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Here is the latest news from David Gans, producer and host of the Grateful Dead Hour.

“Planting a love for science”

Edward Guthmann writes a terrific series in the San Francisco Chronicle and sfgate.com called “What I Do.” He interviews people with interesting jobs, writes up a short introduction, and then lets the subjects speak for themselves. Today’s story made my wife very happy. Rita teaches at the Tule Elk Park Children’s Center in San Francisco. Around 20 years ago the community worked together to create a nature center where there once was asphalt, giving city kids access to grass, trees, butterflies, gardens, and other wonders of the world around us. So Edward’s article on Jean Moshofsky Butler, who teaches gardening at Lakeshore Elementary School in San Francisco, made Rita’s day as we made breakfast this morning.
So it’s not just about gardening. It’s about science. To be honest, what it’s about for me is helping to save the planet. Being around kids you realize the extent to which they don’t have a connection to this planet. They don’t like getting their shoes dirty. When I started teaching there was this girl who literally ran out of the garden screaming because she found a worm. That’s why I got passionate about this.
You can read the article and see some photos here.
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On the question of gun control, violence in the media, etc.

I still think the only meaningful change is perhaps the most difficult one: a change of consciousness. We need more models of compassion, and we need to shrink the distance between the havest of the haves and the have-nottest of the have-nots. And we need to see more accountability throughout the system. Rich criminals get away with murder, literally, and the poor get away with nothing.

Years ago, when I told my therapist that I had been a thief of various things as a child, he told me: “You don’t steal from people you feel connected to.” Similarly, you don’t throw your fast-food trash out your car window in a neighborhood that feels like your own home.

And so on. Too damn many people feel unwelcome on their own planet.

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