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Show StatesmanCampus News Friday, Oct. 9, 2009 Page 3 PRI host promotes energy conservation Briefs Campus & Community By JARED PRICE staff writer Ecological conservation is a patriotic endeavor and is crucial to forming a closer global community, said the host and executive producer of Public Radio International’s program “Living on Earth.” “The last time I looked, we are part of this world, not separate from it, Steve Curwood told students and members of the public Wednesday for Natural Resources Week. “The fact is that we are a part of a single planet.” People need to look at the world because it’s essential to developing a better place for future generations, said Curwood, who is also a host for Public Radio International. Curwood said people are attached to the planet through evolutionary ties and since people evolved in nature, they need nature in order to function as humans. “This is not just an art project, to have an intact ecosystem that has all of the species in it that we have evolved with,” Curwood said. “This is a matter of our ability to live as a species, to thrive as a species. We need the others. It isn’t luxury. We respond to the world genetically. It’s in our DNA, it isn’t just learned.” The need to address the environment is a pressing matter Curwood said. He said “almost everything” is at risk right now because of environmental change. Curwood said, “For us to be able to thrive as a species, as a people, as a society, we need to take steps to address it.” Curwood said when examining climate change and environmental issues, finger pointing and divisive politics need to be avoided. He explained that poor choices in the past were not made with malicious energy, conservation and restoration intent and that people were only of ecology major Robert Burdzy said, doing what they considered to be the “We’ve already got the evidence and right thing at that time. we’ve already got the technology. It’s Curwood also said the energy just a matter of people getting a hold industry is on the verge of a radical of it and running with it.” change and technological advanceCurwood said cleaning the enviments are making alternate ronment is another step that is necesforms of energy cheaper and sary to improve the planet’s well more accessible to be used by being. a wider portion of the popu“We’ve released a lot of lace. chemicals and substances into the Another crucial aspect of environment that aren’t doing us alleviating the stress on the a lot of good,” Curwood said. energy infrastructure is energy He said being more cautious conservation. about what chemicals people “Efficiency can really get us a use on a daily basis will not lot,” Curwood said. only improve the health With today’s technology, of the environment people could see a 30-40 but also the health of percent reduction in the individuals. Curwood amount of energy they said human bodies use by using it smarter, have been evolved Curwood said. carefully by nature “The cheapest way and that when this to deal with just balance is upset. the energy crisis “We’re setting has nothing to do ourselves up for with generating a lot of trouble,” more electricity, Curwood said. but simply At the conusing less.” clusion of his He also speech, Curwood said being extended a chalmore efficient lenge to those in is a sign of attendance, which being more he calls The Tenrespectand-Ten challenge. ful to the Curwood said the planet and challenge consists country. of finding ways When to reduce daily asked about clipersonal carbon mate change and energy use by what it will take 10 percent for a concerted and by taking effort to be made care of the in utilizing alterequivalent of 10 CODY GOCHNOUR photo native forms of trees. Curwood said if those steps are taken it would help. “These issues are not just something that you learn about in the classroom, but they are issues that impact your entire life, Frazer said regarding Curwood’s speech. “These issues affect everyone and part of the solution is going to be up to everyone.” When asked about the role students play Curwood said, “The impact of technology and the pace of modern life means that they are having a strong affect whether or not they are aware. They need to get started in some fashion thinking about how this planet works, how this valley works, how we live on earth and how we are all in it. Just take a look at some piece that touches you and somehow get engaged.” The dean of the College of Natural Resources, Nat Frazer, said by having Curwood come to USU it’ll help the scientific community explain pressing issues the world faces today to the general public. “Sometimes those of us who are scientists are not experts at talking to the general public,” Frazer said. “Having people like Mr. Curwood who can take the science and translate it into terms that the general public can understand is a tremendously important thing. What you don’t want to do is dumb it down but you want to use language that people can understand.” Curwood’s trip to USU was possible because of concerted efforts from many institutions