New Darwin Film Blocked in USA

by Larry O'Hanlon | September 17, 2009

I'm a sucker for a good historical drama. And here's one about one of my all-time heroes that is coming to screens everywhere -- except in the U.S.A., that is.

The film Creation is about Charles Darwin and his discovery of biological evolution by means of natural selection. It's also about his dear wife Emma, who was deeply religious and concerned about the implications of her husband's theory. From what little I see in the trailer, it looks historically accurate (and I know more than a little about this, having read and studied a great deal about Charles Darwin over the last three decades).

From what I've just read in this article (which includes the movie trailer), America's religious fundamentalists are using intimidation to keep this perfectly benign movie from Americans. If this is true (I'll be checking on this), then I find it a bit ironic, since it was just last year that the religious right foisted on us a deeply dishonest feature length anti-science film (I'll not give it the honor of naming it here). ... Continue reading at the link below.

Discovery News : Earth: New Darwin Film Blocked in USA

Scientists are getting better at grasping changes taking place in the coldest regions of the planet, and as NASA's new video "Tour of the Cryosphere" illustrates, they are getting better at telling us about it.  Melting Antarctic ice sheets spill more heavy, salty water into the ocean, which sinks to the abyss and changes ocean currents that alter climate worldwide, we are told.  Seventy-five percent of the water resources in the American West depends on precipitation falling as mountain snow.  A dry winter in the Rockies can heighten wildfire danger even the following year.

This is not a message that scientists have always been very good at getting across, partly because they are, well, scientists, who usually think in technical terms, and partly because they spend a lot more time talking to each other about their methods than to the likes of you and me about their message.  I have a friend in the news business who used to listen to their jargon-filled explanations at major scientific meetings around the country and then invariably ask the same question:  "Yeah, but what does it mean to Joe Six-Pack?"

A study published in April combining satellite measurements of sea ice coverage and conventional atmospheric observations showed that summer sea ice coverage changes weather patterns in autumn and winter from Scandinavia to the American southwest.  And then there is the Greenland ice sheet, which holds enough fresh water to fill the Gulf of Mexico.  This is the 800-pound gorilla in the room, where the rate of melting ice in a warming world is still one of the great unknowns in climate science.  Read the full story “From the not-so-remote cryosphere By John D Cox”

Emissions, Transport, and Chemistry Downwind of Oil Extraction Facilities in the Alaskan Arctic – NOAA Earth System Research Lab

NOAA and U.S. Coast Guard Hunt for Alaskan Methane and Carbon Dioxide Sources – NOAA Earth System Research Lab

UPDATE: 11:27pm

I must have been channeling the governor as I was writing this post earlier today. I just ran across her statement posted about two hours ago.

“I firmly believe Washington State—where innovation is part of our very DNA—will lead the way and serve as a model for the country… I’m happy to report that Washington innovators understand Code Green, and they are answering the call of a generation… We envision Interstate 5.. as the first green freeway in the United States from (Canada to Mexico.)”

Click HERE to read the whole statement.

There are lots of reasons why I love living in Washington State.  I can stand on the space needle, and on a clear day, I can see mountain top peaks covered in snow,

the calm waters of Puget Sound teaming with marine wildlife and serenity.

Drive from the ocean:

to a rainforest,

on to a desert,

and then stop to do a little snow hiking.

all in one beautiful day.

But the icing on the cake here is our eager use of technology.  Computer technology has been in wide use, in both the public and business sectors, for a very long time.  It seems the promise that computers would save us time, make us more productive, leaving more time for personal endeavors, has come to pass.  Maybe it just takes a little longer to get over the 'new computer smell' than people estimated, and Washington's early start in the game resulted in them reaching the goal first. I don't know, but it's clear to me Washington exhibits the signs of having the time now, and possibly the money, to consider the bigger picture, is willing to risk change for broader benefit.

This article recently caught my attention, and reminded me yet again how proud I am to be living in Washington: