Ecological Cartography Affirmative

A boundary is not that at which something stops but, as the Greeks recognized, the boundary is that from which something begins its essential unfolding.

—Martin Heidegger, "Building Dwelling Thinking"

One of the fundamental problems in environmental policies today is that they legislate policies that are meant to work equally well across a pre-given area, whether a certain state or the entire country. This attempt to make nature fit into political cartographies not only leads to failed policy implementation, but it also promotes violent discourses and practices whose goal is to try and tame nature for human needs, a mindset at the political and cultural center of today's environmental crisis. This affirmative will call for a reorientation of political incentives for a national alternative energy architecture toward a bioregional perspective.

Biopower K

They who are subjected to a field of visibility, and who know it, assume responsibility for the constraints of power; they make them play spontaneously upon themselves; they inscribe in themselves the power relation in which they simultaneously play both roles; they become the principle of their own subjection. By this very fact, the external power may throw off its physical weight; it tends to the non-corporal; and, the more it approaches this limit, the more constant, profound and permanent are its effects: it is a perpetual victory that avoids any physical confrontation and which is always decided in advance.

—Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish

Since Michel Foucault showed how disciplinary power operated in any situation where individuals are forced to "assume responsibility for the constraints of power," we know that incentives for normalization are a far more insidious form of domination than the overt commands of regulation (Discipline & Punish). Today, one of the primary fields where people are called upon to police themselves in order to defend society from apocalyptic threats is the environment; ecology is the final frontier in the regulation of life, and the threat of this regulation's failure penetrates so intimately into our daily lives--the air we breathe, the water we drink, the ways in which we move around--that it is a small step from ecological self-sacrifice to an ecological fascism which demands that life itself be harnessed for our own protection and perfection.

W.A.S.T.E. Kritik

Fitter, happier, more productive,
comfortable,
not drinking too much,
regular exercise at the gym
(3 days a week),
getting on better with your associate employee contemporaries,
at ease,
eating well
(no more microwave dinners and saturated fats),
a patient better driver,
a safer car
(baby smiling in back seat),
sleeping well
(no bad dreams),
no paranoia,
careful to all animals
(never washing spiders down the plughole),
keep in contact with old friends
(enjoy a drink now and then),

The majority of ecological paradigms are premised on one flawed assumption: that expenditure can be eliminated from human/environment interactions. The attempt to repress all the unruly elements of life only results in the return of the repressed in a stronger and more insistent form. George Bataille, and after him Jacques Lacan, argued that negativity, loss, expenditure, sacrifice, and the beautiful were central and ineradicable elements of human life. Only an ecological politics that can embrace expenditure can avoid laying waste to the all that is nonproductive, even beautiful, in life.

will frequently check credit at (moral) bank (hole in the wall),
favors for favors,
fond but not in love,
charity standing orders,
on Sundays ring road supermarket
(no killing moths or putting boiling water on the ants),
car wash
(also on Sundays),
no longer afraid of the dark or midday shadows
nothing so ridiculously teenage and desperate,
nothing so childish - at a better pace,
slower and more calculated,
no chance of escape,
now self-employed,
concerned (but powerless),
an empowered and informed member of society
(pragmatism not idealism),
will not cry in public,
less chance of illness,
tires that grip in the wet
(shot of baby strapped in back seat),
a good memory,
still cries at a good film,
still kisses with saliva,
no longer empty and frantic like a cat tied to a stick,
that's driven into frozen winter shit
(the ability to laugh at weakness),
calm,
fitter,
healthier and more productive
a pig in a cage on antibiotics.

—Radiohead, “Fitter, Happier”

What We're Working On Pt 4

Claire McKinney, assistant coach at the Kinkaid School and Thomas Kelly High School, is working on the bread and butter of the resolution: avoiding talking about energy.

One of the crucial debates in alternative energy is who should be primarily responsible in developing and implementing new strategies. Since wind farms probably aren't appropriate in Alaska and solar energy would perform pretty poorly in Seattle, perhaps one nation-wide strategy for all states is a bit foolhardy. As such, I will be working on a States Counterplan with a federalism net benefit. There will be two versions of the counterplan: a devolution of federal powers counterplan, where the Supreme Court, using the Lopez ruling as a precedent, will devolve the power over energy decisions to the states and the states will do the plan. The other version would just have the 50 states do the plan. In both, allowing states to make their own decisions will strengthen federalist principles which, as everyone knows, is the only way to encourage international resolution of ethnic conflicts. This will be one of the core positions this year, so learning how to debate it on the affirmative and the negative will give you a huge jump early on in the season.

What We're Working On Pt. 3

Brian Peterson ("BP") of Glenbrook South High School will be tackling the biggest stick available in the resolution: nuclear power. It's inevitable, it's good, and it has REALLY big impacts. And if someone is going to build it, it might as well be someone with a red, white, and blue flag.

The aff solvency mechanism I am looking into is substantially raising the federal loan guarantee for nuclear power, taking it from the current $18.5 billion to around $35 billion. This would be startup funding for the development of a new generation of nuclear plants in the US, which would allow electricity companies to have a financial foundation to begin competing with other countries for nuclear plants overseas. Advantage areas include salvaging the economy, preventing radioactive meltdowns, and ending the drive of bad countries toward nuclear weapons.

Check out what Alum Daniel Sharp had to say about the UTNIF

My experience at the UTNIF over the past 4 years has been an integral part of my success as a debater. Through coaching by some of the best minds in the debate community, I've learned to think strategically about the entire debate process: writing files, cutting evidence, analyzing the topic, and making good strategic decisions within rounds. The UTNIF experience is unique because, in contrast to some debate camps, it teaches you to develop your own skills by developing debate fundamentals. After each of my years at UTNIF, I've noticed a vast improvement not only in my success as a debater, but in the files i write, the cards I cut, etc. Aside from teaching fundamentals, UTNIF also provides a good balance of debate learning and debate practice. The practice rounds UTNIF offers allow you to put into practice what you learn at the camp and receive feedback from qualified judges. Perhaps the most important thing UTNIF has to offer is ability for students to ask questions to some of the smartest debaters around. The lab leaders are friendly and willing to answer any questions you have. Having the caliber of lab leaders that UT offers is a real opportunity to hone your debate skills, and has benefited me greatly in becoming a successful debater. I would highly recommend it to anyone, regardless of their skill level.

Some of my successes, which can be attributed to the instruction I received in my four years at UTNIF include: Winner of Grapevine High School Tournament, back to back Winner University of Texas Tournament, Winner University of Texas Round Robin, Finalist Glenbrooks Tournament, Greenhill Round Robin Finalist, Semifinalist Montgomery Bell Academy, Semifinalist St. Marks, Semifinalist Berkeley University, First Speaker University of Texas Tournament and University of Texas round robin, First Speaker Memorial, Third Speaker Glenbrooks, Third Speaker Greenhill round robin, Fourth Speaker Berkeley, Fifth Spearker St. Marks, Fifth Speaker Emory.

What We're Working On pt. 2

Kate Richie sends us this update:

The argument I want to work on could function as an aff or d/a or cplan. I'm in the very very beginning process of researching but I want to write an argument about the social/political architecture of alternative energy projects. The thesis in a nutshell advocates for grassroots-community-embedded modular alternative energy projects w/ lots of buy-in from end users. Advantages are: democracy/civil society, better solvency than top-down approaches, a laundry list of environmental harms. Here is one article example:

Steven, M. Hoffman, and High-Pippert Angela. 2005. Community Energy: A Social Architecture for an Alternative Energy Future. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society 25 (5):387-401.

More to come,
Kate Richey