[Coral-List] Public Perceptions about Climate Change
Mary Toy
mtoy at destinationsbelize.com
Fri Oct 30 10:21:16 EDT 2009
Hi all:
I'm not a scientist (by any means), but I've been following your discussions
for the last few days on public perceptions about climate change with great
interest.
In the midst of those discussions, I found myself having to write a Website
page about climate change for the Website of a grassroots environmental
organization on the Placencia Peninsula in southern Belize.
I'm not the most well informed person, nor the least informed. Probably a
bit more informed than most people in North America simply because of where
I live and what climate change will to this area.
However, I found writing that page very, very difficult. I wanted the page
to address local issues on the Peninsula, but also to give basic information
to non-Peninsula readers.
First, local. What concrete evidence of climate change have we seen? It's
been hotter than usual - hotter than just 10 years ago. We had a Cat 4
hurricane in 2001. Rains this year produced a lot of flooding in places
people don't recall flooding before (but that could have been because of the
7.4 earthquake we experience on 28 May of this year). We have beach erosion
in some locations, but no one is sure what's causing it - there's a lot of
speculation that the erosion is being caused by dredging of the South Stann
Creek River so we don't have as much sand in our sand budget as we formerly
did. Coral bleaching, of course. No local effect yet on mangroves or sea
grass beds to my knowledge. One of WWF's climate change witnesses said he
thought the sea had risen, but has it? I certainly don't know, and haven't
personally perceived a rise in sea levels. Our water supply could be lost
because of saltwater intrusion, but nothing has happened yet.
Yet, I could point to SOME concrete measurable effects on climate change to
a local audience that does know something about why coral is important and
how we'll be affected by changing weather patterns, potential loss of
mangroves, etc. Not a lot of visible effects yet, but some.
Now, what about the non-local audience - say someone from St. Louis,
Missouri, where I grew up. I can say something about how climate change is
adversely affecting Placencia, but what do I say to someone from St. Louis.
Yes, climate change can adversely affect corals, mangroves, sea grass,
plankton, fish, lobster and other marine life; cause flooding, drought, sea
level rise and beach erosion; change weather patterns causing it to be
hotter or colder or wetter or drier than usual.
So what? What do all those things mean to someone from St. Louis? A lot
you say, because . . . And that's where my problems began -- all the
because's that have to be explained and all the connections that have to be
made. Coral bleaching - hey, I'm from St. Louis - we don't have any coral
here - and I may or may not ever have enough money to go see it in person,
so, so what? Mangroves - what the heck are they? Who cares if they're all
destroyed, what does that mean to me? Sea level rise? We don't have any
sea here in the middle of the country.
Ultimately, what climate change currently comes down to for someone from St.
Louis is weather. They have weather. Is it hotter or colder? Is that
caused by climate change or not? That's an easily debatable topic around
the water cooler, while the universal effects of loss of coral reef, much
less mangroves and sea grass (sea weeds), certainly isn't.
Heck, I had to do a lot of research myself to try to write that page. For
example, climate change will adversely affect mangroves and seagrass. OK,
but how -- exactly?
Having scientists explain all this stuff about corals and mangrove and
plankton, et. al is good. But somehow, a personal link for that person in
St. Louis or Des Moines or Little Rock or Scottsdale or Boise has to be made
-- just as it's had to be made here in Placencia, where the connection is so
much easier to make.
What's going to happen to ME (and maybe my kids)? Will I still have a job,
can I still go to Walmart and buy cheap tennis shoes, can I still buy a car,
send my kids to school, barbecue spare ribs in the backyard in the summer,
grow tomatoes in my backyard, go sledding in the winter, watch sit-coms on
TV, fish for crappie on the weekends? Will my kids have a better or worse
life than I have? Will they have a chance to do better than I'm doing?
I don't know enough to make all this more personal to people who aren't
likely to be DIRECTLY affected by climate change in the immediate future.
But there has to be a way, and maybe some of you who do have this knowledge
need to start talking to people who know about marketing and advertising and
public opinion so that the people around the water cooler something to talk
about other than the weather.
I'm sure all of you have identified this problem, but I somehow felt
compelled to write this email to give you an idea of how climate change is
so hard for us non-scientists, even moderately educated ones, to understand
and personally integrate enough to just even be able to talk or write about
it on a basic level.
And, if you're still reading this, thanks for taking the time to wade
through it.
Back to work. . .
Mary
-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of
coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Sent: Friday, October 30, 2009 3:48 AM
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: Coral-List Digest, Vol 14, Issue 28
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Today's Topics:
1. RSMAS alumni social at 2009 GCFI Meeting (mbrandt at rsmas.miami.edu)
2. Coral Reefs and Climate change: the guide for public
perception change and education (Justin Marshall)
3. Re: Public perceptions about climate change (Douglas Fenner)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:33:57 -0400 (EDT)
From: mbrandt at rsmas.miami.edu
Subject: [Coral-List] RSMAS alumni social at 2009 GCFI Meeting
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Message-ID:
<3379.70.158.18.2.1256841237.squirrel at webmail.rsmas.miami.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
Please join us!
