[Coral-List] Science and Politics

[Helder Perez]

Dear all,

My dad once told me that 'everything is political'. Under this axiom, even
those who consider themselves *apolitical* are taking a stand in politics.
Of course, there is a difference between those who make a living out of
politics (congressmen, senators,activists and the president), and those who
do everything else.

Now, let's stop for a second and consider this: what would happen if more
scientists went into politics? The job is certainly not for everyone, but I
can see a couple of you out there making ripples in the stagnant wetland
that is the State. We would probably have a government that takes informed
decisions, decisions based on reasoning rather than corporate and personal
interests and religious beliefs. Politics, would then, perhaps, not be a
synonym of crowd manipulation.

We are losing the reefs and doing very little to stop it. It's likely (as
the IPCC lingo says) that I will witness the irreparable decay of the
Mesoamerican Barrier Reef within my lifetime. For a country like Honduras,
where a large portion of its GDP and social wellness depends on tourism,
coral reef health is paramount. Why are we then still wasting time debating
wether this issue should or shouldn't be political? Every minute counts and
we are losing the battle. Just look at Fox News headline: *"New Research
Shows Wind Farms Cause Global Warming". *

1. http://nation.foxnews.com/global-warming/2012/04/30/new-
research-shows-wind-farms-cause-global-warming

Really? I don't remember wearing a sign on my forehead saying that I'm very
stupid. Do you?

The world needs scientists and scholars (corporations have long profited
from our findings only to later say -out loud- science had anything to do
with it). Still, now more than ever we need scientists engaged in politics
and *science communication*. Can you imagine if we had a Steve Jobs working
in coral conservation? It seems that when Jacques Cousteau passed away he
took all the ocean stories with him. If Neil deGrasse Tyson took over
Cosmos and has made a TERRIFIC job at it, why can't any of the bright stars
of ocean research (geology, climate, coral, biology, etc...) do something
similar or greater?

 Now, let's take a step further and imagine if we had coral scientist in DC
with the political pull of John F. Kennedy. Wouldn't that be a lot
different?

Helder I. Pérez
Contractor with GVC Italy
La Mosquitia
HONDURAS


On 24 May 2014 17:01, Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com> wrote:

> I agree, I think this is a good discussion, and I hope more people who
> normally don't post will post their thoughts.  It does take a lot of
> knowledge and expertise to figure out much of the technical aspects of
> climate change, and that is not the specialty of most of us.  So we would
> appreciate those who do have the knowledge and expertise, posting to inform
> us when there is something that needs correcting.   Thanks!   Cheers,  Doug
>
>
> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 8:44 AM, Gregor Hodgson <gregorh at reefcheck.org
> >wrote:
>
> > I am thoroughly enjoying and learning from the recent conversations on
> > coral list. If we cant debate the politics of coral reefs here -- then
> > where? The climate change deniers are well funded and well organized and
> > highly political. If climate change believers don't carefully research
> and
> > track what they are doing, and have answers for their (apparently) well
> > documented arguments -- then we lose.
> >
> > A few years back at UCLA there was a debate with Bjorn Lomborg about
> > climate change and my poorly prepared former colleagues lost because they
> > underestimated how knowledgeable he is and how well researched his
> > arguments.
> >
> > Bickering IS annoying -- lets debate the facts -- no personal attacks
> > please.
> >
> > Gregor
> > --
> > Gregor Hodgson, PhD
> > Executive Director, Reef Check
> > PO Box 1057, Pacific Palisades CA USA
> > Tel: +310-230-2371
> > Skype: gregorh001
> > Email: gregorh at reefcheck.org
> > _______________________________________________
> > Coral-List mailing list
> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Douglas Fenner
> Contractor with Ocean Associates, Inc.
> PO Box 7390
> Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA
>
> phone 1 684 622-7084
>
> "belief in climate change is optional, participation is not."
>
> website:  http://independent.academia.edu/DouglasFenner
>
> Blog:
>
> http://cctus.org/conservation-science/2014-expedition-scholar/2014-expedition-scholar-douglas-fenner-ph-d/2014-expedition-scholar-blog/
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Douglas Fenner
> Contractor with Ocean Associates, Inc.
> PO Box 7390
> Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA
>
> phone 1 684 622-7084
>
> "belief in climate change is optional, participation is not."
>
> website:  http://independent.academia.edu/DouglasFenner
>
> Blog:
>
> http://cctus.org/conservation-science/2014-expedition-scholar/2014-expedition-scholar-douglas-fenner-ph-d/2014-expedition-scholar-blog/
> _______________________________________________
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>