Hard Lessons

I worked as a substitute science teacher several days this month experiencing the full spectrum from hospitable to hostile environments. I went to two public middle schools, let’s call them schools C and F with ratings in GreatSchools.org for school C scoring 7/10 and school F scoring 3/10. These summary ratings are based on “four ratings, each of which is designed to show different facets of school success: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating.”

For background, I've taught as a substitute teacher at several schools including in New Mexico, Colorado and beginning in March 2022 in North Carolina for WCPSS. I've taught approximately 35 school days in the Apex and Cary areas consisting of 27 assignments in middle schools and 8 assignments in high schools with my focus on math and science although I've also worked in other classes including special education.

Substitute teaching at school C, ten days so far, is consistently awesome. The administrators, teachers, and staff are friendly, helpful, supportive, and great educators. Four science classes per day with 25 to 30 students per class; some classes are quiet and some are very noisy. The students are mostly cheerful, making an effort to learn, and respectful. However, the resources are very scarce and are mostly provided by the teachers for their classroom.

When an eighth grade student asked me “How do fossils form?" I described the process but needed props. I didn’t see any rocks or fossils to show; so improvising, I found an old CD-ROM that could represent a fossil (see photo). Imagine the thick, red science textbook as a slab of billion year old granite basement rock. Over time, rocks erode, rivers and lakes form. A green paper plate represents a lake with mud on the bottom. The animal, disguised as a CD-ROM, is roaming around the area and falls into the lake eventually getting buried in mud. Only the hard bony parts survive and calcium gets replaced by silica contained in the groundwater turning the bone into a fossil. Then the lake gets buried in sand, dries up and sedimentary rocks form on top, each page of the book representing a rock layer. Maybe the buried fossil parts are found later in an outcrop, road cut, or in drill rig cuttings. We discussed other ways fossils form and it would be great to show real samples of a preserved insect in amber or a piece of an intact wooly mammoth that fell into an icy lake.

This is one example of creative, spontaneous lessons that keeps substitute teaching fun. We did a class review of landforms and geology before they took a test which the teacher assigned and I later found out the classes did very well; I also learned that I should be very selective as to where I go to substitute teach.

At school F…

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Dr. Mahmoud Sherif

Why does the United States attract millions of international students? America offers some of the best educational and research opportunities attracting students from around the world. About half of doctoral degrees are earned by international students according to the Center for Immigration Studies. For high-tech STEM fields the percentages are higher. The most prestigious award is the Nobel Prize - can you guess how many recipients came to America from other countries? The numbers are staggering:

“Immigrants account for approximately 35% of U.S.-affiliated academic Nobel Laureates, reflecting their critical role in driving American excellence in research and innovation. Approximately 44% of immigrant Nobel Laureates in academic disciplines attended U.S. institutions for their highest educational degree.” (Institute for Immigration Research)

Who knows among us today who will be the next Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, or Nikola Tesla? International students coming to study and work in America are essential resources that we must respect and support with the hope that they can stay and continue to support American innovation.

I’m very grateful to be a colleague and friend of Dr. Mahmoud Sherif who now lives and works at the Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee. He earned a Ph.D. at the University of Delaware in geochemistry and is originally from Cairo, Egypt. Here’s a link to his LinkedIn profile.

I learned about his exceptional work in 2019 when I supported the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the occurrence and treatment of naturally-occurring radioactivity in Middle Eastern - Northern African groundwaters. If you’re interested in these efforts, please see my three related blogs describing trips to Jordan in 2018, Saudi Arabia in 2019, and the IAEA headquarters in Austria in 2020. For the Jordan trip, I gave this slide presentation to the 9th International Symposium on Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material.

Specific to the research that Mahmoud performed, here’s a great article from the University of Delaware’s UDaily in 2016 stating: “doctoral student Mahmoud Sherif is studying the origin and distribution of natural radioactivity in the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System in Egypt.”

More recently, Mahmoud and I supported the IAEA with examining geochemical data from Northern Africa to address concerns about radioactive groundwater and he took the lead on preparing the technical report.

Currently at FSU, he’s working for the National MagLab’s Center for Rare Earths, Critical Minerals, and Industrial Byproducts where the largest, high powered magnet in the world is located. Mahmoud is working in the field of gamma spectrometry to measure radiation from natural and engineered materials.

