By Scott Weiler

With the landing of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, many Americans are feeling a sense of loss. Some may say that the pride of the American Space Program is being packaged and mothballed to be put on display in a museum with other lost artifacts. That it has become part of our history, instead of our future. This summer, I saw things differently.

Through a program with Tucson Values Teachers and the University of Arizona, myself, along with other of Tucson’s Math and Science teachers had the privilege of being brought to Tucson’s industries to work side by side with scientists and engineers, working collaboratively, to build our future.

Who are these teachers? I have the privilege of being one.  My career is a Math and Science teacher at Presidio School, one of the fine charter schools in Tucson.

The University of Arizona does recruitment and evaluation processes to get teachers into businesses whose success depends on science and engineering. Many companies, such as Raytheon and Tucson Electric, stepped up to include teachers in what they do. I was selected to work with Paragon Space Development Corporation. It is a locally owned small business that provides environmental controls for extreme and hazardous environments, such as space.

Companies like Paragon could have easily had us come in a few days over the summer to shadow an engineer or two, but the program was designed to have us not only spend our entire summer involved with the company, but doing real tasks—collaborator ting with engineers and not just watching passively.

Working with Paragon, allowed me to do real rocket science with real rocket scientists. Paragon is a hard charging company with an adventuresome spirit that was formed by Biospherians and Space scientists and engineers who wanted to change the future by creating life support that would allow humans to expand beyond their limits. They are working with other companies on making the American space program thrive again. Like Paragon, like the rest of the companies that were involved in this summer internship, also know that the future needs scientifically minded and mathematically oriented work force to continue on their path. As teachers, we know that students in the classrooms today are the scientists, engineers, and astronauts of tomorrow.

Many schools start in the coming weeks, so I will be switching back to my teacher hat. But I will have a newer and more exciting approach to teaching my students. I will not only bring my teaching experience to the classroom, but also that of a scientist and engineer. I know my students will benefit from really using the math, science, and technology that will be important in the future.

Students are coming into a world that asks more from them in the fields of Science and Math than ever before. The real opportunities for personal success are going to be areas where they create, discover and invent the future. By using skills more geared toward this century, students get glimpses of the future. My hope is that now they will be a little more aware and mindful of how they can fit into that future.

Scott Weiler is a math & science teacher at Presidio School and has six years experience teaching, including a year in South Korea. He is a gradute of University High School, and has a B.A. from Lousiana State University. He got his teaching certificate from Pima Community College.

By Dr. Barbara Warren
Physicians for Social Responsibility

Dr. Barbara Warren, Physicians for Social Responsibility

Arizona is burning.  We are amidst a severe drought, a climate growing hotter and our water resources are shrinking.  Without adequate rainfall, forests will become tinderboxes and fires will rage.  Was this expected?  Yes!  Climate scientists have been warning us for years that this is the future for the Southwest with the scenario of climate change.

And yet many of us we still behave as if there is nothing happening out there on our planet and in our own environment.  We have been told how to make the necessary changes in our lives for a long time now.  Read Lester Brown’s book, “Plan B” or a whole host of other writers.  It is late, but there is still time to make very significant adjustments to the way we live and to dramatically reduce the rising carbon levels that are the cause of these changes.

We all work to try to make the future for our children and our grandchildren and other family members’ futures on this planet a better one.  And yet we are ignoring the obvious, the 1,000-pound gorilla in the room.  What will their lives really be like if we continue on this path?  See Thomas Friedman’s  Opinion piece from 4/8/11.

In the Southwest, we are fortunate to have ready access to a large and plentiful and renewable energy source.  We all value our sunshine and our desert climate.  And yet many of us seem blind to the opportunity it presents to capture the sun as energy. We can each do our part in helping to reverse the trend of global warming. And yet the majority of us do not act.  It is puzzling indeed.  It is especially ironic to listen to the many who say:  “I cannot afford to put solar energy on my house because I am renovating my kitchen… or bathroom… or buying a new car.”   Most often that new car is not a hybrid or electric vehicle. Our choices are backwards, short sighted and certainly not in the best interests of our children’s future on this planet.

There are a number of very helpful incentives to get on with choosing solar electricity and solar hot water and many other energy conserving options for our homes.  The State and the Nation allow us tax credits for each of many items.  The Federal government provides a 30% tax credit for solar installations.  And our utility companies offer generous subsidies that reduce the costs of solar energy choices for our homes by an average of 40%. Must it be free for us to care enough for our children’s future?

It is time to get our priorities straight and to do the right thing for our families and this planet. We can do it!  We can also find ways to help those who truly do not have any funds to go solar and make this happen. Let’s all compete for the best solar arrays and not the fanciest bathrooms and kitchens!  And kudos to all of you who have “gotten it” and have those panels on your roofs, those hybrid and electric vehicles, that water harvesting, those bicycles and so on! Thank you for doing your part!

About the Author:
Barbara H. Warren, MD, MPH is a retired physician who is the Arizona coordinator for Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and a Southwest Director on the National Board of Directors of PSR, Washington, DC.  She also is the coordinator of the Issue Team on Global Warming and the Environment for the Pima County Chapter of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA).

The BP oil disaster has long been making worldwide and national headlines, but Tucsonan Ryszard Pirog takes it local.

Pirog, an artist and student, recently visited Louisiana and interviewed people in the community to uncover the spill’s devastation and potential permanent ruination of  life as they knew it.