Some leads/threads/possibilities for posting on Sunday...

Despite having volunteered for Pennypack Park and knowing from personal experience that it does have alot to offer the class, I feel that the class field trip  should be at the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center. I believe that we should do so in most part because it will give us a better sense of the history of the Delaware watershed in the Philadelphia area as well as a chance to learn more about the process in which natural water sources are used for human purpose.

Through growing up close to the city, I know that Philadelphia exists in a geographical area that traditionally had a lot more above ground streams and creeks that it currently does. Over the course of the city's history though development and industrialization led the city to cover the creeks or divert them underground so as to build on top of them, efectively changing the geography of the city. It would be interesting to learn more about this process and the implications it has environmentally on the area and it would give the class the chance to examine and the discuss the idea of bending the water systems of the natural environment to best suit human convenience. Likewise visiting the Fairmount Waterworks also provides a chance to examine the various procedures and applications of the Philadelphia waterworks. Although diagrams of urban waterworks are widely available and most education systems cover the water work operations at some point, I've always felt as though there was a large amount of disconnect between natural water systems and the water we use during our daily household use. Acquiring more details about how specifically water from the local watershed is collected, treated, and made available for local use by the local populance would contribute significantly in removing the feeling of disconnect that exists between the water we use and the water available in nature.

I think the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge @ Tinicum is the most appealing option for a field trip. I think most of us have probably walked in parks or lakes or museums, but maybe we haven't all seen a wildlife refuge? I'd be interested in seeing the similarities and the differences amongst them. What makes one place a park and another a refuge? Does a refuge mean less human movement within a natural landscape? Is this again another way of separating "nature" and people? What are the pros and cons of a wildlife refuge? I also find the title of the place to be interesting, because the marsh is being included in the description of "wildlife;" it seems to me that the water is being treated as part of that life; the living things there.

As for Wednesday class, I would prefer to just meet in person, as we regularly do. I just think that trying to meet online would complicate things, and since we are already trying to make up for our lost class due to Sandy by doing the ESEM partner projects, purposefully rescheduling this Wednesday class before Thanksgiving seems like we're just making it harder on ourselves. I think those who need to/really want to leave should do so and make up for it by doing an extra analytical posting on Serendip, and the rest of us just meet in class and have that analytical discussion face to face. Serendip has its benefits, but class in person is different and I appreciate the merits of that.

I agree that we should focus on water for our field trip. It would take us outside of our familiar environments, since Bryn Mawr’s campus does not have many large, non-manmade bodies of water. It might also serve as a positive reminder of just how dependent we are on water. We need it to grow food crops, we need it to shower, and we use it for transportation. Not only that, a human being can live for an entire month without food, but only 3 days without water, as it comprises about 65% of the human body. 65 percent! Not only are we dependent on water to grow our food, we are more than half composed of this resource.

I was also thinking about “civilization’s” dependence on water, and the fact that it is no accident that most of the world’s major cities are built on waterways. The city of Philadelphia sits between the Delaware and the Schuylkill Rivers, from which it derives some of its usable water.

This made me wonder about our drinking water on the mainline. I ran across this page: http://www.ewg.org/tap-water/whatsinyourwater/PA/Aqua-Pennsylvania-Inc-Aqua/1460073/ One thing that really jumped out at me is that significantly more chemicals have been detected in our drinking water than in the national average. This is probably because we are in such as populated area.

I think it’s important to know where the drinking water in our area (well Philly’s area, anyway) comes from, so I think that it would be a cool experience to visit the Fairmount Water Works Center. Maybe this would help us gain more respect for our water system.

On another note, I support having class before Thanksgiving. I worry that having a completely online discussion might get a little scattered. And I think that the face-to face nature of class discussions is valuable. 

I like water.  It’s fun to play with/in and we need it.  Some water is more important to me than other water.  I’ve spent time getting to know specific rivers, streams, and lakes, and these are the rivers, streams, and lakes which I care for.  This is self centered.  It is also inevitable; we care most for the things we know.  Before I can listen meaningfully to someone talk about the history/importance of some body of water, I need to have relationship with the water.  If I’m being honest, I don’t care in any deep way for the water sources that are listed above.  I know that they are important, but doubt my life would change if they were obliterated tomorrow.  This is the crux of our ecological crisis.  The only solution I have to offer is that we should devote all of our time to building relationships.

The best way to build relationships is to give them time.  This is how I relate to/spend time with water: I like to sit and watch it flow; I like to skip smooth stones; I like to search for bugs in the sand; I like to splash; I like to swim; I like to feel the muck between my toes; I like to catch salamanders, and I need to drink it.  The issue with doing most of these things at the end of November or the beginning of December is that it is cold.  Probably too cold to relate to the water in way this is also safe.  

I  don’t want to listen to someone talk about why water is important and how humans are polluting it because I already know that water is important and that my actions pollute it.  I would find value in going to water with the goal of starting to build a relationship with it, but I’m concerned that this wouldn’t be safe.