Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007 - (Page 7)

Jonathan Pearson is the NPCA advocacy coordinator. See www.chesapeakeclimate. org for more about the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Send comments to Pearson at advocacy@rpcv.org. LUCY IN AMERICA e U.S. arrival this summer of the 3.2-million year-old bones of Lucy at the Houston Museum of National Science was billed as the welcoming of the world’s oldest tourist. But her arrival caused a stir among scientists last year when Ethiopia announced that they were letting her make the trip. Some paleontologists say the Ethiopian government should not have let her go to Houston because her old bones are very fragile. A UNESCO resolution signed by both the United States and Ethiopia in 1998 declared that fossils should remain home, too. So, the Smithsonian refuses to host Lucy. e director of the Smithsonian Institution’s human origins program, Rick Potts, told the Washington Post that fossils should be removed from vaults for only “the most compelling scientific reasons.” e American Museum of Natural History also said Lucy is not invited. e Field Museum in Chicago appears concerned, though it hasn’t yet closed the door. e professional debate may have put a dent in the plans David Arnold WorldView 7 Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University and tanks. Packard made Rolls-Royce engines for the British air force. And at its vast Willow Run plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, the Ford Motor Company performed something like a miracle 24 hours a day. e average Ford car had some 15,000 parts; e B-24 Liberator long-range bomber they produced for the war effort had 1,550,000 parts. One such plane came off the line every 63 minutes.” We were called to take action and we produced. And our nation survived and thrived in the aftermath of these societal shifts. History shows we can confront and overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. Let history debate whether those who mobilized in World War II were indeed our “greatest generation.” ey certainly set the bar high. Stabilizing the climate is our opportunity to rise to the challenge. of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and of the Houston museum that curated and financed the exhibit for a six-year U.S. Lucy tour. To call it the Lucy show is not accurate: the exhibit includes many other hidden treasures of Ethiopia. is debate circumscribes an attempt by an African government to put its best foot forward. Ethiopia remains one of the world’s poorest nations, a farm economy crippled by devastating drought, internal warfare over the last 36 years that triggered three traumatic changes in government and high military expenditures to fight territorial disputes north and south. ese and other troubles have fostered a large Ethiopian diaspora in the United States. Charges of human rights violations have raised the ire of many members of the U.S. House of Representatives, which voted to suspend Ethiopia’s economic and military aid. e Ethiopia exhibit includes ancient manuscripts and artifacts of an Ethiopian ruling dynasty that many believe was rooted in the Old Testament telling of the night when King Solomon took the Queen of Sheba to his bed. Ethiopia, or a certain part of it, is wrapped in this history. A papyrus boat on Lake Tana takes you to an island and a small church where a priest hands you a crown worn by King Menelik more than a century ago. ere are no turnstiles, no alarms, no armed guards. Just a wizened priest in gorgeous raiment, holding a crown. Lucy goes back so much further. Bones and DNA tell us that every homo sapien in the world comes from someone like Lucy, and places like Hadar. It’s easy to see why Ethiopia is so proud of her and might want to take the risk to show her off. Joel Bartsch, the president of the Houston museum, says no harm will come to Lucy. ey’ve handled the Dead Sea Scrolls and treasures from the Vatican. It will be up to the Houston museum to overcome the professional debate and find 10 more venues for Lucy and the Ethiopian treasures. ey’re working on venues but won’t release names until the list is final. Among the paleontologists who had an opinion about Lucy’s travel plans was Richard Leakey, the Kenyan who, along with his wife, mother and father, have become renowned for discoveries made in Kenya and Tanzania. Leakey called the Ethiopian decision to ship her to the States “a prostitution.” Before Lucy, it was Richard’s father, Louis S.B. Leakey, who discovered our thenoldest known ancestor in a place called Olduvai Gorge. Lucy changed all of that when a Case Western Reserve scientist named Donald Johanson found her in the deserts of Ethiopia in 1974. With about 40 percent of her bones recovered, she measured less than four feet tall and probably weighed about 60 pounds in life. at night at the team tent, a short wave radio was playing the Beatle’s popular tune, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds. So, Johanson gave the bones the same name. “What do I think of the decision to travel Lucy?” Johanson asked recently. Now director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University, he sided with Houston. “While I cannot over-emphasize my personal concern for Lucy’s safety, a broader exposure of Lucy to the public does have great educational value.” It’s particularly important “when the validity of evolution has come under fire in our schools.” http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007

Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007
Contents
President's Note
Lafayette Park
Note to Readers
Commentary
Letter from India
Commentary
Letter from Botswana
Letter from Ha Teboho
Letter from Jumbi Valley
Letter from Mununga
Letter from Medellin
Giving Back
Community News

Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007

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