I'm not sure I agree about Joe and Jane and the influence of anthropocentrism. Yes, most of us care more about our kids' education and eating habits than we care about the phlight of myriads of arthropods, and that's never going to change, ever. Anyone who has ever heard of evolution will know why. But I'm convinced there is a little seed of concern and awareness that just needs to be awakened, also in Joe and Jane. The same seed that was nourished in some way in most people subscribing to this list...
Ecologists (and all other scientists for that matter), are simply not good enough at making their case, not good enough at telling compelling stories that grip people's hearts and show them why climate change / mass extinctions matter to them and their kids. Mostly their kids. There are lots of Joes and Janes with kids or siblings who have diseases that may be curable by compounds from deepwater invertebrates, and if you can make it clear to them that trawling is in the process of wiping out the only realistic hope for their loved one, they will care. Make visuals of someone's childhood home, complete with teddy bears and swings, that will be flooded by climate change induced rising ocean levels - perhaps leave the basketball hoop above the water level. Telling people that Arctic sea ice is melting faster than predicted just doesn't hit home with most people. Here's an idea, well, two actually. 1) Funding agencies should allocate a greater portion of their funding to campaigns that tell the public, not just scientific peers, about the importance of research findings. These campaigns should be done by social marketing professionals who know how to do this, in collaboration with scientists but NOT by scientists themselves! 2) Department heads should value efforts made by scientists to disseminate the importance of their research when they consider promotions and tenure applications. The current situation creates an opportunity cost for scientists that is too great for many to bear. -- Anders Knudby PhD Candidate, Geography University of Waterloo, Canada e-mail: [email protected] Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
