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Orientation At Brown

Written on 08/31 at 10:41 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: brown in Poetry & Musings Blog

During the last two days, Thursday and Friday, August 30th and 31st, I had a general orientation for the entire graduate school at Brown, as well as a specific orientation for the Center for Environmental Studies (CES). Both have gotten me extremely excited about the start of classes on Wednesday, the other students and professors in my program, my own course of study as well as my future after completing the program. At the CES orientation I finally got to meet the other students. In total there are 8 of us, from varied backgrounds, social as well as educational. The most important thing, however, is that in addition to being extremely engaging, smart and passionate, I can already tell that it will be easy to make friends with all of the students. So from that perspective alone I feel happy because I now have eight new friends, colleagues and collaborators.

My Love of Bicycling Just Keeps on Growing

Written on 08/26 at 10:42 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: in Poetry & Musings Blog

For the last month, ever since my debacle at the mid New Hampshire road race, I have been training hard and properly, with the goal of having a good showing at the Jamestown, RI road race on October 8th. So far the training has been going far better than I could have ever hoped. Last Saturday I once again did the Tim Horton's ride, a 40 mile loop that the Brown Cycling team usually does on Saturday mornings. On this particular day there were about 8 riders there that are either current or former racers, so it was a great opportunity to get a sense of the state of my fitness. There are 6 sprint areas throughout the 40 mile loop where people race to a designated line–usually a sign post indicating a new town. I've never really sprinted before, so the first couple of sprints were hard for me.

Growth or No Growth: That is NOT The Question

Written on 08/23 at 10:43 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: in Ideas Blog

A recent NY Times article discussed the Bush administration's plan to to issue a new rule that will expand the practice of mountaintop coal mining. The rule change will make it easier for mining companies to engage in the practice, which "is the most common strip mining in central Appalachia, and the most destructive. Ridge tops are flattened with bulldozers and dynamite, clearing all vegetation and, at times, forcing residents to move." The real goal of the rule change, according to the NY Times article, is to "to make it easier for mining companies to dig more coal to meet growing energy demands and reduce dependence on foreign oil."

Move Review: The Eleventh Hour

Written on 08/18 at 07:27 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: movie reviews in Ideas Blog

The 11th hour, directed by Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners, and narrated and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, picks up the environmental narrative where An Inconvenient Truth left off and improves and expands on it.  Al Gore’s powerpoint presentation gives the audience the sense that global warming is the greatest crisis ever faced by mankind, but that it can be solved without any major lifestyle changes or restructuring of the economy.  The 11th hour not only deepens the environmental narrative by showing how all of the earth’s ecosystems are in decline--forests, oceans, soil, climate, biodiversity, and so on--it also moves away from the laissez fare approach to the environment taken by Mr. Gore, whose message seems to be “stabilize emissions of CO2, but hands off the economy!” There are no easy answers in this documentary.

Making use of over 50 interviews with policy experts, environmentalists and scientists ranging from David Susuki to Paul Hawken, Stephen Hawking and Lester Brown, the 11th Hour presents the case that the entire planet is in trouble.  Oceans are in decline.  Forests are disappearing.  Species are going extinct.  Humans are losing their connection to nature.  The quality of the topsoil all over the world is being degraded.  The movie’s title, the 11th hour, is defined as “the last moment when change is possible.” Not only do we have a small window of time in which to act on global warming but, according to the movie, the time has come to rethink our relationship to the natural world.  By broadening the scope of its ecological concern beyond the single issue of global warming, the film renders laughable the notion that hybrids and compact fluorescent light bulbs alone are going to save us. 

My First Bike Race

Written on 08/05 at 10:44 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: in Poetry & Musings Blog

Yesterday I finally realized my dream of doing a bicycle race. I say it was a dream because ever since I first saw the Tour de France at the age of 12 I longed to try my hand at racing, but for various reasons I was never able to (my mom wouldn't have let me, and then once I got old enough to decide for myself, I was nervous about the prospect of entering a race). Sometime last week I got an e-mail from Casey Marks, a rider on the Brown Cycing team, asking if anyone wanted a ride to the Central New Hampshire Road Race. I was both excited and scared. It turned out that the race was going to take place on a 10.6 mile course that includes 1 major climb and several rolling hills. Now that seemed perfect for me, as I have always enjoyed the challenge of climbing. So I e-mailed Casey back and committed myself to my first race.

My Plans, Projects, and the Like

Written on 08/02 at 10:45 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: Cycling in Poetry & Musings Blog

Michele and I have been living in Providence for about a month now and we're finally starting to get adjusted and settled in. Our apartment is fully furnished, including a guest room just waiting for guests! So if anyone wants to visit us here, please do! Beyond that, I have been riding my bike every day and, to my pleasant surprise, I'm finding that there are excellent bike paths and bike lanes throughout the area. In fact, I just discovered a 25 mile long bike path that hugs the bay and is surrounded by woods, parks, campgrounds, playgrounds and even an Audobon center. It's called the East Bay Bike Path, and it is another great example of the work of the Rails to Trails Conservancy. They take old rail lines that have fallen into disuse, remove the tracks and then build a bike/jogging/walking/rollerblading path. I'm finding it really easy to meet other cyclists because I am now part of the Brown Cycling Club, the best feature of which is that they have a Yahoo! group where you can post a message looking for someone to ride with. Most of the time someone will respond and, just like that, you have a riding partner for the day! The club often has group rides (for instance, every saturday morning there is a 40 mile ride called the Tim Horton loop), and many of the riders are not only experienced racers, but very smart and interesting people. Already I have ridden with a psychology student, and a PhD candidate in music theory.

• William McDonough on Why “Being Less Bad is No Good”
• Change Starts Here
• Discovery Channel Bicycling Video

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