2 sets of 4 images,

each depicting

how one landscape is never the same

with the floating object representing

the constantly changing perceptions,

with the eye drawn to one place in one instance

and another some other time.

same shit, different smell

a poem written

in an attempt to

fulfill my endless curiosity,

absorb and process information continuously,

create and maintain relationships,

with other humans or nature elements,

all together tied by some visual language.

thought-provoking videos.

hedy schleifer - the power of connection
a video from the beginning of the semester.
i am sure you guys all remember it,
so i won't go into any more detail here.

richard saul wurman - founder of ted lecture at risd
all this video watching business on ted made me remember the lecture at risd with the ted founder.
good stuff in his talk, though its not a complete version.
a lot of people left his talk because they claimed it was about 'nothing in particular'
but really, it's about everything, an approach to life.

"a joke is the opposite of expectation
you expect one thing and the punch line gives you the other
and opposite of expectation makes us laugh
a lot of innovation is the opposite of expectation,
it's the opposite of what is going on
and so, the creation and structure of a joke, humor
is very much like invention,
of doing things maybe perhaps the opposite way...
we should be measured by the SOH [sense of humor] test,
and the people who didn't pass it couldn't laugh about it"

and

"we are really collectively stupid.
we know nothing.
and it is only by that acceptance of our ignorance,
of our 0 place when we begin something,
it's only by that real nothingness of knowing and understanding
what it's like not to understand
that you can actually do something."

chris jordan - ted talk on western culture statistics
a visual language used by an artist to show statistics on a human scale,
something you can relate to,
rather than just numbers.

Nature Poetry

Here are some Haikus I wrote about the trip and the pictures they are a part of. Many of these relate to Icelanders or the course, or my experience to the course, or the Icelandic landscape. I'm not going to explain them though, they are up for you own interpertation, but know that while you can interperate the inner meaning in any way you would like, they all relate to the Icelandic landscape as well and some form of appreciation of that. Enjoy.

Dusty Reed

Education: Science, Sustainability, & Synergy

                During my time in the CELL Iceland program, I have been exposed to a number of tactics for environmental protection and sustainability that are socially-based, politically-based, and even ideologically-based.  This exposure has broadened my perspective on how to address global climate change and made me realize that a multifaceted solution is the best solution.  However, I still maintain that expanding and improving science education is one of the most important ways to countenance what is likely inevitable ecological disaster.

                Education in the STEM fields is not simply about learning facts and memorizing formulae.  My most significant learning from my engineering education has been critical thinking: how to methodically approach a problem, how to break it into manageable pieces, and perhaps most importantly, the necessity of holding oneself accountable.  If all students understood that they were responsible for how our society, our environment, and our economy functioned, perhaps the problems we face today could be avoided for future generations... not because we need more advanced technology to solve the world’s problems, but because we need more individuals who can think reasonably, who will come to conclusions based on their own logic and not based upon partisanship or what someone else tells them.

                The experience that most incited my passion and enthusiasm here was meeting Kristín Vala, the Dean of Engineering and Natural Sciences at the University of Iceland.  I always considered myself a strong supporter of education in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields, but hearing Kristín speak about the immense power of education, and the specific ways in which education should change to address sustainability, awoke in me an intense desire to be part of this solution.

                Kristín outlined three manners of education incorporating sustainability:

Education about Sustainability

Kristín explained this system as multidisciplinary, but disjointed.  Courses provide key knowledge, such as awareness about global environmental and social problems.  Key skills include impact assessment methods, environmental law, environmental management, while key competencies are awareness of problems and concern for the future.  However, there is little to tie these components together and form a cohesive education.  While more and more universities are adding sustainability to their curriculum, most are still at this more elementary stage.

Education for Sustainability

This curriculum is interdisciplinary, but still isolated to within an institution.  Work is done on projects to analyze problems and design solutions that balance economic, social, and environmental considerations.  The key knowledge taught is how to address the specific problem and field of study, with the key skills being problem analysis, assessment, and development of integrated solutions.  Key competencies are collaboration, project management, and reflection on one’s own learning.

Education as Sustainability

Finally, Kristín presented this system as the most integrated, beneficial way to address sustainability in education.  Here, the education is trans-disciplinary and actively involves the stakeholders.  Students question, contextualize, and negotiate sustainability by interacting with other communities.  The key knowledge developed is an understanding of the complexity and context-dependency of sustainability.  Key skills are critical thinking, citizenship, intercultural communication, argumentation, dialogue, and networking.  The key competencies in this system are holistic; the focus is upon developing the capacity to transfer learned abilities to other projects.

