The Seismometer Has Gone Crazy! What's Going On?? (Don't worry, no disasters)

Nothing like putting up a seismometer going crazy to be accused of click-baiting. I mean, what's going on? Is it harmonic tremor, the movement of magma near the surface, ready to cause a catastrophic eruption? Is it a new earthquake swarm? Nah, it's not any of those things. It's education in action.

Our seismometer is a simple version, and the detector is right there in the geology storeroom on the third floor of our science building. It picks up the foot traffic in the corridor outside, so when classes began this week, the unit faithfully recorded the arrival of hundreds of students for the new semester. The large "earthquake" at the very bottom is the exodus of my students at the end of the evening from their class in physical geology.

Welcome all to the new semester!

"Civilization Exists by Geological Consent": Hurricane Sandy, Climate Change, and the 2012 Elections

"Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice" Will Durant

The opposite side of the country, and the opposite problem. A decade-long drought plagues the southwest, as shown in this low-water picture of Lake Mead on the Arizona-Nevada border.

Watching the tragedy unfold along the eastern seaboard, I was struck by the tenuousness of the existence of our society. It is simply unbelievable how quickly things can fall apart when the water rises and the power goes out for more than a few hours. The fragile infrastructure that keeps society going is stressed beyond limits, lives are disrupted, and people start to die.

Anybody who thinks they are somehow immune to natural disasters is deluding themselves. No matter where one lives there are dangers, whether earthquakes, flash floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, heat waves or droughts. With the exception of earthquakes and eruptions, these dangers are related to climate, and they are inextricably related to the changing climate brought about by the buildup of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.

People can choose to "believe" that global warming isn't happening. But that won't change the reality of the phenomenon. They can also chose to not believe in gravity, but that won't keep them from falling off a cliff. Global warming is real, and climate change is happening now, just as predicted (and sometimes with greater intensity than the early predictions of climate scientists).

Knowledge of a threat allows for preparation to meet the threat. Politicians have used and overused this principle in relation to terrorism and national defense throughout our nation's history. Sometimes the threat was real, and sometimes it was exaggerated or even imaginary (weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, anyone?).

Today, unfortunately, the politicians on one side of the aisle in Congress are in a near total state of denial on global climate change. They deny global warming in the face of terrifying heat waves and droughts that have caused havoc in their own states and congressional districts. They deny it in the face of disappearing icecaps and glaciers around the world. And they deny it even as some of America's most iconic cities suffer profound damage from unprecedented storms. The few in their party who understand and accept the findings of climate scientists are not allowed to act for the common good on legislation at the cost of tea-party challenges in subsequent elections.

One of the most stunning moments of the current presidential campaign came when Mitt Romney stood in front of his supporters at the Republican convention and "I'm not in this race to slow the rise of the oceans or to heal the planet" to huge cheers from the crowd. Since Hurricane Sandy devastated the eastern seaboard, he has refused to say anything on climate change, for fear of losing his Tea Party support, or for fear of losing votes from the two-thirds of the U.S. population that accepts the phenomenon of human-induced climate change. His failure to take a clear stand on this issue does not encourage confidence in his leadership abilities.

If we as a society deny the reality of global warming, we will not prepare for the coming changes that will happen, and that is a prescription for disaster. Climate change is one of the most important issues of our time. One party denies its existence. What will they do (or not do) if they are given the reins of government? We lost eight years under the Bush administration, and Republicans put up every possible roadblock to climate legislation during the last four years of the Obama administration.

People have a great many reasons for voting the way that they do. Sometimes the reasons are logical, and sometimes they are emotional. Sometimes their reasons are economic or self-serving (the undue influence of anonymous corporate money is another disturbing issue). I will be voting for science, and the politicians who understand their responsibility to consider science as they vote on legislation concerning global climate change, energy issues, and education. There is one major political party in our country that has lost its way in this regard, and as such, they are supremely unqualified to govern our country as we face one of the major issues of our generation.

Who Sacrifices?

I'm off geological topics today, but I am talking about education, my other life concern...

I heard stories from my grandparents about life in the Great Depression and World War II, and I have heard and read plenty of accounts about how the country came together to try and deal with threats and the intractable problems of those times. My grandparents still had some of the ration stamps that they used during the war. It was an astounding time in the country's history that we came through a horrific war and terrible depression all the stronger for our collective pain.

