A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash

I watched a very compelling movie today: A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash.* You may have heard some alarming discussion on this topic from websites like peakoil.com or lifeaftertheoilcrash.net that predict world wars and civil unrest unseen in human history. I've browsed these sites with some interest over the past several years, but with uncertainty as to their credibility. Could it really be that bad? Is this another ploy at our fears? After all, I am no expert on economics, world politics, or geology and how seriously am I supposed to take a website that starts out with "Civilization as we know it is coming to an end soon." (from lifeaftertheoilcrash.net). Its always been hard to determine how much credence to give to the peak oil crowd, especially when they occasionally resemble alarmist conspiracy-theorists! While it is unclear exactly how the transition from oil to alternative energy will happen, A Crude Awakening explains in no uncertain terms that it must happen. And very, very soon. It further explains that the better and sooner we plan for that transition, the smoother it will be.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, I became obsessed with trying to make ANY kind of sense out of what had happened on that day. I wanted to learn how groups like Al Qaeda could so effectively develop an underground, quasi-institutional hatred of the United States and the West. What could stir that unimagineable level of anger and hatred? My amatuer inquiries quickly led me to catch up on Saudi Arabian culture/politics and the last hundred years of oil/energy history. What it also led me to learn about was the topic of this movie: the horrible mismatch between world oil supply and world oil demand.

I went into this movie with a skeptic's eye. I was anticipating a lot of hype and speculation about doomsday scenarios that might come when we hit the decline years in oil production. What the movie delivered instead was a compelling case by many top-notch professors, economists, and geologists that our world oil supply is coming to an end in the near future. The film explains bluntly that the oil on the planet is limited and that we are at or near the peak of production. What will happen when the world passes that peak is unknown, but it is clear that it is time to start planning for our life on earth without oil. Given our seemingly insatiable appetite for it, we need to shift gears immediately. With new demands on world oil supply coming from India and China, we are likely to use up the remaining oil at a previously unimagined pace.

This movie offers important food for thought for every human on the planet. After all, our lives are tightly intertwined with oil and we need to begin unravelling the knot in which we've tied ourselves.

*NOTE: For you Netflix uses out there, this film is available for instant viewing on your computer!

A Musical Christmas Card

Hope you enjoy! Merry Christmas!

"Lost" Chestnuts

I love Christmas music. Its pretty hard for me to get tired of it, especially the beautiful old carols and anything composed before 1950. I've sung these songs a gazillion times and I know them all by heart - even some of the second and third verses. I'm always finding new ones, however, and more interestingly, rethinking the old ones.

Last night, George and I watched Stephen Colbert's A Colbert Christmas. As an aside, it was completely hilarious and put give some refreshing thoughts on the well-trod holiday. Anyway, at one point in the program, Stephen took a handful of chestnuts and hurled them at the TV - which was airing the "traditional" yuletide-log-in-fireplace on the screen. Luckily for Stephen the TV didn't break. Anyway, several hours later in the middle of the night, I started thinking about the couple references to chestnuts in Christmas songs. The two I thought of were "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." (of course) and "at the fireplace while we watch the chestnuts pop. Pop! Pop! Pop!" (from Sleigh Ride). I've probably seen a chestnut, but I've never given them any thought. And I've certainly never roasted them on an open fire. Is this tradition totally lost? My question to you: have any of YOU ever roasted chestnuts? We don't have a fireplace at our house, but I intend to try this on our little hibachi grill, assuming I can find some chestnuts. Please share your chestnut experiences with me! Is there a specific way to do this? Do they have a particular smell? Do they smell amazing like I imagine? Of course I could google the subject, but it would be SO much more fun to hear it first-hand if any of my readers have roasted chestnuts.

On that note, I will leave you with this simple phrase that's been said many times, many ways:
Merry Christmas to you!

Another Quick Note on the Importance We Place on Education

Yes, prepare for another short rant.

A few months back the Governor of Hawaii announced that the Hawaii Department of Education would have to cut roughly 70 MILLION dollars from its budget. Yesterday, however, the same governor of this same state announced 1.9 BILLION dollars in state spending for capital improvement projects. I checked to see if my school chosen for any of the projects. YES! Included in the handful of projects for my school is $260 THOUSAND to repair our stadium light poles. Kahuku may have to cut teachers next year, but the state is assuring us properly-functioning light poles in our stadium! Woohoo!

Priorities. Yep. Priorities.

