One of the most legendary maritime disasters was the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic.

In a pivotal scene in James Cameron’s 1997 film, master shipbuilder Thomas Andrews looks around the magnificent foyer of the grand staircase, swarming with frantic passengers.

Rose Bukater asks how serious the situation is. Says Andrews: “In an hour or so, all this will be at the bottom of the Atlantic.”

The tragedy that was Titanic presents us with some sobering parallels to the great environmental challenges facing our civilization in the twenty-first century.

Titanic suffered a cascading disaster in which sea water from one ruptured compartment spilled over the bulkhead into the next, inexorably causing the ship to founder.

Analogously, as our ever-increasing human demands for energy, water, housing, transportation and agricultural land run up against the immovable iceberg that is human carrying capacity, we are witnessing the cascading failure of our fragile terrestrial support systems.

Both calamities are the result of a collision between human over-confidence and the implacable forces of nature.

Titanic was at once an engineering marvel and a monument to human hubris. One of the most sophisticated ocean liners ever constructed, Titanic was declared by some to be “practically unsinkable.”

To minimize weight, maximize speed and preserve aesthetics, the owners skimped on lifeboats, installed inadequate bulkheads, and relied on a single iron hull.

Thomas Andrews recognized these design flaws and argued for 46 more lifeboats, for bulkheads that reached up to B deck to create sealable watertight compartments, and for a double hull. On every point he was overridden by his cost-conscious supervisors.

Like the Titanic, our present-day industrial civilization is a marvel of human ingenuity, and yet – as with Titanic – a reckoning looms on the horizon.

Our profligate use of coal, oil and gas resources for transportation and food production has allowed humans to flourish in almost every region of the globe.

Abundant cheap oil has supported medical advances to increase the birth rate, to extend life spans, and to enable us to expand our human population (if only temporarily) from one billion to seven billion in a century and a half.

But in our heedless rush for a better, more comfortable life, we’ve ignored the signs of impending disaster.

Humanity today is conducting an unprecedented ecological experiment, steaming into the uncharted waters of global climate change, unsure if we have sufficient provisions and lifeboats for all.

Like the third-class and steerage passengers on the Titanic, the developing nations will be on their own, as the industrial nations commandeer the world's remaining reserves of oil, water and arable land, as outlined by Michael Klare in The Race for What’s Left (2012; http://amzn.to/IYG23F ).

The existing problem of ecological refugeeism – as, for example, when millions of Bangladeshis will be forced to migrate to higher, already occupied ground – will be exacerbated by the extinction of entire island nations such as Tuvalu and the Maldives.

The burdens imposed by climate change and resource depletion will probably fall unequally.

In the case of tens of millions of people who rely for their supply of drinking water on shrinking Asian and South American glaciers, those who have contributed least to greenhouse gas emissions are likely to pay the highest price.

We are stressing all of Earth’s biogeographical support systems – from the atmosphere, to rivers and oceans, to forests and food production – without a clear picture of what the consequences will be.

If we cannot reverse our consumptive course, we can at least make an effort to minimize the impact by reducing human population growth to zero.

We can restrain our desire to travel any time to any place we want at whatever the energy cost. And we can “decarbonize” our energy economy by reducing as much as possible the amount of CO2 going into the atmosphere – through conservation, efficiency, sequestration, and converting to renewable sources (http://ncse.com/climate/climate-change-101/what-can-we-do ).

Climate change and resource depletion are avoidable tragedies, and pose urgent ethical questions. What are my environmental obligations as an individual? Ought I to live closer to my work? Should we bring a third child into the world? What energy-intensive creature comforts should affluent societies be willing to sacrifice?

Every Sunday Christians recite the Nicene Creed, professing belief in “the creator of heaven and earth,” and in “the life of the world to come.” But what about the world we actually inhabit? Does this world really matter?

As a theologian, a parent and an ethical person, I affirm that it does matter.

It matters that I leave the Earth a habitable place for my children and for countless future generations of humans.

It matters that we safeguard the millions of species who are our evolutionary cousins and planet mates.

It matters the world to me that with our actions we look after the creation we honor with our lips.

Peter M. J. Hess, Ph.D., is director of religious community outreach with the National Center for Science Education, a nonprofit organization in Oakland, Calif., that defends and promotes the teaching of evolution and climate science. He is from Cobb, Calif. and lives in Berkeley, Calif.

In December 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the initial findings of the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS).

“Approximately 80 percent of female victims were raped before the age of 25, and almost half before the age of 18. About 35 percent of women who were raped as minors were also raped as adults compared to 14 percent of women without an early rape history. Nearly 1 in 5 women (18.3%) and 1 in 71 men (1.4%) in the United States have been raped at some time in their lives, including completed forced penetration, attempted forced penetration, or alcohol/drug facilitated completed penetration.  One percent, or approximately 1.3 million women, reported being raped by any perpetrator in the 12 months prior to taking the survey.”

Each year, April is designated as “Sexual Assault Awareness Month” (SAAM) in Lake County and across the nation.  

Sexual Assault Awareness Month was introduced to Lake County to raise awareness about rape and sexual assault, educate the community and help prevent sexual violence.  

On April 25, Lake Family Resource Center sponsored “Denim Day in Lake County.”

Denim Day grew out of a 1998 Italian Supreme Court decision that overturned a rape conviction because the victim wore skinny jeans.

The judge reasoned the victim’s tight jeans meant that she helped her assailant remove them, implying consent.

People all over the world were outraged, and wearing jeans became an international symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes and myths surrounding sexual assault, thus, Denim Day was born, according to www.SayNoToViolence.Org .

Lake Family Resource Center would like to thank all of the participating organizations for their support of Denim Day and sexual assault victim/survivors, making it a huge success: Sutter Lakeside Hospital, Mendocino Community Health Clinic, Twin Pine Casino, Victim-Witness and the District Attorney's Officee, Lake County Administrative Office, Lake County Counsel, Lake County Board of Supervisors, courthouse employees, Lake County Office of Education, Kathy Fowler Chevrolet, Hillside Honda, Healthy Start and Lake County Probation.

Altogether, 1,363 badges, 185 flyers and 29 posters were distributed in our community. Each person who wore a badge asking “Why Denim?” was prepared to answer that question and have a conversation about sexual assault.  

Spreading sexual assault awareness helps to prevent future attacks, hold offenders accountable and educate many. Sexual assault not only affects the victim but also families, friends, bystanders and our entire community.

Reports say that approximately 20 percent of the US female population will be the victims of some form of sexual assault and 80 percent of those completed rapes will occur before age 24 (12% before age 10, 30% between ages 11-17 and 37% between ages 18-24). That is one out of every four or five female children/women!

It’s incredibly sad to realize that this number does not reflect an accurate description of the extent of sexual assault in our country because so many assaults are unreported. Estimates are that only about three to four of every 10 rapes are reported. Male sexual assault is also vastly under reported.  

Please speak up and let’s all try to help prevent the next attack … And if you have been sexually assaulted, please know this – it’s never your fault! And the Rape Crisis Center is ready to help and support your journey to wellness after this terrible experience.

The Rape Crisis Center provides 24/7 Crisis Counseling (through the Community Crisis Line – 1-888-485-7733), accompaniment at the hospital and for all law enforcement and court processes as well as assistance to connect with and apply for other community resources.

The Rape Crisis Center will share information about what has happened and why a survivor feels the way they feel.  

All services are free and strictly confidential.

Of great concern, the Rape Crisis Centers’ budget has been cut by nearly $10,000 in 2012-13. Please donate to help maintain this vital service in our community. Contact Lake Family Resource Centers – Rape Crisis Center.

Anybody can help! Won’t you?

For more information about sexual assault victim rights and services or to make a donation, please contact Lee Perales at 707-262-1379, Extension 110.

To speak to a trained sexual assault counselor call the Community Crisis Line (24/7) 1-888-485-7733.

Sheri Salituri-Young works for the Lake Family Resource Center, headquartered in Kelseyville, Calif.

I’m no kin to the monkey, no no no
The monkey’s no kin to me, yeah yeah yeah
I don’t know much about his ancestors
But mine didn’t swing from a tree.

That’s the first verse of a famous creationist ditty, “I’m No Kin to the Monkey,” written by Dave Hendricks. You can hear a famous 1972 performance of it by two sisters, Robin and Crystal Bernard, singing at Jerry Falwell’s Thomas Road Baptist Church, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKwlUmoiPVY , where it’s called “The Monkey Song.”

And you might be excused for thinking that you might have detected it echoing through the Tennessee General Assembly recently.

Eighty-seven years after the notorious Scopes trial, the Tennessee legislature recently passed a bill encouraging teachers to present the “scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses” of topics that arouse “debate and disputation” such as “biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning,” and the governor allowed allowed the bill to become law without his signature.
    
