St. Maarten Private Eye

Think outside the box, it is just a picture, and if I'm not mistaken Global warming affects both Hemispheres that is why it is called global warming.

Some may be sceptical, given the environmental record and position Michael has long held, not to mention that of the party he supports. To me the letter sounds completely sincere, from a man who has seen the light.

Letter - Micheal Granger - Inconvenient Truth scarier than fiction - 23rd November 2006

He is quite right that this documentary should be seen in schools and I would like to put forward an idea for all of you out there. Would you, as a business or individual, be willing to make a donation and sponsor a presentation tour of this movie in our schools and community centers?

The official movie website can be found here and it has some excellent educational tools for teachers, but it costs money to print them. Do you think the sponsors are out there?

Flipper

I am glad that we have the opportunity to host the St. Maarten Pride Fundraiser upcoming Tuesday at our Theater to make the people of St. Maarten aware of the situation we have created in the world and on our own island of St. Maarten.

I agree with Michael Granger and Flipper that all schoolchildren (movie is rated PG) should see this movie, whether in a house situation, on their schools or with us in the theater. For those that are not in the opportunity to support the SXM Pride on Tuesday, we at Philipsburg Theater have decided that we will show this movie during our regular scheduled program and that a part of the ticketsales will also be donated to the St. Maarten Pride Foundation.

If schools are interested in viewing this movie on one of our big screens outside of our regular opening times, please call me at 5538933. And we make sure that we give them this opportunity.

regards Jasper
Philipsburg Theatres

Yes, I do think the sponsors are out there. I have not seen the film but assume that it is suitable for kids?? No bad language, etc... We will be going on Tuesday so I guess I will find out then.
We would be willing to make a donation to this cause. Just tell me how and where.
Cheers.

Very interesting article in Washington post below concerning showing this movie in schools. Check it out below.

Science a la Joe Camel

By Laurie David
Sunday, November 26, 2006; B01

At hundreds of screenings this year of "An Inconvenient Truth," the first thing many viewers said after the lights came up was that every student in every school in the United States needed to see this movie.

The producers of former vice president Al Gore's film about global warming, myself included, certainly agreed. So the company that made the documentary decided to offer 50,000 free DVDs to the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) for educators to use in their classrooms. It seemed like a no-brainer.

The teachers had a different idea: Thanks but no thanks, they said.

In their e-mail rejection, they expressed concern that other "special interests" might ask to distribute materials, too; they said they didn't want to offer "political" endorsement of the film; and they saw "little, if any, benefit to NSTA or its members" in accepting the free DVDs.

Gore, however, is not running for office, and the film's theatrical run is long since over. As for classroom benefits, the movie has been enthusiastically endorsed by leading climate scientists worldwide, and is required viewing for all students in Norway and Sweden.

Still, maybe the NSTA just being extra cautious. But there was one more curious argument in the e-mail: Accepting the DVDs, they wrote, would place "unnecessary risk upon the [NSTA] capital campaign, especially certain targeted supporters." One of those supporters, it turns out, is the Exxon Mobil Corp.

That's the same Exxon Mobil that for more than a decade has done everything possible to muddle public understanding of global warming and stifle any serious effort to solve it. It has run ads in leading newspapers (including this one) questioning the role of manmade emissions in global warming, and financed the work of a small band of scientific skeptics who have tried to challenge the consensus that heat-trapping pollution is drastically altering our atmosphere. The company spends millions to support groups such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute that aggressively pressure lawmakers to oppose emission limits.

It's bad enough when a company tries to sell junk science to a bunch of grown-ups. But, like a tobacco company using cartoons to peddle cigarettes, Exxon Mobil is going after our kids, too.

And it has been doing so for longer than you may think. NSTA says it has received $6 million from the company since 1996, mostly for the association's "Building a Presence for Science" program, an electronic networking initiative intended to "bring standards-based teaching and learning" into schools, according to the NSTA Web site. Exxon Mobil has a representative on the group's corporate advisory board. And in 2003, NSTA gave the company an award for its commitment to science education.

So much for special interests and implicit endorsements.

More at the link below.....

Science a la Joe Camel - 26th November 2006