re: thank you for the recommendations

Jessica,

I'm glad you think this is a good idea. I strongly believe that artists can change the world. I'm still proud of what we all did for Patry Francis not so long ago. Maybe this will grow into something as organic and wonderful as that. Also, If I may dare to make a suggestion, have you thought about writing a topical short-story instead of an essay? That might help make the process more enjoyable and you wouldn't have to worry about facts and numbers as much. That's what I'm going to do.

My personal writing time, is something I have to do at home. So look for something from me in a day or so.

Thomas Dotson, RedRoom.com

From the horse's mouth

Hi Jessica:

I think you've struck on a very interesting point. Almost none of the information any of us gets, pertinent to important issues, comes directly from the source. It gets filtered to us through the media, through politicians, through often paranoid peers. Think about how LITTLE first-hand information the average American.. (or other earthling) has about ANYTHING. If I were to ask you who's the president of the United States, you'd have to take SOMEONE's word for it.

As a writer, I can't be an authority on everything...nor do I even care to be. However, I do have an inside track to scientific and physics research. When I wrote Plasma Dreams, I don't think there was ANY existing piece of literature that realistically portrayed how scientific research is done. Most of us leave that sort of thing to the "experts." What I wanted to portray is that most research is done by fairly normal people with extraordinary curiosity.

Because most of what we know about science is what gets passed on by the MOST unreliable source possible....politicians (of any persuasion).... it's no wonder that paranoia reigns supreme. Critical thinking about science is nigh unto impossible, unless you actually get your hands dirty in science.

Now, the GOOD news is that it's a LOT easier to do scientific research on your kitchen counter than one might think.

One interesting case in point...at UCLA we were doing some very interesting Ozone remediation experiments. (For some reason, carbon dioxide has taken all the attention away from ozone depletion.....in a few years, some other "crisis of the decade" will become fashionable)

Anyway....we actually built a model of the earth's atmosphere in a plasma chamber (actually just a big tank with a lot of portholes and probes poking out of it). We created a little ozone layer in there, a little ionosphere, and a miniature weather system. (This is actually a lot easier to scale than one might imagine). We demonstrated that, indeed, if you put Freon in the tank, the ozone goes away. You turn on an ultraviolet lamp (e.g., the SUN) and the ozone comes right back....with a vengeance.

This is just one simple environmental experiment that demonstrates just how resiliant the Earth is. Are there things we can do to improve the environment? Of course. Should we take reasonable steps to reduce pollution? Of course. Is man the main culprit? Not likely.

Three year ago, 6.5 million acres of Alaska burned up.....all caused by lightning strikes. Before anyone was up here to help put out the fires....it was a regular event.....word of mouth stories by ancient Eskimos and Indians alike tell of firestorms blowing through the land unabated.

Same thing in your neck of the woods. Everything from Big Sur to Topanga Canyon burned regularly long before man was around! In fact, Redwood forests NEED fires to release seeds. Nothing uses up carbon credits faster than millions of acres of trees burning up....but it's all good and necessary....as long as you don't BUILD wall-to-wall there. (The great Alaskan fire of 2005 resulted in the loss of an outhouse and a bag of dog food, by the way).

Anyway...back to the original point. When evaluating whether you need to be paranoid or not, always go to the original source...or even better, BECOME an original source. This is what I've tried to do in all my writing.

As one of my witty friends says, "If you aren't getting it from the horse's mouth, you're getting it from a horse's ass."

Truer words were never spoken!

eric