Watch this building go boom

Last Sunday, the college where I teach imploded an old office building on a property it acquired.  I could have gotten up early and watched it in person, but I decided to sleep in and hope that the demolition would be such good television that I could watch it on YouTube.  I was not disappointed.  There were quite a few videos of the event.  The best one so far is the following from Controlled Demolition, Inc., the company that set the explosives, which shows the implosion from multiple angles.  It also includes the sounds of the countdown and the spectators cheering.

Controlled Demolition, Inc. (CDI) of Phoenix, Maryland, USA (acting as Implosion Subcontractor to Main Demolition Contractor, North American Dismantling Corp. of Lapeer, Michigan) performs the successful explosives felling of the 17-story, structural steel North Park Plaza building in Southfield, Michigan at 8:30 AM on Sunday, December 14, 2014.

The next best was shot from a drone that overflew the building during and after the implosion.  In my opinion, it does the best job of showing the aftermath.

The implosion and aftermath of the North Park Plaza skyscraper in Southfield, MI USA. Filmed via DJI Phantom 2 Quadcopter.

The North Park Plaza was a 42 year old 17 story office tower which had been vacant for several years. It was purchased by Oakland Community College (OCC), which is currently planning future uses for the soon to be vacant land.

That pile of rubble was what greeted me as I drove into work the next day.  I'm still getting used to the building being gone.

It turns out that OCC is not the only college that will demolish a former commercial property it now owns.  Follow over the jump for news from the other side of the state.

Nemesis: essay and song

I found out yesterday the topic of this year's student essay contest--Nemesis.  It just so happened that I thought about posting a music video to the song of that name by Shriekback for Throwback Thursday yesterday, but I was running late and had already posted for the day.  On top of that, I was right on schedule for number of posts and page views for the month, so I decided to skip it.  It ended up being my best day for page views so far this month.

Today, I'm going to an event sponsored by the same committee who also came up with the essay idea, so I'm posting both the video and the essay prompt.  First, the video, which is from Shriekback's live show, Shriekback Jungle Of The Senses Part 1.


(Nothing but) Flowers may be the theme song for the blog and as such may be my theme song now, but "Nemesis" was my personal theme song before that.  It mentioned both prehistoric animals and parthenogenesis, which were subjects of my M.S. and Ph.D. research respectively and was a cool song to boot.  That's why I wanted to post it yesterday.

Follow over the jump for the essay prompt.

I'm hosting an Earth Week event today

The college where I work is holding Earth Week this week instead of next week.  As the flyer reads:

Each year we celebrate Earth Day by dedicating an entire week of special “green” co-curricular programming at each campus. Examples include campus clean ups and other community service projects, speakers and demonstrations, educational exhibits, recycling events, and more!  With support from the Collegewide Sustainability Committee, each program is created to raise ecological consciousness and involvement on campus and beyond.

The first event is being held at my home campus today at Noon: An Inconvenient Truth, a film viewing and discussion with a faculty member.

Guess who the faculty member is--me.  Wish me luck!

Rock the Vote in Madison, Wisconsin, today

In the spirit of ABC News panel on presidential debates, here's another press release about a campus event about elections I included in the tip jar of Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (2012 Nobel Prizes edition).

University of Wisconsin, Madison: Rock the Vote returns to the campus area on Oct. 16
By Liz Beyler
October 10, 2012

Rock the Vote, its colorfully wrapped bus and its message of voter involvement are heading to the campus area for an outdoor event on Tuesday, Oct. 16.

It will take place where the State Street Mall meets the north end of the East Campus Mall, entirely on city property. The event runs from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

This will be the third time that Rock the Vote has visited UW-Madison in a presidential election year in an effort to get students to register to vote and to cast their ballots.

Rock the Vote has been busy this year. They showed up where I teach the first week of this month, right before Michigan's voter registration deadline. Unfortunately, I was in office hours and missed their visit. Too bad. I heard it was fun. May the Badgers have at least as good a time and may Rock the Vote register a lot of students and convince them to vote.

Saving Detroit: this year's student essay topic

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the 2012-2013 Student Essay Contest topic for the college where I teach.*

Saving Detroit
As the 2011 Super Bowl commercial featuring Detroit might indicate, Detroit has developed a reputation for being hard, tough, edgy and auto-centric. Considering the beginnings of our town, steeped in the automotive industry, this is not surprising. Part of this reputation, however, stems also from the notorious race riots of '43 and '67, the persistent crime rate and steeply falling population. Because of recent shifts in the auto industry as well as these less attractive factors, many believe that Detroit is a lost cause with little hope of recovering from persistent decline.

Those who live in and around Detroit, however, have an opportunity to see many other aspects of the city, to take part in a diverse, culturally sophisticated and cosmopolitan community. In fact, despite declining population in the city, a grass roots movement is alive and kicking, hoping to build, promote and develop the best parts of Detroit in such a way that it will once again be a destination rather than an effigy of past glories
As a citizen of the Detroit Metro area, write an essay that argues why Detroit is worth saving. Your essay should be academic in nature and should rely upon first-hand experience and/or research to support its central argument.

I swear I had nothing to do with choosing this topic or crafting the write-up. That written, I couldn't have done a better job myself. Honestly, it encapsulates much of the theme of this blog, including my sentiment that "exciting things are happening here, and I wouldn't miss them for the world." Of course, I'm going to promote this essay contest to my students, including giving extra credit for submissions. That the winner receives $1000, second place $750, third place $500, and five honorable mentions should convince them even more.

*I'm pseudonymous here, but I'm not anonymous. After all, I link to Examiner.com articles with my real name.

Earth Day Events at University of Michigan and Oakland Community College

Time for a linkspam.

First, my alma mater.



Earth Day celebrations planned at U-M

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The University of Michigan celebrates Earth Day with events this week, including:

• A two-day workshop, "Revitalizing Innovation in Michigan for Clean Energy Manufacturing," will explore how to create an ecosystem of innovation throughout the state.

The event will be held 8 a.m.-5 p.m. April 21 and 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. April 22 in the Michigan League, 911 N. University Ave., Ann Arbor.

The workshop will include state and national leaders, in addition to representatives from the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute, the School of Natural Resources and Environment, the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR), OVPR's Office of Technology Transfer and the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise.

If I were a full-time science journalist, which I'm not, I'd make it a point to cover this. I've been to a conference like this before, and rather enjoyed it.

• North Quad residence hall will host an Andean Thanksgiving Ceremony for Mother Earth. The ceremony known as Despacho a Pachamama in Quechua, the language of the Incas, gives participants an opportunity to express gratitude to the Earth, and the land that provides resources for well-being, says organizer Tatiana Calixto, a lecturer in Spanish and GIEU Teaching Fellow in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures.

It consists of a series of offerings (seeds, candy, grains and others) that are presented with reverence and gratitude to the Earth. The event also will include video presentations about various aspects of the tradition.

"I've performed this ceremony with my students in my classes, and they compare it to Mother's Day," Calixto said. "I totally agree, since we celebrate a special day by returning to our mothers, perhaps presenting a gift to them, and doing something special for everything that they do for us."

The celebration will be held 5-7 p.m. Friday (April 22) in Room 2435 of North Quad. Calixto says this room provides the perfect space for the event. "For the indigenous peoples—Quechua, Aymara, Arhuaco, Mapuche and many more in the world—the planet is their temple and home. We should learn from that." In addition to Calixto, other organizers include North Quad Programming, the Language Resource Center and the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures. Location: North Quad, 105 South State St., Ann Arbor.

This is way too woo-woo for me. However, I really don't think I should mock it, if for no other reason than any societal transformation requires a spiritual expression. I may not be the person to do it, but I don't know if I trust The Archdruid to do it, either. One of my regular readers and commenters has a really dyspeptic rant about how The Archdruid has a spirtually poisonous take on what he calls "The Long Descent." Speaking of that regular commenter, he has an interesting spritual take that I trust more than The Archdruid's, but that's a subject for another post.

Now, the one community college in the area, other than Lansing Community College, that has a public announcement of Earth Day events. It actually has four.  Full disclosure, it's also my employer (I'm not an anonymous blogger).


