NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2014/09/05
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2014-09-05 15:47.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, NCSE's next excursion to the Grand Canyon. Sad news of the death of Victor J. Stenger. And a glimpse of How to Change Minds about Our Changing Climate.
NCSE AND THE GRAND CANYON 2015 Explore the Grand Canyon with NCSE! Reservations are still available for NCSE's next excursion to the Grand Canyon -- as featured in the documentary No Dinosaurs in Heaven. From July 2 to July 10, 2015, NCSE will again explore the wonders of creation and evolution on a Grand Canyon river run conducted by NCSE's Steve Newton and Josh Rosenau. Because this is an NCSE trip, we offer more than just the typically grand float down the Canyon, the spectacular scenery, fascinating natural history, brilliant night skies, exciting rapids, delicious meals, and good company. It is, in fact, a unique "two-model" raft trip, on which we provide both the creationist view of the Grand Canyon (maybe not entirely seriously) and the evolutionist view -- and let you make up your own mind. To get a glimpse of the fun, watch the short videos filmed in 2011, posted on NCSE's YouTube channel, and explore photographs by last year's rafters in the 2014 expedition's Flickr group. The cost of the excursion is $2760; a deposit of $500 will hold your spot. Seats are limited: call, write, or e-mail now. For information about the excursion, visit: http://ncse.com/about/excursions/gcfaq For information about No Dinosaurs in Heaven, visit: http://www.nodinos.com/ For the videos and photographs, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll7kG8dPfgM&list=UUXlZRCBefkIvRuv5zUrXEdg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSfTH9Gl2CM&list=UUXlZRCBefkIvRuv5zUrXEdg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD4xmkEbgqk&list=UUXlZRCBefkIvRuv5zUrXEdg https://secure.flickr.com/groups/ncse-grand-canyon-2014/ VICTOR J. STENGER DIES The physicist and popular science writer Victor J. Stenger died on August 27, 2014, at the age of 79, according to the Friendly Atheist blog (August 29, 2014). Toward the end of his long career as a research scientist, Stenger began devoting his efforts toward popular writing. He continued explaining physics and arguing for atheism long after retiring from his academic career. Among his works (all published by Prometheus Books) were Not by Design (1988), Physics and Psychics (1990), The Unconscious Quantum (1995), Timeless Reality (2000), Has Science Found God?(2003), The Comprehensible Cosmos (2006), God: The Failed Hypothesis (2007),Quantum Gods (2009), The New Atheism (2009), The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning (2011),God and the Folly of Faith (2012), and God and the Atom (2013). A final book, God and the Multiverse, is forthcoming in 2014. Stenger was a consistent and vehement opponent of creationism in all of its forms. In his "Physics, Cosmology, and the New Creationism," his contribution to Andrew J. Petto and Laurie R. Godfrey's Scientists Confront Creationism: Intelligent Design and Beyond (2007), for example, he contended, "Modern variations of the ancient argument from design form the basis of the new creationism -- so-called 'intelligent design' theory. These arguments amount to nothing really new and are just restatements -- in ostensibly more sophisticated language of the common-sense view -- that the universe and life appear to be too complex to have happened without supernatural intervention. However, the new creationism *poses* as science. Despite their pretense of scientific legitimacy, several of the claims of this new 'science' are provably wrong" (emphasis in original). Stenger was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, on January 29, 1935. He received a B.S. in electrical engineering from Newark College of Engineering in 1956, followed by a M.S. in 1958 and a Ph.D. in physics in 1963 from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was a member of the Department of Physics at the University of Hawaii from 1963 to 2000, with stints visiting at the University of Heidelberg, Oxford University, and the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare in Italy. After he retired from the University of Hawaii, he was adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado. A Fellow of the Center for Inquiry and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, he served as president of the Hawaii Humanists from 1990 to 1994 (and was named the Hawaii Humanist of the Year in 1992) and as president of Colorado Citizens for Science from 2002 to 2006. For the obituary at The Friendly Atheist blog, visit: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/08/29/victor-stenger-physicist-and-prolific-atheist-author-is-dead-at-79/ A GLIMPSE OF HOW TO CHANGE MINDS ABOUT OUR CHANGING CLIMATE NCSE is pleased to offer a free preview of Seth B. Darling and Douglas L. Sisterson's How to Change Minds about Our Changing Climate (The Experiment, 2014). The preview consists of chapter 9, "Climate is too complex to model or predict," in which Darling and Sisterson discuss "the ways in which climate models have gotten things right, and ways in which they've gotten it wrong in precisely the opposite ways claimed by the skeptics." How to Change Minds about Our Changing Climate is, according to its publisher, "[t]he essential climate-debate handbook -- everything you need to know about climate science to change minds." Elizabeth Kolbert, the author of The Sixth Extinction, writes, "Everyone -- including climate skeptics! -- ought to read this book. With wit and verve, it explains why every arguments in the climate skeptics' handbook is -- to put it politely -- wrong." For the preview of How to Change Minds about Our Changing Climate (PDF), visit: http://ncse.com/book-excerpt For information about the book from its publisher, visit: http://theexperimentpublishing.com/catalogs/fall-2014/how-to-change-minds-about-our-changing-climate/ WHAT'S NEW FROM THE SCIENCE LEAGUE OF AMERICA Have you been visiting NCSE's blog, The Science League of America, recently? If not, then you've missed: * Robert Luhn reporting on his informal survey of climate education among ecologists: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/08/climate-schlimate-0015839 * Glenn Branch discussing the definition of "hypothesis": http://ncse.com/blog/2014/09/speculatin-hypotheses-0015843 * Stephanie Keep explaining why peppered moths remain a good example of natural selection: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/08/what-s-problem-with-peppered-moths-0015841 And much more besides! For The Science League of America, visit: http://ncse.com/blog Thanks for reading. And don't forget to visit NCSE's website -- http://ncse.com -- where you can always find the latest news on evolution and climate education and threats to them. -- Sincerely, Glenn Branch Deputy Director National Center for Science Education, Inc. 420 40th Street, Suite 2 Oakland, CA 94609-2509 510-601-7203 x303 fax: 510-601-7204 800-290-6006 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Check out NCSE's new blog, Science League of America: http://ncse.com/blog Read Reports of the NCSE on-line: http://reports.ncse.com Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter: http://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd http://twitter.com/ncse NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today! http://ncse.com/join
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