Ecolog:I hope that the details and the messages between the lines are not lost from Kali's most courageous and intelligent first post. I hope she keeps it up.
I also hope that the discussion is not sidetracked from the principles involved to a few (or a few thousand) cases where something simply went wrong.
I do hope that greater attention is paid to the issues of deeply-imbedded attitudes that undermine the understanding, by as wide a "public" as possible of what ecology is and is not.
While it may be true that "most people" are ignorant of ecology, they are not all, as Kali points out, stupid. In order to convey the impression to those who, like Kali's mother, do absorb truth quickly (or, for that matter, slowly), that ecology is not out to "take jobs away" or other nonsense, but is dedicated to maintaining and improving a better world for all. Calling or implying that "most people" are stupid or even ignorant, intentionally or unintentionally, may not be the best way to convey.
Might opening up discussion with folks like Kali's mother might be something of a start?
WT----- Original Message ----- From: "Madhusudan Katti" <mka...@csufresno.edu>
To: <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU> Sent: Monday, August 08, 2011 10:33 PMSubject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Reply to: 'a few thousand ecologists meet... does anybody know or care?' -- A perhaps radical suggestion
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-toWe 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, FresnoOn 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 upon ESA more. Likely, it's because the general public doesn't care, butperhaps it may be that they are tired feeling like ecologists tell them thattheir 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 whatecology is. Second, if these thousands of ecologists really want to engage thepublic, how about letting the locals come to ESA? I know that non-membersare invited to attend, but honestly, you have to be wealthy or have awealthy grant pay for you to come to be able to pay 500$ and take off daysto 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 aboutcreating events at ESA for the locals that are affordable? My mother has no scientific background, but is smart, learns fast, and loves to learn. Thereare a lot of people like this everywhere we have meetings. Yet we preachengagement 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 somesort of scholarship fund for locals, special free events for publicengagement (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 doneit 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 redstate, what a boon actually engaging with the religious public would be. Kali Bird Graduate Student Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1391 / Virus Database: 1520/3821 - Release Date: 08/08/11