Mahmoud wrote to me this week and said, “I am currently working in the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory as a postdoc. I have established a very good gamma spec laboratory here. I am also helping establish a gamma spec unit in other places in the USA.”

I look forward to staying in contact with Mahmoud on all his vital research and academic adventures!

8th Grade Science Sub

Yesterday, I taught four science classes to approximately 100 eighth grade students at East Cary Magnet Middle School. The mission of the school is to be a Center for Global Studies and World Languages and motto is Unity Through Diversity. As school year just began last week and the teacher needed to attend a training, the students are getting an introduction (or reminders) on topics including laboratory safety, definitions including density and buoyancy, and the scientific method.

I didn’t expect the homeroom and “Global Scholar time” students to continue staying for the core 1 science class lasting a total of two hours! The students didn’t have much independent homework or class work to do so we had lots of time to share stories and compare interests. Many students shared they like sports, dancing, music and computer games. Given the mission of the school, I asked what languages they speak and some of the responses included: English, Spanish, German, Japanese, French, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, Mandarin, and Tagalog. Luckily for me, all the students are fluent in English. I said they are also learning to speak Science and to consider it like a foreign language that they need to learn the lingo and start with the definitions.

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Dinotext

This past Thursday I serendipitously worked as a substitute teacher at Apex Friendship High School. This winter waking up early on cold mornings became more difficult so normally I’ve been lazily sleeping past 7 am. Perhaps my dog was barking Thursday morning so I woke up around 5 am and spent the first hour chanting 1108 names of the Divine Mother. Then I felt a strong urge to check the Wake County Public School System jobs listing. There’s a critical need for substitute teachers and I noticed about 20 job openings for that day on just the narrow list of schools in my area. A day of “subbing” pays between $120 to $135 depending on qualifications.

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Coder Dojo

I met the CoderDojo team at the Earth Day celebration in Apex, NC. According to their website:

“CoderDojoApex NC is a volunteer-led digital making and coding club with a mission to inspire children to learn, make and express with technology. We meet every Saturday from 10:30a-12:30pm ET(regular session). We welcome children from ages 7-17 years old and all levels of coding experience from beginner to advanced. Attending a session is free of charge, however signup is necessary. Register on the CoderDojo website to reserve your tickets and become a member of this community.”

Initially my wife and I got excited to learn about the CoderDojoApex group for our son to improve his computer programming skills as well as my sharing the opportunity with kids I meet as a substitute teacher at the public schools. When I heard they are currently creating projects on environmental sustainability I got even more thrilled and they asked me to judge the presentations held last Saturday! Our son is still on a baseball team so we hope he will get involved later this summer.

Group presentations of sustainability projects were judged based on factors created by the organizers for Coolness, Complexity, Presentation, Design and Usability.

Six groups of three or four children presented their projects that they had worked on for over a month. Some groups presented posters, PowerPoint slides, and many wrote Scratch programs. Topics included finding ways to improve growing food at home, sharing information to reduce fossil fuel consumption, protecting wildlife, conserving water, reducing plastic pollution, and preventing forest fires. The winning team programmed soil moisture sensors to water plants using Arduino and they came up with a great title and presentation: “SPLP Sustainable Planting for Lazy People!”

I also liked many of the Scratch games that the students created. The group from Kenya created a game to promote awareness for saving White Rhinos from illegal ivory poaching.

When I see the enthusiasm, concern, creativity, and willingness to sincerely address world problems and create positive outcomes gives me great hope for the future of humanity. For more on the #CoolestProjects Jam event and future events check them out on Facebook!

Empowering Moms to Lead!

Celebrating Mother’s Day 2020!

Trust Our Moms to Take Control

Let Them Drive and Tell Us Where to Go.

They Know Love Without Condition

Let’s Vote for Moms Who Are the Real Pros!

Moms Brought Us Into This World

Moms Nursed Us When We Were Young.

They Healed Us Back to Health

Their Love Gave Us the Greatest Wealth!

Moms Showed Us How to Cook and Clean

Taught Us How to Dress to Impress.

Moms Pay the Bills to Make Ends Meet

Taught Us to Read and Write for Us to Progress!

All Moms Deserve More Recognition

Including Last Names Adams, Curie, Gandhi, Gates and King

Remember Abigail, Marie, Indira, Mary Maxwell and Alberta

Treasuring Moms Makes Our Hearts Sing!

