Topic #1: College

Well, the fall semester is over. Thank goodness! I’m happy to report that the final grades are in and I am currently carrying a 4.0 GPA thanks to a 96% in Introduction to Environmental Science and a 98% in Environmental Law and Regulations!

I feel pretty good about that…

Environmental Law is pretty dry, but I am an analyst so digging into the nitty-gritty and playing in the weeds of any law is in my wheelhouse. The Intro to Environmental Science class was by far the more interesting of the two classes. I say that because the teacher was a full-on climate change promoter. For example, on numerous occasions, one of the older students (a group which included yours truly), would push back, politely, and ask whether her statements were fact or opinion.

Every time, it seems, she stated that they were scientific facts.

Well, let me tell ya, fact or not, whenever she claimed something that is wholly debatable as fact, the class spent the next 20-30 minutes off the rails debating the merits of her statements. Differing views on the topic at hand were vigorously discussed. No one got angry. No one raised their voice. In fact, it resembled everything a college setting is supposed to be.

Over the course of the semester, many of the new young fresh-faced freshmen would ask us, wizened adult learners, in hushed tones if we were afraid of the teacher docking us points for disagreeing with her. I believe every one of us laughed. One guy said, “Aw, hell kid. These teachers don’t much mess with us old farts. They know that we know what’s what.”

And that’s how the semester went. Sometimes the class was in agreement, sometimes it pushed back. I think, all-in-all, the biggest stumbling block for our professor was her insistence that the ‘science was settled.’

Oddly enough, in a strange coincidence, it was my Environmental Law professor that shared this YouTube video where it is explained why climate data models all seem to have differing start dates. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to share with the Environmental Science professor and the class at large.

Why not poke the bear… I already had my ‘A’.

As far as the spring semester is concerned, I’ll only be taking one class, Industrial/Municipal Pollution (+ lab). This is to accommodate my daughters and their very active spring semesters.

Topic #2: Book Updates

While I have been working full-time and going to school part-time, I have also been reviewing and editing Parts I-III of the Foreign & Domestic series. To date, I have completed and released updated versions (editions) of Part I (now on its 3rd edition) and II (2nd edition) and I am currently in the middle of reviewing Part III. Once the review of Part III (2nd edition) is complete and released, I’ll begin working on getting the series distributed in Audio format.