.....for a University of Miami RSMAS Alumni Social at the 2009 GCFI meeting
in Cuman?, Venezuela
7pm on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at the Nueva Toledo Suites & Hotel
(the conference hotel)
Hosted by Freddy Arocha (PHD ?97 MBF, Universidad de Oriente, Cuman?)
Appetizers and drinks sponsored by the RSMAS Alumni Association
All current and former RSMAS students, faculty, staff and their associates
are welcome!
Please let us know you?re coming!
RSVP to Marilyn Brandt: mbrandt at rsmas.miami.edu
See you in Cuman?!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:00:15 +1000
From: "Justin Marshall" <justin.marshall at uq.edu.au>
Subject: [Coral-List] Coral Reefs and Climate change: the guide for
public perception change and education
To: <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Message-ID:
<25ACCED19F93BC4E99A4513ED25D69EA03C6D23B at UQEXMB3.soe.uq.edu.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Dear List
The last few days debate, highlighting problems in communication and
public perceptions, is something we have been working hard to try and
help solve.
"Coral Reefs and Climate change: the guide for education and awareness"
is a not-for profit book we (CoralWatch) are printing right now. It is
not aimed at scientists but at educators, students, reef enthusiasts,
professionals and interested people.
What we have tried to do with this publication is use up-to-date data
from NOAA and eg the latest "Status of Coral Reefs.." from Clive
Wilkinson & GCRMN, the GBRMPA "Outlook Report" and efforts from others
such as Charlie Veron, Sir David Attenborough and Ove H-Guldberg with
WWF. We have had lots of help here so thanks to all!
BUT CRITICALLY - we hope we have translated this information into a form
that is approachable by anyone with an interested mind. It is aimed at
high-school level, roughly, and the accompanying workbook on CD contains
example lessons for teachers and any groups for both classroom and field
activities.
The book is not specifically for schools. It outlines reef biology,
climate change, the necessary response and suggestions for ways forward.
We hope it will provide the information needed to help people - in
particularly young people - towards the decisions we will need to make
in the next 10 years.
For those interested, go to the site below where there are sample pages
and contents etc. We hope it will help and if you like it, please spread
the word and help us 'sell' the book:
http://www.4shared.com/file/144792772/ad87e596/Coral_Reefs_Climate_Chang
e_Mock-Up_Oct2009.html
This is not an attempt at free advertising as we will not be making any
profit from this venture. Indeed, currently The University of Queensland
is covering all costs, so many thanks to them (Paul Greenfield in
particular)! The book is priced to cover printing costs and where
necessary the distribution costs of third parties etc.
We have written the book for our children, both literal and figurative.
It will be available by November 21st. Last page of the PDF is an order
form.
Justin Marshall
Craig Reid
Dave Logan
Diana Kleine
Prof Justin Marshall
Visual Ecology Lab.
Sensory Neurobiology Group
(formerly Vision Touch and Hearing Research Centre)
School of Biomedical Sciences
University of Queensland
St Lucia
Brisbane
Queensland 4072
AUSTRALIA
ph - +61 (0)7 33651397
fax - +61 (0)7 33654522
mob - 0423 024162 (Prawns in Space, Deep Australia)
ARC Professorial Research Fellow
President - Australian Coral Reef Society -
http://www.australiancoralreefsociety.org/
Marshall lab Website:
www.uq.edu.au/ecovis
CoralWatch website:
www.coralwatch.org
-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of
coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Sent: Thursday, 29 October 2009 9:56 PM
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: Coral-List Digest, Vol 14, Issue 25
Send Coral-List mailing list submissions to
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Coral-List digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. Fwd: THE FROG AND GRANDMA'S FRYING PAN RE: Public perceptions
about climate change (Emmanuel Irizarry Soto)
2. Re: Public perceptions about climate change (Bill Allison)
3. Re: Public perceptions about climate change (John Ogden)
4. Re: Public perceptions about climate change: US the most
educated, incentivized? (Georgina Bustamante)
5. Re: Public perceptions about climate change (Christopher Hawkins)
6. Public perceptions about climate change (Steve Mussman)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:41:25 -0400
From: Emmanuel Irizarry Soto <eirizarr at gmail.com>
Subject: [Coral-List] Fwd: THE FROG AND GRANDMA'S FRYING PAN RE:
Public perceptions about climate change
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Message-ID:
<68af1f730910281141j37680c67y9c76720ed1a6fded at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sarah Frias-Torres <sfrias_torres at hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 12:31 PM
Subject: [Coral-List] THE FROG AND GRANDMA'S FRYING PAN RE: Public
perceptions about climate change
To: Alina Szmant <szmanta at uncw.edu>, coral list <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Dear Coral-Listers,there are more scientists alive today doing research,
than the sum of all scientists that have ever lived in this planet.
Imagine the power we could have if each and everyone of us speaks, as
scientists, about global climate change. And we talk to EVERY PERSON we
meet
in our daily lives, regardless of what college degrees they have.
What a formidable force!
Yet, in the most life-changing event of the combined history of our
species,
we, the scientists, fail.
