Susan Feathers

Small Victories: Sea Turtles Released

People arrive haphazardly in twos and threes and ones. By the gazebo, under its shade with six folding chairs lined up empty, and a standing mike on the other side, people gather. The sea grasses along the wet sand beach move with a gentle current, soft breeze, and welcome cool.

“Today you get to see an endangered animal, a sea turtle, that is one of the rarest in the world, Jimmy,” his mother whispered near me. Jimmy appears to be about four years old. His eyes are wide dark orbs taking in the great round world.

We wade into the water up to the yellow tape that creates a watery avenue the turtles will navigate to open bay. The Gulf Specimen Marine Lab releases sea turtles after they are rehabilitated from injuries, most at human hands. Today six Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles will be released into Dickerson Bay at Shell Point Beach, Florida.

A short, tan man with a shock of white thick hair wades out into the water in clogs, and a light blue suit, white shirt, and tie. He is the charismatic founder of the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab, Jack Rudloe. This blue suit is the signal that another turtle release is about to happen.

Charlotte comes first, held by a university biology student, her flaxen pony tail swinging with energy. I can tell she is as thrilled as each of us watching. After telling the audience about the turtle’s rescue and recovery, she places Charlotte in the water to navigate the red carpet to the Gulf.

The turtles released today were helped by the Pier Initiative managed by the Loggerhead Marine Center in Jupiter Beach. GSML is a partner. Signs with information for fishermen and boaters, and a special net, help turtle recovery without further injury.

Five more Kemp’s Ridley’s turtles make their farewell, one after the other. People applaud. Six biological treasures go their way, hopefully to multiply and enjoy life on Earth. Everyone chats, feeling good about a wrong righted.

The sun is soft behind the clouds over the Gulf of Mexico. We depart in twos, threes, and ones. The work goes on.

Go Set A Watchman: Firecracker that Fizzed?

Just completed listening to Reese Witherspoon read Harper Lee’s book, Go Set A Watchman--a superb rendering of grown-up and 6-yr-old Scout.

Several years ago I read a wonderful biography of Harper Lee, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields. In the biography I learned that the first draft of To Kill A Mockingbird was one in which the publisher (Lippincott) recognized a unique literary voice. The subsequent work with editors resulted in rewriting the story to include more about Scout’s 6-year old self and her beloved Atticus.

Yet, Go Set A Watchman is an entirely different story. The setting and the flashbacks of grown-up Scout to her childhood are familiar and the wonderful writing we treasure. But the latter chapters of the book are an ABSOLUTE SHOCKER.

Atticus Finch of To Kill A Mockingbird, is our national model of how we want to be, or how we want an educated Southerner to reason and act. In the pages of Go Tell A Watchman we confront the raw truth: the South bred, and in some places, still breeds, its own brand of racial denigration and violence. In Go Set a Watchman, Atticus sounds like a fine member of the Klan: What would happen if all those black folks got into politics?

Uncle Jack tries to explain it all away through his twisted logic about why southerners still feel slighted by the nation and still distrust Liberals, Yankees, and Blacks. Then he pulls another illogical stunt: Scout should not leave town and shake the dust off her feet, but stay — because when people close to her are wrong, that is reason to stay — purportedly to change their minds. Huh? That just feels like Harper Lee did not quite know how to end the book. Well, it was her first.

But the whole experience left me wondering: just how much was the original edited? Also, think about this: did the editors believe that the nation, especially the South, wasn’t ready to view racism so unabashedly on stage? Did editors radically reshape the novel that we all came to love and cherish? Or, did they simply make it a better book?

Have you read it? What do you think?

The Heart of Our Democracy

With the advent of the Internet, increasingly finer discernment is required of students in complex learning environments.

Education is the focus of my professional life. My ideas about education – what it is and what is should be – have evolved. Formal education, as in public schools, colleges, and graduate schools, is under constant revision in our democracy. Ideas change as the society-wide discussion continues.

Our country knows that an education is at the heart of a democracy. Without informed citizens, a democracy cannot out last tyrannical and opportunistic forces. Education develops our best nature while ignorance breeds the opposite.

In its simplest form, education is a framework for learning. Children learn to attend. From the self-directed learning of childhood, the classroom and teacher focus their attention to particular facts and phenomena. Children are taught to use tools for discovery, primarily mathematics and reading.

