education and our classroom

When we think about it, for most of human history Nature has been our "classroom" where we learned and developed as a species. Our ancient clocks were to be found in sun, seasons, solstices and equinoxes, and thus we lived our lives at a more "natural" pace. Until the Industrial Revolution and consequent urbanization, education involved significant time spent outdoors in a variety of activities depending on social class. Farming, hunting, working with animals, martial arts and exploration would engage all of our senses and require a complex array of embodied intelligences.

As changes in technology caused massive demographic shifts, rural workers displaced by new agricultural technologies, moved from open fields to factories in cities rigidly controlled by the ubiquitous but nearly subconscious clock.





"hurry up please,
it's time!"




Naturally, with such massive socioeconomic changes it would be reasonable and necessary to deploy some kind of organizational plan to encourage smooth social interaction, but the priorities of industry came to dominate the worker and the landscape as factory life and home life became increasingly Taylorized and our lives became gradually infused with measurement in the name of an unquestioned "efficiency."


In one of the film-texts we discuss over the semester, the 1936 semi-silent classic film Modern Times in which Charlie Chaplin creates a hilarious (sometimes horrific) exploration of the impact of technology on the body of the worker. Though the film could have had full sound, Chaplin significantly chose to give voice only to certain "characters," a touch pregnant with relevance for today. The link above contains the whole movie and the first 15 minutes is worth a peek, but the whole movie should be seen on full-size DVD for best results. Though EARTH Lodge emphasizes the necessity of outdoor education, when in class we also engage with a variety of Web 2.0 technologies both as critical viewers and thoughtful creators rather than merely passive consumers of web content. This blog is an example of the variety of our explorations and one example of the media we use.



Today, though many progressive teachers are breaking old patterns and deploying new ones, the impact of the Industrial Revolution still echoes in our emphasis on tightly scheduled clock time, obsessive productivity and rigidly arranged classrooms with rows of desks all facing forward, facing the sole source of authoritative information. This is not an arrangement that encourages engagement or honors the knowledge brought by the student. Often this arrangement can stifle creativity and promote passivity.


This is the limited model EARTH Lodge seeks to transcend.


There may or may not be such a thing as Nature Deficit Disorder, but it's not hard to see how disconnected we are becoming from Nature since most of us cannot build a fire, construct a shelter or grow our own food as our ancestors have done for most of human history. It may be worthwhile reconsidering whether our current relationship to technology enhances or detracts from our evolutionary potential. If adaptation is the crucial behavior for survival and evolution, are we becoming more able to adapt?

These are some of the questions, ideas and issues we explore in our American Literature course "Natural Reflections in Fiction and Nonfiction" where we examine a variety of texts in terms of their literary qualities as well as their contribution to our reflections about humanity and our relationship to nature and technology. These readings and discussions are enhanced by outdoor activities and other events specifically planned and executed by Lodge members.

We have had City Naturalist Ralph White come to speak to us about the significance of the geology of the falls of the James River and the importance of grassroots involvement in the parks. In the second semester of the EARTH Lodge year we work on projects througout Richmond's 500+ acre James River Park System. Sometimes we meet for class down by the river, or take a dip on a hot day after classes. The nearby Pony Pasture Park section is 130 acres of riparian woodland that is home to deer, fox, raccoon, beaver, turtles, squirrels, possum and dozens of species of birds. To the close observer, the area is full of intriguing signs and information relevant to our readings...and our other courses!

swimming, fishing, boating, birdwatching...

reflecting on seed
deployment technology

remnants of a meal??

can you spot the
paw-paw fruit in
the leaves below?

Mallards cruising up river

EARTH Lodge begins the semester on the Friday before classes start with a pre-semester retreat to learn new skills, get to know each other and discuss our readings for the course. The 2008 crew rented a CCC cabin at Doyles River in Shenandoah National Park and discovered just how comfortable life can be in the absence of modern technologies....well, except for the outhouse - now that was heinous!





Note: EARTH Lodge is not for everyone and it may not be for you if you:
*only want to be in Lakeview but don't care about the Lodge
*are over-scheduled so you cannot make most of the trips
*are not interested in forming community
*are resistant to regular outdoor experiences
*prefer to take direction than initiative
*dislike being challenged intellectually, socially and physically


If you're interested in learning more, come join me for a Fire Circle at "Owl's Nest" on Friday 2/13 6-7PM. We're at 7313 Longview Drive just above Pony Pasture. Cross Huguenot, take 1st right after bridge and turn Right on to Riverside Dr.
Continue past Pony Pasture parking lot (on left) and bear Right at Yeild sign to take the next Left on to Longview Drive. We're at the crest of the hill on the right, past Longview Ct.
Look for the Spider flag.

