[Coral-List] political arguments on coral-list (Fautin, Daphne G.)

[Arlo Hemphill]

   Hi Daphne and all,



   Your comment caused me to reflect on Steve Schneider and the truly admirable
   life he led.  I had the immense pleasure of working with him to launch
   "Science as a Contact Sport" at the climate talks in Copenhagen.  He was an
   amazingly patient and personable man who took time to talk about climate
   data with anyone and everyone with an interest. During the last months of
   his life, Steve was receiving death threats on a regular basis.  Even the
   event  we  hosted  in  Copenhagen was distrupted by an extremist media
   personality.  The individual had to be escorted out by security simply to
   allow Steve to finish his press conference. Most importantly, and in stark
   constrast to the climate denier byline that scientists push climate change
   in order to acquire funding, Steve self-funded most of his outreach and
   advocacy on climate change.  He did it because he truly cared what climate
   data is implying for the future of humanity - and he did it to his own
   personal and financial detriment.



   Just  FYI though - in case anyone is wondering - he did die of natural
   causes.



   Best,



   Arlo



     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     Message: 1
     Date: Tue, 20 May 2014 19:40:25 +0000
     From: "Fautin, Daphne G." <[1]fautin at ku.edu>
     Subject: Re: [Coral-List] political arguments on coral-list
     To: Nicole Crane <[2]nicrane at cabrillo.edu>, Michael Risk
     <[3]riskmj at mcmaster.ca>, Douglas Fenner <[4]douglasfennertassi at gmail.com>
     Cc: Eugene Shinn <[5]eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu>, coral list
     <[6]coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
     Message-ID:
     <[7]022C672DB61D524E9A9A39094F9006557990C7A9 at EXCH10-MBX-02.home.ku.edu>
     Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"
     The late Steve Schneider wrote a book entitled "Science as a Contact
     Sport." Part of a blurb I found on it: "Science as a Contact Sport is
     Stephen Schneider?s first-hand account of a scientific odyssey, navigating
     in both the turbulent waters of the world?s power structures and the
     arcane  theatre  of  academic  debaters. From the initial stages of
     understanding the science of human-induced climate change to predicting
     the  consequences of our actions 10, 50 and even 250 years out, Dr.
     Schneider has been there to experience it all. Few people know more about
     the struggles and knockdown, drag-out fights that have taken place behind
     the scenes and the people who try to repair the damage as .." I heard him
     speak -- and it reminded me is that we are not all so gifted. (He died
     shortly afterwards.)
     Randy Olson is another who has been beating that drum. He spoke at this
     year's SICB meeting: "Storytelling Skills: Now mandatory for a career in
     science" -- see [8]http://thebenshi.com/?p=4865.
     Some of us can do it, some of us who can choose not to do it, some of us
     cannot do it -- and all of us have other skills. So saying we need to be
     able to get into the fight is not new; how we do so and who does so are
     real issues.
     Daphne G. Fautin
     Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
     Curator, Natural History Museum (Biodiversity Institute)
     University of Kansas
     1200 Sunnyside Avenue
     Lawrence, Kansas 66045 USA
     telephone 1-785-864-3062
     fax 1-785-864-5321
     skype user name daphne.fautin
     evo user name fautin
     website: invertebratezoology.biodiversity.ku.edu/home
     cv: [9]www.nhm.ku.edu/inverts/daphne.html
     database of hexacorals, including sea anemones
     newest version released 2 January 2013
     hercules.kgs.ku.edu/Hexacoral/Anemone2/index.cfm
     ____

References

   1. mailto:fautin at ku.edu
   2. mailto:nicrane at cabrillo.edu
   3. mailto:riskmj at mcmaster.ca
   4. mailto:douglasfennertassi at gmail.com
   5. mailto:eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu
   6. mailto:coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
   7. mailto:022C672DB61D524E9A9A39094F9006557990C7A9 at EXCH10-MBX-02.home.ku.edu
   8. http://thebenshi.com/?p=4865.
   9. http://www.nhm.ku.edu/inverts/daphne.html