Hey All!
Welcome to the blog. We know the name may be a be presumptuous, but with this group, I have a good feeling we'll live up to it. First item of business: we need to get a more complete list of discussion topics from everyone. Here are the topics that we generated last Thursday:
Emergent Properties
String Theory
Quantum Physics
Socialized Healthcare
Immigration
Nuclear Power
Alternative Energy
Free Trade
Future of Authoritarian Regimes
Privatization of Education
Political Candidates Overview
Supreme Court Justices Overview
Romney and Mormonism
Gay Marriage/Civil Unions
Law and Religion
Please respond to this post with any additional topics you would like to propose to the group.
After we've received everyone's additions or approval, we'll post the comprehensive list for people to rate their preferences, so we'll have a pool of topics that the group as a whole shares some interest in.
Please respond by Friday, October 12, so we can all have plenty of time to prepare for our first get-together.
Thanks for you input and willingness to participate!
8 comments:
In the wake of the Nobel Peace Prize announcement, I think it might be a good idea to have our first discussion group focus on climate change. What is it? What is the evidence? What are the arguments? What do you think?
There is a major energy appropriations bill coming before congress in the next week, and a lot of people are fuming about 50 billion in loan guarantees going to the nuclear industry. Is it a good time to talk about the pros and cons of nuclear power?
Sounds like that's two counts for alternative energy / climate change, which I'm all for! What would you think of all watching the glorified powerpoint that is "An Inconvenient Truth" as a start? I'd also be willing to do a bit of research to find some articles and/or some short books on nuclear energy - I've seen a number of positive articles in the Economist and even in National Geographic over the last few years.
I think that the energy topic is great. I am interested in the specifics of the appropriations bill since I have no idea which way it leans.
Looking forward to the topic. Are we moving toward a way to narrow it down a bit yet? Some relevant questions I think we might want to put on the agenda (depending on how we want to budget time, this might help us with our reading selection):
* What is the evidence for climate change?
* How can we test the extent to which climate change is the result of human behavior?
* How long do we have left? (What do climate change models actually predict?)
* What will life be like in N years under various models for climate change?
* What policies would enable us to mitigate adverse human effects on the climate?
* Does anything we do in the US matter given China?
* Is there a point of no return? What is it?
* Carbon trading markets: [how] do they work?
* Is publicly changing behavior in order to minimize "carbon footprint" a fad?
I like the idea of narrowing it down, but I think we might still have time to address a number of the topics James mentions - e.g., I imagine "What is the evidence for Climate Change", could be mixed up to some extent in "How much time do we have left?" - which is itself a function of factors such as the growing popularity of conspicuous non-(energy)-consumption, and the policies, both potential and current, which address climate change. I like the idea of wrapping it up with discussion of policies now on the table (either recently in our own government, or in other nations), and looking at which of those might end up being worth while - and which will be expensive and have little effect.
Great suggestions, James and Margaret. I hope in the reading we've picked that the following questions will be answered in our Climate Change 101 text--the Summary from the IPCC:
What is the evidence for climate change?
* How can we test the extent to which climate change is the result of human behavior?
* How long do we have left? (What do climate change models actually predict?)
* What will life be like in N years under various models for climate change?
The idea is that each of us will come to the discussion already knowing the basic answers to each of those questions so we can then focus our discussion on some of the other proposed issues...
* What policies would enable us to mitigate adverse human effects on the climate?
* Does anything we do in the US matter given China?
* Is there a point of no return? What is it?
* Carbon trading markets: [how] do they work?
* Is publicly changing behavior in order to minimize "carbon footprint" a fad?
Margaret cast her vote on the policy side. We'll wait to hear back from everyone else and then send out some additional materials that help us address our focused questions.
Did you decide on a time? I am sorry if it was already posted and I am not seeing it.
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