throughout the valley and it was sponsored by Utah Public Radio, USU’s College of Natural Resources and the Stokes Natural Center. – jared.price@aggiemail.usu.edu Professor’s book gives detailed past of meteorites By ADAM WARD staff writer Across cultures and times people write themselves into the skies. Just one of many ideas that Christopher Cokinos writes about in his new book “The Fallen Sky: An Intimate History of Shooting Stars.” The book was released this summer by Cokinos, who is an adjunct English professor at USU. Cokinos had a reading for his book on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. at the Haight Alumni Center on campus. Cokinos read excerpts from his book, which he jokes is not a book about meteorites. While they are important in the book it’s more about the hands that hold these meteorites that connect people with the cosmos, he said. One review of the book stated he’s a gifted writer that sprinkles stardust on every page. An attendee of the reading said it was “beautiful how he managed to mix poetry with the science and also include his personal life, while still maintaining the story as nonfiction.” The book tells tales of past meteorite hunters, as well as interesting stories about meteorites that have happened through the centuries. One of Cokinos’ favorite stories was about a meteor that is on display in New York. The meteor is made of iron, weighs 15 tons and has huge holes in it that could hold people inside of them. The main character of the book is Harvey Nininger. Nininger revived interest in the scientific studies of meteorites in the 1930s and massed the largest personal collection of meteorites up to his time. Cokinos takes readers through the stories of Nininger, including how Nininger got into the study of meteorites, quitting his job as a university profes- CHRISTOPHER COKINOS, adjunct professor of English and literary award winner, read from his new novel, “The Fallen Sky: An Intimate History of Shooting Stars,” Wednesday. His novel combines his own voice and meteorite history. TYLER LARSON photo sor during the Great Depression, to find meteorites with almost no funding. As well as reading excerpts from the book, Cokinos shared some extremely interesting facts about meteorites. He passed around a meteor he had purchased from a meteorite dealer, saying “It’s the oldest thing you’ll ever hold in your hand; it is between 4.5 and 4.6 billion years old.” He said, “100 to 1,000 tons of space dust and meteorites enter our atmosphere every single day, and that each square-mile of earth will have about eight meteors land on it per year.” Cokinos is the winner of a Whiting Award. His books, “Hope is the Thing With Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds” and “The Fallen Sky: An Intimate History of Shooting Stars,” are available from Tarcher/Penguin. He has won grants and awards from the National Science Foundation, the American Antiquarian Society and the Utah Arts Council. He also has won the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award and the Glasgow Prize. His essays, poems and reviews have appeared in such venues as Orion, The Los Angeles Times, Poetry and Science. – adam.ward@aggiemail.usu.edu Campfire celebrates professor’s 35 years teaching By BENJAMIN WOOD news senior writer Fred Provenza said he tried to incorporate not just the scholarly but also the freethinking voices in the field and many students around the campfire laughed as they remembered guest speaker like John “The F-Bomb Guy.” “He was nearly a bum off the street,” said Provenza, a recently retired USU professor. Roughly 30 people, mostly former students of Provenza, were huddling from the cold around the campfire and roasting marshmallows on metal hangers for an event that took place Thursday at Malibu Campground in Logan Canyon as part of Natural Resources Week. “His ability to teach and be compassionate blew my mind,” John Rentschler, Associated Students of Utah State University senator for the College of Natural Resources, said of his former professor Provenza. Rentschler helped plan the campfire discussion and said there was no theme other than what can happen. The students’ conversation often turned to their experience in his managing dynamic ecological systems class, in which Provenza blended varied elements from science to religion in creating a setting of open discussion. “If you really want a good class everyone should be being challenged, the professor and the students,” Provenza said. Since his retirement last year, after 35 years at USU, Provenza said he has been working quarter-time helping graduate students with their research on animal behavior. “He’s done amazing research at this university,” Rentschler said. Michael Butkus, an academic adviser in the College of Natural Resources who helped organize the event, introduced Provenza at the fire. Butkus joked that when people ask about who he’d like to be stranded on an island with, instead of common answers like Albert Einstein or Paula Abdul he thinks of Fred Provenza. “We’re very happy to have him here,” Butkus said. Provenza said he hadn’t