Recently I just finished Appalachia North by Matthew Ferrence. In it, he recounts the complex relationship he still has with the land as a Northern Appalachian. Typically when I finish a book I write a Literature Appetizer to get people a taste of what they will find. Since his book is such a personal journey, I would not do it justice by recounting his life.
Many of his experiences reflect my own experience growing up in Western PA. So instead of condensing his journey, I thought I would condense mine.
The Hero’s Journey is a common literary structure where the hero of the story departs home to do a great act, and then returns victorious. My Northern Appalachian Journey is a bit different, but has a similar structure of three parts; Living in Water, Succeeding by Leaving, and The Mountains are Calling.
My sense of wonder with chemistry didn't start in the classroom, or with the help of a teacher. It all started because I was bored.
I'm roaming around my 7th grade school library, bored out of my mind. I was supposed to pick a new book to read, but since I hated reading I was haphazardly taking books off and skimming them to find an easy read. When I opened one of those books, I saw a strange and wonderful picture full of strange symbols and images. I saw my first alchemical image.
Fact: Our average global temperature is increasing at a very rapid rate.
Fact: This trend started to happen around the industrial revolution.
Fact: Therefore, humans have played a serious role in our global climate change.
We can argue over specific numbers and details, but you can't argue with the facts above. Even though they have been given a lot of air time, 'climate skeptics' are generally seen as misinformed at best and malicious toward truth at worst. Even though America has the highest percentage of climate skeptics per capita, Kari Marie Norgaard identifies a even larger threat: climate deniers.