In the early days of education we were satisfied that kids would grow into adults who could read well enough to understand voting instructions and could sign their name in cursive. Later, we became more ambitious. Courses of study made it possible for average citizens to attain higher levels of performance for career tracks that moved them from blue collar to white collar work, or to scholarly levels of study.

Education became a means of social and economic equality in America.

Education in our public schools today is still very goal oriented but may have lost track of the original idea: that educated adults help preserve a democratic society. With the advent of the Internet, increasingly finer discernment is required of students in complex learning environments, and a complex, interconnected global community.

Social media offers students sophisticated tools for communication – perhaps beyond their intellectual and emotional development. Technology is driving society—proven to be an upside down relationship.

The role of the teacher has returned to guide and the classroom to a framework for learning. Students explore their own interests using online tools that transform learning. Teachers and curriculum need transforming, too, to meet students in the new learning reality. How will technology aid or hamper our democracy?

What do you think?

Resources for Exploring This Topic

Alive Enough? Reflecting on Our Technology – an interview with Dr. Sherry Turkle, Professor of Social Science of Science and Technology at M.I.T.

How Technology Is Changing the Way Children Think and Focus – Psychology Today Online, article by Dr. Jim Taylor, December, 2012.

The Science of Attention – interview with Dr. Adele Diamond, Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia.

NEA Policy Statement on Digital Learning – discusses the recognition of the new learning environment and changing role of teachers but cautions that education leaders need direct the uses of the technology as opposed to private owners of new technologies.

Book Clubs Rock!

If someone told me I’d be facilitating book club discussions this year, I would have thought they had the wrong person. But it’s true. I now facilitate three books clubs with a fourth possible. The book club discussions are part of my work as a Land Ethic Leader for the Aldo Leopold Foundation in Wisconsin. Leaders create ways to spark discussions about Leopold’s Land Ethic which addresses how communities can come together to protect and conserve human and natural resources. Leopold’s writing, published in A Sand County Almanac (Oxford University Press, 1949) is considered a classic on land and wildlife conservation. I carried a thumb worn copy through 25 years as an environmental educator.

But why book clubs? New cognitive research shows storytelling and fiction as the most powerful agents for engaging the imagination. I realized novels might be a fun and effective way to engage people in land ethic discussions. However, I did not anticipate how readily people embraced the idea! Two book clubs in the Pensacola area are reading more than one novel. The discussions are vital and personal.

The Interesting Women book club in Melbourne, Florida read Caleb’s Crossing (Geraldine Brooks, 2011) about early American history. One book club member’s husband is an 11^th generation descendent of a Wampanoag woman and Puritan settler (married in 1635). The book focuses on these two cultural groups and how they evolved a land ethic. A special meal was served including Mock Whale—chuckeye steak, beef liver, and fish sauce! All the food served related to a scene in the novel.

Update: One of the members of the book club in Melbourne sent this note: “This appears to me to validate your idea of changing attitudes by encouraging reading about it in fiction/stories. Sounds as though you’re on the right track.

http://www.npr.org/2015/05/01/403474870/does-reading-harry-potter-have-an-effect-on-your-behavior

One of my professors long ago was of the opinion that Mao Tse-tung overthrew Chiang Kai-Chek’s regime in China in the 1930s and 1940s by using folk songs to sway the opinions of the largely illiterate peasants, folk songs being another form of story…” It’s an interesting world.”

The Aldo Leopold Foundation will feature these activities in their blog about Land Ethic Discussions. Serendipitously, I stopped by the Marjorie Kinning Rawlings State Park on the way home. In my tour group I met eight women from Sarasota. We ate lunch at the Yearling Restaurant. When I asked how they happened to be traveling together, you might guess the answer. Yes, they’re a book club!

Moving to a Tiny House

Update: go the new blog for the tiny house experience: The House on Belmont St.

I’m pretty tired tonight on the eve of moving from a cozy 900 square foot condo to an old Florida “shotgun” house. It is a small bungalow style, only 13 feet wide, 600 square feet total space, with modest size porches and yard front and back. The owner bought it and moved it to the current site. He elevated it and it is tight as a drum with central air and heat. He believes it was originally built in the 1920s. He kept the orignal windows and screen door, wood ceilings, walls, and floors. In this old style bunglow home there are many large windows that are low to the floors. While it makes it harder to arrange furniture, the light is wonderful. (My condo is very dark.)

