This is my Earth.

My Beautiful Planet Earth

"Between us two there's nothing between that does not belong between us." The children had gathered around me for our last lesson in StarChild Science. "Now we know a lot about the energies that are on our little planet.“

“Yeah. There are sure a lot of energies around here,” Jill announced in a firm voice..

“We know the energy that is necessary for the redwoods and ollieberries and flowers to grow and the energy that the animals need to move around in space.“

“The spacebinders,” Chance yelled out. “Like the eagles.”

“We know about the energy of magnetism and electricity. We know about the light energy in the elements in rocks.“

“I love the lilac color of potassium coming out of that powder you had. I just love that color,” Serene told us.

”And we know about the energy of the carbon dioxide molecule and the water molecules that cycle around and around on this small planet of ours." I gave each child a model of Earth I had prepared out of a Styrofoam sphere covered with potting soil. "What would you put on yourEarth? Forests like this one we are in? And maybe large oceans? Maybe even gardens in neighborhoods? What would you put on your Earth?" I asked them.

"I know what I’m going to do. I know what I’m going to do with my Earth.” Nissa clutched the rubber band tightly at the top of her Earth and spun herit around and around.

“I’m going to make a beautiful Earth,” Serene spoke softly as she examined her supplies of glue and tissue paper pieces. “I love Earth. My grandpa always tells me, ’Earth’s the perfect place for love’. My mom says that he’s always talking love.”

“I’m going to collect all the prickly seeds in the meadow. And I want to make some volcanoes on my Earth” Chance began squeezing chunks of Sculpey Clay in his palms, framing them up to make wild looking mountains and firey volcanoes. ”I’m going to need dried grass from the meadow for eagle nests. That’s what I’m going to stick on top of long twigs on top of my mountains. My Earth is going to have places for eagles on it.“

Jill sat quietly gazing at her Earth. For some reason she thought about plants eating the carbon dioxide gas. She still chuckled at the thought as she recalled her younger brother making carbon dioxide gas with her last night. She rolled the small sphere around and around on the ground before announcing, “I’m going to make grassy meadows. And I’m going to make a planet that has water holes for my horse. He likes it when I give him a bath." She began tearing pieces of various hues of blue tissue paper into what she thought would be perfect for water holes

After the children had settled on their own ideas for their Earth, I suggested, “Let’s go down into the forest to gather some things for our planet. There are shady places where we can find leaves for fertile valleys and there are sunny places that are full of seeds of tomorrow’s flowers. Maybe we can find just the right thing for meadows and finely shaped twigs for huts and churches. And there are even some leaves that could be used for lettuce. And there are lots and lots of red berries too that look like apples in the winter months.“

“And don’t forget the forget-me-nots,” Jimmy reminded me in a loud voice.

Jill was silent as we walked down into the meadow’s dry stems. With each step she took it sounded like she was stepping on hundreds of seeds that had been dried in a large oven. She walked over to the far edge of the meadow, made sure her specimen pouch was wide open and began gathering pieces of stems and whole leaves to put on her model of Earth. “I’m going to put a lot of prickly seeds on my Earth because they can stick toEarth easier than a berry." She popped a ripe ollieberry into her mouth then disappeared around the lightcave, searching for dry, prickly, worn out stuff.

“I’m not. I’m going to put everything on my Earth. Even pebbles with quartz if I find one small enough.“ Nissa picked up a pebble and began examining it with her magnifying lens. Perhaps, she thought, this pebble would speak to her this time. It would speak to her of fortune and fame.

“Look at this. I found a feather. It's as white as a marshmallow.” Serene rushed up to me and opened her palm, revealing the delicate curl of a white feather. I took it from her hand, examined it and told her, “It’s still breast-warm. It must have just fallen. Maybe from a dove.” I held it up into the sunlight and looked through it. “Oh my gosh. Do you see what I see?”

“What?” She carefully took the feather away from me, held it up into the sunlight and looked through it.“Oh! I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it,“ she squealed out. “I see red light. And orange light and yellow light,“ she told me as if she was looking at a rainbow.

“Yes. The colored light patches kind of spread out like miniature fans don’t they?” I asked.

“I want this feather for my Earth.” Serene looked up at me witih the broadest grin I had ever seen stretch across her face, for this little feather charmed her in a large and unforgettable way. It made her feel like an explorer, an explorer of rainbows.

“And did you see the blue and violet light layered close to the spine of the feather?“ I asked as she brought the feather back up to her eye and squinted through it, holding her gaze as if she was viewing a swarm of fireflies.