It is obvious that we are not doing enough. That the ivory tower does
not
work. I have commented on this issue in past Coral-list posting, and
will
not insist again at this point.
And now that I have ruffled some feathers, here is a little story I
posted
in Ecolog-List, I would like to share with you.
>From my post in Ecolog-L
Our species is ill-prepared for radical environmental change, and we
prefer
to believe that nothing will ever change in our lives: we will always
remain
young, our partner will love us forever, and of course, there will be no
global climate change. Even when evidence is strong (wrinkles, cheating,
and
yes... the ice is melting), we want to believe otherwise.Compounding to
these facts of life, we face the virulent disease of shortening
headlines in
the media. So, in an effort to dumb-down the suspected complexities of
science, words are cut, and simplifications are made. We arrive to
aberrations such as "man descent from monkeys", when in fact the correct
but
word hungry statement is "humans and apes share common ancestry".
Anthropogenic (=human-caused) global climate change manifests in
(mostly)
non linear, diverse processes. Meaning, we are slow to see the changes,
the
changes are many and apparently not connected, and once the change
occurs,
it is massive and catastrophic. Heating up the oceans takes time....To
illustrate, I like to use the fable of the frog in grandma's frying pan.
This fable is common in Hispanic culture, and I'm sure it comes from
somewhere else. It was well illustrated in Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient
Truth"
documentary. And I re-visit the fable here, with a slight
modification.Consider a frog, inside grandma's frying pan. The pan is
full
of cold water and the frog is rather happy. Grandma has a PhD in
Oceanography, and she decided to conduct an experiment to evaluate the
effect of water's specific heat capacity in biological systems. To
secure
funding for her experiments, she wisely chose a rather simple title for
her
(now awarded) grant proposal: "How to boil a frog". In h
er hypothesis section, she explains that due to the heat capacity of
water,
frog boiling can be accomplished with minimal stress (for the frog that
is),
by immersing the frog in cold water, and slowly reaching the target of
100
C. As the experiment develops, the frog thinks it's getting warmer, but
keeps thinking it can never get too warm, because maximum warming to the
point of life-threatening status has never occurred in all her
frog-years.
Unlike Al Gore's film, no helpful hand rescues the frog. To her horror,
and
just before the water breaks into a boil, the unfortunate amphibian
discovers only too late, how fast things change in a non-linear
system.We
are all frogs in a warming pan. Will someone please listen and put down
the
fire?Sarah Frias-Torres, Ph.D.
http://independent.academia.edu/SarahFriasTorres
> From: szmanta at uncw.edu
> To: jbruno at unc.edu; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:48:16 -0400
> CC: raronson at fit.edu
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Public perceptions about climate change
>
> One more comment: if our newspapers, TV and people in general spent
1/2
the space and/or time on science articles and study as they do on
sports, we
would be a different society...
>
>
>
> **********************************************
> Dr. Alina M. Szmant
> Professor of Marine Biology
> Coral Reef Research Program, Center for Marine Science
> University of North Carolina Wilmington
> 5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane
> Wilmington NC 28409
> Tel: (910)962-2362; fax: (910)962-2410; cell: (910)200-3913
> http://people.uncw.edu/szmanta
> **********************************************
_______________________________________________
Coral-List mailing list
Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
--
Emmanuel Irizarry Soto M.Sc.
Departamento de Biologia
Universidad de Puerto Rico-Humacao
Estacion Postal CUH 100 Carr 908
Humacao PR 00791-4300
Tel. 787-850-9388
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:45:02 -0400
From: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Public perceptions about climate change
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Message-ID:
<1eab821b0910281145k4ad35f95l2e74a9b6ec71d70a at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
I wonder what the authors cited in Sherwood and Isdo 2009 would have to
say
about that document.
On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 12:45 PM, Eugene Shinn
<eshinn at marine.usf.edu>wrote:
> John ,That is a great post! Thanks for making me (and listers) aware
> of the Co2science website. I was especially impressed with
> http://www.co2science.org/articles/V12/N21/EDIT.php. Amazing example
> of how the published results of our well respected coral scientists
> can support an alternative interpretation of the effects of co2 on
> corals. Keith and Idso wrote a very scholarly piece and came up with
> a very different perception. Gene
> --
>
>
> No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
> ------------------------------------
-----------------------------------
> E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
> University of South Florida
> Marine Science Center (room 204)
> 140 Seventh Avenue South
> St. Petersburg, FL 33701
> <eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
> Tel 727 553-1158----------------------------------
> -----------------------------------
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:20:22 -0400
From: John Ogden <jogden at MARINE.USF.EDU>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Public perceptions about climate change
To: "Szmant, Alina" <szmanta at uncw.edu>
Cc: "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>,
"Richard B. Aronson" <raronson at fit.edu>, John Bruno
<jbruno at unc.edu>
Message-ID: <4AE8A786.3050101 at marine.usf.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
Dear Friends,
Ah, but there are enlightened minds out there. I offer one of my
favorite quotes: "One should ... be able to see things as hopeless and
yet be determined to make them otherwise" (F. Scott Fitzgerald).
Forge on regardless!