The House on Belmont Street is in the Old East Hill District of Pensacola, Florida. The train runs nearby and my friend’s house is behind mine one street above. I can walk or bike into town, and there are several restaurants from southern style bar-b-que to Italian to vegetarian within a few blocks of me. I plan to be on foot or bike much more than using my car, and to become part of a neighborhood and downtown district.

Behind me I leave all the modern conveniences that I have become so used to: dishwasher, stacked washer/drier, garbage disposal, even a microwave. The kitchen is a 1950’s style, with a half-sized electric stove and the most delicious tasting water. Also, I am losing my dining room space, and guest room.

There is a large porcelain tub – the kind you can actually fill and float in – and pale green linoleum in the kitchen, original wood floors in the living room and bedroom, and a porch broad enough to sit with friends on a pleasant night.

While setting up the kitchen this week, I heard so many birds in the oaks, crepe myrtle, and palms around the house. My friends tell me that hawks frequently build their nests and raise young in the tall pines and oaks along the street.

I plan to take permaculture classes to build a garden big enough to grow a significant percent of my weekly fare. I want to learn to care for local citrus which I have in the side yard, and shop at the Palafox Farmer’s Market on Saturday’s. We have a large cooperative grocery downtown as well.

Over the next year I plan to record what I experience, and follow my own withdrawal from so many conveniences. Will I be able to stand it? Should I? There are many older houses that have been remodeled with all the bells and whistles one can desire. I just seized this opportunity because of the location. What will it be like to live in the urban core of a mid-sized city? Grow my food? Walk or bike to meetings and evening events? Will I get in shape? Participate more in civic life and the local cultural scene?

Living in a condo in the suburbs I found stifling after a while. At age 69, I found myself getting all too comfortable. I noticed that most of the residents keep their blinds closed all day and night. Why? Privacy? But, all the light, the trees–life!– is shut out that way.

I will be living on a limited income and need to find smaller places that I can afford. So this is my first venture in that direction. I will create a separate blog site for this year’s experiment. Check back here for the link.! [HERE IT IS]

So…here I go!

Chasing Down the Dogs of War: www.kuderfoundation.org

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked why I’m spending all this time and energy in worrying about street children half way around the world. For those who haven’t known me very long this might help.

This photo is from a newspaper in Hyderabad India, about one hour drive from our new campus.”

Judge John Kuder wrote to his Facebook followers with his illimitable energy and hope for a better future for children and youths in India. His passion stems from two profound events that occurred with a long stretch of living in between.

The first was the Viet Nam War in which he served from 1970-72.

“Upon completion of law school I began active military service during the height of the Viet Nam war. Although I served my Country well, for which I take great personal pride, I nonetheless became an unwilling observer of the cruelty and human devastation that mercilessly devoured the children of war. Images that I will never forget.”

John returned to Pensacola, his birthplace, to begin a successful law practice. He was elected by his peers to the Circuit Court Bench in 1988, and later elected to Chief Judge of the First Circuit Court of Florida in 1996. While Chief Judge, he was invited in 2000 to participate in an international team of mediators to unravel a political deadlock between the Albanian Supreme Court and that Country’s five political parties.

“While there, however, I was confronted anew with the children of the streets and the unyielding dogs of war that had been quietly stalking my mind over these many years. They were a small society of God’s poorest and least favored, held at bay by the constant interference of forceful but well meaning guards assigned for our personal safety.”

Again, these images percolated in John’s mind and soul, perhaps cultivating the ground in which Judge Kuder and his wife, Susan Bleiler, would begin to dream about making a difference for street children living in poverty, poor health, and abuse. Together they brought The John P. Kuder Children’s Foundation into reality in 2007 – a charity based in Pensacola serving street children in Southeast India.

The National Crime Record Bureau in India reported that 40 million children in India are denied an education and tens of thousands subjected to abuse and sex trafficking.[1]

Looking back on his life thus far, Judge Kuder reflected: “I suppose I have now come full circle from the days of my youth helplessly entangled in the horrors of war to a time when I may yet make an enduring difference in the lives of the least of God’s children. Perhaps this will be my greatest achievement in life.”

To learn more about the work of the Kuder Children’s Foundation go to: http://www.kuderfoundation.org.

