I wanted to take this opportunity (perhaps late) to encourage everyone to write to the Discovery Networks about their decision to develop "Sarah Palin's Alaska". (Reportedly for over $1 million per episode.) You can write to the network through their website or through snail mail.
Discovery Communications
Viewer Relations
One Discovery Place
5th Floor
Silver Spring, MD 20910
I don't suppose I need to tell everyone here why I think that is a bad idea; Palin's views on evolution or climate change are well known. Like it or not, the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet and the like are a major avenue of science education for many in the country. Please consider writing them to let them know why this is a bad decision. I've put my letter (focusing on Palin's evolution views) below the fold.
As a biologist I have often enjoyed the programming on the Discovery family of networks. "Life" has truly been amazing and you are to be commended for blending of science and entertainment.
That said, you should know as well as anyone the beating that science is taking in this country. A recent poll in Texas found only one-third of individuals believe in evolution and only 4 in 10 people knew that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time. On the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth, Pew Research reported that over 40% of Americans believe that life has existed in its present form since the beginning of time. In that same report 50% of Americans are reported as believing that evolution "is not well-supported by evidence and many scientists have serious doubts about it." Over 50% of those polled want creationism taught in school, often in lieu of evolution. The role of evolution in public education is under assault.
In light of the important position that the Discovery Channel networks play in bringing science to the public, I was surprised to read that you have opened your arms and airwaves to a woman who recently wrote that she "'didn’t believe in the theory that human beings — thinking, loving beings — originated from fish that sprouted legs and crawled out of the sea' or from 'monkeys who eventually swung down from the trees.'"
I am very disappointed in the direction that the networks have taken. It reflects very poorly on the company and will certainly affect my relationship with your company in the future.