Burdens on "The Effective Teacher" (aka cost-externalization in public education)

Here is my latest letter to the President-elect and taxpayers in Hawaii and in the U.S.

Dear Mr. Obama and Dear Fellow Taxpayers,

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but its time for a reality check about how difficult we've made it to be a teacher in public schools in America. I'm not the first to chime in on this topic and I won't be the last, but let me share my story to shed some well-needed light on the state of the profession.

I came to teaching after working as an attorney for about four years. While I tried several different positions in the legal field, I still hadn't found the job or the kind of satisfaction I'd sought when I entered law school. I did some serious soul-searching, braced for a 20K-per-year pay-cut and decided to become a teacher. I earned my Master's in Education while still working full time as an attorney. After becoming licensed in the state of Hawaii, I landed my first teaching position in 2007. I have been working in the same school for about two years now.

After almost two years in the profession, I've come to this important realization about teaching: "excellent teachers" aren't excellent because they possess some magical skills or knowledge about teaching. (NOTE: OK, there are some whose natural charisma and empathy toward young people make them especially well-suited for the classroom, but in general there is no magic behind the equation.) "Excellent" teachers are excellent because they are willing to sacrifice almost limitless amounts of time, energy, and sometimes money for their students. Many "mediocre" teachers are simply "mediocre" because they have chosen to take a stand and NOT give up time with their families, endless mental energy, and their own dollars to "subsidize" their classrooms and public education.

My question: is it really "mediocre" to stand up to the endless demands placed on teachers?

I'm not saying whether or not I'm an excellent teacher, but let me describe the demands of this job. I've worked every single weekend since the beginning of this school year, including every single 3- and 4-day weekend and our week-long fall break. I've worked three or four nights each week for the entire year. I am already planning what work-related activities I intend to do during my winter vacation. I am given one 50-minute class period daily to complete what amounts to roughly 3-4 hours of grading, planning, and other tasks. As a result, if I want to meet the most basic demands of my job, if I want to walk into my over sized classes with all my students' papers graded and lessons planned for the day, I MUST bring work home with me. LOTS of work. Now I recognize that part of this is because I am new teacher, but in a profession that is challenged to meet its recruiting/retention needs, isn't this a serious issue in itself? I'll also admit that when I do something, I want to do it right. I'm not a person to settle for a half-a$$ed job. But honestly, don't we WANT our teachers to be able to their best? Don't we want teachers to have higher than half-a$$ed standards? If a teacher can't give students useful feedback, provide meaningful classes, why even bother send young people to school? The point is that students learn, right? RIGHT??

Schools across Hawaii, including mine, face the real possibility of staff layoffs in the coming school year. If I'm lucky enough NOT to lose my job, I'll be left with my coworkers to manage a unchanged student population with even FEWER resources. Personally, I am at a tipping point. Actually, I am already beyond it. I can't maintain this pace forever.

So - what can be done? No one likes this answer, but its very simple: money. If we want our children to get a quality education, we've got to pay for it. Hawaii simply cannot afford to let its public education slip any further. We need MORE teachers. And more teachers cost MORE money. We can't expect existing teachers to bear increasing responsibility and increasing class sizes with diminishing supports and resources without breaking at some point. OK - some research (albeit HIGHLY questionable, in my opinion) shows that smaller class size doesn't always make for payoffs in student achievement. However, you simply cannot argue that grading the work of 4 classes with 20 students is the equivalent task of grading the work of 4 classes with 30 students. 4x20=80 4x30=120 Who must spend the hours to grade these extra 40 papers? The teacher! Its all about time. And time is money.

Many so-called "mediocre" teachers simply refuse to go to the extremes needed to fulfill the real needs of the students. And at a lower pay than any other profession requiring an equivalent education, can you blame them? Are they supposed to just volunteer their time out of the goodness of their hearts? Many do. But it is absolutely unacceptable that we demand that of them.

The real problem is that we simply don't care enough about our children, our future, to put our money where our mouth is and scream bloody murder for more funding for education. Simply, it is TIME to bite the bullet and pay more for our schools, even now in times of economic hardship.

One last thing, I'm NOT pleading for a pay raise here. While I do believe I deserve one, its about being realistic. As much as I'd love a pay raise, what I really want is a few more colleagues to share the workload here. I think I'm a decent teacher, but I can't stand this stress forever.

Your devoted teacher,


Lisa Rodvien