at sea

Now that I have discovered how easy it is to get on line in the computer center on their computers, I plan to write shorter bits, more often.
Right now Rob is teaching in his gorgeous classroom--with a huge wall of glass overlooking the ocean and elegant tables and chairs set us as if it were a private dining room. His class this morning is on the History of Religious Freedom starting with our own Thomas Jefferson and his Statute for Religious Freedom, which is the basis for all of our religious freedom in the US. If he turns out to have room, I will sit in on some of his classes. It turns our that this class and his class on Non-profit Leadership are in great demand. They are full beyond the capacity of 32 students and he has more students wanting to join the classes and Lifelong Learners who want to take his classes. Rob is willing to take more people as long as chairs for them will fit reasonably in the room.
Yesterday I went to the Global Studies class that all students are required to take and everyone else, Faculty, staff, Lifelong Learners, and spouses like me, are expected to attend. I liked the class and gained a little different perspective on things I knew, but hadn't put together the way he (the teacher) did. For the first class he talked a lot about the world population and the global environment. The world population has grown more since the early 1950s than all of the number of people who have ever lived on Earth before 1950. Seven countries have reached the point at which they are growing at the same rate as people are dying in those countries. In the 1970s we were all talking about ZPG (Zero Population Growth). At that time (70s) most well-educated people thought we should have only 2 children per family. Now it is all the fad to have 3 children. I have 3 children, so I am not criticizing anyone else who does. The United States is still growing. Immigration plays into our growth also. I am not against immigrants either. The seven countries who have achieved ZPG are just a drop in the bucket compared to global growth. India alone is approaching a billion.
He also talked about the complexity of providing food for the world's population and the fact that we are using resources, such as water and trees, faster than they can be replenished.
I am glad to be here on this floating campus.
Now it is time for me to meet Rob for lunch. I can't wait to hear how the class went.