planned out his comments for the evening but spoke about retiring from teaching and how it is difficult to “walk away” from something that he’s loved doing for so long. “It’s a lot of emotion,” Provenza said, “some I didn’t anticipate.” Provenza said the last 35 years “went in a blink” and spoke of the research that he had done at the university and his experiences with his students, many of whom were present. “It’s better to sing one song too few than one song too many,” Provenza said. Topics of discussion extended to challenging one’s fears, perspective, the nature of academics and science, all of which ultimately cycled back to Provenza. “When you study some of the great scientific advances, what people did was to break out of the bubble that science (was) in,” Provenza said. Provenza challenged the people present to keep an open mind and look outside of their comfort zones in the academic world, stressing his concerns about the nature of modern academics such as less hands-on research and distance between students and professors. “All the boundaries we create are arbitrary,” Provenza said. For the remainder of Natural Resources Week, Butkus said there will be a geo-caching treasure hunt on campus Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Students can stop by Room 120 in the Natural Resources Buliding during that time to pick up a GPS for the timed contest. That night there will be a Reduce, Reuse and Rock concert at the amphitheater. The event is free but there is a suggested $3 donation and students can bring a mug for coffee and hot chocolate from Cafe Ibis. – b.c.wood@aggiemail.usu. edu Mali minister welcomed to USU Ginnette Bellegarde Siby, Mali’s minister of higher education, will visit Utah State University Oct. 12 and 13 to tour USU’s teaching and research facilities, including the Utah Water Research Laboratory, the College of Engineering, the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services and the College of Agriculture. “This visit will solidify the relationship between USU and the government of Mali,” said DeeVon Bailey, associate vice president for international research. Siby will sign an Agreement of Cooperation to develop academic exchanges and cooperation in teaching, research and service between the government of Mali and USU and other universities and colleges within the state of Utah, including Salt Lake Community College, Weber State University and Utah Valley University. The signing ceremony will be held at the state capitol in Salt Lake City on the morning of Oct. 14. Gov. Gary Herbert and USU President Stan Albrecht are scheduled to attend, along with other top administrators for other state universities and colleges. “Utah will be in a unique position as the first state where such an extensive partnership between a broad set of higher education institutions and the government of Mali exists,” said Bailey. “As a result education in Mali will benefit greatly from this new relationship. At the University of Mali, the ratio of students to faculty members is 80,000 to 800, a number three times the number of students at USU, with the same number of faculty.” Staff member’s jazz band to perform Guitar fans, especially jazz guitar, will be treated to a concert by Corey Christiansen, faculty member in the Department of Music and the Caine School of the Arts. Christiansen’s work is known around the country. The concert is sponsored by the guitar program in the music department. The concert features the Corey Christiansen Quartet, Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m.in USU’s Performance Hall located at 1090 E. 675 North. Tickets are available at the Caine School of the Arts box office in the Chase Fine Arts Center, Room 138B, 435-797-8022, or online. Tickets are $8 for adults and free to USU students with a valid ID. Christiansen’s quartet includes members David Halliday on tenor saxophone, Aaron Miller on bass, Steve Lyman on drums and Christiansen on guitar. The concert includes an evening of jazz standards and original music by Christiansen. Project addresses valley growth issues The Envision Cache Valley process and project, initiated in February 2009, included efforts by students and faculty in Utah State University’s Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Department. The project engaged area residents in a process that explored valley-wide growth issues. The culmination of the early work is presented in a “Vision Summit” Tuesday, Oct. 13, 7 p.m., at the Logan LDS Tabernacle, 50 N. Main, Logan. Everyone is invited. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert will attend the summit. “Did you know that our region’s population is expected to double by 2040?” summit organizers said. “In the face of this growth, what future do we imagine for our children and grandchildren?” The Envision Cache Valley process engaged Cache County, Utah, and Franklin County, Idaho, residents. The public process began Feb. 25, 2009, with a Growth Summit and was followed by nine public workshops, 14 additional town hall meetings, and two online surveys. -Compiled from staff and media reports |