Monday, January 29, 2007

Eco-Topics at the Addlestone

From Academia to Activism

SPONSORED BY THE ADDLESTONE LIBRARY, College of Charleston, 205 Calhoun Street

The earth is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects.”

-- Dr. Thomas Berry, Eco-Theologian

Please Note: SOME OF THE LOCATIONS HAVE BEEN CHANGED.

In response to our current ecological challenges, these events are designed as a series of teach-ins for the public as well as to supplement classroom courses. All events include ample opportunity for audience Q /A and discussion. Convenient public parking is available at the college garage at 81 St. Philip Street (next to the Bell Building) and at the Francis Marion Garage on King Street.

FEB. 1, Thursday, 3:30-5:00 p.m. - Location changed to Maybank Hall, Room 100

Documentary Film: “KILOWATT OURS” (2004)

Presenter: TIM WILLARD, Executive Board Member, Sustainable Campus Initiative (SCI); Environmental Studies (Graduate Student). Did you know that American schools spend more on energy bills than they do on computers and text books combined? Did you know that the average home in the Southeast uses 30% more electricity per month than the national average? Please see the film, and then join Tim Willard afterwards as he shares creative ideas about how each of us can reduce our usage of non-renewable energy resources.

FEB. 8, Thursday, 6:15-8:15 p.m. - Location changed to Admissions Auditorium, Robert Scott Small Bldg. (Old Library)

Also - The time is now 15 minutes later - no longer at 6:00 p.m.

Panel Discussion with Q & A: “ALTERNATIVE ENERGY IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Moderator: F. SCOT FITZGERALD, Geology Department (Senior Student).

Panelists: ARY FUN, Southeast Biodiesel, will discuss the innovative use of recycled vegetable oil and other alternatives to conventional automotive fuel use; JONATHAN BROWN, Clean Cities International, will inform us about his organization’s work in Charleston to create a government-industry partnership designed to reduce consumer petroleum consumption; BRENDT RUEGER, New Generation Craftsmen, will talk about the trend in green building; and LIZ KRESS, Santee Cooper, will present information about new developments in Green Power by utility companies in South Carolina.

FEB. 13, Tuesday, 4:00-6:00 p.m. - Location changed to Admissions Auditorium, Robert Scott Small Bldg. (Old Library)

Documentary Film: “WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?” (2006)

Presenter: PROF. SETH PRITCHARD, Biology Dept., will lead a discussion and answer questions after the film. This entertaining documentary provides a post-mortem exploration of GM’s electric car, the EV1. Massive numbers of this model were intentionally destroyed even as it was gaining in popularity. Director Chris Paine playfully searches for the various “culprits” involved in its demise as though this were a murder mystery with a host of suspects. His goal in making the film is to spread awareness to consumers about alternative modes of transportation.

FEB. 20, Tuesday, 6:00-8:00 p.m. - Currently scheduled for Addlestone Library, Room 227, but pay attention to library website.

Documentary Film: “SAVING SANDY ISLAND(2006)

Presenters: TRENHOLM WALKER, lawyer, and DANA BEACH, Director of the Coastal Conservation League. The CCL and the Sandy Island Community Action Club collaborated over the course of 3 years to turn away development from the island and to provide permanent protection. Trenholm Walker provided legal representation for the residents pro bono during that period and served as the liaison between the community and the Coastal Conservation League. Q & A to follow.

FEB. 22, Thursday, 6:00-8:00 p.m. - currently scheduled for Addlestone Library, Room 227, but pay attention to library website.

Presentation with Q & A: “JOHNS ISLAND: THEN AND NOW”

Presenter: BILL SAUNDERS, Director and CEO of the Committee on Better Racial Assurance (COBRA).

What was the African American culture of Johns Island like fifty or more years ago, and how was it impacted by the development of Kiawah Island? More importantly, what kind of impact will currently planned urban development have on Johns Island? Bill Saunders will talk about the history and culture of this rural sea island – the second largest island on the East Coast – and the potentially devastating consequences that urban development will have on long-standing communities and Gullah culture.

