Canada's Price on Carbon Analyzed

 The most sensible analysis I have heard of Canada's use of the price on carbon.

https://youtu.be/6o19SCYftqk?si=LLzG1-g7EtKSK6Xi

The Death of Distance Education; Long Live Distributive Learning * - 1993

In 1993, near the dawn of the increasingly-public internet, with some enthusiasm about the way that computer-mediated communication might transform teaching and learning, I presented the following opinion piece.  

I think my viewpont was not really incorrect, but it presumed that computer-mediated communication would be a potential egalitarian force in the world -- for utility, if not also for good. 

Unfortunately, the realization of what I forecast seems to have turned out to be what we now call "social media". What I did not foresee was that while the positive potential I had presumed remains, what has happened is that much of the learning has been focused on mis and dis-information. 

My 1993 Viewpoint 

Introduction 

In presenting this article, I have two objectives: 

to conjure an alternative perspective to the conventional notion of distance education, 

and to think about some implications of this altered perspective. 

 I approach this subject as an adult educator. What I mean by this is that when I think of education, I am seldom thinking of "kids;" and I am never thinking only of learning which takes place in conventional institutional settings. 

Adult educators often take for their focus: learning and the adult learner, as opposed, say, to: instructional design, educational technology, program planning, curriculum design, effective teaching, and the like. 

Hence, what I have to say is driven by images of potentially autonomous learners, extremely diverse learning needs, and an interest in paying attention to learning opportunities wherever they may present themselves. 

 Technological Change 

In reflecting upon the explosion of the first atomic bomb, someone is reputed to have said: "That day, everything in the world changed except one thing -- our minds." The idea of the intransigent mind in the face of revolution -- particularly of technological revolution -- is the key theme of this article. 

I find a good deal of food for thought in Neil Postman's (1992) recent work, Technopoly. Postman suggests we need to be wary of the pervasive -- perhaps omnipotent -- presence of technology in our lives. Humankind is not unfamiliar with technological innovation which changes the very nature of how we conduct our day-to-day lives, and which, in some cases, has changed our very understanding of our collective and personal place in the cosmos. 

A brief and selective list of such technological innovations might be as follows: the wheel, the written word, the telescope, the printing press, the school, the telephone, the automobile, television, the atomic bomb, the computer. Each of these is an example of a change in technological capacity which, over time, has fundamentally altered our sense of our collective and individual lives. 

To my thinking, each of these changes, in a curiously paradoxical way, has been both instantaneous and ploddingly slow. The technological innovation, itself, arises relatively quickly. At one moment the capacity does not exist; in the next moment, at some level, the "know-how" is present and available. 

A point in time like the Wright brothers' 1903 first successful flight in a self-propelled heavier-than-air craft gives some sense of what I mean. For example, imagine two bystanders at the first powered flight of the Wrights' wire and fabric craft. One turns to the other and says, "Well, I am looking forward to watching that first manned lunar landing!" Not very likely. 

At the same time as a transition in technological capacity takes place, it often is extremely difficult for those present to imagine with any precision the particular effects of the change upon the future conduct of human affairs. This aspect of the change requires a change in mind. If people reflect on such matters at all, often the assumption is that the new technique simply will be assimilated into current practice. In 1890, who would have imagined 1990s cities as being shaped in so large a part by the presence of the automobile? That which was a technological curiosity -- a toy for the wealthy -- has come to shape the social and economic fabric of North America, perhaps of the globe. 

Computer-Mediated Communication 

Let us take a moment to pay attention to a technologically- based revolution which I assert has already taken place, but which has yet to take full form -- communication mediated by computer. By computer mediated communication, I am referring to using the linkages among computers to obtain world-wide access to computer data bases and world-wide (virtually-instant, but also asynchronous) communication between and among groups and individuals who have access to such computers. It seems to me that the rise of computer mediated communication ought now to cause us to think less about that which we traditionally have called "distance education" -- essentially, the educational act of "packaging" and "delivering" knowledge or information to somewhere else. 

