Western Civilization’s understanding of the size and shape of planet earth can be traced through the maps and atlases that were published three to five  hundred years ago.

Even before Columbus made his first westward voyage, it was generally accepted that the world was round, says map collector Henry Wendt (left). But the size of the globe was thought to be much smaller than it actually is.

The earliest printed maps are not just a record of growing cartographic understanding of the world, explains map collector Henry Wendt. They also document the powerful influence of the Church in the European view and understanding of that world.

The exhibit drawn from Wendt's collection, Envisioning the World: The First Printed Maps 1472-1700, continues through January 17, 2010 at the Sonoma County Museum.

The earliest known forms of written communication have now been traced to eastern Europe, from a long-standing agricultural society that predates the Greeks and Egyptians.

Joan Marler is Executive Director of the Institute of Archeomythology, an emerging field that integrates a broad array of academic disciplines.

The multi-disciplinary field was established byMarler's mentor, Marija Gumbutas (seen here in a 1987 photograph). Marler will talk more about archeomythology at the Science Buzz Café tonight at the youth annex of the Sebastopol Community Center at 7 pm.

The surviving artifacts from this ancient civilization, such as the vase below, suggest it was deeply ritualistic, and Marler believes those rites were enmeshed in their culture of sustainability.

Teaching kids Spanish and English together, from kindergarten through high school, is proving highly successful in the Sonoma Valley.

Students in the dual immersion program don’t just do well in their language studies, says Adele Harrison Middle School Principal Karla Conroy. It also teaches them study skills that help all the way through high school and beyond.

The dual immersion program at Flowery School has become a magnet for parents who want to have their children participate in it, says program coordinator Justina Montano, and not just within the Sonoma Valley Unified School District. Some families even drive their kids into Sonoma from Santa Rosa to take part, an extra effort that she completely endorses.

As the US economy struggles to climb out of the current downturn, there's a new emphasis on creating "green-collar" jobs which could be especially beneficial to California.

Ian Kim (left) works at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights as Director of the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign. He advocates for policies in the city of Oakland and statewide in California to create "green-collar" jobs (quality, career-track, manual labor jobs in industries like renewable energy, water and energy efficiency, and green building), especially for low-income young adults and those with barriers to employment.  Ian holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management. He will be one of the keynote speakers at this year's Sustainable Enterprise Conference May 8 at Sonoma Mountain Village in Rohnert Park. 

Tickets are still available for event, using this  downloadable registration form.

The availability of funding for green jobs is a tremendous opportunity, says Ian Kim, but with that comes a new set of challenges.

The Oakland-based  Ella Baker Center for Human Rights runs cutting-edge, solutions-driven campaigns for justice, peace and opportunity in our cities. The nationally-renowned Green-Collar Jobs Campaign works to leverage the explosive growth of the new green economy to create meaningful career opportunities for poor people and people of color.  Statewide, the Campaign advocates for green-collar policy solutions for California, in partnership with major labor, environmental, business, and education institutions, that can create many thousands of good jobs as well as a strong infrastructure for green workforce development.

Nationally, the Campaign played a central role in the passage of the federal Green Jobs Act of 2007, which authorizes 5 million annually for green job training, with million specifically allocated to "pathways out of poverty" programs.

Sonoma State University is adding a new minor in Jewish Studies, a first step toward a full curriculum in Religious Studies

Professor Mike Ezra says the addition of Jewish Studies courses at Sonoma State should help develop wider religious tolerance.

Ezra explains that introducing the Jewish Studies program as a minor allows a wider array of students to particpate.