This week, a number of my friends and fellow earth science teachers got some of the 23,000 pink slips that were handed out in California because of the pathetic budget situation in our state. I know that similar things are happening elsewhere across the country, and I share their fears and uncertainties. I'm one of the lucky teachers that continues to have a job, but the budget cuts have cut close to home, and I am concerned for the future of education in this state, and in the nation.

Shared sacrifice...it's how our society is going to survive and thrive.

For the last few years, the sacrifice has fallen disproportionately on different groups of people.

We have been and still are fighting two of the longest wars in our nation's history. Who is paying the price? Mostly our military personnel and the reservists who have been trapped in a de facto draft. They fight the wars of wizened old men in Washington, and 5,000 have paid the ultimate price. Tens of thousands more are maimed and scarred for life. Who has benefited? As far as I can tell, it is the companies and corporations that build the weapons, and oil companies who are securing future petroleum resources.

How many people have followed the rules and followed their dreams to buy their own home? Because of the greed and stupidity of the banks and insurance companies and their financial shenanigans, we are sacrificing in a big way now. Foreclosures and lost equity have devastated millions of families and destroyed the budgets of states all over the country. Those responsible for the financial meltdown sit in their Wall Street offices and continue to collect billions in bonuses.

How many people have followed the rules and purchased or tried to purchase health insurance, only to have their coverage denied or canceled because they had the bad form to actually get sick? The so-called "death panels" are with us now, and have been for a long time. They're called health insurance companies. People are sick and dying, and the company executives collect record salaries and bonuses.

So here we are in the worst recession since the 1930's, and where I live, some counties have unemployment rates comparable to the Great Depression. So who is sacrificing now? It is the unemployed, a massive group of people who want to work, are ready to work, but who cannot find work. It is the homeowners, who were buying into a dream, but were being sold a bill of goods by con men. It is the teachers, who have given over their lives to make the lives of children better, and the students, who will be all the more ignorant and ill-prepared for life.

Of course, there is a resource that we could draw on to help in these terrible times. Those in the uppermost tax brackets had their taxes cut a decade ago, and they have seen their incomes double, triple, quadruple and more while the wages of the middle class have lost ground to inflation. These people are the bank presidents, the executives of the weapons companies, the health insurance CEOs. Why haven't they been asked to sacrifice in these difficult times? We haven't asked them to sacrifice because our elected politicians who should be doing this are no longer elected, they are bought and paid for by the people who sit in those executive offices. Heaven forbid that we ask them to pay a price, in the form of slightly higher taxes, equal to what they would have paid a decade ago....

A simplistic stream of consciousness today, I know. But I recall a certain uncomfortable Bible passage, Luke 12:48: "And to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom they commit much, of him will they ask the more."

The July Accretionary Wedge: Why I'm Teaching Geology

The latest Accretionary Wedge deadline has come and gone, and as usual I am a day late. A big thank you to Volcanista, our host this month, who has suggested the topic of our inspiration to enter the geosciences. I have talked about my inspirations a couple of times in previous posts, but I don't think I have told the whole story yet in one place.

Volcanista is certainly right about the idea that few people enter college thinking to major in geology or other earth sciences, and the reason is obvious: earth science does not receive the appropriate respect or emphasis as a science in the elementary and secondary school systems. In my ancient days earth science was simply not offered at all. Today in California, earth science is usually taught in ninth grade as kind of a bonehead science course. I am thankful to know a number of teachers who labor in the trenches, making the science come alive for their students. But by the time any of their students make it through their senior year, they have forgotten anything they loved about the science.

And so it was that I found my inspiration elsewhere. I, like any kid, was fascinated with dinosaurs and fossils, but as far as we knew in the 1960's, no one made a career out of paleontology. The dinosaurs were extinct, and so were the people who found them. They were historical figures from the late 1800's or the 1920's. It was in those days before Jurassic Park and paleontology rock stars.

When I was an eight-year-old there was a guy, Mr. Ritchie (I guess it makes me old, but we called big people Mr. or Mrs. in the day) down the street who had a really nice mineral collection. He would let the neighborhood kids look at his displays and I was fascinated by their symmetry and color. I spent hours digging in my backyard for crystals, and I especially loved a box of minerals left behind by a previous owner at our house. Even today I know there were sulfur and galena specimens in there because I recall the odor every time I work on the specimens in my lab.

Later in life (two years later), I saw the Grand Canyon for the first time, and as recounted in my blogpost a few weeks ago, I found my first fossils. I was hooked, but didn't know it yet. I still didn't realize that there was a science called geology that went along with astronomy and chemistry and those other cool fields.

