On the couch...

An Unlikely Pair

A Message from Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich

Earth Day Celebrations at Museum of the Earth

Climate Change: Prospects for Nature
A Lecture from Dr. Tom Lovejoy
Creator of the PBS series "Nature"
Friday, April 18, 2008
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm


Join Museum of the Earth as we kick off our Earth Day celebration with a reception and lecture from Dr. Tom Lovejoy.

Lovejoy is a nationally recognized environmental advocate and founder of the public television series “Nature.” He is currently President of the Heinz Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution dedicated to improving the scientific and economic foundation for environmental policy through multisectoral collaboration. Before assuming leadership at the Heinz Center, he was the World Bank’s Chief Biodiversity adviser and Lead Specialist for Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean and Senior adviser to the President of the United Nations Foundation. Dr. Lovejoy has been Assistant Secretary and Counselor to the Secretary at the Smithsonian Institution, Science adviser to the Secretary of the Interior, and Executive Vice President of the World Wildlife Fun-U.S. He also served on science and environmental councils or committees under the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations.

The Lovejoy lecture and reception is free and open to the public.


Family Earth Day Celebration
Saturday, April 19, 2008
11:00 am – 3:00 pm


The Museum of the Earth is excited to host a series of fun filled activities for the whole family in celebration of Earth Day!

Botany through the Ages
11:30 and 1:30

How did plants change and evolve throughout
history and what kind of influences did they have on animal evolution?
What are the contributions of plants in the development of todays
Earth? Develop a better appreciation of plants as they discover how
important plants are to their existence.


Honda Hybrid Car Display
11:00-3:00
Check out one of the latest Honda Hybrids on display in the Plaza courtesy of Honda of Ithaca!

Story time
11:00 and 1:00

Earth story time at 11am and 1pm - Sit back, relax and enjoy stories of
the Earth for listeners of all ages.

Ongoing activities of crafts and so much more!



Earth Day Celebration made possible by Wegmans!

The Govenator...

Watch this great PSA from the Governors of California, Utah, and Montana.




*Thanks Laura!

Al Gore launches $300-Million Public Service Campaign

From the HuffingtonPost:

Former Vice President Al Gore is set to unveil a three-year, $300 million climate change campaign Wednesday, one of the most ambitious and costly public advocacy campaigns in U.S. history, the Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin reports:

The Alliance for Climate Protection's "we" campaign will employ online organizing and television advertisements on shows ranging from "American Idol" to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." It highlights the extent to which Americans' growing awareness of global warming has yet to translate into national policy changes, Gore said in an hour-long phone interview last week. He said the campaign, which Gore is helping to fund, was undertaken in large part because of his fear that U.S. lawmakers are unwilling to curb the human-generated emissions linked to climate change.

"This climate crisis is so interwoven with habits and patterns that are so entrenched, the elected officials in both parties are going to be timid about enacting the bold changes that are needed until there is a change in the public's sense of urgency in addressing this crisis," Gore said. "I've tried everything else I know to try. The way to solve this crisis is to change the way the public thinks about it."

Private contributors have already donated or committed half the money needed to fund the entire campaign, he said. While Gore declined to quantify his contribution to the effort, he has devoted all his proceeds from the Oscar-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," the best-selling companion book, his salary from the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers and several international prizes, such as the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, which add up to more than a $2.7 million. Paramount Classics, the documentary's distributor, has pledged 5 percent of the film's profits to the group, and some of the money raised through the 2007 Live Earth concerts will help the campaign, along with Gore's proceeds from an upcoming book on climate change.

Bacteria Linked to Climate Change and Renewable Energy Sources

Steven Petsch, a geoscientist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has been studying natural gas reservoirs in Michigan’s Antrim Shale. His findings have provided scientist with a new insight to global warming and the entire climate history here on earth.

Petsch discovered certain bacteria which fed off of CO² deep below ice sheets. These bacteria are responsible for producing natural gas during the ice age and the progression of glaciers through Michigan. During the Ice Age there were also high levels of methane in the earth’s atmosphere. Throughout the draw back of the ice sheets there was an immense amount of natural gas in the atmosphere, which consists primarily of methane gas.

By using the chemistry of water and rock samples from the shale Petsch is recreating an environment similar to that of the Ice Age. The water melted away from the glaciers and allowed for bacteria to thrive and consume the available carbon, therefore storing the natural gas they produced, underneath the shale.
75% of the gas stored was released into the atmosphere while retreating glaciers during the ice age as well as adding methane from other sources such as tropical wetlands. All of this concludes there were large emissions of methane throughout the atmosphere during this time period.

The bacteria provide us with the opportunity to create natural gas reservoirs, ultimately supplying us with another source of renewable energy.
These studies also are bringing scientist closer to discovering what aspects (particularly how methane) affects melting glaciers and global warming within our own environment.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080126093649.htm

Climate Change and the Oceans

From http://scienceinsociety.northwestern.edu - Global Warming: A Threat to Biodiversity is a Northwestern University public outreach program to help the general public understand the reality of global warming and its impact on biodiversity. A panel of five experts discuss- in plain English- the scientific and social issues involved in the ecological aspects of global warming. (3 of 7 - Global Warming) Dr. Richard Feely discusses the broad impact of global warming on our oceans. He examines the damaging effects of retreating arctic ice, coral reef bleaching, and ocean acidification on fragile marine life ecosystems.