Sky & Telescope June 1991 [antikvár]

FOCAL POINTWanted: SkywatchersiiXXrHO WATCHED the forms of W the clouds over this part of the Earth a thousand years ago? Who watches them today?" Times haven't changed much since Henry David Thoreau wrote these words more than a century ago. Perhaps one in 10 of us today possess what I call an "ongoing consciousness of the sky's appearance." Surprisingly, among the w/iconscious are pilots, sailors, meteorologists, bird watchers, environmentalists, and even astronomers.Bruce McHenry, recently retired chief of interpretation for the National Park Service, summed up the problem this way: "I've lived outdoors all my life in Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Shenandoah, the Everglades. I was aware of the sky, but I wasn't. It was sort of in the background of all that gorgeous scenery.But why should we pay attention to the sky? Simple. Among all of nature's attractions, none is more freely available to everyone, whether they live in urban squalor or rural serenity. The sky is present at every moment, day and night. To appreciate its magnificence one needs only awareness, which seems to be in remarkably short supply. "The true journey of discovery," wrote Marcel Proust, "consists not in the pursuit of new landscapes, but in having new eyes."Ten years ago McHenry, Charles Roth, and I founded For Spacious Skies, a nonprofit, educational program dedicated to fostering awareness of the beauty and wonder of the sky primarily the daytime sky. Since its inception. For Spacious Skies has been incorporated into school curriculums in the United States, Canada, and over 20 foreign countries. With principal support from the National Park Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, Polaroid Corp., and the Henry P. Kendall Foundation, we held the first National Conference on the Sky at the Grand Canyon in 1981.Yet, despite repeated exposure in the mass media, countless articles in eclectic journals, and exhaustive promotions in schools, sky awareness has been slow to catch on with the public.Most persons look at the sky only for weather information: "Should I take my umbrella to work?" "Will the ball game be rained out?" Others scan it for symbols and omens: "When I see a dog-shaped cloud, I play 3310 in the lottery."But when a sky-aware person looks up, he or she sees an object of aesthetic attraction. Based on many thousands of interviews, I have concluded that these individuals share several important and positive attributes: concern for the environment, a deep appreciation for art and the outdoors, a sense of wonder, and a low level of stress. They also take particular interest in historical events influenced by the weather and enjoy poetry and music inspired by the sky.How, then, do we stimulate such awareness of something Ralph Waldo Emerson called the "daily bread of the eyes"? At For Spacious Skies, we focus most of our efforts on schoolchildren. Our goal is to engage kids in activities that require attention to the sky: keeping a daily sky journal, sketching the sky, articulating what feelings the sky generates, and even setting a watch alarm as a reminder to look up! Many such activities can befound in Roth's Sky Observer's Guidebook and For Spacious Skies' Teacher's Activity Guide.I often wonder why something so elegantly simple, so nearly cost free, and so remarkably effective isn't a staple of education. And I'm not alone. For example, the American Meteorological Society recently called sky awareness the "unifying element for educational improvement."It is no secret that American precollege education is presently in disgrace. Reformers assure us that an infusion of money will improve the situation. I disagree. We don't need to throw more money at already failing programs. We need to cultivate the subsoil of our kids' minds. This is where skywatching helps. The ubiquitous sky delicate with tint and hue, rugged with storm, and primed for both poetic waxing and scientific precision is there for the teaching.Here's what to do. Astronomers: benignly invade the schoolyards with your telescopes and show youngsters the Sun and the daytime Moon and Venus. Weather buffs: ask your local broadcast meteorologists to mention the sky while they chatter about moving pressure cells. Manufacturers and publishers of sky-re-lated materials: get behind any effort to promote sky awareness. Every new pair of unsealed eyes lifted skyward belongs to a new customer for your aircraft, camera, field guide, paint set, telescope, and skylight. And sky lovers: make some noise at school board and PTA meetings and urge these organizations to increase the level of sky awareness in the classroom.Some schoolteachers might think such an approach has little merit at a time when parents and legislators want them to cover more material and to "make our kids Number One." Perhaps it would help to post these words of Rachel Carson on the classroom wall: "It is more important to pave the way for the child to want to know than to put him on a diet of facts he is not ready to assimilate."JACK BORDENJack Borden is cofounder and president of For Spacious Skies and a former member of the American Meteorological Society's education board. For more information about the Teacher's Activity Guide, write to For Spacious Skies. 54 Webb St Lexington. Mass. 02173.Focal Point invites contributions from readers who wish to comment on contemporary issues in astronomy and space science.572 Sky & Telescope, June, 1991