Ideas

This is the post for my election day workshop that addresses how the environment, the economy, and technology will fuel the new direction in our global society.

We will examine the arguments in Tom Friedman’s book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded.

What are the Problems?

His book focuses on the convergence of three major problems:

Global Warming

Global Flattening

Global Crowding

Developing Trends

How have these 5 trends led to those major problems?

Energy and Resources

Petro Dictatorship

Biodiversity Loss

Climate Change

Energy Poverty

Each problem has been driven past the tipping point.

What Can We Do?

Our governments must embrace the environmental challenges we face and turn it into economic success.

Green Is The Next Red, White And Blue

Green is Capitialist, Geo-Strategic, Future Oriented

What is the scale at which we need to produce energy and what is the economic impact?

How Can We Make Green More Capitalistic in a Flat World?

Environmental Technology jobs will improve the economy and our environment?

If green is the future, what do you envision the future to look like?

This is what Friedman envisions.

What Needs To Change?

Green Party vs. Green Revolution

If we must create a Green Revolution, it will take a rethinking of how we operate.

What do you think will start a real Green Revolution?

IT and ET

What would happen if Information Technology merged with Environmental Technology?

What we need are 100,000 Garages… trying 100,000 different solutions


Here is another perspective on the issue from Clay Shirky.

Letter to the Next President

The final part of the workshop is to create a video “letter” to the next president.

After listening to Friedman’s arguments:

What would you propose the next president must do to ensure that we are able to tackle the environmental and economic problems that challenges our globe?

You may use your mobile phone camera and Qik or Photo Booth to record your video. You must post the video on our YouTube Group page.

This is a video for “Oxygen”, a song by Willy Mason. This song came out when Mason was 19. Watching this video reaffirmed something for me: The voice of our youth must be heard.

As educators we must allow our students to dream big and speak their mind. They are just as curious, concerned, and invested in our world as we are. As Mason sings in the song,

THE KIDS OF TODAY MUST CARRY THE LIGHT

This is a great song that not only addresses some powerful issues but shows that we must give our youth a voice. We must provide them with the skills to question, inquire, and respond.

I got into teaching to make an impact. I wanted to prepare my students for what may lie ahead. When I started teaching, I thought I would make a lasting impact upon my students by teaching history.

While I originally thought that simply teaching history would make an impact, I have come to realize that for educators to truly make a difference in our students’ lives we cannot rely upon a traditional curriculum.

With the crises we face and an every changing world, it is critical that we reassess what we are teaching. We must examine what it takes to prepare a student for the challenges they will face. We must challenge our students to think. To be able to be presented with a difficult challenge and develop a solution. If we are to prepare the future leaders of this world, we must supply them with the skills to think abstractly. To do that we must reevaluate how we design our curriculum. No offense to the proponents of a traditional curriculum, but that ain’t gonna solve global warming.

This video, found by Antonio Viva, is from Rutgers University. Rutgers has developed a New Humanities program. The core of the program gets at what I was mentioning. They have developed a curriculum that is built upon the principle of making students think about “the biggest problems our time”. Now that will make an impact. That will prepare our students for their future.

Over the last few days I have been thinking a lot lately.  My focus has been the election, our economy, the status of the world, creativity, my teaching, and how all of this is inextricably tied together.  So nothing too deep.  For the last few days my students and I have been examining globalization and it’s effect upon the status of the world.  We have had the opportunity to address the current economic crisis while learning about where we are going as a globe.

My students and I are looking at arguments by Thomas Friedman, Tom Palmer, Fareed Zakaria, and Noam Chomsky in order to piece together an understanding of globalization and it’s impact.  But tonight, as I quickly checked my updates on Facebook, I found a site, The Story of Stuff, posted by my boss, Antonio Viva, that made me reconsider how I approached globalization.

I am in the process of writing a proposal for a workshop for our election festival.  I was initially going to focus on the economic crisis and globalization.  But after watching The Story of Stuff, I think it’s vitally important that the focus should consider globalization’s economic and environmental impact.

A book that gives some good insight into this problem is Thomas Friedman’s new book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded.

Friedman proposes that an ambitious national strategy—which he calls “Geo-Greenism”—is not only what we need to save the planet from overheating; it is what we need to make America healthier, richer, more innovative, more productive, and more secure.

As we look ahead to November 4th and beyond, think about  what you can do to help reverse the negative impact we have had on this planet.  We can turn our economy around AND reduce our carbon footprint, it is just going to take some creative thinking but it must be done.

So I stumbled upon Big Think the other day. From what I understand, one of my childhood friends’ brother started the site. When my mom told me to check out the url I immediately thought, “it’s gonna be some personal homepage that isn’t worth my time”. Boy I was wrong.

