As humanists, we all appreciate the central role that biological evolution plays in grounding a rational, non-religious worldview. Educating both children and adults about evolution is thus an urgent task for humanists all around the world. Only with this knowledge can one acquire a proper understanding of the place of humans in the natural world: Not as the pinnacle of creation but as a chance product of the selective process of biological evolution.
To this end, the German Secular Humanists – gbs Rhine-Neckar (gbs-RN) designed and constructed an Evolution Path, which opened in 2019. A one-kilometre-long route through the countryside serves as a timeline for describing the history – i.e. evolution – of life on Earth. As roughly 4100 million years have elapsed since the first signs of life on the young planet Earth to the present day, every meter of the path corresponds to 4.1 million years of Earth’s history. Along the route are 20 information boards, each describing an important stage of biological evolution (for example, Nature’s invention of photosynthesis). They contain attractive drawings of the life-forms together with descriptive text and are located at the relevant point of the timeline. Some examples are shown in the photos below.
The Evolution Path is an ideal way for families, school classes, interested groups, and individuals to gain a feeling for the enormous periods between the first signs of life, simple organisms, the emergence of complex multicellular organisms, mammals, and finally, humankind. (Many of those who walk the path are surprised to discover that mammals only arrived on the scene 55 meters before the end – i.e. the present day – and modern humans only within the final 10 cm!) With two expert biologists in our team, we are also able to offer guided walks for groups such as school classes and clubs.
Our Evolution Path has meanwhile been duplicated in another 12 locations within Germany and Austria, with others in planning. The paths are sponsored and maintained by a variety of partners, including companies, local councils, other humanist associations, and even the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The evolution path has frequently featured in the German media, particularly when opposing institutions have entered the fray and tried to prevent this dissemination of a “heretical theory”. Such publicity has of course also helped to promote our aims!
Currently available in German and Polish, the information boards and the website are also being prepared in English, French and Hungarian.
The secular humanist association “gbs Rhine-Neckar” is an active regional group of the Giordano Bruno foundation, a leading think-tank for evolutionary humanism in Germany. Since last year, the GBS-Rhine-Neckar is happy to count itself among the Associate members of Humanists International.
Contacts
Marianne Mauch, [email protected]
Dr. Angela Lahee, [email protected]
Further Information
English language website of the Evolution Path
Evolutionsweg Main page of the Evolution Path
Evokids a project to teach evolution theory to primary school children
Youtube video about the Evolution Path
Giordano Bruno Stiftung (gbs; information in English)
Featured photo by Düsseldorfer Aufklärungsdienst
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