Meeting Bill Nye

Yesterday I was given the opportunity to meet the man who has helped make science so available and understandable to so many of my students.  Bill Nye, the science guy, was a wonderful speaker, sharing so much of his background and his views of the responsibilities of the current and future generations.  He challenged us to "save the world" and yet did not give us the instructions on how to do this.

Frustrating?  Not at all!  It is right in line with everything that we, as science teachers and scientists, preach.  THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD!!!!  Remember all of those posters you would see in the science classrooms about the scientific method?  Observations, problem statement, hypothesis, background research, observations, experimental design, experimentation, more observations, analysis, conclusion and then share with everyone and "SAVE THE WORLD" !!

Among his captivating stories of his family's background, his personal journey and lots of sundial references, the theme that overtook the evening was:  "its up to us".  This seems so cliche, but in reality it is the truth beyond truth. 

Projections show that our population with be at 12 billion in less then 50 years, that is a lot of people to feed, and enormous about of energy to be spent and an unfathomable amount of diapers (sorry.. gotta remember that I have small children).  How do we deal with the needs of the people, the needs of environment and the needs of the Earth?  Well, as Bill put it last night, the earth will be just fine.  Actually the way the earth is going, it will become quite nice for cockroaches, rats and jellyfish.  The problem is, I really want humans to have the opportunity to hang around a long while.

Therefore, I challenge you, come up with a way to reduce our energy usage, research it, and then.. SAVE THE WORLD!!!!