Szmant, Alina wrote:
> One more comment: if our newspapers, TV and people in general spent
1/2 the space and/or time on science articles and study as they do on
sports, we would be a different society...
>
>
>
> **********************************************
> Dr. Alina M. Szmant
> Professor of Marine Biology
> Coral Reef Research Program, Center for Marine Science
> University of North Carolina Wilmington
> 5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane
> Wilmington NC 28409
> Tel: (910)962-2362; fax: (910)962-2410; cell: (910)200-3913
> http://people.uncw.edu/szmanta
> **********************************************
> ________________________________________
> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml..noaa.gov] On Behalf Of John Bruno
[jbruno at unc.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 6:31 PM
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Cc: Richard B. Aronson
> Subject: [Coral-List] Public perceptions about climate change
>
> As Steve Mussman posted about a few days ago, nearly 20% fewer
> Americans belive in AGW than just three years ago. I think there are
> complex social issues than underlie this trend, but I also think this
> is happening because people are being misinformed by the media, even
> by otherwise reliable outlets like the New York Times and the
> Washington Post.
>
> Not to suggest that this will be the last word on this, but the AP
> released an article today for which they hired four independent
> statisticians to analyze (blindly) the 130 instrument temperature
> record and the 30 year satellite record. The statisticians were asked
> to look for trends over time. Did they find any recent cooling? No.
> They found, like NOAA, NASA and the MET, that the earth has continued
> to warm over the last decade. No cooling. No plateau.
>
> You can read the AP story here: http://www.climateshifts.org/?p=3350
>
> But there are already many recent newspaper stories, published peer-
> review papers and easily accessible online articles debunking the
> recent "global cooling" and "warming pause" myths, e.g.:
>
> http://www.climateshifts.org/?p=3261
>
>
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/10/a-warming-pause/#m
ore-1265
>
> http://www.yaleclimatemediaforum.org/2009/08/warmest-by-fair-margin/
>
> So why are we loosing the public? They clearly are not being convinced
> by evidence. There isn't any in support of the cooling/pause
> arguments. I suspect that it is (in part) because the media is
> saturated with skepticism about AGW. Fox News commentators and New
> York Times science writers are spreading the myths there is a recent
> cooling or a plateau in warming. George Will, who is read by tens of
> millions of Americans, wrote yet another op-ed in the Washington Post
> a few weeks ago arguing the earth wasn't warming. I responded with an
> op-ed in the local Raleigh News and Observer (which you can read here:
http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/columnists_blogs/story/134115.html
> ) but I doubt I changed many minds. And the editor cut the most
> direct criticism of the complacency of the media in this in general
> and of newspaper editors in particular:
>
> "Given the clarity and relative certainty of the science and the scale
> of the potential social and economic impacts, why do newspapers
> publish articles denying climate change is happening? Social
> commentators like George Will certainly have freedom of speech and a
> general license to express their opinions on the editorial page. But
> would newspaper editors publish essays denying other major threats to
> humanity? Imagine an editorial arguing that cancer, poverty, HIV-AIDS
> or genocide don?t exist and are merely the product of a well-
> orchestrated scientific hoax"
>
> I don't know what the solution is. Grassroots education is important,
> but I sense we are getting drowned out by skeptics and even
> misinformed science writers with much large megaphones than any of
> us. I have written every journalist I have seen publish an inaccurate
> piece about climate change and many of their editors and not one has
> responded. Perhaps we need to employ the weight of our major society,
> the ISRS. The word "climate" does not even appear on the ISRS
> website (http://research2.fit.edu/isrs/). I know we have position
> papers on various threats to reefs posted, but perhaps we could be
> more proactive and begin writing journalists and columnists (and
> their editors) when they get it wrong. The Ecological Society of
> America has been very active in such correspondence
(http://www.esa.org/pao/policy_positions.php#letters
> ) as has the AGU and many other major environmental sciences
> societies. And back in February, when George Will wrote another silly
> article about global cooling, a number of NGO heads co-wrote a letter
> to the publisher and editor of the WaPost. Note I don't in anyway
> mean this as a criticism of ISRS or of any of its officers. I am just
> throwing out a few ideas. I don't think we have done this sort of
> thing with the society in the past and we likely lack the resources to
> do it on a large scale. BTW, is the ISRS sending representatives to
> Copenhagen?
>
> JB
>
>
> John F. Bruno, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor
> Department of Marine Science
> The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
> Chapel Hill, NC 27599-330
> jbruno at unc.edu
> www.brunolab.net
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
--
John C. Ogden, Director
Florida Institute of Oceanography
Professor of Integrative Biology
University of South Florida
830 First Street South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701 USA
Tel. 727-553-1100
Fax 727-553-1109
http://www.marine.usf.edu/FIO/
http://www.cas.usf.edu/biology/Faculty/ogden.html
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:03:14 -0400
From: "Georgina Bustamante" <gbustamante at bellsouth.net>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Public perceptions about climate change: US
the most educated, incentivized?
To: <Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Message-ID: <004201ca5812$11089070$3319b150$@net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I don't see why the world has to loose hope "if the most technologically
advanced nation in the world cannot preserve its OWN coral reefs".....