Conventionally, the act and concept of distance education is about producing and delivering/transmitting information and knowledge from a "centre" to locations at a physical distance from the centre. The notion of distance education is premised on an absence of proximity. The conventional conceptualization is one of "knowledge centres" being involved in "outreach," "delivering" a commodity or a product, called education, to people who have the "misfortune" of not being located at, or in proximity to, the centre. Distance educators talk about: "preparing learning packages," "delivery systems," "learning systems" and such. 

In the face of the potential for computer mediated communication as a tool for learning, the conventional orientations to distance education really appear to represent earlier-century educational thinking -- children of the 19th century and earlier: correspondence education; itinerancy, mastered by Methodist ministers on horseback in mid-to-late 1700 England; in the early years of this century, on behalf of a newly-formed University of Alberta, educators were touring the rural areas of the prairies and presenting talks with illuminated slide shows. Today's distance education practices seem little more than echos of these earlier educational innovations. The use of trendy technology such as compressed video or computer-assisted instruction has done little to change the fundamental pre-20th century nature of such activities -- the ways we think about teaching and learning. 

In what perhaps is an effort at 1990 double-speak, some educators have begun to use the term distance learning as a synonym for distance education. This has a superficial tone of change, but I am suggesting that the essential processes remain traditional. 

My thesis is that LEARNING is only ever done at a distance when thought about from the point of view of the EDUCATOR, or from the point of view of some sort of central-warehouse, resource provider, an earlier-century perspective of educator as knowledge-source. To me then, a phrase such as "learning at a distance," is inappropriate and old fashioned, physically -- if not technologically -- incorrect.

 Distributive Learning 

 In thinking about computer mediated communication, am thinking of what, in the title to this article, I am calling distributive learning. I see the notion of distributive learning as a sub-set of the concept "open learning" -- although open learning often is conceptualized and operationalized in a manner which, to me, looks much like the conventional "packaging" & "delivering" model of distance education. 

As an idea, distributive learning perhaps is most appropriately linked with the technology of computer mediated communication. The conceptualization of learning as distributed, (indeed, of knowledge as distributed) is one of individuals and collections of individuals -- through the medium of the computer -- reaching toward each other, to support each others' learning. As opposed to the conventional, centre-out distance education perspective, the notion of distributive learning is one of the teaching learning act as de-centred. 

If the learning act remains centred at all, it is centred in each learner. Curriculum is not something prepared and delivered; in a sense, each person becomes her or his own curriculum. Each person is an autonomous, but connected, learner. 

From this perspective, learning mediated by computer communication is never done at a distance; it is done -- to coin a phrase -- all over the place! 

For me, then, the notion of distributive learning has two key elements: 

1) to construe learning as an attribute of learners and to be proximal to the learner, regardless of the learners' physical location; and  

2) a sense of knowledge and information as de-centred, although perhaps, clustered. 

Communication mediated by a computer is about making available a medium for being linked or for being connected; it is not about physical (or, perhaps, even temporal) proximity in any conventional sense. In distributive learning, a concern for being in physical proximity to any resources other than the computer terminal drops away. 

 Implications 

 A computer-mediated network such as the Internet now gives me access, at home, to almost any resources I can imagine that I might require for cognitive development of any kind. The microcomputer on my desk, and its connection to the Internet, represents a world-wide resource which is not "delivered" to me, but which I have the good fortune "to be in touch with." Quite literally, I am now able to "reach over" and to "touch" many of the learning resources I desire. I can do this almost more easily than I am able to go to my refrigerator and get a glass of milk. I do this every day -- now!  So, I think, do some of you! 

In such circumstances, there is a potential power shift, from the educator to the learner. The traditional distance educator role, that of packager and deliverer, becomes altered, perhaps looking more like the role of archivist or public librarian. 

In a sense, the world of computer mediated communication is already full of such facilitators; we call them bulletin board sysops. On the Internet, they are list owners, Gopher developers, creators of Archie and Veronica, World Wide Web, and the like. 