Hope to see you there!
(hot drinks will be provided)

creativity, survival & evolution

Though we don't often think about it, creativity is essential for our survival and evolution, both as individuals and as a species. One of the functions of the EARTH Lodge program is to provide an environment for creative expression and the inspiration to pursue it. For example, in the original Lodge (then called "Outdoor House") local artist Cristian Koshock came by to teach us about hand-building clay pottery, and this past equinox local teacher and community activist Ram Bhagat educated us about rhythm and drumming in the gazebo on Westhampton Lake.

And, in EARTH Lodge, "Creative expression" is a broad term that includes conversation, writing or dance as well as digital creations such as this group video composed by '08 Lodge members:"The Creativity Project." Lodge members also pursue more material creations such as linoleum block printing. This print, created by '08 Lodge member Jimmy Rague, is a good example of such a print. As we race into the digital age, elder technologies often slip away unnoticed and we are the poorer for it. Is there a good reason why we cannot retain the best of the old as we more thougtfully select and embrace the new? Why shouldn't we know how to build a fire as well as a website?

One of the unique aspects of EARTH Lodge is that the goal of more thoughtful engagement with technology and nature for the purpose of collecting a full quiver of skills, both old and new, that have joyful as well as practical purposes. In a time of crisis when the "experts" and promoters of orthodox economic,social and intellectual practices have been proven so wrong, it can be empowering to develop and exercise creative thinking for truly new solutions while learning practical new skills, both primitive and high tech - a mixture that enhances our ability to adapt and survive in a wider variety of circumstances.

Real learning involves far more than just reading and writing, although these are obviously essential. In his 1837 address to the Phi Beta Kappa Society at a Cambridge graduation, Emerson noted that the three main influences upon the mind are that of nature, books and action. He says that "the first in time and the first in importance of the influences upon the mind is that of nature," and that although books are important neither they nor the ideas they contain should master us since "Man Thinking must not be subdued by his instruments." It is the actively engaged life, the one that takes risks, intellectual, emotional and physical, that is rich with learning from direct experience rather than hearsay.

Emerson explains why action is so important for the scholar and he describes how it functions to substantially enhance our more academic learning: "There goes in the world a notion, that the scholar should be a recluse, a valetudinarian,--as unfit for any handiwork or public labor, as a penknife for an axe. .... Action is with the scholar subordinate, but it is essential. Without it, he is not yet man. Without it, thought can never ripen into truth....
The preamble of thought, the transition through which it passes from the unconscious to the conscious, is action. Only so much do I know, as I have lived. Instantly we know whose words are loaded with life, and whose not.

The world,--this shadow of the soul, or other me, lies wide around. Its attractions are the keys which unlock my thoughts and make me acquainted with myself. I run eagerly into this resounding tumult. I grasp the hands of those next me, and take my place in the ring to suffer and to work, taught by an instinct, that so shall the dumb abyss be vocal with speech. I pierce its order; I dissipate its fear; I dispose of it within the circuit of my expanding life. So much only of life as I know by experience, so much of the wilderness have I vanquished and planted, or so far have I extended my being, my dominion. I do not see how any man can afford, for the sake of his nerves and his nap, to spare any action in which he can partake. It is pearls and rubies to his discourse. Drudgery, calamity, exasperation, want, are instructors in eloquence and wisdom. The true scholar grudges every opportunity of action past by, as a loss of power."


It was hard to remember this while squatting beneath a 1000 lb. horse, but I have no doubt of the wisdom of Emerson's insight!

Marshall McLuhan

Herbert Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar – a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and, above all, a communications theorist. His work is considered one of the major cornerstones of the study of media theory. Born in Alberta, Canada, McLuhan attended the University of Manitoba for his undergraduate but was truly influenced in his graduate work at the University of Cambridge where he studied New Criticism which advocated a close reading and attention to the texts themselves, while rejecting criticism based on extra-textual sources, especially an author’s biography.

