Universe Day is an annual event that starts each December 31st at noon and runs until noon on January 1st. Universe Day seeks to pick up where Earth Day leaves off and to effectively solve our planet’s evolutionary problems from a universe evolutionary perspective.

“Universe Day is similar to Earth Day in that individuals and organizations all over the planet are encouraged to self-organize their own events to forward the Universe Day message. Universe Day is a no-ownership, no-egos, get-the-message-out-now event. Imitate it, adapt it, improve it. Steal it, even, if it hastens the spread of its message,” says Lawrence Wollersheim, Director of the Universe Institute and one of the founders of Universe Day.

The message behind Universe Day is derived in part from the wisdom of Albert Einstein, who said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” As many are aware, the challenges we now face on a planetary scale – such as radically increasing temperatures, nuclear and traditional wars, pollution, environmental degradation, lack of sustainability and a troubled global economy – have serious consequences.

Rather than allow ourselves to feel overwhelmed by these challenges, however, we can, as Einstein suggests, adopt an entirely new way of thinking. Such is the impetus behind Universe Day: to expand our approach to these issues by adopting the much broader Universe Evolutionary Worldview.

“The progressive evolution of the universe as a whole system is the power that sustains our physical existence – both personal and planetary. We are embedded in the unstoppable flow of the evolutionary process, which is the most dominant factor in all of life and in everything around us,” says Wollersheim.

“Recent innovations in cosmology and evolutionary biology have revealed more about the evolution of life and the cosmos in the last twenty years than in all the previous eras of human history combined, and our ability to accumulate more of this essential knowledge is accelerating. Humanity is now capable of understanding the full evolutionary scope of the biggest playing field there is – the universe.”

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Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman thus far has been a nobody. In a crowded field of outspoken crazies, somewhat same candidates such as Huntsman, sort of get forgotten by the news media. However, Huntsman campaign has begun to speak out, blasting other candidates for their extreme views.

The former Utah governor and ambassador to China attacked Texas governor Rick Perry for his ideas on evolution. Perry said last week in New Hampshire that he didn’t believe in manmade global warming, calling it an unproven scientific theory. He also defended the teaching of creationism in schools because evolution “has some gaps to it.”

Huntsman responded in a tweet, saying “To be clear, I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy.”He furthered argued his position on ABC’s “This Week.”

“When we take a position that isn’t willing to embrace evolution, when we take a position that basically runs counter to what 98 of 100 climate scientists have said, what the National Academy of Science has said about what is causing climate change and man’s contribution to it, I think we find ourselves on the wrong side of science, and, therefore, in a losing position,” Huntsman stated.

Huntsman said he couldn’t remember a time when “we actually were willing to shun science and become a party that was antithetical to science. I’m not sure that’s good for our future and it’s not a winning formula,” on the Sunday morning show.

Meanwhile, Perry continues to argue his extreme views. On a campaign stop in South Carolina, the long term Republican governor stated he believes the earth’s temperature “has been moving up and down for millenniums now and there are enough scientists out there that are skeptical about the reasons for it.”

Perry also commented on the Federal Reserve last week and its chairman, Ben Bernanke. Perry threatened Bernanke, stating that if he printed more money, it would amount to a treasonous act.  Huntsman said he wasn’t sure that “the average voter out there is going to hear that treasonous remark and say that sounds like a presidential candidate, that sounds like someone who is serious on the issues.”

Huntsman added that “people are crying out for us to get back to some level of sensibility and this just kind of perpetuates the name-calling and the finger-pointing and the blame game where we want solutions.”

“These sideshows,” Huntsman said, take “us that much farther off the ball” from the focus of fixing the economy and creating jobs.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewestend/

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Presidential contender Rick Perry has expressed his beliefs about intelligent design before, supporting  creationism as a theory taught in Texas classrooms. However, on Thursday, he was specifically asked his feelings about evolution during a campaign stop in New Hampshire.

“How old do I think the earth is? You know what, I don’t have any idea,” said the Texas governor when asked about his position on the issue by a woman and her son. “I know it’s pretty old so it goes back a long long way. I’m not sure anybody actually knows completely and absolutely how long, how old the earth is.”

Perry regarded evolution as “a theory that’s out there” and one that’s “got some gas in it.” He mentioned how both creationism and evolution are taught to students in public schools. He explained, “I figure you’re smart enough to figure out which one is right.”

Perry is not the first presidential contender to express doubt over a theory that most scientists believe. Earlier this summer, GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann expressed doubt about the theory of evolution.

“I support intelligent design,” she said after speaking at this year’s Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans. “What I support is putting all science on the table and then letting students decide. I don’t think it’s a good idea for government to come down on one side of scientific issue or another, when there is reasonable doubt on both sides.”

In 2006, Bachmann stated that some within the scientific community discredit the theory of evolution. “There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design,” she said.

Governor Perry was also asked about global warming. He wrote in his book, “Fed Up!” that doctored data was behind global warming. ”They know that we have been experiencing a cooling trend, that the complexities of the global atmosphere have often eluded the most sophisticated scientists and that draconian policies with dire economic effects based on so-called science may not stand the test of time,” Perry wrote.

He called former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his call to action on climate change, of being a ”false prophet of a secular carbon cult,”

In Bedford, New Hampshire on Wednesday, Perry suggested that politics is playing a large role in the global warming debate.”I do believe that the issue of global warming has been politicized.

I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects,” Perry said. “I think we’re seeing it almost weekly or even daily, scientists who are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change.

Yes, our climates change. They’ve been changing ever since the earth was formed. But I do not buy into, that a group of scientists, who in some cases were found to be manipulating this data.”

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/ritaquinn/

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