A defense of remembering

It's not sappy to linger over memorial special editions, remembrances, photographs and testimonials. It's not gratuitous, not a superfluous self-centered exercise in tear-jerking. I think we have a hard time getting over our feeling that it is because we don't know how to fit this behavior into our "normal" selves. But it's what we are supposed to do. We should take the time to actually reflect and remember September 11th.

I haven't ever experienced it this way- I remember that day more clearly than many days a decade ago, but it didn't truly hit me before I felt like this was my city. There are so many things I love about New York, the city that I got used to in about a minute, and the people per square mile make it what it is. It wouldn't be any of the things we love without them. Those people being attacked- being destroyed, for no fault of their own- it feels more personal now that I love the city. That day and the ones that followed were so horrible, worse than the worst nightmare but real.

A few things that made me remember, taught me something, and moved me:

A book of portraits of aging 9/11 rescue dogs, 10 years later.

A look at the now-open memorial at the World Trade Center site.

A crowd-sourced collection of the many different kinds of art that resulted from that day.

And, a few short video interviews and photographs with photographers --heroes as well-- that documented September 11th in New York. One simply ends with the photographer saying, "This is not a way to fight. This is something other than war."

Never forgetting means spending a little more time than is comfortable just remembering.

Let's hear it for New York

If you haven't been moved yet today by something simple and beautiful, there's this video of kids singing to firefighters.

I just got back to my apartment from spending the weekend in Tucson where my boyfriend lives. The Manhattan skyline was glowing so brightly against a very hazy dark sky as my bus crossed over from Queens that I thought the columns of light had been re-instated at ground zero. (I found out just now that they were- no wonder, the entire city was haloed with light. It would have been amazing if it had been a clear night, although I guess it's fitting. Ten years ago tonight the city was covered in dust and mourning.)

It is strange- on September 11, 2001, I was a sophomore in high school in Sacramento. I remember finding out in the morning before school, and being at the gym that evening and seeing the footage played over and over so many times that I just had to leave. And now I'm living in New York and coming home on this day. So even though my heart is out West, for right now, this city is my city.

I spent a good (technically long, though it didn't seem that way) weekend in Arizona- saw the boyfriend's digs, met a few of his friends, ate Mexican food, went bar-hopping and was dumbfounded by the prices. Three dollar drinks in a club at 11 on a Saturday...I couldn't believe it. On Saturday we took a drive to the top of Mt. Lemmon, overlooking all of Tucson and dotted with my favorite kind of pit stops- Geology Vista Points!

So now it's back to working hard at making the most I possibly can out of my experience in New York, and since I'm trusting the process, then this semester that means economics, statistics, career development, and policy design and management. Except for next weekend, when I'll be back on the M60 to La Guardia and heading to Reno for my cousin's wedding. Life's about family. (Sustainability, peace...they're really just about family too.) Investing in something that will go somewhere- that's what makes you happy.

Oh, summer joy

I am done. I am done today. With the first of three semesters at Columbia. I feel excitement, pride, amazement, and accomplishment. And a little like I am emerging from a tornado.

My cousin Alice is arriving at 10pm tonight and we are going to spend 7 amazing days having fun in NYC. I haven't had any days off since the 4th of July....I haven't had 17 days off for...I can't remember how long. I moved here from Sacramento less than 2 weeks after quitting my last job, so I feel like the last time I was totally free for so long was when I was in Peru in 2009. Then back home, then back here, then my friend Alison comes for Labor Day Weekend.

There really were times this semester when I doubted I could do what I had to do. But by the end I hardly felt the old stress at all- I knew that it would all get done. One of our professors told us early in the semester to strive for completion, not perfection- sometimes we did, but I actually think most of us wanted perfect scores, perfect lab grades, perfect feedback from our peers. We care that much.

I definitely learned to focus on what is due tomorrow (or today) and not think about how many things are due in the next 5 days. I came to value highly the experience and opinions of all my 63-odd classmates. I learned eating healthy is really expensive and that it's one of the hardest things to find time for. At the beginning of the semester I felt like my previous experience had given me really valuable benefits- now I feel like I've already learned and been through so much. I gave a final presentation today in Toxicology class playing the role of an EPA specialist, and it was great.

Now to celebrate- but first I have to do some dishes and laundry.

What is on my plate

Does it seem like a lot? Can't tell anymore.

