|
Woolman Semester Email Update
– April 6, 2009
Dear Friends,
The last time I sent out an update, I was
sitting at home in Philadelphia. That was three
weeks ago, and I apologize for not getting this
one out sooner. We have been incredibly busy
here at Woolman. Major projects were due last
week and the one before, and the academic pressure
continues to intensify. We now are looking forward
to a week of service trips – which I will
describe later – followed by a five-day
Easter break. This weekend, I finally had time
to bring you up to speed again. (The train is
moving faster and faster, so jump back on!)
I will begin with the Commodity Chain Analysis
(CCA) project that we just completed. For those
of you who are familiar with the Woolman curriculum,
the CCA has replaced the COW (Citizens of the
World) project. It is the major project for
the World Issues class. The goal of a CCA is
to trace the ingredients/components of a Value
Added Product – such as a Starbucks cup
of coffee or an iPod – back through its
chain of production. We also looked at the social
and environmental impacts the production of
our product has on society. I chose to analyze
my adapted water bottle – the Drink-Aide.
The Drink-Aide was invented and is assembled
at Inglis House – a nursing home and rehabilitation
center for people with disabilities in Philadelphia.
After much research, I was able to trace the
plastic in one component of the Drink-Aide back
to natural gas at a production facility in either
Bishop, Texas or Kelsterbach, Germany.
Many of us students were very surprised to
see how hard it is to obtain this kind of
information from companies. One distributor
told me that I would have to engage in a confidentiality
agreement before they would tell me where
they bought their products from. At first,
Inglis House was unwilling to disclose any
information
– which made the project that much harder.
On the day that the CCA was due, I spoke to
somebody at Inglis House, and I learned that
they try hard to get parts that are manufactured
in the United States. They also value the
fact that people with disabilities are assembling
and packaging the Drink-Aides themselves.
We each presented our CCAs to the wider Quaker
community here on Friday night. One of the
challenges of this project was figuring out
what to say in a seven-minute presentation
because we had acquired so much information.
We also presented our findings in written
form. Click
here to read my Commodity Chain Analysis.
When we got back from Spring Break, we started
a unit on human population in our Environmental
Science class. We looked at population growth
from a mathematical viewpoint and the definition
of carrying capacity. Our project for this unit
was very self-guided and individualized. I looked
at the difference between the population control
policies of the Chinese and French governments.
China is famous for enforcing its One-Child
Policy, whereas the French taxation system is
such that families are rewarded for having children.
I wanted to see a correlation between the governmental
policies and population growth, but my research
was not conclusive.
Our major project in Peace Studies is the
creation of a video documentary about a social
justice issue. I am in a small group that is
looking at how eating locally benefits communities
and the environment. We already interviewed
one person who founded an organization that
provides fresh, organic produce to low-income
neighborhoods in Oakland, CA. We are in touch
with local farmers who we plan to interview.
I am actually writing the second part of this
update as I sit in what will soon be when a
flourishing community garden in downtown Nevada
City. This is our Service Trip. My group is
working to turn this overgrown tract of land
into a garden and gathering place. We are not
just preparing the land; we are designing the
layout and the features. There will be solar
ovens and places where people can garden from
wheelchairs. This morning, I sketched where
the ramp will be. Tomorrow, the city will come
and bulldoze the spot. Then local masonry students
will build the ramp and the accessible plots.
The soon-to-be Mayor of Nevada City is organizing
the project. There are two other groups on other
Service Trips. One is in nearby Grass Valley
ane are working with Habitat for Humanity to
develop permaculture gardens around low-income
housing. The third group is working on urban
gardens in Sacramento and Oakland.
We are about to call it a day, pack up, and
head back to campus. The organizer of the garden
project just told me that she will take my diagram
of the entire garden to the City Planners tomorrow
for them to review. I am going to take all of
the dimensions back with me tonight and make
a professional-looking model.
When we get back to Woolman, I will send out
this update. We will return to this garden tomorrow,
Wednesday, and Thursday. Easter Break begins
on Friday, and I am going to visit friends in
Berkeley. I probably will not send out another
update for another three weeks because I will
not have classes again until April 16. Time
is really flying by here. Before I know it,
I will graduate and return to Philadelphia.
Love,
Carl
|
