Kevin Vacarello

One of the most important speakers who came and talked to the class was Kevin Vacarello.  He has an extraordinary background in the field of astrophysics and thermodynamics, and has decided to use this knowledge for one of the most humbling causes in today's world: the sustainability effort.

He began his presentation with a fairly simple explanation of sustainability including three factors: ecology, social, and economy.  His ultimate point was that there should be an equitable relationship between these factors, and that lies at the root of sustainability.  He made a very unique connection with this to the process of thermodynamics, which he explains is a field all about equitable relationships.  He then went into a discussion of thermodynamics, which delved into the realm of science far beyond my capacity, but interesting nonetheless.  One thing I did understand (I think) was his discussion of the equitable relationship between the economy and ecology.  If there was a truly fair relationship, the value of energy resources would be equal to the unit of energy it contains.  In other words, energy rich resources, such as oil, would cost much more than other resources with less energy contained in the material.

Another point of discussion I found interesting was his explanation of Social Network Theory, which is ultimately the method of social change.  It begins with leaders (early adopters), who adopt something new, and is followed by the first half majority.  Somewhere during the adoption of the first half majority there is a tipping point which is reached, where it becomes so accepted that the second half majority joins the bandwagon and adopts the new thing too.  The last stage of people is the laggers.  Ultimately this gives hope to the people who are beginning something new which is not adopted yet.  Their goal is to convert as many people as possible until they reach the tipping point and ultimate success is assured.

Beginning of the End

This is the beginning of my blog for my Anthropology course: Culture, Religion and the Environment, as well as the beginning of my last semester at HPU (thus the title).  This is actually quite a recent development, as I found out I could take one more course than I thought I could this semester, allowing me to graduate early (and not waste next semester with mostly fluff courses, as appealing as that may sound.  It is because of this that I was actually not able to go to the first session of this course.  The first week of courses actually ended up being a swirling maelstrom of changes in my schedule before finally settling on graduating early.

With missing the first week in mind, I figured I'd just talk about what I think Culture, Religion, and the Environment are/is.  For instance, why are these three concepts included in the title of a course?  For my part, I think that religion is located within culture, and culture is mostly our response to the environment.  I say "mostly" because I feel that culture is also creative.  It isn't simply our response to the environment in order to survive, but involves the creative capacity of humanity; a simple example being art which goes beyond the utility of the artistic object.  It is with this viewpoint that I came into the class.