“Yeah.” After a long silence some compelling thought directed her hand to quickly close down around the feather to prevent it from flying away. “This feather is going to be in my lightcave on my Earth.“ She pushed it down into her pouch for safe keeping then went on pulling at dry stems of grasses while secretly looking for more marshmallow-white feathers.

“I’m going to make a nest for a eagle," Chance announced as he reached down and orphaned a dandelion from the meadow.

When we returned to the lesson area it wasn't long before I saw models of Earth that had already aged millions of years. I saw oceans shored in dry grasses near equators. Waves of clay mountains appeared out of nowhere in northern hemispheres. They were topped with short conifer branches and small redwood cones. Chance wasted no time sticking thick prickly seeds into a small clump of hairy grass stems. He glued the ’nest’ on top of a young branch from a redwood tree and stuck it into one of two tall Sculpey Clay mountains he had made before gathering the specimens in the meadow. He placed it by a large deep blue tissued lake. As I watched him work, his planet just seemed to give way to the perennial green of young redwood branches which were carefully wound around toothpicks and arranged in clumps making it look like a conifer forest of the northwest. Jill glued prickly seeds at the base of clay plateaus in row upon row making it look like vast deserts. Near her equator small light blue tissue paper ’water holes’ bordered large brown redwood twigs.

When I looked over at Nissa, I noticed her Earth was almost bare. It wasn’t even waiting for the spring. A small piece of granite was pushed into her planet near the equator but nothing else was to be found. Almost naked. A faint glitter of gold. "How are you doing Nissa?” I asked her.

“It looks so different. I don’t know what is wrong. I have never seen the earth like this before.”

"Like what? What do you mean?”

“Oh.” She struggled with her thoughts. “It just looks different.” She rotated her planet around and around as if searching for something only she knew was not there.

“I’ve got everything I need for my Earth," Jill yelled out then glanced over at Nissa's planet. "It looks like everything on your Earth has died."

Serene walked over to Nissa’s planet and asked, "Where are your flowers?

“I've got everything I need for my Earth too,” Chance told all of us.

“I’ve got worn out places for my prickly seeds and places for my oceans and a giant lake with green all around it. See Lake Tahoe?” Jill rotated her Earth around so she could show me her sky blue Lake Tahoe glued near the equator.

Joshua came over to Nissa with a look of enormous concern. "There's no water on your Earth."

Nissa stared down at her Earth that was without an ocean, a port, a lagoon or even a creek. In fact, it looked like it was the moon to her. “I know what’s missing.” She finally spoke, mumbling to herself. “I know what’s missing. It’s the sky. I never saw the Earth without the sky before.” For the next half hour Nissa quietly crafted small strips of colored tissue paper into various shapes. A sun- shaped disk of pasture-green tissue paper was glued next to her piece of granite making the rock look like a glistening cold mountain. Around its base she scattered delicate petals of bright yellow Sourgrass flowers on top of tiny drops of glue. Each petal spread out away from the granite’s base making what looked like sheets and sheets of bee flowers; liquid gold for miles and miles. At a glance it looked like John Muir’s Yosemite Valley in early spring a hundred and fifty years ago. After she placed a narrow creek-blue ribbon of tissue paper through her golden valley she abruptly stopped and informed me, “I am going to bring the sky to my Earth”

“What? Bring the sky? How can you do that? Bring the sky?”

“Well, like this.” She picked and pulled a small bit of milky white down from a graybeard she had found in the meadow. She then pressed its softness onto her tissued creek-blue water, her focused fingers dripping with glue. “There. Now you can see the sky in the creek. I see puffy clouds in creeks and rivers all the time. That’s what was missing.” She looked up at me more satisfied now that she cashed in on a hunch. Now her Earth had a sky.

“Ah, yes. Reflection.“ I turned to the children and said, “Come and see how Nissa added a sky to her Earth."

“No two clouds are the same,” Nissa told us as the children walked over to inspect her planet. “Some have faces like the moon and some look like rose petals drifting by. One day I was cloud watching with my mom and I saw a horse without a head at first. Then it turned into a shape of a lady with a long flowing skirt like a swirling dragon’s tail."

“Clouds are different from dust. You can’t get clouds in your eyes like dust,” Joshua told us.

“I like learning about the plants the best. The gas eaters are what my sister calls them. The carbon dioxide gas eaters. And I like the volcanoes too.” Serene arranged tooth-picked redwood shoots into a circle near her South Pole and poked them into her planet, securing them firmly with a dab of glue. She placed her marshmallow-white feather gently down into the bottom of her lightcave with such deep felt care she looked like, as Cervantes expressed in his Don Quixote, she was attending a benediction. It was easy to tell she silently wished the little feather well.

"This feather is very delicate. It will remind me of a prism and the lightcave. It will make my Earth the most beautiful Earth of all."Serene sighed deeply as she stared at her work. “I’m going to put this fossilly thing near my lightcave,” She gently fingered a dry stony shell she found on her treasure hunt with such unplanned pleasure you’d have thought she was gluing an ancient relic from a lost civilization onto her planet. After the tiny shell was successfully joined to her Earth just above the South Pole she confessed, “I’m glad I’m not a fossil. I don’t want to die.”

“I wouldn't like to be a fossil either.” Nissa overheard her.

”I don’t want to die either. Ever.”Chance lifted his planet up into the air again and gave it a flick of his wrist. It spun around and around causing it to gather an almost fluid look. Its oceans blurred with its mountains, its eagle nests with the North Pole. It soon was belted with a new yellow-gold; a dandelion gold of impressive dimensions. “Earth has a bunch of energies on it,” Chance muttered just loud enough for Joshua to hear.

Joshua didn't reply immediately. It took some time for him to think about what Chance had said. As he worked on his planet, Joshua remembered the time he tried to catch light in a jar. Then he recalled the time he turned his teepee to face the east. He would never forget seeing a whole village of teepees facing the east. And he remembered making molecules. The gas eaters, the plants came to mind right after that before he answered Chance, “I know. The earth has a lot of energies.”

"Sometimes I think all there is is energy in the air outside my room. A whole bunch of the stuff." Chance told Joshua his most recent thought about the matter. Joshua thought maybe Chance was right. Maybe the whole world and outer space is full of energy. He reminded himself to ask his dad tonight. He let the thought drift away before announcing, “I’m making a person. A explorer person,“ Joshua showed Nissa his explorer person made of Sculpey Clay. It had two arms that were bent in a prayer -like position and the head was in a bow. It was sitting on his planet near the equator.

“Where does your explorer person live?” Nissa asked him.

“Well, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll put him near the South Pole or maybe the North Pole. Or maybe I'll leave him in the middle. I don’t know yet.” He stopped a moment, recalling stories he had read with his father about explorers of long ago. “Maybe he will navigate the whole world and find out it is round like a ball. Like Magellan did a long time ago... a real, real long time ago, way before my great grandfather was born..”

Joshua's mother came over to me and asked, "What are we going to do with these models of the Earth?"

"We are going to create a water cycle. Then we are going to watch the Earth travel through darkness and into the first light of day," I told her.

"Water travels in a cycle?" Joshua asked his mother. "What's a cycle mom?"

"A cycle is like a bicycle wheel. It is round." Chance answered before Joshua’s mother could respond.

"Water moves like a bicycle wheel? I've never heard of that before." Jill spoke up then turned to Nissa, "Boy, there's a lot of weird things in this science class that I've never heard of before,"

Joshua returned to his explorer person, trying to decide where to put the ’praying’ sculpture. He found himself wondering about things he had not wondered about, ever. He wondered if pirates knew Earth was round? And he wondered about water. He had made water out of fire with the rest of the children but how did the explorers make water? Out of fire on the ship? Joshua's father had told him many times to never drink sea water. And he wondered about winds and storms at sea. He knew he was going to have to have a large discussion with his father tonight.

"This model is kind of neat. I can see the kids have many questions about the earth and animals from just looking at the model. But there is one thing I can't stop thinking about."

"What is that?"

"What is going to happen to Earth? There's so many problems. Big problems. Global warming. Weather changes. Species extinction. The Arctic warming."

"All can be solved through knowledge. What we must do now is educate our children by first laying out a building plan for them.”

“A building plan? What do you mean exactly?”

“Laying out a basic structure in physical science that they can grasp. Once the building plan is understood we can lead our children to embrace an ecological viewpoint using the building plan StarChild Science offers. Look at each chapter of my book as a brick in the construction of a building plan. The first brick is light. Then, one more brick, the duality of magnetism and electricity. Then, the third brick, the atom. Then, the fourth brick, the molecules necessary for life Then, the fifth brick, the plants which are made of molecules, which are made of atoms and are able to capture the energy of sunlight to create carbohydrates and fuel the sixth brick, the animals and the last brick, the seventh brick, man. Once children understand these pieces we can lead them to understand an ecological framework that is necessary for sustaining a healthy Earth. Creating lessons in ecology for children is my next work.”

“I never thought of ecology being a science my child could understand before. Do you think you can teach me and Joshua the fundamentals of ecology we must understand to produce a safe future?”

"From the very outset, StarChild Science was not created to reflect the neglect of science education around the world. Rather, it was created out of a deep concern about a diminished future for the next generation. We mothers around the world can overcome the perennial failure in science education by uniting with one another from the realization that it is imperative we not look to the school system with expectations. It is imperative that we not let our children wait for any school system to tailor science program after science program that produces mediocre results. We mothers must begin to embrace the reality of knowing how energy flows through the world at the family-table. We need to embrace a science program that makes sense under the current conditions of global warming. Any science program that begins exploring nature by first understanding the behavior of the energy of light, the energy that cradles reactions and forces in the physical world, is the only program that offers true sustainability to the next generation."

"For every person in the world to reach present U.S. levels of consumption

with existing technology would require four more planet Earths." The Future of Life by Edward O. Wilson

"We are smart. No? This one statement reveals beyond a doubt that we have learned how to create an economy-driven paradise." Judy Wilken MS

"I think I am like many other moms. I think all mothers want a safe future for their child. But, the majority of us don't know science so we think the school system knows how to teach science and what 'science' to teach. Now, it is obvious school systems are not in the business of producing excellent levels of understanding in science. Or math. Their track record is abominable in many countries, not just ours. Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland, Japan, are all crying 'foul' daily.

"Even though we have not had the training you have had in science, that doesn't mean we don't want a rich and safe future for our children. What you have given me is a template. I know that. A template to focus on and teach my child the necessary fundamentals he will need to help create a sustainable future for himself and his children."

”I really believe that all it takes is a concerted effort on the part of parents all over the globe to educate their children by using this template I have created."

"At first I thought it was going to be hard. But now, I don't think that at all."

"It isn't hard once you know the direction you have to move in."

"Yes. That's it. It is knowing the direction."

"You just have to decide to do it and begin. Have a prism available for your child; a microscope; a few magnets. Make a model of a beam of light with construction paper like we do in StarChid Science: Teach Your Own ebook . It will cost you a few cents. Then, begin leading your child into rich experiences with these tools of science. Nature will do the rest. Don't worry. Inquiry will happen, for this is what human beings do. We inquire. We ask questions. We explore. This is our nature."

BREAKING: Citing Threat Of Global Warming, Georgia Judge Blocks Coal Plant» ... a Georgia judge ruled that a proposed coal-fired plant could not be built unless its carbon dioxide emissions are limited, effectively killing the project.   Court Forces Government to Move on Polar Bear Status “Today’s decision is a huge victory for the polar bear,” said Kassie Siegel, climate program director at the Center for Biological Diversity and lead author of the 2005 petition, filed by various environmental groups, seeking protection under the endangered species law. “By May 15th the polar bear should receive the protections it deserves.”   The [Annotated] Climate Speech Left speechless?   Are Words Worthless in the Climate Fight? "I have not yet begun to fight." John Paul Jones shouted.   U.N. Report Describes Risks of Inaction on Climate Change The report carries heightened significance because it is the last word from the influential global climate panel before world leaders meet in Bali, Indonesia, next month to begin to discuss a global climate change treaty that will replace the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012.   Arctic Climate Change Is Food For Thought A melting iceberg may be an obvious barometer of our warming planet, but scientists are also interested in how the fresh water is mixing with the ocean and altering the delicate marine ecosystems beneath.   Whale fears silence US Navy sonar "The court's order confirms that during sonar testing and training, the navy can and must protect whales ..." At times I wonder 'How smart are we? Why would we continue to use instruments that seriously threaten the largest habitat on Earth? We pride ourselves on being the smartest species on the planet. Are we really? ' Judy Wilken MS   Into the Limelight, and the Politics of Global Warming And yet, indifference to the power of nature is civilization’s Achilles’ heel. I think the events around Hurricane Katrina reminded us that Mother Nature is something we haven’t yet conquered. A Lesson in Global Warming From Two Cold, Cute Critters Life adapts!   "Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet" This is the latest public art project in Chicago. It's ironic, in 1989 our StarChild Science students made their own model of Earth and focused on the things that make Earth healthy. That was 18 years ago!   Touch Me Feel Me Science "The museum isn't built for a one-shot visit; it's a vehicle for activism. The job is to arouse curiosity, to move from there to interest, from there to insight, and from insight to action. This country is facing an educational dilemma. " Dr. Koster states. Brian O'Leary writes an open letter to Al Gore "the limits of what is politically possible need to stretch very far to accommodate the reality of new energy"   Human Cloning May Be Just Around the Corner I know who I don't want cloned. Do you? Zealots are a good start! Their lack of reasoning is the most dangerous lack in the human psyche!   Students' View of Intelligence Can Help Grades Keep a "growth mindset" front and center.   Brain creates 'new' nerve cells "This study is exciting because it reveals a group of brain cells in the adult human brain that are continuously regenerating." Dr Mark Baxter, Oxford University   Billionaire offers $25 million prize to fight global warming Gore, Branson and the other panelists referred repeatedly to a study released last week by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made up of hundreds of scientists from 113 countries, that concluded human activity is warming the planet at a potentially disastrous and irreversible rate.   Gore tells scientists to be vocal "We now face a climate crisis without any precedent in all of history and it's imperative that those who have the best evidence of what's occurring spread the knowledge beyond the small discipline in which these studies are usually disseminated," he told the BBC after his speech.

