Emails Sent to Class List Server
Message about Blizzard Cancellation of December 9 Lecture, sent on December 8
Friends--
As you've probably already heard (see below), Chancellor Martin has cancelled classes for tomorrow because of the snowstorm. We will therefore NOT be holding tomorrow's lecture in History / Geography / Environmental Studies 460. When I said on Monday that I would be in class regardless of the weather, I meant that I would do so IF the university were holding classes...which it isn't.
Alas, this means that we'll have to jettison tomorrow's lecture on global climate change, but I guess you can read about that on the front page of virtually any newspaper on any day. The note sheet for what I WOULD have said tomorrow is on our class website, and I'll bring the already photocopied note sheet to lecture on Monday...but it obviously will not meet the "rule of two," so you can be confident that nothing from tomorrow's cancelled lecture will turn up on the objective section of the final exam. You may still want to read it given its relevance to environmental issues very much alive today. Some of the material I would have covered tomorrow is readily available on an excellent website about the history of the science associated with studies of global climate change at http://www.aip.org/history/climate/ ... but again, I offer this only if you're interested, not because it's required.
Enjoy the snow, and I'll see you Monday.
Bill
Begin forwarded message:
From: Chancellor Biddy Martin
Date: December 8, 2009 9:01:53 PM CST
Subject: UW-Madison classes canceled, non-essential employees asked to stay home
In light of blizzard warnings for Madison and Dane County, Chancellor Biddy
Martin has canceled classes and asked all non-essential university
employees to stay home on Wednesday, Dec. 9.
“The safety of our students, faculty and staff is paramount,” Martin says.
“I encourage the campus community to stay off the roads on Wednesday. We
hope to return to normal university business on Thursday.”
Current forecasts are calling for snow all night, with gusting winds and
total accumulations ranging from 12-16 inches before Wednesday night.
Despite the Wednesday closing, critical campus services will be maintained.
These areas include public safety, snow removal, animal care, patient care
and University Housing.
If you work in one of these areas, or in a department or unit that has
designated you as an essential employee, please plan to report, if
possible. If you are unable to travel due to the inclement weather, contact
your supervisor.
Please note, all employees of University Housing are deemed essential and
should report if possible, or refer to Housing inclement weather policies.
Non-essential personnel are encouraged to stay at home to help facilitate
the efficient clearing of streets, sidewalks, and parking lots. An
individual who needs to work on authorized activities and who can reach the
campus safely, may report to work with supervisory permission.
Additional updates will be posted as they are available. Should you still
plan to come to campus, visit the following resources:
Madison Metro buses are currently running. Visit
<http://www.cityofmadison.com/metro/> for updates.
For more info on roadways from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation:
<http://www.511wi.gov/web/map.aspx?region=winterroads&show=1>
For campus updates and information, visit <http://www.wisc.edu>. Please
note, the home page is experiencing heavy traffic and may take time to
load.
Message about Improving Your Writing, sent on December 7
Friends--
You're getting your place papers back in section this week, and may be wanting more guidance about how to interpret comments we've made on those papers. Please note that toward the bottom of our course web page at http://www.williamcronon.net/courses/460.htm there are links to several documents that we'd encourage you to download, print out, and read carefully for ways you can improve your writing.
The place papers in general were very good, and we much enjoyed reading them. But we were also struck that many of you would benefit from working to improve your writing. The comments in these handouts should be helpful to you, and we'd also encourage you to make regular use of the Writing Center--and to seek out courses that will give you help with your writing whenever you can.
The last of the documents below--"Rules for Writerers"--is a classic, and quite funny: rules that each exemplify the forms of bad writing they proscribe. Don't miss it!
Have fun in the blizzard, and I'll see you Wednesday morning.
Bill
http://www.williamcronon.net/courses/460.htm
Comments on Your Place Paper and Improving Your Writing:
Suggestions for Writers: http://www.williamcronon.net/courses/handouts/writing_rules.pdf
Standard Proofreading Marks: http://www.williamcronon.net/courses/handouts/standard_proofreading_marks.pdf
Rules for Writerers (humorous): http://www.williamcronon.net/courses/handouts/rules_for_writerers.pdf
Message about American Experience Show on Dust Bowl on November 16, sent on November 15
Friends--
The PBS series The American Experience will air a program on "Surviving the Dust Bowl" tomorrow night, Monday, November 16, at 8pm Central if you're interested in learning more about this dramatic episode in American environmental history. You'll find more details at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/dustbowl/
Bill
Message about Scott Russell Sanders Visit on November 17, sent on November 11
Friends--
I wanted to let students in 460 know that the environmental writer Scott Russell Sanders will be visiting campus next week on Tuesday, November 17, cosponsored by the Nelson Institute and the UW Arboretum. His chief public appearance will be on Tuesday evening at the Arboretum's McKay Center (1207 Seminole Hwy) at 7:00pm, when he will speak on the topic "Speaking for the Land: Aldo Leopold as a Writer" as part of the Gaylord Nelson Lecture Series. Since we've just read and talked about Leopold in 460, I thought you might be interested in hearing Sanders speak if you can find your way to the McKay Center in the Arboretum that evening.
Earlier that same day, we'll hold a special Tuesday version of the CHE Environmental History Colloquium from 12:00-1:30pm in the On Wisconsin Room of the Old Red Gym. For CHE, Scott will talk on the topic "Imagining Place," and describes his talk as follows:
What we call “place” is a portion of the earth saturated with human meaning—geography embraced and shaped by human actions, visions, stories, and knowledge. What happens to the sense of place in a world dominated by the standardized products and practices of a global economy, the standardized fare of a global entertainment industry, and the virtual realm of the electronic media? What role can writing play in preserving or creating a sense of place in the face of these homogenizing influences?
Who knows? Some of you might find this talk relevant to your place papers!