Big Think has an amazing amount of potential in education. The mission of the site is to bring video interviews of the great minds and leaders of today discussing ideas that matter to them. The videos allow for comments and discussion on the site as well as the opportunity to present your own ideas for future videos.  As educators we aim to help our students develop their thinking skills and to clearly express their own ideas.  This will be a excellent tool to support that curricular goal.

Using this site will bring a whole new dimension to class discussions and is definitely worth a look.

Randy Pausch, who had been a professor at Carnegie Mellon, passed away on Friday. Dr. Pausch was most famous for his “Last Lecture speech that he gave at Carnegie Mellon after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. His speech has been printed and has become a best seller. Due to it’s availability on You Tube it has been seen by millions all over the world. If you have not watched it, please take the time to watch the “last lecture” below.

The Role of the Internet

Beyond the speech itself, the spread of his talks and the allure of his message was promoted via the internet. Through his website he updated the world on his cancer treatment and condition. His case became an inspiration for many and the internet spread his message even further. The ability to create a connection and a bond to someone who we may have never met is the true beauty of the internet. While Pausch’s message in his “Last Lecture” was for his children, he has in turn impacted the lives of millions. The internet has the potential to not only simplify our lives but deepen them as well.

“The Last Lecture”

The following articles both analyze the state of current technology and the impact it has upon our culture. I don’t have time tonight to write what I really think about these articles but I will publish my analysis tomorrow. For now, I want to present you the two articles so you can begin to make your own decisions upon the current impact of technology.

Anti Technology

This is an article written by Nicholas Carr of the Atlantic. The article is aptly titled, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?“. Carr takes a negative look at the advancement of technology and its influence upon our culture and how we think.

Pro Technology

An article written in the Economist, “From Literacy to Digiracy“, presents a more balanced view on the idea of technology and it’s influence upon our society.

Whether you agree with either author, they are engaging articles that will make you think about how technology is changing the way we think and work, for good or bad.

More tomorrow…

Last night at 11:31 pm I got into bed and decided to start, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko, by Dan Pink. I thought I would read a few pages before going to sleep. 50 minutes later I finished the book.

I highly recommend the book. It is obviously a quick read and imparts some important life lessons.

Background

For those who don’t know, Dan Pink is the man who wrote A Whole New Mind, a book about the type of mind sets that will be required in business in our global marketplace. He specifically focused on how the following influences business operations.

1. Abundance - consumers have too many choices, nothing is scarce
2. Asia - everything that can be outsourced, is
3. Automation - computerization, robots, processes

Pink then goes on to discuss the six senses that will keep you in demand:

1. Design - Moving beyond function to engage the sense.
2. Story - Narrative added to products and services - not just argument.
3. Symphony - Adding invention and big picture thinking
4. Empathy - Going beyond logic and engaging emotion and intuition.
5. Play - Bringing humor and light-heartedness to business and products.
6. Meaning - Immaterial feelings and values of products.

To Pink, these senses will provide a worker with the skills to succeed in today’s marketplace.

The Book

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko are a follow up to A Whole New Mind. In the book Pink uses the Japanese comic form known as Manga to focus on another 6 skills. The 6 skills Pink mentions are guiding principles to help someone understand what it takes to succeed in a world that is dominated by Abundance, Asia, and Automation. The 6 principles are as follows:

1. There is no plan

Follow your instincts, do not stick to a plan you created when you were in high school. Things have changed.

2. Think Strengths, Not Weaknesses

Your job should work to your strengths, do not do a job that focuses on what you don’t like to do.

3. It’s not about you

No matter what you do, whether you teach or you work in a business, the end product of your work is for someone else, it is not about your personal success.

4. Persistence trumps Talent

Remember the kid who was really good at lets say basketball, he could jump, was quick, and tall but only relied upon his natural gifts for success. You couldn’t jump, weren’t as fast, and not as tall but you practiced everyday. In the long run you probably were as good or better because of the efforts you put in to being a better basketball player. The same applies to work.

5. Make Excellent Mistakes

We will always make mistakes. Those who are so afraid of making mistakes will not try to push the limit or change. When our success now depends upon creativity and innovative thinking, taking risks and trying something, even if you might fail will pay off. You may not succeed every time but you will learn from those mistakes.

6. Leave an imprint

No matter if you are a teacher, a businessman/woman, or a politician, you can improve your world. Use your skills, we all have our strengths, to give back to your world. Whether it is community service, or pro bono work, make sure you do do what you can to leave your mark.

Conclusion

These are simple rules to follow. No matter what profession you are in, this is a great book to read. The book is visually stimulating, outlines some great career advice and is a quick read. Whether you are in a career that is satisfying or not, this book will help you understand what you need to do to better prepare yourself for an ideal career.

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Creativity, Ideas, Work