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This past week flew by, in odd spurts. Instead of going to the boatyard to erg this morning, I decided to sleep in, and I'm pretty sure it was the right idea. I had to write a humongous e-mail to fellow TBAG members about the projects I mentioned a few posts down, and by the time that was done, it was 9:30. From there, I headed in to school to do a photo shoot for this project we're putting together on how to build an ant farm out of 2 CD cases. The photos turned out tremendously well, but I can't say I had much to do with that. The whole project is going to be extremely cool when it's finished, and I'm particularly excited about it because it's a great form of science outreach. The next thing we're going to have to do is put together more content on how to collect ants, and then basic stuff on ant morphology (body parts). Oh the fun never ends.
In the midst of all that, I had to help write a letter of recommendation for Ms.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
myrmecology's research scholarship application, and then attended an undergraduate poster symposium. But by now, my brain isn't really functioning properly. Fortunately, the only other plans I have for today are to go to an opening reception for some shows at the art museum. That's all. Heh.
I wish I had something more profound to report; I've been continuing to read Small is Beautiful and have been appreciating a chapter on Buddhist economics for its perspective on right living. It's refreshing to think about an economic system not based on maximizing profit, but instead based on maximizing human well-being. At the same time that those economic ideas slosh about in my mind, other ideas about energy slosh around as well, as I ponder my participation in the Emergy project. Consider this, for example: supposedly on Saturday, we're all supposed to remember to cut back our energy use to basically nothing for an hour, as some kind of symbolic gesture in recognition of the relationship between our energy consumption and global warming. It's the same old negative message about energy.
Emergy, in contrast, forced me to think otherwise, to see myself as an integrated part of the energy production-consumption process. I'll never be able to look at exercise bikes in the gym in the same way, ever again (how futile!). I don't know if I'll get to the point of powering my computer via bicycle, but I hope I at least start to pay more attention to flagrant wastes of energy. One of the people who rowed right after I finished one day commented that the experience of rowing was especially marked at night--after she left, she was so much more aware of how many lights were on outside. It's different when you can put the amount of light into human, physical terms--given how tired I felt after powering a small bank of lights for 30 minutes (not that tired, but still), I'm exhausted just thinking about how much energy goes into maintaining the lighting and temperature in the lab where I do my research. Emergy was a much more intimate experience of energy consumption.
In the midst of all that, I had to help write a letter of recommendation for Ms.
myrmecology's research scholarship application, and then attended an undergraduate poster symposium. But by now, my brain isn't really functioning properly. Fortunately, the only other plans I have for today are to go to an opening reception for some shows at the art museum. That's all. Heh.I wish I had something more profound to report; I've been continuing to read Small is Beautiful and have been appreciating a chapter on Buddhist economics for its perspective on right living. It's refreshing to think about an economic system not based on maximizing profit, but instead based on maximizing human well-being. At the same time that those economic ideas slosh about in my mind, other ideas about energy slosh around as well, as I ponder my participation in the Emergy project. Consider this, for example: supposedly on Saturday, we're all supposed to remember to cut back our energy use to basically nothing for an hour, as some kind of symbolic gesture in recognition of the relationship between our energy consumption and global warming. It's the same old negative message about energy.
Emergy, in contrast, forced me to think otherwise, to see myself as an integrated part of the energy production-consumption process. I'll never be able to look at exercise bikes in the gym in the same way, ever again (how futile!). I don't know if I'll get to the point of powering my computer via bicycle, but I hope I at least start to pay more attention to flagrant wastes of energy. One of the people who rowed right after I finished one day commented that the experience of rowing was especially marked at night--after she left, she was so much more aware of how many lights were on outside. It's different when you can put the amount of light into human, physical terms--given how tired I felt after powering a small bank of lights for 30 minutes (not that tired, but still), I'm exhausted just thinking about how much energy goes into maintaining the lighting and temperature in the lab where I do my research. Emergy was a much more intimate experience of energy consumption.