Scott Russell Sanders is one of the major environmental literary figures of his generation, working on the boundaries of literatures addressing nature, human community, social justice, place, and home. Feel free to attend either of these events next Tuesday if you're interested.
To learn more about Scott Russell Sanders and his work, see his website at www.scottrussellsanders.com/index.html
Bill
Message about Tales from Planet Earth Environmental Film Festival, sent on November 4
Friends--
As promised, this is a quick reminder that the Tales from Planet Earth film festival takes place this weekend. Tales from Planet Earth has rapidly emerged as one of the leading environmental film festivals in the nation, if not the world.
Students in 460 this semester have a unique opportunity to choose among nearly 50 contemporary and classic documentaries that are likely to be of great interest to many of you--with free admission to all of them!
There are many *fabulous* films being shown this weekend--some of them made by our own UW-Madison students!--and numerous other events as well. Majora Carter's keynote address on Friday night at the Union Theatre is not to be missed, and the same is true of the numerous sessions with working filmmakers, commentators, and Winona LaDuke's talk on Sunday.
I've pasted the full schedule for the film festival at the bottom of this email, but my guess is that the following films and events are likely to be of special interest to students in our course:
Friday, November 6
Memorial Union Theater
7 - 8 pm: Welcome and Keynote Speech: Majora Carter "Green the Ghetto and How Much It Won't Cost Us"
8 - 9:45 pm: Trouble the Water (2008) dir. Tia Lessin and Carl Deal about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina for residents in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans; Student Shorts dir. by various UW-Madison students
9:45 - 10:30 pm: Q+A with Carter, Lessin, and Deal
10:30 - 11:30 pm: Champagne and dessert reception (in Main Lounge of Union)
Saturday, November 7
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA)
1 - 2:30 pm: The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936) and The River (1938) dir. Pare Lorentz; Planning for Floods (1974) dir. George Stoney, two classic New Deal documentaries about the Dust Bowl and Mississippi River flooding, accompanied by a more recent film about Mississippi floods in the 1970s.
2:30 - 3 pm: Q+A with Stoney (Jess Gilbert moderat
UW Cinematheque
9:30 - 11 pm: Our Daily Bread (2005) dir. Nikolaus Geyrhalter, a wordless depiction of the complexities and contradictions of the world food system.
Sunday, November 8
UW Cinematheque
4:15 - 5:15 pm: Harvest of Shame (1960) dir. Fred Friendly, a classic documentary about migrant labor in the U.S.
7:30 - 9 pm: Mine (2009) dir. Geralyn Pezanoski, about pets lost or stranded during Hurricane Katrina.
MMoCA
5:30 - 6:20 pm: Cooked (2010 - Work in Progress) dir. Judith Helfand, about the deaths of more than 730 poor, elderly African-American inner city residents in Chicago during a terrible heat wave in 1995.
But in truth, these are only the films most directly relevant to our course, and are the tip of the iceberg for all the great environmental films being shown this weekend. The chief difficulty is going to be choosing among such a fabulous audio-visual and intellectual and emotional feast. Kudos and thanks to the many people who have worked so hard for the past two years to make this possible.
Please attend as many of the films and events as you can, bringing as many friends, family members, colleagues, and students with you as you're able to recruit...and please forward this email to anyone you think might be interested in attending.
See you this weekend!
Bill
Full details of the festival are available online at www.nelson.wisc.edu/tales/ ; the general schedule is pasted below.
Friday, November 6
Memorial Union Theater
7 - 8 pm: Welcome and Keynote Speech: Majora Carter "Green the Ghetto and How Much It Won't Cost Us"
8 - 9:45 pm: Trouble the Water (2008) dir. Tia Lessin and Carl Deal; Student Shorts dir. by various UW-Madison students
9:45 - 10:30 pm: Q+A with Carter, Lessin, and Deal
10:30 - 11:30 pm: Champagne and dessert reception (in Main Lounge of Union)
Saturday, November 7
Memorial Union Theater
10 - 11:30 am: Sharkwater (2006) dir. Rob Stewart
1 - 3:15 pm: Princess Mononoke (1997) dir. Hayao Miyazaki
4:15 - 6 pm: Never Cry Wolf (1983) dir. Carroll Ballard
7 - 8:30 pm: The Cove (2009) dir. Louie Psihoyos
9 - 10:30 pm: Sleep Dealer (2008) dir. Alex Rivera
10:30 - 11 pm: Q+A with Rivera
Play Circle Theater
12 - 1 pm: Papapapa (1995), The Sixth Section (2003) dir. Alex Rivera
(1 - 2 pm: Q+A with Rivera in Union Main Lounge)
1:30 - 3 pm: Garbage Dreams (2009) dir. Mai Iskander
3:45 - 6 pm: Losers and Winners (2006) dir. Ulrike Franke and Michael Loeken; The Solitary Life of Cranes (2008) dir. Eva Weber
7 - 8 pm: Deep Down (2010 - Work in Progress) dir. Jen Gilomen and Sally Rubin
8 - 8:45 pm: Panel on Coal with Gilomen, Rubin, and Samuel Villasenor from Chicago's Little Village EJ Coalition (Liese Dart moderates)
9:20 - 11 pm: The Chances of the World Changing (2005) dir. Eric Daniel Metzgar
UW Cinematheque
11 am - 12:50 pm: Wild New York (2009) dir. Adam Welz; Milking the Rhino (2008) dir. David E. Simpson