These educators are working in the realm of the potentiality of the teaching/learning act integrated into the everyday activity of all of us. These educators work in relation to a medium which can be supportive of learning, but a medium which really ought not to be confused with the teaching or learning acts as they conventionally have been construed by educators who operate with an earlier-century way of thinking. 

With the advent of a communication linkage such as the Internet, if, as educators, we are going to engage in packaging and delivery, we ought now to pay most of our attention to packaging and delivering the medium -- access to the connecting network(s). We also ought to be supportive of connecting potential and existing resources to the network(s); and this includes assisting individuals to be connected with each other. 

In a world of distributive learning, the teaching role might be like the role of the farmer in planting a crop. The farmer brings together the nutrients and the seed; having played that role, the farmer will have little influence on the way in which any particular seed does or does not make use of the available resources. In some sense, it is already beyond the point of mattering whether we in traditional educational settings are happy about the change -- already it is upon us! 

Today, the world of education has changed; when and how will we change our minds? 

* From the newsletter of the Quebec Association for Adult Education, 1993 

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Concordia University Department of Education, International Symposium on Distance Education, November 1993. 

 References 

Bosworth, D.P. (1991). Open learning. London: Cassell. Dern, D.P. (1994). 

The internet guide for new users. New York: McGraw-Hill. Internet world's on internet. (1994). Westport, CT.: Mecklermedia. Kuhn, T. S. (1970). 

The structure of scientific revolutions. (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Lane, E.S. (1993). 

An internet primer for information professionals. Westport, CT.: Meckler. Lewis, R. & Spencer, D. (1986). 

What is open learning? London: Council for Educational Technology. Lynch, D.C. & Marshall, T.R. (Eds.) (1993). 

Internet system handbook. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley. Meyrowitz, J. (1985). 

No sense of place: The impact of electronic media on social behavior. New York: Oxford University Press. Postman, N. (1992). 

Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Thorpe, M. & Grugeon, D. (Eds.) (1987). Open learning for adults. Harlow: Longman.

Greta Thunberg's radical climate change fairy tale is exactly the story we need

Swedish activist and student Greta Thunberg, centre, takes part in the Climate Strike in Montreal on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Jennifer Ellen Good, Brock University

It has been just over a year since 16-year-old Greta Thunberg started her “school strike for climate” outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm. Since then, she has spoken to increasingly large crowds — including most recently in Montréal.

But there are many reasons why people are still talking about Thunberg’s Sept. 23 speech at the United Nations Climate Action Summit. She spoke with knowledge, clarity and passion well beyond her years.

What I find especially significant about the talk is her inclusion of a critique of economic growth in the climate change story frame. “We are in the beginning of mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth,” Thunberg said.

Scholars and activists share Thunberg’s concerns about the current system of endless economic growth. For example, Prof. David Barash powerfully equates endless growth to a Ponzi scheme. It is a system, he says, “predicated on the illusion that it will always be possible to make future payments owing to yet more exploitation down the road.”

Economist Juliet Schor similarly warns about the resource depletion implications for economic growth. She highlights that endless growth will lead to “blowback… which is now happening with the climate system, oceans and forests.”

Prof. Thomas Homer-Dixon succinctly offers that “it’s becoming increasingly clear that endless material growth is incompatible with the long-term viability of Earth’s environment.” And writer Naomi Klein refers to the “god of economic growth,” powerfully proposing that “our economic system and our planetary system are now at war.”

Where are the stories?

Thoughtful and well-researched scholarship makes clear that economic growth and environmental crises are related. And yet non-academic writing linking endless growth economics and climate change is almost non-existent.

I have conducted a content analysis on the Canadian Major Dailies database. In the 12 months prior to Thunberg’s talk there were 850 newspaper articles (including opinion editorials and letters) with “climate change” in the headline. Of these, 372 — or 44 per cent — were related to the economy. And yet only one letter to the editor raised concerns about economic growth in the era of climate change.