Back to Earth

Two of the events take place back to back at the Highland Lakes campus of Oakland Community College (7350 Cooley Lake Road, Waterford, MI 48327) on Thursday afternoon, April 21st. The first one is a presentation on Permaculture Design at 2:00 P.M.

With much of our culture’s attention shifting to all things sustainable, permaculture is emerging as the definitive design methodology for the transition to a sustainable future. By planning human settlements in ways that mimic the relationships found in nature, permaculturists are creating inspiring solutions to the worlds most pressing issues of peak oil, climate change, food and water shortages, and economic instability.

This is exactly on topic for this blog.

A central theme in permaculture is the design of ecological landscapes that produce food. However, permaculture entails much more than organic perennial food production. Integrating renewable energy, natural building, water systems, transportation, waste recycling, and land stewardship are all central themes found in permaculture design.

Too bad I'm not going to this talk. I'd both enjoy it and find it useful.

Speaker Nathan Ayers is a permaculture design educator born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is founder of the Burns Park Green Energy Association, and co-founder of Transition Ann Arbor.

I met the people in charge of Transition Oakland County last summer. I really have to get back in touch with them. After all, they're a bunch of Crazy Eddies just like me!

He is certified in permaculture design, organic gardening, and NABCEP trained in solar photovoltaic systems. With his organization Chiwara Permaculture, Nathan and his team are helping Michigan homes, business, and communities take responsibility for their food and energy production. At any given moment, Nate is also a musician, surfer, and dog lover. You can learn more at www.chiwarapermaculture.com

Wow, now I'm really sorry I'm not going to this event!

The second event is about gardening and takes place at 3:30 to 4:30 P.M. in the same location as the previous event.

Join Kate Hart from Cricket Garden

Come and be motivated to start you own garden. Speaker Kate Hart, editor of the Cricket Garden Newsletter, will share what she does to be one with nature. Limited supply of free flower and vegetable seeds, first come first serve.

Kate will talk about how gardening and having her hands in the dirt brought her to a new awareness. The realization there is practically no field of human endeavor that does not relate to gardening in some way. Seen from whatever perspective we might choose, nature touches on every single aspect of human life. Therefore, gardening becomes the metaphor for life or the other way around. But it doesn’t matter as life and growing food are symbiotic with each other which have to be considered, as we improve on, reinvent and are inspired by, to move forward on an ever-changing planet. Nothing is separate as it appears to human perception, but everything is interlinked.

Neither of these events is advertised as "free and open to the public," so contact the Student LIFE Office, 248.942.3243 or vjjones@oaklandcc.edu to see if the public is welcome.

The next event, which will be held at the Orchard Ridge campus of OCC (27055 Orchard lake Road, Farmington Hills) this Friday at 10 A.M. is billed as "free and open to the public." I also highly recommend it.



The Impact of Urban Farming on American Cities

Taja Sevelle is a music recording artist, songwriter, novelist and inventor from Minneapolis, Minnesota who began her music career in 1987 when she was signed to the Paisley Park Records label by Prince. She has made six music videos, recorded three cds and one ep and toured in eight countries, garnering rave reviews in People, Billboard, Time Out New York and many more. Taja will make a presentation on Urban Farming, the charitable organization she founded in Detroit that cultivates food in unused urban spaces to feed the hungry. Urban Farming is now the official charity of Atlantic Records.

Ms. Sevelle (the photo on the poster does not do her justice, trust me ;-) gave a presentation at the campus I teach for Earth Day last year. It was a blast. I'm sure that she'll give at least as good a performance this year, so if you can make it, please do.

Finally, the Auburn Hills campus is holding a Sustainability Fair from 11 A.M. to 4 P.M. on Tuesday the 26th.


1st Annual Sustainability Fair

Join us as we help increase awareness about living sustainably and celebrate projects, products and educational programs created with a commitment to sustainability. This event will gather students, faculty and numerous local businesses and community organizations to share
their resources and expertise through information booths, giveaways, educational activities, demonstrations, displays and more.

This isn't advertised as "open to the public," but I'm fairly sure it is.

And that concludes tonight's linkspam of upcoming Earth Day events in SE Michigan.