This community event recognizes contributions science and scientists make every day. Activities focus on education and how science informs and is applied by and through technology.
People of all ages and interests are invited to engage with scientists at booths and presentations, and examine infographic posters that provide examples of how science works locally to contribute to our communities and our quality of life. To put a face on science in the community, Science on Display is profiles of local active and retired scientists and science educators.
The event kicks off at 10 a.m. at the Port Angeles City Pier stage with a welcome and opening remarks. Dr. Nick Bond will speak about “Hatching a Plan to Save a Northwest Icon,” taking a deeper look at the past, present, and future of salmon in Washington State.
At noon, Paul Kolensikoff will enlighten and amaze us again this year with “Einstein’s Hair-Raising Story,” which has become an annual GeekOut! favorite.
Science on Display is designed to honor the broad spectrum of retired and active scientists and science educators living on the Olympic Peninsula. From each profile, learn what inspired him or her to pursue a chosen field. Many residents are not aware of the science education, applied science, and interesting research conducted by their neighbors. Science on Display puts a face from the community on science in the community.
Why celebrate science? We use science to heat our homes, grow our food, take pictures of Mars, and send people far beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Science helps us understand why we have wind, tides, fish, and plants. Science has shown us that it’s important to wash our hands and to cover our mouths when we sneeze. Come learn about birds, bugs, tea, trees, water, and how to capture power from the sun. Visit with some of our favorite local scientists as they show you how they use science in their work and lives.
No one should be annoyed when schoolkids start leaving class en masse or surprised that Green New Deal advocates call for dramatic overhaul of American society. We should be grateful. @billmckibben
‘The respectable have punted; so now it’s up to the scruffy, the young, the marginal, the angry to do the necessary work.’ Photograph: UPI/Barcroft Images
Forget
“early warning signs” and “canaries in coalmines” – we’re now well into
the middle of the climate change era, with its epic reshaping of our
home planet. Monday’s news, from two separate studies, made it clear
that the frozen portions of the Earth are now in violent and dramatic
flux.
The first, led by the veteran Greenland glaciologist Jason Box,
looked across the Arctic at everything from “increased tundra biomass”
to deepening thaw of the permafrost layer. Their conclusion: “the Arctic
biophysical system is now clearly trending away from its 20th century
state and into an unprecedented state, with implications not only within
but beyond the Arctic.” To invent a word, the north is rapidly
slushifying, with more rainfall and fewer days of hard freeze; the
latest data shows that after a month of record temperatures in the
Bering Sea, ocean ice in the Arctic is at an all-time record low for the
date, crushing the record set … last April.
The other study looked at the great mountain ranges of the planet,
and found that their glaciers were melting much faster than scientists
had expected. By the end of the century many of those alpine glaciers
would be gone entirely; the Alps may lose 90% of their ice. From the
Caucasus to the South Island of New Zealand, mountains are losing more
than 1% of their ice each year now: “At the current glacier loss rate,
the glaciers will not survive the century,” said Michael Zemp, who runs
the World Glacier Monitoring Service from his office at the University
of Zurich.
One could list the “consequences” of these changes in great detail.
They range from the catastrophic (Andean cities with no obvious source
of water supply once the glaciers have melted) to the merely bitter (no
one is going to die from a lack of skiing, but to lose the season when
friction disappears will make many lives sadder). For the moment,
though, don’t worry about the “effects”, just focus on what it means
that some of the largest systems on Earth are now in seismic shift.
What it means, I think, is that no one should be shocked when
Extinction Rebellion activists engage in mass civil disobedience. No one
should be annoyed when school kids start leaving class en masse. No one
should be surprised that Green New Deal advocates are now calling for
dramatic overhaul of American society. In fact we should be deeply
grateful: these activists, and the scientists producing these reports,
are the only people on the planet who seem to understand the scale of
the problem.
Not our political leaders. Obviously not Trump, but even most of the
theoretically engaged premiers and presidents let themselves constantly
be distracted by much smaller questions. (Brexit would seem like a silly
charade at the best of times; at the moment it seems actively obscene).
Not our business leaders, who make occasional greenwashing noises but
continue passively belonging to organizations like the Chamber of
Commerce that continue to fight serious change. Not those pension fund
trustees still clinging to fossil fuel stocks even as they lose money.
The respectable have punted; so now it’s up to the scruffy, the
young, the marginal, the angry to do the necessary work. Their
discipline and good humor and profound nonviolence are remarkable, from
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Greta Thunberg. They are what’s left of our
fighting chance.
The biggest physical features on the planet are now changing in ways
they haven’t since long before the dawn of human history. On the most
distant poles, and on the highest peaks, we see almost unfathomable
shifts. The only question is whether a similar shift is possible in our
politics. Planet Earth is miles outside its comfort zone; how many of us
will go beyond ours?
Bill McKibben is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College, founder of the climate campaign 350.org and author, most recently, of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
Here’s what you need to know about these five critical bills:
SB 5116 would set a target of moving Washington State to 100 percent clean energy by 2045
HB 1110 would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation industry — the largest emitter of climate-busting carbon pollution in the state
HB 1112 would phase out harmful “HFCs” — powerful climate-changing gases that threaten human health and the environment
SB 5811 would require a percentage of cars sold in WA be zero-emission vehicles
HB 1257 would help make buildings more energy efficient
House Speaker Frank Chopp: (360) 786-7920 ·
Majority Leader Pat Sullivan: (360) 786-7858 ·
Majority Caucus Chair Eric Pettigrew: (360) 786-7838
The Amazon is home to 10% of the species on the planet, produces 20% of our oxygen, and sucks in and stores more carbon pollution than any other place on Earth. This magical forest is literally helping keep us all alive!
Join Spring Creek Project for an afternoon symposium with climate change thought leaders, practical workshops, and a reception with community discussions to help make the connections we’ll need for the years ahead. When: Sunday, May 5, 2019 from Noon to 7:30 p.m. Where: LaSells Stewart Center in Corvallis, Oregon (875 SW 26th St)
A daily kids program will be offered Friday through Sunday, as well
as an invitation for youth to participate in different aspects of the
conference throughout the weekend.
Thousands are taking to the streets in London today to demand radical action to combat the climate crisis. Protesters with the group Extinction Rebellion have set up encampments and roadblocks across Central London and say they’ll stay in the streets for at least a week. It’s just the beginning of a series of global actions that will unfold in the coming days, as activists around the world raise the alarm about government inaction in the face of the growing climate catastrophe. The London protests come just days after schoolchildren around the globe left school again on Friday for the weekly “strike for climate” and as the push for the Green New Deal continues to build momentum in the United States. The deal—backed by Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey—seeks to transform the U.S. economy through funding renewable energy while ending U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. We speak with climate activist and journalist Bill McKibben, who has been on the front lines of the fight to save the planet for decades. Thirty years ago, he wrote “The End of Nature,” the first book about climate change for a general audience. He’s just published a new book titled “Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?”