If you mean ...."if the most technologically advance world doesn't do
anything to stop climate change" I agree, then but protecting coral
reefs is
more than stopping climate change.
Redicing local impact is a big part of making them resilient, and it
might
be more realistic to expect small islands states or third world
countries to
be more interested in managing well reefs if their livelihoods depend on
their ecological services (fishing, tourism, etc.), and their population
is
closer to the sea (geographically and culturally).
Everything is about incentives (economic?), and the US people (not us,
scientists, conservationists) may not have enough incentive to learn
on/contribute to the restoration of coral reefs. Their life is not
directly
depending on them.
Georgina Bustamante, Ph.D.
Coordinator, Caribbean Marine Protected Area Management (CaMPAM)
Network
and Forum
GCFI Board of Directors
"A social network for enhancing MPA effectiveness in the
Wider Caribbean through communication and capacity building tools"
Hollywood, Florida
Tel./fax (request) +1 (954) 963-3626
Mobile +1 (305) 297-6995
email: gbustamante at bellsouth.net (preferred) and campam at gcfi.org;
skype: yoyibustamante
CaMPAM web sites:
http://campam.gcfi.org/
http://cep.unep.org/about-cep/spaw/campam-network-and-forum
To subscribe or unsubscribe to CaMPAM list, go to
http://gcfi.org/Forms/CAMPAMLSubscribeEng.php
To send a message to CaMPAM List, send it to campam-l at listserv.gcfi.org
To access the Regional MPA Database go to
http://cep.unep.org/caribbeanmpa
.... -----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Michael
Risk
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 10:24 AM
To: Szmant, Alina; John Bruno; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Cc: Richard B. Aronson
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Public perceptions about climate change
Good morning, all.
Alina is probably right, there is no hope. If the most technologically
advanced nation in the world cannot preserve its own coral reefs, what
hope is there for those Third World nations that house most of the
remainder? May I suggest Richard Wright's "What is America" for an
overview that will reinforce Alina's depressing prediction.
In Walt Jaap's immortal words, coral reefs are the canaries of the
sea-but we must always bear in mind that the canary's greatest value to
the human race came upon its death.
We have room for some of you in Saskatchewan, but you would have to
behave.
Mike
On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:48:16 -0400
"Szmant, Alina" <szmanta at uncw.edu> wrote:
> One more comment: if our newspapers, TV and people in general spent
> 1/2 the space and/or time on science articles and study as they do on
> sports, we would be a different society...
>
>
>
> **********************************************
> Dr. Alina M. Szmant
> Professor of Marine Biology
> Coral Reef Research Program, Center for Marine Science
> University of North Carolina Wilmington
> 5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane
> Wilmington NC 28409
> Tel: (910)962-2362; fax: (910)962-2410; cell: (910)200-3913
> http://people.uncw.edu/szmanta
> **********************************************
> ________________________________________
> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> [coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml..noaa.gov] On Behalf Of John Bruno
> [jbruno at unc.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 6:31 PM
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Cc: Richard B. Aronson
> Subject: [Coral-List] Public perceptions about climate change
>
> As Steve Mussman posted about a few days ago, nearly 20% fewer
> Americans belive in AGW than just three years ago. I think there are
> complex social issues than underlie this trend, but I also think this
> is happening because people are being misinformed by the media, even
> by otherwise reliable outlets like the New York Times and the
> Washington Post.
>
> Not to suggest that this will be the last word on this, but the AP
> released an article today for which they hired four independent
> statisticians to analyze (blindly) the 130 instrument temperature
> record and the 30 year satellite record. The statisticians were
> asked
> to look for trends over time. Did they find any recent cooling? No.
> They found, like NOAA, NASA and the MET, that the earth has continued
> to warm over the last decade. No cooling. No plateau.
