Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Let's help Marisa with her senior project:  Take this survey!

 Starter:  Edward Abbey short film

WORK TIME:  

Monday, April 13, 2015

Starter: Pair share Journal #8.  After reading your partner's entry, try to identify how they are characterizing their relationship with place.  Have a brief discussion about your project ideas thus far for your own sense of place essay.

Goals for Today

  • Understand the four elements of nature writing
  • Define (and practice!) the "Grand Style" of rhetoric
  • Critique Edward Abbey's personal place essays for the elements of Nature Writing

1. Nature Writing Lesson and Examples

2.  INSPIRATION JOURNAL #9:
Call this entry "The Grand Style"
Write a passage to describe your place (or any place) using the Grand Style.
"Strike the Senses!"  Sensory Images!!  Figurative Language!! Rich Details!!

3. Assignment for today and tomorrow:
Edward Abbey's Personal Non-Fiction Essays
Here is an optional template for organizing your notes for parts 2 and 3.
My advice is to try to get done with the readings and Part 1 (annotation) today and tonight to buy yourself time to start drafting your essay tomorrow after doing Parts 2 and 3 with a partner.  Does this mean you might have HOMEWORK?  Your choice.  Assignment due at midnight tomorrow.


Friday, April 10, 2015

Goals for today:  
  • Familiarize yourself with some frameworks of "sense of place" as characterized by relationships to place and community attachments. 
  • See how others establish their sense of place.
  • Begin to generate ideas for your sense of place essay


1. Categories of Sense of Place: Relationships to Place and Community Attachments

  • Starter:  Read through the categories.  Circle at least one of each that resonates with you in terms of your sense of place.

2. Sense of Place Essays from Orion Magazine


TOGETHER:  Read "Traverse City, MI" 
  • PAIR SHARE:  Which of the categories of sense of place seem to apply here?  What sort of relationship to the place does the author have?  How would you characterize is his community attachment?  
READ AT LEAST 3 OF THE ESSAYS ON orionmagazine.org, asking the same questions of each.  Think about how the authors establishes sense of place in ways that are personal and authentic.  Each has his or her own style and distinct connection to place.

INSPIRATION JOURNAL #7:  “ORION ESSAYS”
Note your connections and observations in your journal.  For each of the three essays you read, quote the text where you see these elements.  (Label the entry "Orion Essays" and indicate which essay you read.)
  • Which of the categories of sense of place seem to apply here?  
  • What sort of relationship to the place does the author have?  
  • How would you characterize his/her community attachment?  
  • Does the author reveal his/her environmental ethic?  

Suggested reads:
Oakland, CA


INSPIRATION JOURNAL #8:  "My Place"
Name the journal entry after a place, such as in the titles of the Orion essays, i.e. “Weminuche Wilderness” (rather than “My Place”).  This can be an expansion of yesterday's freewrite.  Write about that place with details that attempt establish your connection to that place.


Pair share journal entry.  After reading your partner's entry, try to identify how they are characterizing their relationship with place.  Have a brief discussion about your project ideas thus far for your own sense of place essay.



WORK TIME:  Work on Inspiration Journals #7 and #8

There will be a robust amount of Edward Abbey to read next week.  If you want to work ahead and begin to peruse the readings, here they are:
Freedom and Wilderness, Wilderness and Freedom
Excerpts from Desert Solitaire



Thursday, April 9, 2015

Thursday, April 9


Goals for today:  
  • Define SENSE OF PLACE 
  • Familiarize yourself with some frameworks of "sense of place" as characterized by relationships to place and community attachments. 
  • See how others establish their sense of place.
  • Begin to generate ideas for your sense of place essay

BEGIN THINKING ABOUT WHICH PLACE YOU MAY WANT TO CENTER YOUR PROJECT ON!


"A sense of place is the sixth sense, an internal compass and map made by memory and spatial perception together.” —Rebecca Solnit




3. Welcome, Ashley!!



Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Today's Goals:

  • Understand a broader context of nuclear power and continue to develop your views on mutation and how humans should respond to "mutating ecologies "
  • Understand innovation as an ethic
  • Practice writing descriptively about images


Agenda
1. Starter:  Artistic Response to Energy "1945-1998"

2. Continue Part 1: Nuclear and Mutation lesson

  • Do you have anything to add to your journal "Reaction to Nuclear"?

Part 2:  Mutation and Innovation

  • Do we have an ethical obligation to innovate?


3. Inspiration Journal Assignment &  Inspiration Journal Rubric

4. Journal #6: "Writing Visually"
Link to images to inspire the activity


Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Announcements
  • Did you turn in Activities 1-3 on Friday?
  • Did you turn in your  NAS project writing?
  • Email Jessica your Town Hall Debate Prep Notes (@BOC for full credit!)

Today's Goal:
Evaluate the reasons for or against uranium mining in Naturita based on your assigned interest group

Starter
Watch these 2 two-minute videos about Nuclear Power, how it works and risks of it

Agenda
1. Get into your assigned interest group and prepare for the  Town Hall Meeting on the Pinon Ridge Mill (see below for revised links!)
2. Town Hall Meeting!
Town Hall Committees:
·         Mothers and Wives Concerned For Their Children and Husbands’ Health
o   Lacey
o   Rowan
o   Cameron
o   Charles
o   Samantha S.
o   Daniel
·         Industry Reps and Safety Inspectors from Fuel Energy
o   Turco
o   Lia
o   Noah
o   Becca
o   Vivi
o   Chris
·         Telluride Residents (NIMBY!) and Local Environmentalists
o   Cameron
o   Samantha D.
o   Hayden
o   Sonya
o   Alicia
o   Lyle 
·         Local miners in Naturita (Economic boom incentives)
o   Ellen
o   Lawson
o   Bryce
o   Bekah
o   Max
o   Ellie