McLuhan’s interest with New Criticism led him to one of his major concepts, "the medium is the message." This concept, in short, states that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message. He proposes that media themselves, not the content they carry, should be the focus of study; he said that the medium affects the society in which it plays a role not only by the content delivered over the medium, but by the characteristics of the medium itself. Therefore, McLuhan argued that regardless of what is on television, the effects on society would be identical. His other main concept was that of "the global village," which explains how the electric communications media restores Western civilization through different features expressed by oral cultures. The mass media is essential in disseminating these ideas and in achieving the major goal which is to build consensus through generating public understanding.

What would McLuhan have to say about today’s society which values technology perhaps more than any other age before it? What would McLuhan have to say about YouTube or blogs? It is a society which is truly globalizing, disseminating ideas and revolutions thoroughly throughout the world. As McLuhan said, the technological age brings about a reinstituting of man’s participation in society that the literary culture of the early west took away. Technology today is creating an ever-growing global village while the media we use more and more (the internet) is shaping society as its predecessors have done before it.

Here is a video essay I helped create which stems from McLuhan's "medium is the message" theory though it branches off into a broader sort of message:

Infomercials, QVC, & HSN: Do I Really Need That?

When suffering from bouts of late night (or early morning) insomnia, nothing puts me to sleep like the smiles and promises that flash across the television screen during an infomercial. Most of us have seen them--infomercials that offer amazing deals on things we all must have, and home shopping channels that we must call right away to ensure we get the item we need before it sells out. When we see that the seller is "throwing in free gifts," reducing the number of payments if we call within the next three minutes, and boasting high customer satisfaction through "unscripted" testimonials, it's hard not to fall for such attractive offers. Each of us starts to tell ourselves, "Yes, I really do need a steam cleaner," and "I've always wanted to make my own ice cream." And of course, we're always in luck because for a limited time only, the handy steam cleaner of your dreams only costs three easy payments of $39.99 and the easy-to-use ice cream maker comes with a free, revolutionary ice cream scooper.

Why are we lured so easily into buying things we just don't need, or even want? Has our culture become so rooted in materialism that we cannot make the distinction between wants and needs anymore? Bill McKibben in The Age of Missing Information says that, "On these channels—the shopping networks, the channels that devote half their day to the ‘infomercials’—you are more and more encouraged to buy simply because the very act of buying will make you feel good” (123). This is an insightful thought that not only makes me think about where human desire might stem from, but also about people's decision-making abilities in an economic sense.

One assumption in economics is that when consumers buy something, they make a logical decision based on perceived value and the belief that the benefit they will receive will be greater than the cost incurred to purchase the item. However, many times, consumers don't exactly know if the cost of buying an item will be less than the benefit they will receive from it. This is a topic discussed frequently in the field of behavioral economics. In this relatively new field, psychology and economics meet, leading economists to better understand some of the economic decisions people make everyday that are seem irrational.

Here are some links to interesting articles about the behavioral economics:

Why We Buy What We Buy

Behavioral Economics on Why We Buy What We Buy

And here is the video I made about infomercials, QVC, and HSN:

Interpreting the Natural World: Science vs. Religion

Christ Saint John of the Cross

Salvador Dali

Which side are you on? Even in today’s headlines, the historically caustic relationship between science and religion is evident. Yet are the two really so incompatible?

Some of the tension between these two belief systems is evident simply through their definitions. Science is defined as a state of knowing, religion, a state of belief (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989). Furthermore, with the break-neck pace of technology, science is creating possibilities that, while physically possible, are thought to be morally wrong. Some argue that this dichotomy is harmonious, that the two balance and complement each other.

McKibben supports this in his book, Age of Missing Information when he describes a lava flow that wipes out an entire village:
"I think anyone who has worked around the lava flow has a feeling that there is a power our there greater than ourselves, and that is greater than something we can quantify with our numbers and the data we collect. There is nothing about Pele that is incompatible with science… Science hasn't undermined the feeling that God is present in the natural world- if anything, it’s sharpened it, shown scientists ever more sharply the limits of human understanding, continually increased their respect for the harmony around us." (93)
This sentiment has been echoed by many prominent scientists, even though less than 10% of them believe in God (Eukland, 2007). Sir Bacon, Galileo, Kelvin, and Einstein all echoed the aforementioned quote. There are examples in the scientific and natural world that are awe-inspiring, that make one experience what Freud called an “oceanic feeling”, that something bigger is out there. One of the most intriguing of these examples is the Fibbonacci numbers and the golden ratio.