>
> You can read the AP story here: http://www.climateshifts.org/?p=3350
>
> But there are already many recent newspaper stories, published peer-
> review papers and easily accessible online articles debunking the
> recent "global cooling" and "warming pause" myths, e.g.:
>
> http://www.climateshifts.org/?p=3261
>
>
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/10/a-warming-pause/#m
ore-
1265
>
> http://www.yaleclimatemediaforum.org/2009/08/warmest-by-fair-margin/
>
> So why are we loosing the public? They clearly are not being
> convinced
> by evidence. There isn't any in support of the cooling/pause
> arguments. I suspect that it is (in part) because the media is
> saturated with skepticism about AGW. Fox News commentators and New
> York Times science writers are spreading the myths there is a recent
> cooling or a plateau in warming. George Will, who is read by tens of
> millions of Americans, wrote yet another op-ed in the Washington Post
> a few weeks ago arguing the earth wasn't warming. I responded with
> an
> op-ed in the local Raleigh News and Observer (which you can read
> here:
>
http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/columnists_blogs/story/134115.html
> ) but I doubt I changed many minds. And the editor cut the most
> direct criticism of the complacency of the media in this in general
> and of newspaper editors in particular:
>
> "Given the clarity and relative certainty of the science and the
> scale
> of the potential social and economic impacts, why do newspapers
> publish articles denying climate change is happening? Social
> commentators like George Will certainly have freedom of speech and a
> general license to express their opinions on the editorial page. But
> would newspaper editors publish essays denying other major threats to
> humanity? Imagine an editorial arguing that cancer, poverty, HIV-AIDS
> or genocide don't exist and are merely the product of a well-
> orchestrated scientific hoax"
>
> I don't know what the solution is. Grassroots education is
> important,
> but I sense we are getting drowned out by skeptics and even
> misinformed science writers with much large megaphones than any of
> us. I have written every journalist I have seen publish an
> inaccurate
> piece about climate change and many of their editors and not one has
> responded. Perhaps we need to employ the weight of our major
> society,
> the ISRS. The word "climate" does not even appear on the ISRS
> website (http://research2.fit.edu/isrs/). I know we have position
> papers on various threats to reefs posted, but perhaps we could be
> more proactive and begin writing journalists and columnists (and
> their editors) when they get it wrong. The Ecological Society of
> America has been very active in such correspondence
> (http://www.esa.org/pao/policy_positions.php#letters
> ) as has the AGU and many other major environmental sciences
> societies. And back in February, when George Will wrote another
> silly
> article about global cooling, a number of NGO heads co-wrote a letter
> to the publisher and editor of the WaPost. Note I don't in anyway
> mean this as a criticism of ISRS or of any of its officers. I am
> just
> throwing out a few ideas. I don't think we have done this sort of
> thing with the society in the past and we likely lack the resources
> to
> do it on a large scale. BTW, is the ISRS sending representatives to
> Copenhagen?
>
> JB
>
>
> John F. Bruno, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor
> Department of Marine Science
> The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
> Chapel Hill, NC 27599-330
> jbruno at unc.edu
> www.brunolab.net
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
Mike Risk
Marine Ecologist
PO Box 1195
Durham Ontario
N0G 1R0
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------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:13:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: Christopher Hawkins <chwkins at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Public perceptions about climate change
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Message-ID: <973440.69074.qm at web32805.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Hi Listers
?
Re: "We cannot rely on environmental advocacy NGOs to communicate the?
science of coral reefs, particularly at high administrative levels and?
in the international media because in most cases they lack the?
scientific credibility and expertise."
I have a short tale to tell.? In the mid 1990s in Massachusetts, there
developed a big controversy over the trapping of beaver -- especially
via leghold traps.? Since Massachusetts is a ballot
referendum?state,?advocates for banning beaver trapping were successful
in placing this issue on the voting ballot for the public to decide.?
These advocates used all manner of?persuasive communication, including
graphic images?on television that depicted beavers and household pets
caught in leghold traps to push the public towards voting for a ban.?
This is what would be called peripheral route persuasion.
?
In contrast, those advocating for status quo (such as the state agency
in charge of such matters)?made less empassioned, but?very
scientifically valid, points - mostly having to do with population
dynamics (i.e., trapping is a check on beaver overpopulation) and some
of the?negative consequences of beaver population increases.?This would
be called central route persuasion.???
?
The result: those whom we experts would say lack "scientific credibility
and expertise" were able to push through a ban by a two to one voter
margin.? And, as predicted by the scientific and managemnt community,
the beaver population has risen sharply, with a variety of economic and
social consequences.
?
Environmental advocacy NGOs and others?are able to lobby (which?many of
us are typically prohibited from doing) and work with?folks who know how
to design and implement very?normative, effective?messages.? Perhaps the
recent Pew results are an indication that we haven't worked enough with
those?who work via the peripheral route side...
?
Food for thought.
?
Best,
Chris
?
Christopher Hawkins
Western Pacific Coral Reef Ecosystem and Habitat Liaison
Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council
1164 Bishop St, Ste. 1400
808.522.8220
?????
--- On Wed, 10/28/09, Curtis Kruer <kruer at 3rivers.net> wrote:
From: Curtis Kruer <kruer at 3rivers.net>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Public perceptions about climate change
To: "'John Bruno'" <jbruno at unc.edu>, coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov,
"'Melanie McField'" <mcfield at healthyreefs.org>
Cc: "'Richard B. Aronson'" <raronson at fit.edu>
Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 10:36 AM
John - Seems it's going to be a long hard fall from that big high
pedestal
that scientists, researchers, and academic types have placed themselves
on
in recent years.? Instead of embracing advocates and conservationists,
sharing funding, and working together to solve resource problems of
mutual
concern, the disdain from "above" has been obvious and a huge roadblock
to
reacting quickly to major issues. And this disdain will now be a
roadblock
to pushing government to implement new and aggressive site-specific
management initiatives to take up the slack during this critical period
when
new stressors and impacts are overwhelming natural systems.???
Good luck.
Curtis?Kruer
-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of John Bruno
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 5:18 AM
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov; Melanie McField
Cc: Richard B. Aronson
Subject: [Coral-List] Public perceptions about climate change
Thank you Mel.? I really like your ideas about communicating threats?
to reefs.