12:50 - 1:30 pm: Q+A on human-wildlife interactions in urban and rural settings with Welz, Xan Aranda (co-producer of Rhino), and UW-Madison professor Lisa Naughton (Kurt Brown moderates)
2 - 3:30 pm: Ghost Bird (2009) dir. Scott Crocker
3:30 - 4 pm: Q+A with Crocker
4:15 - 6 pm: Upstream Battle (2008) dir. Ben Kampas; Men of the Lake (Los Hombres del Lago) (2007) dir. Aaron Naar
7 - 8:30 pm: Near Oracle - A Film About Biosphere 2 (2010 - Work in Progress) dir. Shawn Rosenheim
8:30 - 9 pm: Q+A with Rosenheim
9:30 - 11 pm: Our Daily Bread (2005) dir. Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA)
10 - 11:20 am: What's On Your Plate? (2009) dir. Catherine Gund
11:20 am - Noon: Panel on food issues for children and local food groups with Gund, Sadie Gund (child star of film) and local food groups
(Noon - 1 pm: Tour of Farmer's Market and spring roll-making for children led by CHOW and Chef Torey of L'Etoile)
1 - 2:30 pm: The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936) and The River (1938) dir. Pare Lorentz; Planning for Floods (1974) dir. George Stoney
2:30 - 3 pm: Q+A with Stoney (Jess Gilbert moderates)
3:30 - 5:45 pm: Man of Aran (1934) dir. Robert Flaherty; How the Myth was Made (1978) dir. George Stoney
5:45 - 6 pm: Q+A with Stoney (Judith Helfand moderates)
7 - 8 pm: An Injury to One (2002) dir. Travis Wilkerson
8:30 - 10:45 pm: The Grapes of Wrath (1940) dir. John Ford
Sunday, November 8
Memorial Union Theater
1 - 2 pm: Keynote Speech: Winona LaDuke "The Economy for the Next Seven Generations"
2 - 2:50 pm: Lighting the Seventh Fire (1995) dir. Sandra Osawa
2:50 - 3:30 pm: Panel on the Ojibwe Boatlanding Incident of the 1980s, with LaDuke, Nick Hockings (GLIFWC), and Mic Isham (Voight Intertribal Task Force) (moderated by Patty Loew)
5 - 6:40 pm: Saving Luna (2008) dir. Suzanne Chisholm; Northern Ice, Golden Sun (2002) dir. Faith Hubley
7:30 - 9:10 pm: Yes Men Fix the World (2009) dir. Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno; Voyage to Next (1974) dir. John Hubley
(Emily Hubley may attend and answer questions re: Voyage to Next)
Play Circle Theater
2 - 3:20 pm: The Greening of Southie (2008) dir. Ian Cheney; 2200 Degrees (2008) dir. Jesse Epstein
3:20 - 4 pm: Q+A with Cheney and WARF reps about green building on UW campus - focused on new WIID building
4:45 - 6:30 pm: Restoring the Mauri of Lake Omapere (2007) dir. Simon Marler; A Drop of Life (2007) dir. Shalini Kantayaa
UW Cinematheque
12 - 1:30 pm: Born Free (1966) dir. James Hill
2 - 3 pm: The Adventures of Chico (1938) dir. Stacy and Horace Woodard
3 - 3:45 pm: Presentation on Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation by Four Lakes Wildlife Center
4:15 - 5:15 pm: Harvest of Shame (1960) dir. Fred Friendly
5:45 - 7 pm: Old Partner (2008) dir. Chung Ryoul-Lee
7:30 - 9 pm: Mine (2009) dir. Geralyn Pezanoski
9 to 9:30 pm: Q+A with Pezanoski
MMoCA
2 - 3:30 pm: Retrospective of Hubley Animation and Discussion on Animating Science - moderated by Emily Hubley, with Judith Helfand, Alex Rivera, Shawn Rosenheim, and Ian Cheney; featuring the films Second Chance: Sea (1976), Whither Weather (1977), and Children of the Sun (1960) dir. Faith and John Hubley
4 - 5:15 pm: Panel on Climate Change Refugees - moderated by Scott Straus with Gregg Mitman, Stephen Sapienza, and Jennifer Redfearn; featuring three films on the issue that are all works-in-progress: In the Footsteps of Elephants (2011) dir. Sarita Siegel; Sun Come Up (2010) dir. Jennifer Redfearn; and Easy Like Water (2010) dir. Glenn Baker
5:30 - 6:20 pm: Cooked (2010 - Work in Progress) dir. Judith Helfand
6:20 - 7 pm: Panel on Heat Waves and Community Response to Climate Change - moderated by Judith Helfand with Orrin Williams and Porchlight, Inc. representatives
6:30 to 7:30 pm: Free tasting of Porchlight products at the 208 State St. Espresso Royale
First United Methodist Church
1 - 2 pm: The Hunger Season (2008) dir. Beadie Finzi (with free meal made from the "Mealy Meal" USAID food product featured in the film)
2 - 3 pm: Panel on Global Hunger issues (moderated by Sarah Obernauer and Tia Nowack)
Message about Plow That Broke the Plains, The River, and Operation Cue, sent on November 2
Friends--
I meant to mention to all of you that it would be well worth watching the great classic 1936 Dust Bowl documentary by Pare Lorentz entitled Plow That Broke the Plains, which Donald Worster briefly discusses in the book we're discussing in section this week. The film is available for download and/or viewing on the Internet from
http://www.archive.org/details/PlowThatBrokethePlains1
It's only 22:55 long, and is well worth taking the time to view. It has a famous musical score by the well-known American composer Virgil Thomson, and is as good a brief summary of the New Deal interpretation of the causes of the Dust Bowl as you'll find anywhere.
Lorentz made another film for the New Deal about Mississippi River floods and the virtues of integrated regional watershed planning that we've been discussing for the past week. It too is available for online viewing at
http://www.archive.org/details/TheRiverByPareLorentz
Both of these are from a wonderful website called www.archive.org that collects public domain documentary films that some of you might enjoy exploring further. Amazingly, www.archive.org has been trying since the mid-1990s to download the entire Internet each month, so you can actually search prior moments of Web history.
