Introduction
Growing up in the mid-1980s, I remember being a very young man, probably in the 4th or 5th grade, that we had to travel quite a few miles from our home into town. We stayed in the deep country in Texas on Highway 27 between Kirvin and Fairfield, Texas. A one-way trip on the bus into town was about 15 miles, and in certain areas along the route, big oil storage containers lined both sides of the road. Back then, they had such a pungent smell that once we got to a particular area, I would always try to hold my breath as long as possible so I didn't have to smell it. Many times, I couldn’t hold my breath that long. As I practiced more, my lungs became more robust, and I got strong enough to keep it for close to a mile. I didn't know why they were there, but I knew I wouldn’t say I liked having to smell them every morning and every afternoon on our journey.
Caption: 3 images of Highway 27 in Texas
Photo credit to: Willie Keener
When I was a young adult and a barber, I would travel to a town called Corsicana, where I would work for 20 years. Because I was not from there, I didn't know the town's history. I just had a barbering job to provide for my family, and I was going to college then. However, an annual event would permanently shut the entire city down. It was called the “Derrick Days,” and people from everywhere would come. The downtown area was shut down for several days, with various events leading into the weekend. I never paid any attention to it and didn't know about the growing concern about the “Derricks Days” and oil production. After getting my education, learning now, and doing research, I almost feel embarrassed not to have known Corsicana’s connection to the oil industry. However, I also think enlightened in an honorary way because a town I worked in for so long had such a significant role in the history of Texas and the oil industry.
Looking at things now, I have concerns regarding the overall impact that it has had, both good and bad, within the community, not only in Corsicana but also in the other boom towns that developed in those days. So, I started researching it and found a lot of interesting information that my students and I will work collaboratively with other disciplines to develop understanding. First, my students will build an awareness and knowledge of the industry and its benefits to the community. Then, students will also learn what potential climate issues may have come from that period. This will be a journey of the past, the present, and the future.
We will utilize visual arts to learn about and create artwork that applies the techniques of sublime (landscapes that show the negative impact of climate change) and picturesque (showing positive, healthy, and growth). Students will photograph the oil, gas, petroleum, and railroad industries. These will be developed in a way to make us more aware and document where we are so that in the future, we're able to look back at these images and artworks and gain knowledge from them. The overall goal is to make my students more aware of climate change caused by the gas and petroleum industry and to develop the eye that's needed to capture the image or artwork to convey specific messages because they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Nowadays, they're worth millions.1
In class, we will research the “boom towns” from the local area where I was raised and then explore the area where I currently teach at Hearne ISD, a Title I rural school district, to see what's in our area to capture those images to support the research. The low-income status represents many of my students' families and communities. Because many of my students come from low-income families, their daily lives are influenced by the weather and if they go to school daily. At times, the roads are flooded, and extremely cold or severe storms. The climate change content of my unit will connect to what directly affects the local weather and their day-to-day lives. We will utilize this not only to bring awareness to my students regarding environmental concerns but also to hope that it sparks an interest in why the weather has potentially caused so many severe and catastrophic storm issues.
Climate change is already impacting Central Texas, affecting everyone in our community and everything in the natural and built environment. Some of the impacts of climate change include “higher temperatures and more heatwaves, extended droughts, colder winter storms, intense rain and flooding, and worsening air quality.”2 This was said to be accurate due to the ash from mining and lignite coal burning to provide electricity to Central Texas. There was a mining plant located in a town named Fairfield. This plant operated from early 1970, the year I was born, until 2015 or so. In my teenage years, I remember going on family picnics with my family. We would go to Big Brown Lake in Fairfield and enjoy ourselves, but it was strange, although it was Texas weather and it's normally hot in the summer, it was like that throughout the year.
We could go to the lake in the fall; the water is always warm. I never understood how that would happen because the water would be cold everywhere in the winter. This was due to the lake water being used in some capacity or some way to help keep the turbines or engines cool with the coal mining/burning process, which kept it warm. I'm not an environmentalist or a scientist. However, I feel that that had to influence the fisheries and the other wildlife in that area that use that lake to live.
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