But I think the ISRS may in fact be precisely an advocacy?
organization.? The first objective of the ISRS constitution is:?
"Promoting the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge?
and understanding of coral reefs", i.e., the purpose of the society is?
to advocate for (as in disseminate) our science.? There is no?
professional, ethical or practical reason to be shy about?
communicating our science, what we know about coral reefs, to the?
public.? And I think this includes direct communications to?
individuals and other organizations that get the facts about coral?
reefs and climate change wrong.
We cannot rely on environmental advocacy NGOs to communicate the?
science of coral reefs, particularly at high administrative levels and?
in the international media because in most cases they lack the?
scientific credibility and expertise.
---
"As one who lives 'on the fence' between science and advocacy, I can?
say it is a precarious position, but one we as a society (ISRS) are?
trying to carefully navigate."
What environmental scientist doesn't live "on the fence" between?
science and advocacy?? Or maybe more accurately; does such a fence or?
delineation even exist?? Communicating what we know about our subject?
is part of the job of any scientist, not an optional side-project.???
Communicating the results of ones findings is a fundamental component?
of science (or as my friend Sal Genovese likes to say, "if you don't?
publish it, it isn't science").? Personally, I don't find explaining?
science, i.e., educating people, at all precarious.? Even as an?
academic scientists this, i.e., advocacy, is literally part of my job?
description.
Don Strong, the renowned ecologist and editor of Ecology, recently?
published an essay on the role of scientists and scientific societies?
in? environmental advocacy or "environmentalism" (Strong 2008-email me?
if you want a PDF of this):
"Whereas ecology is science and environmentalism sometimes is and?
sometimes isn't, the latter is necessary for the former. We ecologists?
have the same relationship to the subject of our studies as do art?
historians and archeologists to theirs. There is no opprobrium upon?
artists and archeologists advocating for the preservation of art and?
antiquities. Protection of the environment ? environmentalism ? is?
advocacy of what we study. Why should we not advocate for protection?
of the environment in our professional capacity?...The negative?
branding of environmentalism comes from groups that are part and?
parcel of the notorious war on science. They are dedicated to denying?
the environmental degradation that ecologists are documenting every?
day. Some of the most prominent of these groups are discussed by?
Jaques et al. in a review entitled, The organization of denial:?
conservative think tanks and environmental skepticism (Environ Pol?
2008; 17: 349?85). The authors document the concerted anti-
environmentalism and complete disregard of these groups for anything?
connected with the environment. Jaques et al. describe the substantial?
financial backing, broad reach, and scores of authors that have been?
encouraged to spread disinformation regarding scientific findings ??
particularly about global warming ? by conservative think tanks. The?
authors argue that these powerful entities seek to interfere with the?
scientific communication that is the basis of society's understanding?
of environmental issues."
Donald R Strong (2008) Ecologists and environmentalism. Frontiers in?
Ecology and the Environment: Vol. 6, No. 7, pp. 347-347.
doi: 10.1890/1540-9295(2008)6[347:EAE]2.0.CO;2
In regard to our media outreach concurrent with the 2008 ICRS, I?
agree; with the help of SeaWed and others the society did a splendid?
job.? But that was nearly 18 months ago.? This debate is moving too?
fast for us to only jump in every four years.
I guess what I am thinking about is a more focused effort on the major?
sources of disinformation; print media, cable news, talk radio, etc.?
relating specifically to climate change.? The weakness of some of the?
outreach efforts during the last international Year Of The Reef and?
the last ICRS was that far too many problems were being communicated?
simultaneously.? I realize there are countless threats to reefs.? But?
most of these are not being contested in a coordinated way.? We are?
not hearing widespread denial about overfishing, coastal development,?
nutrient pollution, etc in the media in the way that the public is?
being misinformed about climate change when they are told it isn't?
happening.? In fact, some big oil-funded think tanks such as?
CO2Science are making the case that reef loss and even bleaching are?
caused solely by runoff/water quality
(http://www.co2science.org/subject/c/bleachinggeneral.php
), disease (http://www.co2science.org/subject/c/bleachingdisease.php),?
etc and not by temperature per se
(http://www.co2science.org/subject/c/bleachingtemp.php
).? And see their screeds against the science of coral reefs and?
climate change here:?
http://www.co2science.org/subject/c/calcification.php
Again, to be clear, I am not criticizing the ISRS or its officers-I?
think both are wonderful!? Nor am I suggesting we/it aren't doing?
anything.? So there isn't cause for anyone to get defense about this.???
I am only suggesting some additional actions we, or more precisely the?
Society or at least it's elected officials, might take on our behalf.
Sincerely, John
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------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:21:37 -0400 (EDT)
From: Steve Mussman <sealab at earthlink.net>
Subject: [Coral-List] Public perceptions about climate change
To: "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Message-ID:
<26854083.1256768497196.JavaMail.root at wamui-hunyo.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
John Bruno seems to be spot on in his description and analysis of
the current state of affairs regarding public perceptions of AGW.
Considering the fact that it was the scientific community who were
responsible for the revelations that brought the concept into focus
in the first place; I would suggest that your responsibilities are now
more obvious than ever and it is not for others to serve as your
advocates.
