Behold The Earth » Educators

Sunday Screening at Smithsonian

davidconover — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:09:20 +0000

I will be screening clips and speaking about this work-in-progress BEHOLD THE EARTH on Sunday at 2:45pm, at the Baird Auditorium of the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History. Please come if you are in the Washington area this weekend and curious to learn what the production is all about.

The talk and screening is part of the US Environmental Film Festival, in its 18th year. For those of you who are enthusiasts for films about the people/nature connection, there are 155 diverse films screening between March 16th and 28th. Special programs exist for children and are marked by a family-friendly symbol in the festival program.

Carl Safina – Matters of Morality

davidconover — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:00:57 +0000

Simply noticing and recording the disturbing trends of a degraded world is a virtue of science and all those practicing it. The process reveals a lot of information about the world around us. But information alone is not enough to mobilize action on the scale required to make that world a healthier and more desirable place for our children. A set of political relationships with this, that, or the other political party is not enough. Nor are relationships in the marketplace. Nor a broad appeal to beauty. In the video clip below, the writer Carl Safina speaks about the kind of relationship he believes is required.

Get Outside

davidconover — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:16:27 +0000

“If you had as much fun stuff to do inside when you were a kid, you’d have been inside more too!” This is a memorable comment from an eleven year old boy to his father, an accomplished fisherman and outdoorsman here on the coast of Maine. That father is a friend of mine. His son, a friend of my son’s. Often, I’ve found myself mulling over its significance, within my own household. Pretty astute comment, actually. Aside from the lure of television, not much interesting DID happen inside when we were kids.

To care, we need to know. To know, we need to experience. If we cannot get outside enough, how will we ever care? Sometimes, a creative solution can bridge the generational and media gaps within a family. Like the one that the pastor Tri Robinson writes about in a chapter called The Garden Shed: Practical Ideas (from his book Saving God’s Green Earth).

“I asked people to enlarge personal pictures of them enjoying the outdoors and bring them to church for display in our lobby for an art exhibit. If people didn’t have any pictures, I encouraged them to get out there so they could take some.” Another way of knowing and talking about what’s happening outside.

E. O. Wilson – Scientific Literacy

davidconover — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:32:31 +0000

I am reminded of what Cal DeWitt said to me about science. “Science is a way of knowing, a process, not a body of knowledge in its own right.” Many are in consensus on this point, but this agreement is often overlooked or misunderstood in the essential dialogue that needs to happen between scientists and people of faith. People of faith, of course, look at faith as a way of knowing the world -in part- but also as much, much more. This clip from Ed Wilson is a thought on how science can address the human degradations of the earth.

It seems that science, as a procedure-of-observation, should be considered the essential map of WHAT changes are happening and WHAT to do to about them. But I believe that scientific information alone will not reverse the ways that humans are wrecking the planet. Faith communities are essential for this reversal to happen.

Cal DeWitt – Intro Degradation

davidconover — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:58:00 +0000

A term that Cal introduced in our conversation (excerpted in the video clip below) – degradation – is a rich word to describe human-induced changes to the earth. I’m a big believer in the power of words and story. On occasion, when somebody signifies a new word for me, I explore its meaning with a little etymological research. Here’s the finding for degradation.

The basic meaning of this action term is that of a reduction or forced step-down in grade, rank, or status, with the sense of moving to a state of lesser quality. Additional meaning for this term, as used by some, includes a stepping down or lowering of moral quality (or character). Tracing the meaning of the term back to its Indo-European roots, we find the root ghredh- which means to walk, go. Other words which share this common root with degradation, with grade, include regress, progress, congress, and transgress. Synonyms include dishonor, discredit, shame, and disgrace.

Faithful Noah Preserves Lineages

davidconover — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:04:22 +0000

Cal DeWitt responds to the question “What is the meaning of Noah’s Ark?” in the video clip below.

Tomorrow, a clip from E.O. Wilson addresses the same question.

Noah’s Ark

jasonmann — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:48:06 +0000

This week I hope to post a few clips regarding Noah’s Ark, an enduring parable conveyed to billions over the years, and familiar to many Americans. Noah’s Ark has been a significant point within two interviews for Behold the Earth to date. I also touched on it in conversation with the scientist and author Carl Safina over this past weekend. Carl and the well-known pastor Ken Wilson from the Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor have started a group called the Friendship Collaborative. What is the meaning of Noah’s Ark? I asked Carl. Earth is the ark, was his initial reply, and the rising water feels like today’s rising impact of people. I hope to pursue this further with him.

Tomorrow, I will post the reply of ecologist and evangelical leader Cal DeWitt. And then the reply of biologist E.O. Wilson. Collectively, these replies help convey a partial picture of American identity in the natural world.

The image at right was created in 1846 by the painter Edward Hicks, and can be viewed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

A Child at Play?

davidconover — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:24:44 +0000

Almost twenty years ago, I traveled to Kamchatka as part of a film crew. We were the first westerners allowed to visit that part of the world since 1917, and the invitation came about as a result of Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of Perestroika in the former USSR. On that trip, we visited a family group of Koryak reindeer herders. The boy in this photo was one. A couple of hours before I took this photo, the boy’s father had killed this reindeer from their herd to welcome and honor us and prepare for dinner. The boy’s mother had then gone through an elaborate ritual of thanks for this meat, according to their custom. Now the boy was taking his turn, pretending he was a living reindeer and prancing about the camp.

At that time, I knew the boy meant no disrespect for the reindeer. In fact, the opposite was the case. I knew that he and his family held their herd -their livelihood- in very high regard and were making a living as best they could.

There are a few places in America today where you might find this kind of child play in some form. Alaska, Montana, my own home state of Maine… places where a resource-based economy is alive or where people hunt and fish and farm.

The changing relationship to nature in America has many facets to explore. What is our understanding of what happens when animals die? How is that changing? For parents? For children? For a child at play?

Cal talks about children

davidconover — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:02:59 +0000

One of the guiding evocations we are working hard to include in this film is the capacity of children to behold the earth. This video clip contains a few thoughts from Cal DeWitt.

One Day My Son Found a Butterfly

davidconover — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:58:18 +0000

Dr. Theo Colborn raised children on a farm in Colorado before returning to graduate school at the age of 55 to fuel and further her passion to prevent harm to the environment from endocrine disrupting chemicals. Her organization TEDX collects and distributes scientific evidence about these chemicals.www.endocrinedisruption.org.

In this excerpt from our interview, which took place on the rim of the Black Canyon in Colorado, she describes a miraculous event that happened one day many years ago in the life of her son working on the family farm. What I deeply respect about Theo and her work is its high degree of basic common sense. Like Rachel Carson and others, she starts at home, by just looking at the world around her and seeing what is beautiful and miraculous… and what needs some attention and action.