Isaiah 40:12-20

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD,
or instruct the LORD as his counselor?
14 Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?
15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
17 Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.
18 With whom, then, will you compare God?
To what image will you liken him?
19 As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.
20 A person too poor to present such an offering
selects wood that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
to set up an idol that will not topple.

Reflection
God is truly great! And there is nothing in all creation that He can be compared to. In fact, everything we see, from the stars in the sky to the waters in the ocean are the very works of His hands. Yet, in the midst of this unfathomable power and glory, God chose us and called us His own. The very One that created the universe, has called us His sons and daughters. What else can we say, how else can we respond but to give Him all praise and honor with all of our lives. Let’s worship the Lord!

Response
Let’s respond by spending some time reflecting on all the things that God has done in our lives, whether it be how He worked through certain situations, or just the fact that He was able to create something as magnificent as the earth. Let’s spend time thanking Him for all that He has done, and will do among us.

A film shot last spring about the research of Robert Provine, psychology, and his undergraduate researchers aired in France and Germany on Dec 30.  The English version is forthcoming, but the German version can be seen below.

The program is mainly focused on Provine’s research into laughter and his book.  The crew spent about a week in Baltimore and UMBC, shooting material in Provine’s lab, one of my lectures, the Commons, and the American Visionary Arts Museum that had an exhibit featuring his work. Matt Groening of The Simpsons, Patch Adams and others were collaborators in the AVAM show. 

See the German language film here.

Robert Provine, psychology, has an essay in a newly published collection entitled This Will Make You Smarter. The book is the latest in a series by the website Edge.org, which focuses on an annual question posed to today’s leading thinkers.  This year’s question was “What scientific concept would improve everybody’s cognitive toolkit? “

This is Provine’s seventh contribution to the series, and his essay is entitled “TANSTAAFL” (“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”). It focuses on the fact that everything has its price, a concept relevant to everyday life as well as all sciences. The idea of TANSTAAFL borrows from Robert Heinlein’s science fiction classic, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.”

Contributors to the book include Daniel Kahneman, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, Martin Seligman, Martin Rees, Robert Sapolsky, Steve Pinker, Jaron Lanier, V. S. Ramachandran, Lisa Randall, Brian Eno, J.Crain Venter, David Brooks, and others.  All of the essays can be read here.

Maryland State Delegate John Olszewski, a Ph.D. student in public policy at UMBC, spoke out about his vote on Maryland’s same-sex marriage bill in the Baltimore Sun this weekend.

Olszewski, 29, a second-term Baltimore County Democrat, says he wanted to be sure the bill enables religious institutions who do not want to participate in same-sex marriage ceremonies to refrain from doing so, and that he is confident the measure “goes above and beyond” to “protect religious institutions.” He concluded, “To go another day denying full rights to all Marylanders would be a disgrace.”

Prior to enrolling in UMBC’s Ph.D. program in public policy, Olszewski was a social studies and special education teacher for seven years. See Olszewski’s website for his full statement on the marriage legislation.

In a recent blog, Dave Newport, Director of the Environmental Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder, AASHE board member, and colleague began tolling the bell over the “Death of Campus Sustainability.” In his blog article, Dave asserts that what appears to be a flattening of the growth of sustainability activities (by a few measures) is a harbinger of death. He also asserts that campus sustainability has done little to go beyond environmental sustainability. On the latter (complex) point, I agree; on the former, I beg to differ.

The indicators for supporting a claim of campus sustainability dying are simply not clear and represent too short of a time scale. Yes, there was rapid growth in numbers of the following in the “naughts”: membership in AASHE, signatories to the ACUPCC, and campus sustainability positions, and yes – they all seem to have flattened in the past year or two. But Dave’s claim that a lack of growth in number is the beginning of death is inconsistent with a wide variety of patterns we see both in nature and in human systems. It may be true in systems driven by greed that if you’re not growing you’re failing but the idea that you have to grow or die (we, by the way, do both simultaneously) is not a sustainable model. It makes more sense to me to think in terms of evolutionary change that looks at a longer time scale and allows change to be a driver of future states. I would recast Dave’s assertion then as “The Evolution of Campus Sustainability.” The movement will evolve and change as it should. And each of us who works in/with higher education institutions and believes we need to create a just and sustainable society has a responsibility to grow the impact of our efforts to ensure that we do become more important in shaping the future.