Scopes was convicted in 1925 of violating a Tennessee law that forbade the teaching of human evolution in the state’s public schools, and that law remained on the books until 1967, when the Tennessee legislature repealed it, anticipating the Supreme Court’s 1968 ruling that such laws are unconstitutional.

But creationist tactics have evolved. After it was no longer possible to ban the teaching of evolution, creationists tried to have creationism – whether in the form of “creation science” or “intelligent design” – taught alongside evolution.

With a Supreme Court ruling in 1987 against the teaching of creation science and a federal court ruling in 2005 against the teaching of intelligent design, the strategy is increasingly recognized as a failure. And so the subtler approach of the new Tennessee law.

Despite the lofty rhetoric about critical thinking and scientific inquiry surrounding the bill, it was clear what the purpose of its supporters was.

After all, the bill was pushed by the state affiliate of the fundamentalist Focus on the Family, and a columnist for Scientific American (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=scopes-creationism-education&;page=2 ) reported that its main sponsor in the Tennessee House of Representatives “could not explain why a Christian organization would be pushing legislation that supposedly has nothing to do with inserting religion into science class.”

A less evasive state representative explained his support for the bill on the floor of the House by mangling a passage from Francis Bacon and misattributing it to Albert Einstein: “A little knowledge would turn your head to atheism, while a broader knowledge would turn your head to Christianity.”

In passing the bill, the legislature ignored the opposition of the scientific community, including Stanley Cohen, Tennessee’s only Nobel laureate in science, and of the educational community, including the Tennessee Science Teachers Association, representing the supposed beneficiaries of its provisions.

Having taken indefensible stands on the science and the pedagogy, is it any surprise, then, that the legislature also took a questionable stand on the theology, by assuming that accepting Christianity requires rejecting evolution?

Certainly there are people who think so; that, after all, is what creationism is all about. But that’s a distinctively religious view, and in a modern, pluralistic, secular nation, where separation of church and state is a fundamental principle, it’s not a view that legislators should be using their offices to promote.

Moreover, Christianity is anything but unanimous in rejecting evolution: there are plenty of Christians – clergy, scientists and laypeople – who accept evolution as compatible with, even as enriching, their faith.

Over 13,000 members of the clergy have endorsed a statement calling on policymakers to “preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge.”

Entire denominations, including the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the United Methodist Church, have expressed their support for the uncompromised teaching of evolution.

So Tennessee’s new law is motivated not just by religious concerns but by narrowly sectarian concerns: precisely what the framers of the Constitution were so careful to discourage.

It isn’t as though people of faith in Tennessee aren’t aware of the problems with their state’s new antiscience bill and with creationism in general.

State Sen. Andy Berke, opposing the Senate version of the bill, spotted the problem straightaway, commenting, “I’m a person of faith. If my children ask, ‘How does that mesh with my faith?’ I don’t want their teacher answering that question.”

Lenn Goodman, a distinguished philosophy professor at Vanderbilt University, recently wrote a book insisting on the scientific validity of evolution while offering, “Where evolution asks how we came to be, Genesis probes what it is to be human.”

As Tennessee braces for what may be a new Scopes trial, it is important for people of faith who support the integrity of science education to stand up and be counted.

If I may end with a parody of the verse with which I began:

This monkey law just has to go,
Because it just isn’t true,
It’s such a disgrace to Tennessee,
A disgrace to the human race too.

Peter M. J. Hess, Ph.D., is director of Religious Community Outreach at the Oakland, Calif.-based National Center for Science Education, www.ncse.com . He is from Cobb, Calif. and lives in Berkeley, Calif.

Summer is just around the corner and there are already many more pedestrians on the road.

We all want to live in a community where it is safe to walk to the park, to school or to one of our charming local stores.

This is one of the endearing aspects of living in a rural, resort community. You can stroll down the street, grab an ice cream, go to a park and have a picnic or take an evening walk to watch the sun set over the lake. Walking is a great way to stay healthy, get exercise and it is better for the environment.

Over the next few weeks, the Konocti Unified School District will be limiting our bus services for the remainder of the year and encouraging more of our students to walk and bike to school.

Although the reduction in bus services is due to transportation budget cuts at the state level, we also know that summer will soon be here and our students will be out and about.

We need to teach our students how to walk safely on roadways and we need to impress upon drivers that they must drive carefully and watch for motorcycles, bicyclists and pedestrians.

Officials and employees of the city of Clearlake have been meeting and collaborating with Konocti Unified School District officials to make our streets safer for pedestrians and bikers.

