Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!
We had our first date as Mr. & Mrs. and being the odd couple that we are, we decided to see Bill Nye the Science Guy. Many of you know that Conor is applying for Medschool so clearly he’s a science person but not many know about my love for science. Well let me clarify, once science turns into chemistry I’m not having it but let’s chat about biology, and everything else.
We had decided on this date the day before we got married. We were invited to this special event because we are members of the science museum and have connections in the science community. These tickets sold out fast and after our date I can clearly see why!
When we arrived at the science museum there were sold out signs everywhere and there was a lot of security around. We went inside and we made the mistake of not stopping to use the restroom prior to getting on the check in line because when I went to take the elevator back down stairs about 3 people started yelling at me saying I couldn’t leave. Which ultimately made no sense because we could have walked out the front doors and then gone downstairs, used the restroom and take the elevator back up to the floor we were already on. Anyway, one really kind woman escorted us into the main part of the museum and allowed us to use the restroom. Because we took this little side trip we were then able to check in on the inside of the museum where only about 20 people were around, so we beat the system. 😉
When we checked in we received two copies of Bill Nye’s newest book called Unstoppable which was just released today! We got it prior to the release and they were also signed copies so you can bet that we read quite a bit of it when we got home. After getting all set, checked in and our bracelets on we had to wait about 40 minutes before the pre event began. When the event began a handful of exhibits were open for us to explore; they were mostly about climate change, air quality, water and endangered species(relating back to the discussion Bill Nye would have later in the night). We were having a great time at the exhibits and different activities that I completely forgot to take pictures of them. There were a lot of informational tables, a photo booth, a question booth and a few activity ones. My favorite one though was a seed bomb craft. Basically you take mud, local seeds and mush them all together, let dry and you can eventually just toss them in your yard and you’ll get a bunch of local flowers growing. I was also able to get seeds for milkweed plants which are a favorite of the Monarch butterfly. If you didn’t know, the Monarch butterfly numbers are drastically decreasing!
After going through the exhibits a few times and grabbing as much informational packets, brochures and books we could, we went back to the atrium to wait until we could go grab our seats. We actually had quite a bit of time so we were already reading Unstoppable. It’s really cook because on the very first page of the book, there is THE proposal for the Bill Nye the Science Guy Show. As you can guess the objective of the show was literally: Change the World! To me this was really sweet to include because it shows how genuine that children’s science show actually was. If you’re not familiar with the show there are plenty of youtube videos available, but all you need to know is that Bill Nye made science fun, he wanted kids to grow up and change the world. When people create tv shows or write books sometimes they aren’t genuine and choose not to live what they’re trying to get out there but Bill Nye was passionate about changing the world and he still is, so including this only showed how much he really does care.
After waiting another hour we were finally able to head inside and we were able to get seats in the second row right behind the sponsors of the event so we were ecstatic! Plus there wasn’t tall people sitting in front of me so that was a huge plus… sometimes I feel like I should bring a booster seat with me to events like this, I can never see. Short people problems right? The President of the Franklin Institute introduced the WHYY interviewer and Bill Nye and the event began. 🙂
The interview went on for an extra hour so lucky us! If you go onto the Pulse website I think they’ll be publishing the podcast next week. But the three takeaway’s that I wanted to share with you all are the following:
We Own the Earth, We are Not Renting It//
Basically there is no one who is going to take care of the problems for us. When you rent an apartment you call your landlord and they’ll fix your heat or leaking ceiling (hopefully) but when you own your home, you have to take the time and fix things yourself. Well guess what, we own the earth, no one is going to fix it for us so we have to work extra hard to make sure we work on all the problems we are facing. As much as we need our world leaders to make regulations and fix climate change, we have to acknowledge and work towards a solution as well. This means making an effort to use less, recycle more, and make informed decisions.
Talk About Climate Change to Keep People from Denying It//
Bill Nye was very clear that there is no debate about climate change, there are only deniers. It’s kind of like when people didn’t believe that smoking causes cancer but after publishing ad after ad explaining how terrible they are for you, people are finally getting it and ACCEPTING it. This isn’t a political issue by any means, it’s a global issue and a human one. I want my children to experience everything that I’ve been able to like having a white Christmas, being able to swim in the ocean without garbage, being able to chase Monarchs in the gardens at home and seeing animals that are living in real life; not just on the pages of text books next to an extinction date. Â It seems like a big problem but there are plenty of things that you and I can do about it that does make a difference.
We Can Overcome Climate Change//
This seems like an insurmountable problem but it’s not! We can solve these problems we just have to be creative and think in new ways. Every day we’re inventing new things and solving problems so there is no doubt in my mind that we can change to clean energy and solve mass extinction issues, among more. If we go into this problem with the mindset that we will overcome it, we will. We just need to start now.
The event seemed to end as quickly as it began even though it was actually extended an extra hour. We had an incredible time, we were total nerds together and learned a lot. On the bus ride home and laying in bed we were still discussing the talk and specific points that were made. I have to say that this was the perfect first date for us. Â After your honeymoon what was your first date with your spouse? Do you like Bill Nye? Do you have any goals at home to help combat climate change?
