Category Archives: the American Citizen

The End of Nature, FEMA Trailers, and Bed Bugs

Leave a reply

There’s an uncanny relationship between climate change and man’s infringement on nature, the national bed bug plague , and what is likely to be the metaphor of our times, FEMA trailers…more

Before correcting papers, today, and after falling off a horse, I set out and tried to put together some of the material we’ve read in the course with the Clifford Symposium. I asked myself, “what does global health mean to me?”  And, “what are some relationships between class and the environment and global health. If you select “more,” you see what I’m thinking — and what we’ll discuss Tuesday.

Roundtable:Teaching at the Intersection (9/24, 4pm)

1 Reply

Middlebury professors discussed the new interdisciplinary minor that Middlebury is offering in Global Health.

1. Svea Closser, Department of Sociology-Anthropology, Middlebury College

Discussed the creation of the minor

-Outlined some of the courses she teaches for the minor (Core course is SOAN 267 Global Health)

-Growing interest in global health led to creation of minor (Supply and demand)

2.Sarah Stroup, Department of Political Science, Middlebury College

Discussed goals of program: To teach humanitarian and charitable action at home and abroad

-“The causes and solutions to disease are political and economic”

This connects to the theme of the keynote speech given by Dorothy Roberts who claimed that social inequalities created by race lead to higher mortality rates for African-Americans.

-Teaches class on international humanitarian action

-Difference between humanitarian relief on a global scale and community scale

a. Global- Developed countries like the US see disasters as oppurtunities for change, but this is impossible because of pre-existing political problems (Rwanda)

b. Community- Easier to take action because easier to understand social/political dynamics of a smaller group.

3. Steve Viner, Department of Philosophy, Middlebury College

Discussed moral responsibilities we have as wealthy citizens of a developed country and moral dilemmas of global health

-Who should get what in terms of relief

-What moral responsibilities do we have to the global poor

Example: 18 million children die prematurely worldwide due to diseases like malaria.

–Unicef has a program where you can donate 25 dollars to pay for all the vaccinations for a child in a poor country

-It should be our moral duty to donate this money, yet some don’t

-Those who do donate feel like they did something above and beyond the scope of their duties when in reality just did what they should do

-In the case of natural disasters more people likely to give because no one is to blame for situation

-We need to see global poor as our equals

-Thinks that liberal arts leads to better understanding of global health issues because more in tune with social and political issues

4. Robert Cluss, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Dean of Curriculum, Middlebury College

-Discussed the role of liberal arts in minor (side note, this minor perfectly exemplifies an interdisciplinary program, if you look at the professors who spoke they come from chem, religion,soan, poli sci, and philosophy departments)

–Study Abroad plays big role in program

5. Q and A session led by James Davis, Department of religion

  1. [Senior student who started globomed at mid] How do you see the future for Middlebury and the study of global health? Are there any limitations?

-We are lucky to have J-term, allows for lots of innovative and creative classes

-No plans to create major out of minor

2. [Linda White Japanese/WAGS] How much is gender a topic in these courses?

-Courses stress that women’s rights are just natural human rights but applied to women.

3. [Sophomore student] What are we not doing as developed countries to help the underdeveloped countries?

-People aren’t doing the easy things like donating 25 dollars.  Many people can do this but don’t

-We need to realize it’s our duty to help, not optional

4. [Jeremy Greene prof. at Harvard]

How does the combination of all these fields lead to a comprehensive minor?

-The beauty of liberal arts is that everything doesn’t have to make sense.  If you pull knowledge from many different fields and it doesn’t all add up to something understandable, you’ve still learned.

Best,

Cooper and Nick

Are We Pulling in the Same Direction?

13 Replies

Or are we pulling against what we need, since, as Thomas Friedman says, all we have are big problems?

In Too Many Hamburgers, Friedman says that, “For democracy to be effective and deliver the policies and infrastructure our societies need requires the political center to be focused, united and energized. That means electing candidates who will do what is right for the country not just for their ideological wing or whoever comes with the biggest bag of money. For democracies to address big problems — and that’s all we have these days — requires a lot of people pulling in the same direction, and that is precisely what we’re lacking.”

The editorial is interesting in that it points to a particular need for changing our perspective — and our energies, particularly when it comes to work.  It’s very similar to what I said in class, Tuesday, about doing rather than waiting to be told what to do?

Since you guys all determined that geography establishes a context for success — kids with mothers and fathers that are college grads are more apt to go to college and succeed, for instance, to say it in a general way, and the concomitant social class follows this success, thus the inverse is true, too — might the malaise America is in have had some collective affect on the psyche of our citizens, including you?  I mean, your generation’s touchstone is 9/11, since, you’ve experienced decline after decline, negativity after negativity, politically speaking, and you’ve experienced the dumbing down of the public sphere where nothing but a gloss of contemporary America is possible, particularly when mixed with hatred, so I’m wondering what your opinion might be concerning how these conditions affect us psychologically and perhaps hinder what we focus on?

Climate Change and China

14 Replies

The Chinese turn climate change into a work issue, an interesting and worthwhile editorial by T Friedman of The New York Times.

And because runaway pollution in China means wasted lives, air, water, ecosystems and money — and wasted money means fewer jobs and more political instability — China’s leaders would never go a year (like we will) without energy legislation mandating new ways to do more with less. It’s a three-for-one shot for them. By becoming more energy efficient per unit of G.D.P., China saves money, takes the lead in the next great global industry and earns credit with the world for mitigating climate change.

So while America’s Republicans turned “climate change” into a four-letter word — J-O-K-E — China’s Communists also turned it into a four-letter word — J-O-B-S.

“China is changing from the factory of the world to the clean-tech laboratory of the world,” said Liu. “It has the unique ability to pit low-cost capital with large-scale experiments to find models that work.” China has designated and invested in pilot cities for electric vehicles, smart grids, LED lighting, rural biomass and low-carbon communities. “They’re able to quickly throw spaghetti on the wall to see what clean-tech models stick, and then have the political will to scale them quickly across the country,” Liu added. “This allows China to create jobs and learn quickly.”

The question has to be, where is the American will? Why do we move away from science and data? Why are we reluctant to read the tea leaves and act accordingly?