The Fibonacci numbers work by beginning with zero, then one, and each subsequent number is the sum of the two previous numbers in the following way: 1/1=1, 2/1=2, 3/2=1.5…, 5/3=1.6666…, 8/5=1.6, 13/8=1.625, 21/13=1.61538. As the sequence proceeds, it approaches Phi/the golden ratio (1.61803399). This seemingly arbitrary number is seen all throughout the natural, art, and architecture worlds. Some examples where the golden ratio is found are shells, pine cones, the breeding pattern of bees, the Vetruvian man, the Mona Lisa, Michahelangelo’s Holy Family, the Great Pyramid, and the Parthenon . Some say that DaVinci was the first to apply this golden ratio to the perfect face, and how it is seen in the faces of those society considers beautiful.

All these examples, however, are from the past. There are no examples of this ratio in most modern art. And as time has gone by, less and less people believe in God. McKibben points out a possible explanation for this phenomenon “only with distance from the natural, larger world that this recognition (worship) begins to dim; in ancient forests, he says, there are no atheists… the awareness of god’s presence is and ever has been the most persistent specific trait of our species (93). Is this true? Does modern society distance us from nature? From religion? And is this inclination to believe innate? A previously mentioned statistic stated that only 10% of scientists believed in God, but 66% consider them to be spiritual. This is an overwhelming trend, of people moving away from organized religion and towards spirituality. What does it mean, and where do religion and science fit into our society? Your life?

More things to consider:

· The Embers and the Stars a book by philosopher Dr. Erazim Kohak, about reflections obtained from building a cottage in the woods (parallels with Annie Dillard?). Dr. Kohak discusses nature and human’s role in creation.

· “How to Teach Science to the Pope”

The Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio

Are you a cyberpunk?

Recently, at the suggestion of a friend, I wandered over to a site called I Power - I am the revolution which gave me a new found respect for media sharing and social networking sites on the internet. This medium is based on three principles of being open minded, active thinking and putting your voice into vision. Currently there are 12, 015 members of IPower hailing from Australia to Latvia to Saudi Arabia and Malaysia all sharing videos, blogs and pictures about their daily lives, what they think of the world, happiness, globalization and humanity as whole. Featured groups that member can join and have forums about include "Questions for the opposite sex," "Is 9-11 still an inside job?," "The philosophers of the new renaissance" and most popular, "Net neutrality watchdog." The general themes I noticed were discussions of conspiracy theories, new philosphies that challenge our capitalist world economy, a general concern the use of technology to beat the system and unite on all front and that someone or something is trying to keep change from happening. All relevent themes in the Cyberpunk manifesto/movement. I speculate that cyberpunk ideals have spread without its followers even recognizing they are part of it.

Cyberpunk is a term crafted by Bruce Bethke and the title for his 1983 science fiction short story "Cyberpunk" about advanced science and informational technology coupled with a radical change in the social order. Bethke's story was followed by William Gibson's 1984 novel Neuromancer where he coined the term "cyberspace" for the artificial digital realms of the Web:
" `Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathe- matical concepts... A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Un- thinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding...' "

The term "cyberpunk" is the welding of the terms cybernetics, which is science studying control and communication, furthermore, the feedback loop that gives a controller information on the result of its actions and punk, which sprang from the youth movement of the 1970s based on counterculture and rebellion. The two combined merge technology and individualism, which often reveals usually dark ideas about the two in the near future. Themes in the genre include a negative ipact of technology on humanity, the fusion of man and machine, corporate control over society, stories that focus on the underground and ubiquitous access to informaiton. The genre has also been a huge part of cinema as well with such cyberpunk films including, A Clockwork Orange, Blade Runner, Twelve Monkeys and Bicentennial Man.

William Gibson has credited Marge Piercy's 1976 novel Woman on the Edge of Time as the birthplace of cyberpunk and it is not a shock to see why. The book deals with two alternate worlds: a potential future one where the main character sees the social and environmental revolutions of her time fulfilled and there exists equality (though war remains), and a contemporary world where the elite homogenize and subdue the population with drugs and try to control society through technology. Piercy's critiques ring loud on what is the appropriate use and ethical limits of technology, what does it mean to be human and what does life mean, but where do these questions come from? How have any cyberpunk authors in any medium, via book, movie or blog formulated their passions around answering these questions?

