[Coral-List] Sea Angels and Mermaids

Justin Enjo justinenjo at yahoo.com
Wed Nov 25 11:58:19 EST 2009


Eugene Shinn makes a great point.  Allow me to contribute.

Let's not forget this forum goes out to a"like-minded" community.  We, or at least I, generally agree with ALL the points being made on this current discussion. So let's stop using up time and energy amongst ourselves. 

 Please, the biggest deficiency we have as scientists (and engineers) is getting our points across to those "not-in-the-know."  If you feel you must talk about some moralizing philosophical point to the choir (us), equally consider spending more time visiting high schools, giving public forums, presenting at university seminars, stopping by your company's HR or marketing department, and engaging those would gain from all this ranting.  It would help EVERYONE's cause in the long run.

-Justin



________________________________
From: David M. Lawrence <dave at fuzzo.com>
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Sent: Tue, November 24, 2009 12:32:47 PM
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Sea Angels and Mermaids

We could just get back to "science" if science operated in vacuum.  It 
doesn't.  It is a social endeavor, a human endeavor, and the reasons why 
we do science is as important as how we do it and what questions we ask. 
  For some, coral research may be merely an academic enterprise.  For 
others, it might be they love an excuse for being at sea.  For still 
others, they may be passionately concerned with the fate (and 
management) of one of the Earth's most fascinating ecosystems.

The "why" bits spill out into ways that people of differing genders view 
the world -- or have been taught to view the world.  For instance, I 
believe there is research to the effect that men tend to be more 
reductionist, whereas women tend to be more holistic in how they view 
environmental systems.  These differences affect how the research is 
done, how the results are interpreted, and how the information obtained 
is used to manage limited resources.

And questions of opportunities granted to aspiring researchers in a 
field are always relevant.

Later,

Dave

Eugene Shinn wrote:
> When the Coral-List began it was intended as a way for scientists to 
> communicate with other scientists. What happened? Its now Sea Angels, 
> Mermaids, politics, and advertisements for coral management (social 
> engineering) jobs. What ever happened to coral reef research? Can't 
> we get back to science and away from all this moralizing? Gene

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