The other issue Dave raises is (to me) a more important issue. Dave does a good job characterizing a US-centric view of sustainability – a view that begins with concerns about the environment and moves to concerns about how the environment affects/shapes our economy and society. My experience in working with the tertiary education community is that in the US and some other developed, industrialized countries, many leaders of the sustainability movement came from the environmental movement as it evolved to include environmental justice and ecological economics. In other parts of the world, sustainability comes from an alternative view of socio-economic development.

A touchstone for me to remember how we got started thinking about sustainability is the statement in the Brundtland report (Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development) that defined sustainable development. We often see the first part of the definition quoted in a way that justifies the enviro-centric view of sustainability (although there is no reference to the environment within it): Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. But we seldom reference the two clarifiers that follow: It contains within it two key concepts: the concept of 'needs', in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs."

Two important points here – the imperative that we solve the issue of poverty and that we recognize the limits are environmental but in that the limits are a function of our technology and social organization. That is, we can alter the limit for meeting our needs through changes in technology (perhaps the green economy) and through changes in social organization (perhaps the goal of the occupy movement). The other critical point is that if we do not address the issue of poverty we will not be able to create a sustainable society.

My take-away from several discussions is the holistic nature of sustainability. Lowering GHG emissions to mitigate climate change will not necessarily eliminate poverty nor will the elimination of poverty end climate change. However, if what we seek is a sustainable society, we will need to embrace both and much more. As Monty Hempel of Redlands has said (and I paraphrase with apologies), "There isn’t environmental sustainability, or social or economic sustainability – there is only sustainability and all the parts must be working together.”

Going back to Dave’s claim about the death of campus sustainability, I would assert that campus sustainability will evolve just as higher education itself has evolved. Whether or not we continue to call our motivation campus sustainability, we will continue to have (holistic) utopian hopes that we use as implicit guides to our work in and with higher education. From a historical perspective, we are witness to a better world. That work will continue.

From Marjoleine Kars, Chair of the History Department

I regret to inform the campus that Robert K. Webb died on February 14. Born in 1922, Bob Webb was long the preeminent American scholar of British history, with a glittering array of Guggenheim, NEH, and other fellowships and distinctions. He came to UMBC in 1975, from being editor of the American Historical Review, the nation’s most important journal of history, and before that he had been Professor of History at Columbia University.

Giving his energy, leadership, and commitment, not just his name and stature, to UMBC, he helped shape not only the History Department but also the University. He was chair of the History Department for much of the period from the mid-1970s until his retirement in 1992, served a year as UMBC’s Acting Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (now Provost), and was named UMBC’s first Presidential Research Professor. He remained connected to the Department after his retirement, partly through the R.K. Webb Lecture. His obituary in the Washington Post can be found here.

Visit the UMBC History Department website.

This notice was originally posted in UMBC Insights.

From Marjoleine Kars, Chair of the History Department

I regret to inform the campus that Robert K. Webb died on February 14. Born in 1922, Bob Webb was long the preeminent American scholar of British history, with a glittering array of Guggenheim, NEH, and other fellowships and distinctions. He came to UMBC in 1975, from being editor of the American Historical Review, the nation’s most important journal of history, and before that he had been Professor of History at Columbia University.

Giving his energy, leadership, and commitment, not just his name and stature, to UMBC, he helped shape not only the History Department but also the University. He was chair of the History Department for much of the period from the mid-1970s until his retirement in 1992, served a year as UMBC’s Acting Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (now Provost), and was named UMBC’s first Presidential Research Professor. He remained connected to the Department after his retirement, partly through the R.K. Webb Lecture. His obituary in the Washington Post can be found here.