FEB. 27, Tuesday, 6:00-8:00 p.m. - currently scheduled for Addlestone Library, Room 227, but pay attention to library website

PowerPoint Presentation with Q & A: “PARADISE LOST? The Story of Longleaf Pine”

Presenter: DR. JEAN EVERETT, Botanist, Dept of Biology

Longleaf pine ecosystems once covered 90 million acres of the Southeastern Coastal Plain with magnificent forests and astonishing biodiversity. The story of longleaf – exploited by old growth timbering and turpentining, industrial forests and urban development – is the history of the economy and culture of our region. Today, the longleaf ecosystem is 97% gone, and with it many rare plants and animals. Come and learn what you can do to help preserve and restore the Francis Marion and other bejeweled Southeastern forests.

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MAR. 15, Thursday, 3:15-5:00 p.m. - location will probably change

Doc. Film: “BANKING ON DISASTER: The Grave Consequences of Building a Road through the Heart of Amazonia (1987)

Presenter: DR. MARCELA RABI, Hispanic Studies, will highlight the Amazon Rainforest as a case study analysis of the ways in which human activities cause environmental degradation, focusing on the micro- and macro-politics of development. She will show the connection between local sustainability, governmental policies, foreign interests and other stakeholders in the spectrum of rainforest deforestation.

MAR. 22, Thursday, 6:00-8:00 p.m. - pay attention to library website

Presentation with Q & A: “AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS”

Presenter: PROF. JOHN RASHFORD, Anthropologist, Ethnobotanist, Department of Sociology/Anthropology. Prof. Rashford takes a look at the root of the world environmental crisis as it relates to culture-based human reproduction success and our need for an ever-increasing mode of intensive adaptation. He discusses humanity’s species-specific capacity for innovation, but contends that ecological crises can be resolved only with a deep comprehension of the paradigm from which these problems developed.

MAR. 24, Saturday, 1:00-3:00 p.m. - Participants will meet at Cistern in front of Randolph Hall

Workshop: “ON THE WAY HOME: Ecosteries and Natural Systems Thinking Process”

Presenter: DAN SHELTON, Graduate Student in Integrated Ecology and Applied Eco-psychology, Institute of Global Education. How can we best learn about humanity’s connection with the rest of nature? Thinking, when trained in abstract ways, can easily become alienated from nature’s rhythms. Such thinking, when applied to nature management policies, can create disruptive ecological effects. Spend some time with Dan Shelton in this relaxing outdoor workshop where he will teach participants ways to reconnect with our natural sensory perceptions.

APR. 5, Thursday, 6:00-8:00 p.m. - location will probably change

Documentary Film: “THIRST” (2004)

Co-Presenters: PROF. TIM CALLAHAN, Geology and Environmental Geosciences, and a Representative from Water Missions International. Every individual’s life and health is dependent upon having an adequate supply of clean water. Yet 2.6 billion people lack access to this basic resource, according to a 2006 U.N. report. While water shortage is reaching an epidemic global crisis, multi-national corporations are increasingly treating water as a commodity to be bought and sold. Is water a basic human right? Following the film, Prof. Tim Callahan will discuss the international politics and policies of water resources. The WMI representative will talk about the work of this Charleston-based organization in providing water treatment technology for developing regions around the world.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Media Collections Welcomes New Semester

Addlestone Media Collections Welcomes Faculty to the new semester. We are here to support your teaching with films on video. Media Collections is located in Addlestone 350. We have video titles (VHS and DVD) and viewing stations. Come by and browse our collection in person or use the library online catalog. Check out a title to show in your class or put a title on reserve for your students to view in the library.

Faculty may check out up to three videos for three days. Students may view videos in-library only in Media Collections. Faculty members may put video titles on reserve to guarantee that specific titles are accessible to their students. Such videos will be held at the library Circulation Desk and will be available for in-library use during Circulation Desk hours.

You may order videos to be used for the educational support of your teaching from your departmental book budgets. Requests may be sent through your departmental liaison. Departmental liaisons are listed here: http://www.cofc.edu/~library/cd/liaisons.html.

Other requests for new or replacement video titles may be sent directly to Jared Seay (843-953-1428 or seayj@cofc.edu).

