I think I’d pass a Green Porno Final Exam. The information is presented in a compelling way which makes me want to share it with others. Not just the information, but the whole scenario, which houses the information for me. Each webisode of Green Porno is a story-based mnemonic for a life science fact.

Can a “sense of wonder” can actually translate to environmental protection or conservation? It’s a necessary (but not sufficient) element. If you aren’t amazed by the world of nature, and struck by its complexity, its entertaining complexity, like the plot of a great novel or film, then it’s hard to develop the passion to protect that world. Awareness is important; awareness that there are things out there that would be tragic to lose. Not just, say, whales. But the courting rituals of whales that would have given Shakespeare good material for a play. (“All’s Whale That Ends Whale”? “Troilus and Cetacea”?) That makes them all the more precious in one’s own life.

Admittedly, I’m a big fan of Green Porno. As an educator – hell, as a human being, I appreciate simple but unconventional ways to connect with people, and to help those people connect to ideas. Green Porno contains some of the best scientific “pick-up lines” I’ve ever heard or seen. “Voulez-vous penser avec moi, ce soir?”

This idea of “cuteness,” though, has long-standing potential. Isn’t it her personification of these species that endears us, not simply the witness of them?