Dear colleagues: A couple of weeks ago, Ecolog posted a letter from the Union of Concerned Scientists asking you to join with me and a few good friends in signing a letter about the science in the Endangered Species Act.
More than 3000 of you have already done so. You have our sincere thanks. For those of you who have not, might I ask you to do so? We need biologists with or working towards an advanced degree: that includes both masters and doctoral candidates. We are in particular need of colleagues from Delaware, Mississippi, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming. Everyone is welcome. One cannot have too many signatures. I became a conservation biologist while working on a field project in Hawai'i in 1978. The paper - published in Ecology, where else! - taught me that science is essential in protecting biodiversity. Since the early 1990s, I've learned to track politicians in their habitat, a small hill, in Washington DC, and learned that we scientists are essential in protecting biodiversity. Our voices matter - and matter hugely at times like this when a major piece of legislation is being considered. In my judgment, this year could be the most important one in more than a decade for protecting what it is we study. Please go to: http://www.ucsusa.org/forms/biologists-sign-on-letter.html Thank you, Stuart Pimm