Heat

New York is experiencing record temperatures this weekend. Not only that, but a fire at a sewage plant just up the Hudson River from Columbia resulted in sewage being dumped right into the river for four days. Excellent!

Not that anyone goes swimming in the Hudson. It's one of the largest Superfund (environmental cleanup) sites in the country, and before it was continually polluted by sewage, it was continually polluted by PCBs, courtesy of General Electric.

Also, I hardly have left my apartment since yesterday (just for a few hours today to go to school). My air conditioner works pretty well to cool the entire apartment, and I'm grateful for that.

My presentation analyzing the Solar Industry Development and Jobs Act is Wednesday. I'm waiting at this point for feedback from our advisor. It's pretty nervewracking. Plus, hydrology and toxicology classes started this week, labs are due Monday, and GIS (Geographic Information Systems-- data analysis using map software) class starts Monday. Because, oh yeah, environmental chemistry and climatology are over! I got a B+ in Climatology. I was hoping for an A...

If you would like to know what exact precise things made me happiest this week, they are my very own dear apartment, everything about this music video, and the exterminator who confirmed I do not have bedbugs which I was afraid caused my horrible terrible 2 day allergic itchy rash, which is now all better but of undetermined origin.

I miss you all.

So awesome

I'm researching energy policy. For one course, it's a series of papers in memo form and my topic is the efficiency standard for vehicles in the US. Did you know that until 2007, the standards hadn't increased since the 1980s, due to the fact that Congress placed annual fiscal restrictions on the Highway Traffic Safety Administration, preventing it from addressing the issue? Did you care? Well, efficiency is a good thing, and it decreases our dependence on foreign oil and makes American cars more competitive in a global market.

I'm also working on an analysis of solar photovoltaics- New York is trying to fill in where the market has failed to build demand for solar energy.

Anyway, there is just something so much better about working seven days a week when you feel like you might actually use all these skills and topic knowledge in the future. I haven't been grocery shopping in 10 days, but at least it's for a good reason.

I'm going to dress up and take myself on a date tonight. I am going to the symphony at Lincoln Center. It's Bruckner's Symphony no. 8, and I got prime level seating ticket on Groupon.

Quoting others

Makes blogging much faster.

On the scientific consensus about climate change:

"928 papers [in refereed journals between 1993 and 2003] were divided into six categories: explicit endorsement of the consensus position, evaluation of impacts, mitigation proposals, methods, paleoclimate analysis, and rejection of the consensus position. Of all the papers, 75% fell into the first three categories, either explicitly or implicitly accepting the consensus view; 25% dealt with methods or paleoclimate, taking no position on current anthropogenic climate change. Remarkably, none of the papers disagreed with the consensus position."
-Oreskes, N., 2004: The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change, Science, 306, 10.1126/science.1103618

"Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic GHG concentrations."
-IPCC, SPM, 2007

(anthropogenic means human-made or human-caused)

"The scientific consensus is far stronger today than at any time in the past. Here is the truth: The Earth is round; Saddam Hussein did not attack us on 9/11; Elvis is dead; Obama was born in the United States; and the climate crisis is real. "
- Al Gore, Rolling Stone, June 22nd, 2011

In some ways I hate to use a quote from Al Gore, since I know he's a divisive figure, and much as I tend to immediately discard anything Ann Coulter says, I know some people feel the same about him. He's right though. Below is a slide from this morning's final Climatology lecture, showing the climate models that have the best current knowledge about how climate systems operate. Without accounting for anthropogenic factors, natural factor models (blue) can't even come close to observed temperatures in the last 50 years- you have to account for natural and anthropogenic factors together (orange) to do so.

My professor also published a paper about the "Snowpocalypse" events in recent Northeast winters, showing they were the worst winters in something like 500 years- it has to do with polar fronts and changing circulation strengths...or something...I have studying to do before next Monday's final...anyway I have freezing my butt off to look forward to this winter.

Because for now, it's insanely hot. I had my AC unit installed yesterday after being here for almost 2 months. After being in my room for an hour, walking into the kitchen was like walking into a sauna.

So yes, I think a lot about energy use implications, our living standards, our quality of life, and how temperatures on the planet will increase past 800,000 year records in this century. It's even more overwhelming than my schedule. In two weeks, I present on legislation in NY proposing to build a solar power market. Temperatures and pressures are increasing, in more ways than one.