Several streets have been designated as safe routes for bikers. We have placed signs on these streets encouraging their use for students walking to school. These streets include Walnut and Uhl near Burns Valley School and Sutter and Willow Glen to Woodland near Pomo School.

We ask that parents walk these routes with their children for the first few days of limited bus services, beginning May 21.

Then, during the weeks until school lets out, we will have volunteers walk the students to school in what has been called a “walking bus.”

We also ask that drivers use a different street than those designated for walking and biking and to be very careful when crossing these streets. This will make these routes safer.

The walkers also have to be responsible. The Konocti Unified School District has started teaching the Child Pedestrian Safety Curriculum in our classrooms grades K-5. We are also doing pedestrian safety assemblies for the children grades K-3.

We are giving the children the following guidance:

• Walk with a friend when possible
• Ask your parents to help you pick a safe route to school: one that avoids dangers
• Stick to the route you picked with your parents. Don’t let friends talk you into shortcuts that could be more dangerous.
• Walk on the left hand side of the street, facing traffic.
• When you are near the street, don’t push, shove or chase each other
• Never hitchhike or take rides from people not arranged by your parents
• Talk to your parents and teacher about any bullying that may happen during your walk and never talk with strangers.
• Always wear bright-colored clothes and if it is dark or hard to see carry flashlights or wear reflective gear
• Watch out for cars and trucks at every driveway and intersection. Look for drivers in parked cars; they may be getting ready to move.
• Cross the street safely. Stop at the curb or edge of the street. Look left, right, left and behind you and in front of you for traffic. Wait until no traffic is coming and begin crossing. Keep looking for traffic until you have finished crossing. Walk, don’t run, across the street.
• Obey traffic signs, signals and adult school crossing guards.

The Lake Transit Authority has also been collaborating with the Konocti Unified School District and the City of Clearlake.

Lake Transit is implementing special services and fares effective on Monday, May 21, to assist KUSD students who would like to try their services to get to school. Please contact Lake Transit for information about the special, free Route 6 Tripper, which has been added to help students get to school.

The Summer Cruisin’ Pass is now on sale at Lake Transit in Lower Lake, and Ray’s Food Place in Clearlake. Although the pass indicates that it is valid from June 1 to Sept. 15, Lake Transit will honor this pass effective May 21.

The cost for the entire summer is $20 to students up to 18 years of age. For those over 18 years of age, a monthly pass costs only $40 – the cost of a tank of gasoline.

The more we all use public transit throughout the year, the more services and routes can be added. Lake Transit buses are a convenient, comfortable, and affordable way to get around Lake County.

Our communities should be considered walking and biking communities. Roadways must be safe for our children and other residents to walk and bike. That is part of the small town life that encouraged many of us to come to Lake County.

Let’s work together to make this happen. Walk more, and when you drive, please drive safely.

Dr. William MacDougall is the superintendent for the Konocti Unified School District, based in Lower Lake, Calif. He is retiring effective June 30.

Team DUI successfully finished this school year, marking our sixth year of educating our youth on the true realities of driving under the influence.  

Our team would like to extend our appreciation to Lake County educators for their support in allowing us the opportunity to foster working partnerships with Lake County school districts, working together to help keep our youth and others safe.

Our team also would like to share our appreciation with the countless individuals throughout Lake County for your continual support.

Underage drinking is a serious problem throughout our nation. Alcohol is the drug of choice for youth and the leading cause of death and injuries among teenagers.  

Team DUI was formed as a countywide volunteer educational outreach program designed to raise awareness of the consequences and dangers of DUI through prevention with the focus on the youth of our communities in order to help prevent one more senseless death or injury.  

Because of the educational prevention efforts of Team DUI to help keep our roadways safer for everyone, injuries have been reduced and lives, young and old, have been saved and more will be saved.    

During this school year, Team DUI delivered 16 classroom and assembly presentations throughout Lake County schools, addressing students from seventh through 12th grade levels.  

We covered topics relating to driving under the influence, the impact it has on the victim, the offender, families, friends, the community and the value of parents discussing the issues with their children which has resulted in opening up needed lines of communication between parent and child.

Our team worked tirelessly to get our message across to our youth. Our speakers came forth with inspirational courage and fortitude as they endured months of emotional stress, reliving painful stories in order to help safeguard our youth now and into the future.   

Through Team DUI, not only were our youth better able to understand the legal consequences of DUI, they were also able to see and understand the other side of DUI; the side that has life altering consequences. Students listened with their minds and their hearts. Our team has made a major difference, working to change the culture among our youth as they cope with teen peer pressure.                 

Each member of Team DUI fulfills a different role, but the message we deliver is very powerful when we work together.

