After the handshake we got to the news. First we discuss how IBMs Watson AI computer is being used to diagnose disease - nice! On a less positive note we talked about the forecast that by 2017 we will be burning more coal than petroleum - yikes. One of the reason is that countries like Germany have bowed to pressure to no longer use nuclear, kudos to them, unfortunately they still need energy so are turning to coal to fill the gap. To dampen the depression caused by this news I finished with the discovery of one of the cuties animals ever found, the Slow Loris. It's a real cutie but quite vicious actually, and on the vulnerable list because people want them as pets (and cruelly remove the teeth as a result).
After our trip outside to check out our environments we got on the topic of electronics. First was the Lapka, a bolt on tool/app for iPhone that allows you to take various environments measures. Neat. We then talked and looked at videos about flexible OLED screens that will be coming out and changing things up again.
The next bit was a bit of a gamble for me because I didn't want to bore or scare the club but I thought this movie was absolutely an eye opener for anyone interested about our planet. It is a movie call Manufactured Landscapes which discusses the work of a Canadian photographer called Edward Burtynsky. The imagery is phenomenal and somewhat disturbing; the damage we are incurring on our planet has no limits it seems. I had seen the movie a while back but screened it again and took note of the more interesting and palatable moments and jumped around to this spots in the movie. This allowed me to keep things short and censored for the kids.
To finish off I showed and video and discussed 3D printers. First I made sure everyone understood what the 3 dimensions were and then discussed the machines and showed a video. These things stand to revolutionize a lot of things. The kids were fascinated! I tried hard to find someone to come and give a live demonstration of one but couldn't find anyone.
I had gone overboard a bit on this meeting as I also included a craft where we cut out and created booklets of environments fines we can give out when we see someone doing something bad for our earth. I had fun making these (the bar code makes it look official eh!?) and the kids are having fun giving them out. A few dads got some fines and weren't terribly impressed but were good sports about it. It's hard to spread awareness without ruffling a few feathers :-)
I finished off with a beautiful song from Xavier Rudd that hits the spot with regards to words and tone and the integration of natural whale songs in the score. This was a doozie of a meeting, rich with meaning and well received.
Xavier Rudd - Creating a Dream
Imagine every where was free to roamImagine if the trees could tell us where to goImagine that the sun could fill each lonely heartimagine confrontation never got a startimagine things will were always crystal clearimagine if the mind never interferedimagine we could fly with broken wingsimagine if the heart could shed it’s skin
please patience please patience please I’m creating a dreamplease patience please patience please I’m creating a dreamImagine sacred sights were left to beImagine if true activists controlled tvImagine captain watson had the final sayImagine if industry just had to obeyplease patience please patience please I’m creating a dreamplease patience please patience please I’m creating a dream
[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/creating-a-dream-lyrics-xavier-rudd.html ]
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