Ernest Talks Series: Dark Skies over Arizona
McFarland State Historic Park
Friday, December 20 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
FREE Public Event
There’s nothing like standing under a dark, star-spangled night sky to quiet the mind and reduce stress, share an experience of awe with family and friends, and to inspire creative thoughts. Yet such dark skies are a disappearing resource, with only 20% of the world living in a place where the center of our Milky Way Galaxy is visible. Arizona knows a thing or two about this problem and has played a leading role in reducing artificial light pollution. This program will look at the benefits of dark skies, how Arizona has helped lead the charge to protect them, and how we all can do our part in reducing artificial light pollution.
About the Speaker: Kevin Schindler is the historian at Lowell Observatory, where he has worked for 28 years as an active member of the Flagstaff history and science communities.
This program has been made possible by Arizona Humanities, AZ Speaks Programs. Arizona Humanities is a statewide 501(c)3 non-profit organization and the Arizona affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
MORE EVENTS
-
Friday, January 17
Ernest Talks Series: History and Mystery of the Gila River
This program explores the geology that formed the Gila and the dinosaurs that splashed in it. You’ll learn about the history of prehistoric people who mastered and relied on the river. The human side of the Gila is brought to life through personal memoirs, field journals and anecdotes of the missionaries, explorers, and adventurers who followed it, to the pioneers who settled alongside it. The Gila River provided life giving water for agriculture, transportation, recreation, and inspiration for generations of people.
-
Friday, February 28
Ernest Talks Series: The Vanishing Trading Posts
The stories of trading posts in the Southwest are a unique snapshot of life almost one hundred years ago. In the early 1900’s, trading posts in the Four Corners flourished. There were over one hundred trading posts on the plateau, but today only five remain. Why did they vanish?
-
Friday, March 21
Ernest Talks Series: Arizona Colonists, Pioneers, and Immigrants – A multicultural history
Arizona’s past goes far beyond Hollywood’s Wild West stereotypes of gunslinging cowboys, lawmen, and outlaws. In addition to miners, merchants, and ranchers, faith-based farmers, health seekers and women entrepreneurs of many creeds and cultures braved the West’s harshest and most treacherous territory, working together to forge lasting communities. This presentation describes Arizona history’s notables and notorious characters from common folk to public heroes including U.S. Colonel Sarah Bowman, war hero and innkeeper, and Hi Jolly, the Greco-Syrian camel driver.
-
Friday, April 4
Ernest Talks Series: Cochise, Geronimo, and the Apache Wars
McNamee delves into the tangled history that surrounds the so-called “Apache Wars”, when fully half of the active U.S. Army descended on the territory to combat a relative handful of indigenous warriors. Ironically, the Apache peoples of the Southwest had once welcomed the arrival of the Americans as a buffer against Mexico, which regularly attacked Apache settlements.