The members of Team DUI are extraordinary individuals who are inspirational in their dedication to the safety of our communities. Each member of Team DUI is a hero in their own right.  

Our team has touched the lives of many people throughout our entire county.

The legacy of Team DUI will live on in the lives of our youth as they will have a better chance to live to become responsible adults.

Never underestimate the power of the committed people of Team DUI to bring about change in the good fight against drinking and driving.

Team DUI wishes everyone a safe and enjoyable summer.

Judy Thein is founder of Team DUI. She also serves on the city council for Clearlake, Calif. For more information on Team DUI, call 994-8201, Extension 155.

Whenever my daughter and I walk by someone who is smoking we look at each other, sigh and, given no other option, hold our breath as we pass by.

We do that because we know all about the number of deadly ingredients found in cigarette smoke. We don’t blame the smoker. Chances are the smoker knows, too.

Unfortunately, the smoker has developed an addiction to the nicotine that is a natural part of the tobacco plant. What smokers might not know is that the tobacco companies that make the cigarettes are not only aware of how addictive nicotine is, but go out of their way to make it even more addictive than it already is.

It’s been proven that they add forms of ammonia to the “recipe” to break down the nicotine molecule to its’ base form, so the smoker is free-basing nicotine.

In order for the smoker to maintain this designed addiction, they are exposing themselves to many, many chemicals that are known to cause early death in a large percentage of smokers.

The sad truth is that the smoker is not the only victim of these deadly toxins. Only 15 percent of the smoke inhaled stays in the lungs. The other 85 percent is exhaled into the air, so as other people, including nonsmokers, walk through the cloud, they too are breathing the more than 60 cancer causing chemicals present in secondhand smoke.

Nonsmokers have already made the choice to live a healthier life style and should expect a certain level of security knowing they can walk around in public places, or go to work, without the concern of being poisoned.

There are some protective factors already in place.

Ten years after the “smoke-free bars” law went into effect, the “smoke-free cars with minors” law started.

This law, which has been in effect since the beginning of 2008, prohibits smoking in a motor vehicle when a minor (17 years old and under) is also in the car. A violation is punishable by a fine of up to $100.

The city of Lakeport has an ordinance that prohibits smoking “within the boundaries of any city park, playground, or recreation center” (cmc 8.44.020). A violation of this law is an infraction.

The Lake County Fair Board has assigned certain areas within the fairgrounds that are off limits to smokers in an effort to protect nonsmokers, especially children, from the damaging effects of secondhand smoke.

California is definitely moving in the right direction, but is the state doing enough?

To help you decide, you might be interested to know that for every eight smokers that die of a smoking related death, one non-smoker does too. That’s because there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.

Labeled as a Class “A” carcinogen, the very moment secondhand smoke is inhaled, it starts causing damage to cells and tissue inside the body. Over a long period of time the effect can be very serious and in some cases deadly.

The EPA, the FDA and the U.S. Surgeon General have all agreed that nonsmokers need protection from being forced to breathe tainted air.

Another fact that most people might not be aware of is that the more a young person breathes secondhand smoke the more likely they are to become smokers. With each breath, they are getting nicotine into their bloodstream and sooner or later they too could become addicted to it.

There is also very strong proof that young girls suffer permanent damage to their reproductive system after inhaling secondhand smoke.

Evidence shows an increase in chances that, when older, they might have difficulty getting pregnant, have an increased chance of having miscarriages and giving birth to low-weight babies.

Living in America, people have the right to choose whether or not to smoke. Do they have the right to put nonsmokers in danger?  

We have the right to breathe clean air. Since there are more nonsmokers than there are smokers and 48 million of them are former smokers, it would make sense to me that there should be laws and rules in place to protect nonsmokers, not because they are the majority, but because of the high risk being exposed to secondhand smoke presents.

So when my daughter and I walk down the street we should not have to choose to breathe or not to breathe.

As community a member, I support ordinances and policies that limit exposure to secondhand smoke while outdoors – especially in public parks, outdoor events (such as the Lake County Fair), and areas outside a local business we would like to visit.

You have an opportunity to join efforts to protect the health of our community.

If you would like more information about the health effects of exposure to secondhand smoke, or would like to be involved in local efforts to protect the health of our community, call the Lake County Tobacco Education Program, a program of Lake Family Resource Center at 707-262-1379, Extension 113.

For help to quit smoking, call the California Smokers Helpline at 800-NO-BUTTS.

Glenn Koeppel lives in Lucerne, Calif.