| Discussion breaks down Great Collision |
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| Written by Johnathan Silver, The Shorthorn senior staff | |||||
| Wednesday, 07 October 2009 08:22 PM | |||||
  Jeff Howard, former President’s Sustainability Committee co-chairman Jeff Howard’s talk, Sustainability and the Crisis of Expertise, focused on how a wide range of expert opinions have contributed to the problem known as the Great Collision, how expertise is received by society and how, through a joint effort, experts and non-experts can work toward a solution. The Great Collision is a term coined by author James Gustave Speth, which reflects the depletion of natural resources, increase in paper usage and vehicle production, and other resources used daily by society. “When things crash – cars, space shuttles, buildings, bridges – we generally want to know who’s responsible for the problem,” said Howard, School of Urban and Public Affairs assistant professor. “We have to ask the same question for the Great Collision.” Howard projected an image that listed professionals responsible for the current environment. The list included job descriptions like engineers, lawyers, pundits, lobbyist, public relations specialists, stockbrokers, teachers, journalists, scientists and others. He also intentionally left spaces blank and told the audience that the blanks were for them to fill in. “We need more science, more efficiency and smarter technology,” Howard said. “It’s time for some global-scale engineering projects.” Leila Ahmadi, an environmental science graduate student, said that the talk should have focused more on environmental education. “In Arlington, there is no public transportation because people don’t know how driving in personal vehicles affects the environment,” she said. Ahmadi suggested that the city impose public transportation. Howard referenced a series of diagrams also used by Speth, who is Dean of Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. The diagrams labeled population growth and the increased natural resources use, which has contributed to the Great Collision. Michan Connor, interdisciplinary studies assistant professor, said he liked the talk and thought it was provocative. “Dr. Howard did a good job of introducing a very complex set of problems that affect our society,” he said. “Without the participation of the wider public, experts are liable to create problems or make existing problems worse.” Nursing freshman Anh Dang said she and fellow English 1301 classmates were required to attend Howard’s lecture. “The information was kind of hard to understand,” she said. “I’m glad I went though. It wasn’t a waste.” English chair Wendy Faris said Howard gave a good talk. “It’s hard trying to have these experts get more input from society because we don’t feel like we know what’s going on. But he’s saying too bad,” she said. “He’s saying that we’ve got to have a consensus.” Views: 352 | E-mail
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