We spent the morning looking at ways that the faculty were "walking the talk" about sustainability and living lighter on the land and building community where they lived.
Here are two links demonstrating two of their efforts:
Sustainable Cortland http://www.sustainablecortland.org
Sustainable Cortland on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/groups/sustainablecortland/
In addition, here is a link to a video shot by the Public Affairs Office at Onondaga Community College. It is a more detailed look at their homestead and their efforts to reduce their impact on the planet.
For today's post please let us know what you are thinking about after all the information and activities we talked about and participated in this most beautiful day in the Adirondack Mt. region of NY.
If you care to, you can also post some things you might be able to do in your "regular" life.
Today I have learned a few activities that would be great for my future classroom. They were all team building activities and they were done outdoors. These activities would be great in the first weeks of class when we are trying to build a class community. We learned how to communicate, cooperate, listen, respect, leadership, and how to take direction. By incorporating all of these aspects into the tasks that we were doing, we were able to complete each task quickly and efficiently. On the last activity, we had to touch mats with the number 1-26 on them, in order and not touch any mat out of order. We had to do this the fastest way possible while following other rules. Our group planed for at least ten minutes before we actually tried to do the task. This proved to be beneficial because even the first attempt was quick.
ReplyDeleteTuesdays visit to the Adirondack Museum was great. I recommend it to people who love history and want to see great artifacts up close. It is well laid out and my small group had a good time reading and talking about the life and times of the era.
ReplyDeleteYesterday was much different. I rarely stay interested in people’s BLOGS (but I can tell I will continue to be a visitor of this one……!) and really had no idea what a BOG was before today. Also, I thought it was a great little hike in Black Bear Mountain and really hope some of the “newer” hikers appreciated what a surreal experience hiking can be. That may have been difficult with so many others around but I tried to get them to take in the experience so maybe it will be something they will enjoy in the future.
During last nights talk from Tim, one of the things that I kept thinking about was all of the conversations I am privy to, as a substitute, in teacher’s lounges. Instead of incessantly complaining about things such as who has to chaperone a dance for little or no money (or any of a number of other mindless “atrocities” that inconvenience their school teaching experience) and spent the time, instead, actively invested discussing their passion and profession with such conversations as the ones Tim advocates, the future of education might be headed in a different direction.
I have actually been learning a lot about sustainability. I am becoming more and more interested in reducing my impact as well. There is a lot more I can actually do myself than I previously thought possible. It was great Carl and Beth shared their home and projects with us, thank you. I'm also very thankful for everything Tim has been teaching us as well. The three of them are getting me thinking in new ways about important topics and ideas for me to be active too.
ReplyDeleteThen we all did the low ropes course together. We are closer than ever. It really gave us some ideas for our future students and taught us more about one another and ourselves. Thank you to Rob as well for facilitating that today. Our individual projects are coming along, they should be fun to share with the class when complete. We had an awesome game of kickball, my new friends rock! Then we went down to the church and listened to a great live band. What a day!
The team building activities today went well, our group worked well together. These activities are always interesting in the way they reveal group dynamics. In response to the sustainability discussion, some things that I have done and can do include: I've tried to become much more selective in purchasing new things and not give into impulse buying, especially of gear since I'm such a gearhead. My wife and I have turned down the thermostat for years. The max we turn it up is to 62 and turn it down to the mid 50s at night. You sleep well when it is cool and the energy savings are obvious. Some future projects include new insulation, a demand water heater when we replace the old one, a new high efficiency furnace, retrofitting the fireplace with a wood stove insert (we have plenty of access to wood right on our own land) and eventually solar panels. A little bit at a time but it makes a difference.