Moms Are Teachers and Heads of School

Mom’s A Governors and Also A Wife.

Moms Build Gardens And Write Poetry

We are So Grateful to our Moms for Life!

5th Grader Memories of the Praying Mantis

I frequently support the local charter school as a substitute teacher for grades 2-12 including the 5th grade. We see Praying Mantis insects around Grand Junction and a 5th grader told me they are weird and fast.

When I was in 5th grade over 50 years ago, I thought the Praying Mantis was a very cool, religious insect. We saw many of these insects in the fields around our school. I recall asking the teacher what do they pray for? She said the females like to eat the males so it depended on which sex was doing the praying!

For more interesting facts about the Praying Mantis, see the ThoughtCo. website.

Learning from Where You Live - Join the Conversation!

This past week many visitors to this blog are coming from Hebei, China (located southwest of Beijing) and across India. Seeing where readers live takes me on a journey to wonder if things are getting better or worse? I found a 2017 article in Forbes comparing environmental issues in India and China with India leading the world in deaths from air pollution while China’s policies are working to improve air quality. Here’s an excerpt:

“In 2015, 1.81 million or 28% of the 6.5 million air-pollution-linked deaths worldwide occurred in India. China saw 1.58 million deaths. The report illustrated that globally, air pollution accounts for twice the number of deaths than those linked to AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, and for nearly 15 times as many deaths as war and all forms of violence. The majority of air pollution-linked deaths are due to non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, respiratory tract diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer.”

“The study found that nearly 92% of pollution-related deaths occur in low and middle-income countries. Children face the highest risks because small exposures to chemicals even during pregnancy and in early childhood can result in lifelong disease, disability, premature death, as well as reduced learning and earning potential.”

A 2018 article in the New York Times states China made great improvements to reducing air pollution smog and particles in just four years:

“Although most regions outpaced their targets, the most populated cities had some of the greatest declines. Beijing’s readings on concentrations of fine particulates declined by 35 percent; Hebei Province’s capital city, Shijiazhuang, cut its concentration by 39 percent; and Baoding, called China’s most polluted city in 2015, reduced its concentration by 38 percent.”

“Of course, air pollution levels still exceed China’s own standards and far surpass World Health Organization recommendations for what is considered safe. Bringing all of China into compliance with its own standards would increase average life expectancies by an additional 1.7 years (as measured in the areas where data is available). Complying with the stricter World Health Organization standards instead would yield 4.1 years.”

If you would like to join the conversation, please post a comment or send an email to info@conserve-prosper.com

February 2nd Groundhog's Weather Prediction Accuracy

Today, quite unusually,, Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow predicting an early spring! The Pennsylvania groundhog’s family has been making these predictions for 133 years! When our son was young we learned to sing the song to remember this event:

I’m a Little Groundhog, short and stout.

February 2nd I come out!

If I see my shadow, they will shout,

Six more weeks of winter no doubt!

It’s a fun song for kids and might stimulate their imagination for animal instincts and nature. Also, for the whole family the Bill Murray-Andie MacDowell 1993 movie repeatedly is a fan favorite!

But for rational adults, how accurate are Phil’s predictions as compared to actual temperature results?

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is part of the Department of Commerce which includes the National Weather Service. Not only do they provide life-saving, super critical data for all of us everyday, they’ve also compared Phil’s historic predictions to actual temperatures! Here’s some groundhog history:

“Groundhog Day originates from an ancient celebration of the midway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox—the day right in the middle of astronomical winter. According to superstition, sunny skies that day signify a stormy and cold second half of winter while cloudy skies indicate the arrival of warm weather. “

Surprisingly, Phil’s saw his shadow to predict longer winters 104 years and did not see his shadow to predict early spring 18 years. In the past 10 years, Phil’s been correct only 40% of the time but that is like batting .400!

The Children's Fight for Sustainability: Jesus said The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth

In the United States, two groups, Our Children’s Trust and Earth Guardians, filed a lawsuit against the federal government in 2015 to give youth legal rights to a stable climate and healthy atmosphere. Their lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon states that government actions (filed during the Obama Administration) that are causing climate change violates the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, as well as protecting public trust resources.

In Europe this week, children in several cities are cutting classes to march and protest for a sustainable future. The BBC reports of 35,000 children marched against climate change in Brussels!

