Sustainability needs the arts AND mathematics . . .

The following poem is by Erica Jolly -- an Australian poet and retired teacher who is working hard to have the arts and the sciences integrated in Australian schools curricula.  “For too long, since the 1950s, we have witnessed serious losses across disciplines as science and mathematics have been deliberately separated from the arts and humanities,” Ms Jolly says.

"What has sustainability got to do with mathematics?"    by Erica Jolly

An exclamation attacking interdisciplinary themes in the national curriculum 

by Christopher Pyne on Q & A, 28 October 2013.

Does he not know or care
humankind must measure? 

Sustainability and Collapse

     Last Tuesday evening mathematician Charles Hadlock offered an excellent lecture -- "Sustainability and Collapse" --  at the MAA Carriage House.  Hadlock's presentation offered examples and arguments from his recently published book, Six Sources of Collapse (MAA, 2012).  This must-read book describes investigation into common dynamics of disaster processes from the extinction of the passenger pigeon to the Chernobyl accident to extreme weather and . . .
     My lingering thoughts about Hadlock's engaging lecture led me to look for poems related to sustainability and collapse.  From my bookshelf I pulled Making Certain It Goes On:  The Collected Poems of Richard Hugo (Norton, 1984) and found this poem of collapse and counting:

Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg      by Richard Hugo (1923 - 1982) 

Enough for everyone -- Russell Libby

Are you looking for a poem on a particular math topic?  One search strategy is to go to the Poetry Foundation website (another is to click on the green SEARCH BOX in the right column of this blog) and enter your math term into the search box; if, for example, you enter "geometry" one of the poems you find will be this one by Russell Libby (1956  -2012).  Both poet and organic farmer, Libby believed in sustainability:  all it takes is one well-cared-for seed to grow and spread.  Here is his "Applied Geometry." 

     Applied Geometry     by Russell Libby

     Applied geometry,   

     measuring the height   

     of a pine from   

     like triangles,   

"Sustainable" in a poem

As I have mentioned previously, April is National Poetry Month and also Mathematics Awareness Month -- and the mathematical focus is "Mathematics of Sustainability."  To try to connect these April celebrations, I went to the website  www.Poets.org  and searched for a poem containing the word "sustainability."  There I found  "Patience" by Kay Ryan which contains these lines:

       Who would
       have guessed
       it possible
       that waiting
       is sustainable —
       a place with
       its own harvests.    

Please go here to Poets.org to read Ryan's entire poem.

April is . . .

April is National Mathematics Awareness Month.  The theme is SUSTAINABILITY and some ideas for learning and doing may be found here (including a rich selection of essays).
April is National Poetry Month.  One of the month's special events is a poetry contest (open to all) sponsored by the Arlington Library.  Poems for the contest are to be formed from stacked titles of CDs or books and then photographed for display.  For example: