Just saw this article on Discovery on-line after I saw Emily Rauschert's talk earlier in the day: http://news.discovery.com/earth/dirt-roads-graders-invasive-plants-110809.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1
The word is getting out there! On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 1:33 AM, Madhusudan Katti <mka...@csufresno.edu>wrote: > Thank you, Kali, for not keeping your mouth shut! You make some very > important points and I love your suggestion of having more opportunities for > local public to participate for free. A free family ecology day like the > science day they have at AAAS meetings would be a fantastic way to engage > with the public. This particular meeting does have a couple of free events > for the public, but I don't think they've been advertised well enough to > actually draw many members of the public. > > As for media coverage, a local science reporter, JP, who heard about this > meeting via someone's tweet about my blog post, is keen to cover the meeting > - but got a real runaround trying to contact someone for credentials! JP > left several comments describing his/her efforts, and the rather inadequate > media outreach efforts from ESA - I hope Nadine Lymn and anyone else from > among ESA officials read the comments and think about how to improve > communications. Here again is the link to my post where you will find the > comments: > > > http://leafwarbler.posterous.com/a-few-thousand-ecologists-meet-in-the-city-to > > We clearly need to do a better job of outreach, and I am glad my post has > generated some discussion about the issue. > > Madhu > > __________________ > Dr. Madhusudan Kat > Associate Professor, Dept of Biology > California State University, Fresno > > On Aug 8, 2011, at 1:58 PM, Kali Bird <yours.is.the.ea...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > I have never posted to Ecolog before, but I felt I couldn't keep my mouth > > shut about this one. > > > > First, I don't think we can necessarily know why the news doesn't pick > up > > on ESA more. Likely, it's because the general public doesn't care, but > > perhaps it may be that they are tired feeling like ecologists tell them > that > > their lifestyles and values are wrong. Personally, I think it's because > > people don't care. In my experience speaking with the public, I always > > proffer an explanation of what I do immediately after saying that I am a > > 'microbial ecologist,' because most people I speak with don't even know > what > > ecology is. > > > > Second, if these thousands of ecologists really want to engage the > > public, how about letting the locals come to ESA? I know that > non-members > > are invited to attend, but honestly, you have to be wealthy or have a > > wealthy grant pay for you to come to be able to pay 500$ and take off > days > > to a week from work to be involved in the meeting. My mother reads my > > Frontiers magazine religiously. She loves it. She is also part of a > > 'sustainability' group at her international corporation. She lives very > > close to Austin, has the ability to take time off of work, but as a > > middle-class citizen, simply cannot afford it. If these thousands of > > ecologists are really interested in engaging with the public, how about > > creating events at ESA for the locals that are affordable? My mother has > no > > scientific background, but is smart, learns fast, and loves to learn. > There > > are a lot of people like this everywhere we have meetings. Yet we preach > > engagement with the public from our over-air-conditioned conference > rooms, > > doors closed and barred to those we wish to engage with. Phenomenal. > > I know our over-air conditioned convention centers cost a lot of money > to > > rent and ESA is an expensive venture to host, but surely we can create > some > > sort of scholarship fund for locals, special free events for public > > engagement (THIS is how you get in the news), or even a lottery for > one-day > > passes to attend talks. Let's help people understand what in the world > it > > is we do. If I could have afforded to send my mom to ESA, I would have > done > > it in a heartbeat. She would have loved it and told all her friends, > > co-workers, and her church group all the things she learned. Do we want > to > > engage more with people across religious boundaries? In the heart of a > red > > state, what a boon actually engaging with the religious public would be. > > > > > > > > Kali Bird > > > > Graduate Student > > Kellogg Biological Station, > > Michigan State University > -- Sarah Treanor Bois PhD Candidate Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Connecticut sarah.trea...@uconn.edu
