Global Warming

Global warming is a concern in Texas and in Austin in particular. Austin I believe is doing a lot to reduce its carbon footprint and become green.
According to a Newsweek article “The CO2 State” (Newsweek - 2008-02-28 by Matthew Philips):
“If Texas were its own country, it would be the 48th most populous in the world, right between North Korea and Ghana. In terms of landmass, at 268,000 square miles it would be the 40th-biggest. But when it comes to environmental impact, Texas is on par with some of the largest, most industrialized nations on the planet.
Were the Lonestar State to secede from the union it would be the world's eighth-largest emitter of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, just behind Canada, with 630 million metric tons spewed into the atmosphere in 2005, according to new figures released this week by the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration. That's actually a reduction of 40 million metric tons since 2003, when Texas was the globe's seventh-largest CO2 contributor. But even though the state is improving, Texas still outpaces the combined emissions of California and Pennsylvania, the states with the second- and third-highest CO2 outputs.”

I think this is a concern that many people in Austin share. Austin, has passed rules to encourage energy efficient construction. The Austin Climate Protection Plan will eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from virtually all municipal activities by the year 2020. This includes powering all City facilities with 100% renewable energy, converting the entire city fleet of vehicles to alternative fuels and electric power, and implementing greenhouse gas reduction plans in every City department.

Things have been busy the last few weeks. Unfortunately a lot of students at school have been sick and I unfortunately have fallen sick too. But I am getting a lot of rest and am ready to get back to teaching on Monday. The students turned in their Mural of a Historical on Monday and they all did a great job. I am really looking forward to seeing the rest of the presentations on Monday.

Technology

I can't imagine my life without technology. I remember the days when the internet was new and we learned to type on typewriters. It is amazing how much things have changed in such a short period of time. In my daily life what technology do I use.....well at home it would be the computer, internet, cable, tv, my alarm clock to wake me up in the morning, my cell phone (which I can't imagine not having around, even though I didn't have one just 15 years ago) and the microwave to heat things up. At school we use lots of technology from computers, projectors, the distance learning lab (which I absolutely love), internet, telephones, and who knows what else there is.

I think the biggest technology innvention of my time period would be the computer. I think that it has completely changed the way we live our life and has broadened our world. The days of relying on telephone calls and the postal service to get our point across is gone. Everything has some sort connection to a computer. I can't imagine life without it.

A reflection on my life.....
The last couple of weeks have been a bit busy. I will mention one historical thing that I think all of us probably watched together and that was the inauguration of President Obama. We used our class time to watch the proceedings and write letters to the new president expressing our concerns and desires. I was very impressed with the letters that my students wrote and how touching so many of them are. It is amazing the knowledge that students have today of world issues or even issues closer to home. It made me very proud.

New Year New Bloggers

The end of the semester was busy but the students did an excellent job on finals. I am really impressed by my students this year. They have made two movies in my class. The first was showing diversity in Austin and the second educated us on different Latin America music genres. The students went above what I thought they would do and I was blown away by the results. I think everyone learned a lot from the project. I am hoping to arrange a Cinco de Mayo celebration for the students with another teacher on campus. We have already gotten St.Edwards Ballet Folklorico to come and perform for us.

We are now starting to learn about Europe and the students are starting to settle back into a normal school day pattern again. I think we all needed a nice long winter break. I spent part of my winter break in Missouri with my family. When I left Texas is was in the upper 70s and very humid....when I arrived in Missouri it was 12. I had a very cold visit to Missouri with a couple of days when the temperature only reached 3 degrees. Its amazing how spoiled I have gotten since I have moved to Texas. I am happy that it did snow when I was back home so I got a white christmas. The rest of my break was spent in Texas. I got to go see my Missouri Tigers play in the Alamo Bowl and win the game in overtime. It was a lot of fun and I hope the Tigers do better next time. The rest of my break was spent relaxing with friends. I wish my break was longer but it was time to come back and start working again.

This semester I am hoping to bring even more students on board with our blogging project. It will be fun to have new people to talk and share with. Thats all for now I look forward to reading all the new posts.