Finally, the 1955 video clip of a nuclear test called Operation Cue that I briefly excerpted in this morning's lecture is *also* downloadable from archive.org, so if you're interested in viewing the whole film, you'll find it at
http://www.archive.org/details/Operatio1955
Many of you probably know about the Tales from Planet Earth environmental film festival that will occur this weekend; there are MANY films being shown that are highly relevant to this course. I'll send a separate email in the next day or two making suggestions for films you might want to make a point of seeing, but if you'd like to start making weekend plans on your own, you might want to peruse the festival website at http://www.nelson.wisc.edu/tales/ . You should also pick up this week's copy of the Isthmus, which has a big insert in the middle with the full festival schedule.
Enjoy!
Bill
Message about Tales from Planet Earth Environmental Film Festival Sent on October 25
Friends--
I'm forwarding this message from the Nelson Institute's Center for Culture, History, and Environment (CHE), which I serve as Faculty Director, in the hope that some of you might be interested in attending and perhaps volunteering for the second biennial Tales from Planet Earth Environmental Film Festival that will take place on the weekend of November 6-8.
Many of the films being shown have high relevance to environmental history topics we're discussing in this course, and I'm sure you won't regret taking in a few of them if you have the time.
I'll send out the full schedule of the film festival in a later message, but am forwarding the invitation below in case any of you are interested in volunteering for the film festival. If this is something you might be willing to do, email Peter Boger at boger@wisc.edu.
See you tomorrow!
Bill
***********************************
Dear Students
On the weekend of November 6-8, the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies is hosting Tales from Planet Earth, a free environmental film and community festival. The festival and its almost 50 films and 20 speakers will be organized around a broad theme of "Justice," with exciting events and community engagement projects in addition to the films. (For more information, check out http://www.talesfromplanetearth.com).
In addition to hoping that you'll attend the festival and bring friends and neighbors, we also hope you'll be interested in volunteering at the festival. We need as many people as possible to work in several roles: Theater Volunteers - handing out tickets, managing lines, and introducing films and speakers; Info Booth Volunteers - answering questions about the festival for audience members; Drivers - assisting visiting filmmakers in getting from theater to theater; and other assignments, such as helping hang posters and flyering the Dane County Farmer's Market.
If you are interested in volunteering in any way, please fill out the attached sheet and return it to me at boger@wisc.edu. We will have a brief, 1-hour volunteer orientation session (with free pizza!) the week of the festival to answer your questions and provide you with the information you need as a volunteer.
Thank you so much for your interest in Tales from Planet Earth.
Sincerely,
Peter Boger
Project Assistant
Tales from Planet Earth
Center for Culture, History, and Environment
Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
117 Bradley Memorial
1225 Linden Drive
Madison, WI 53706
boger@wisc.edu
http://talesfromplanetearth.com
Message about Alternative Breaks to Mississippi Valley Sent on October 12
Weekend Break to Kickapoo Valley, November 7-8:
Join the Wisconsin Union Directorate Alternative Breaks Committee's first weekend trip of the year and help the Mississippi Valley Conservency protect the beautiful Wisconsin River. To sign up for the trip over the November 7-8 weekend, applications are available at www.union.wisc.edu/altbreaks/ <http://www.union.wisc.edu/altbreaks/events> and are due in the WUD office, 5210 Memorial Union or via email to Shannon Chaplo, chaplo@wisc.edu <mailto:chaplo@wisc.edu>, by 3 pm, Tuesday, October 20. Cost of the trip is $48.
This Alt Break involves removing invasive species and cleaning up brush around the Wisconsin River with members of the Mississippi Valley Conservancy, a regional, non-profit land trust in La Crosse that has permanently conserved over 9,000 acres/ /of blufflands, prairies, wetlands and streams in the Coulee Region since its founding in 1997. The Conservancy works with private landowners and local communities on voluntary conservation projects in seven counties along the Mississippi River.
Alt Break participants will be staying at the Steuben Lodge on Saturday night; meals will not be provided but students will have access to a kitchen. For more information, visit, www.mississippivalleyconservancy.org <http://www.mississippivalleyconservancy.org>.
For more information, contact the Alternative Breaks Office, 608-262-7896 or email the director, Shannon Chaplo, at chaplo@wisc.edu or advisor Vickie Eiden, vleiden@wisc.edu.
Message about Paul Ehrlich Lecture Sent on October 8
Friends--
I apologize for the very belated notice, but some of you may want to attend the lecture below, which is at 5:30pm TODAY. Ehrlich is one of the really major figures of 1960s environmentalism, and we'll be talking about him in some detail later in the course. I wasn't sure whether this was a free public lecture, which is the reason I didn't mention it until now. He's a very dynamic speaker, so if you can get over to hear him, you won't regret it.
Again, I apologize for the very late notice!
Bill
http://www.news.wisc.edu/17117
Ecologist to speak in Madison
Oct. 6, 2009
Paul Ehrlich, whose book “The Population Bomb” helped fuel the rise of the modern environmental movement four decades ago, will give a free public lecture at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8, at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies at Stanford University, will speak about his most recent book, “The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment.”
A world-renowned ecologist, Ehrlich is an expert in the structure, dynamics and genetics of natural butterfly populations. He also is president of Stanford’s Center for Conservation Biology, which he established in 1984. But he is best known for alerting the public to problems of overpopulation and for raising issues of population, resources and the environment as matters of public policy.
“The Population Bomb” debuted in 1968, predicting widespread disaster — including mass starvation in parts of the world because of unprecedented growth in human numbers — and quickly became a national bestseller. Since then, Ehrlich has written or co-authored roughly 40 other books on a remarkable range of topics, from the extinction of species to anti-environmental rhetoric.
His Madison talk will open the national conference of the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS), a new organization of educators and students from interdisciplinary college and university environmental programs. UW–Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies is co-sponsoring the conference.
For more information, contact Pete Nowak, 265-3581, pnowak@wisc.edu.