Further details of Media Collection policies including group viewing, putting videos on reserve, campus delivery of videos, finding videos in the library catalog etc. can be found at: http://www.cofc.edu/~library/media/media.html

Media Collections Hours
Monday – Thursday: 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m
Friday, 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m
Sunday: 2:00 p.m – 7:00 p.m

Phone: 843-953-8040

Contacts:

Jared Seay
Head, Media Collections
seayj@cofc.edu
953-1428

Cathy Evans
Media Collections Programming
evansc@cofc.edu
953-8040

Thursday, January 04, 2007

ECO-TOPICS AT THE ADDLESTONE

From Academia to Activism

SPONSORED BY THE ADDLESTONE LIBRARY, College of Charleston, 205 Calhoun Street. All events except one** (March 24th) will be in ADDLESTONE, ROOM 227

“The earth is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects.”
Dr. Thomas Berry, Eco-Theologian

In response to our current ecological challenges, these events are designed as a series of teach-ins for the public as well as to supplement classroom courses. All events include ample opportunity for audience Q /A and discussion. Convenient public parking is available at the college garage at 81 St. Philip Street (next to the Bell Building) and at the Francis Marion Garage on King Street.

For additional information, please contact Cathy Evans, evansc@cofc.edu; 953-8040.

JAN. 18, Thursday, 6:00-8:30 p.m.
Documentary Film: “AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH” (2006)

Presenter: PROF. MITCHELL COLGAN, Chair, Geology and Environmental Geosciences and Director of NASA’s South Carolina Space Grant Consortium. Popular debates aside, scientific evidence strongly indicates human activities are increasingly altering the Earth’s climate. Come see Al Gore’s recent blockbuster documentary about our inconvenient planetary crisis. Then stay and discuss the documentary with a scientist who studies global climate change.

JAN. 25, Thursday, 6:00-8:15 p.m.
Documentary Film: “ARITHMETIC, POPULATION, AND ENERGY: Forgotten Fundamentals of the Energy Crisis” (2004)

Presenter: PROF. REID WISEMAN, Biology Dept., uses basic arithmetic to explain the inevitable consequences of exponential human population growth and unlimited use of the earth’s finite resources. He poses the following questions for discussion: “Can Zero Population Growth (ZPG) be reached only if it is integrated with Zero Economic Growth (ZEG)?” “Can both goals be reached in a capitalistic global society?” “Are the ‘End-Timers’ delusional?” “Can scientific humanism rescue us?”

FEB. 1, Thursday, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
Documentary Film: “KILOWATT OURS” (2004)

Presenter: TIM WILLARD, Executive Board Member, Sustainable Campus Initiative (SCI); Environmental Studies (Graduate Student). Did you know that American schools spend more on energy bills than they do on computers and text books combined? Did you know that the average home in the Southeast uses 30% more electricity per month than the national average? Please see the film, and then join Tim Willard afterwards as he shares creative ideas about how each of us can reduce our usage of non-renewable energy resources.

FEB. 8, Thursday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Panel Discussion with Q & A: “ALTERNATIVE ENERGY IN SOUTH CAROLINA”

Moderator: F. SCOT FITZGERALD, Geology Department (Senior Student).

Panelists: ARY FUN, Southeast Biodiesel, will discuss the innovative use of recycled vegetable oil and other alternatives to conventional automotive fuel use; JONATHAN BROWN, Clean Cities International, will inform us about his organization’s work in Charleston to create a government-industry partnership designed to reduce consumer petroleum consumption; BRENDT RUEGER, New Generation Craftsmen, will talk about the trend in green building; and LIZ KRESS, Santee Cooper, will present information about new developments in Green Power by utility companies in South Carolina.

FEB. 13, Tuesday, 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Documentary Film: “WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?” (2006)

Presenter: PROF. SETH PRITCHARD, Biology Dept., will lead a discussion and answer questions after the film. This entertaining documentary provides a post-mortem exploration of GM’s electric car, the EV1. Massive numbers of this model were intentionally destroyed even as it was gaining in popularity. Director Chris Paine playfully searches for the various “culprits” involved in its demise as though this were a murder mystery with a host of suspects. His goal in making the film is to spread awareness to consumers about alternative modes of transportation.

