You wouldn’t cover a murder trial and not mention all the science being brought to bear on the decision process. How can you do so for an environmental issue?


The April 11 Malibu City Council meeting concluded with the dismissal of the arguments by the lagoon restoration opponents because they had no science or scientists. But Adam Nagourney’s NY Times article makes no mention of this. Instead he features the loudest mouth at the meeting in his third paragraph, and refers to the people behind the plan only as “environmentalists” giving no heed to the amount of scientific work behind this project.

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If you wanted to truly arouse and fulfill a broad audience with a science symposium how would you do it?  Start by seeking the advice of Dr. Larry Gold of the University of Colorado.

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One of the speakers, University of Texas music professor Bob Duke, said, “I don’t think I’ve ever been to a conference that had a more eclectic group of speakers.” All of the audio of the presentations can be listened to HERE.

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So many great comic actors from The Groundlings Improv Comedy Theater have volunteered their time to take part in our Shifting Baselines films over the past few years. At last, a great film that showcases a whole bunch of them!

“Bridesmaids,” a movie that’s overrun with Groundlings. Half of the main cast have appeared in Shifting Baselines films — Melissa McCarthy (far left), Wendi McClendon-Covey (second from left), and Maya Rudolph (in white).

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One small step for shrimp, one giant leap (perhaps?) for shrimpkind.

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If you’re like me and have the blanket (largely uninformed) opinion that shrimp farming has to be disastrous, then you’ll hopefully find the lifelong work of Linda Thornton to be intriguing. She is profiled in this nice video produced by the Pace University students of uber-blogger Andy Revkin — a result of their spring expedition to Belize. Contrary to popular opinion, she makes the case that there are sustainable ways to farm shrimp. Check it out!

Penguin Boy keeps getting creepier each year.

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Haven’t seen the Penguin Boy video? Not likely to? Not your cup of tea? That’s okay, he’s on Friendster.

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It’s been about five years since we did this little video with Brian Clark, then a member of the Groundlings Improv Comedy Theater, and eventually the co-star of my movie, “Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy.” It became an instant classic with a number of aquariums where they use it in their training of guides as a sort of, “Don’t be like this dude,” example. We’ve had it on our Shifting Baselines website over the years, but recently were contacted by the good folks at Mote Marine Lab asking if we could post it in a little higher quality.

Back when we first released it, a friend of mine working at a scientific organization told me it became an immediate hit with the secretaries. One of them said whenever she had a bad day, all she had to do was watch “Penguin Boy,” and he would cheer her up.