Reflections

Matt

When it comes to my prognosis for climate change, I'm taking a more neutral "wait and see" approach. While my Environmental Science 11 classes can be filled with doom and gloom at times, I try and point out the good news as well, and I think the topic of energy transitions is certainly one worth exploring to counter the pessimistic mood that can be overwhelming at times.

Recent trends show that energy transitions is happening; the key question is, is it happening fast enough? A lot of the digital technology outlooks from the materials in Week 5 (Energy Impasse) can supplement discussions on energy transitions to paint a less bleak view of the future. As green energy becomes cheaper to build, the rate in which countries implement renewable technology may be even higher than what's presented in the secondary activity charts. There is of course always the petrochemical impasse due to the influence of major oil corporations, yet even countries with high oil reserves are beginning to embrace carbon pricing and renewable energy.

For this presentation, I was mostly responsible for the Symbiocene and the secondary learning activity. I hope that I didn't take too scientific of an approach when it comes to introducing epochs and was able to present a view that fused cultural views (accepting the Anthropocene) with current geological definitions (we need a clear change in rock/soil in order to determine the official start of the Anthropocene).

The secondary activity is what I typically do in my senior environmental classes: present some charts that may be surprising to my students then facilitating class discussions. There are also some questions that follow my personal pedagogy of skill development; I find too often that many of my students still struggle with extrapolating graphs and I provide opportunities for them to practice it whenever I'm able. I hope you'll find these guiding discussion questions helpful for your classes as well.

Melissa

I really enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about energy transition and explore the many different existing and proposed solutions to address our current crisis. I noticed that learning about renewable resources, permaculture, and imaging life in the symbiocene has made me feel considerably more optimistic about the future. I realize that it is important to balance the negative information about our global fossil fuel consumption and climate change with education about the solutions in order to avoid overwhelming feelings of despair. As humans, when we hear too much of the negative, I think that we begin to feel helpless, overwhelmed, fearful, and we become desensitized to the gravity of the situation. In contrast, we are motivated when we become excited about a new project or idea we want to put in place. While I was researching energy transition, I started to get excited about what I was learning. For example, I now feel like I should invest in geothermal energy and plant a food forest in my backyard. And do not be surprised if I someday move into a passive house!

It was also reassuring to realize that there are whole communities of people out there in the world that are trying to make a difference and re-imagine how humans can live sustainably on this planet. I did most of my research for this project on permaculture, and previously, I had mistakenly associated it more with off-the grid homesteads. I really appreciated that permaculture has guiding principles that can be followed versus other terms associated with the environmental movement that now seem vague and open to interpretation, such as “green living”. I also feel like permaculture ethics and principles are something very tangible that I can teach my children and students, and there are lots of associated skills and practices that can be learned immediately to actively participate in the energy transition.

Neal

This topic was of interest to me, as all of the topics in this course thus far. Nevertheless, the transition away from fossil fuel energy is an exciting proposition, and the readings this week provided me with a lot to chew on. I was particularly drawn to the renewable energy readings, multimedia, and creatives. One paper that stood out for me is Roberts' (2020): Geothermal energy is poised for a big breakout. Geothermal seems to have such potential simply because it is a globally accessible source, and that we already have infrastructure to drill for it through the oil and gas industry. Yet, in the infographic created by The Solutions Project in collaboration with Stanford University geothermal hovers around as one of the least visible in 2050 (Jacobson, 2019). This is quite a predicament for such a highly regarded clean energy (Roberts, 2020).

Another aspect of renewables that caught my attention is the amount of land that each takes up as compared to the oil. This becomes of particular importance when we consider energy justice because as we adopt more and more clean energies we will be taking up more and more land (Jenkins et al., 2016). The question remains as to whose land are we using and taking important minerals from? This is where I leaned towards an artistic approach to renewable creations, and got inspiration from the Land Art Generator initiative (LAGi). The LAGi's website has several innovative lesson plans for educators; the one that I used to share on this website motivates students to see energy in different ways in their surroundings.

The overall process for creating this project was enjoyable because of the open-mindedness and agreeability of my teammates. It came to be that each of us teaches at one of the three levels of education: primary, intermediate, and secondary. Furthermore, we split up into the three different sections based on the interests that we assembled during the readings and viewings. Altogether, I feel that we came together as a team to create something that is easy to follow, and resourceful.

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