FEB. 20, Tuesday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Documentary Film: “SAVING SANDY ISLAND” (2006)

Presenters: TRENHOLM WALKER, lawyer, and DANA BEACH, Director of the Coastal Conservation League. The CCL and the Sandy Island Community Action Club collaborated over the course of 3 years to turn away development from the island and to provide permanent protection. Trenholm Walker provided legal representation for the residents pro bono during that period and served as the liaison between the community and the Coastal Conservation League. Q & A to follow.

FEB. 22, Thursday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Presentation with Q & A: “JOHNS ISLAND: THEN AND NOW”

Presenter: BILL SAUNDERS, Director and CEO of the Committee on Better Racial Assurance (COBRA).

What was the African American culture of Johns Island like fifty or more years ago, and how was it impacted by the development of Kiawah Island? More importantly, what kind of impact will currently planned urban development have on Johns Island? Bill Saunders will talk about the history and culture of this rural sea island – the second largest island on the East Coast – and the potentially devastating consequences that urban development will have on long-standing communities and Gullah culture.

FEB. 27, Tuesday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
PowerPoint Presentation with Q & A: “PARADISE LOST? The Story of Longleaf Pine”
Presenter: DR. JEAN EVERETT, Botanist, Dept of Biology

Longleaf pine ecosystems once covered 90 million acres of the Southeastern Coastal Plain with magnificent forests and astonishing biodiversity. The story of longleaf – exploited by old growth timbering and turpentining, industrial forests and urban development – is the history of the economy and culture of our region. Today, the longleaf ecosystem is 97% gone, and with it many rare plants and animals. Come and learn what you can do to help preserve and restore the Francis Marion and other bejeweled Southeastern forests.

MAR. 15, Thursday, 3:15-5:00 p.m.
Doc. Film: “BANKING ON DISASTER: The Grave Consequences of Building a Road through the Heart of Amazonia (1987)

Presenter: DR. MARCELA RABI, Hispanic Studies, will highlight the Amazon Rainforest as a case study analysis of the ways in which human activities cause environmental degradation, focusing on the micro- and macro-politics of development. She will show the connection between local sustainability, governmental policies, foreign interests and other stakeholders in the spectrum of rainforest deforestation.

MAR. 22, Thursday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Presentation with Q & A: “AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS”

Presenter: PROF. JOHN RASHFORD, Anthropologist, Ethnobotanist, Department of Sociology/Anthropology. Prof. Rashford takes a look at the root of the world environmental crisis as it relates to culture-based human reproduction success and our need for an ever-increasing mode of intensive adaptation. He discusses humanity’s species-specific capacity for innovation, but contends that ecological crises can be resolved only with a deep comprehension of the paradigm from which these problems developed.

MAR. 24, Saturday, 1:00-3:00 p.m.** (**Participants will meet at the Cistern in front of Randolph Hall. )
Workshop: “ON THE WAY HOME: Ecosteries and Natural Systems Thinking Process”

Presenter: DAN SHELTON, Graduate Student in Integrated Ecology and Applied Eco-psychology, Institute of Global Education. How can we best learn about humanity’s connection with the rest of nature? Thinking, when trained in abstract ways, can easily become alienated from nature’s rhythms. Such thinking, when applied to nature management policies, can create disruptive ecological effects. Spend some time with Dan Shelton in this relaxing outdoor workshop where he will teach participants ways to reconnect with our natural sensory perceptions.

APR. 5, Thursday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Documentary Film: “THIRST” (2004)

Co-Presenters: PROF. TIM CALLAHAN, Geology and Environmental Geosciences, and a Representative from Water Missions International. Every individual’s life and health is dependent upon having an adequate supply of clean water. Yet 2.6 billion people lack access to this basic resource, according to a 2006 U.N. report. While water shortage is reaching an epidemic global crisis, multi-national corporations are increasingly treating water as a commodity to be bought and sold. Is water a basic human right? Following the film, Prof. Tim Callahan will discuss the international politics and policies of water resources. The WMI representative will talk about the work of this Charleston-based organization in providing water treatment technology for developing regions around the world.