3. Nuclear Power and Mutations Powerpoint

4. Journal #5:  What is your own personal view of uranium mining and nuclear power?  How do you see nuclear playing a role in our energy future?
Better Links for Town Hall Debate Prep (Activity 4):
§  Watch the film trailer to Uranium Drive-In and read the film summary to the right of the video on this website : http://uraniumdrivein.com/ 

 §  Check out some Google Images of Uranium Mills


§  Energy Fuels Website: The old company that owned the mill

·         This is the website for Energy Fuel, the nuclear power development company in charge of building and running uranium mills


·         ***Use this sub-link particular to find out about another Uranium mine in Blanding Utah that is similar to proposed Pinonridgemill
http://www.energyfuels.com/white_mesa_mill/

·         Use this link for more specifics on history of and uses of Uranium

§  http://www.examiner.com/article/pinon-ridge-uranium-mill-one-step-closer-to-special-use-permit

·         This article summarizes a town meeting in 2009 to hear from opponents and proponents to the mill.  It summarizes pros and cons.

§  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/28/fukushima-cancer-rates-risks_n_2779729.html 

·         This article discusses the cancer risks after the Fukishima nuclear power plant explosion

§  http://www.hcn.org/wotr/a-uranium-mill-makes-no-sense-in-western-colorado

·         This is an article in High Country News by a Telluride resident who argues against the mill.

§  Optional: Colorado Government Report on Health Risks of the Pinon Ridge Mill
  • Health and Safety Measures for the Mill taken by the company as stated by Energy Fuels:
Numerous safety systems will be present in the Piñon Ridge Mill to protect workers from being exposed to excess levels of radiation. Area air monitors will be located throughout the Piñon Ridge Mill to monitor the concentrations of uranium dust in the mill. Workers involved in potentially dusty operations will wear breathing-zone air monitors to monitor the air that they breathe. For those workers exposed to higher concentrations of uranium dust, urine samples will be collected and analyzed to determine the total uranium that has been inhaled and ingested. In addition those workers exposed to the highest levels of gamma radiation will wear gamma-monitoring badges, similar to what x-ray technicians and airline screeners wear. Other protections include regular power washing of equipment and vehicles, monitoring of the amount of time a worker is exposed to radiation, and general housekeeping and personal hygiene.

Working in the Piñon Ridge Mill will be no more dangerous than working in any other industrial facility.
Some Additional Benefits of Nuclear Power according to Energy Fuel (The Company)

  • Nuclear power - like wind, hydro and solar energy - can generate electricity with no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions. The critical difference is that nuclear energy is the only proven option with the capacity to produce vastly expanded supplies of clean electricity on a global scale.
  • The United States currently derives 20% of its electricity from nuclear technology. This makes the United States the biggest producer of nuclear power in the world. Interestingly, the United States currently imports 90% of its nuclear fuel from other countries. Therefore, the United States is in danger of falling into the same “dependence trap” we have with oil.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Week of March 30-April 3

Starter:  Walk and talk.  How was LINK and Spring Break? Share highlights!  Shake it off!


 This Week's Goals: 

  • Reintegrate into the atmosphere
  • Understand the basic elements of the "Energy and Place"project
  • Explore the question: How does energy production impact place?


1. Energy and Place Project Overview 

  • Questions?

2. Self-Guided Learning Assignment:  Energy and Place Activity List
  • Essential Question: How does energy production impact place?


RESOURCES AND LINKS FOR ACTIVITY LIST:
If you are using a paper version of the activity list, here are the links you will need to the materials. There are paper versions of readings available as well.

 Bakken Business
1. Videos
Short Film about the Bakken
 2 minute video on benefits of fracking
2 minute video on risks of fracking
2. Reading: "Bakken Business"

Environmental Justice and NIMBYism

TEXT #2:  CancerAlley Trailer 

TEXT #3:  “The environment is where we live”
(You don’t have to read the whole thing- just 4 pages of the PRINTED version or through the first paragraph of page 3 on the online version, which starts with “Here in Mountain View” and ends with “A new assortment of individuals became dedicated to pursuing environmental justice here”.  You are, of course, welcome to read the whole thing.) 

TEXT #4:  NIMBYISM AND RENEWABLES
                                                                                                                        


Pinon Ridge Uranium Mine Town Hall Debate
Links to Readings
§  Watch the film trailer to Uranium Drive-In and read the film summary to the right of the video on this website : http://uraniumdrivein.com/

§  Check out some Google Images of Uranium Mills

§  http://pinonridgemill.com/
·         This is the website for Energy Fuel, the nuclear power development company in charge of building and running the proposed mill.

·         ***Use this sub-link particular to figure out how health risks will be controlled:
http://pinonridgemill.com/operations.html
§  http://www.examiner.com/article/pinon-ridge-uranium-mill-one-step-closer-to-special-use-permit
·         This article summarizes a town meeting in 2009 to hear from opponents and proponents to the mill.  It summarizes pros and cons.

§  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/28/fukushima-cancer-rates-risks_n_2779729.html  
·         This article discusses the cancer risks after the Fukishima nuclear power plant explosion

§  http://www.hcn.org/wotr/a-uranium-mill-makes-no-sense-in-western-colorado
·         This is an article in High Country News by a Telluride resident who argues against the mill.

§  Optional: Colorado Government Report on Health Risks of the Pinon Ridge Mill
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