ReplyDeleteAfter talking about sustainability and how we can incorporate it into our daily lives I hope that I can make some changes in my life in an effort to reduce my carbon footprint. It is too easy in life at times to take the easy way out and not think of the effects that it can be having on our planet. As a young, and poor college student renting an apartment it can be hard for me to take an active role in an effort toward sustainability. However I do hope to be able to make more of an effort to buy locally, such as at the farmers market. I also hope to look into more ways of producing my Own food and possibly even starting a compost bin. One easy way I hope to be able to help out is by setting an example in my classroom on ways to reduce reuse and recycle and encourage students to take an active role in protecting our environment.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, today's team building activities were alot of fun and something that I see as being extremely beneficial in the classroom, especially at the begining of the year.
The Klein’s home looks so similar to my brothers. He has been on the same path with regards to sustainability for the last few years. I respect the time and effort anyone puts in to being so responsible and I hope it becomes addicting; I hope something so logical becomes commonplace in this world and we will have these trendsetters to thank. Thank you in advance for your efforts and for the wisdom you passed on today about saving the planet.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed seeing the pictures of Beth and Karl's house because I haven't seen many homes that people have changed to become sustainable. The solar panels fascinated me because I have seen many places installing them in their homes and around the homes. Near my house their is an office building that installed rows and rows of them in the parking lot. The cars get shade from the panels yet the panels are generating a lot of power in the area. I think it is hard to change a lifestyle, but small steps and efforts can add up and make a difference.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed the team building activities we did with Rob out on the field. They can be a lot of fun, entertaining and show a lot of teamwork. I wish we had more time to use the ropes course. When I was younger I participated on the low ropes and high ropes courses and would have loved to do this again. Overall, the group worked very well together and communicated well to accomplish the tasks.
Through our discussions yesterday on sustainability and seeing all the things Beth and Carl have done to reduce their carbon footprint in their own home, I have thought a lot more about what I could do different to also reduce my carbon footprint. I am really hoping to focus more on conserving energy, like using less water and making sure, I remember to turn my lights off when I am not in the room. I am also going to work hard to support local farmers markets.
ReplyDeleteEven though I have already seen the Klein's video, I can see many areas of improvement in my own future home and homestead. My family is currently on the path to buy a homestead and incorporate similar components in our home such as solar panels, composting toilet, and a large garden for most of my family's fruit and vegetable needs. It's wonderful to share enthusiasm with fellow students about becoming more sustainable in our own lives. I hope to become more involved with sustainability education in the future, so I feel like this course provided some good foundation points to do that.
ReplyDeleteA little side note: I thoroughly enjoyed the game of kickball with the rest of the students in this course and the opportunity to listen to Annie and the Hedonists at Saint Williams church. It was great to share the last night with wonderful people, listening to a great band in a historic spot. Absolutely beautiful and a great way to wrap up the course.
It was very interesting to see a home in which people are trying to live sustainably. I feel that some of the systems in the Klein's home seem so simple and much more effective, yet people do not change their ways. I could see myself incorporating some of their systems into my future home once I have more money. I also really liked the community building activities we did. Our group worked really well together to work through the tasks we needed to accomplish. I think however, that it would have been more beneficial if that was done at the beginning of the course so it could break the ice.
ReplyDeleteI think I try a great deal to be sustainable but there are many other things I could do to that would work also. I do not own a home yet so unfortunately I live in a house powered by coal. I have tried to encourage my parents to try alternative methods but they are stuck in their ways. I also will try when I can to buy more local foods and shop at the local stores to help my community.
Even though I had seen the presentation on the Klein's homestead, I still respect what they are doing to "go green" and it shows me what things I could try to start doing. When I feel established in my life, I would like to do a few of those things towards sustainability. To start, I want to grow some vegetables in a garden at my house or contribute to a community garden. I also found the windmill idea fascinating and I believe using other sources of energy that are unlimited (infinite) will benefit me and a society in the long run. My eyes were opened to buying local to support the farmers. I am going to start and try to buy local.
ReplyDeleteThe presentation about the Klein's homestead was very interesting to me. When I eventually get my own home I plan on doing many things to "go green". I already have a garden to grow vegetables because I enjoy doing that but other than a garden not much else. Hopefully one day I will be able to afford solar panels for my own home and many of the other things they spoke to be green and have less of a carbon footprint.
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