[1] The Times of India: “India’s invisible children: Swallowed by the streets.” 10-04-11: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/Indias-invisible-children-Swallowed-by-the-streets/articleshow/10626388.cms

Carbon Fee and Dividend: Why it will work

As long as fossil fuels remain cheap the use of them will continue at the peril of breaching one or more of the thresholds of physical stability that govern the biosphere.

The Citizen’s Climate Lobby (CCL) has developed the policy of a carbon fee and dividend to internalize the costs of fossil fuels and provide the impetus to move toward carbon-free emissions. Here is how it would work:

Place a steadily rising fee on the CO2 content of fossil fuels.
Give all of the revenue from the carbon fee back to households.
Border adjustments ensure fairness and competition.
It’s good for the economy AND even better for the climate.

The producers and largest consumers of fossil fuels will have an incentive to move to alternative fuels. Citizens will receive a dividend check each year as the fees are redistributed to the public. That will put the money back into the economy while creating the incentive for producers of energy to move to other sources of energy that are carbon free.

Fees will be collected on the annual tax return each year.

“A Single Garment of Destiny”

Today I am reminded of so many efforts to bring nonviolent, peaceful forces to bear on social problems that persist in our society. Yesterday I listened to an interview with John Lewis, Civil Rights Leader, Pastor, and humanitarian. It’s well worth listening to. The one phrase, the one central idea gleaned from the interview is this:

“It’s already here…the Beloved Community…it’s already here. Our job is to make it real, today, one step at a time.”

Lewis reminded me that its not about me, us, our time; big social change is coming but it might not be in my lifetime or yours. But the truth is the existence of the Beloved Community is in our present, everyday action. We are bringing it into reality, little bit by little bit. I found this reminder a salve for the wounds of one long in the struggle for the rights of people and also the rights of wildlife and land and water and air. The latter is coming, according to Reverend Lewis. So be it. I can be content with that knowledge.

Seth Godin republished A Letter from a Birmingham Jail this morning for which I am grateful. Its worth a quiet rereading. But here, in short is King’s answer to the question about why he was in Birmingham:

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

NOAA: Warmest Year Since 1880

UPDATE: See new research from international university scientists about planetary boundaries for safe human operations. We are reaching thresholds for biosphere integrity. (1-18-15)

We are continuously receiving information about the warming of this planet and its oceans, landscapes, and atmosphere. So what’s the big deal?

We are the example of what it means. Human body temperature is normally 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. A few additional degrees higher can threatened our lives and even cause death. How? We are made up of molecular structures, atoms held together by bonds. With increasing internal temperature, atomic bonds lengthen and can even break — denature is the scientific term. Proteins, which are the structures that “run” the functions of our body, basically stop working.

It is the same for every living organism on earth. That’s the big deal. As the oceans absorb more and more heat each year, the smallest creatures are at risk. These are the plankton at the base of food chains in oceans (also lakes). Collapsing food chains happen in “cascades” because every living thing exists in interrelationships. When organisms in that food web die, others die, too, until, like stacked dominoes, the whole system crashes eventually.

Investigate what scientists are reporting with links below and on the side bar of this blog. I like Vitals Signs of the Planet best because it is a snapshot of many indicators scientists are monitoring.

The year 2014 ranks as Earth’s warmest since 1880, according to two separate analyses by NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists.

The 10 warmest years in the instrumental record, with the exception of 1998, have now occurred since 2000. This trend continues a long-term warming of the planet, according to an analysis of surface temperature measurements by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) in New York.

Silence: Near Extinction?

Gordon Hempton tracks silence. Far from a vacuum of sound, Gordon explains that silence is the “absence of noise.”

Gordon Hempton tracks silence. Far from a vacuum of sound, Gordon explains that silence is the “absence of noise.” During a 2012 recorded interview by Krista Tibbett, Hempton said that silence is on the verge of extinction, and that silence is now measured by intervals where there is no noise. There are only 12 places in the U.S. where there is silence for 15 minute intervals (without the interruption of noise). None of them are protected according to Hempton.

Click here for the 2012 interview with Tibbett on OnBeing.org. Very thoughtful exploration of the role of natural sound in our quality of life, ability to be present, and about human impact on the earth.

Click here for Gordon Hempton’s Website with a video of his 30-year tracking of silence around the world, and tracks of the sounds of silence.