The Center for the Next Generation update from uberboomer Matt James, President

ExxonMobil got it right – and you have no idea how it pains me to say that.

This is a company that has been less than stellar in the discussion of climate change and has a checkered past on environmental issues, as Steve Coll recounts in a recent issue of The New Yorker.

But where the company got it right was starting a campaign five years ago, calling for deeper investment in science education through The National Math and Science Initiative. ExxonMobil put up $125 million to be the founding sponsor of an effort to expand and improve the teaching of science, match, technology and engineering through the United States.

The goal of the program is to provide high-quality professional development for middle school and high school math and science teachers and to recruit more of them. Since its inception, the campaign has attracted contributions from several dozen other major foundations and companies, leading to the training of more than 8,000 advanced placement and pre-advanced placement teachers around the country, according to the program’s website.

These are important advances for the country. Despite the nation’s slow economic recovery, high-tech job vacancies often go wanting…the U.S. is not producing enough qualified college graduates to keep America on the scientific cutting edge of the global economy.

Say what you will about ExxonMobil as a steward of the environment. But as the founder of a plan to improve science and math education, it is sending the right message: As a country, we need to do more to push the envelope of research, education and innovation, and America’s businesses can play a crucial role, supporting young people who will become their employees.

In an increasingly advanced economy, workers across a spectrum of industries and occupations, including skilled workers in advanced manufacturing and construction industries, must have a strong background in math and science. As a country, we’re always calling on parents, teachers, clergy and community leaders to do more to help the Next Generation gain the skills they need to become successful citizens. We rarely ask business leaders to join the team

So thanks, ExxonMobil – here’s hoping that the young people who benefit from this program lead the way toward weaning us off our heavy reliance on energy developed from oil, coal and other fossil fuels that have contributed to climate change.

Read the full article posted recently by Matt on the TCNG website. The Center for the Next Generation is a nonprofit aimed at building support for advanced energy and sustainability and America’s children and families. TCNG is a new voice to help frame the critical issues that affect the next generation.

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Ben Davis – UberBoomer

Ben is officially a baby boomer (b 1960) born in Sacramento, California and reared in Boston, Massachusetts. He was in the graduating class of 1978 at Copley Square High School. He attended U.C. Berkeley where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1984 with a major in Political Science, and as he says, “drinking and thinking.” Also, according to Ben, he was “a B-ball gym rat.” From 1986 to 1994, Ben worked as the Public Information Manager on the $4 billion Boston Harbor Cleanup Project. In August of 1995, Ben founded a creative agency based in San Francisco called Words Pictures Ideas.

I personally met Ben, when he designed projects for the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park and I was fortunate to be able to work with him there. The new foundation president was transforming a grassroots community-based foundation into a health policy think tank. Ben brought his unique vision to assist them in crafting this new identity.

He gradually expanded by adding a passionate group of creative professionals who get personal and collective satisfaction working on projects that matter in the real world. You won’t find them selling soda or toothpaste. (Not that they’re judging.) But you will find them giving their all to projects that leave a positive lasting mark on the world. Better transit. Improved public safety. Bridging cultural divides. Enhanced public health.

Over the past half-decade, Ben’s small, passion-driven firm has named and created the visual identities for more than $15 billion in civic and private mega-projects – and had fun while doing it. As Ben says, “We love what we do because we do what we love.” Being small keeps them focused, cost-effective and flexible. Their willingness to turn on a dime, to constantly be innovating, to openly abandon failed ideas while doubling their efforts on successful ones, equals a fierce and nimble determination to succeed. Ben says he and his team have been and continue to be honored to work on amazing social and civic projects, provide solid advice, inspire ideas and powerful design, which typically result in a creative outreach online or in print.

It seems Ben has moved towards his “second act” as the Board Chair, Illuminate the Arts on behalf of THE BAY LIGHTS team. Additionally, he is the founder of Joinless, the world’s first open source brand based on the idea that we shouldn’t allow our obsession with possessions rule us. Read more here: Interview: We Talk to Joinless Founder Ben Davis About How Buying Less Crap Can Make Us Happier | Inhabitat – Green Design Will Save the World. His second act also includes unleashing his artist-persona, ISHKY, whose first major public artwork has been accepted as part of the 2012 ZERO1 Biennial.

Ben’s credo is Do Good. Have Fun. Learn. Make a Living. All of which he does while he enjoys the San Francisco nightlife, marathon biking (to burn off all those fine wining and dining calories) and the company of his many equally talented friends. Ben’s in a relationship and is the father of a sensationally talented horsewoman, Haley. Haley is a graduate of International High School in San Francisco and is an undergraduate student at U.C. Santa Barbara.

Ben says his philosophy is pretty basic – “Some believe in God. I believe in Good.” Ben says his political views are “left of America, right of San Francisco.” His favorite quotation: At the moment of commitment the entire world conspires to ensure your success. —Goethe (but spoken to him by the amazing Norman Lear).

Innovation is a hallmark of the revolutionary baby boomer generation and a particular passion at Bette Boomer. We will follow Ben as he continues to make smart public, private, and personal investments in projects that benefit all of us and the next generation. Personally, it will be fun to watch Ben spinning ideas, as he continues to create magic and bring out more brilliance.

Want to talk to this phenomenal uberboomer? Contact him at ben@wordspicturesideas.com

The earth has music for those who listen. - William Shakespeare

1970. Calling all hippie baby boomers that were there. Watch this fascinating time capsule about the first Earth Day celebration way back then. Brings back lots of memories for us!

We like Earth Day’s website slogan for 2012 – Mobilize the Earth™ because there’re boatloads of great information on their website with ideas and links to help you get involved. There will be Earth Day celebrations across the globe with other ways to get involved like “taking a breath and thanking a rainforest.”

Personally, we believe in planting a tree to recognize Earth Day. But while you’re thinking about Earth Day, consider land preserves founded on a unique model of enlisting death in the fight for ecological conservation of planet Earth. Green burial has been the method of burial for Muslims for over fourteen centuries and is consistent with traditional Jewish practice, as well. The Green Burial Council predicts this trend will grow, especially among the baby boomer generation

In celebration of Earth Day, Nova is offering downloads of free episodes from several of their environmental episodes and the complete season of E2 Energy, Season 1 on iTunes for a nominal charge.

And, since this is also National Gardens Month, take a look at our top 20 list of botanical gardens. Many of us who’ve browsed the seed and garden catalogs during this past winter are now anxious to get our fingers in the dirt once again. Last year we wrote about the joy of seed selection and web sites with incredible choices seed and garden catalogs offer.

Happy Earth Day 2012 and all the best for living well.

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