How to eat seafood sustainably In general, US fisheries are better-managed than others worldwide, so try to buy local seafood. This may be difficult as well as expensive, because America imports 80 percent of its seafood. Think of the higher price as one that’s closer to the true cost of a sustainable fishery.   Testing the Climate The Bush Administration continued to temporize—in Bali, the American team managed to gum up negotiations on a treaty to succeed Kyoto, parts of which lapse in 2012—but it seems increasingly isolated, even within the borders of its own country.   Winds of Change Blow into Roscoe, Texas Blowing in the green   Fight Against Coal Plants Draws Diverse Partners “The more I learn about global warming and watch the drought affect ranchers and farmers, I see that it’s wind energy, not coal plants, that can help with rural economic development. Besides, do we want to roll the dice with the one planet we’ve got?” Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts “We used to argue that a lot of the variability up to the late 1990s was induced by changes in the winds, natural changes not obviously related to global warming,” said John Michael Wallace, a scientist at the University of Washington.   Ice withdrawal 'shatters record' "We're on a strong spiral of decline; some would say a death spiral."   Gore Calls For 90% CO2 Reduction Also calls for moratorium on coal plants “Well, the pledge that we’re going to ask individuals all over the world who are exposed to Live Earth concert to sign is an effort to begin answering that question,” Gore said. This question Buckminster Fuller posed may seem rhetorical at first. After all, you are only one person. But when you stop and think about it, valuable things can be done by one person. Jesus was only one person. Gandhi was only one person. Buddha was only one person. Do you think for a minute that you can't do anything to help the global warming problem? Don't let this kind of thinking get in your way to seeing a different horizon for your children's future. Begin by making conscious choices in your everyday lives: Choices like selecting clothes made of natural fibers like flax, bamboo, organic cotton. Choices like selecting organically grown vegetables and fruits from local farmers. Choices like using less gas by planning your outings with the children more carefully. I know each and every one of us can increase our effectiveness in reaching a reasonable solution to global warming just by beginning to take 'baby steps' such as these few I have mentioned. Wasn't it Confusius who said: "To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order;to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order;to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life;and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right." ? Drifting Icebergs Are Hotspots of Life Indeed, the researchers led by Kenneth L. Smith Jr., of the Monterey Bay AquariumResearch Institute in Moss Landing, Calif., found an increase in life forms surrounding a pair of icebergs they studied. The allure of the Barbeque How did fire help the emergence of humans? Every child can contribute an interesting answer to this question. When you read this article so many ideas of lessons come to mind. Spend some time on this one. Your child can begin to think about man's history around the hearth. With summer upon us, there will be many times you and your child can focus on the impact fire has had on children of many years ago. Cooking with DNA This is a great little Quicktime movieDr. Stephen Palumbi tests if this package of fish is really red snapper like it says it is! To visit his website click on this address: http://www.stanford.edu/group/Palumbi/   Unlocking clean, cheap energy California scientists look to ethanol, solar arrays and 1800s engine for answers In the East Bay, scientists at U.S. Energy Department laboratories are exploring ways to use enzymes, microbes and even termites to generate more commercially appealing forms of biofuel such as ethanol.   "To me, there are no obstacles coming from within, within science itself. Instead, the obstacles come from the outside, from the men who are in different departments, labs, etc. who have opinions about women and what they should do with their lives. I, along with many other women scientists, have many stories to tell about men who have made it very difficult to 'walk the walk' in graduate school, medical school, engineering school, etc. The power of a woman in science comes from her cleverness to go around these people and accomplish the task in spite of the men who are the real obstacles." Judy Wilken MS   World needs new wild life body "It'll need significant investment - we're not sure exactly how much, but certainly more than anybody has given us."     "I liked Greenland." "I was its top carnivore." (click on icon) "Some hunters pay up to $20,000 in order to experience a thrill to kill a polar bear. That's what I call more money than brains! Also, to make it even more disgusting, killing polar bears is called a harvest!" Judy Wilken MS     The language of science is universal.

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