Sunset at 4:37 PM.It will slowly get earlier, but not by much.
4:29 P.M. early December, before we start to get our evenings back.
It takes a million years or so for the energy released when 4 hydrogen atoms convert to helium--a loss of 0.7% mass converted to pure energy, energy spun out of the sun, most off which travels for eons, unfathomable distances, striking the surface of some mass millions of years later.
A few of these photons hit Earth.
Even fewer are caught by chloroplasts.
Even fewer than this caught by chloroplasts in November.
There are so few chloroplasts bothering to catch photons now that the CO2 levels are rising, as they do every winter when the green plants rest. The CO2 concentration will fall again come spring, when the plants wake up.
Spring is impossible to imagine now, at least for mey.
I do not trust words. I do not trust photographs. I do not trust my memory.
I trust my nose in mid July, buried in tomato plants climbing up towards the tangible god that drives life on Earth.
Alaunus. Amaterasu. Aodh. Arun. Belobog. Freyr. Helios. Mithra. Ra. Sol. Surya.
Jesus "I am the light of the world."
And the light is dying.
Teaching science without acknowledging the mystery of the unknown does not work.
Shine a fluorescent light on chlorophyll extract, very easy to make.
Shred up some spinach leaves, swirl around in 95% ethanol, then filter.
Chlorophyll extract is deep green.
Under a fluorescent light chlorophyll is is opaque red.
Don't take my word for it--do it. It takes little time.
Electrons get excited, then collapse, releasing energy, blood red light.
The perennial plants have more sense than humans, at least those of us born under electric light.
The perennials have stored the energy captured from the sun into their roots. The plants trust that spring will come.
Modern humans?
Lights, alarm clocks, lights, clocks, lights, schedules, lights, televisions, lights, monitors, lights.
When the sun barely noses 30 degrees above the horizon, we should be resting.
There's no guarantee we'll see spring.
None.
I avoid discussing Christmas in class.
Oh, you're one of those PC types, eh?
No, in December I'm one of the Yule types--and Yule predates Christianity.
I'm in awe of the sun, and despite (or maybe because of) a rudimentary grasp of its physics, I remain in awe.
Science is driven by awe. We say it, and we forget it; the words become platitudes in a culture defined by a Christianity now rarely practiced.
Awe. Dread. Terror.
If the failing light does not inspire fear, you need to stop hiding behind words and rationality.
Light.
Jesus "I am the light of the world."
And the light is dying.
***
Teaching science without acknowledging the mystery of the unknown does not work.
Shine a fluorescent light on chlorophyll extract, very easy to make.
Shred up some spinach leaves, swirl around in 95% ethanol, then filter.
Chlorophyll extract is deep green.
Under a fluorescent light chlorophyll is is opaque red.
Don't take my word for it--do it. It takes little time.
Electrons get excited, then collapse, releasing energy, blood red light.
***
The perennial plants have more sense than humans, at least those of us born under electric light.
The perennials have stored the energy captured from the sun into their roots. The plants trust that spring will come.
Modern humans?
Lights, alarm clocks, lights, clocks, lights, schedules, lights, televisions, lights, monitors, lights.
When the sun barely noses 30 degrees above the horizon, we should be resting.
There's no guarantee we'll see spring.
None.
***
I avoid discussing Christmas in class.
Oh, you're one of those PC types, eh?
No, in December I'm one of the Yule types--and Yule predates Christianity.
I'm in awe of the sun, and despite (or maybe because of) a rudimentary grasp of its physics, I remain in awe.
Science is driven by awe. We say it, and we forget it; the words become platitudes in a culture defined by a Christianity now rarely practiced.
Awe. Dread. Terror.
If the failing light does not inspire fear, you need to stop hiding behind words and rationality.
