3 heating
~ 1 solid waste
~ 1 refrigerants & other chemicals
~ 2 offsets
~ 6 transportation (with survey focus divided as follows)
- 2 will learn Qualtrics
- 2 write/revise questions
- 2 research/ blog review
All 6 work on PR/possible incentives, etc,; decisions about who will handle transportation research beyond the survey will be decided within the group of six.

Other Notes on the Survey

~ We will be giving copies of the survey draft to review to the architects working on the Campus Master Plan, and also to the Clean Commute Initiative, and to the Parking-Transportation ad hoc committee.
~ Survey will close at end of week before Spring Break
- Going live on the March 15th
- Testing the survey the weekend before the 15th with Qualtrics.
- Draft of questions by March 1st (Monday), Review on March 3rd.
Dr. H introduced the opportunity for two students to write and edit the final report with Dr. Jim Boulter, Dr. Kim Pierson and Dr. H this summer.  If you are interested, E-mail Dr. H ASAP.

Class Log 2/15/2010

Dr. Jim Phillips visited our class today. He reviewed concepts from basic chemistry:

-Chemical Equations: Hydrocarbon Combustion
-Dimensional Analysis (Conversion factors)
-Chemical Mass Balance

He also provided on-the-spot chemical mass balancing exercises (with hydrocarbons and their respective equations) and dimensional analysis conversions for students to try out.

**On Wednesday students will account for what happens when they add energy into the hydrocarbon combustion equation. After this is completed, Dr. Phillips will teach students how to calculate their own individual basic carbon inventories using the following information (don't forget to bring this info to class!):

(1) utility bill
(2) estimate of miles driven/taken by bus
(3) estimate of caloric intake in a day.

Class Log 2/10/2010

Is it possible for someone to be connected to a place and not feel a responsibility towards it and the surrounding world? We began today's discussion by reading from Kolbert, page 60, and discussing how little people in America today tend to notice the world around them. There are certainly exceptions, such as the Citizen Science Center at Beaver Creek Reserve, but the spread of cities has made it really difficult for people to make connections with specific places, as has been common at other times and places.

From there, we dove into the transportation section of 2008 CNT report.

Class Log (2/1/2010)

Today we discussed the Preface and Chapter 1 of Elizabeth Kolbert's book Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change.

We began by discussing the preface, which dealt with Kolbert's experience at the Hotel Arctic, overlooking the flow of icebergs just off the coast of Greenland. To the average American tourist, this sight is incredible. To the European or scientist, this is a scary sight. The Jakobshavn Isbræ is moving at incredible speeds. One of the many illustrations of how global climate change is affecting the environment.

From the beginning passage, the reader understands that the book has a purpose. Kolbert carefully chooses language she writes in order to set up an engaging narrative for the reader. The places and people she writes about could have been anyone from anywhere, regardless the story remains the same: we are on the brink of a turning point in human history where we are beginning to see noticeable changes. All of these different places are just snapshots of the entire story. The idea is alluded to that though humanity can easily cross the threshold, crossing back is nearly impossible. There is a parallel to be drawn to our class as well. We are going for a journey with the scientists and other people around campus to piece together the story at Eau Claire.