EthicalStL.org

Humankind has always used the cycles of the Earth, Moon, Sun and stars to orient our lives. As we confront both the ordinary and extraordinary uncertainties and ambiguities of life, tuning into celestial cycles can inspire profound feelings of connectedness, comfort, and familiarity. Dr. Ann McMahon will use astrophotographs to show how the cycles of the Earth, Moon, Sun and stars form a metaphor for life-incorporating both repetition and newness. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;Dr. Ann McMahon has been an amateur astronomer since she was 10 and an astrophotographer since she was 16. She has taught astronomy to area K-8 teachers as well as to undergraduates at Washington University and St. Louis University. She has worked as an aerospace engineer and is now a PreK-12 science and engineering education consultant. Ann's husband and two grown sons have humored her through decades of family vacations planned to coincide with various astronomical events.

Certainly as a child, and even more as an adult, I have been fascinated with Santa Claus. He is part secularized saint and part Christianized pagan, a symbol of both crass commercialism and selfless generosity. Santa Claus is an important cultural figure in America no matter one?s religion, and this Platform will explore his story and his meaning. lt;brgt;lt;brgt; lt;emgt;Kate's warning to parents and guardianslt;/emgt;: This Platform may not be suitable for children under a certain age, if you know what I mean.

In the current economic state, homelessness continues to increase in the St. Louis Region. Carol Beckel will discuss some of the facts regarding homelessness in our area including breaking some of the traditional stereotypes attached to indi-viduals without consistent housing. She will also highlight the work of St. Patrick Center in its efforts to reduce homelessness by meeting the individual needs of clients to secure affordable housing, achieve and maintain sound mental health, and obtain employment and financial stability. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;Carol Beckel is a member of the Board of Trustees for St. Patrick Center. Her initial contact with St. Patrick Center was through a third-party event in 2010 to raise funds for client services. She is also an Assistant Professor at Saint Louis University in the Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training.

Leader Kate Lovelady will talk about "Humanism Around the World." This platform is a report from the World Humanist Congress of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, which met in Oslo in August 2011 with participants from 45 countries.

As NASA winds up the space shuttle program and as congress threatens the future of James Webb space telescope, it may seem like bleak days for astronomy. The reality is, NASA has a suite of spacecraft exploring our solar system at a level of detail never before seen. Their combined data is swamping the planetary science community and your help is needed to transform this flood of data into a flood of science. In this talk, current and upcoming citizen science projects built on NASA mission data will be discussed, and you will learn how to become part of modern space exploration. lt;brgt;lt;brgt; Dr Pamela L. Gay is an astronomer, writer, and pod-caster focused on using new media to engage people in science and technology. She is perhaps most famous for "Astronomy Cast" (lt;a href="http://www.astronomycast.com" target="_blank"gt;astronomycast.comlt;/agt;), a podcast she co-hosts with Fraser Cain (publisher of Universe Today). Each week they take their audience on a facts-based journey through the universe. In addition, Pamela blogs at StarStryder.com and works to create citizen science sites, such as "IceHunters" (lt;a href="http://icehunters.org" target="_blank"gt;icehunters.orglt;/agt;) that allow every day people to explore the universe. In her spare time she rides horses.

How is the increasing speed of technology affecting our quality of life? Leader Kate Lovelady takes a look at how life has changed in our technological age.

The doctrine of informed consent is the center-piece of practical medical ethics, and many of the most pressing controversies in medical ethics pertain to situations where applications of this principle become tricky. For instance, informed consent procedures are disrupted when patients are too sick, too demented, too young, too intoxicated, or otherwise unable to give consent in the normal fashion -- and each of these barriers to informed consent has elicited brisk medical ethics discussions. Behind informed con-sent is the principle of autonomy, namely the belief that patients ought to govern their own medical treatment. This lecture reviews informed con-sent, but then probes further by asking whether or to what extent genuine patient autonomy, and informed consent, are even possible in a medical system where treatment decisions are increasingly shaped by forces outside the patient-physician relationship. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;Griffin Trotter, Ph.D., M.D. is Professor in the Department of Health Care Ethics at Saint Louis University, with a clinical appointment in the Department of Surgery. His recent research focuses on clinical ethics and health policy, especially as they pertain in the medical response to terrorism, and on the relevance of American pragmatism to health care ethics.

What are some of the joys and perils of our super-connected culture? Leader Kate Lovelady examines our increasingly wired (and wireless) society.

The focus on global climate change has recently ebbed and flowed in the public and political arenas. But, with the debate over as to whether human activity contributes significantly to climate change, the debate continues on what will be done to ad-dress it. Essential elements for possible solutions include environmental sustainability, economic development, and social equity. The role of ethics is fundamental in this multi-disciplinary approach. John Patrick retired in 2010 as a Program Analyst for the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in Washington, DC. He evaluated and co-authored the February 2, 2009 report from the OIG on EPA’s mitigation and adaptation efforts to con-front climate change. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;John has completed his course work in the doctoral program in Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University, focusing on environmental corporate management and sustainable farming methods. John is currently a co-owner of a small, organic farm near Joelton, Tennessee, and an adjunct professor at David Lipscomb University in Nashville. Prior to Washington, DC, John and Rebecca Selove (his partner) lived in St. Louis and were members of the Ethical Society.

Come join us as we welcome back our leader Kate Lovelady whose address will introduce new ideas gathered during her sabbatical.