So what did Jesus, over two thousand years ago, mean in the Bible verse Mathew 5:5 by saying “The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth?” My reading of various interpretations is that Jesus encouraged his followers to be strong and humble - recall his actions against the thieves in the temple?

The environmental movement rise in the 1960’s focusing on local issues is transforming into a global fight for not just sustainability, to preserve resources, but for survivability! What would Jesus be saying right now given how destructive forces (eco-thieves) are robbing our children’s futures? This is a call to action for us all to become more informed about what we can do to reduce our impacts on the Earth. Perhaps we need an eco-inheritance tax rather than tax breaks for the ultra rich?

Outline for Potential Book

Occasionally I get ambitiously motivated to write a book to share experiences from my Earth Science perspective on individual to global survivability, i.e. improving our odds, through adversity and becoming more resilient. I would like to summarize blog posts over the past three years, learn and discuss local examples I’ve heard about here in Grand Junction -- like capturing landfill methane gas to supply CNG vehicles -- and seek out the best practices worldwide. I started on an outline for a book that I am initially calling:

Survival Sustainability: What We All Need to Know Now and For Our Children’s Future

Here is an outline with some ideas that I began BEFORE finding 30+ books on the topic of sustainability. This outline might take the form of book chapters:

Successful and Unsuccessful Societies Throughout History

                Greek Trojan Horse, Rise & Fall of the Roman Empire, Hopis Seven Generations, Chaco Canyon and Pueblo People from Mesa Verde to Santa Fe

What Kind of Place Will Our Children and Grandchildren Inherit?

Plan for the Best, Prepare for the Worst

Meeting Our Basic Needs: Maslow's Hierarchy

Food, Diet, Exercise, Health, Water, Homes and Bathrooms, Getting Around

Origins of Our Universe and Many Changes Through Geologic Time

Life, Proliferation, Population Bomb, Extinctions

Earth’s Precious Resources and Finite Capacity

Nature: Weathering Extreme Events including Earthquakes, Floods, Fires, Tornados, Hurricanes, Drought

Neighborhood Watch to Governance – Local, County, State, Federal, International

Resilient Businesses and Investment Opportunities

Reestablishing the Ecological Balance of Nature – Wilson’s Half Earth proposal

Global Walk for a Livable World and Hands Across America

Nature and Spirituality – Indigenous People, Emerson, Thoreau, Ammachi

Appendices: Checklists

Please send me your thoughts about this book proposal and things you would like to know more about! Thank you!

100 Solutions for Reducing Carbon and Living in a Cleaner World

Finally there is an optimistic new compilation of current and future technologies to reduce greenhouse gas carbon emissions.  In the book "DRAWDOWN: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Produced to Reverse Global Warming."  Published by Penguin Random House and edited by Paul Hawkin, I found this book at the library on the new book shelf last month. 

Project DRAWDOWN included 70 research fellows from 22 countries and 120 person advisory board. The introduction states:

"Almost all of the solutions compiled and analyzed here lead to regenerative economic outcomes that create security, produce jobs, improve health, save money, facilitate mobility, eliminate hunger, prevent pollution, restore soil, clean rivers, and more."

Worldwide about 36 billion gigatons of carbon dioxide (including equivalent greenhouse gases) were emitted in 2016. To visualize one  "gigaton," imagine 400,000 Olympic sized swimming pools; so 36 gigatons is about 14.4 million pools. 

The DRAWDOWN approach is to evaluate 100 possible solutions and provide a ranking for the gigatons of carbon dioxide reduced over the next 30 years as a function of cost. Here are the top 10 solutions:

1. Refrigerant Management (replace hydrofluorocarbons with other chemicals)

2. Wind Turbine (Onshore)

3. Reduced Food Waste

4. Plant-Rich Diet

5. Tropical Forests (Restore over one billion acres of forests)

6. Educating Girls results in smaller families

7. Family Planning

8. Solar Farms

9. Silvopasture (integrating forests with pasture for cattle grazing)

10. Rooftop Solar

Implementing these 10 solutions is projected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 750 gigatons and many other exciting solutions are described to improve our lives for a cleaner environment. 

Update September 30, 2017

As mentioned in my previous blog, I'm very excited reading the DRAWDOWN book! In addition to describing many currently proven and viable future high-tech solutions like harnessing renewable energy and electric vehicles, there are many low-tech solutions proven to make a huge difference.

