[Coral-List] What agency should list corals

[Pedro H. Rodríguez]

With the deserved respect that the biologists and practitioners who have diminished the role of social scientists in coral reef research deserve, and with the caveat that I am not a social scientist, I would suggest to them becoming more informed on what these sciences do, for example by reading the journal Ecological Economics. Much will be learned, also, by those with the view that economics invariably leads to monetization (this has been a recurring theme here, and it is completely misguided). Secondly, to those who expect nature to cease to exist in a few generations because of rapid human growth, I would ask why continue spending scarce resources in studying the biology of coral reefs, if they are already doomed? Wouldn't it be better to spend our time as activists and to try to save not only coral reefs, but the entire natural world? Or is doing what one preaches not a part of what scientists do? And thirdly, I would suggest to those who
 believe social scientists do not have a clear notion of the physical constraints of the natural world to browse over the diverse and demanding curriculum of careers in the social and economic sciences. You will be surprised at how much more of a balanced training they receive than we, the real scientists.
 
Pedro
 
 
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: Thursday, March 28, 2013 4:09 PM
To: Pedro H.. Rodr?guez; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] To Dennis Hubbard (What agency should list corals
under the Endangered)

I think the biggest difference between the natural
sciences and the social
sciences might be in our views of what is sustainable....