Most of you are understandably concerned about the trend in public
opinion
relating to AGW. Scientists who frequent this list need not be so
defensive;
instead, why not replace complacency with assertiveness.
The skeptical forces are simply kicking your collective butts in the
arena
of public discourse.The sources of misinformation that John mentioned
including
print media, cable news, talk radio, and industry supported think tanks
armed with financial resources beyond comprehension clearly illustrate
the
extent of the formidable task at hand.
It appears that the time has come to choose your course of action.
Be willing to speak up and act with collective conviction or quietly
allow the previously described influences to prevail.
------------------------------
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------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:00:09 -1100
From: "Douglas Fenner" <dfenner at blueskynet.as>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Public perceptions about climate change
To: "Tupper, Mark (WorldFish)" <M.Tupper at CGIAR.ORG>, "Szmant, Alina"
<szmanta at uncw.edu>, "John Bruno" <jbruno at unc.edu>,
<coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Cc: "Richard B. Aronson" <raronson at fit.edu>
Message-ID: <33EE3355FE2A4BBDAE663A6BE9548AE2 at DOUGLASFENNER>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original
Thanks for the very interesting observations, Mark!!
I work in American Samoa, which has a population of about 65,000 people.
I've often heard it said that we are so small that anything we do will have
no effect. I've also heard it said that the small island nations that will
suffer the most are the least to blame.
After thinking about it, I realized that any group of 65,000 people
anywhere in the world can say the same thing- oh we are so small that
anything we do will have almost no effect. Any other group of a small size
can say the same thing, a city block in any big city or a small town or
village in the countryside anywhere.
If we all say that, we will not avoid some pretty nasty climate change.
Kiss our reefs (as we know them) goodby. So we all have to do our part, no
matter how small an island, village, or block in a city. Let's get to work
on it.
(And 3 cheers for the priest giving a sermon on it in church! Many
people listen to their religious leaders. That's a real leader. Aren't we
supposed to be good stewards, entrusted with the earth, to take good care of
it for future generations? We aren't doing very well.)
Doug
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tupper, Mark (WorldFish)" <M.Tupper at CGIAR.ORG>
To: "Szmant, Alina" <szmanta at uncw.edu>; "John Bruno" <jbruno at unc.edu>;
<coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Cc: "Richard B. Aronson" <raronson at fit.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 1:12 PM
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Public perceptions about climate change
Dear All,
It's interesting that here in the Philippines, inhabitants of some of the
smaller island provinces (e.g. Bohol, Camiguin, Calamianes Islands, etc.)
generally believe strongly in climate change and sea level rise. Many of
them claim that their waterfront properties have been altered already by
rising sea level, and many fishermen also believe that increasing sea
surface temperatures have changed migratory behavior of their target fish
stocks, particularly yellowfin tuna. Of note is that these opinions
generally belonged to people with 10 years or less of formal education and
very little exposure to media coverage of climate change. One group I talked
to in Camiguin said that the first time they heard it about global warming
in a formal sense was when their priest gave a sermon about it in church.
They further said that after hearing the sermon, they finally had a name and
a cause for something they had known was happening for many years.
Unfortunately, as I sat there with them discussing the problems of carbon
emission, which they blame on "city folk" in Manila, the USA, and China,
piles of garbage outside every door in Camiguin were burning, causing a
thick haze that made an otherwise fairly pristine island look like Los
Angeles. When I asked them if 14,000 homes burning trash on a small island
might be a bad idea, their response was yes it was bad for the air, but the
island was too small to contribute to global climate change. So, they would
continue to burn their trash until a proper garbage collection and disposal
program was implemented, as they wanted their island to remain clean and
litter-free. In this case, the issue is not about belief in climate change.
It's just that climate change is "Somebody Else's Problem".
Cheers,
Mark
Dr. Mark Tupper
Scientist - Coral Reefs and Reef Fisheries
The WorldFish Center
Los Ba?os, Laguna, PHILIPPINES
Tel +632 580-5659 (2889) GMT +8
Mobile: +63 917-524-0864
http://www.worldfishcenter.org
Reducing poverty and hunger by improving fisheries and aquaculture.
-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Szmant, Alina
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 7:44 PM
To: John Bruno; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Cc: Richard B. Aronson
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Public perceptions about climate change
In my opinion, we also have another broader question: scientific illiteracy
in the US. That is one reason we have such an issue with the process of
evolution, with the credibility about vacines, etc. I heard a nurse on TV
doubt the efficacy of the (any) flu vacine, and another person saying that
the vacines were a product of the US government trying to control the
people. With that kind of general ignorance, and mistrust of everything
government, climate change is just of many issues that the American public
has difficulty understanding. In my opinion, we are doomed...
**********************************************
Dr. Alina M. Szmant
Professor of Marine Biology
Coral Reef Research Program, Center for Marine Science
University of North Carolina Wilmington
5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane
Wilmington NC 28409
Tel: (910)962-2362; fax: (910)962-2410; cell: (910)200-3913
http://people.uncw.edu/szmanta
**********************************************
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