This is what makes Thunberg’s mention of “fairy tales of eternal economic growth” so remarkable — she put economic growth and climate change into the same frame.

It is easy to think that economic growth is essential — that we have always had growth at the core of economic policy. But scholars point out that this is not the case. Bill McKibben and Peter Victor point out that our “fixation” on economic growth as an “explicit object of government policy” began in the mid-20th century.

And in those 50 years, McKibben highlights that economic growth has not only devastated the planet, but also fostered inequity, insecurity and “is no longer making us happy.”

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Read more: The counter-intuitive solution to getting people to care about climate change

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Cognitive scientist and linguist George Lakoff offers that “all of our knowledge makes use of frames, and every word is defined through the frames it neurally activates. All thinking and talking involves frames .”

In other words, we understand and act upon climate change based on what has been framed with the climate change stories we are told.

Time to change the story frames

The good news is that climate change stories can change. Not that long ago, there were few stories about climate change. Today, the number has dramatically increased.

Until recently, there were not many stories that linked climate change to extreme weather events. Increasingly, these stories are being told.

Climate change activist Greta Thunberg on the Malizia II boat off Plymouth, England, Wed. Aug. 14, 2019. AP Photo

Now it is time to question economics and foster discussions about the hard decisions and changes that need to be made. It is clear that we cannot simply consume differently — we must consume less.

Now it is time to frame climate change stories with eternal economic growth critiques. Now is the time for climate change frames that question whether a finite planet can sustain eternal growth. Now is the time for climate change frames to include voices like Klein’s, who proposes that “the frenetic and indiscriminate consumption of essentially disposable products can no longer be the system’s goal.”

And now is the time to be grateful for a 16-year-old who sailed across the ocean and dared to tell the world’s leaders that the fairy tale must end.

[ You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors. You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter. ]

Jennifer Ellen Good, Associate Professor Communication, Popular Culture and Film, Brock University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Site C Cost Overruns?

Aside from all the other issues related to this ill-conceived project, it has seemed from the outset that this hydro development project was going to be way over the projected costs.  Not least because of the instability of the area of the valley in which it is being constructed.

The following Alaska Hightway News link draws attention to the matters that may contribute to additional costs, but also points out that the government and Hydro are being much less that forthcoming about the actual expenditures.

Site C Cost Overruns?

Henrietta Swan Leavitt

Henrietta S Leavitt is yet another woman who has been dismissed from much in the way of fame.  Not unlike the stories in the recent film, "Hidden Figures", Henrietta played a pivotal role in her field, astronomy.  But, because she was a woman, not only was her contribution truncated by not being given the same access to equipment as her male counterparts, but she remains relatively unacknowledged in the way, for example, Edwin Hubble has been by having the famous Hubble Telescope named after him.

Henrietta has her name on a moon crater and an asteroid.......😢

Seems a sad joke.  And so continuously repeated.

Canada's Carbon Price Legislation

As I write this blog note, for the last few days I have been sampling presentations before the Ontario Court of Appeal, regarding a reference on the matter of Canada's carbon pricing legislation.

I am first of all grateful that the court decided to make these proceeding available to the general public, apparently with the cooperation of the Canadian Broadcasing Corporation (CBC):

Day 1  https://youtu.be/NoaQZy4VO9c

 Day 2 https://youtu.be/_v5TLRY00Ug

Day 3 https://youtu.be/-QjUOx0Oxe8


I have no idea what the court will ultimately decided.

However, I come away from my three days of legal voyeurism with a very strong sense of pride (is that the right word?) about the dignified, mindful, and careful way in which my country (via this particular modality) is wrestling with this whole matter. 

In this few days, I have learned much more about the nuances of Canadian law and about climate policy than I have probably learned in several years of so-called news coverage. These presenters (not to mention the panel) are all wonderfully-bright Canadians.

Would that our politicians were as mindful.

Kernza

It seems to me, this is an idea whose time has come:

https://landinstitute.org/our-work/perennial-crops/

A return to the future.