                This idea of approaching sustainability education as an integrated process, and not as simply a thin layer to be added to the surface of every curriculum, was fascinating to me.  The disconnected state of many engineering and science courses of study could be ameliorated by regarding these curricula as “education as sustainability.”  For example, I took a course in Renewable Energy Systems my sophomore year in which homework assignments were to design PV arrays or micro hydro power systems for an imaginary client with often arbitrary needs.  What if, instead of attempting to learn skills without experiencing that give-and-take of problem solving for a specific use, we had actually met a local farmer trying to install a wind turbine on his or her farm, heard the challenges he or she faced trying to transition to a more sustainable lifestyle, and received feedback from him or her on our final recommendations?  This would be a more comprehensive, and ultimately beneficial, system of engineering education.  Albeit clichéd, the concept of “synergy” in education strikes me: instead of simply taking classes in different subjects, there should be increased emphasis on pulling these ideas together, to take the disjointed parts and make something more powerful as a whole.

                Aside from a more integrated, application-based engineering curriculum, a greater emphasis on science for all students is necessary.  Not everyone has the desire to become a scientist or engineer, and we are need individuals to fill every niche in our communities; however, this should not exempt a segment of society from learning the problem-solving capabilities developed through science, technology, engineering, and math.  My grandfather, a professor of physics at the University of Rochester, has been one of the greatest inspirations to me as I pursue a career in academia.  Aside from sharing his knowledge and wisdom with future generations of physicists, he also taught a course he called “Physics for Poets.”  The aim was to make physics accessible to anyone who walked in to the classroom.  Although my grandpa passed away long before I decided I wanted to become a professor, even long before I decided to pursue engineering or math or science, the knowledge that he was able to live a fulfilling life and productive research career while having such a broad impact on science education reinforces my desire to do the same.

                It may sound strange, but I believe the most significant thing I have gained here is Sólheimar is simply a deeper understanding of learning.  Coming from an institution with 14,000 undergraduates and an engineering curriculum that treated everyone as if they were the same, I believed that education was simply one-size-fits-all; while the system worked for me, I did not stop to consider that it did not work for everyone.  Here in Iceland, interacting with such a diverse group of students with such diverse learning styles, I have discovered the vast array of previously untouched opportunities available in the educational process.  I leave Sólheimar eager to learn more.

                                                                                                                    Tracy Mandel

Global Climate Modeling

The following is an attempt to synthesize new learning with old, to form a more comprehensive understanding of climate modeling.  I have tried to present it in a way that makes it accessible to most... and hopefully it is generally legible!

Reflections on Coal

                Before this course I knew that there were a lot of different things that were threatening the environment, but I believed that the number one thing that needed to stop right now was coal burning. Then I came here and we focused on agriculture, transportation and oil, all of these different things, and coal faded to the back of my consciousness quickly. I was so focused on all these other things we were learning about in the world that were also evil that I forgot about my enemy. This is what coal does; it fades into the background and provides you with electricity while you freak out about oil. It’s crafty like that. Then the other day people were talking about what they wrote their essays to get into this course on and they said things like perceptions were the most prominent climate issue in their minds; those vague, hard to grasp issues that you can be super upset about, but no one is going to call you a hypocrite if you don’t do anything about it. That’s when I remembered; I remembered that I had written a quite heated essay about coal, I remembered the facts about how an electric car that runs on coal power is only 10% cleaner than a petroleum car. I remembered that while coal is a very dirty fossil fuel, it still provides power to over 50% of Americans. I remembered all this and yet the emotion did not re-manifest itself. I remembered feeling those emotions against coal, but they were no longer there. They were off being pre-occupied by all of these other things; the mining of rare earth metals, industrial agriculture, airplane emissions, how stubborn people are about making change. My emotions had their own fights to fight and I just kept piling on all these new enemies every day, they couldn’t be bothered with an enemy that they had already fought with. They were busy. Then I took a step back with these new re-memories; let the environment fend for itself for just a nanosecond. That’s when what I had forgotten about crept back in. I was still holding those other attacks at bay, but not actively fighting them and coal drifted back in a haze of smog, settling between all of these other new environmental enemies, the emotions were back. Not back in the hard shimmering black lump they had been, but back none the less. I could no longer just hack at it endlessly without actually making any progress. It was taking cover amongst the other enemies. I don’t want to forget again. I can no longer take all of my energy out on coal, and I realize that one solution without others is not more than minutely productive. All of these things have to be attacked at once; though I do not have to give up focus to get overrun by them all. To the contrary, I can gather my armies of bike riding, CSA-eating eco-warriors and we can all work together to fight them all. I can work just a little harder to track down and root out my enemy number one; whatever that ends up being. It could be coal, or something else, I just need to keep them all at arm’s length for a brief moment while I gather my armies and choose one.

Dusty Reed