Permaculture MOOC

Oregon State University is providing free access to the knowledge and tools needed to help combat climate change and other world issues in a massive open online course, or MOOC, on sustainable landscape design this spring.The four-week course, Intro to Permaculture, is a public education project that will enable students worldwide to learn about and design sustainable landscapes and ecosystems in a highly interactive way.

The class runs May 1-27, 2017, and registration begins Nov. 28, 2016.

Learn more here:
http://open.oregonstate.edu/courses/permaculture/

IAQ

May 1-3: Every spring, the Maine Indoor Air Quality Council puts on a well-organized Maine Indoor Air Quality Conference  which focuses on healthy buildings. It's never more important than in the age of tight construction with new materials. This year's keynote is about the health implications of fragrances.

You don't have to go all of the way to Portland to get a taste of their conference. They have online workshops and courses.  If you are on their email list, they will send links to free samples of past presentations. Here is one that will be available until about April 20:  High-Performance, Passive Buildings: Comfort Indoor Air Quality in Airtight Construction

Solar Fest

One of my professors, JC Oppenlander, wrote the book (well, an edition of the book) on traffic engineering studies. He was all about the fundamentals and the details. "PIEV," he would say, is an essential process that affects all aspects of driver (of course, also biker and walker) behavior. Perception, Intellection, Emotion, Volition... there is more to hazard perception-reaction than a stop watch.

What if we used the PIEV process as a lens on the hazards to civilization? Just as with drivers, would it not seem like nothing was happening for a long time, then -- suddenly -- volition happens.

There are no anti-lock brakes for civilization, so imagine what happens to a civilization that has to pump the brakes while it tries to avoid a hazard once it has perceived-intellectioned-emotioned.

But Underhill is not at volition yet. Energy Committee members are frustrated that piles of information, assistance, evidence, and testimony are not converting to action on energy conservation and efficiency. There is plenty of perception and intellection. Other than that Energy Committee frustration, there is no emotion in the process. As Oppenlander said, emotion is essential. It comes before volition.

Art is emotion. http://www.solarfest.org/