“U.S. 12th graders scored below the international average and among the lowest of the 21 participating nations in both mathematics and science general knowledge in a comprehensive international study in 1995. 70% of those U.S. students were convinced they had performed well.”

From a statement by Lynn Margulis, President of Sigma Xi, in American Scientist vol. 94, p. 2, Jan-Feb. 2006.

Listen to full statement on NPR. Can reflect on any or all of it, including the statement:

“Scientist are happy, of course, when they find answers to questions. But scientists are also happy when they become stuck, when they discover interesting questions that they cannot answer.”

from NPR This I Believe, by Alan Lightman,http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5071045

Image of low latitude (tropical) ice: Quelcaya Ice Capfrom: http://www-bprc.mps.ohio-state.edu/Icecore/facilities.html

“Some time between 2015 and 2020 [the] ice will be gone - along with the archive of climate history recorded in those glaciers.”

Dr. Lonnie Thompson on the ice fields of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2337023.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Vostok_420ky_4curves_insolation.jpghttp://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/images/Vostok.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CO2-Mauna-Loa.png

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2004/0319dustbowl.html

http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/nws/wea01408.htm

1930’s in the American mid West.

http://www.scotese.com/cretaceo.htm

Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand, 1952

Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand, 1957

Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand, 1960

Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand, 1964

http://nsidc.org/glaciers/glossary/glacial_retreat.html

http://www.gsajournals.org/gsaonline/?request=get-document&doi=10.1130%2F0091-7613(2000)28%3C319:IMWATK%3E2.0.CO%3B2#figures

Klaus, Adam, Norris, Richard D., Kroon, Dick, Smit, JanImpact-induced mass wasting at the K-T boundary: Blake Nose, western North AtlanticGeology 2000 28: 319-322

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_level