I think that scientists should make use of people who are well versed in both science and communications. I also think that scientists should be very careful about stretching the truth if they get involved in advocacy. I think that there is a habit among some NGOs and environmental advocates to overstate what is known as a means to enhance fundraising or because they believe this will be the only way to get action. However, it seems to me that stretching the truth ultimately impacts public trust in science. A good read on the issue of communication of science is: Th Paradoxes of Transparency by D.C. Wilson. This is specific to the case of science in fisheries management but has several broadly applicable insights.
Laurie Jodice ________________________________________ From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Basil Iannone [bian...@uic.edu] Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 9:19 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Lovelock retracts This article (not Lovelock's, but the woman's) brings up an important point about climate change, the lack of scientific understanding in our society as a whole, and the role of scientists in educating the public. Clearly the general public do not understand climate change or even "believe" in it. And why should they when the media and politicians feed them inaccurate information (be it intentionally or not). So I ask, should scientists start communicating more to the general public; and would communicating more to the general public be more of a benefit to our society than increasing our publication record? NOTE: I am asking this question, not to be critical (I too work to publish as we all should), but to get opinions as to the role that scientists should be playing in communicating what we know. It seems like the knowledge is getting lost (or altered) in between our journals and the popular media (for whatever reasons). What are the chances that scientists will start to be evaluated not only on their publication record, but also on how much they try to facilitate understanding in the public? All thought and comments are welcomed. On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 2:38 AM, Neil Paul Cummins < neilpaulcumm...@gmail.com> wrote: > Terrible reporting, like you say. > > Lovelock made predictions in 2006 (The Revenge of Gaia) concerning the end > of the century. > > There is still 88 years to ago, and yet the article claims that his > predictions have turned out to be false. That he was wrong! > > Ridiculous! > > Also, I am sure we can think of lots of examples of people who made > predictions, lost confidence and partially 'retracted', only for their > initial predictions to turn out to be 'correct'. Einstein springs to mind & > the cosmological constant. > > > Neil > > neilpaulcummins.blogspot.co.uk > > > > On Thursday, May 17, 2012, Matthew Peter Hill <hil...@unimelb.edu.au> > wrote: > > I don't think we need to worry too much about what Lovelock does and does > > not think, especially through reporting such as that.. > > > > For some actual climate change science, this paper went up yesterday: > > > > http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00649.1 > > > > Showing that the the last 50 years has seen warming like no other period > > over the last 1000 years in Australasia, and is very likely due to > > anthropogenic influence. > > > > Matt. > > > > On 17/05/12 7:53 AM, "Matheus Carvalho" <meumi...@yahoo.com.br> wrote: > > > >> Lovelock, the proposer of Gaia hypothesis, says his predictions (and > others > >> also) were exaggerated: > >> > >> > >> > > http://www.examiner.com/article/gaia-author-james-lovelock-recants-on-global-w > >> arming > >> > >> > >> Matheus C. Carvalho > >> Senior Research Associate > >> Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry > >> Southern Cross University > >> Lismore - Australia > >> http://www.angelfire.com/pa/ostro > >> > > > > -- Basil Iannone University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Biological Sciences (MC 066) 845 W. Taylor St. Chicago, IL 60607-7060 Email: bian...@uic.edu Phone: 312-355-3231 Fax: 312-413-2435 http://www2.uic.edu/~bianno2