Marge Piercy has had a pretty troubling early life that may have greatly shaped how she saw the world including the murder of her grandfather, contracting a case of the German measles when she almost died and life on the brink of poverty in Chicago after leaving her first husband. It is possible that life experiences shape the way you see injustice and pain around you, and for cyberpunks, the best way to cope may be to find ways to work within and against the system you are trying to fight. By this, the very use of technology (internet especially) can connect us all to fight a rebellion against a corrupted world order increasingly focused on consumerism and surveillance. Listen here to see how Marge Piercy herself critiques the Patriot Act by posting a reading of her poem on YouTube:



As the Manifesto reads "the soicety which surrounds us is clogged with conservancy pulling everything and everybody to itself, while it sinks slowly in the quicksands of time." Cyberpunks have a rebellious, negative outlook on the state of the world because, the state of the world is negative, rampant with chaos, uncertainty, inequality and injustice. What makes you get to this realization is what I theorize may be biographical and experiential but to the extent you utilize the internet to surf the chaos and cope with these burdens is the degree to which you are in the movement. Are you a cyberpunk?

Bucky Fuller

Who is Buckminster Fuller? I know I had never heard of him until a few days ago when I encountered a mention of him in McKibben's 1992 reflection The Age of Missing Information. While I initially questioned why such an important figure has remained virtually unknown within our society for so many years, I quickly realized that his lack of appearance is simply based on the subject he studied and the way he went about his discoveries.

In today’s society, a formal college education is a must, however "Bucky" decided that formal education only limited his creative ability and after being expelled twice from Harvard decided not to return to college. One may wonder how someone could ever be influential without receiving a college degree. The answer is creativity, something Bucky had and many others lacked or chose to ignore. After considering suicide, Bucky Fuller decided to reevaluate his life and realized that by killing himself his life would have been essentially worthless, and decided that he should take the greater good of humanity into his own hands in an attempt to better the chance of existence of the human race. His life would be a test and he would call himself Guinea Pig B. With confidence Bucky began searching for ways to solve the problems of the world, deciding that the greatest problem would one day be sustainability.

Throughout his career Bucky made various discoveries and inventions as he put his creative and devoted mindset to work. All of his designs focused on how to make and do more with less, the idea that he later named “ephemeralization.” Most notably was his idea of the geodesic dome: a self supporting structure that maximizes space while minimizing materials and cost.

This concept alone revolutionized the design of lightweight backpacking tents, some of which weigh only 10 lbs. yet can withstand 120 mph winds.

Along with his idea of ephemeralization, Fuller was devoted to his idea of "spaceship earth." This idea focused on our world floating alone in space, one large, boundless sphere.

Spaceship earth is a completely closed off environment with limited ability to regenerate natural resources, as our earth actually is. By viewing the world in such a way, Bucky was able to understand that man must use natural resources wisely and scarcely as they are not renewable. He also believed that there is no place for selfishness within spaceship earth and all men must work together for the common goal of survival. Although Bucky worked extremely hard for the progression of his inventions and idea, few people recognized his ideas as credible and viewed him as a crazy futurist with radical perceptions of the world.

Today Bucky’s ideas still linger, however the problems he recognized over fifty years ago still exist. Why is it that we have known of these problems for so long, given possible solutions to fix them, yet have not been able to rally society as a whole in an attempt to cure the issue of human sustainability? I wonder if we would still have the problems we have today had be implemented Bucky’s ideas into our society, or are the problems we face inevitable and incurable? While one will never know, maybe we can think more openly next time a monumental figure such as Bucky Fuller comes around.

In researching Fuller I was amazed by his quirkiness yet ability to think so freely against the norm and strive for unimaginable goals. While I admire him, I do not feel the same about Bill McKibben, who mentions Bucky in his work The Age of Missing Information. While McKibben agrees that mans problem is sustainability he seems to follow Bucky's contemporaries by viewing him as a “crank” with “victorious” yet unrealistic goals and ideas. Will our society ever reach a point where we can come together as a whole and fully accept a person’s ideas or has our individualistic nature been too deeply instilled to escape our own trap?

A video of Bucky Fuller describing his idea of the dymaxion car.