Some of these proven low-tech solutions involve how we grow our food supply. Here are a few ideas the book discusses:

* Let rice field dry out in mid-season to prevent methane buildup

* Allow cattle to roam in forests to reduce deforestation

* Plant multiple crops together to improve biodiversity and health of soil; for example - in tropical areas can plant coconut, banana, and ginger together

* Keep fields vegetated rather than exposing soil to reduce erosion and loss of the carbon sink

Interesting Eco Books for Our Reading Pleasure

Here are some books available at the local library that I’ve found most interesting reading this summer:

Edward O. Wilson, 2016 Half Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life

David Grinspoon, 2016 Earth in Human Hands: Shaping Our Planet’s Future

Auden Schendler, 2009 Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability Revolution

Jeffrey D. Sachs, 2008 Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet

Battery Re-volt-lution

Oh, or should I say Ohm (a measure of electrical resistance), what would Mr. Volta be thinking now? The 18th century Italian inventor of the battery certainly would be 'excited' to see the 'current' revolution occurring in fuel cells.

Think of the various ways we need batteries to store direct current (DC) to power our cars, portable radios, flashlights, laptops, and cell phones. Popular types of batteries use heavy nickel-cadmium (NiCd) or lighter weight lithium ion (with carbon as the anode). Li-ion batteries are currently being used to power electric cars. You've probably heard about construction of Tesla's Gigafactory near Reno to build Li-ion batteries for the next fleet using a solar roof top capable of generating 70 mega watts!

But what if someone could invent a solar panel that also stores electricity? Oh yes, it's being done by researchers at Ohio State University!

Are there alternatives to Li-ion batteries that do not explode? Aquion Energy is making salt-water batteries available to home owners. Vionix Energy is using vanadium redox chemistry for grid scale applications. Some day we will be able to capture some of the wind or solar energy in batteries to use when the wind is not blowing or the sun is not shining. The world's largest battery uses hydropower turbines to generate electricity and recycle water for balancing peak demand.

We are living in exciting times with all of the technological innovations! You say you want a re-volt-lution...?

Living in the Now and Planning for More than Just Today

I've heard a famous spiritual teacher say the past is like a cancelled check and the future is not here yet. We can live with our full awareness on the present moment while at the same time consider living our lives for more than just today. Anyone who wonders where their next meal will come from or where they will sleep at night is living day to day. Most people with jobs are living month to month and spending most of what they make on expenses and saving very little if anything. Getting a financial education for most of us is learning by the school of hard knocks and there is also luck involved - who could have predicted the housing market crash? My parents taught us to be generous while also being aware of how to make and keep a buck. For years I've said at work - another day another dollar!

Over the course of a career, we've learned to spend no more than 25% of our income on housing and find ways to pay off loans as quickly as possible. I always prefer a 15 year over a 30 year loan for the lower interest rates and total savings. The real estate industry may want us to buy a larger home and spend more than we really need as they get paid by commissions. Living within our means, separating our wants from our needs, and conserving resources works for our family; however, this is not typical in the consumer society where we always seem to want more. Consider we bought our 42" flat screen TV nine years ago. It is the only TV in our home. We've been admiring all the fancy new sets with 70" curved screens as a major want but not a need - only when our TV stops working can we justify getting a new one as we are content and grateful for what we have now. One financial planner said to consider not only the present cost but also the future compound interest. For example, investing instead of buying that $1,000 TV today results in about doubling the amount at 5% interest over 30 years. 

By analogy, how do we want (or need) to save and spend our natural resources? Do we want to search for water and food supplies on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis? Sustainability is really all about wise planning so we do not waste what we have and need now and not forsake our future. Perhaps society focused on consumption rather than saving for the future is great for corporate profits but not so great for future generations as populations increase and natural resources diminish. A great book on the topic is by E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation who advocates we must save half of the Earth to protect many species from extinction and ultimately if we are to save humanity as well. The Hopi society promotes the idea of considering how a decision we make might affect the next seven generations. I think about all the great civilizations that have come and gone including the Puebloans, Greeks and Romans and wonder if global consumerism promoting wants will eventually be extinguished by sustainable survivalists, like the Hopi, who are careful to control what they really need.