Acadian to Marcellus on Science Mondays

photo credit


It was 390,000,000 years ago and mountains were forming around where the Hudson River flows today. This was before dinosaurs at a time when the first vascular plants were considering life on land and with any major disruption there was erosion. As the Acadian Mountains rose, they began to erode.

As the runoff hit the sea it floated and as the heavier stuff sank, the lighter load floated farther away from shore. But it too eventually sank joining with some dead aquatic plants on the way to an ocean floor devoid of oxygen, and thus the carbon content. Those dead plants did not decay properly. The muck became shale with a high carbon content.

Pressure and heat caused the carbon to be transformed into methane and a the slate above and below the shale kept in place. Eventually it would become buried deep below ground except for a few outcroppings including one close to Marcellus, NY.

It would be folded into the Appalachian Mountains.

And then a nation developed that needed energy to live their life style and the geologists saw so much natural gas potential that the Marcellus Shale is now one of the top rocks in the news.

I told my students about all of this, then explained the politics, the environmental concerns, and the daily news that broke.

The problem is the drilling has exploded with very little regulation and close watch. We know things can go terribly wrong. We don't know if things can be done safely.

It is in my state and while I would love for it to go away, the truth is it is here and unless we all decide to live in a much different way I have a hard time saying drill in another backyard. But can we please keep a closer eye on this and determine its true risk before we rush ahead any more? Can we clean up the mess we have made? Can we help those who have been hurt?

I would hope so.


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Science Mondays--- Catastrophs vs Gradualists

photo by chrissam42

I am sure it seemed like it had to be one way or the other way to those who argued the point. Isn't that true to too many arguments. Back in the day I stepped directly into the feud between the direct instructors and the whole linguists. I emerged alive and somewhere in the middle. But that is another story.

This story takes us back to the time when scientists were beginning to see evidence that not every geological change emerged suddenly in gut wrenching catastrophic events. Others clung to all things catastrophic, so an us versus them battle ensued.

While much is gradual: river valleys, continental drift, sedimentation.

It is hard to say that the following are not catastrophic: volcanic eruptions, asteroid impacts.

I am glad I am living in the day when more and more scientists and theologians are saying both happen. The Golden Mean strikes again.

and thus this week we transfer our attention away from the 99.999999999999999% of the universe which we do not call Earth. Glad to be home from space.

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being enthused

Roles change. In the beginning (at my present school) I taught life skills or functional academics, then in a major leap in equilibrium, I became horticulture guy. Now at the school I am introduced as the man who runs horticulture and teaches advance science.

I am well aware of my increase in enthusiasm these past days. Last year I taught physics (2nd time) and human anatomy (1st time). Physics was a breeze in high school then in college it knocked me for a loop for which I will for ever be recovering. And how exactly did I get a degree in Biology without a class on humans? I had way more BIO credits than needed but I was attracted to ecology.

One benefit of teaching where I work is I get questions like, "What science do you want to teach this year?" I wanted to teach biology. But I also added geology. Yes, make life more difficult by teaching something new.

Another benefit... text book choices. I decided to turn away from traditional texts that make eyes go foggy. So I searched on-line. Then in libraries. Then in bookstores (three this past weekend) including this survivor of the big chains in Doylestown, PA. Yesterday I covered our bed with books and went back on the computer trying to make final decisions.




I struggled with this decision more than I do with most. Maybe it was I had an idea of what I wanted to find and kept looking, but a decision had to be made and I did it.

Each class will have a book to cover the basics. But I also wanted the students to read from those who write well about science. The geology students will read John McPhee's Annals of the Former World which combines four of his books of traveling with geologists, including a look at the Delaware Water Gap which could be a long but cool field trip since we could stop at the Boulder Field at Hickory Run ... Here is a photo by Mr. Biggs called "mom goat" at his FLICKR photostream.

( "mom goat" a found photo by Mr Biggs at his FLICKR photostream)

For Biology I chose Anatomy of a Rose by Sharman Apt Russell which is a great book about the life of flowers, not just roses.

Anyway, I am being drawn into these classes. Yesterday I began reading the book sent to me by Loyola Press, A Well Built Faith. In an early chapter, Joe Paprocki compares folk who force relationships with God with those folk who are called by God. Things go better if not perfectly for the latter group. Something is happening here in my heart as I prepare with enthusiasm. I hope that it is arising from a call to teach on subjects for which I have passion and a desire that this will help me to become a better teacher. Speaking of which, I plan to introduce the biology students to birds. Flowers, birds, the land of Pennsylvania they are blessings that deserve my enthusiasm.