High school was a fog and a near total loss as far as science was concerned (I did dissect a grasshopper and a pregnant perch, and probably am still adversely affected by the formaldehyde). I was in the scouts though, and learned to love topographic maps and orienteering. I also spent every available weekend hiking all over the mountains of Southern California and the eastern Sierra Nevada. I still didn't know I would be a geologist. It worked something like natural selection: I had the interest (crystals and fossils), and I had some of the basic skills (maps and compasses), I just hadn't found the field in which the skills and interests would be useful. Once I entered the correct situation, those pre-adaptations allowed me to survive! It happened when I entered the community college system in California.

My first quarter at Chaffey College included a class in Earth Processes with Rod Parcel (who passed away a number of years ago). I realized that maybe I was onto something. The next quarter I took a class in Earth Materials with Marlin Dickey, and at the same time I took a course on the geology of the Grand Canyon that included a week-long field trip into the incredible gorge. Some of my adventures are chronicled here and here. From the day I walked out of the canyon, I was hooked for good.

Given the tragic economic situation in California right now, our community college system is in a world of hurt, and I want to give a voice of support for how they support our state economy, and at the same time provide incredible opportunities for our citizens. They are not costly, and they provide an academic path to success that many people would otherwise miss if the system didn't exist. And so it was for me.

Geological Things That Make Me Go "Hmmm?"

Lounge of the Lab Lemming is the host of this month's The Accretionary Wedge carnival, and the topic of the moment is (geological) things that make me go "hmmm?". I've been mulling this one over for days on end, and although I can think of a number of geological phenomena that are mysterious and intriguing, it turns out that the thing that makes me go "hmmm?" is this: Why don't more people go "hmmm?" How and when do children lose their sense of wonder and become jaded and cynical grown-ups who are willfully ignorant about all things scientific and geological? When do volcanoes and dinosaurs and planets become unworthy of attention?

I teach at a community college, and I encounter students from a great diversity of backgrounds, and almost without fail, they wait until the last semester to take a science course because they are afraid that the class will be "hard" and "boring". Andy they almost always say "I'm just not a science person". Their image of scientists is worse; they are white old men in lab coats (and no, I never wear a lab coat; and I'm only sort of old and white). It has literally become my mission to try and shake them out of these stereotypes; the first week of class is a celebration of how lucky we are to be living in these times when we have access to more knowledge than any other humans who have ever lived. We are seeing pictures of planetary surfaces that no one has ever seen before. We are discovering new species of dinosaurs and other weird strange creatures every day, and the roster of newly discovered living species continually surprises us.

It seems like every child goes nuts at some point over dinosaurs at the very least, but kids just hunger for information about volcanoes and crystals and earthquakes. But somewhere, I think just past 5th or 6th grade, that sense of wonder disappears. It takes a lot of work to bring it back. I have to literally drag some of them into the wilds, and in a few precious instances, that spark returns and after a few minutes they are crawling and searching for an elusive trilobite. They have forgotten for a few moments that they are grown-ups and all past getting excited about seeing a fossil on the ground, a fossil that no human has ever before seen until that moment. And the moment of discovery is something that stays with them for a long time.

So why do the kids lose interest? Is it hormones? Is it the peer pressure? I don't know. But I do know that one of the greatest benefits of teaching is that I am somehow involved in getting that sense of wonder back; it's not what I do, it is the earth itself that fascinates.

Update: not only do people willfully ignore the wonders of geology, they actively search out fringe ideas and conspiracy "theories", and are depressingly open to "believing" just about anything. Check out Expanding Earth and the Conspiracy of Science at Dynamic Earth (http://dynamic-earth.blogspot.com/) for a great example and discussion.

Update #2: Oh, and also I go hmmm when I wonder what exactly the story was with the formation of the Grand Canyon: check out http://www.gsajournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1130%2FGSAT01803A.1&ct=1

Update #3: The Accretionary Wedge is now posted! Check it out at http://lablemminglounge.blogspot.com/2008/02/geohmms-accretionary-wedge-6.html

Welcome to Geotripper!

I hope that this blog will be a clearinghouse for information on geology, earth science education, and the exploration of the beautiful places of the earth! It will take some time for me to get used to the format, so posts will be infrequent at first, but I am looking forward to communicating with you about the issues facing the geological community and the education system.

Since discovering digital photography, I have been taking thousands of pictures of geological features and interesting places, and I will be posting some of them here as well. (Added 2012) If you would like to see some of my photo collections, please check out the photo gallery on my website at http://geotripperimages.com/.

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