Hi, in thinking about the conversations of the last month I’ve been struck by the many interesting ways of connecting and seeing science and art together. In windows around the world one thing I’m always struck with is light and in one of Jane’s last posting she had a number of photos of light on winter days. light is a powerful part of the arctic as at certain times of the year the sun is not up and othertimes it’s always up. light is also a powerful aspect of art.

International Polar year 07/08 begins on March 1 and there are amazing outreach efforts particularly in education. There are some interesting launch events and education initiatives you can check out on their website.

For those of you with kids, maybe some of these activities can fit into your school, church, etc…
To become part of this exciting international scientific effort:
1. Do some ice investigations like the ones suggested below.
2. Launch a virtual balloon representing your school on the map.
3. Check back frequently to see balloons go up around the world.
4. Continue to take part in IPY by learning about polar science in your classroom. More resources will be added to the educators’ page throughout IPY.

I’ve been putting word out in a few different places about this upcoming “teach-in” for design students to learn about their responsibility, as they move into professional careers, to consider the planet and climate change unconditionally in their work. Hopefully some of the Climate commons readers will find this useful.

Ed Mazria is a committed pioneer on the frontier of climate-conscious building. His Architecture 2030 agenda has gained recognition this year as an exemplary model for pushing a rapid and radical shift towards better building strategies. Now, like many people who understand the immediacy of this problem, Mazria is aiming at the target with the greatest potential to turn this misguided ship around: students. Specifically, design students.

The 2010 Imperative Global Emergency Teach-In is a free one-day event scheduled to be webcast on February 20, 2007, from noon to 3:30pm EST. The session aims to reach at least half a million students, faculty, deans and practicing professionals in North and South America, hopefully making one simultaneous splash that will send ripples of reconsideration and activism through the design community.

Hello All,
I’m happy to announce after several months in the lab, we will be launching the eSAT campaign in March 2007.
eSAT (which stands for Environmental Standardized art Techniques) provides free environmental signage to schools around the world.

Teachers and students will be able to pick their favorite cause, favorite artist, and favorite language. Artists designing eSAT signage includes an all-star roster of artists, designers and celebrities. I currently have a recycling bin that Hunter S Thompson designed for us in the Global Inheritance. The artists designing for eSAT are in the same neighborhood (but probably not as rad as Hunter). All eSAT signage will be logo free.

Back when I was going to school, any cause based signage you’d find in the classroom or in the halls was usually super corny, horribly designed and communicated the message as if you were a total moron. kids today have been marketed to since Day 1, so the artwork, message and messenger is paramount.

Hi,

The last couple of weeks have really been interesting and provided me with alot to think about. As a scientist and educator it is wonderful to see and hear so many people talking about climate change. For so long it seemed like we (scientists) were working in a vacuum without the message getting out. The more conversations I hear and the different approaches to the conversation are great. I think art and shows like “A Friend Acting Strangely” and Jane’s show here at ICA are wonderful and reach alot of people.

That friend is the Arctic, or so it seem to residents of the Arctic. The third point of focus for this project, this forum on the radiating effects of climate change, is the Arctic. The arctic is the very cold canary that tell us what is happening with our climate before we feel it in more temperate zones. The changes, as we have heard here from Larry Merculieff, are more drastic and hit home not just to the large community of people who live above the imaginary line that describes the arctic Circle, but also the the rest of the world’s land and people. Changes include the much reported: spring thaws are earlier. Fall freeze-ups are later. Sea ice is shrinking. Unfamiliar species of plants and animals are appearing. Intense storms are more frequent.

Happy New Years, here are some pictures from New Years Day 2007 from the Windows Around the World program.

When you look out a window, we frequently see what we expect to see. Windows Around the World is helping children see different environments and to watch the changes that occur out that window over time. In another posting someone was talking about trying to get a handle on climate change and coming to realize to that they learned the most by just observing. This is part of the study on climate change - observations. It takes time, but if we watch a place over time we can see changes in the environment. It is fun and all of us can take part in making observations.

Largest science Teachers Organization Rejects Gore Video … Why?

By: John F. Borowski
t r u t h o u t | Guest Columnist

Tuesday 28 November 2006

Would the world’s largest science teacher’s organization ignore climate change education? (Why did the NSTA say no to free “An Inconvenient Truth” DVDs?)

The National science Teachers Association (NSTA) has spurned 50,000 free DVDs of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” and is squandering a golden opportunity to educate tens of millions of youth in the United States! Why? This 55,000-member organization of teachers and scientists could use Al Gore’s film to orchestrate the single most influential educational goal in human history: the awareness and subsequent solving of climate change. There is no denying the escalating list of climate change evidence: from the potential extinction of polar bears and retreating glacial environments to the increase of global temperatures in unison with increased carbon dioxide levels.

Google and Global SchoolNet recently brought together students from around the world to collaborate online in brainstorming strategies for fighting global warming. The have collected a list of the top 50 ideas.

Hi, I’m a biological oceanographer by training and most of my research is focused on zooplankton, the little tiny animals in the ocean. Much of my work is done in the Arctic. Two years ago, I was working in the Beaufort Sea and I had the opportunity to develop an education and outreach program. While I was trying to think of what to develop I thought about my feeling, Knowledge and impressions of the arctic and I thought about what people say when they hear I am traveling there. This ranges from wonder and excitement to pity. While I can tell people about the light in the arctic at midnight in the summer or blue twilight at noon in the winter or the golden glow in the fall, it’s hard to understand unless you see it. I wanted to develop a program that would let people see the arctic and give children a chance to learn about polar regions and how they are similar and different to other regions. In seeing this, the children would begin to see and learn about the connections between regions. With this in mind, my husband Jim Rich and I developed the Windows Around the World program (www.WindowsAroundTheWorld.org ), that lets children, teachers, parents and anyone come and see what it looks like in different areas.