Message about Michael Pollan Events, September 24-26, Sent on September 22
Friends--
I've just sent out the following announcement about Michael Pollan's visit to campus, and wanted to pass it along to everyone in 460 as well. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear one of the nation's leading journalists and non-fiction writers who specializes in exploring environmental and agricultural themes that are very close to those of our course.
Pollan is deeply informed about environmental history, and whether you agree with him or not, he's a very lively (and funny) writer and speaker whom you won't regret hearing. I'd urge everyone in the course to try to hear his lecture on Thursday night, and attend any of the other events described below if you're so inclined.
Bill
Begin forwarded message:
From: William Cronon <wcronon@wisc.edu>
Date: September 22, 2009 5:25:55 PM CDT
Subject: IMPORTANT: Michael Pollan Events, September 24-26
Friends--
The Center for Culture, History, and Environment (CHE) has joined with the Center for the Humanities and several other partners on and off campus to bring to Madison the best-selling author Michael Pollan, who has long been one of the most effective interpreters and communicators of environmental historical ideas for the wider public.
In recent years, Pollan has emerged in books like The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food as one of the nation's leading interpreters and critics of the modern American food system. Whatever topic he writes about, he brings to his subject not only curiosity, intelligence, and critical acuity, but eloquence, wit, and good humor. Whether you agree or disagree with his views, you'll learn much from what he has to say, and certainly won't regret hearing him speak.
The biggest event of the week will be the major public lecture "In Defense of Food: The Omnivore's Solution" that Michael Pollan will deliver at 7:00pm Thursday evening, September 24, at the Kohl Center; doors open at 6:00pm, and it would be wise to arrive early. But there are several other chances to interact with Pollan as well, all listed below.
Please plan to attend as many of these events as you can, and encourage your friends, students, and colleagues to do likewise. Feel free to forward this email to anyone who might be interested.
I'll hope to see you at one or more of these events later in the week!
Bill Cronon, Director
Center for Culture, History, and Environment (CHE)
Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
Michael Pollan
John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Journalism,
University of California Berkeley
Michael Pollan will be on campus for a series of major events September 24-26.
EVENTS
1. Go Big Read/Humanities Without Boundaries Public Lecture:
In Defense of Food: The Omnivore’s Solution
Thursday, September 24, 7PM, Kohl Center (Click here for Kohl Center information)
Doors open at 6PM
There are no tickets needed for this event, it is FREE and open to the public
Special Events Parking will be available for $5 after 4:30 PM in the following lots: 91, 46, 29, 88. To view a map of these lots please click Here
There will be a section for visitors that need the services of a sign language interpreter, if you need this service please find a volunteer in a green Go Big Read shirt.
Due to the scale of the Kohl Center event, the question and answer period will be moderated. Questions for Michael Pollan should be posted to the BLOG by September 21st.
Pollan argues that real food--the kind of food your great-grandmother would recognize as food—is being undermined by science on one side and the food industry on the other, both of whom want us focus on nutrients, good and bad, rather than actual plants, animals and fungi. The rise of “nutritionism,” he says, has vastly complicated the lives of American eaters without doing anything for our health, except possibly to make it worse. Nutritionism arose to deal with a genuine problem--the fact that the modern American diet is responsible for an epidemic of chronic diseases, from obesity and type II diabetes to heart disease and many cancers--but it has obscured the real roots of that problem and stood in the way of a solution. That solution involves putting the focus back on foods and food chains, for it turns out that our personal health cannot be divorced from the health of the soil, plants, and animals that make up the food chains in which we take part. In this talk, Pollan explores what the industrialization of food and agriculture has meant for our health and happiness as eaters, and looks at the growing national movement to renovate the food system.
2. In Defense of Food: A Panel Discussion
Friday, September 25, 3:30 PM, Wisconsin Union Theater
This panel, which features Michael Pollan in dialogue with individuals who have significant experience with different aspects of food and agriculture, will highlight thoughtful critical engagements with In Defense of Food.
Panelists include:
Michael Pollan: Bio below
Andrea Bloom: Student
Susan Lampert Smith: Susan is a science writer for UW Health, covering basic research in the School of Medicine and Public Health. For 10 years, she traveled the state of Wisconsin to write the On Wisconsin column for the Wisconsin State Journal. She teaches writing in the Department of Life Sciences Communications and is a 25-year vendor, with her husband Matt, at the Dane County Farmer's Market. They own Blue Valley Gardens, near Blue Mounds.
John Vrieze: John is the third-generation owner of Vrieze Farms Inc., which celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2007. He runs three dairies with some 2,500 cows. A member of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Board of Visitors and the Global Warming Task Force, Vrieze is using a number of technologies on his large-scale dairy operations to generate renewable energy and reuse waste products. Vrieze’s operations may offer the model of where dairy in Wisconsin may be headed.
3. Michael Pollan will also be the keynote speaker at REAP’s Food for Thought Festival at the Farmer's Market on the Capitol Square on Saturday, September 26, 10AM.
Visit http://www.reapfoodgroup.org for more information.
Additional Information
To learn more about Michael Pollan, his work, and UW-Madison's Go Big Read Program, visit the Go Big Read website at http://www.gobigread.wisc.edu/. Michael Pollan's own website is at www.michaelpollan.com.
Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food has been chosen as the first book in the Go Big Read common book program.
Read the article in the Badger Herald
Read the article in The Isthmus at http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=26925
Michael Pollan's Op-Ed in the New York Times Big Food vs. Big Insurance
Read one of Pollan's recent articles about the future of food in America: New York Times Magazine: The Food Issue: An Open Letter to the Next Farmer in Chief
Michael Pollan's Biography
For the past twenty years, Michael Pollan has been writing books and articles about the places where the human and natural worlds intersect: food, agriculture, gardens, drugs, and architecture. Pollan is the author, most recently, of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. His previous book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, was named one of the ten best books of 2006 by the New York Times and the Washington Post. It also won the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, the James Beard Award for best food writing, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Pollan's previous book, The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World, was also a New York Times bestseller, received the Borders Original Voices Award for the best non-fiction work of 2001, and was recognized as a best book of the year by the American Booksellers Association and Amazon.com. He is also the author of A Place of My Own (1997) and Second Nature (1991).
A contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine since 1987, his writing has received numerous awards, including the James Beard Award for best magazine series in 2003; the John Burroughs prize (for the best natural history essay in 1997); the QPB New Vision Award (for his first book, Second Nature); the 2000 Reuters-I.U.C.N. Global Award for Environmental Journalism for his reporting on genetically modified crops; and the 2003 Humane Society of the United States’ Genesis Award for his writing on animal agriculture. His essays have appeared in many anthologies, including Best American Essays (the 1990 and 2003 editions), Best American Science Writing (2004), and the Norton Book of Nature Writing. In addition to publishing regularly in the New York Times Magazine, his articles have appeared in Harper’s (where he served for many years as executive editor), Mother Jones, Gourmet, Vogue, Travel + Leisure, Gardens Illustrated, and House & Garden.
In 2003, Pollan was appointed the John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, and the director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism. In addition to teaching, he lectures widely on food, agriculture, and gardening.
This visit is made possible by The Center for the Humanities in partnership with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation; the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies; the Center for Culture, History, and Environment (CHE); the Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy; the Bradshaw-Knight Foundation; UW-Madison Libraries; the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences; the Distinguished Lecture Series; UW-Madison Athletics; and the Research, Education, Action and Policy on Food Group (REAP).
Messages about Accessing Library E-Reserves Sent on September 22
Friends--
Please forgive me for yet another message about this, but I've just learned that some students are having trouble opening PDF files from the e-reserve site (or possibly my own website) once they've downloaded them. If I had to guess, I suspect that THIS problem results from students not having a current version of Adobe Acrobat Reader loaded on their computer.
To download and install the latest version, students should go to http://get.adobe.com/reader/ and install the latest version of the program appropriate to their computer. There are also various Firefox plug-ins for reading PDF files, but at a bare minimum they should have up-to-date copies of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
If you're a Macintosh user, I've noticed that the Macintosh version of Firefox sometimes has trouble opening downloaded PDF files. If this happens, try doing the same download using Safari. I've found that Safari almost always succeeds in opening PDFs when Firefox fails.
Again, my apologies for all these emails, but we really want these electronic readings to be accessible to you, so we want to make sure that all these possible problems are resolved right away. Thanks for your patience.
Bill
From: William Cronon <wcronon@wisc.edu>
Date: September 22, 2009 1:09:25 PM CDT
To: 460Lecture <history460-1-f09@lists.wisc.edu>
Subject: Further Details re Student Access to E-Reserve Readings for 460
Friends--
Course member Bonnie Ewald offered the additional details below about how to access course readings from the Academics tab as students see it, so I'm forwarding her email to the rest of you in hope that it adds useful detail to my memo below. Thanks, Bonnie!
Bill
From: Bonnie Ewald
Date: September 22, 2009 12:37:10 PM CDT
To: William Cronon <wcronon@wisc.edu>
Subject: Re: Accessing E-Reserve Readings for 460
Hi Professor,
For students, once you click on the "Academics" tab, it actually lists the classes that you're enrolled in for Fall 2009 on the main part of the page. If you just find "Geog 460: American Environmental History" (or whichever department), it lists your lecture and discussion. Under the lecture, there is a link that says "Library/Reserves". If you click this, it will open up the reserves just for this class.
Hope this helps!
Bonnie Ewald
Friends--
Some students are apparently still having trouble accessing the electronic readings for 460, so let me provide detailed instructions about how you can locate and download them.
1) Log onto your My UW page at https://login.wisc.edu. You will need to supply your userid and password to proceed.
2) When you reach your main My UW page, click the second tab from the left near the top of the page, the one labeled "Academics."
3) Somewhere on the resulting Academics page is a block labeled "Library / Reserves by Department" (on my page, it's near the top of the right-hand column, but your student page my look different from my faculty one). You should use the alphabetical index at the bottom and the scroll bar to find History or Geography or Envir St; it doesn't matter which. After making sure that the correct semester is selected (Fall 2009-2010) in the drop-down menu toward the bottom of this module, click one of the departments under which this course is listed, and then click the button at the bottom of the module that says "Show Course List."
4) This will bring up a list of all courses in that particular department. Scroll down to 460 and click the little red plus just to its left. This will bring up a link that will say something like
Section 001 - LEC Cronon,William John
Click this link.
5) A new tab will open, and you should see a complete list of our e-reserve readings. Find the ones assigned for any given week of the course, and click on them to open and/or download the PDF files for each. You should be able to print and/or read any of them as they stand. You can ignore information on the first page of readings that have been drawn (for instance) from JSTOR, since you do NOT need to register to use these documents; the university has already paid for your license to read them. Just scroll down past that copyright page, and go ahead and read the article that follows it.
I hope this is clear. Please make sure you fully understand how to use this system for this week's readings, and let your section leader know if you have any further problems. We rely heavily on these e-reserves during several weeks of the course, so it's very important you know how to use them.
Bill
Message about Work for Week of September 14
Friends--
This is a reminder that we will NOT be holding any lectures in 460 next week, though all but the Honors / Grad discussion section will meet as usual. Instead, please remember that your goals next week are:
1) Take one of the special tours at the Wisconsin Historical Society if you possibly can, at the times specified in the syllabus:
Monday, 9/14, 8:00-9:15am and 3:30-4:45;
Tuesday, 9/15, 3:30-4:45pm;
Wednesday, 9/16, 8:00-9:15am and 3:30-4:45; and
Thursday, 9/17, 3:30-4:45pm.
Although these are not absolutely required for the course, they will be hugely helpful to you for your final place paper, and you are strongly encouraged to take one.
2) Explore and begin working your way through in full detail the special "Learning Historical Research" website at www.williamcronon.net/researching/index.htm.
3) Read some old place papers by students who have taken 460 in the past. You'll find a link to them at www.williamcronon.net//courses/460_place_papers.htm. They're lots of fun to read, and they should give you many ideas for different ways to approach this assignment.
4) Read Wayne Booth's The Craft of Research if you're able and willing.
5) Take a couple hours to wander serendipitously through a few of the libraries on campus that might be helpful for researching your place paper.
and, finally,
6) Start trying to identify the place about which you'll write that paper. For our next discussion sections, you should plan to bring with you to class a "found object"--a photograph, a map, a document, an object--that somehow evokes for you a place you're thinking about writing about and links it to at least one significant environmental historical theme. Come prepared to describe your found object and the place you're thinking about writing about when we meet that section.
Have fun next week, and I'll see you soon.
Bill
Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and Lecture at 7pm on 9/24 at Kohl Center
Friends--
As you've probably heard by now, Chancellor Biddy Martin this fall launched a major new program at UW-Madison called "Go Big Read" in which entering first-year students and many other folks on campus--students, faculty, and staff members--are all encouraged to read and talk about a common shared book. This year, the first designated common reading is an engaging, lively, thought-provoking volume by a close friend of mine, Michael Pollan, entitled In Defense of Food. Michael is a wonderfully thoughtful and witty writer, and his work has long sought to explore the implications of environmental history for the lives we live today in the United States.
Although I didn't assign In Defense of Food (or its equally important companion volume, The Omnivore's Dilemma) in 460 because they don't perfectly fit with the historical arc we trace over the course of the semester, I strongly encourage you to read either or both. Please also plan to attend Michael's lecture at 7pm on Thursday, September 24, at the Kohl Center (it will be a big crowd, so plan to arrive early).
At the end of the lecture, Michael will answer some of the questions submitted to the Go Big Read blog, which you can access at http://www.gobigread.wisc.edu/blog/2009/09/suggest-questions-for-michael-pollan.html. I've pasted below the instructions for how you can submit questions if you'd like to do so.
Bill
Message about "Suggested Readings" on 460 Note Sheets
Friends--
I've gotten several emails from students who have been confused about where to find the "Suggested Readings" that always appear at the top of the note sheets that I hand out at the start of every lecture in 460, so it seems like it might be helpful to explain these to everyone in the course.
First, please remember that none of these are *required* readings unless they also appear in the course syllabus. They're only here if you're interested in reading more about the subject of a particular lecture.
Second, almost all of the readings listed here are books and articles, which means that you'll have to search for them using the UW-Madison Libraries card catalog. Almost none of them are available online. Usually the best place to locate them in the library is search page at
http://www.library.wisc.edu/
I'll lecture this coming Wednesday about how to make better use of libraries, and although I won't be teaching you specific search techniques, I hope you'll make a serious effort this semester to learn how to use the library's online catalogs and databases (to say nothing of its physical books and journals!) if you're not already skilled in doing so. Many many crucial sources of information are completely inaccessible via Google. The campus libraries offer many workshops that are well worth taking if you're unfamiliar with the treasures available there. Check out the library's website about workshops at
http://www.library.wisc.edu/workshops/
Finally, the Wisconsin Historical Society has put together a wonderful tour of its collections--which are almost certainly the best on campus for our place paper in this course--and you'll have six chances next week to take that tour. Please try as hard as you can to attend one of those tours if you possibly can. You won't regret it!
See you Wednesday!
Bill
Forwarded Message about Facebook Page for Students Trying to Swap Sections, 8/28/09:
Friends--
Our course email list server is not set up so that students are permitted to send messages to everyone in the entire lecture course, but I'm forwarding the message below in case it's helpful to any of you who are trying to swap sections.
As I explained in an earlier email, this is not a process I can facilitate, but if registered students can find other registered students who are able to coordinate add/drop actions so that they add and drop at the same time and thereby exchange sections with each other, the TA's and I have no objection to people trying to do that.
See below...and good luck!
Bill
Begin forwarded message:
From: ARIANNA PAIGE NETZKY <netzky@wisc.edu>
Date: August 28, 2009 12:22:55 AM CDT
To: William Cronon <wcronon@wisc.edu>
Cc: history460-1-f09@lists.wisc.edu
Subject: Section Switch Facebook Group
The last time I will flood the listserv ... promise.
I made a facebook group for people to figure out section changes:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=129226820869
if that link doesn't work (which is likely because I am on a hostel computer and it's acting funny), the name of the group is:
460 Section Switch
Thanks guys,
Arianna
General Introductory Message Sent on August 26, 2009:
Friends—
Welcome to History/Geography/Environmental Studies 460, “American Environmental History,” in which you are currently enrolled!
Please read the following carefully so you’ll be ready the first time we meet for lecture, on Wednesday, September 2, at 8:00am in 2650 Humanities.
COURSE WEBSITE AND SYLLABUS:
We have a course page on my personal website at http://www.williamcronon.net/courses/460.htm which you’ll want to get to know well. Handouts will appear on it for each individual lecture, along with many other resources relating to the course. I’ve just posted on it the files for the master syllabus, which you’ll find formatted both for printing and for on-screen viewing. The HTML version of the syllabus can be accessed at http://www.williamcronon.net/handouts/460_syllabus_fall_2009.htm, which I’d urge you at least to skim as soon as possible (but remember, that is NOT the best version for printing). It gives a comprehensive overview all assignments, including the required books that are now on sale at the University Bookstore in case you want to try to acquire copies early at more favorable prices.
