Recently in Beyond the Classroom Category

This was reported by Democracynow.org November 29th (yesterday).

Just wanted to share...

BP Sued in Ecuadorian Court For Violating Rights of Nature
A coalition of environmentalists have filed a groundbreaking lawsuit in Ecuador against the oil giant BP for violating Ecuador's constitution which recognizes "the rights of Nature" across the globe. Plaintiffs include Nnimmo Bassey, the president of Friends of the Earth International and the Indian scientist Vandana Shiva.

Vandana Shiva: "This morning we filed in the constitutional court of Ecuador this lawsuit defending the rights of nature in particular the right of the Gulf of Mexico and the sea which has been violated by the BP oil spill. We see this as a test case of the rights of nature enshrined in the constitution of Ecuador--it's about universal jurisdiction beyond the boundaries of Ecuador because nature has rights everywhere."

Anyone who is interested in environmental toxins and links to cancer should check out this movie or her book by the same title. She is a great writer, and makes a lot of complex scientific information understandable for those who are not advanced scientists. In the book (and I assume the movie as well) she traces her journey of overcoming and tracing her own battle with cancer, and explains both the science as well as the politics of cancer through an environmental lens. Enjoy.

The Empathic Civilisation

Paul Hawken was brought up in today's Environmental Justice presentation. I tried to explain his book "Blessed Unrest", but in case I failed to convey his amazingness I wanted to post these. Some ideas of his that resonate with me are:

'democracy and evolution work better than command and control'

'dispersing the pathological concentrations of power'

Thoughts? Insightful? Realistic? Is emphasis on smaller projects and initiatives harmful or helpful? What if they amount, as Hawken claims, to over 1 million organizations?

Hi class!

During a discussion with a student today, I realized that creating a category specifically devoted to extending aspects of our classroom discussions beyond the classroom might be useful. Of course, the blog is intended to do just that, but the blog also has to discuss our readings with regard to pop artifacts. Instead, feel free to use this category as a location to speak up when you may have refrained in class, to write about things you've thought up long after we've finished a topic, or bring in questions, ideas--any extension, really--that you would have liked to have seen covered in class.

One of the things I lament about how the course is structured, both with regard to our very short class periods, as well as the way I designed our syllabus, is our lack of time for delving deeper into issues. I wanted the classroom experience and your readings to touch a variety of issues, to pique the interest of as many students as possible, as well as to demonstrate what a wide and varied field feminist science studies is. Yet of course we sacrifice deeper, more nuanced and analytical discussions in doing so. I hope you'll consider this and use the blog as well as your essays to delve further into issues you feel deserve more time and attention.

Michelle