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Online is the new Commute.
(Friday, 08 August 2008) Written by greeniac1217

I was recently reading an article in a small-town newspaper titled, "Gas costs may drive students online". The percentage increase of higher education students taking courses online was shocking!


 At a Front Range Community College, this summer more students were enrolled in online courses than enrolled as full-time commuter students. At the University of Colorado at Boulder, enrollment in online courses was up 20% from last summer. I also noticed that many businesses are offering meetings and other correspondances via the web. 


It is not clear if this rise in online education is directly related to the rise in gas prices. Some students did say, however, that enrolling in online classes will save them about $50/week. And already, Colorado State University is launching a new online degree program called "Global Campus" to help students coap with rising gas prices.


It is fascinating to see how the world is forced to change. I wonder how much this will affect our current education model?


 
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Horticulture Therapy
(Friday, 08 August 2008) Written by greeniac121212

My interest in horticulture therapy began about five years ago, when I volunteered on a farm called Gould Farm in Monterey, Massachusetts.  Gould Farm is a therapeutic community for people with mental illnesses.  When I went to work at Gould Farm, I had never heard of agricultural activities being used as a form of therapy, but it sounded like a cool idea to me.  I had, however, worked on an educationl farm and seen what a calming and joyful impact farming can have on healthy children.


Gould Farm was extremely impressive.  Of course, it wasn't perfect, but it seemed to be at least largely successful in helping people through very tough times in their lives.  Over the course of the past five years, I've seen several other horticulture therapy operations.  Last year, I went to a greenhouse in New York City where people with developmental disabilities worked under the guidance of a therapist.  One man, who was autistic, could not speak at all, but he could sign so well that he could describe to me how a specific plant was going to grow.  It was clear that his work in the greenhouse meant the world to him.


This coming fall, I'm going to be interning at a farm near Ithaca, New York, whose founders were inspired by Gould Farm.  This farm is called Compos Mentis, which, translated from the Latin, means "togetherness of the mind."  It is towards this goal that members of the farm program strive.  


 The American Horticulture Therapy Association  has a fascinating website, which may interest you:


http://www.ahta.org/


I sometimes wonder why farming can have such healing effects.  Is it because we are somehow hardwired to love to be in nature and see the green?  Is it because being out in the fields can be so conducive to good conversation?  I hope to see more horticulture therapry programs spring up and grow in the coming years.   
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Zero Population Growth
(Friday, 08 August 2008) Written by greeniac24

While I have been optimistic about the newfound environmental awareness that has taken hold in the US (better late than never) and pioneered in many European countries, I have nonetheless had a nagging pessimism: the reality of this planet's exponential population growth.  While it is human nature to procreate, so is the survival instinct.  In the last 50 years the world's population has doubled!  Can we expect recycling, driving hybrids, changing energy consumption patterns and sources to sustain the ever-multiplying population?  We currently have a serious world food shortage problem, but how can we strive to lessen and ultimately alleviate this problem when our population continues to strain resources every second of every day?  Many environmentalists have looked to vegetarianism as the true solution to our fuel versus food struggle, but even vegetables take resources and space to grow, and at some point we will have to face the reality of population control measures, whether they be imposed by governments and/or worse, mother nature.  Wouldn't it be better to start the population conversation earlier rather than later, and try to use the power of globalism to craft a reasonable and equitable solution?  I have been surprised by the lack of discourse on this highly important and self-evident (although easily denied or ignored) issue, but recently I have come across a couple of articles published in Mother Earth News addressing the issue and have included the links here: http://www.motherearthnews.com/richfolkscantfixitalone.aspx?blogid=1182 ,   http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/2008-06-01/United-States-Population-Growth.aspx


 
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