SECTION MEETINGS:
We will hold section meetings for the first time during the week of September 7. We’ll do general introductions and talk about the goals of the course in that first section, so that we can devote the second section, during the week of September 14, to talking about the place paper assignment for the course, as described below.
For the second section meeting of the semester, we will be asking students to bring to their discussion section a “found object” that relates to the environmental history of the place they’re considering as the subject for their final place paper. A “found object” can be almost anything that relates to past landscapes or environmental interactions in a place you know well: a snapshot, an advertisement, a physical object, a tourist brochure, a map, an aerial photograph, a family letter, a diary, or anything else that seems to you especially evocative of how that place has changed over time. We’ll talk more about both the place paper and this “found object” assignment when we meet with you during the first week of classes, but between now and then, you should at least look over the description of the place paper assignment on the course syllabus, which you can access from the link at the top of the page at http://www.williamcronon.net/courses/460.htm; there are also links to past place papers and other information about this assignment that are accessible via other links lower down this course web page.
THE PLACE PAPER (be sure to read this now):
Pay special attention to the section of the syllabus describing the final “place paper” that you’ll be turning in at the end of the semester, since the sooner you can identify the place about which you’ll be writing, the better able you’ll be to integrate material from the course into what you have to say about it, and the greater the likelihood that you may be able to spend time studying that place before you write about it. It’s quite possible that many of you are currently located in or near the place you’ll eventually choose to write about—many students select a place in their home or in a favorite summer location—and if so, you might well want to do some thinking about that place while you’re still near it. Walking around it, taking photographs, talking with people, perusing family scrapbooks, and perhaps even seeing if you can locate a few documents (maps, photos, newspaper clippings) about it in a local library or historical society may be much easier to do where you are now than would be true in Madison.
You are certainly not required to start gathering thoughts and documents for your place paper now, but since many students eventually find themselves making a special trip during the semester to do just these things, I thought it might be helpful to let you know about the assignment now in case you’d like to start thinking about it before the semester begins. Again: you will find lots of information about the place paper in the syllabus, so please look at that section sooner rather than later if you happen now to be in a place you think you might want to write about from an environmental history point of view. There are also many samples of place papers written by past students in the course accessible via our course page at http://www.williamcronon.net/courses/460.htm, and those will also give you a better sense of kinds of places you might wish to write about.
We hope you'll use your place paper as an opportunity to hone your research skills. Toward that end, we encourage you to start reading and exploring our special course website on "Learning Historical Research," which you'll find at http://www.williamcronon.net/researching/index.htm. It was created by a group of UW-Madison students, and offers many tips and suggestions that can be very helpful for your place paper. You are also strongly encouraged to read The Craft of Research, 3rd ed., by Wayne C. Booth et al., which is a superb introduction to the skills involved in doing a major research paper. Students who have read this book in the past say that it changed their entire approach to writing papers in college, so if you can possibly find the time to read it carefully, we don't think you'll regret doing so.
LAPTOP POLICY:
Please be aware of the course’s policy regarding the use of laptop computers or any other screen-based devices during lectures or discussion sections. Because the majority of lectures take place in a darkened room with PowerPoint presentations, because bright laptop screens are distracting to other students in this environment, and because the temptation to multitask has become so enormous now that wireless connections to the Internet are available in most lecture halls, the use of laptop computers, cell phones, or other screen-based devices is not permitted during lectures or discussion sections. Outline note sheets will be available for every lecture, and these should supply many of the notes you’ll need for the course. If you have a medical reason for needing to use a laptop or other screen-based device that has been authorized by the McBurney Center, please let us know.
IF YOU ARE IN A SECTION YOU CANNOT ACTUALLY ATTEND (VERY IMPORTANT):
In past years, in the days of touchtone registration, I spent many hours trying to help students change sections or gain admission to the course after the start of classes. Unfortunately, the last time I tried to do this, I discovered that web registration no longer makes it at all easy to do. (Indeed, the net effect of my efforts to move students between sections by hand under the web registration system was that the course wound up having many more open seats than it should have because I had to block on-line registration to complete all the manual transfers.) So I’m afraid you will be on your own with the web registration system as far as section changes are concerned. If you need to change sections, you’ll have to look on the Registrar’s web page to see if there’s open space in a section to which you’d like to move, and transfer over to it as quickly as possible. If you’re still trying to get in to the course, the only way to do so will also be to seize an open seat in a section you can attend using the on-line registration whenever you’re permitted to do so. Section attendance is mandatory, and you must be enrolled in a section you can actually attend in order to remain in the course.
You cannot register in one section but attend a different one. Please do not ask your section leader to let you do this. If you’re currently in a section that conflicts with another course in your schedule, you will have to drop one of the two courses unless you’re able to shift to another section that has open seats and that fits your schedule. Neither the teaching assistants nor I will be able to authorize a section change; you can only do this using the standard web process. Being registered in a section you cannot actually attend will not be any help to you in determining whether you’ll eventually get into a section that WILL work. Indeed, hanging on to a section that doesn’t fit your schedule will only delay the inevitable, and make it more difficult for some other student who might have been able to register for that section to do so. (This is actually a pretty good example of an environmental concept called a “tragedy of the commons” that we’ll discuss in the course itself.) I would therefore urge you to drop unworkable sections sooner rather than later so everyone will have a chance to get in to sections that will work for them.
I’m sorry for the inconvenience I’m sure this will cause a few of you, but there is really no other way to handle changes under the automated web registration process. If you need to make a change, I wish you the best of luck—I truly do!—in navigating the automated system. If past experience is any indication, a number of seats should in fact open up in various sections during the first week of classes.
That’s all for now. Amrys, Doug, Sarah, and I all look forward to seeing you on September 2.
Welcome to the course!
Bill Cronon
5103 Humanities Building
455 N. Park St.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI 53706
608-265-6023
wcronon@wisc.edu
www.williamcronon.net
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